After multiple losses, failed FETs, and a poor ovarian response, a patient with blocked tubes and immune issues became pregnant after starting Lovenox for antiphospholipid antibodies and transferring a fresh 5BB embryo. She’s now 12.5 weeks pregnant with normal NIPT results.
⚠️ These stories are personal experiences, not medical advice or scientific evidence. Success stories are more likely to be shared than unsuccessful ones, so they should not be interpreted as proof that a treatment works. Always discuss treatment decisions with your doctor.
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📊 Story Snapshot
👩 Age: 27 at start📆 Years trying: Not stated
🧬 Embryo: 5BB, untested
🧪 Retrievals: 3
🐣 Transfers: 5
💊 Diagnosis: Poor ovarian response, Recurrent pregnancy loss, Immune-related issues
📈 Outcome: 12.5 weeks pregnant
I started my IVF journey after finding out my tubes were completely blocked and had to have them removed in 2018. I was 27 years old at the time. By the end of the year, I started my first IVF cycle. That is when we found out my poor response to the stims. I ended up having to extend the cycle by almost a whole week.
At egg retrieval, we got 8 eggs but many were fractured. With the help of ICSI, we had 2 embryos that made it to blastocyst. Since I am young, we did a fresh transfer with my 4BB embryo. The other one was left to mature another day and then frozen. A couple weeks later, I found out I was pregnant!
We were all excited and told everyone. (I blogged the whole IVF process and so everyone was waiting for our good news). We spent that Christmas so happy imagining our next one that would having our little baby in the family.
Then came the first ultrasound. This is when we found out that our little one was not growing as it should. 2 weeks later, stopped growing all together. At that point, we decided to let the miscarriage pass naturally. That was a painful experience!
Not long after, we decided to do a frozen transfer with our other embryo. We struggled getting my lining to be thick enough for transfer, despite the ease we had with my fresh cycle. In the end, we got my lining to where it needed to be and transferred another 4BB embryo. It failed, I was not pregnant. This meant we had to do a whole new cycle.
By November of 2019, my AMH levels had dropped and due to my lack of response to the stim medications, my doctor altered my protocol. Instead of going after quantity, we went for quality. I got 4 eggs that round and 3 embryos. Since I had success with my last fresh cycle, we did another fresh transfer. This time, with 2 embryos. One was a 4BC and the other was a 3BB. 2 weeks later, I had another positive pregnancy test!
We went in for our first ultrasound with a cautious heart a couple weeks after that. Only one embryo had stuck and was a week behind in growth. We were going to miscarry again. This time, I decided to do a D&C, which was scheduled 3 days after Christmas. We had the tissue biopsied and found that it was due to a genetic error.
In March of 2020, we tried another frozen transfer. Sadly, this one ended up being a biochemical pregnancy and a week after my 3rd HCG check, I started bleeding. We were out of embryos to transfer.
A couple months later we did some extra tests. Both of our genetic tests came back normal, however, I had one test that came back slightly positive for antiphospholipid antibodies which I am now on lovenox for. We then jumped right into another stim cycle.
At the beginning of the cycle, I had more follicles than I had ever had before. It was a promising start. Not all of them grew during stims, however, we were able to retrieve 5 eggs. All 5 fertilized. Since, I had the most success with fresh transfers implanting, we opted for another fresh cycle with a 5BB embryo.
The other embryos were held a couple more days to be PGT tested and then frozen. Sadly, only 1 of them made it to biopsy and was frozen. That embryo turned out to be a mosaic. The one we transferred successfully implanted.
I am happy to announce I am now 12 and a half weeks pregnant with that embryo! We had a measurable heartbeat for the first time at our 6 week ultrasound and the baby has measured right on track ever since. We did do NIPT to test for genetic abnormalities and everything came back normal.
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Want to learn more about how the immune system impacts fertility? Check out my guide on the role of the immune system in infertility and IVF.
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