Embryo Banking Support Thread / PGS wait

[ForeverAintEnough]

Hi all, I’ve just name changed but I’ve been on here loads and chatting to many of you under different user names ( irrational fear of being outed!). I wondered if there was interest in a ‘no transfer happening’ group? So those doing embryo banking or PGS or whatever.

I’ve just done one round of embryo banking and found the normal threads difficult with discussion of hoping for a Christmas pregnancies etc.

We are unfortunately taking the long way round with 3 rounds and no transfer. It looks like my first transfer might not be until June 2021.

If anyone wants to jump on feel free!

About us: Me 34, DH 36, TTC 3 years. Both male and female issues. x3 rounds of IVF all failed. Moved clinic to Lister for 3 rounds of embryo banking and PGS. One round of embryo banking just finished with x3 blasts sent off for PGS testing.

Hi
I'm about to start embryo batching with CRGH.
I am 41, DH is 35 started TTC 9 years ago and have 1 DC from our first round in 2016. Since then we have had 3 unsuccessful rounds (all fresh, never had anything to freeze). We have moved clinics to CRGH and all being well start stims for first round early Dec. We are doing 2 rounds with PGS. We have made lots of lifestyle changes this time too so really hoping for better results.

Hi ladies, I’d love to join you on here. This forum has been so much help with understanding the journey ahead. Good luck with your cycles.

I’m 41, single, using donor sperm. Completed 1st of my 3 cycle package. I got 11 eggs, 9 mature and 3 blasts, so grateful for that and I’m doing mild IVF so very lucky. The wait between cycles is frustrating though. I keep thinking one of my 3 embryos could be PGS normal and I could have moved straight to FET, but I know the odds may not work like that.

@IslandStars hi, 3 blasts is awesome. I’ve done 4 rounds and only ever got 2 blasts. I know what you mean about the waiting, does get frustrating.
Fingers crossed for some normal embryos.

Hi both, sounds like we are at similar stages of treatment. @IslandStars how are you finding the wait for PGS? I’m fine if I don’t think about it but when it comes into my head I start to worry! Hoping one will be PGS normal and if we got one PGS normal per round that would be 3 and hopefully enough for a baby!

When is your next round? Mine will likely be Feb/March

@Vegasdreaming27 not too long until you start your round. It’ll be good to get one done before Christmas. We were excellent with diet since June but have really fallen off the wagon since we finished our most recent round.

Hi ladies, good to hear we are at similar stages. Seems not many people are doing banking and/or PGS so we have found a good support here!

@Vegasdreaming27 congrats on your DC from first round, that's amazing, lovely to read some hope like this! CRGH appear to be very good and a change of approach works for a lot of people.

@ForeverAintEnough I'm finding the PGS wait terrible! My first round went so well like yours, but there is always that doubt that none will be PGS normal. I'm exactly the same as you, praying for 1 PGS normal per round, then i will feel like the banking/time/expense has been worthwhile, whatever happens. At least we will have given ourselves the best possible chance.

I should be starting round 2 over the next week, so i am now waiting for AF to show up...more waiting!

Do either of you know how long the gap between final EC and the FET will be, or how long your clinic will take to get PGS results once all rounds are completed?

@IslandStars my clinic are doing the biopsy as I go so I will find out the PGS results two weeks after each round has reached day 5 blast - is yours not the same? Should hear about round one next week (so nervous!!)

Good luck with round 2! Great to get it done before Christmas. I am not doing round 2 until Feb as I’ve done 3 rounds of IVF since May and they said my body needs a bit of a break unfortunately (although I do agree just waiting is hard)

It’ll be round 2: Feb round 3: April

I would think for FET it would be the usual wait one month then go ahead? When are you hoping to do it?

I’m going to do an ERA/ALICE/EMMA after my last egg collection so that’ll hopefully be May and then hoping for FET in June/July. So it’s an awful long time but hoping it might work going the longer more cautious way

@ForeverAintEnough Oh good luck, i didn't realise your PGS would be done so soon! Mine are biopsied but not tested until the end of my 3 cycles. I think this is because my package only includes the testing of 4 embryos. I suppose they will recommend the best 4 to test and then go from there. If none of my 4 are normal, i will have to make a decision to pay for more to be tested, depending on how many i collect over the next two rounds, or go ahead untested. I guess this might save me the risk of having nothing to transfer too, if i held one embryo back untested. Really depends how my next 2 cycles go in terms of numbers.

