Sex before egg collection...

[Rosiestraws]

Have egg collection on Sunday and forgot to ask this question!

Fwiw I'm doing egg freezing and trying naturally in between cycles to get pregnant.

I have one follicle (diminished ovarian reserve 😔) which is also currently in a bad position behind a blood vessel. They're going to decide on the day before I go under if they can push on my tummy etc to move it around etc. I'm also at risk of premature ovulation (it's happened before, despite the medication)

In these circumstances, do you think it's ok to have sex before EC? As far as I can tell the only reasons not to are in you accidentally a) get pregnant with multiples if they don't get all the eggs (not an issue as I only have the 1!) or b) if getting pregnant might interfere with the embryo implantation later etc.. but I'm not doing that at this stage

The way I view it, if I ovulate early and we can't go ahead with EC then there's a chance of catching it! No downside here, surely? 🤔

I was told not to have sex prior to my egg collection. I'm not sure as to the reasons, but I figure I'm paying enough money that I'm not going to go against any of the advice/ rules my clinic provides! There is obviously a reason they're saying that.
Can you not phone your clinic and ask them? This close to collection, it's not worth risking anything surely?

Your OH needs to abstain for 3-5 days for the best sample. X

@PMAmostofthetime the OP said she's doing egg freezing rather than a fresh transfer so her OH doesn't need to abstain.

@Glitterandunicorns sorry I read it as Embroyo freezing instead of egg freezing.

I did 5 rounds of IVF and 4 FET - I always had sex before egg collection......my clinic were Fine about it (probably because there was a reason I was doing IVF In the first place and not that fertile!) - they said so long as I didn't mind multiples then to carry on. There is some evidence to suggest men with sperm issues shouldn't abstain that long before giving their sample anyway and clinic recommended no more than 48 hours before EC so we always did it the evening of the trigger

Thanks for the replies.

@sunsoutmumsout that's what I'm thinking... if I do ovulate before EC (which has happened before) then that's the egg gone. If I have sex tonight then there's a chance of catching the egg if that happens. No chance of multiples with only that one egg! And I'm not doing anything like further medication after EC or any embryo transplant.

I'm 99.9% sure it's fine and my understanding (and googling!) of the situation is as you and I think it is but I just wondered if anyone else could confirm! My clinic is open for EC today and tomorrow but not a full team of doctors like a working day so feels a bit much to call them up as if it's an emergency just to confirm it's OK to have sex ha.

Yes, just doing egg freezing for now for various reasons so the sperm issue isn't relevant.

What did you decide to do @Rosiestraws ? I am currently rely debating the same as naturally I ovulate rather quickly after my LH peak…

sorry I've only just seen this message and I'm guessing it's too late but we didn't have sex! I can't recall why actually but maybe just didn't happen.. they got the one egg though at least!

What did you do?

I just wanted to update this post as I am in the same position again now and I've asked my doctor today re sex before EC and she has agreed with me that it's basically fine. She said officially she has to say no as that is the standard rules because of the risks of multiples, but given my specific situation she would say unofficially it's fine. (I have 1 follicle looking ok this cycle and 1 other small follicle which has not responded to meds, plus risk of early ovulation and this has happened in the past to me!) She also clarified/confirmed there's no other risks to be concerned about re IVF meds I'm taking etc if I was to get pregnant this way. (But again, I'm not doing any transfers etc afterwards and the advice might be different for others).

@Rosiestraws hiya are you doing egg or embryo freezing?

Not a response to the question but just a been in the 1 folicle boat wave😊

I have had 8 cycles, 3 got to egg collection and I did a freeze all on day 5 embryos.

1st - 1 folcile developed, 3 eggs collected, 2 fertilised, 1 made it to blast
2nd - 1 folicle developed, 2 eggs collected, 1 fertilised and made it to blast
5 cycles of nothing happening
Changed protocol to a more intensive from mild, stim meds daily rather than every other day.
3rd - 2 folicles, 2 eggs collected, 2 fertilised and made it to blast.

