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 everyone,

Thank you for everyone sharing their stories and progress.

I am currently about to embark on embryo banking for baby no2. I have a low AMH of 4.6 and low AFC to match (around 4-6 AF’s per cycle recently). My husband also has very poor quality sperm.

1st IVF - 2019 (AMH 5.2, NHS funded) 6 eggs collected, 3 mature, 2 fertilised, 1 grew to a 6B+B- and is now my 14 month baby girl. We went with CRGH and they were fantastic.

2nd IVF - August 2021 in Cyprus (last week!), not sure how many eggs collected but only 1 mature egg and it didn’t fertilise.

The clinic (British IVF Hospital in north Cyprus) are fantastic. The doctor recommended embryo batching to try and get 6 embryos (I personally think 10 is a safer number, so have decided I will go for 10). I will fly out for 1 night at a time for EC after each stims round and come back home for the eventual plan for ET when/if the time comes.

3rd IVF - August 2021, day 1 of stims started tonight. I currently have 6 follicles (a lot for me), so we’ll see how they respond.

How has embryo batching gone for you? How long do you wait between each egg collection before starting the next round do stims? Do you feel like you collect more/less eggs at each round. Any advice welcomed! I am also currently reading “It Starts With The Egg” and taking on board all of the suggestions, especially the supplements.

The doctor in Cyprus said he recommended I started stims on my next cycle and not this one but said that he was okay with me starting today as my blood work came back the same as normal. The only concern is that I have 2 large follicles (not counted within the 6) that may stop the smaller ones growing and I may need to start cetrotide earlier to stop ovulation.

@2020toast Welcome & good luck with this round. Fantastic that you had success on your first try. I have a 6BB left to transfer soon, which is my last embryo.

Do you need to fly out for monitoring scans, as you just mentioned 1 night before EC?

I did 3 banking rounds as close together as the clinic would allow, so I had a withdrawal bleed post EC about a week later, then I was able to start in the following period, as that’s a ‘normal’ one. My final round did see a drop off in eggs, although I still got some blastocysts, so maybe my body was too tired by then in a short space of time.

@2020toast it was good to hear about your original success. My remaining embryos are a day 5: 6B-B- and day 6: 6B-B+ with CRGH as well.
In terms of batching. The clinic recommended a 3 cycle batching round after the first round failed to create any blastocysts. My egg collection numbers were high between 13-17 each time but the fertilisation was varied and only 1 fertilised in the last round. The gap was one withdrawal bleed following EC and then a second bleed that I took Northisterone ahead of. So the dates of the 4 rounds were with egg collections falling in December (first week of month), Feb (first week), March (last week) and May (last week). The failed transfer was then July (last week). I hope this gives you an idea of time. The batching cycles feel very long but are definitely worth doing as they give you the best chance for a number of embryos. I wonder why are you aiming for 10 embryos - is it that you want to PGS test them - in which case a larger number is ideal? Though 6 seems a good number if you are in the younger age bracket of under 35 and only want 1 or 2 more children? Good luck with your current cycle 😊
@IslandStars yes the acupuncture is costly, especially considering the costs just keep adding up over the last year of ivf! I also worry about catching covid and exposure. Let’s see.

@sarahk2000

Thank you for welcoming me to the thread.

I am down in the dumps at the moment and cannot see a way out. I feel like this is the end even though it was my very first cycle. I don't understand why ARGC did not use ICSI nor did they check my husband's sperm fragmentation [he's 42 years old].

I am not sure whether I will do another with ARGC or move to CRGH.

@islandstars

Thank you for your kind message. I hope the next round is better.

Is there anything in particular you did in the run up to a successful round?

@IslandStars thanks for your message - no I can do my scans in the UK privately and send the results over to the clinic who adjust the plan accordingly. The clinic I have chosen are very quick at getting back to me.

@SarahK2000 I am aiming for 10 because of the PGS testing they can do and so I figure rather than getting a lower number of eggs, lets just get the egg collection done and dusted once and for all and then just deal with embryo transfers as/when/if they happen. We don't want any more kids after this one, so really its to ensure we get 1 on this journey!

