LTTTC - Success Stories

[kbanitskas]

Congratulations Dove, looks like we found out at the same time... I'm due then as well after my second attempt.

[MamaCaz]

Hi there.

I'm new to BB and my husband and I have been TTC#2 for 2 years. We have a 6 year old DD and we didn't expect to have any problems falling pregnant. (We fell pregnant with DD straight away). I can't believe the amount of stories I have read regarding TTC#2! It helps so much reading everyone's stories. We've had all testing done and they have come back with "unknown infertility". I have recently been diagnosed with Factor V Leidens Syndrome....this is where you are more prone to getting blood clots, which can cause miscarriages. This is where we think that having this syndrome has made us unable to fall pregnant . I would love to hear from anybody, especially from other's diagnosed with FVLS.

[kbanitskas]

Hey MamaKaz, I too couldn't fall pregnant as all test showed unknown infertility and I know your pain. This is a great group with heaps of support and people that will help you overcome your problems and just somewhere to vent your worries. My first child was born through IVF and I'm now pg with my second with the same batch. I had no hope of falling pg and it happened eventually. It is a hard time but it also makes a relationship stronger and I hope you will find success soon. Good Luck.

[Samandpoppy]

Hi Girls,
thanks so much for you stories, inspiring. I hope to post one here myself one day soon.
I especially like hearing about anything different you tried that worked, esp drugs!@!!
sam

[nic]

My story begins with a DD conceived the fun, old fashioned way lol, but even then it was a couple of years of no protection, but not trying either. When DD was 1 we would sometimes decide to use some protection, other times not. When she was about 2,(2001/2002) we pretty much weren't using any. We just kept trying. I wasn't too worried about what was or wasn't happening, was just going with the flow.. we weren't charting or anything else at the time either.

People around us kept announcing pregnancies but I thought it would be our turn soon enough... fast forward to 2006. We went interstate for a wedding and holiday. I was feeling a little unwell, but put it down to all the car travel. I remember getting ready to go to the wedding and found that AF had arrived! she was early DH had joked a couple of days before that I was pregnant, and I had secretly hoped he was right, but here she was.. so I went to the wedding to drink. I had 2 drinks before going to the loo to find that AF had stopped! I thought, whats going on here? and immediately stopped drinking. A few days later I did a HPT. I couldn't tell if it was a +ve or not? It looked like the faintest of faint lines, so I decided to do another one in a couple of days time.

The next night, AF arrived. She was very painful and very heavy... I remember being in the shower -warning TMI ahead - and hearing the clots hit the tiles...I wondered if I had been pregnant and was miscarrying?? It is something I will wonder about forever, though deep down, I suspect it was (my chart had been looking quite good that month) I've never wrote about it here on BB.. I had no confirmation, so I felt like I shouldn't be wondering aloud about it.
The rest of the car trip home was horrible. we had to stop every half hour so I could change a pad.

Christmas 2006, driving home DH and I were chatting and he mentioned that he thought we should see someone. I told him I wasn't too fussed if we did or didn't, we already had a beautiful girl. I said if we weren't pregnant or actively doing something more, towards being pregnant by christmas the following year, then that would be it, no more..I couldn't handle anymore of the temping and charting and hearing about other people's pregnancies. I had to let it go from my life completely.

In the first few months of 2007, we saw a GP. I already had a referral that was over 2 years old to see a FS. I took this referral to a new GP, and asked for a new one. She was lovely, and sent us off for initial testing. DH's first SA had to be repeated, but it came back fine the second time round. We had to travel to other towns to have the SA done, and this was to be the first of many kilometre we would do that year.

We finally got into see our FS. A weird little fellow, he had been described to me as being abrupt. DH and I agreed we would meet him and see if we liked him or not. Luckily we did. He didn't hold back, and didn't stuff around. He checked my charts and said he could see I was ovulating, my tests were fine, DH sperm was great so he booked me in for a lap to be done 2 weeks away from then. I tried to get out of it, but I think he sensed it, and told me he was booking me in, and I could check DH's roster and change it if I needed when I got home.

