IVF For Dummies

Otherwise called IVF for Bel!

Hi Ladies,

Im new here after recently discovering DH has Bilateral Testicular Microlithasis and Bilateral Testicular Atrophy.

We are still on the highly charged emotional rollercoaster of finding out and aside from being shattered, Im so confused about the whole IVF thing. I cant make sense of the abbreviations, I dont even know what they mean. Im aware that there is different sorts of intervention and only the doctor can tell me exactly what we need but Im going INSANE waiting to see him!
Im googling my day away at the moment and Im just confusing myself even more, I know I probably shouldnt do it, but I cant just sit here doing nothing. Patience is not a virtue I possess.

So Im hoping that someone may be able to shed some light in plain English about what we could be facing...?

I dont need any intervention, AF/Ovulation is absolutely text book (my mood swings are a different story :shhh:) its only DH. I know my eggs will need to be removed for the process.. but will I still need medication/injections?
What is the process? As in where do we start!? How does it work step by step? How long does the process take? I realise it goes by my cycle.. but I can just about guarantee my dates for the next 6 months, my cycles are so exact I wonder if Im normal LOL
And most importantly, is there a waiting list and how do you find the best clinic? Im in Melbournes Northern Suburbs, but I dont mind travelling, nor am I concerned with the cost. Hubby has HBA cover, but I dont... he is still too upset to call them and find out if his procedures can be covered at all.


Im sorry to ask so many questions, I just feel absolutely helpless at the moment. I want to give DH (and myself) something to hope for :( He really isnt coping at all at the moment. Im not really either, but Im holding up a lot better than he is. Its such a role reversal.. Its always me that crumbles under pressure, and Im such a big drama queen at times. Now I just dont know how to help, especially being torn up inside too.
Im trying to stay hopeful, but its so hard at the moment. I have to say that reading this forum does help.

Belizeli,

IVF: They take your eggs, some sperm (be it DH's or donor) put it together in a dish and wait for fertilisation. They then select the best embryos, give you one, and freeze the rest if you have some to freeze. Frozens can then be used later without anywhere near as much intervention in the way of drugs etc.

ICSI: In situations where the sperm is sluggish or generally iffy, they inject the sperm directly into the egg. All else above applies.

You will start with a series of daily under the skin into fat (subcutaneous) injections to increase your egg production, but not like a battery hen or anything. These are nowhere near as bad as you think, and apparently you barely feel them. I did all DW's as she isn't a needle fan, and it's easy.

Once your eggs are big enough (determined by scans) they extract them vaginally using a big long thingo which goes through the wall of your uterus and straight to the ovaries to grab each egg one by one. You can be sedated or asleep if your prefer. Again, not as bad as it sounds, but not theme park fun either. Sperm is then provided by your DH or by a donor, prepared by the scientist to get the best ones, and then thrown together with your eggs along the lines that I described above. After a few days, maybe 3, maybe 5, they put the best embryo back and you wait two weeks to see if it's worked. They determine this via a blood test. It can take many goes to get success, despite the apparent awesomeness or otherwise of your embryos and this shouldn't be viewed as a failure on anyones part.

This is reasonably simplified of course, but not a bad representation of the process. From start to finish it is probably a bit longer than a typical menstrual cycle. Hope this helps as a starting point.

Thank you Slyder!

I love the term "big long thingo" hehe Much more my style of terminology!

Im actually suprised that its only a 2-3 day turnaround once they get the eggs... for some reason I had this idea in my head that it takes months :redface:
Im not a huge needle fan myself, but at the moment I dont really care. I think Id be happy cutting fingers off.
Id want to be awake for the egg removal I think.. I hate not knowing whats going on, even if its a bit "uncomfortable" as the doctors like to say.
The doc threw something around about ICSI (wasnt really listening, I heard "dead testicles" "IVF" and a few other words and then things began to swim... Im still remembering things he said) ... but the more Im reading, the more Im wondering how he could possibly know this yet without the SA results. Unless he is 100% sure that DH cant produce swimmers. Im stuck between irritated and scared now.

