6 or 9 eggs?

[NLBerry]

Hi all I am sure this question has been asked but I feel I’m having to make decisions in a timely manner without much guidance. We are going on the waiting list for donor eggs and have been told we need to say if we want six or nine eggs.

I’m 43. I had a miscarriage a few weeks ago. We have one frozen embryo we are planning to use in Jan. Beyond that I may have three cycles in me - if they don’t implant not sure where I will be if I miscarry again.

I am in the midst of coming to terms with the possible child not having my DNA while coming to terms with the idea I really could be a mum.

We are ok with over egging but I don’t know how much is reasonable. Would want to put two eggs up at a time and one of the clinic’s videos implied some older people go with three at a time. Twins ok though risky, I’m guessing triplets are very, ridiculously rare.

While I’m at it, looking at characteristics, my partner and I are both very fair and educated. We weren’t fussed about characteristics till faced with the forms. Is putting down paleness reasonable and is it useful to even try and decipher intelligence? We are going for frozen and understand, particularly in Covid times, supplies are not huge.

We’re both hugely soppy and open so a baby is a baby we will love.

Any guidance would be massively appreciated.

[tikha]

With a young donor much higher risk of twins i.e. both embryos will be viable. There is a combined higher risk from being an older mom and having twins via FET leading to pre-eclampsia and premature birth but something to discuss with the consultant. I wouldn't advice triplets for this very reason as its very risky. Go with 9 rather than 6 eggs if you can afford it. Would then attempt having a sibling with same donor

[sazzt]

I would say go for 9 eggs if you can. We had sperm donor and used my eggs (I'm 36, decent results on all fertility tests). Of 17 eggs retrieved for ivf we ended up with three blastocysts, the drop off rate is quite shocking. If you use a younger donor you might get higher than average rate of blasts, but I would say 9 would give you best possible chance. x

[NLBerry]

Hi all thanks for your thoughts but this is a really old post and we’ve already made decisions. I’d rather not spend time rethinking it! I hope all your plans go well xxx