2 weeks later, we rocked up at the hospital for my lap. Late that arvo, the FS came round to tell us what had happened. He asked how many op's I had had, as i only listed one on the admission forms and I looked like I had quite a few op's as there was really bad scarring. he didn't believe me when I told him only 1 op, and he asked my mum if I had any as a child. So I had lots of scarring, and endo. He explained the endo wasn't typical chocolate cysts endo, it was the white stuff, but not just patches of it like it usually is, it was a sheet of it. He didn't touch it as he wasn't sure how thick or thin or was and he didn't want to do any damage to would hurt our chances of TTC.

We made a follow up appointment with him for a week or so later on. The plan was to start on Synarel. I had to be on it for 3 months before I could go back to see him and start our IVF drugs. What a very long 3 months it was too.. I was quite a horrid emotional, nasty, mess of a person.

We did a few trips back and forth. We had to travel 200k's to pick up my synarel! One way! We had our first appointment, got our drugs and drove all the way home...I was so scared of so many things at that point, and I blurted out to DH that I didn't want to do the IVF, which upset him and caused a little tiff on our drive home.

We had to do the same trip for our scans as well. I had a scan, and was told to do another couple of days of injecting and come back for another scan. I did injections for a total 7 days, had a second scan (Friday) and was told that EPU would be happening on the Monday morning. We drove home 200k's, packed our bags, dropped DD at the IL's so she could still attend school, and left he next morning for our 1000k journey. We stopped at a motel the night that we had to do our trigger. 1.45 am it was to be done! I don't think DH and I went back to sleep for a few hours after it was done. I remember hoping that DH didn't break the vials we he cracked them open, as we were no where near any clinics or even a hospital if he did! Luckily he didn't!

We booked into our motel the next day. I'd had 3 months to surf the net and work out the best place to stay that was close by the hospital. It was right around the corner. I called our FS that was doing EPU and we hadn't even met yet. We had a chat and he told me all the details for the next day.

I went into EPU being told there were 14 follicles. When I came out I was told we had 15 eggs from 15 follicles, but they were fairly small. Phone call to the FS the following day, gave us the news of 11 fertlised! Transfer the following afternoon. That day I started feeling unwell. The nurses explained that I was at risk of developing a very slight case of OHSS with the number we had collected. When DH saw how bloated I had become, he was shocked. even more so when I had a red face and was feeling hot to touch. DH wanted me to ring the FS to tell him my symptoms! No way was I doing that. I had come too far, and I was super scared he would delay transfer. I drank heaps of water and sustagen and felt better that arvo and even went out shopping!

When we arrived for transfer, we were told that overnight, 1 of the embies had developed abnormally, and one had just stopped growing for some reason, so we were down to 9. 1 put back and the remaining 8 are now in snowbub storage.

Luckily we got a BFP from our first cycle! The amount of travelling we did was draining. but we did it, and now I have a beautiful little boy, and can still hardly believe that this little person is in our lives! He didn't sleep well at the start (and still doesn't) and I felt a little guilt because we had tried so hard to have him, yet he wouldn't let up and I was resenting him a little for it.

I will never forget that moment that DH put our DS in my arms and i had tears in my eyes...he was so worth the wait and the tears and pain and anger and even the synarel sniffing lol! but i guess I can say that now that I'm not sniffing it hey

Sorry for the extra long post.....just nice to share with others

Nic

[drbeee]

WARNING: There is mention of pregnancy termination below.

Its about time that I added to this post as I have meant to for so long. I guess my journey to motherhood was not as long as some, but am hoping that the happy ending will bring some hope to those in similar situations as me.

When I was 32 I became pregnant naturally to a man who did not want to know about the baby. He convinced me to terminate the pregnancy, and I will forever regret that I was so weak as to give in. He persuaded me that the timing was all wrong, and that we would have children together soon just not now.

I felt that I could not bring up the baby alone, and he made it clear that he would leave. I am a strong woman, but was in the thrall of this man, and my biggest regret was that I did not take the TIME to process the decision. I had it in my head that if I was to go down this path it had to be soon. I was 5 weeks pregnant with my baby when I let (him) down due to weakness and panic. I have never forgiven myself for this, and it will always be the biggest regret of my life.

The ex and I moved in, but of course I was consumed by anger (at myself more than at him), and became clinically depressed. I left him about 8 months later.

