The Beginning of Invitro Fertilization

In My Humble Opinion
1

So after four years of trying and testing, mr. jar and I begin the process of in vitro fertilization on Feb 1, with a ‘target march’ implantation date.

I was very excited, until the doctor handed me a ‘helpful information packet’ that robbed me of sleep last night.

Not only were there no hard stats in it like “this has a 50% chance of working”, but every single step of the way had some horrid nightmarish side effect that was most certainly NOT listed as ‘rare’ or ‘hardly ever’. I mean, listing everything right up to ‘possible death’ in every instance.

I understand that malpractice laws and ‘cover your ass’ procedures demand all these things be listed, but now I’m totally convinced that I’m either going to be septically killed, have a full hysterectomy or die from ‘hyperactive exploded ovaries’.

i know a bunch of dopers have gone through this. I don’t want to have to worry about this until Feb 1, but I have to ask myself, is this going to work and what the heck price am I going to pay if it doesn’t? Perforated uterus? Internal bleeding, exploded ovaries infecting my whole body? major surgery? death?

Is this something that happens to 1 in 5 or 1 in 5,000 and why in the world wouldn’t this be listed in the book the doctor gave me?

It just seemed like in this fifty pages of med speak there wasn’t one positive commentary. I didn’t expect a guarantee of motherhood, but how about some numbers? A healthy 32 year old has _____ chance of getting pregnant, and ____ chance of living through the procedure. That’s all I want to know.

My doctor said “it’s fifty fifty really.” well, everything in the world is fifty fifty. Either you do or you don’t.

And then the studies of in vitro babies being more susceptible to major birth defects, low birth weight, miscarriage, still born…

I’m freaked out. big time. I don’t want to give up, I want to try this, I want to be pregnant, i want to have my family. What can I do here? :frowning:

2

My friend and his wife did invitro after “trying” for a long time. She had some medical problems that made it difficult to conceive and she was really torn up about not having a baby. After the first invitro treatment/implanting, boop, one bun in the oven easy as pie. Hope yours goes as well, Jar. :slight_smile:

3

Oh, and some odds:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/24/tech/main565014.shtml

I’ve seen odds of 70-ish percent touted at some clinics, but they may be refusing “chancy” cases like older women.

The impression I get is that once a blastocyst is successfully implanted, you’re pretty much out of the woods.

4

Thanks for the story. Those are pretty good odds. My insurance gives me six tries with IVF, then I have to start paying for it.

I’m still freaked out about the harvesting of eggs. Apparently the younger and healthier the patient, the greater the odds of her ovaries stimujlating so much that they explode. Great. GREAT!

But thanks for the cite.

5

The odds of ending up with a baby at the end of all of this is highly dependent on the reason for the infertility in the first place. In cases where the problem was merely a low sperm count (and the woman was perfectly healthy), then the chances are pretty good. If the cause is something like simply blocked tubes, then again doing in-vitro can successfully get around the problem. If the problem is something like endometriosis, which can really muck up the works, then the chances are worsened. Sometimes eggs are low quality, causing fertilization to not take place, or cell division to be poor. But you’ll know this before they do the transfer.

When my wife and I went through this, we of course had to sign all kinds of documents, but they didn’t make as big a deal about the side effects like they did with you. I recall that being “overstimulated” was a concern that might require hospitalization. She actually did become overstimulated during one attempt, so she had to go to the clinic all day to be on an IV. She just read books and magazines all day, and it never really seemed like a life-threatening ordeal.
Regarding birth defects, the last I heard was that the rate of birth defects of children conceived thru in-vitro was about the same as those conceived the traditional way.

You have great insurance if they will pay for six attempts.
And good luck with everything!

6

Nothing to add, but I just wanted to say “Good luck!”.

Robin

7

My wife and I (well, mostly her) just went through the procedure for the first time starting back in September. It worked for us on the first try and she found out she was pregnant with twins in October. She’s due in July. She was 26.

We followed the directions they gave us very strictly. It was a lot of injections which you probably know. She had to quickly get used to getting injections that she normally hated and feared, and I had to quickly get used to giving injections which I had never done before and had a fear of.

I think a lot of the odds have to do with your age, health, and reason your infertile. We were both pretty healthy however she never ovulated on a regular basis, and my sperm were incapable of penetrating her eggs. It seemed very likely that if we could get one of her eggs and inject it with my sperm and put it back it would take. They fertilized two, put two back in, and both took.

All of the side effects your reading about are because they legally have to tell you any possible thing that could go wrong. Same with taking tylenol. There are tons of risks with taking over the counter anything.