I am 35 (just turned last month) but I suppose I am nervous.

@Ivfhoper I would massively recommend CRGH, the only reason we didn't go back was the cost, otherwise I would have done. Even with flights and hotel thrown in for 7 days for my husband and 14 month old, it still worked out to "only" about £10k - and my stimulation drugs were very expensive since I am on a higher dose. CRGH was more expensive but then again... they are probably worth it. If you have the money, why not? Also, what I am doing differently; I am reading "It Starts With The Egg" very quickly and taking the supplements recommended from the book. I have also booked into for acupuncture but not sure I will even make the appt for the first egg collection if it ends up being earlier than the last 2 rounds.

I can send you the list (although my notes are based on diminished ovarian reserve).

I had my first follicle tracking scan yesterday and my right ovary has woken up (previously didn't respond well, having only produced 1 follicle). I have 3 follicles on the right (with 2-3 smaller ones growing that may or may not catch up?) and 4 follicles on my left (with another 2-3 smaller ones that may also catch up). The doctor in Cyprus said that sometimes, a back-to-back cycle can produce smaller follicles that were growing slowly in the first round of stims but show up in the second round for collection - and he was right! This is a very large number of follicles for me from my track record. I hope we get some mature eggs from this! Next scan is Thursday, and I have started cetrotide already (day 3 of stims), so I'm hoping its all okay in there...

@Ivfhoper Thank you. I didn’t do anything different between rounds, so shows they can vary. I am generally a healthy eater anyway, but increased my protein intake and walked for around an hour or so a day, as I found it helped with bloating and provided a stress release. Also good for blood flow. I didn’t go in for all the supplements other than pregnacare, but I will do so next time if I need another round.

@2020toast That’s great you can do scans locally. You have a good number of follicles growing too. I think 10 embryos sounds like a solid number to find some euploid embryos. Even with lower AMH, at 35 you should still have a decent ratio of euploid. Hope it keeps going well.

Hi ladies. I hope you're doing ok. We just completed embryo banking at CRGH and have had 4 blasts tested. We already have an IVF DD and this is our final shot at a sibling. I'm now significantly older so the odds are overwhelmingly against us. I'm really starting to struggle - having nightmares already and have another 2 weeks to wait for results. How do I cope with the fact that I'm waiting for such massive news - we've gone through so much and then I'm going to get a phone call telling me (probably) that all our dreams are over. Really tough.

@2020toast glad you recommend CRGH! I found the experience positive too. Glad too that things seem to be going well in Cyprus.

@Ivfhoper I was previously at ARGC. I did 2 fresh rounds and a frozen there. I didn't have a bad experience but decided we needed a change hence coming over to CRGH. Not many clinics check sperm DNA fragmentation at the beginning - it's an expensive test but I wish they would all recommend it from the start - far too much focus is put on the woman I think at the expense of fully investigating the male factor.

@IslandStars we have shared a few threads over the years. Hope you are well and best of luck with starting your new FET cycle.

Hello to everyone else and hope you're doing ok

Xxx

Hello @Janefx40 nice to hear from you. Good luck with your PGS, I really hope you have a euploid in there. It’s such an agonising wait, especially if it’s your last try. Did you do 2 rounds? My clinic, Create, only do 3 rounds of banking, but I know some clinics offer 2. Hopefully my period should be arriving in a few days, then I can start FET.

Hi @IslandStars we did 3 rounds - CRGH offer 2-3 depending on the results. 3 made sense for us in the end.

Hope the period starts soon and you can get underway!

@Janefx40 it is really difficult to wait for such big news, I wonder if you can do something nice to try and relax - acupuncture? Massage? I'm not really sure what else to recommend; I would probably do those things in my 2ww.

The clinic in Cyprus didn't say how many 'rounds' of egg banking to do, just that the doctor was aiming for 6 mature eggs. After having spoken to my husband in more depth, we decided that we are personally aiming for 10. I'm not sure how long that will take and if we will end up just settling at 8?