I think my final cycle will be end of Jan, so i guess FET could be March. I'm so impatient with it incase the first transfer doesn't work.

Ah ok. We are paying per cycle per embryo for testing so we get the results sooner. As long as they’ve biopsied all of yours its just the wait really I guess as I don’t think it’s good to freeze them, defrost biopsy referees and then unfreeze for transfer as they might not survive. It sounds like your clinic have a good plan in place.

March will be great! If it works it’ll be a 2021 baby! The wait till June is going to kill me and knowing no baby next year either is tough.

Are you doing any lining tests of immune tests?

I'm glad they have at least biopsied them before freezing. I really hope March is possible for me, if there are any delays or lining not suitable etc, it could be longer, i really want to conclude everything next year as i'll be 43 then. June is a long wait, but at least you have age more on your side.

I haven't thought about any lining or immune tests yet. Tbh, as this is my first go, i didn't know anything about them until i started reading more on these boards.

@IslandStars I think for lining tests and immune tests it might depend on how many PGS you get. If you have a few there might be no need to do those tests as it could work first time for you but if not then it could be worth looking into.

I had an ERA done which showed my receptivity window was off so I’ll get it repeated to try find the right window and also do the other lining checks and then I did immune testing just as I’m so sick of it all I want to throw the kitchen sink and hope it works. It’s been 3 years of tests failed rounds and time for us and I’m so over it!!!!

My friend got pregnant on her first round of ivf with first PGS transfer. The dream!!

@ForeverAintEnough Thanks for the info on those, i will definitely keep in mind depending on how the PGS goes.

I keep thinking it's going to be impossibly lucky to have my first FET with PGS work, so it's good to know there others out there who have this happy ending!

Hi - I am just in the process of my first IVF cycle and only got 3 fertilised eggs. I am 40. CRGH have said they think I should move to embryo banking so I have a few embryos to test for PGS (obviously depending on whether one of the 3 this time get any further to day 3 or 5). What I am confused by is that they need to know at day 3 what the plan is. Do you know how CRGH bank and test? Are the embryos frozen at day 3 - later brought to day 5 alongside others and tested? Wouldn’t this just mean freezing/re-freezing? I will ask the clinic tomorrow but just wondered if you or others knew how it works?

@SarahK2000 in my clinic to do the biopsy they need to assisted hatch the embryos at day 3 so that is probably why they need to know then.

So they would assisted hatch them at day 3. Then biopsy at day 5 and freeze. My clinic then send them for testing there and then but others hold onto the biopsy until all rounds of banking are done and send them off to get the biopsy assessed at the end

@SarahK2000 My clinic biopsy at day 5 and freeze. Testing isn’t done until then end of my 3 cycle package.

@ForeverAintEnough how are you getting on, have you had any helpful feedback from the genetic team?

I’m booked in for my second egg collection on Friday. Have responded well and overall less side effects than first round, although the ovary pain is starting to build today! If I can get the same outcome as last time and bank 3 in the freezer, I’ll be over the moon, but I know all cycles can vary.

@IslandStars good luck with round 2! You are flying it. Come back and post how you get on. Agreed it’s hard not to hope for the same outcome. We’re hoping for 3 next time too but it’s not guaranteed.

The genetic counselling was interesting. We basically were unlucky. One they couldn’t tell as sample may have been damaged so the clinic then treat that as untested so we can still use it if we want. The other one was non informative so I thought that meant it was so messed up they couldn’t give us a conclusive answer but they said it looked like one chromosome 21 was missing which could mean it attached elsewhere and Down syndrome but it didn’t actually reach the threshold where they could say it was definitely an issue and that it also might be fine so we would retest that one. For now we’re just going to leave them aside and proceed with round 2 in Feb and hopefully get a normal there.

Both consultant and genetic counsellor said there’s nothing to indicate we can’t produce normal embryos and we just got unlucky that two were inconclusive!

I am totally off the healthy eating I can’t get motivated at all with Christmas on the way!

@ForeverAintEnough Thank you, I’ll update soon.

Glad you got some feedback, although still sounds like quite a lot to take in. Hopefully you get some normals in your next rounds and then you won’t have to make a decision on these and leave them as a back up. If they are possibly picking up a serious chromosome issue, then I guess the PGS is doing it’s job, but so difficult to take when you have been extremely unlucky with the odds on all 3. Hopefully this means your bad luck is out the way now! Despite everything we do and all the science, there is always that element of luck involved.

