My husband and I have been on our IVF journey since 2017, we started our journey in Darwin where we did 3 full stim cycles of IVF with the only provider there. They diagnosed me with PCOS and my husband with low sperm count. During our time with this IVF provider, we had minimal embryos each cycle, and the one embryo from 3 cycles did result in a pregnancy but sadly ended in a miscarriage at 7weeks. The main problem we faced at this clinic was they were happy to continue with the same "recipe" every time with no changes, or introduction of new things  to try and improve it. To me it is clear when something is not working so you should change tactics to give the best chance of improvements. This provider did not believe in supplements to improve egg quality or sperm health, so they did not recommend any. I was also naive at the time and did not realize that the specialists in Darwin are GPs with training in IVF and are not obstetric/gynae specialists. 

From here, we decided to get a second opinion and found an incredible fertility specialist at Monash IVF GoldCoast. We have been well cared for by our fertility specialist, Dr Kee Ong. He is an excellent specialist who believes in the introduction of supplements to improve egg and sperm quality. He is innovative with changes and will always aim for as little IVF collections possible. He participates in research projects and offers new and game changing fertility treatments for us such as ovarian and uterine PRP. Dr Ong changed things for us as needed in our journey and did a full work up prior to starting IVF to get a good understanding of what our fertility issue was. He uncovered a few issues and treated them accordingly. I would 100% recommend travelling to a good specialist if that's an option for you. I would also recommend requesting all the baseline tests including a laparoscopy prior to starting so you can eliminate any issues before you even start.

When we started with Dr Kee, I had a Laparoscopic surgery to check for endometriosis and baseline bloods to check for any autoimmune diseases. In my laproscopy they did find endometriosis to my surprise as I didn't really have any symptoms, further to my surprise alot of women don't have symptoms but still have all the disappointing effects of endometriosis when trying to fall pregnant. During these consults I was also found to have hypothyroidism.

We have had a total of 13 egg collections with various changes to medications and adding in some procedures like PRP along the way. We have had 8 pregnancies (including one ectopic) and from these pregnancies we have had one successful pregnancy that resulted in our beautiful little girl. All of miscarriages have been at around 7 weeks and discovered at the 7 week scan.

My most successful cycles have been with pergoveris which is a mix of FSH and LH. I also used growth hormones 1 week prior to my day one. I did a double trigger of ovidrel and decepectal, I did a full immune protocol and had ovarian PRP 3 months prior to collection day and uterine PRP 5 days prior to my embryo transfers.

What I do wish is that we knew what we know now when we started so that I could have had a deeper understanding and advocated for things along the way to try and avoid some heart break. 

This is the reason I have created this page is so I can hopeful empower women/couples with knowledge. Have a read through each tab to get an understanding of what you can do to prepare yourself.