What did you do to optimize your chances?

[JennJoe]

Hi! I usually post on the IVF board but thought I'd come here for DE answers. After one unsuccessful IVF and several poor-response cycles that never made it to retrieval, DH and I have decided to do a DE cycle this summer/fall. I am so excited and hopeful!

I'm taking a poll:
1. What nutrition plan did you follow, and how far ahead did you start it?
2. What did you do for exercise?
3. Did you do bedrest?
4. How long did your whole process take, from first contact with your RE's donor program until your transfer?
5. Is there any advice specific to a DE cycle I should know?

I want to do whatever I can to optimize our chances, as this will be our last attempt at IVF. Thanks for reading my post!

Jen (35)

[tkf]

Jen-

I don't have any answers, like you I will be doing our first DE cycle in Aug....this wait is hard we did 3 fresh IVF and one FET and all were BFN like you and your husband we are close to exhuasting our resources...My DH and I have decided to do at the max 3 DE IVF. Maybe we will be going through this together...I will follow this thread to see if you get any good advice, I have the same concerns as you. Plus we are not telling any friends or family that we are doing DE so besides DH this is the only place I can talk about it. Hopefully we will be talking/cycling in Aug!

Tricia

[CTATigger]

1. Make sure you are with a clinic/doc that has great stats--75% take home baby rate or better.
2. Make sure your lining is 8mm or thicker, triple pattern. Do a mock cycle and change protocol of meds as necessary for best lining. I used delestrogen injections as they plumped my lining the best.
3. Do acupuncture, the swedish protocol, leading up to transfer to help your lining. Do the german protocol just before and after transfer.
4. Have hubby take Fertility Blend vitamins for 3 months prior to giving sperm.
5. Drink tons of water.
6. Choose a proven donor who is "fertile myrtle".
These are all the things that worked for us!
Baby Blessings,
Christine
Mom to DS 5 months old!

[jlquilts]

Good luck to all of you. I had some good luck with my DE cycle but I did watch my diet, sleep, and exercise routine for months prior to transfer. The exercise was to help remain sane during the process. I was superstisous(sp) but I would always walk on the treadmill for 40 min thinking about a 40 week pregnancy!!

We decided to go with DE after our failed 2nd cycle IVF. I was 41 at the time and knew that if we wanted in greatly improve our chances we should switch to DE. We had a donor first in Dec. Anonomus donor who backed out in Jan. Aother donor was lined up by March. She was young had terminated a pregnancy but was not a proven donor. We were lucky 43 eggs. We transferred 2 blasts and the twins are 3!!! I took a week off from work to relax think pleasant thoughts and lie around during the time of transfer. I requested that dh not drink any alcohol and take care of himself during this process as well.

The best of luck to all of you. It is such a stressful time.

[JennJoe]

Thanks for the good advice. I was wondering what figure would be considered a good success rate. And I love the 40-minute analogy ... will have to try that!

Tricia, glad to hear there's someone doing it at around the same time we are. Let's pass the long months waiting by keeping in touch, K? Like you, we are not telling anyone either, so it's hard not being able to talk to my friends and family about it. We just want a normal pg, like everyone else.

Regards,
Jen

[50/50]

1. What nutrition plan did you follow, and how far ahead did you start it?
Tried to eat organic foods, whole foods, no fast food, healthy.

2. What did you do for exercise?
30-45 mins of brisk walking, yoga at least 4-5 x per week of either

3. Did you do bedrest?
2 days of "taking it easy"

4. How long did your whole process take, from first contact with your RE's donor program until your transfer?
About 2-3 mos. I used an agency

5. Is there any advice specific to a DE cycle I should know?
hmmm can't think of anything but I would suggest acupuncture...i did this and felt it increased my odds.

[tkf]

Jen-

Are you going to do a shared cycle or have the DE all to yourself? I am so ready to start the IVF again...the months in between treatment are so hard...I like to feel like I am actively working on getting pregnant. I hope the next few months will fly by for both of us. We go in April to start the DE process, finding just the right lady...I have high hopes for DE IVF.

I'm waiting for a match so I'll only cover what I have done so far

A word of caution about finding someone with good stats: watch out for inflated/misleading numbers. Are they talking live birth or clinical pregnancy? Are they taking anyone or only people that actually gives them those nice stats and turn away anyone "too complicated."

