Hey Sisters,
I gave birth last Thursday to my baby girl at 14 weeks due to a genetic disorder, my husband and myself have been trying to cope with the loss, life is unfair sometimes but I don't want this to stop us from trying to conceive, we have decided to go down the IVF road as I don't want to go through what I just went through as I have 50/50 chance of the baby being healthy or unhealthy and unfortunately it was not our time this time. We are really wanting to start our family.
I have a few questions that I thought someone could answer for me, someone who has gone through what I'm going through:
Roughly how long does it take for your cycle to go back to normal?
How long did it take to get the ball rolling with IVF?
How hard is the IVF road emotionally and physically?
I live on the central coast and wanted to know recommendations for IVF clinics? Happy to travel Sydney/ Newcastle area.
Will the grief of losing our baby get easier?
5 Replies
I don't have any IVF recommendations, however I to am a carrier of a genetic disorder that has a 50/50 chance of being passed down in every pregnancy. I only found out I carried the disorder after my son was born with the condition.
I am unsure what condition you carry, however I hope you can take some comfort from the fact that you just made a completely selfless decision and protected your child as best you possibly could. Knowing how my son struggles every single day, I would have made the same decision as you. You will be blessed with a healthy child and in the meantime, remind yourself that you made the best decision you possible could for your baby.
IVF for me was my only hope to fall pregnant to my partner as I had my tubes tied. It couldn't be reversed due to the amount of tube left behind.
I can't give you a recommendation on a clinic as I don't know where your situated but google the clinics around you and definitely read your reviews. I had to travel 750km to do ivf one way. In the end I did the trip multiple times for my one successful cycle.
To get the ball rolling I got my referral from my doctor to my preferred clinic after months of research on the clinics availiable. I rang them and was offered an appointment a week later which I declined due to arrangements having to be made. I took the appointment a month later. In the mean time I had all the bloods that were required by the clinic in my home town and had the results forwarded onto the specialist I was using. I had previous ultrasounds forwarded also. I had my initial appointment and my Nurses appointment a day apart and collected my medications for my cycle and we went home. A week later my period came I had bloods done on day 1 of my cycle when it was heavy and started on my meds the very next day with approval from my clinic. 5 days later I drove to the city and stayed with my bestie and went to the clinic the next day for my first scan where everything was going well, by day 13 from starting my meds they retrieved my eggs and fertilised them with my OH's sperm and five days later they put one back. This is where it'll get tricky for you. You'll need to have PGS to test which embryos do not have any genetic conditions etc this will take time. You will need to have a FET a frozen embryo transfer a month or two after your embryos have been sent away to be tested/screened and then sent back to your clinic. The abnormal ones will be discarded and you'll be left with only good ones that aren't carriers of any diseases. They are not guaranteed to take however. You also are not allowed to choose the sex of the embryo that is put in as they don't allow that here. They can test them and tell you how many boys v girls you have but they won't let you decide what sex is put in. They will use the best graded embryo first. The cost for IVF plus PGS can come to approx $20k and you will only get a little of that back from Medicare and private health if you have it. There is no guarantee it will work but is worth it.
Good Luck with what ever you decide to do. Please take time to heal before you proceed down this route it takes a lot out of you. Xx
She will actually have to have PGD given that she has a known condition. Similar process to PGS, however they will be specifically screening for the condition that she carries.
Oh thanks!! I don't have any genetic conditions so I didn't bother having PGS/PGD done. I just knew what it was there for. She may just want to get it done to ensure there aren't any other conditions she doesn't know about also.
I'm sorry for your loss.
The pain and grief takes time to ease. Good days and bad days.
I've lost 3 in just over a year and coming up to the the second due date now and it's always the hardest time.
I'm on central coast as well. Im now seeing Dr Myvanwy Mcllveen who has a practise in Gosford as well as Newcastle and works with Genea.
Happy to chat if you want to talk to someone.