I hope all went well with your first collection and the same with this collection. xxx

@Rosiestraws sorry just saw you had answered about egg freeze. I hope all goes well this next cycle xxx

Hi @SPR40 EC went as expected...1 mature egg... I'm jealous you've had more than 1 egg from 1 follicle before! Which clinic are you with if you don't mind me asking?

I'm with Create and usually do natural modified protocol (150 stims every day from day 5) but I have also done mild with that from day 2 with no better results.

My initial cycle was with a diff clinic where they gave me max stims I think (450) I had 7 follicle at base scan, 5 grew and responded well.. then something strange happened on the last scan before EC and one had disappeared so then went in to EC with 4 follicles but they got no eggs! Wasn't happy with them though so moved clinics...suspect I ovulated early...and/or had some empty follicles etc. I started another 2 cycles I think with first clinic where I had it cancelled due to cyst once and then a similar thing happened when I had 2 big follicle then last scan before EC one had disappeared and they said I could go to EC for the 1 egg but I decided not to, to preserve that "cycle" for a refund and to go elsewhere. I figured if I was going to only get 1 egg either way then I might as well also save £ on stims and do mild!

Create are so much better with all the blood tests and they scan before EC which first clinic didn't so. Theyve also flagged me as a risk of premature ovulation on all cycles and this has been picked up on and I've had extra cetrotides some cycles and indomethacin other cycles to try to halt risk...I have still managed to ovulate early 1 of my eggs 1 cycle but at least they got the other one.

@Rosiestraws hiya, sorry if I explained it badly at the point fo trigger there was 1 folicle they xonsidered viable but by the time of egg collection they managed to get other eggs but they weren't mature so weren't really viable anyway, if that makes sense.

I am with CRGH, I'm 40 so went with them based on their success rates for my age group.

I also am premature ovulation risk so have my LH checked every 48 hours for first 7 days then daily to make sure they don't miss the peak. Ive been on Indomethacin too but my LH is strong and fights it once it gets to over 10 lol. That's why there has only been 1 lead folicle because as that one is ready to go we trigger so we don't lose it.

The last cycle that got 2 folicles at the point of trigger they weren't happy with the size and my LH looked like it might have peaked BUT we decided to take the risk and proceed to egg collection. That's the first time we got 2, but for the first cycle they considered cancelling but we carried on and got the 1.

Every cycle is different, every month is different and you just never know but you learn so much as you go through the cycles. If you haven't already it's worth getting all your results printed so you can review yourself. As good as my clinic have been we have had to lead on making the decisions, knowing we may lose money after egg collection if not successful but by understanding how my body has responded we have been able to make appropriate decisions and had positive outcomes. I am happy with 1 per cycle on the basis I was told by the NHS it would never happen so when I got my first 1 per cycle I was so excited and happy.

One of the peeps on the forum spoke about duo stim and I'd never heard of this before. I think it's only at limited clinics but it's for peeps like us who have lower number of folicles and it does two collections in one cycle. So after first egg collection you start stims again to pick up any of the smaller folicles that hadn't yet peaked.

We had a target of 4 frosties so we are done sitting but if I ever had to stim again I would 100% explore duostim. Worth a Google xxx

Yaaaaaaaay on your 2nd egg being in the freezer that is great news. 😊🥳 what's next for you?

Hi @SPR40 yes I think its very true that we get to learn more about our bodies aw the cycles go on. I think my clinic is quite good at keeping track of what's happened on previous cycles too though thankfully. I have ovulated on indomethacin I think the first cycle as I'm pretty sure I had 4 follicles at one stage but hard to recall..I should probably get my notes as upping suggested. I know I ovulated early one other time as i mentioned but they luckily got the other egg...I can't recall it I was on indomethacin and double doses of cetrotide then or not. My LH naturally goes all over the place and I think I'm usually above 10 unless I'm on cetrotide so all a bit all over the place!

I've now finished all the cycles I've paid for and I've got 7 eggs frozen but I really want to do another 3 cycles so I feel like I'll have a better number of eggs available should I need them....I don't have the money though so I guess it's some serious thought about credit cards etc and how I could make it work... have another thread on that actually!!