If you have any more specific questions i’d be happy to answer them. There is also a website/message board my wife was on frequently.

pre-conception messageboards
fertility tricks and treatments board
she made a lot of friends on there who were going through it at the same time she was.

8

Best of luck to you, Jar.

I know how much this means to you.

Know that you have me sending my happiest vibes your way! :slight_smile:

I know how hard this is (easier said than done), but do your best to relax and not let the fears get to you. IMO, a relaxed session is more likely to take than a tensed up one (for what my 'science is worth!).

Do your best to think happy, positive thoughts. Take a cd player (that’s what I did) if it helps to not think about things.

9

You have great insurance!

A friend of ours was just implanted with 2 embryos, they both ‘took’ but now at 8 weeks she has lost one. Dr.'s give her good chances on the other one being fine. This was their first attempt.

I also know people who have had eggs harvested using the same procedure, but for the purpose of donating and had no trouble. I personally at one point was going to donate eggs and so went though all the screening, tests and research, and I don’t remember the risk of overstimulating being very high, at least I don’t remember worrying about it. I didn’t end up donating because of timing issues, but I was told the risks to me the donor were pretty low, I wouldn’t have considered doing it if I felt it was risky. I am pretty sure the procedure is the same whether you are a donor or preparing for your own IVF. I think your clinic is just covering themselves in a major way.

Best of luck to you and I hope you have the family you dream of.

10

Illinois law requires coverage for infertility treatment up to a certain point. 6 attempts is what I’ve seen for every insurance plan I’ve had since the law was passed.

Good luck.

11

Can’t remember where I read this but the only criticism I’ve seen re: in vitro was a woman who argued that doctors as a matter of habit will time the shots and treatments according to their medical schedule & office hours, not the woman’s regular monthly cycle, and that it would be much easier on women if things were timed otherwise. If that makes sense; it may have been an old article, perhaps that’s not how things are done now.

There are a lot of Happy Endings on the babycenter.com twin messageboard, although you have to wade through large numbers of doofuses. The only person I personally know who did any infertility treatments did not actually wind up pregnant. However I don’t think she had any problems or complications with the treatments. She was in her late 30s.

Good luck!

12

Best of luck to you. the missus and I are to the point that IVF is our last option if we don’t want to adopt. We are currently on a 1 year break from trying (after 2 years of disappointment through other therapy and too mkuch trying before that). I know all too well how much all of this sucks.

13

That may be somewhat outdated.
All shots were administered by myself and were on a strict schedule. Typically at 6:30 a.m. or 6:30 p.m.
Doctors apointments were usually limited to blood tests and ultrasounds to monitor the follicles.
The major timed injection is done 12 hours prior to the retrieval and you know ahead of time when to give this injection.

14

Best of luck. My sister concieved first try this way and my nephew is now three months old.

(We elected to adopt. The fertility drugs they try before IVF were turning me into a psychotic bitch. Back then, the chances were slimmer (my son is six), and the process more expensive - no insurance coverage. All added up to - hey! lets not go there!).

15

Thanks so much for the kind words. I’m super scared about the shots. Mr. Jar literally passes out at the sight of needles going into skin, and I’m not too keen on shooting up, so that’ll be our biggest challenge.

Looks like I picked the wrong lifetime to give up heroin. :smiley:

16

Good luck with the IVF. And the needles.

Here’s a list of the infertility blogs

http://www.alittlepregnant.com/alittlepregnant/blogs.html

there’s some great info and some wonderful women posting – there’s some heartwrenchingly sad stories as well as the happy outcomes.

17

While I didn’t have invitro, I think I can say this much: don’t worry about the shots.
I think it’s scary now because it is unkown. Once you get the hang of it, they will be less scary.

The clinic I went to had group sessions where you could go and talk to others. Maybe going through it with someone else will make it less scary for you.

I am hoping to read a thread by you in the near future about how changing diapers sucks!
:slight_smile:

18

Yeah, I was thinking that the weird things that happen to your tender bits when you’re pregnant will quickly eclipse the needles. Never mind the exams! Gets to the point where you’ll spread your legs for anyone who asks :stuck_out_tongue: . But of course the wee ones are worth it - I really hope this works for you!

19

Sending lots of baby makin’ prayers your way!

PS: How many are they going to implant at a time?

20

It worked for us, but after a couple of tries. Two embryos implanted, they were in for 38 weeks, and now they’re going on two. :eek:

If your husband winces at needles, tell him it’s just another way of stickin’ it in.

A bag of frozen corn works when an ice pack is unavailable for those big butt shots.

Good luck!