4 high quality embryos at day 3 - what should I expect at day 5?

[Goodluckjonathan76]

Mid way through our first cycle of IVF. They retrieved 6 eggs and 4 fertilised. The embryologist called me on day 3 and said all 4 embryos were high quality (at least 10 cells and minimal fragmentation) and so they could keep them until day 5 or 6. I am due an update tomorrow am and probably ET tomorrow afternoon or Friday (day 5 or 6) and just trying to set my expectations for the news tomorrow. How many usually die between day 3 and 5? If we do have at least one left, what are my chances of it sticking? I've gotten so pessimistic that I've sort of ruled out it working. Should I assume it's not doing to work or should I be more hopeful?

PS Goodluck, no hard tummy here but the acupuncturist asked the same yesterday

Good luck for your scan today jojo let us know how it goes!

Hope today goes well jojo. X

Thank you! Just on my way.

Twickerhun, yours isn’t at lunchtime today, isn’t it? Best of luck and and fingers crossed for a strong heartbeat

Thanks jojo. Really hope you have a lovely appointment and the heartbeat is wonderfully strong.

Mines at 12. I’ve done a lot of lying to Work about what I’m doing at lunch time.

I’m so scared it’ll be bad hews then I have to go back to a job I hate with a team who have no empathy.

Good luck for your scan too twicker sorry didn't realize it was today as well! Really hope it goes well for both of you x

Good luck Twickers and JoJo!! Thinking of you both. This is a lucky thread so sure we will have wonderful reports of strong, fast heartbeats later!

Incidentally, I bumped into another mum at school yesterday wearing a "baby on board" badge. I asked her when she was due and she said June so I ended up saying that I was also pregnant but hadn't told anyone etc. Think she is about 3 weeks ahead of me but was still a bit surprised people announce it so early!! I did a bit of research though and it seems the risk of miscarriage at 7 weeks is only 5%!! Does that sound right to everyone?

Amazing news here The embie is massive so my due date has been brought forward. Both DH and I are very tall so we’ve been laughing about it. The heartbeat came out at 141bpm which is fab. So I’m over the moon. DH commented, ‘Shit, it’s real!’ So he’s probably still getting used to the idea. I’m now going to book a Panorama in 2 weeks.

Twickerhun, sorry about your work situation being so stressful. I hope your afternoon is ok - the pregnancy has been going so well for you so far.

Goodluck, I’m surprised about the mum wearing the badge already. It does seem early on.

Otters, how are you getting on? Have you got many symptoms? Have you thought when you might start telling people?

Jojo that’s great news. So pleased!

I’m amazed that people announce so early. I thought it was still sort of taboo? Mind you I’m amazed that the more fertile on the planet are able to be so relaxed about early pregnancy.

jojo that's brilliant news! So pleased for you. When are you going to start telling people? I'm ok still much the same. Not much symptoms - burping and occasional dizziness. Sometimes I wonder if I'm making it up! Will be testing again tomorrow for reassurance. I'd like to wait for as long as possible to announce as I'm so worried that something will go wrong! I think quite a few people at work suspect and if I start being sick all over the place I may not be able to hide it!

jonathan how early can you get a baby on board badge? I'm surprised at that too.

twicker how are you getting on?

So we had the scan. Despite only having one embryo transferred we saw two sacs and yokes. One probably empty, one with a tiny bean with a flickering heart beat (127bps). I have to go back for a re scan in 12 days to confirm viability of one and loss of the other. Feeling all sorts of mixed emotions now.

OMG Twicker, what a shock. Hope you are ok. Why can they not confirm viability of the first one? I thought a heart rate over 120 was good? I only had one embryo too - yours must have split right? I thought the chances of that happening were very low??? A lot to take in. Hope your DH is around to give you lots of support. xxx

JoJo, amazing news! Congrats!

God only knows what mine on Monday will reveal . . .

The chances of an embryo splitting are low but not unknown, one of my friends is a mum of identical twins after ivf.
I think the heart rate is good, but still low so she was hedging her bets. It just feels like I am prolonging the joy of early pregnancy uncertainty. At least I get to see my baby again soon.

Twickerhun, that’s a surprise and a half. I’m sorry about the second one not looking too good. However, the first one with a heartbeat of 127 sounds very good. From the stuff I read, a heartbeat over 120 is optimum. Maybe it’s measuring a little smaller because the embryo had split? I’ll keep everything crossed for you!

Otters, I’m not telling people other than my mum, sister and 1 friend for a while. I might tell some other friends and family in about a month when we’ve had the Panorama results back provided things are going well.

Twicker - that is an unexpected surprise! We talked about it as we also had one embryo put in. My mum is an identical twin and my great grandmother but it's not genetically inherited. The tiny bean with heart rate 127 sounds promising. Sorry you have to be in limbo for 12 days. How are you feeling ? It's a lot to take in!

Jonathan - hope your scan goes well on Monday

Anyone else announcing early? Also has anyone referred to mid wife?

Thanks all. I’m a bit bowled over by today’s events. I wasn’t expecting this outcome. But for the one baby I have left, the odds are looking pretty good, something like 90%chance of survival to birth now?
Hope you all have a lovely evening.

Twickers, JoJo, Otters, can I ask, did any of you have ICSI or assisted hatching or was it straightforward IVF?

Goodluck- mine was icsi due to male factor issues

Mine was ICSI too as we have both, male and female factors. No hatching, though. I think that is recommended for lower grade embryos that might struggle to hatch out. Why are you asking?