This will probably be my last go at it. We will throw the kitchen sink at this. I have stopped red meat, chicken, and anything processed. Upping supplements, and doing acupuncture again. Although I will likely only get 1 maybe 2 sessions in before collection (planned for Wednesday or Thursday).

I had my second scan today and I have 11 follicles growing - the most I've had across the 3 rounds of IVF we have had so far. I'm not sure how to feel about it because we all know it's quality not quantity. I hope that the quality of the follicles hasn't been jeopardised.

First round of IVF - 225 meriofert and 225 fostimon - 8 follicles which resulted in 1 x 5 day blast = my 14 month old

Second round - 150 meriofert and 150 fostimon - 5 follicles, nothing fertilised

Third round (now) - 225 meriofert and 150 fostimon - 11 follicles... hoping for good news on mature chromosomally normal eggs 🤞🏽

Thanks @2020toast for the welcome. It sounds like your scans look promising. Do you mean the Doctor is hoping for 6 mature eggs or 6 blastocysts for testing? Interesting how different the approaches are.

The challenge with CRGH is that they get you to freeze embryos at Day 3 until your last round of batching so you don't actually know how many Blastocysts you have until the end. We were lucky to end up with 4 though at my age. ARGC would have just tested as we went so we could have made decisions on future rounds based on how many we had but that wasn't financially viable at CRGH. But then ARGC don't really like testing anyway.

I have fingers crossed for you as I know you are quite a bit younger so I have every hope that you'll have a good one in there!!

Thank you for all your kind comments friends.

I have an appointment with CRGH booked for 9.9.11. I am still on my TWW but not hopeful at all. I am going the blood test on Sunday.

The burden of treatment at ARGC is too much - I cannot do another round there. Not to mention the cost and all the time off work. Without immunes the cost came to £15,000.

I have a Low AMH [3.25] and had only 7 follicles on my baseline scan last time, I feel completely hopeless.

My anxiety is through the roof and I am hoping to get sertraline from my GP asap - once I know the outcome of this cycle.

@janefx40

Jane, did you have your daughter through ARGC?

if you don't mind me asking, how old were you at the time and what was your AMH?

Hi @Ivfhoper sorry you're having such a tough time. My very first round was at ARGC aged 40. My AMH was slightly higher. That ended in a chemical. I was then offered an NHS round at Guys which I took. It was a total disaster but it resulted in my daughter so worked out in the end.

I then had an FET at ARGC last year which ended in miscarriage followed by a fresh cycle (BFN). I then moved to CRGH for embryo banking. I am 44 now though so I don't really blame ARGC for the failed cycle. Not likely anyone can get a decent egg out of me at this stage.

It sounds like you had a difficult experience.

It's hard to feel hopeful I know - I remember how it felt going through IVF for my first child and how hard I found it to believe it could work for me. The main thing you have on your side is age. They could get 12 eggs out of me but at 44 there is a 95% chance they won't be viable. They may get fewer from you but you are extremely likely to find a decent one in there.

Are you planning on testing your embryos then? ARGC aren't usually so keen on testing. I'd be interested in hearing what CRGH suggest in your case.

@Janefx40

Thank you for your kind words.

ARGC do not really test embryos which I think is rather tragic because so many women end up having chemical pregnancies or a miscarriage with ARGC - these can be avoided.

I have my consultation with CRGH soon, I will let you know what they say about testing.

Hello all. Just an update although I realise I only joined the thread the other day. We got our results back and we have 2 euploids - feeling very relieved - I know from reading this thread that this doesn't guarantee us a baby - but we've just jumped from a 5% chance of a baby to a 50% chance so I'm feeling pretty happy!

X

@Janefx40 wow that’s fantastic, you’ve blown the stats out of the park with a 50% euploid ratio! Just shows how it’s hard to predict what will happen with egg quality etc.

Are you planning to transfer asap? I’ve started my FET cycle now, day 8 scan on Monday. Will be doing natural this time, so just hoping my lining is ok.