At 35 I had a myomectomy for an enormous fibroid, which left me with a scar stretching the whole length of my womb top to bottom. The surgeon advised me that I should have a caesarian if I ever became pregnant due t the nature and length of the scar.

When I was 36 years old I met a man who is good from the inside to the out. I knew that he would be a wonderful father. It took me two years to persuade him that we should try for a baby. My gynecologist (also a F/S) gave me a big talk about fertility, and even had my (reluctant) OH in for a good talking too as well. He relented and agreed that we would try and we started TTC when I was 38.

After 6 months we saw my FS again and we started with timed intercourse (I was working shifts). For some reason my FSH had not been measured in the first 2 cycles of TI, but on the third cycle it was, and I received a very stiffly worded letter from my FS basically telling me that I was perimenopausal, and that my changes of pregnancy were poor. She advised that we should start IVF if we were to have ANY chance of pregnancy.

Of course, I believed that this was my punishment for the termination.

My OH needed a lot of counselling prior to agreeing to undergo IVF. Nonetheless we embarked on our first cycle of IVF in May 2007. I never recorded the details, but some remain clear. There were 4 follicles, and 4 eggs. All 4 eggs fertilised, and two were transferred at day 3 with two being frozen. My bloods recorded HCG but poor levels. They call it a 'chemical pregnancy', but we all know that this is a miscarriage, and that we are losing a baby that tried to be.

I believed even more strongly that I was being punished.

We had to take a cycle off, and we asked the F/S to do another fresh collection, fearing that my fertility was declining by the second (although interestingly the FSH in the first and second cycles were in the normal range).

For our second cycle we had 7 follicles and 4 eggs. All 4 eggs fertilised, but one stopped developing. Two were transferred at day 3 and one frozen. We found out recently that the two transferred underwent assisted hatching also.

We were thrilled when we registered a BFP! I was 39yo. At 37 weeks and 2 days our DS was born by elective caesarian. He is the light of our lives.

I have also finally found some peace with my decision made so many years ago. If I had been a single mother then I would never have been where I was when I met my OH, and I would never have my beautiful son. My mother believes that our children wait for us, and come to us when they are ready. I hope so very much that this is true.

I am now 41 and we are currently in our first frozen cycle and are full of hope that we may be lucky enough to have another beautiful baby in our arms soon. We know that with only three embryos the odds are against us, and I am having acupuncture this time around.

I believe that if my son is meant to have a sibling this will be, whether following frozen transfer, or if we elect to try a fresh cycle again. If he is not, then he continues to bring joy to me every day. Even when I am cranky with him!

Thanks for reading

[littlemissmoo]

Hi everyone,

I would like to share with you our LTTC journey. We'd decided about five years ago to try for a baby & with me being in my 20's & both in good health we just assumed it would be a given. How wrong we were! After about 4.5 years we decided to seek expert health. A battery of tests later, we were told we fall into the 'unexplained' category.

I still don't know if this is good or bad as sometimes I think if there was a clear medical reason it would be easier for me to get my head around. We started our first cycle of IVF in May 07 & luckily besides pain after the egg retrieval I didn't experience any side effects from the drugs. It turned out to be a BFN & although we were bitterly dissapointed, I felt OK within myself as now I knew what to expect when all the needles & stuff. We had two frozen embryos from the cycle so in AUg decided to try a frozen cycle. Again, this turned out to be a BFN. We then used our last egg in Oct with another FET but again dissapointment with a BFN.

In Dec 07 we then decided to go back into a full cycle. I had the egg retrieval on Xmas eve & I just knew that as our little 'blasty' was being created in the little dish on Xmas Day that we would have success. And my gut instinct was right, we were blessed with a BFP!! Our beautiful daughter was born on 10/09/08.

The physical side of the IVF process I was fine with, but the emotional side was so tough. One of the hardest things was seeing all your friends pregnant & putting on that smile when inside your hearts breaking because it's not you. But luckily I'm surrounded with supportive family & friends & they all kept my chin up.

We are currently in the process of trying for number two &I'm due for a BT on Thursday to see if we have a little brother or sister for Abbey, let's hope!

