Day 3 or Day 5 transfer - I have 30 mins to decide - please help!

[Decaffe]

I have the below day 3 embryos:

6 cell (grade 3, more fragmented)
7 cell (grade 2)
8 cell (grade 1)

Do I transfer the grade 8 today or do I wait to day 5 to see which become blastocyst and do a day 5 transfer?

There is no guarantee the 8 cell will become a blastocyst if it is transferred, whereas one of the others might.

The clinic would say to do a day 5 if there are three or more top quality, but I only have two.

Any advice welcome. Thank you/

Honestly your clinic should guide you on the best decision here. Is this your first transfer or is there some history which would help inform your decision?

This is my first round of IVF. I asked them what they would recommend and they said that they cannot make a recommendation but can only give me the information and allow me to decide.

If it were me I would probably transfer the best one at three days. I think there is a 50/50 chance of each good embryo making it to blastocyst. So in my mind 25% chance you could end up with nothing by waiting.

I assume they would still culture the other two to day 5/6 and freeze anything they can.

Good luck for the next couple of weeks.

This is what I’m thinking. If I do one of those probability diagrams in my head then the worst-case scenario of having nothing by Thursday would be awful. At least by putting in the top one today, there’s a chance, right? And yes they would continue to culture the other two and freeze them if they are any good at day 5.

Gosh I was not expecting this dilemma today.

Thank you!

@Decaffe I'm so sorry they've put you in this position. They are meant to be the experts! I'm a very risk averse person so would go with the Day 3 transfer as you know it's good now, and your uterus is probably the best place it can be at the moment than a petri dish. But it's just me, and I'm not an expert to advise on such an important decision. I really hope you can make a sound decision. Whatever you decide, all the best. Keeping everything crossed for you X

Slightly off topic but if they aren’t going to freeze any on day 5 they should continue culture to day 6. The embryo that became my son wouldn’t have been frozen at day 5 but they left the embryo to day 6 frozen it and by my FET it was the best one to transfer.

Thank you, that is a good tip. Well, I am off for my transfer shortly!

Fingers crossed for you!

Hey lovey

I did a day 3 transfer today of 2 x 9A grade embryo. I was told that's really good but I only chose day 3 because I have been researching for a few months and alot of people that had a day five failed then tried a day 3 and was successful. So I thought il take the risk hun but everyone's body is different .

Hope everything went well for you

Hi @Decaffe how did u get on?
Just wondered as I am hoping for a day 3 transfer tomorrow.

Hi @lemons44. I ended up having a fresh Day 3 transfer and then a frozen Day 5 transfer. They did not work, but that's because I eventually found out I have stage 4 deep infiltrating endometriosis, which I am awaiting removal surgery for. (My pelvic organs are glued to each other, there are adhesions everywhere and I have endometriosis deposits on my bowel, so no amount of IVF or TTC naturally was ever going to result in a successful implantation!)

There are lots of Day 3 success stories on here so I'll keep my fingers crossed for you . Good luck xx

Thanks for taking the time to update @Decaffe
So sorry it didn't work out for you with those two transfers.
Wishing you all the luck in the world for your surgery. At least they have now picked up what the issue is and hopefully this will enable successful cycles in the future once you have healed 💗xxxxxx