Understanding success rates

[VivaPom]

I hope you can advise me. My husband and I had IVF 3 years ago and were lucky enough to have a baby daughter from our first cycle. I was 34 then and we have unexplained infertility. We had just one viable embryo that time.

We want to do IVF again but my husband has only agreed to one cycle because it’s so expensive.

My questions are:
A) what is the chance of a successful pregnancy if IVF has already worked in the past? I’m older now. We’re using my eggs and my husband’s sperm. He’s the same age as me.

B) I should have asked our doctor this last time but how many embryos should we expect? Is one unusually low?

Thank you everyone. Good luck if you’re in the same situation.

Hiya!

Ugh, success rates are a terrible thing! From my experience, it’s best not to put too much faith in them. Not that I take my own advice!!

Your clinic should be able to give you tailored stats for you, but from my experience/what I’ve been told....

Success rates increase if you have been pregnant from ivf before

They decrease after 35

I’m not sure about the one viable embryo thing. My clinic said they aim for one, high quality but we got three. Some people don’t get any, others get 18 but they all die off until only two or three are left! Sorry I can’t help much there!

Probably best to give your clinic a call :)

It’s very rare to get a live pregnancy from a single cycle. It’s also rare for people with unexplained fertility to be successful in IVF (that’s why a number of NHS trusts don’t always allow it in these circumstances). So you were in the minority anyway to start with.

It usually takes 3 full cycles (including 3 egg collections) as a minimum to achieve a single live pregnancy, on average, assuming your ovaries respond normally. If you are over 40 the chance of success drops dramatically.

Thank you both. I will find out more from the clinic. Sounds like we were very lucky last time then.

Wishing you the very best of luck!!