[Lenny]

Thanks for posting BabyDT. Congratulations and i hope that reading your story helps boost the spirits of someone else.

[JBM]

I thought it is overdue for a new success story in here for all you LTTC ers

After having 3 children under 4 my DH had a Vasectomy . Our baby was 11 weeks old then and i still had "baby "brain so agreed to it ??

anyway when our baby was 5 i started to wish e had never had the vas done and tried to talk to DH about it. he said NO way !

finally after he realised how much i wanted to have another baby he agreed but said NO to reversal

so off to IVF/ ICSI we went in may 2008

I had 11 eggs harvested and 7 fertilised.

the FS said with our history of falling preg so easily i would prob get preggers first time !

fresh tfer may 2008 : BFN

Froz tfer jul 08 : BFN

froz tfer aug 08 : BFN

froz tfer oct 08: BFN

Froz tfer dec 08: BFN

final embryo mar 09 : BFN

at this point i was devestated !! . i thought this was going to be easy !! but it was so hard

we had a long break of 2 years and thought lets give it one more try !

so second full stim cycle of IVF/ ICSI. I had been having acu since july 08 and had lost some weight too.

also DH actually really wanted this baby now ?! i mean really ..

so we went ahead in march 2011

12 eggs. 8 fertilised. 2 embies implanted

fresh tfer

the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooongest 2 weeks of my life waiting
at first only one line showed up at day 10

then ever ever so faintly a second line. but it wasn't getting any darker ??

then did one of those $ 20 digital tests ... and yes it came up "pregnant 2 - 3 weeks "YIPEE

then waiting for my BT to come thru took forever also !!

yes we are pregnant !!!!

5 months of morning sickness

found out at 20 week scan another boy ... a healthy baby boy

YIPEE

on 16th Dec 2011 at 37 weeks our beautiful baby Hunter Riley was born

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...2011-a-174845/

finally our LTTC miricle was here !!!

I love him to bits and want all of you to know. don't give up ... it can happen to you and i still pinch myself as i am up at midnight feeding him. I finally have my precious baby in my arms ..

[briggsy's girl]

Been meaning to post in here for a while but keep forgetting! this has been taken from my birth story - cos i just can't seem to find the time to type it all up again!

DH and I started trying for a baby in February 2005 - it wasn't a conscious decision as such, just something that happened. kinda a "trying without trying" thing. On April 25 2005, we found out we were pregnant for the first time. we weren't honestly expecting it, and it was something of a shock - but in a good way! unfortunately we lost that angel baby only four days later. it was so very hard ringing DH and telling him on the phone while he was working away - but it was after this loss that we realised we really did want a family.

we got engaged a few months later and were planning our wedding, so trying for a baby just didn't enter the equation. i didn't have a regular cycle, so it's not like we were actively trying or avoiding anything. On December 3rd, 2005 i went shopping in Melbourne for a "mother of the bride" outfit for my mum, and to get some extra stuff we needed for the wedding - we'd barely made it to the shops when i started to bleed heavily. it was bizarre - i'd had nothing since the loss earlier in the year, and hadn't even suspected a pregnancy. DH had lost his brother only days after we'd become engaged, i had changed jobs, DH had changed jobs - everything was so up in the air... i began to think something wasn't right, but had my kitchen tea that night so just got on with everything for the day. the next day we had it confirmed that i'd lost another angel at about 9 weeks - we're not sure exactly how far along we were, but it was damn hard. i laboured and had to deliver the fetus which was scary as all get up and painful physically and emotionally.

after this second loss, we decided that we did want to actively try for a baby, and early January 2006 we went to a GP for immunology testing to make sure all was ok (rubella immunity etc) and the GP decided to check for hormonal issues due to lack of cycle - i was confirmed as having PCOS. over the next few months, we had so many tests and scans, and were eventually referred to a gyne for more investigation. ovarian golf balling surgery, and metformin/clomid didn't force me to ovulate over the coming months so in December 2006 i had my first visit with the fertility specialist