With that said:

*****1. What nutrition plan did you follow, and how far ahead did you start it?

My RE said to take prenatal vitamins; over the counter okay. Eat balanced and don't forget your veggies and fruits I've been doing that since TTC over a year ago.

This is not just for me but for my DH:

No caffeine

No smoking

No alcohol

Watch out fish with high content of methylmercury see this link http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish...ryBrochure.pdf

No raw fish

No herbal supplements since they are not actually clinically proven and especially not St John Wort or Echinacea.

*****2. What did you do for exercise?

I exercise a lot right now (4 times/week; weights and cardio), but will tone it down once pregnant since it's unhealthy for the development of the baby to overheat.

*****3. Did you do bedrest?

Research leads to believe it's not a necessity except that it makes us feel better. See this link and scroll down to: Bedrest after in vitro fertilization (IVF) not necessary http://in-vitro-fertilization.blogsp...n_archive.html (this blog has a lot of good info)


***** 4. How long did your whole process take, from first contact with your RE's donor program until your transfer?

I'm using an agency after getting burned trying to find our own donor. They said, typically, it takes 8 to 12 weeks just to find the match. I'm on week ONE! Guh...

Who knows maybe we'll be doing it together in August.

***** 5. Is there any advice specific to a DE cycle I should know?

Right now the only thing I keep telling myself is: patience; it takes time regardless how ready I am. It's hard to have to rely on so many people and hope nobody drops the ball.

Another thing, meet with a lawyer to understand how your state laws affect EDonation and to make sure you have a written agreement between you and the EDonor. Use someone that specializes in reproductive law.

[gs42]

1. What nutrition plan did you follow, and how far ahead did you start it?

About 2 weeks prior to the transfer during the "lining building" stage I made sure I started eating pineapple. I had some form of pineapple EVERYDAY. Either chunks, tidbits or juice. I didn't stop until after the second positive beta.

I also used Red Beet Powder because it a very digestible source of iron to help build my lining. It also carbohydrate rich and I read a study somewhere that indicated that the embies are attracted to "carb rich" blood. I figured it couldn't hurt!

2. What did you do for exercise?

I bought a Yoga for Fertility dvd off Ebay. I did it twice a week and woke up extra early the morning of transfer to do it one last time before I started taking it easy during the 2ww. I also had an acupuncture treatment directly following our transfer.


3. Did you do bedrest?

No. My RE doesn't require it. He says "don't run any marathons or lift anything heavier than 20 pounds, no excercise, but continue with your normal everyday life as long as it doesn't involve anything strenuous."

I'll admit I did take advantage of the post-transfer period to "nap" quite frequently!


4. How long did your whole process take, from first contact with your RE's donor program until your transfer?

I'm a gestational carrier (have been a donor in the past) so my intended mom was using her own eggs. We used frozen pro-nucliedes (sp?) from a previous cycle so the process was pretty short - about 4-5 weeks.

5. Is there any advice specific to a DE cycle I should know?

I'm not sure what caused this transfer to work better than our others, but if I were ever to do it again I'd re-do everything I did for this past cycle!!!

History.......

1st transfer frozen 3 dayers looked great 6 celled, 7 celled, 8 celled- transfered 3 - BFN.

2nd transfer fresh 3 dayers that looked great 7 celled, 7 celled, 8 celled - transfered 3 - singleton boy

3rd transfer frozen pro-nucliedes they looked "okay" in my opinion 2-celled, 2-celled and 4-celled (fragmented) - transfered 3 - twins - go figure!

[JennJoe]

Tricia,

We haven't yet officially committed to a clinic, but for as much (little) as I know about this, I think we're having the donor to ourselves ... I would think for $22K it's not a shared cycle. Does that sound right? Yes, it's hard to be between cycles; the one bright spot is losing 5 pounds in one week after stopping meds. Errr.

When you say you're starting the process in April to find the right donor, what does that involve? All I've done so far is fill out a form, prioritizing our requirements. Had to laugh at some of the questions, for instance, "Is the religion of the donor important?" Doesn't that seem silly? Oh and "Are tattoos/body piercings important?" Uhhh, as long as our donor doesn't have hepatitis, why should we care?!?! I mean, yeah, I'd like a med student who looks like Rachel Hunter and runs marathons when she's not volunteering at the humane society, but...

Have a great weekend!
Jen