IVF question about eggs

[sue10]

Hello,
am hoping to start ivf soon and although i understand what happens with the processes etc i just wondered whether the eggs are checked for problems before the are fertilised and implanted. How does the grading work etc?

Ps, hope i've put this in the right forum?

Many thanks

The embryologists seem to just watch them hatch after they are fertilised and put back the best ones. Ideally you want Blasts, 5 day old ebryo's but mine went back after 3 days. 7 days until I find out if it worked :-)

Hi Sue

After your eggs have been collected they will be left overnight in a dish with the sperm to fertilise. It is usual for all eggs collected to be treated this way, even if some of them look a little immature. It isn't possible to check the eggs for problems at this stage.

In the morning the embryologists will take a look and see what has happened, and call you to let you know how many have fertilised - if you have a lot of fertilised eggs, they may want to let them develop for 4 more days, if you only have a few, chances are embryo transfer will be on day 2 or 3. The fertilised eggs are left alone at this stage as much as possible to avoid disrupting them

The next day, the fertilised eggs should have started dividing, and only really at this stage is it possible to grade the embryos. They are graded on several things, like the shape and regularity of the cells, granulation of the cells etc. The embryologist will talk to you about this at the time of embryo transfer and probably show you photos of the embryos. Bear in mind that the embryos are graded only on appearance, not on what is going on inside them genetically. Genetic issues aren't looked for in standard IVF as it is incredibly complex and expensive to do so.

However, please don't get too hung up on the grading - my first IVF cycle produced crappy barely-scraping-grade 2 embryos (grade one being the best quality) and this cycle gave me DD sleeping upstairs now. Since then I've had grade 1 embryos but no more viable pregnancies yet. So grading isn't the be all and end all of the process.

Good luck!

Cross posted with Lottie!

Thank you so much ladies for replying and sharing you wealth of knowledge with me. I didn't realise that the nhs do not do pgs after so many mc's i was hoping my eggs would beable to be screened (inside but never mind. It's great to hear positive stories.

Godluck Millymollymoo!
sueXXX.

Interesting to hear about this - thanks, all - as I'm going to start IVF soon. And thanks very much for the last post, londonlottie, very reassuring. I'm quite nervous about the whole process. I'm doing quite a demanding university course at the moment - it's only two days a week, but there are sometimes several assignments a week and I will have to do a time-consuming project alongside the IVF (unless I suspend it). Is this feasible? Did people manage to more or less keep working (or doing whatever)? Thanks, and sorry to butt in, sue10.