FET vs. fresh cycle...time is ticking

[SouthernBella74]

Hi, I'm a first time poster, but I’m at a bit of a cross road with my IVF journey and would like some advice/your experiences.

Just a brief history, I’m 43 (turning 44 in July!) and had been TTC for only a few months when I got my BFP in May 2017 (I was 42). Unfortunately, I miscarried at 7 weeks and due to my age, I decided to go down the IVF route. I found out I have a low AMH, 4.7 which was devastating. My fertility specialist suggested I have 2 back to back cycles to hopefully have enough embryos collected so I have a greater chance at getting pregnant. I also wanted to do PGS testing.

Cycle 1 in December 2017: 8 eggs collected & 3 fertilised and frozen on D3. Cycle 2 January 2018: 4 eggs collected and 3 fertilised.

I found out last week that after thawing only 2 of the 3 cycle 1 embryos developed to blastocyst and could be biopsied; however, NONE of the cycle 2 embryos made it to blastocyst! I was pretty heart broken as I really expected cycle 2 to be as good, if not better than cycle 1, but it was worse!

Now I’m trying to decide if I do a FET in March with one or both of the 2 frozen embryos or do another stimulation cycle and do a fresh transfer without PGS testing and just see how we get on.

Thanks in advance for any replies or advice. (apologies for the long post!

Anyone?

Hi there, and sorry to hear about your miscarriage

I'm going to be honest here and say that I think your age will be a big factor if you wish you use your own eggs.

From your post, your journey so far has resulted in 2 blasts from 7 embryos which is actually excellent for your age group.

If I were you I would definitely stick with the PGS, it will save you time, stress and disappointment.

Can I just clarify, is your clinic freezing your embryos on day 3, then thawing, culturing to blastocyst and then refreezing again after biopsy?

Whilst there have been successes from twice frozen embryos, it is very far from ideal. Is this your clinic's standard practice? I would be very very wary of this and try to avoid it if at all possible.

My clinic for example would fertilise the eggs culture to blast stage, biopsy and then freeze (all in one go). This is a far safer process for your embryos and might be something to consider.

Hmm, thinking about it, you'd have to twice-freeze your already frozen embryos to PGS them. That's a tricky one tbh - I'd be inclined to just thaw and transfer the ones you have without PGS but in future insist that your embryos are biopsied pre-freezing.

Hi 430West, thanks so much for your comments. The two blastocysts that I have came from my first cycle, so they were frozen on day 3 thawed, grown to day 5, biopsied and refrozen. None of the embryos from the second cycle developed to day 5, so weren't biopsied.

My clinic does the PGS testing on day 5 embryos, so I didn't have any choice but for the embryos to be frozen twice.

I managed to get speak to my consultant last week and he is not a fan of me doing another cycle with a "blind" transfer, i.e., no PGS testing given my age. He wants to wait on the results for my 2 frozen blastocysts before we decide next steps....

Fingers crossed they're good quality.

Thank you again for responding. I'm new to the forum, so still trying to get the hang of things, and I know I write a little too much

I would probably use the frozen ones in a fet then if not successful I would seriously look at de

You age has a huge part in it and low amh

As others have said I haven’t heard of a clinic freezing then defrosting then going to blast then pgs then freezing again

Embroys are fragile as they are - seems insane to risk freezing and defrosting twice

As in why didn’t they grow to day 5 then biopsy and freeze? Seems weird they froze them at day 3 then defrosted at a later date

Blondes, thanks for your comments. Re freezing cycle 1 at day 3, I think they were hoping to send the samples from cycle 1 and 2 together. It's just a shame that none of the cycle 2 embryos developed beyond day 3.

I'm going to trust that the clinic knows what they are doing and as they use vitrification I'm hoping the impact of the freeze-thaw-refreeze-thaw won't be too damaging.

I'm just trying to stay positive and hope that my 2 blastocysts are fighters.

Unfortunately it is very damaging to the embryos, and completely unnecessary too - they could have cultured the first batch to day 5, biopsied and frozen the embryos then. Repeat for second batch and sent the biopsies together.

I'm frankly astonished that any clinic, but especially one treating a woman in your position in relation to age and AMH, would take such a risk with your embryos.

Is this clinic in the UK?

430West Yes, it is a UK clinic, in London. One of the top clinics, in fact. I'll definitely raise this with my FS, as no one at the clinic has indicated that this will be an issue...

@southern I hope they are as well

A story of faith. My bf 14yrs ago did ivf and had poor amh and at day 3 had two embroys left both poor quality and she was told they probably wouldn’t take but obv would transfer then

They are my godsons and strapping teenagers now

Only takes one. Or two. So yes do the fet as you will always wonder what if - if uou don’t use

@Blondes your bf's story is encouraging. I really am hoping that my two embryos defy the odds