My IVF experience: A patient’s perspective
I always knew I wanted to be a mum.
I just never thought it would be something difficult, that it would just happen. I met my husband when we were in our early 30’s and we were on the same page. We both wanted kids but not straight away. I do regret now that we put off trying to have a baby until I was 36. We just didn’t envision how much trouble we would have getting pregnant.
The frustrating thing was that on paper at least, nothing was wrong. We were told that we fell into the category of unexplained infertility, having tried to conceive for more than 2 years without having a baby. Both my husband and I had all the tests looking for reasons but they came back normal.
I was 38 when we started our first IVF cycle, which didn’t go exactly as I had hoped. The treatment process was all ok. I got used to the idea of giving myself injections – that was actually really easy in the end.
My egg collection procedure was ok and 9 eggs were collected.
The next day we received the disappointing news that my eggs were of bad quality and only two out of 9 fertilized. On the day of my embryo transfer we learned that only one embryo had survived and it was a grade 3, – with a low chance of being a baby. We went ahead but didn’t conceive. I found the two week wait between embryo transfer and pregnancy test really hard, but I had a gut feeling that it wasn’t going to work.
Thankfully our second cycle went better. We only got 8 eggs this time but four were fertilized and two embryos survived. I conceived on my first embryo transfer and the second embryo is frozen – who knows, we might be lucky again one day. I am now over the high risk period at 18 weeks and expecting a little boy. All the assessments of my pregnancy have been normal but I don’t think I will really be able to relax until I’m holding him in my arms.
I am so grateful to my IVF doctor and her support team who backed me up and encouraged me to try again after our disappointing first cycle. To other would be mums out there, my advice to you is don’t put off having a baby for a job or lifestyle or travel. None of my girlfriends had trouble – I would never have predicted that I would need IVF. It’s can seem like it’s never the right time to have a kid, but when is that exactly? The last two years showed me that you can’t control or dictate when pregnancy happens. In many ways it’s out of your hands.
Reviewed by Dr Raelia Lew
RANZCOG Board Certified CREI Fertility specialist, Gynaecologist and the Director of Women’s Health Melbourne.
Co-host of the Knocked Up Podcast, Co-founder of Ellechemy intimate wellness solutions. Raelia has a PhD in Preconception Health Promotion and Genetic Screening. Raelia is a leading Australian expert in IVF and egg freezing, pioneering a bespoke model of care.