@IslandStars thank you. I'm not sure when we'll start. I have an appointment with the consultant on Friday morning. I expect they will want to do era plus immune tests on me first but we shall see!

Also I have massively fallen off the healthy eating/supplements wagon in the last couple of weeks so need to flip back into IVF mode!

Good luck with the scan. I did a natural FET last time - it was pretty straight forward. Fingers crossed for a thick lining.

Hi everyone!
Welcome to the news ladies :) sorry, I was a bit absent lately, basically working like crazy, so i kind of lost track of messages... the babies are growing fine so far, according to last Friday's scan. I am fine too, although I am growing by the minute!
@Janefx40, well done for the two euploids, that is amazing!
I am so happy for you @IslandStars, the transfer day is finally coming!!!! And a natural FET is better indeed. Really hope you will be lucky this time :)
I hope you are all fine, take care xxx

@janefx40
Congratulations my dear! That is amazing news and I hope those 2 euploids make the baby!

MY SAD LIST OF UPDATES:

Update from TWW - A BFN. Not surprised but very deflated.

WTF Appointment with ARGC today:

• Dr said they would not change the protocol as my response was good given my low ovarian reserve BUT they would trigger me a day earlier [my LH was surging insanely in the previous cycle and I was given 9 Cetrotide injections in one day instead of triggering on time!!!] This must have affected the egg quality.
• Given my "good" response to the stims the Dr has increased my chances from 15% to 20% of LBR per cycle ?!?!
• Dr said my chances of getting pregnant naturally are not bad so they want to monitor and administer Clomid this coming month.
• Dr reassured me that it is possible to get pregnant with my eggs but I need to be prepared for more cycles than a person with a normal ovarian reserve.

Appointment with NHS GP today:
GP prescribed me Sertraline [aka Zoloft] this is the one that carries the least risk while TTC or pregnancy. Golly I need it right now.

CRGH:
Speaking to CRGH on Thursday to start Embryo banking. I am thinking in my head that as I just turned 33, I am willing to do 12 embryo banking cycles and see what that brings up. If I dont get a single euploid embryo after 12 cycles - I can move on in peace knowing the eggs are not viable.
I will pay for 9 myself and the NHS [hopefully] will pay for 3.

I want to do the stimulation back to back - I dont want to wait around in between cycles - do you think CRGH will allow this to happen?

@sophfr17

It is lovely to hear from you, you are my inspiration, you did not give up despite all the hurdles!

@Janefx40 Thanks, I don’t blame you for falling off the IVF wagon, it’s well deserved during the horrible PGS wait! Hopefully your clinic will come up with a good plan for your precious two embryos

Hi @Sophfr17 thank you, it’s a big relief, but now have that excited / nervous feeling again! Glad you and the babies are well, hope work settles down a bit soon, you’ve got a lot to juggle right now!

@Ivfhoper Sorry to hear it was BFN. You’ve been given a lot of info, so give yourself time to process everything. 12 banking rounds sounds like a huge amount, I’m not sure clinics will plan that far ahead, it’s normally done in batches of 2 or 3, then you can PGS test if required and see where you’re at. My clinic classed ‘back to back’ as having a withdrawal bleed around a week after EC, then starting again on the following period, as that’s a more ‘normal’ one after your body has settled down from the meds.

@Ivfhoper I'm so sorry about your BFN. It's so so hard even if you are expecting it. Sending lots of love.

Who was your consultation with at ARGC? Dr Sapna?

Let us know about your consultation with CRGH. Having just done 3 back-to-back egg banking cycles, I would say that it was pretty exhausting. I'm not sure I could have done any more and I would definitely have needed a break. But they are the experts so let them give you the benefit of their wisdom. Just to give you the heads up, 3 banking cycles plus testing has cost us £27K at CRGH.

Best of luck with whatever the next few weeks hold for you xxx

@Sophfr17 glad to hear you and the babies are doing well! I have been following the thread a little before I posted so was a little aware of your story. Enjoy growing too! Being pregnant was one of the few times in my life when I've not worried about having a flat stomach (or not!) - enjoy it!!