My husband and I are both fairly patient because we believed it would just happen, but after 2 years of trying I started looking into natural supplements and alternatives for fertility support. My husband and I met with one naturopath, and I skyped with another over east for a few consultations.  We tried several herbal concoctions and the worse tasting ‘returning to right formula’ liquid of all time.  I took my supplements until one day, the liquid made me throw up.  That was the end of that.  While I’m sure both naturopaths gave my health  boost, at the end of 2013 I still wasn’t pregnant.

We had our first appointment with a fertility doctor at a clinic in Perth.  While we didn’t love our doctor, he was straight forward and to the point.  We decided on going straight to IVF in the new year.

Our first full IVF cycle, including plenty of needles and drugs, an egg collection, and a fresh embryo transfer.  I had 10 eggs collected, 7 that were mature, 5 that fertilised and 3 that grew to day 3.  One embryo was transferred and 2 frozen. Then 2 weeks later I found out the embryo didn’t implant.

In our second attempt with IVF, a frozen embryo was transferred to me.  Two weeks later, while travelling in Canada, I found out again that it didn’t implant. BFN.

After the second IVF attempt, I felt like I needed a break.  I felt like I wasn’t myself and I wanted to get back to being happy and healthy. I didn’t believe IVF would work until I took care of myself first.  I changed careers, went to Bali three times,  became a yoga teacher, and got really strong doing crossfit.

After the break we took with IVF, we realised that we wanted a second opinion from another clinic.  A friend of mine recommended one, and the wait to get an appointment started.

After a 5 month wait for our appointment, we had our first meeting at our new clinic.  We loved our new doctor, and decided to go ahead with him and the new clinic.  We decided to do some additional fertility testing , (hysteroscopy, laproscopy, biopsy) before our next IVF cycle, as I was booked on an overseas trip and wouldn’t be able to complete a cycle until after the trip.

I went under for all my fertility testing: hysteroscopy, laproscopy, biopsy, D&C, and dye.  Results were that my ovaries were looking older than me and a little yellow, but no major fertility factors.  I experienced intense shoulder tip pain and needed a few days to recover from the operation.

For my second egg collection, 10 eggs were collected but most weren’t mature. I had a lead follicle messing things up. 2 eggs fertilised, one day 6 blastocyst which was transferred to me.  After our 2 week wait, negative.

A couple of major trips got in the way of us doing another round sooner, so in January we started our 3rd round of IVF.  My results were worse than the other rounds – 3 eggs collected, 1 fertilised but didn’t make it to blastocyst phase.  We didn’t get to transfer.

Now on the maximum dose of Gonal-F and other drugs, my 4th egg collection was also disappointing – 7 eggs collected, none fertilised.

We were meant to try another full round of IVF and egg collection, however, my thyroid was acting up and my levels weren’t stable enough to go ahead with the round. This was also when we first heard about egg donors as an alternative option.

Before we looked at egg donor alternatives seriously, we decided to move our 1 frozen embryo from the first clinic and try a frozen cycle with that.  It was not meant to be, as my TSH levels shot up to 9.4 and then dropped to 0.01.

I met with an endocrinologist, who enlightened me on how to take my thyroid meds more effectively (more in post).  I had much more stable results from that point on.

I contacted an egg donor agency and fertility clinic in South Africa, and my husband and I started looking at donor profiles.  We ended up choosing a donor in late September with the aim of a November egg collection and fresh embryo transfer.

Our egg donor had a very successful egg collection: 20 eggs collected, 17 fertilised, 10 grade A blastocysts.  I had 2 embryos transferred to me and the 2 week wait began.  8 embryos were frozen for future transfers.

I had a blood test done 2 weeks after transfer, and found out that I was pregnant.   An appointment with the doctor confirmed that one of the embryos had implanted and had a heart beat.  I took an at home pregnancy test, just to see what it felt like to actually see 2 lines – it was so good!