Bad Egg Quality...

[NinaBananaMama]

Hi all,
Im currently on my 2nd IVF round with baby 2 (my DD is 4 and was a natural conception at 36). Im 41 and it seems my egg quality is terrible, out of my 5 collected in my first round only 1 survived (got to blastocyst PGS tested inconclusive and may be ok...)

I just got a call from my dr yesterday that from the second round (5 also collected) only 2 survived the first 24 hours and he is very disappointed with the results...

I really long for a second child but now just feel like it may never happen.... I would love some advice and perhaps some success stories to keep me going...

By the way Ive taken every single supplement in the last few month, dr just keeps saying its due to my age and genetics and that I can keep taking them but they just won't make a huge difference. My husbands sperm quality is perfect which is a positive.

Would love to hear your stories! This process can be so scary and lonely...

Has your husband had sperm DNA fragmentation testing? I see so many stories of couples being told the husband has super sperm based on a basic semen analysis, only to discover there are DNA fragmentation issues caused by hidden infections or varicoceles.

My partner had a urine culture showing a hidden infection which was treatable. I don’t want to add to your load but this caused years of avoidable heartache for us! Still on the journey to having our second (recently started IVF) but with a lot more knowledge and understanding of possible causes.

Of course, it could be down to egg quality, in which case what have the clinic suggested?

Are you doing IVF to speed the process (hopefully) up of having a second child? Or have you been diagnosed with something that reduces your fertility? It took me 5 rounds and £35k at age 35/36 to overcome secondary infertility - it may just be a case of keeping going as long as you have the commitment and the finances. I wouldn't PGS again if you only get one blastocyst is my one but if advice unless you've suffered several miscarriages previously and want to reduce the chances of going through another x

@MyEasterEggs i think we just had the standard semen analysis. That’s very Interesting though and will mention it. I do however think it is down to my rubbish eggs. Unfortunately not much we can do, just hope to find that golden egg!

@doingitforthegirls We tried naturally for 6 months and when nothing happened we went to a fertility clinic to speed the process. The dr did suggest another 2 cycles but worried about how all these hormones may impact my health in the long run…..

We did the short protocol for the last two attempts but although my fertilisation rate was pretty good, none ever made it to blastocyst stage. (They transferred them as morulas on day 5 but they didn't make it.)

My doctor has now switched me over to the long protocol in the hope that this will improve my egg quality. We'll see. I'm still on the middle of it at the moment. (Also just got Covid, which is just splendid...)

DS is 5 and was conceived naturally, too. However, I have issues with my tubes and have had 4 ectopics so far. They removed my left tube after the last one, which was when we started ivf.

I had terrible egg quality age 35/36 - the couple of blastocysts I did test came back abnormal/mosaic - I changed to natural modified IVF with ICSI and did a 3 cycle package and had twins. And have 2 more top quality frozen (this was after 2 rounds of short protocol with rubbish results and 3 transfers of low quality blastocysts - I only got 3 rubbish blastocysts from a total of 28 eggs with short protocol but got 4 top quality blastocysts from 9 eggs with natural modified IVF)

@Dizzyhedgehog
I had 2 ectopics also and lost both tubes x

Hi All, I am 42 and just did my 3rd round of IVF, first round was in spain 5 years ago after i had miscarried the year before a natural pregnancy at 3 months. Nothing was happening for over a year so did IVF, got 3 blastocyst out of 28 eggs, pgs tested , 1 normal, but no pregnancy. Been trying since timed sex with stims etc nothing. Did IVF last year had 1 blasto out of 23 eggs, got pregnant December gone, miscarried in january, changed all the diet etc, upped the gym, more smoothies, supplements etc, and did another round of ivf with ICSI on March 6th just gone, got 5 blastos day 5 and 1 day 6 blasto, they told me to send for testing, to get the devastating news, they were all abnormal :( , I am sorry now i sent them for testing was convinced i would have 1 normal at least. I am starting another round straight away, so would appreciate your advice, if i got 6 again, i was thinking of doing a fresh transfer with 2 of the best grade ones, and then send the rest for testing, like as a back up, in the hope i will get some normal or one, as we have really changed our lifestyles, and it shows to get 1 embryo a year ago and then 6 this year, the supplements definitely helped and the food etc. Any advice from anybody would be much appreciated, they are destroying those 6 embryos now, and i am kind of raging, as i see so much negativity now on pgs testing. Thank you

Were they all abnormal or did you have any mosaics?