The Trials & Tribulations of Trying to Conceive when its just not happening (12m+)

TamVilla80

Hi Flee. Welcome back, although sorry you have had to come back! I can't help you with ICSI but sure someone else can.

See you are in Staffs - and me!

frozenpenguin

Hi Flee, like Tam said, sorry you find yourself back here. I've had two ICSI treatments, DH has a low count and I also have PCOS (just to make things that bit more fun )


The actual process is no different to going through IVF, the only proper difference (apart from the price and reasons behind it) is what they do in the lab with the eggs and sperm.


Neither of our ICSI's were successful unfortunately so I can't offer any advice on that bit of it but anything else, feel free to ask away! xx

skaps

Thank you all.

Thanks frozenpenguin I think I will wait until the scan I a few weeks time.

Gelly123

Massive congratulations to emma and skaps - that's the most fantastic news for you both and your OH's of course! Wishing you both a very uneventful 8 months ahead :j

emma - re your TMI comment, are they progesterone pessaries? If so, I was taking them with my last pregnancy and our consultant told me that they can be inserted *ahem* vaginally or rectally but that they are more effective if inserted rectally so worth checking with your consultant.

I must admit, I absolutely cringed at the idea but would do anything to sustain a viable pregnancy so did as she suggested and actually, it really wasn't too bad. I kept disposable gloves in the bathroom to use each time and I'll be honest, they were less messy in your underwear if you put them at the back, than if you put them at the front. Prob worth wearing a liner if you don't want to ruin too many pairs of knickers.

AFM - we had our appt with the consultant at the recurrent miscarriage clinic this morning - she is so lovely. Next steps are blood tests for chromosome testing for both of us - results back in 4-6 weeks and keep trying but at next positive test, get back in touch immediately and we'll be on aspirin and progesterone pessaries like last time but with steroids as well as she thinks that my body might be thinking the pregnancy is a foreign body and is getting rid of it so the steroids will suppress my immune system.

It's unlikely that there will be much BD'ing at the moment - under a heck of a lot of stress as sadly my Dad is dying - had to put him into a nursing home 2.5 weeks ago. GP told me that he probably had less than a week but he's still fighting bless him.

Love and hugs to you all
Gelly
x

fluffnutter

Flee wrote: »

Hi not been on here for a while.
Looks like we are going to be trying ICSI. Has anyone got experience of this?
I am worried about the cost and our chances of success. Hubby has low sperm count and I am 38 years old with one ovary.

ICSI is the same as IVF with the one difference being that instead of letting the sperm and egg mingle in the petri-dish of love themselves, the andrologist (sperm guy) selects the best looking sperm (in terms of health, not looks ) and directly injects the egg. This gives better rates of fertilisation in situations where the number or quality of sperm is on the low side.

It's often a clinical decision, rather than a patient choice. Some clinics will simply say 'this is your best chance of fertilisation so we're going with ICSI'. Sometimes it's a choice made on the day if the number/quality of sperm fluctuates or is borderline.

Pre-empting the 'why not always do this if it gives better results?' question, it's a more labour intensive procedure, obviously. It involves the skill and attention of an andrologist and if it's not needed, then why do it? Also there's an argument that nature itself is the best chooser of sperm and that, left to their own devices, the strongest and healthiest would reach the egg anyway. But when you're in the lab, under non-natural conditions, and you desperately want to see a good number of fertilised eggs, sometimes it make sense to give nature a helping hand.

skaps

So sorry to hear that Gelly. Sending you love and hugs at this difficult time xxx

tea_lover

I've had ICSI twice. Like others have said - from your point of view you won't see any difference to standard IVF. Feel free to ask any questions - between us we all have far too much knowledge of the whole process!

TamVilla80

Sending you hugs and thoughts Gelly x

giveitawhirl

I had ICSI/IVF twice, on my first attempt they decided to do half ICSI and half IVF( of course this is dependant on the number of eggs retrieved). I had 16 eggs and for some reason the ICSI ones did not do well at all and only the IVF ones fertilised ( I have no idea why).
Unfortunately my first attempt was not successful and when undertaking our second attempt they wanted to do half and half again. We decided against this and just went for the standard IVF and I now have my DS.

It may be worth considering the half/half option or at least have a chat about it with your doctors. Good luck to everyone it's such a tough journey xxx

Flee_2

Thanks for the advice. It's going to be costly and not sure how we are going to afford more than two rounds of it. I have two children but OH hasn't.
OH is stressed by his sperm being low quality and any failure will leave him distraught.