Back-to-back cycles for embryo batching

[Sophfr17]

Hi all,

I am in my second week of stimulation (1st cycle of IVF), with hopefully a retrieval on Sunday this week.

Due to my low ovarian reserve, age and other stuffs, i must do back to back cycles (likely three) for embryo batching. Embryos that will be eventually PGS tested.

For those who did this, how did you get on with all the treatments without a break? I suppose there is just a two weeks break between collection and periods, and thus, the beginning of a new cycle?

Sorry for these questions, i fully trust my Drs, they have a plan for me; however, i never thought about asking what this batching implied. I suppose it means 1st retrieval end of January, 2 weeks wait, 2 weeks stims, 2nd collection end of February, 2 weeks wait, 2 weeks stims and 3rd collection end of March? Please correct me if I am wrong, it is all very overwhelming for me, after losing our 1st baby followed by 5 miscarriages. I just follow protocoles without thinking too much.

Take care all
x
S.

@Sophfr17 Sorry to hear of your losses, very hard. I’m doing embryo banking with PGS, on cycle 3 now. I’m doing mild IVF, 2 weeks of stims.
I expected to do them consecutively too, but later realised that what clinics means by ‘consecutively’ isn’t necessarily one month to the next. After egg collection, you’ll have a period 5-10 days later, but clinics don’t class this as a normal bleed, they like to start your next stims on the following cycle, so 28 days after this period for example. So you have a post egg collection bleed, then start round 2 on the next cycle. Keep in mind, most ladies seem to find their cycles get delayed whilst doing IVF, I’ve gone from 26 days regularly to 32 days.

I really wanted to do mine consecutively, as soon as I got my post egg collection bleed, but consultant said it’s best to let the body heal. To give you an idea, my round 1 collection was end of Oct, round 2 was early Dec, now final round will be end of Jan. Hope all goes well for you.

Thank you for your reply @IslandStars
I understand what you mean, it makes sense, and even with extra break, it is still extremely quick
We are going through the same process then, banking + PGS...
I hope you will get some good news at the end; it is all so exhausting, especially mentally, dealing with all these losses + starting IVF. But we are very lucky to be able to receive such treatments!
Take care x

@Sophfr17 Thank you, yes it's still very quick in the scheme of things and does give the body a break too. It's very draining having to think about each stage and then the PGS wait, on top of the usual 2 week wait after transfer. There's another thread on embryo banking / PGS on here that i normally post on. I'll update on there at the end of the month, so feel free to join in and ask questions/chat, there's a few of us doing it. Some ladies on the over 40s thread are banking too x

I did back to back embryo banking on natural modified IVF cycles - for me it was fine for cycles 1 and 2 but by cycle 3 it was clear my body had had enough and we had to abandon cycle half way through as hormones were all over the place. It just so happened that 2 weeks later we went into lockdown and the clinic closed. I did my 3rd and final cycle as soon as they reopened in June - we chose the best 2 embryos from the 3 cycles to put back and had a successful pregnancy with twins

Thanks @IslandStars and @ivfbeenbusy!
I asked yesterday during my scan what was the plan for me, but the nurse couldn't answer... Crazy i was not told exactly what is going to happen in terms of schedule!
What a great story ivfbeenbusy, it gives me some hope, although i know the road is long; it looks from yesterday's scan that only 6 eggs MIGHT be mature for egg retrieval...
Take care
S.

@Sophfr17

Don't stress about egg Numbers - I only
Managed 2 eggs on cycle 1, 7 on cycle 2 and 1 on cycle 3.
My twins are from the first cycle of only 2 eggs!

Thank you @ivfbeenbusy

Hello ladies, I just wanted to say thank you for these comments. I’m about to start embryo batching and I didn’t know much about it. I naively thought I would be done in three months too. We are very lucky to have a little girl through a second cycle of natural ivf two years ago. We are trying for a sibling and our first round failed. We will see how batching goes. I hope you are all find success from your treatment.

Hi all,

Thank you for sharing your stores. Can I just ask you all how you got on?

We are doing egg batching now as I have DOR.

1st cycle, 2019, AMH 5.1, 3 mature eggs, 2 fertilised, 1 5 day blast which is my daughter
2nd cycle august 2021 AMH 4.6 (about a month ago) - 1 mature egg, didn't fertilise
3rd cycle - started on the post egg collection bleed, so 2 weeks later, and got 7 eggs, all mature. I was very surprised from it. Doctor thinks the smaller follicles stimulated from cycle 2 had time to catch up. I think back to back might work better for me.

However, husband has poor sperm all round, and only 3 have fertilised so I'm feeling quite deflated. We are hoping to bank 6 x day 3 embryos so we can do genetic testing.

Just need some positive stories really!

Hello. I had IVF IMSI for my first child and gave birth December 2020. I’m TTC second baby and now I’m 40. I’ve got my initial consultation next week. I’ve been reading up on embryo batching and think it might be a good option as I never get more than 2 or 3 blastocysts and that was when I was 38. I’ve had my amh done and it’s 16, but fsh is 6.7. My DHEA levels are normal and tsh is 1. Have others my age had success with embryo batching to do PGS testing?