FET with high quality blastos from 2 years ago or fresh cycle?

[BadgerFace]

We have a 22 month old from IVF and we are currently trying naturally for No. 2. We are going to do IVF in February if no luck by then and have 8 blastos in the freezer all top grade I think.

I had always assumed we would do a FET as we have the frozen embryos but the closer we get to it the more I wonder if we should do a fresh cycle as that has a better percentage chance of success at our clinic and then save the FET if the fresh cycle fails. I will be 37 in January so feel like I should do fresh cycle sooner rather than later if we're going to do it.

On the other hand, my freezer blastos are younger so maybe better to use straight away to avoid a fresh cycle hopefully! Any thoughts anyone? I am going round in circles on it all whilst trying not to start obsessing over it...

We have an appointment with the clinic on 11 November to discuss options but any advice or anecdotes gratefully received in the meantime...

Hi Badger
I have a 2 yr old from IVF and have just finished an FET with a frostie from that cycle.
I test tomorrow but am not hopeful.
I'll let you know the outcome.
I'm 36 btw. x

GOOD LUCK for today's testing! I saw your thread when I was looking through but didn't want to derail with my post.

I have everything crossed for you.

Positive!!! Can't believe it!! Never thought we'd get lucky again like this.

Trying to post on another IVF thread I've been on but it's maxed out at 1000 posts.

Wow!! That's amazing!! Congrats!

I know we are strangers but I am very excited for you and you have given me hope too!

Thank you Badger! Feel free to ask any questions or message me. Good luck with your decision-making. x

How did you find the FET compared to your fresh cycle? For me the egg collection was the worst bit which is why a FET is so appealing (as well as having "younger" embryos compared to a fresh cycle)... But then again I just want to do whatever is most likely to work really!

Hi Badger.

For me, the FET process really has been much easier than the original fresh cycle with lots less in the way of being poked about by doctors and nurses. I think it depends a bit on if you do a medicated or natural FET though. I did medicated.

Started BC pill - 11th September
Started down-reg injections - 25th September
Went into the clinic for a suppression check - October 6th
Stated estrogen injections - October 9th
Went into clinic for blood test and lining check - October 20th
Started progesterone injections - October 23rd
Embryo Transfer - October 28th (Tomorrow!)

And that's it. No going back and forth half a dozen times for monitoring and no sodding egg retrieval to leave you walking like John Wayne for a few days. So I highly recommend it!

My clinic do have a high success rate with FET cycles for my age group though (30 - 35) - with 51% in 2011, and 58% in 2012. So that did help us decide quite quickly that FET was definitely the way forward for us.

And inconceivableme! That is excellent news, I saw the other thread had been filled up and went on it hoping the thread was ending on a high note with you announcing a BFP - so am very glad to see the news here. So happy for you!

Thanks for you post GoBig. The timings are very helpful. Good luck with ET today!!

I was at risk of OHSS last time (they collected 27 eggs in the end) so I guess I should think about that as well. I was just reading on another thread about the starting out procedures. I have forgotten so much about it all! I am actually starting to get excited about it. We've been trying naturally since May but I have not held out much hope. An FET or IVF cycle makes it all seem a bit more of a real possibility!!

I have tried not to think about cost as an influencing factor so far but wonder if I should...

I'm in Australia and I'm pretty sure I read that my clinic doesn't allow patients to do a fresh cycle if they already have frozen blastos. Anyway, we have always done FET on a medicated cycle and been successful 2 out of 3 times, and I was older than you! With so many frosties, I would start there, esp if you are at risk of OHSS. Good luck!

And congrats to inconceivableme! Those of us who have been through the whole rollercoaster journey can really understand the joy and amazement of a BFP!

Thanks Guin. I was looking at my hospital's stats again yesterday and I must have read them wrong the first time - of the 15 FET cycles they did last year for age 35 -37 they had 7 pregnancies so nearly 50% success rate so I am feeling much more positive about it now. I kind of just want to get on with it!

Badger face - if you have frozen blastocysts I think I'd definitely try with those. A FET cycle will be much easier on you physically and I imagine emotionally too. Good luck :)

Thanks Marmot. Annoyingly received a letter today delaying our appointment from 11 November to the 26th. Aaargh!!