Do they implant more than one embryo? Im thinking Octomum and her 8 here :o Id love Twins if I was lucky enough but jeebus..no more that that at one time:o

Not to mention the cost is scaring me, we are just about ready to buy a house and now Im afraid its going to come down to a house or a baby.... the baby is always going to win, even if we have to rent till we die.

No worries, feel free to ask any more questions. It feels crap at the start, but before long you are trucking along and it's not as bad as you might imagine once you know a few details.

Basically if and when fertilisation occurs (usually observed the following day after the egg/sperm party) they give the embryos three to five days to develop. Depends on the clinic - many transfer at Day 3, but some clinics prefer to wait until they reach what is known as Blastocyst which is a more complex and developed embryo and this usually occurs around Day 5. The theory behind waiting until Day 5 is that it sorts the better from the poorer, but many people have success with Day 3 transfers anyway.

As for the egg collection - my wife had a rough go with her first, but she was bloated like a whale from the drugs because she is tiny and the drugs were readily absorbed and too effective (known as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome), from which people bounce back fairly quickly generally. The second was much much better and took probably 30 mins and she wasn't more than a bit uncomfortable. The insertion of the embryos is a 5 minute job, no wrse than a pap smear apparently and generally they will repalce only one embryo, but sometimes two on agreement from you. Never any more than two. Don't worry about OctoMum, she's American and, well, yeah....

I'm not familiar with DH's situation, but if he is producing any sperm at all, they may be able to retrieve them doing a quick biopsy procedure at the same time as your egg retrieval. No guarantees that they would be useable though - but you're fertility specialist can guide you through that process. It may be that a donor is the only option, but cross that bridge when you get to it as obviously your DH and you have enough turmoil and upset to process at the moment.

Cost is a suck factor, no doubt. Depending on your clinic and if tehy charge what is considered by the Govt. to be reasonable fees, once you are about $1100 out of pocket you get 80% of everything back via Medicare. So even though a cycle used to cost us upfront about $7,000, we only ended up a couple of K out of pocket. Things have changed a bit since we did it (ie. new rules this year) but the principles are much the same.

Hi Belizeli, i just wanted to say good luck with everything and it does seem very daunting at first but its not as bad as it seems! I am cuerrently on my 3rd cycle which is a FET cycle. The first stim cycle cost us about $9500, this includes everything- ICSI procedure, cost for drugs, hospital charge and anesthetist charge, out of this we got back about $5000! With the FET cycles its costing us $2400 and we got back $1500 so your out of pocket $900 for those cycles. We also had to pay about $175 for freezing and thats for 6 months. I live in NSW so prices may be a bit different but i hope this helps.
We have only had one transfered each time and we will do so for the next two rounds as we have 2 FE left but if we need another stim cycle we are asking for 2 to be put back, but we are hoping we wont need another stim cycle :pray:


Me 23 & DH 25

Hi belizeli

Slyder has summed up an IVF cycle just perfectly!! Dont be too overwhelmed at all the terminology as it wont take you long at all to pick it up and you will be able just about 'run' your own cycle :D. Cost is sucky and I know it has risen so much since we started. My clinic would never ever transfer more than one embryo as there is even a chnace that it can split and produce twins. There are heaps of people around that will be able to help you with and questions you have and share their experiences. As for the needles, I worked myself up into a right royal mess and it was no where near as bad as what I expected!