January 2007 we started ovulation induction for IUI - two cycles cancelled due to failure to respond to the meds, then a change to protocol and we started to respond. it took a couple of attempts before we had success in August 2007 and unfortunately we lost that angel as well. In November 2007 we moved to full IVF - our EPU resulted in 22 eggs, but only half were mature enough for attempt to fertilise, and from that, only five fertilised. one transferred, and four frozen. we had no success until our last FET in May of 2008 when the last two embryo's were transferred. we got the news we'd been hoping for on my birthday, but lost the baby only days later, on Mothers Day. we couldn't do another full IVF cycle for a few months due to finances and room in the local clinic so we booked that for November 2008 but decided to throw in a couple of IUI's in between to feel like we were achieving something - July 2008 we got good news again but unfortunately angel number five was taken only days later

August/September 2008 we decided on one last ditch IUI before our next IVF attempt. this time we decided to add some accupuncture into the mix and on September 19 2008 we got confirmation of what we'd known for a few days - i was pregnant again. even though the HCG numbers were low to start with, something just felt right - maybe it was the morning sickness that kicked in straight away. i dunno but i was confident. a series of follow up blood tests and then our first viability scan and suddenly it was all very real, our little Gremlin was on it's way

After a very loooooong and not so fun pregnancy (m/s the whole way, pre-eclampsia etc) our beautiful little girl arrived 12 weeks ago, May 29, 2009.

she is perfect - and more than worth the long journey to get her here!

BG

[grub17]

On December 18, 2009 we welcomed Ashton to this world... here is the story on how he got here.

DH and I married in 2006 and started trying for a family on our honeymoon. We were 25 years old and never considered we wouldn't just fall pregnant like all my friends had. But that was not to be our path.

In July 2007 my GP detected a large 'something' in my belly. Further investigation discovered a dermoid tumour the size of a large orange growing on my right ovary. I was immediately sent to a specialist, who happened to be linked to the local ivf clinic, who removed the dermoid, saving my ovary, and draining a heap of cysts.

I was diagnosed with polycyctic ovaries and placed on metformin. My doctor also encouraged DH to get his boys checked out and we discovered they are mishapen, lazy, and swimming in the wrong direction. We were given a very low chance of ever having a child through natural conception and referred to the IVF clinic.

This news was just devastating news and we decided to take a year to digest the "you can't have kids'' thing as well as save money. I started running and did some 10km races, we went away for weekends, camping and had a great time generally. It took a good 6 months for me to accept the diagnosis fully and be okay with it. I really found it was one of those things that took a long time to work through and digest. It broke my heart and I got quite upset a lot in the first few months.

We were waiting for Jan 2009 to start (mainly for the medicare threshold) but decided we would 'fly under the radar' and start in Oct 08. What i mean by that is we had told our family and friends about our diagnosis and the path ahead for us. But this generated "when are you starting" questions constantly and I started to feel pressure, particularly from my mum.

So we decided we'd do a cycle and not tell a soul. we'd do it pressure-free and just keep saying to people "oh, we are still saving up for it". This worked a treat

Our FS didn't hold back. He went straight for the jugular to get us a baby. We went straight onto an IVF ICSI cycle in Oct 08. it was a full stim cycle and as with most first cycles was unsuccessful. We had one fresh blasto transferred and one embryo frozen. The drugs hit me for six. I could barely get out of bed most days and was very emotional. I would say i was barely functioning. It took me quite a few goes to get the pen needle technique and the guts to poke the needle into myself. I felt stripped bare and vulnerable. I stopped running and DH took over doing everything for me. it was a hopeless matter.

After getting the news our fresh transfer had not worked, I was beside myself. It was so upsetting to have endured so much and not get a result. We did not have time to fit in a transfer or full cycle that year so went away for Christmas and lived it up.

We were so shattered by our lack of success. I'd really convinced myself we would be one of the lucky ones who get preg on their first cycle but it was not to be. That month off over christmas was much needed and really healing as we went away and spent time with friends. We still didn't tell anyone what we were doing.

On our return home in 2009 we had our frozen embryo transferred without success. In February we started our second full stim cycle.

But this cycle I decided i'd try and pull myself out of my fog and bed and not let it interfere as much with our life. I kept running and this became a real lifeline for me. Even when i was exhausted i'd still log 8km runs and feel great afterwards. I'd also become more accepting of our situation and DH and I agreed after this cycle we'd do one more and then call it quits.

