Roll Call/Introduction: Lurkers too!

[lyusechka]

I just found this board and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Lyu, I am 40 years YOUNG and have been happily married for almost 21 years. We have a beautiful and smart 20 y.o. daughter, and have never prevented after she was born. When I felt that my biological clock is ticking very loud (almost 2 years ago), I started checking myself and DH. Well, as far as I know my results are all good (FSH, LH, T, HSG, just name it!), I ovulate, my cycles are very regular (I know almost to an hour when my period should start), etc. However, last year my DH had his first SA ever, and the result was whopping ZERO count. We went to the urologist specializing in male infertility and got the diagnosis of "premature testicular failure" and varicocele on both sides, all hormones were OK (except low testosterone). My poor hubby had to have a varicocele repair in January, but it did not help a little bit. The count is still zero (4 months post-op), the Dr. said it is unlikely to improve and we decided to go DS route. I've never ever dreamt about this possibility... but well, here we are. I am looking forward to knowing all of you. All of your stories are heartbreaking but inspirational.

Lyu

[SmilingHelps]

Hi Everyone

I have just turned 25 years old, my husband is 37. We have been married 5 years. He is my best friend, my companion, everything that I dreamed of. We have technically been trying since last August (almost a year now). About 6 months ago we started seeing an RE specialist only to find out that my ovaries are stubborn. Husband has "fantastic" sperm, but I am a poor responder/low responder to the medicine. I have had two failed IUI cycles (discovered the second failed yesterday) using 1,000 follistim/40 Lupron a day. My doctor has told me that IVF is not an option for us because I cannot make enough follicles/eggs. He has briefly suggested egg donation and I believe this is the route that we will have to take.

This is my medical history. As for the emotional - well- you all know how difficult this is. I feel like my soul is being scarred. I don't know how much strength that I really have. my husband and i have so much love to give, so much to share with a child. We were responsible and made sure that we had absolutely everything in place for our child ...but then our child never came to us. I was once a catholic theology student planning to dedicate her life to the church (possibly becoming a nun). Now it hurts to pray sometimes.
Some days, I am so strong and I can see happiness in the small things. Other days, the tears fall without warning.

It is so nice to have this place. It is a little haven in the middle of so much stress and torturous pressure. God bless you all.
God willing, we will all get that baby that we deserve.

Take care,
Jen

[milzie]

Hi All..
I have been a lurker for a long time and finally decided to register. My husband and i have been trying to conceive for 4 yrs. I have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. I have had every test imaginable, had lap surgery, you name it its been done! Did 6 cycles of clomid, no results. 4 cycles IUI..1 resulted in pregnancy and then misscarriage. I did 2 cycles of IVF with my own eggs..with no results..(it seems i get pregnant and then lose the embryos) My Dr suggested we try donor eggs as my eggs weren't very good. We did 1 cycle with donor eggs with no results. We had 8 frozen from that cycle but they didn't survive the unfreezing process. We are currently trying our 2nd cycle with donor eggs. MY Dr offered us a cycle with a couple who wanted to share their cycle. They are going through IVF also.SO we were very lucky with this cycle. We found out today we have 10 eggs and 7 fertilized. The transfer is on Thurs the 25th..so we have our fingers crossed for this one!!
After this cycle we are done no matter what happens. After 4 yrs of disappoinment,constant injections, plus we were lucky enough to have our insurance cover 2 1/2 cycles, but we ran out of money. We only did this cycle because my Dr (who is wonderful) made it very cheap for us to do. But we are optomistic..we have also become certified as foster parents so we'll go that route and hopefully adopt.
Good luck to all out there who are going through cycles..I know what your going through!! I enjoy this website becuase it makes me realize i am not going through this alone.... Good luck to all!!

[rmeredith3555]

Hello all. I am a 28 yr old female who is looking to become an egg donor. I am married with three beautiful, healthy sons. I am currently attending college for accounting.

[milzie]

Hi rmeredith!
Thank you for being so genereous and wanted to donate eggs!! Thats such an awesome thing to do and if it weren't for you and thousands of other women doing that we wouldn't be given the chance to have a family!
I don't know where exactly your located but the fertility clinic i use compensates donors $4,ooo per cycle they do..so you can make a little money too... we can all use that now esp. with gas prices!! (In NY where i am it jumped between 2.99 and 3.29...eeek!!)
Good luck with your donor cycles and thanks again from all of us donor receipants!! Mary

[codyvic]

Hello

I wanted to share a little and tell you all some of my story.

I have a female partner so Donor Sperm is our only choice. I had tried timing my cycle without success, and stopped having reg periods from 35 yrs. I resisted the need for Progesterone etc. Eventually I went to a RE and tried for 1.5 yrs to concieve with IUI's and 2 IVF cycles. I had 12 eggs retrieved and no frozen, with a pregnancy that lasted 3 weeks, I was exstatic and disappointed (I know now I can become pregnant at least) 2nd IVF did not work at all and no frozen. I decided to get a second opinion and realized I had PCOS. Began treatment with Metaformin and when it came time to begin Injectibles I was monitored exstensively. This helped greatly.....I retrieved 28 eggs, Fertilized 21, put back 2 and 10 are frozen. It did not work again but I am due to have my next transfer in two weeks. I am so hopeful and just want a little one like everyone here.

take care and know that although such an effort we have so much courage and strength and hope....that is what can keep things going.

take care

KC

PS: I am also an Egg Donor Coordinator so I know how hard and wonderful things can be.

