Do I embryo bank or just go straight for IVF?

[ohsheglows]

I have DOR and 32 y/o. Consultant is saying to do 2 rounds of banking and then fresh transfer in the 3rd round. Reason being is because if I want more than one child, he says the eggs they take out when I'm a 32 y/o will be better quality than those you get when I'm older, and they'll only do IVF 18 months after I give birth so I'll be 34/35. Also I'm worried that the IVF won't be back to back months so it's just further delaying treatment.

But the cost of this will be around the same as 3 rounds of fresh IVF transfers. So is it not better to do multiple rounds of fresh transfers as you get more chances for the same amount of money?

I am in pretty the exact same position. I am 32 with low AMH and my husband has MFI and is on v expensive medication.

We have decided to go through a couple of rounds of egg freezing before we do a fresh transfer. Because if i did a fresh transfer first time and got pregnant it would be another at least two years before i could do another round and i would feel rushed to get back on it even if i was not ready. Furthermore, being able to do it now when i am childless and working from home is easier than doing it with a young baby.

It's a really personal choice and depends how desperate you are to get pregnant and how desperate you are to have two children. whilst more money now it will cost less to do a second round further down the line.

It's a really personal choice and i'd see how well you respond and how many eggs you get before making a final decision on how many rounds you get. if you get 10 first time then you can go for a frozen transfer straight away with 9 embabies in the freezer for baby 2. If you only go for one or two then you can make the decision to go through a second round of retrival. nothing is set is stone.

Thank you @Bells3032, you've made some valid points. I was definitely 100% swayed towards the banking yesterday and now part of me thinks ugh why am I waiting so long to find out if I can actually get pregnant through IVF!

But I do want more than one, so I guess it is better to use eggs from when I'm younger!

@Bells3032 do you mind me asking - are you going through egg collection now or just starting the process?

Yes started last week. Hoping to have retrieval on Sunday or Monday

I don't know what DOR is but I think banking when you get is a really good idea. Ivf does just take so long though, but best to do some of the waiting now while you're so young I think.

*when you're young

Hi @ohsheglows I also have DOR at 34, AMH is 2.1 just about to start my first round of IVF, doing a Natural Modified round. My consultant is planning to do a fresh transfer if there is something to transfer. We'll freeze anything we have spare (if we're that lucky). We asked about egg banking as we'd like siblings but she said we could do that about 6 months after any birth and to just go for it now. Who knows if it's the right thing to do or not 🤷‍♀️

@Dbop100 ah, that's interesting. I'm also doing natural modified and the consultant was very insistent that I should go for the 2 rounds banking, then 3rd round of banking. I didn't realise you could bank 6 months later. There's so much to think about!

I'm crossing my fingers for you @Dbop100 and good luck for that round!

Surely you can decide after seeing how many blasts you get after round 1? I had NHS funded IVF so didn't even consider banking. I don't have DOR but was 36 for first cycle, so not a lot of time in terms of egg quality. I got 10 blasts, so like @Bells3032 says, no point doing anymore if that's the scenario. The dilemma comes if you get say 3 or 4 blasts, I guess, which could be more than you need or not enough.

I also didn't know you could do more collecting 6 months postpartum. Honestly, I can't imagine that would be for me. What about breastfeeding - are the drugs okay for breastfeeding? What if periods aren't back yet- would that make a difference? Part of me thinks if I were going to bank, I'd do it first, but that's easy to say now. Before my IVF worked I just wanted a baby yesterday!

Best of luck to you! Hopefully you'll get lots of lovely blasts first time 🤞

I was told you have to wait 6 months after breastfeeding to do another collection

I know it sounded rather soon to me too, don't take my word for it just repeating what my consultant said to me. I will ask her again next time I see her. Honestly I'm not feeling super confident these two planned round will yield any good results, at this point I'd be thrilled just to get pregnant at all.

I am hoping for egg retrieval mon just waiting for test results now. Hoping for about 7 eggs. My amh is 6.5pmol

@Yokey hello, I have to pay upfront so it's not like I can do one cycle, see how many blasts I have and then make a decision. They said to me that they are only likely to retrieve 1/2 eggs at a time due to my low AMH and DOR.

@Bells3032 oooh! Good luck and keeping my fingers crossed for you x

Ah okay. In that case, given your (good) age and DOR, I'd probably follow their advice if it were me. I also think having more than 1 blast takes the pressure off a bit when it comes to transfer. The impatience would reeeally get me though!