Hi Obi,

The bad news is that it gets harder in lots of ways. You start to feel less hopeful the more negatives you get and that in turn apparently effects your chances of success so it becomes a negative cycle.

When did you get what you thought was implantation bleeding and how heavy was it? Have you had any blood tests to confirm that you weren't pregnant? The reason I ask is because possibly you may have had what is called a chemical pregnancy (very early miscarriage). Blood pregnancy tests will show this up (the day after your period was due) as they'll show certain hormone levels are higher than normal but not high enough for you to be pregnant. My first IVF round resulted in a chemical pregnancy. The next 2 were BFN.

The other thing is with getting your period still test (blood test is best). A friend of mine (who used IVF) got her period but the clinic insisted on a blood test. Her hormone levels indicated it might have been a chemical pregnancy so she had to have more tests a couple of days later to confirm - but her hormone levels were rising. More blood tests... it took a week before her hormone levels were high enough for the clinic to confirm she was indeed pregnant but throughout this time she had what appeared to her to be a normal (though at the lighter end of normal) period.

When I heard this it got my hopes up about my very light period that I had after my last cycle... but alas blood tests confirmed I wasn't pregnant.

If you start getting blood tests done and you do have a few chemical pregnancies then you can see a fertility specialist about getting hormones which are designed to support the pregnancy (reduce the risk of another chemical pregnancy) you'll then stay on these for the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy if you actually fall pregnant to reduce the chance of miscarriage.

I've been told that donor insemination takes an average of 6 to 8 cycles with perfect timing and everything else perfect so don't get too upset yet. If you have 6 unsuccessful attempts then it might be time to get your donor's sperm checked and have some tests yourself.

Best wishes - I know what a huge emotional rollercoaster it is and expensive when you need to take time off work and travel etc.

Lori
Started donor search Dec 2006, Started donor inseminations Jan 09, Started IVF Feb 10.