Average quality embryo

[Chloe1234567]

Has anyone had embryo transfer with nhs? Am just confused about how they done things. On day 3 we had top quality embryos (8cells) on day 5 I got phone call which said one is average quality made it to blastocyst. One just a little behind and one a day behind. They decided two transfer two embryos. Is that normal? Has anyone had two transferred on day 5? 3rd one made it to blastocyst but not good enough to freeze. Which has also left me confused because then the average one would not have been good enough to freeze wouldn't it? Does anyone know how nhs grades embryos? Also when I want for transfer embryologist said the average one is now expanding, does that mean the quality would have changed? I feel like none of my embryos was good quality which is upsetting me. Can I know any success with average quality embryo. Now I wish they did day 3 transfer as all 3 were top then.

Also the one that was a little behind also made it to early blastocyst when I got there for transfer.

I'm sorry you're feeling this way. I had my nhs cycle with a private clinic and they did explain the grades. I also got a letter after transfer which detailed how many eggs were collected, fertilised, blastocysts and grades. Plus details of those frozen. This was from the embryologist. It might be worth asking if you'll receive anything.

Ivf is hard, be kind to yourself ❤️ I hope your embabies are getting comfy.

Do you know what grading they have?
There is a number that describes the development stage, and then 2 letters (A being the best) describing the quality of 1) fetus cells, 2) placenta cells.

I believe 5AA is top quality hatching blastocyst, someone may correct me on that.

I've just had a 3AA transferred, meaning it is an early blastocyst but with excellent cells. I've got a bfp (for now!).

Good luck.

They did not tell me the grading, for some reason I didn't want to know I did not want to get obsessed about it. I know when I went for transfer she said the average quality embryo is doing well and expanding..not sure if grading can changed through out the day. The other one was to early to grade. Congratulations to you x

My understanding is that grading offers a snapshot of how the embryo is doing, but can change quite quickly as the embryo develops. Each embryo is graded with a number and 2 letters: the number is its progression towards hatching as a blastocyst (with 5 being a hatching blastocyst), the first letter grades the cells that would go on to form the foetus, and the second letter grades the cells that would go on to form the placenta. By grading the cells, the embryologist is looking at their overall structure, division, integrity.

This can be useful for identifying embryos which would be destined to be unsuccessful if transferred (eg ones which are deteriorating significantly, beyond what they could reasonably be expected to recover from), but embryos can fluctuate in gradings over time, so it's not a guarantee one way or the other.

I think we hear so much about the perceived importance of that 'perfect' 5AA that we think anything less in grading is terrible. But 5AA is the highest grading and not something that's a minimum standard. 'Average' means just that - the embryo probably was sitting around the middle of the gradings of transferable embryos at the time it was transferred. So, don't give up hope - they wouldn't have transferred if they didn't think there was a chance of a good outcome.