I was also mentally protecting myself by looking ahead to our life without children. I did actually start to see an alternative existence and we decided we'd buy a house, upgrade our cars and travel more if kids were not to be part of our life.

On March 23 we had our EPU and I got in a nice long 10km a few days later just before our transfer. This cycle had resulted in 3 excellent quality blasties. I strongly believe my running and better frame of mind really helped the quality of the eggs. We had one transfered and two frozen.

In early April we got the news that finally, for the first time in my life I was pregnant! I could hardly believe it... in fact it took me a good 9 months to believe it was happening... right about the time the midwife yelled 'push' lol.

I had a pretty good pregnancy (although i am not a fan of being pregnant ugh specially in summer) and on Dec 18 Ashton arrived, four days overdue I had a vaginal birth, no tears, just a bit of gas and used a tens machine (and my lovely wonderful DH) and Ash arrived perfect. Not a blemish, spot, squished or mishapen anything.

He is nearly 9 weeks old. Laying in his cot squeaking, means he'll be awake soon. I fall in love a little more everyday and can't wait to transfer our other 2 embies, which hopefully become Ash's siblings.

We probably won't do another full cycle once we've used our 2 embies and part of us hope for a natural wonder to occur. But we feel so blessed to have Ash and can't believe it worked! lol.

I hope that helps given someone starting out on this path some hope.

[AliB]

Hi Grub

I really enjoyed reading your story! Congrats on your success and I do hope that a natural miracle sneaks in before you try your frosties - 3 of my friends who've done IVF have had that happen to them so I have the same little hope for myself.

I really identified with something in particular - I look forward to hearing the midwife yell 'push' to me in the next week or two, then maybe I'll finally believe I'm having a baby too!!

xo

[grub17]

thanks Ali. and i still pinch myself! It's funny how used you become to being the ones without kids and the people it never works for. by your ticker you should have a little bubba about now. ENJOY! ox

[MummaSue]

This is my success story with TTC our first beautiful and much wanted bambino!

DH and I decided to start trying for a family in December 2003. I took my last pill on the 28th. A year passed and nothing had happened. We were still back in Scotland at this point so I went to my GP and got a referral for a women’s clinic. I got some bloods done, but was basically told “you’re young (was 24 at the time), come back in a year if it hasn’t happened”.
We still hadn’t fallen pregnant by the next year but by this point had decided to move to Australia. March 2006 we sold our house, car and said goodbye to our families and off we went. Brisbane welcomed us!!

We kept “trying” but I was getting really bad painful and heavy periods. So much so, that in January 2007 I ended up taking myself to emergency one day when at work because I thought I was having a miscarriage (I wasn’t) because the bleeding was so bad and the pain so unbearable. The Dr in charge that day saw me and was a bit shocked at what I was enduring each month. I was going through a maxi pad in half an hour. He gave me the name of a good gyno so I went to see her, who then referred me to the public hospital for some investigations.
It was a months wait and when we finally got to see a Dr he told me that he had a space in 2 weeks for a lap, hysteroscopy and HSG. Excellent, finally someone who was listening to me. He told me that he suspected I had endo.
I got those investigations done, and when I was coming round in recovery, was told by this stupid registrar who I’d never even met before that they found extensive endo inside and outside of my uterus and round my bowel - which explains the pains I was getting in that area too! I also had very blocked and damaged tubes. They were basically full of toxic fluid so any pregnancy I would have would more than likely miscarry because of the toxicity of the fluid. She told me that our only option would be IVF and then walked away from the bed. I’d just come round, had a really sore throat from the tube and was fuzzy from the anaesthetic. A nurse came and gave me a hug as I was crying so hard. For weeks after that I felt like someone had died.
Anyway........
My Dr then gave me another appointment for corrective surgery on the endo. He told me that in fact, after the corrective surgery, if we wanted we could try naturally for 6 months and then go see him if nothing happened.
We did this. I had the surgery in April 2008. But come september we still hadn’t fallen pregnant so he sent me for another HSG. This has to be the worst thing I have ever been through in my entire life and sorry to anyone who hasn’t had one and is going to have one but it was the sorest thing ever - but this was because one of my tubes had blocked up again. The Dr gave me 50mg pethidine and it turns out that this was too much - he’d overdosed me!! Which at the time was awesome because it meant that the pain went away pretty quickly but coming round from that was pretty gross. I vomited a lot. Ah well.
We were told by the nice nurse that we had an increased chance of falling pregnant after that procedure. We both looked at each other and just raised our eyebrows. We’d been told this so many times before. Wotevz!
But, we thought “let’s see what happens”. That next month was a crazy one. We had a lot on at work (both of us) and our social life had taken a hit too - we had a huge party at ours one night and a few other work functions. I was basically hammered for the whole month of October 2008!
I waited for my period to come, and it never did. I was 5 days late when I did an HPT and it came up positive straight away!!!!!!! OMG, my very first BFP! I had put the lateness of my period down to being so busy at work (we were in the middle of a very stressful accreditation process). 