Sending you heaps of :bluedust::pink-babydust:

Hope you get your longed for bubba soon hun x

Hi Belizeli
I think the basics have been covered already, but I just wanted to add a good luck! The whole process of needles and collections isn't as bad as you'd imagine. The (many) early morning tests and appointments can be pretty inconvenient when you're working though! One thing I've found is that my cycles have become a bit irregular which never happened before starting IVF. Apparently this is a pretty normal reaction to the hormones.
On the positive side, I am completely over my fear of needles!
Hope it all goes well for you

Thanks again for your replies :)

Its comforting to know that there are other people out there, I feel quite alone right now, no one we know has gone through any fertility issues, let alone IVF. We have decided to keep it from out families for now, I couldnt stand the pity from them, or the questions they will ask especially as I dont have the answers myself yet, As well as all the babies around me at the moment! My sister has a 3 month old, DHs sisters have a 6 month old and a 2 week old...not to mention my best friend has a 4 month old and another close friend has a 5 month old. My boss is 30 weeks pregnant and I work in the babies room at a childcare center. I swear the timing could tot be any worse :wall:

DH seems to be more concerned with the needles that I am! I told him he could help me with them and he freaked out and wants to get BIL to come and help *him* Hahaha

We both work full time so the appointments will be tricky as we have already discovered :rolleyes:
But we had been planning on me leaving work anyway at the end of this financial year as we assumed Id be pregnant by now :( I think with this upon us we may as well stick with the plan.

Slyder, we are unsure about DHs sperm count as yet, first SA on saturday however the doctor doesnt seem confident there will be anything there because of how bad his condition has already progressed.
Although I was re-reading the u/s report and it says the epididymis is unremarkable, so that has given me a little hope. Nothing interesting in the "storage unit" has to be a good thing right?

Thanks for the info about the prices :) Its definately affordable with the medicare rebate!

I was explaining to DH last night about the process..he started to get very excited and wanting to know if they could engineer a boy, or twins :rofl: I told him after the last few days that he should be happy with whatever we get, and he is, but now he is excited that we may just get the 2-3 we were planning on..

Thanks for listening to my rambles, its nice to get it out somewhere :)

Welcome to BellyBelly, belizeli.
Have you had much of a chance to look around the forum here?
This link is a good read with some explanations of the terms used, and also links to other articles and threads that you might find helpful. https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...onception.html

You've got excellent advice from everyone above, so I don't need to add anything really. Try to remember to keep talking, talking, talking to each other. I think most of us have gone through the assisted conception journey learning that no matter how great we thought we were at communicating and being honest with out partner, the stresses of AC makes us communicate on a different and most times, on a better level :) Maybe give yourself a few days to let it sink in a bit more, then read as much or as little as you think you can handle.

Can your DH have you to his health insurance without you having to go through any of the waiting periods?

Thanks nic :)

Ill have a look at that :)

We tried to have me added to his insurance a while ago but they wouldnt do it. I dont mind, they are more of a hassle than a help anyway, Id rather fork out the extra $$ than deal with the stupidity of their claims, its bad enough when DH has to claim for dental, I would really blow my stack at the moment if I had to deal with it for this :S

Im reading so much at the moment everything is becoming a blur and things are crossing form one thing to another hehe I should probably stop but I cant help myself!

I start my IVF cycle this week also. I am Day 1 so bloods tomoro and then start injections. Has anyone had any side effects from the injections - headaches, moody, nausea? I am soooo nervous! More worried about the removal or eggs etc - stuff like that scares the crap outta me!

Hi ChristieJ, dont be worried i found the whole procedure preTty easy, its very over whelming at first but once you start to do it the nurses help every step of the way and remind you about everything you need to do. As for side effect while on the injections my DH said i was nicer lol but once i had egg collection and transfer on that 2ww i hit a low i felt like i had depression, i rang my nusre and she said it was normal it was just an effect of all the hormones in my body, that lasted about a week. But we are all different you might not get any side effects. As for egg collection i was soooo scared, it was my first operation but that too was such an easy process i went in for procedure at 9:00am and went home at 10:30 the actual procedure only takes 15mins i think. I hope this helps
Goodluck with everything xxxxx

Me 23 & DH 25
ICSI
STIM #1 BFN
FET #2 BFN
FET #3 BFP :)