[Canyonlands]

Hello. I've been lurking for a long time now. I'm almost 40 and my DH is 38. We've been ttc for 3+ years. We have no children. We finally went to a RE about a year ago and found out that I have 1 blocked tube and that DH has low morphology. Our RE recommended that we go straight to IVF because we both have an issue and because of my age. To make a long story short, we have done IVF twice in the last year, but got a BFN both times and had nothing to freeze. With our IVF's we did PGD and based on the results, our RE thinks that our problem is related to poor egg quality and has recommended that we use donor eggs for any future IVF cycles. After some soul searching, we have been exploring donor eggs and hope to find a donor soon. I can't begin to tell you how much this board has helped me in the past year. It has given me so much hope. I really appreciate how candid, giving and supportive everyone is. It makes me realize that there are lots of people out there who are going through this IF nightmare. I especially want to thank everyone who is a donor. You are giving such an incredible gift!

[Marla]

DH and I are both 37 and have been married for 14 years. I don't have time to go into the hairy details...Anymore I occasionally lurk but used to post (The forum used to be so dead.). DS and DD were the result of DE/AH/rescue ICSI IVF. They had a pretty rough go after their birth so I'm thrilled that we'll be able to celebrate their first birthday tomorrow. Hang in there, ladies; there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Marla

Ripp and Ehlin, b. 11/8/04

[Marci]

Hi, I'm Marci (dh is Kevin). I'm 39 and Kev is 45 (yikes,time flies, just had my 20th hs reunion this past summer!!)

We have been ECCSTATICALLY married for almost 19 yrs, started ttc for about 17 of those. We've gone from the basics to drugs-surgery (both of us)-donor sperm - IVF/ICSI - 4 failed adoptions (1 we actually had for 2 weeks before she changed her mind) - donor sperm again. We are now waiting on embryo adoption. We have hoped for this summer (I'd like to lose about 25 lbs, so I I can keep my bp down, get my bp down and my cholesterol down also.). I'd like to be chosen anytime, not just in the summer, that way our "emmbies" can be waiting at our own fertility center. We have signed on with "Miracles Waiting" and plan on siging with 1 more. They basically out out bio's on both the donor and recipient and you find each other - they don't match you or have anything else to do with you. They're are quite a few more recipients waiting than donors - but it's just like adoption - when you're chosen, you're chosen.

Kevin is a pastor, he does mostly chaplaincy work in prisons, jails, and hospitals. I'm a Registered Dietitian (needing to lose weight!!), but don't work outside the home, as I'm pretty busy with mininstries in our church. I do fill in at the local WIC and hospital occasionally assisiting new moms on breastfeeding (which is what I'd like to do someday part time). We're both retired Army soldiers (our JUST before the war started - whew!!!!).

Our hearts are not ready to give up - I don't care how old I am. If it must come to that time, God will spare that desire from my heart - or maybe He'll get sick of me begging and just go ahead and give me one!! I keep telling Him it'd be easier than trying to teach me something!

I love crafts (especially card/stamping and scrapping). We're re-decorating our house now (kitchen, dining room and the basement (turned into a den) are finished, but the rest of the house is in upheavel! It's been fun though - at least for me who get's to pick things out.

Been on FT at least 7 yrs - between IF boards and adoption boards, I've been thru most! After a rest for a while (too depressed to commiserate with others) I'm back here and looking forward to 2006 FINALLY being our year!

Lot's of blessings and prayers to all of you!!

Marci

Greetings,

What brings me to the site is the fact that we have decided not to tell a soul that we have decided to use a donor to conceive a child; it makes talking about it to anyone outside the medical professionals assisting us impossible. I thought I'd come here to find my voice again.

Our background: my partner and I are both in our early 40s. We found each other over 2 years ago and decided to take a shot at starting a family; something that neither one of us would do earlier due to circumstances.

Unfortunately, I found out less than a year ago that my eggs have decided to consider early retirement. My partner is healthy, so, the obvious step for us, according to my RE, is to enlist a donor.

Currently, we are 5 months into looking for a donor and totally frustrated because we tried to do it by ourselves to start with. First, we went through our REs list of donors. We found one that was a match, but it didn't work out. This brought us to realize the importance of having the donor mature enough to know what she wants and also to understand what donating involves at every level.

Soooo, We have decided to "upgrade" our search and sacrifice -- monetary in this case -- to save our sanity. We just checked out the legitimacy of and reviewed donating agencies' profiles to see who the lucky one will be. Monday, I will call our pick to make a preliminary appointment to meet them.

The unknown is killing me. Are they going to work out? What really matters to me? Do they have a match for me? How long is this going to take? What are the legal ramification of all this? Etc, etc, etc. No matter how informed we are, are we going to miss something and get nailed later for it? I am literally loosing sleep with all these crazy questions.

Every day I tell myself, focus on the now, focus on the now or you'll miss out on life, but it's just not happening.

Fertile Thoughts,

Mx2