I rang my FS and he was very pleased for us, and sent me out some blood forms to get blood work done. We had figured out that I was 5w1d. This was a thursday. Saturday I bought another HPT as the nausea and breast tenderness had gone. The line was very very faint. I was gutted and not sure what to do. I told myself I’d ring my FS on monday and see what he thought. But the next day I started bleeding so we went to ED and they confirmed miscarriage (I was 5w4d). We were utterly devastated. They rang my FS from ED and he was really lovely, he spoke to me on the phone and gave me an appointment to see him later in the week when I was feeling better (my FS is such a lovely man - doing this on a sunday for us!!) I took 3 days off work and DH and I just looked after each other.
Our appointment with our FS was really good. He told us that he wanted us to wait 3 cycles and then we could try an IUI - a sort of intro to IVF. We agreed this would be a good idea - we were both pretty fragile from the miscarriage.
3 months came and went though, no other natural pregnancy. But our permanent residency had just come through and we needed to leave Australia to get our residency sorted. So we went to NZ for a couple of weeks for one last blow out holiday before we got down to some serious baby making business.
On return to Australia I had made myself an acupuncture appointment (my cycles were all over the place since my miscarriage) so I went to that and started my acupuncture sessions which continued all through the IVF process. We did an IUI that month (Feb 2009) but it didn’t work. We then had family come over, and a few other things got in the way of another IUI cycle. But in May we just decided that we were ready for IVF. IUI wasn’t the way forward for us So basically the time from my endo diagnosis to the day we decided to do IVF was 2 years. It took us that long to get our heads around it.
We chatted to our FS and he agreed IVF was the best decision. So we started our long down regulation cycle on the 4th June - 3 weeks of OCP, synarel and then puregon 150iu. My first follicle scan showed 9 follies in each ovary - my FS was a bit worried that he’d overstimulated me. But my bloods were perfect so he scheduled my EPU for monday 13th July 2009. We got 13 eggs, 9 fertilised, 4 were frozen on day 4 because they were such good quality and the rest were taken to blast stage. One strong little blastocyst was transferred on Saturday 18th July 2009 adn the rest frozen. The 2ww nearly killed me though. I hated every minute of it. My whole IVF cycle had been a breeze compared to the torture I put myself through in those two weeks. I was on crinone and had every symptom under the sun - and of course we all know that the side effects of crinone are pregnancy symptoms!! AARRGGHHH!
My FS wanted me to wait 2 weeks post transfer till I tested but since that was a saturday I told myself I’d test on the friday morning and go get bloods done after I tested. I deliberately didn’t have any HPTs in the house but went out on the thursday night and bought a FRER. I emailed DH at work to let him know that I’d bought them and he told me to go and do one there and then. So I did and the strongest line came up straight away - at 6pm that night! OMG! I went to my clinic the next day and got some bloods done and they were 796 at 4w3d. Pretty good! I continued my acupuncture sessions all the way through my pregnancy to keep me calm. I was super anxious through the whole pregnancy and not once did I ever take for granted that I would be taking home a baby. How could I after 6 years of nothing?????
Anyway, 8 months later my gorgeous little cherub made her way into the world via (semi)elective c-section weighing a very respectable 8lb 10oz!! Huge for my little frame! She was being very naughty and was transverse, hence the c-section.
I pinch myself every single day and know how very lucky I am that after 6 years and 4 months, we finally have our little bundle.

