Pregnancy hope for decreased ovarian reserve

Yes, yes, yes you can still get pregnant. I was diagnosed with severely diminished ovarian reserve at age 35. My AMH was undetectable, my FSH was 18.6, my antral follicle count ranged from 0-2, and my estrogen was, like, 5. I was still ovulating every month and had no idea - I was devastated. We did six unsuccessful IUI's, then decided to start IVF with embryo banking in the hopes of freezing enough embryos before menopause to possibly have two children. After our first IVF cycle, we had one blastocyst frozen. We took the next month off for a long-planned vacation and came back from vacation pregnant - naturally! That pregnancy was nine months after my diagnosis, a total of one year of trying to get pregnant, including the six IUI's. In the end, I didn't even technically qualify for an infertility diagnosis despite the severe DOR because we got pregnant within one year of trying. My pregnancy was uneventful and my daughter was born full term and healthy.  

And guess what - I'm now pregnant with my second from my own eggs at age 39, this time from IVF with a doctor who is not afraid to work with patients with high FSH. (Feel free to get my email from the moderator if you want more info about the doctor.) For the second, I had no choice but to do IVF because I'm now in the end stage of perimenopause and have no cycle anymore. We knew IVF was a long shot and that we'd only get one egg per cycle at most, but we were willing to do a few cycles, freeze any resulting embryos, and then try some transfers. We ended up with three blastocysts, including the one frozen before we got pregnant naturally, and got pregnant on our second transfer. I'm currently 16.5 weeks and all looks good. 

I know you aren't looking at IVF, but I wanted to offer the story of my second pregnancy to add even more hope. I recognize that we've been extraordinarily lucky, and also that many others make different but equally wonderful choices in building their families - but if you want to keep trying naturally I hope my story helps fortify you. Really, you are still young at age 35 and I think you do have a good chance. 

Good luck on your journey. 

Hi there, I am so sorry that you are going through this.  I have been there and can share my story in case it helps you. 

I was 34 and had trouble conceiving my first.  Stats were normal and I was diagnosed with "unexplained infertility".  I ended doing IUIs and on the third, I got pregnant and had a baby girl.  Two years later, I tried to a second baby. At this point, I had elevated FSH and my reserves were getting lower - I cannot remember my stats, but they were not good.  Two IUIs failed (they did IUI bc it had worked with my first conception) and then I did an IVF.  The egg quality was terrible but I got pregnant and had a baby boy.  Two years after that, I we tried again.  At this point I was 38, had high FSH and low ovarian reserve.  I did not respond well to the highest dose of meds but three times, they were able to retrieve eggs and transfer at least two viable embryos for each round.  Three IVFs, no pregnancy. I begged to do another round, but the doctor told me to give up and be happy for the two beautiful and healthy children that I had.  I grieved for my dream of three children but tried to move on.  A year later, I found myself (shockingly) pregnant "the old fashioned way".  I held my breathe and crossed my finger that this miracle was really happening and two months before I turned forty, I had a beautiful healthy baby girl.  Doctors said they "see it all the time" - as the body ages and your remaining eggs know its now or never and make a big push out. 

I am not sure what this story may give you.  Miracles do happen.  You will find many stories of success against incredible odds.  My best friend (who was an incredible source of support for me) had a terrible IFV cycle, terrible egg quality and her twins are 8 years old and amazing. I have a colleague who did five IVFs and got pregnant, then did seven to conceive her second. This is incredibly extreme! 

But the truth is that in general, the reality of infertility is emotional, painful and paved with many failures.  I know several women who wanted to conceive a second time or even a first time and never did.  Infertility is isolating and lonely and very well-intended people say the wrong things to you.  During the 8 years of building my family, I did various things: meditation, modified homeopathic diet, herbal supplements, drank a giant glass of (disgusting) wheatgrass juice every morning for a year to deal with my FSH, acupuncture.  You will find that people swear by these things.  Maybe they helped me, maybe they didn't.  They helped me feel good about my process at different points and that's worth a lot.  Deciding what kind of medical intervention you will do and how often is a very personal decision with no easy answers. It depends on finances, your spouse's views, your own desire to have a baby and your willingness to go through a process that unequivocally sucks.

As I said, you will find success stories, I hope sharing mine gave you something.  Please feel free to direct message me - and if anyone reading this is going through something similar and wants to reach out, please do so.  One of the very few things that helped in this long ugly process was the support of people who understood what I was going through. 

I wish you the very, very best of luck.