How many embryos on day 5?

[TumbleBingQuack]

Hi all,

Feeling a little deflated and want to know if anyone's been in the same boat.

I had egg collection yesterday. On Monday they counted 18 follicles in total (some v small that they hoped would mature in time). Yesterday at egg collection there were 10 follicles and 10 eggs collected.

Had the call this morning and only 7 were mature, and 3 fertilised.

I'm worried none will make it to blastocyst for transfer on Monday, and the clinic have said there's no point doing an earlier transfer as if they stop dividing, they'll stop dividing regardless of whether they're in the lab or my uterus. We had kind of prepared ourselves for this cycle not working, but were hoping to have some to freeze. We can't afford another whole fresh cycle.

Did anyone have any day 5 blastocysts left to transfer after such a low number of eggs fertilised?

Hi. My egg collection was in January but they counted 12 follicles, 12 eggs collected, 8 fertilised. Day 3 we had 6, day 5 we had 3 left. One fresh (failed) transfer and two went in the freezer.

Our clinic said it just varies but it's normal to end up with less blasts than eggs collected.

I know it's normal for there to be a drop off and that's what worries me. You lost 5 along the way, and we've only got 3 in total

Hope your next FET goes well!

I feel for you, it’s all so stressful, but your part is done so as best you can, try and relax and chill.

We had 2 very different experiences but both times had a high drop off rate for blasts.

First time 16 eggs / 12 fertilised / 1 blast (and 1 ‘nearly’). They transferred both but no pregnancy. Nothing to freeze.

The second time I responded poorly. 5 eggs / 3 fertilised / 0 blasts. Nothing to transfer or freeze 😔

Just shows that each experience can be so different. We are gearing up for attempt 3 and don’t know what to expect

Fingers crossed you get some blasts xx

I had a high drop off route for my first 2 rounds of short protocol IVF and it was a sign of poor egg quality.

Cycle 1 - 14 eggs - 4 fertilised normally and 5 fertilised abnormally so we're useless. Got 2 average quality blastocysts

Cycle 2 - 14 eggs - 4 fertilised normally - 2 average quality blastocysts (both PGS tested and neither "normal")

Then we made a decision to change to natural Modified IVF as clearly my body isn't capable of making more than 2 blastocysts per round so why force it?

Cycle 3 - natural modified - 2 eggs - both fertilised normally - both top quality on day 5 - currently I'm 11 weeks pregnant with twins from these blastocysts

Cycle 4 - natural modified - 7 eggs - 100% fertilised- 2 top quality blastocysts (currently frozen)

My doctor said we had to make some risky changes if we wanted to continue by stripping out most of the drugs and letting my body do more of the choosing of the eggs - he said why force my body to go the speed of a Ferrari when it's clearly more like a Ford Focus - you have to learn your bodies limitations but unfortunately with IVF that can take several heartbreaking and expensive rounds first x

I take your point about the drastic drop. But the way I looked at it (rightly or wrongly) was that we could have got only the 3 that reached blast stage, or we could have got 20 and those 3 could still have been the only ones to get to blast. But we'll never know if that's the case.

It's hard, it really is. I know of people that have only had one survive to 5 days and that's gone on to be a live birth. I also know of people that have got lots, and still no babies. These days I genuinely believe it's almost a case of luck of the draw. That's not helpful in any way and it's doesn't make you (or any of us) feel better, but that's the nature of the beast.

Hi.

It is a numbers game and I've read that cycles that yield 10 to 20 eggs end up with the same number of blasts with cycles that end up with ten and less.

My experience at 35, first cycle in June this year. I had 19 eggs, 12 fertilized normally, 6 running on Day 3 with good cell numbers, and on day 5 had 4 blasts, 3 very good and 1 too poor quality to be frozen.

So for me a huge drop off, but I think the clinic I was with didn't really go for a personalized approach at all. It was one size fits all and I believe at another clinic we could have done much better.

At the end of the day, it really is just luck. So many stories of OTW! Good luck with everything!

As others have said, it really varies. I had 20 eggs collected and 7 fertilised. I was devastated at the time. However one of those is now sleeping on my lap.

I remember googling like crazy to see other people’s numbers. In some cases all made it to blast and in some none did. There really is no pattern.

I really hope you get some to freeze but don’t be disheartened if there’s just one. That could be your baby. Best of luck.