Thanks for reading!!
Sue xxxx

[Amy_jellybean]

Your story was lovely Sue!! It gives us inspiration that it will happen!!! I hope to be posting in here soon xxx

[dusty]

Oh wow, I've finally made the success story thread! After watching others 'graduate' in here its such a privilege to share our story.

Like so many others in this part of the forum, DH and I never imagined our journey to realise our dream of a child and family would be so long and such a rollercoaster ride.

After a 'whoopsie' accident in 2004 several months into seeing each other, we decided I would not to take the morning after pill and took the exciting decision to actively try to have a baby together as we'd already decided we were life partners and ready for the next step in cementing our relationship. We'd just turned 35 and did the right thing by seeking pre TTC medical advice and DTD during O for the first time with purpose at DH's parents house LOL. Fast forward 2 years following our marriage and exploratory laparoscopies & tests and we started IVF as it was obvious with the severity of my discovered endometrosis we were going to need help.
It turned out I was a poor responder to IVF and my eggs were pretty shot. What a shock! We'd assumed that once deciding to go down the IVF path that it would be the solution to delivering our dream but it looked very grim indeed. After a couple of years of failed or cancelled cycles we turned to one of my younger sisters who had already offered her eggs to us if we wanted them.

The egg donation journey was a big positive step for us. After years of disappointment, depression, and the ensuing impacts it had on our personal and professional lives, we felt uplifted and encouraged as someone else started carrying part of our heavy load and sharing in our experience. With my sister's involvement both of our families became more involved and understanding of what we had been going through, and DH and I felt lighter about it all and were able to 'rejoin' life to a bigger degree. We were on the up side of the rollercoaster, regardless of the outcome. We started exploring adoption and permanent care options and discussing what it would mean to us to be child free.

The first cycle with my sis resulted in a chemical pg which we found very encouraging! The second cycle 6 months later we got a BFP but by 6 weeks we realised it was unlikely it progress and at 10 weeks I had a natural m/c but strangely again I felt encouraged (albeit disappointed and sad) that my body could do this given the right embryo. On our third ED cycle a year later we had success and this embryo "Phoenix" was sticking around and I had a wonderful, fulfilling uneventful pg eventually giving birth naturally 17 days past our EDD. I loved pg and once the risky milestones were passed I settled into becoming earth mother and didn't want it to stop (hence the long gestation... ).

Our DD was born vaginally, drug free with her auntie and dad present and it was the most incredible experience of my life to date. When they placed her on my chest I was astounded & ecstatic to see I had birthed a real baby. A writhing, beautiful, 9lb girl with 9/9 apgars. She seemed the most beautiful thing I had ever seen (gotta love those hormones!) I think this was the first time I realised that we had actually succeeded in fulfilling our dream of over 5 years.

Each day with her is a miracle. I feel so blessed to have experienced what I have on this journey, and shared this with my DH, sister and families. Everything happens for a reason, I believe it is just each of our mission to discover what that reason is for us.

The support I have received on BB has been a life saver. Unless you have walked in a LTTTCer's shoes there is no way you can begin to understand the pain infertility can cause.

[MummaSue]

Dusty, I was welling up reading that.

I'm so happy that little Freya is with you guys.

Sue x

[SunnyDreamz]

I want to share my success story ..it was a long journey.In 1991 when I was 22 I required an emergency C section to deliver my beautiful daughter.She was born weighing near on 8lbs & oh so healthy.Unfortunately for me I aquired a nasty infection which resulted in a pelvis abscess & obstructed bowel.It was 2 weeks after my c section that they operated again to drain the infection...causing infertility.It was truely a nightmare.I was so traumatized by the surgery & illness resulting from an otherwise healthy pregnancy that I was unable to consider having another child for many years.I was resigned to not having another child... or so I had convinced myself.

Fast foward 15 years..my dear husband just couldn't let go of the idea of having another child luckily for me.He convinced me to try IVF. I became pregnant after our first fresh cycle.I delivered our beautiful second daughter (VBAC) on the 10/06/2007.A wrong was righted on that day & we are overjoyed by her birth.To see our two daughters together was the most joyous day of our lives.All of the pain of the past had just melted away.Why did we wait so long