Goodluck, how are you feeling about your scan on Monday? Still ok with it being the 13th?

Otters, have tested again? Are you using the test with weeks indicator?

I just booked myself in for another scan + Panorama on Fri 24/11. I’ll be 9 weeks exactly so I hope it’s not too soon as that’s the first day they would do it.

I also got an email from DH with some ‘cool’ baby names. Apparently, he’s been compiling it for a while Has anyone else thought of names?

We had straighforward IVF. There was ?ICSI on our treatment plan but sperm looked fine on the day so just normal IVF. What did you have goodluckjonathan ?

I tested again this morning and got a really strong line on IC and FRER. The test line was stronger than the control line. I used a digital last week which said 1-2. Will try again next week. Definitely feeling calmer and reassured by strong lines but still worrying all the time!

Hi all.

JoJo, asking because I was wondering if ICSI and assisting hatching may increase the chance of the egg splitting. We were offered assisted hatching purely due to my age but turned it down due to risk of twins which we were trying to avoid!

Otters, we had straightforward IVF as well. We were unexplained and no specific reason to do ICSI.

Feeling ok ish about the scan on Monday - hopeful but a bit nervous mainly because I did some googling last nights realised how common it is to miscarry. I guess what will be will be. Would be dreadful though to find no heartbeat, simply dreadful. On the other hand, how amazing if all is fine! Will just have to wait. Luckily I have a really busy weekend with the kids so no time to think/worry plus my mum arrives tomorrow (we're not going to tell her!) so will need to put it to the back of our minds. So funny as my mum is staying for a few days but we are not telling her re pregnancy and certainly won't tell her we conceived through IVF. She is very old fashioned and (ridiculously) disapproves of us having more kids, saying we have 2 each which is more than enough (she has a point but DH and I really wanted a baby together). I am therefore in the process of doing a massive "sweep" of the house and collecting up pregnancy vits, discarded positive pregnancy tests (which I seem to have stashed in a number of weird locations (drawers, behind the mirror etc to try to avoid kids seeing them), left over medications, used injections, progesterone pessaries etc etc! It will be an absolute miracle if she doesn't come across something, especially as she is quite nosy!

As for names, DH and I are agreed on a boy's name and have a short list for girls but, annoyingly, we can't use the two girls names I have always loved as one is too similar to DSD's first name and the other is her middle name. I don't like many girls names at all so looks like, if it's a girl, she'll end up with a name I don't love.

Are you all thinking of names too? Love that part of having a baby. Dreaming up baby names and scans are the best part of being pregnant. I have also decided on the very important question of a buggy.

Otters, good news re the stronger line and the digital test! When is your scan booked in for and how many days will you be?

I'm a bit confused about dates. My egg collection date was 7th October (the 4th anniversary of my dad's death so a very special date) and my ET date was 12th October. Going from the date of my last period, I will be 7 weeks this Monday 13th. When is everyone else calculating from?

JoJo, at which clinic are you doing the Panorama test? I am still undecided between the Panorama and Harmony tests. Is the panorama from 9 weeks and is it just a blood test or scan and blood test? I read somewhere that if you do it too early then it can be inconclusive. Did you read that?

Separately, is anyone else on clexane injections? Horrid as I now have a huge lump on my tummy where I've been injected and I literally couldn't get the needle into the other side of my tummy last night then it started bleeding. I was nearly sick. Not sure I can bring myself to keep injecting and my body is clearly saying no more but not sure I should just stop.

Scan is booked for 21 nov when I will be 6+6. I think you start counting from EC date +2 weeks so you should be 7 weeks today! Good luck hiding all your paraphernalia from your mum!

We haven't talked about names yet. Just feels too early and I know it's silly but just don't want to jinx it! I think it will feel more real after our scan if we can hear a heartbeat. I've read so many sad stories that I'm worrying myself silly.

Am not on clexane injections phew so sorry can't advise on that.

I'll be waiting for you lot to tell me about panorama or harmony.

Goodluck, the injections sound awful. Are you allowed to inject anywhere else? Like thigh or bottom? Unfortunately, I have no experience of them but it does sound terrible if you need to keep on going for so many weeks. I also make you 7 weeks today as we're 1 day apart and I was 7 weeks yesterday.

Otters, that's only 10 more days so not that long to go! Or does it feel like eternity?

I only got the baby name book after our scan. It's good to start talking about it now as it might be a long and difficult process with DH I like less common names but his list made me chuckle... E.g. Indiana (watching too much Mr Jones probably) or Pushkin (how's that even a first name?), Sholto (as in Thaddeus Sholto is Sherlock Holmes???) Maverick You see what I mean.

Twickerhun, how's your weekend? Have you processed all of yesterday's news yet?

Re the Panorama test, it can be done from 9 weeks (so a week sooner than the other ones). I booked it for 9 weeks exactly as otherwise I won't be able to do it till 9+5 due to being busy and I'm a bit impatient. Very few places seem to offer it but we've found that the Birth Company in Harley Street do so that's where we're going. They scan you before doing the blood sample to make sure you're pregnant and how far along you are. As our embie measured ahead yesterday, I sort of imagine it might measure 9+3 by then if it carries on. I presume that if it doesn't look 'old' enough on the scan, they might just suggest coming back in a few days for the blood sample. If it turns out to be too early and the test is inconclusive, they just do another one free of charge. So nothing to lose.