I don't understand the blastocyst culturing process at all!

[AliceAbsolum]

We had 4 eggs retrieved on Monday, 4 fertilised last night. Clinic said they would be looking at a 5 day transfer. I've been reading the information leaflet and it says 50% of embryos make it to blast stage. So is it reasonable to expect to have one to go back in and one to freeze?? That seems a very good outcome with only 4 eggs retrieved?

Help me wise mumsnetters.

Hello! Aliceabsolum.

Me and my wife have undergone egg retrieval in Jan, and now due to have our frozen transfer on the 20th May.

We had 21 eggs retrieved and only 5 of ours fertilised but thankfully all 5 of ours made it to blast stage to be frozen.

So it really is a numbers game and anything can happen. I’ll have my fingers crossed for you!

We had 6 collected. 3 fertilised using icsi, 2 of which made it to blast and were good enough to freeze (was a freeze all cycle). So in terms of percentages, we had 50% fertilisation. Then of those that fertilised 66% made it to blast. It varies so much.....the waiting and hoping is so tough. I hope you get great results x

Hi,

We had 16 collected 13 mature, 9 fertilised we had 2 frozen at day 3 and 3 frozen at day 5! My consultant was sure why the embryologist decided to freeze 2 at day 3 as they were top quality but shouldn’t cause any problems down the line if we are not lucky with the 3 blastocysts we have! I think it’s just a numbers game but good luck xx

Ps we had a freeze all cycle aswell

I got 12 eggs, 11 fertilised but only one made it to blast despite them all doing well up to day 4. I was gutted when I found out. Luckily I got a bfp but we got nothing for the freezer. You really can not tell. Wishing you lots of luck.

They will look at the quality of the embryos at day 3. If there’s a significant drop off then they may call you in for a day 3 transfer - just be prepared.

I had 4 which resulted in 2 blasts xx

Mine were....
4 eggs/ 4 fertilised / 0 blasts - own eggs
4 eggs/ 2 fertilised / 0 blasts - donor eggs
11 eggs/ 9 fertilised / 3 blasts - donor eggs
9 eggs / 6 fertilised / 4 blasts - donor eggs

Thank you. Such different numbers! I wonder what the variables are... Why do some people have 5 and some 0? Age? Egg quality?

I was 39. AMH level not good although I can't remember exactly what it was.
12 collected
10 fertilised
6 made it to Day 5
2 transferred (one DS!)
4 in the freezer

14 eggs/11 fertilised/ 3 blast (1 transferred 2 frozen)

My clinic had the policy of on freezing top quality blasts. Not all clinics have that policy which will effect some odds. I don't know how many blasts I had that weren't too quality. I had 6 top quality embryos day 3....

I had 22 collected
19 injected
13 fertilised
5 make it to day 5, 4 frozen one transferred

They told us only one in four people get something to freeze.
Everyone is different, things rely on age or egg reserve or medical conditions.
I hope you get one to freeze though!

Round 1 - 11 collected/11 mature/9 fertised 2 Blasts

Round 2 - 9 collected/6 mature/4 fertilised -= 3 Blasts

There is no rhyme or reason to this ivf game at times. Good luck.

First round 2 eggs 1 blast shite grade
Second round 4 eggs 3 blasts good grade

Really interesting!

Apparently all 4 are doing well on day 2, so we won't hear anymore now until we go for transfer on Sat. 1 would be amazing. Hoping for 2.

How did it go in the end @AliceAbsolum ?

1 blast, 1 "trying to be a blast"!? So they them both back. 5 days til OTD and going slightly nuts....
Are you in the bfp after ivf thread? It's in the pregnancy forum isn't it? I'll be there soon (positive thinking).

@AliceAbsolum everything crossed for you!

Yes I'm on it! Hope to see you there soon!

I was 28 when I did mine. Had 16 eggs, 5 fertilised and 2 made it blast. One son from this.

Hoping to do another round of IVF and only have half an ovary now, consultant thinks I’ll get 4 eggs, so worried I won’t get any blasts

It varies so much - I got 22 eggs, 14 fertilised and no good quality blasts. It was heartbreaking as we thought we were sorted with those numbers!
Round 2 we surgically removed my husbands sperm, got 20 eggs, 13 fertilised, one baby(!) and 2 frozen

I always felt that on cycles when I got more eggs, I had more fertilised but still only a few got to blast. When I had lower /slower stims, the eggs seemed less numerous but more reliable embryos would result and I would get more blasts.

This is quite likely completely made up though - extrapolation from v small evidence base!

The percentage of oocytes that were fertilised is a huge indicator of quality. Obviously no two cases are the same but of our four cycles, two were like yours, with four or five oocytes that all fertlised (the other two were two of four or five). The first cycle was my daughter and the second my son.