[My Name Is Carol]

After trying for 2 years, my husband & I found out last Monday that unless we do IVF, we can not get pregnant. Both my tubes are blocked (I was under the impression that it was just the right one) & my husband has low motility. (double curses!) I was referred to an infertility specialist & she has recommended IVF with ICSI. I was pretty shell shocked, so I didn't know what questions to ask before being given a script for BCP, sent to the lab for an AMH blood draw, then to the finance dept. to discuss my insurance & payment arrangements.

I have read about IVF, but I am so confused & could use some help. The clinic we are using requires an IVF class prior & that is scheduled for tomorrow at 1pm, and I guess that is to go over the process of IVF, injections, meds, etc. but I guess my main thing is, I just have questions, that I'm not sure make a lot of sense & hopefully one of you can maybe give me some ideas of what to expect.

I've already had an HSG, but what other test or tests will I have to have done? I've read so much in the past week my head is about to explode! I know there will be a lot of blood work, & I'm expecting that, it's just ... I guess the fear of the unknown.

My biggest question is, how do we know this will work? I mean, I understand my tubes are blocked preventing egg & sperm from meeting, but how will they know if the embryo's will take once implanted?

I have been just a mess since we found all of this out. I had the HSG in Sept & the MD that did that said that the right tube was shot but he didn't see why the left one wouldn't work, and now this MD says no chance. If I'd known then, I would've already started the IVF process instead of waiting 3 months shy of my 38th birthday!! Any help that you lovely ladies could give me will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.


**updated to add the following email I just received from my doctor that will be performing this procedure. "Your egg reserve number is 1.0, A perfect number is a little higher but this is still fine. You have very good odds that it will be successful." I don't understand what an egg reserve is, so I am off to google it until I get a response here.**

[momma S]

Hi Carol, sorry to hear about having to do IVF... there are a lot of us in similar situations here. Your AMH number is 1.0, according to my IVF clinic 1.0 and above is considered normal ovarian reserve. It is good you are doing IVF now instead of waiting because of your age and being on the lower end of the AMH being good. Your AMH is an indicator of how many eggs are potentially left in you for the rest of your life. Once you hit 35 your eggs start to deplete more rapidly and egg quality tends to go down, or so I have been told! It is a lot to take in that is for sure. No one wants to hear they need IVF ever. Drs will never be able to tell you for certain whether or not an egg will implant. They can only look at the data that they have and give you their best guess from their experiences from other patients and their knowledge of how well IVF will or will not work for you. It sounds as though everything is in your favor! We are moving into IVF #2 and if I have any advice to give it is really, really try to relax and be as least stressed as you can through this whole process. Your body will respond much better if you are. You can join us in the march, april, may, june IVF page in this forum. It is where we all talk about what is going on with us and where we are in our IVF journey right now. Hope to see you over there! If you have more questions we can all help to answer them for you there as well!

[My Name Is Carol]

Thanks for the help. I was googling egg reserve LOL & trying to figure it all out. I'll head over there to check out the forum you recommended as well.