Hi,

My last cycle of IVF they got 24 eggs, 13 were mature and only 5 fertilised.

I was gutted and thought none would make it to day 5 going by previous cycles or poor quality day 5s (1 resulted in my son but that was an average embryo)

Anyway, i was so worried but come day 5... All 5 were still going. 4 were top quality, i ended up have 1 transferred and 3 frozen, the other one didnt make it.

Its not about the quantity, its the quality.

Good luck xx

Thank you all so much for sharing your numbers, but more importantly pointing out that if they make it, they make it, and the others were never destined to make it at any point.

@Youngatheart00 I really hope your next cycle is successful, I can't imagine how painful it must have been not having any to transfer.

@ivfdreaming thats so interesting about how you had better results with the lower levels of drugs. It's so tempting to want them to give you more drugs, make more eggs etc, but definitely something worth considering if this doesn't work and we manage to scrape together the money for one more go. Congratulations on your pregnancy!

@user1475505106 those numbers sound great on paper, I hope your round was successful.

@betsyboo87 I'm so glad I'm not the only one that's an obsessive googler! Also glad to hear it worked after all that worry.

@Bearsmum15 that's a fantastic outcome - it sounds like PP were right in your case that the ones that would make it, would make it regardless. I hope the cycle was successful for you.

I'll find out tomorrow afternoon if any are still going, and hopefully I'll be booked in for a day 5 transfer on Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed for a positive conversation tomorrow afternoon 🤞

Could I ask a question regarding embryo quality? I hear top quality good excellent etc and what these refer to? What would 4AB be or 4BB for example?

@TumbleBingQuack Thanks. I had a freeze all and I am starting my FET this month hopefully (if my period ever gets here!)

@TumbleBingQuack Good luck for tommorow and I hope it goes well for you x

@user1475505106 waiting for the period before you start is torture! Hope it turns up soon.

@Leala20 you'll be best off asking your clinic, we've had IVF in 2 different places and the first clinic they graded them 5AA as perfect down to 1DD, but in the new clinic 1 is perfect, down to 5 at the worst.

We've had some positive news today - all 3 of our little embryos are still going! Apparently all 3 are fantastic quality, two are "top" grade 1 and one is a grade 2.

So I'm feeling really hopeful that there will be at least one still going by the time it comes to embryo transfer on Monday!

I had 14 eggs, 12 fertilised, 9 made it to day four, 7 made it to day five. One was transferred and three were good enough to be frozen.

I'm currently 24 weeks pregnant with the one that was transferred. Best of luck @TumbleBingQuack

10 follicles but only 3 eggs collected, 2 made it to day 5, froze both due to Covid

First FET failed which was top quality, the second one due to be transferred next Friday which is average

@TumbleBingQuack thank you for your reply. I was told mine was very good but it didn’t implant in the end. I understand embryo quality is not everything but was very disappointing.

2 full rounds of icsi (short & long protocol)
Only 5 eggs collected at each :(
only 1 fertilised each time :(

Thought it was over before we even started but my beautiful daughter has just turned 12 month old
Really does only take 1 x

No. 2 eggs. 1 embryo. 1 3 day transfer.

But- I bfp- and her is now 5.5 years old. Numbers aren’t everything. Quality is what counts....

HE (not her)!

@TumbleBingQuack good luck tomorrow

Thank you @Leala20. Not sure I'm going to get much sleep tonight! I'm sorry to hear your treatment was unsuccessful.

If anything all the stories here have shown it really is the luck of the draw, and you only need one good embryo.

I can't quite believe this but all 3 are still going on day 5!

2 are "textbook blastocycts", of which one is being transferred back today and one is being frozen, and the other is slightly further behind so they're going to leave it for another day and hopefully freeze it tomorrow.

I think it goes to show that you can never make a judgement about where you'll be on transfer day until you get there.

Now I just hope one of them grows into a baby 🤞

That’s brilliant news! So wonderful to read. Fingers crossed for a successful transfer and freeze

@TumbleBingQuack fantastic news! I’m so happy for you. I hope the transfer goes well and that you can relax a bit during the 2ww

Completely unbelievable news today that the 3rd embryo has caught up and is good enough for freezing. So pleased after initially feeling so gutted last week.

Had one transferred back yesterday so officially in the tww.

Thank you all for your support and stories, they really helped. Fingers crossed we all get our BFP's soon.