I’m losing motivation too as this EC is nearing, thank god I’m not on long protocol! Think I have been strict and super healthy for too long, so it’s wearing thin now. I haven’t had a drink for months, even between cycles. I’m having Christmas off with just a small drink and probably lots of food, you should too, we deserve it and it’s good for mental wellbeing to have some treats.

Hi Ladies! I hope you dont mind me joining you. We are on the train to our appointment at the Lister in London!

We had our consultation last week and we want to go for the 3 cycle embryo freezing package because we're a same sex couple and we want to use both our embryos. As well as this, we've had a lot of disappointment from two cycles we paid for at our local nhs hospital (long story) and freezing our embryos in time takes us off, what feels like, the IVF tredmill. So I just hope we get some good blasts. We did with my nhs cycles so fingers crossed.

The plan is for my partner to do 2 cycles and I will do 1. We are both going on the short protocol, which is a new thing for me. We're supplemented up to the hilt! On the eye watering pharma nord ubiquinol etc and just about t total.

Our consultant talked about the benefits of pgt-a but we are undecided. We're both just about to turn 35.

Hope you're all doing well and look forward to chatting as the cycles continue xx

@MrsC2019 Welcome, hope your appointment went well. Everyone seems to speak highly of Lister. Nice idea to share the rounds with your partner, that’s a good way of easing the physical burden.

I can see what you mean about PGT, it’s a difficult decision if you’re under 40, unless recurrent miscarriages are an issue.

I had my second EC on Friday, 11 eggs collected, weirdly exactly the same as last time! It’s day 3 today and I still have 8 in the mix, so more than happy with that. Will let you all know how it goes by day 5/6.

Thanks IslandStars :-) The appointment went well. We're hoping to start in about two weeks if our file is signed off by the doctor. Fingers crossed!

I think we're leaning away from pgt-a now but we might change our mind. I suppose there is plenty of time to decide. I've had a chemical pregnancy with my embryos and my partner has never had any treatment before.

Sounds like your egg collection went very well! Have you sent them for pgs/frozen them?

How's everyone doing?

@MrsC2019 Glad your appointment went well, just two weeks to start, exciting end to the year!

I got my day 5 results the other day and have been slightly bewildered by them...i got 6 blasts from 11 eggs! So now i have 9 blasts from my two cycles and will have to decide on how many embryos to PGS after my final round later in January. My package only includes the testing of 4 embryos, others are £350 extra. I didn't really expect to be in this position, so now i have to decide whether to go for it and test all or hold some back. One is only the minimum grade for freezing, (3) so i may not test that one. I have a couple of hatched grade 6s and then a mixture of 5s and 4s.

That’s amazing @IslandStars so you got double the blasts from same number of eggs? Congratulations!! I guess you could test what’s in your package and if you get some normals have the others in reserve to test? I presume they biopsy them all but do they hold on to the biopsies?

Did you do anything different this time? Protocol or diet etc?

@ForeverAintEnough Thanks, yes i got 3 blasts from 11 last time and now 6! Exactly the same mild protocol and i didn't do anything different in terms of diet or exercise etc. Think it just goes to show you can never really tell what will happen, either good or bad.

I was thinking of just testing the 4 to start with, but i'm not sure my odds will be that great to find a normal one. Also wary of the time involved, as if they come back abnormal and i have to test more, that could mean i have to wait for another period in order to start FET, so effectively a delay of 2 months to get started on transfer. They are biopsing them all, so i will have the choice to test more.

Do you know much about grade 6 hatched? I read a report which said that hatching grade 5 have a better chance of implantation. I always hear people talk about 5AA being the ideal blast. My best was a 5BB if that's the case.

I think when you’re doing PGS normal matters more than grade as they have to be a minimum quality of grade to even get biopsied. You hear people saying their 5AB didn’t work and their 3BB did and I always wonder if that’s as the 3BB was normal.

So if you get a normal from any of those I’d say you’re in with a really good chance.

That’s really living the dream with so many blasts. I’m hoping so much for the same as last time or even 2 in my next round.

Could I ask what your protocol is out of interest as you say it’s mild? I’m on 450 of menopur