Trying both IVF and ICSI with low motility?

thislittlebird · 2022-12-07T15:09:11+00:00

Is this something anyone else has done? I'm really worried the clinic is picking the "bad" sperm, probably because there's quite a lot of bad ones, and I'm wondering if anyone has a clinic that let them try IVF with half the eggs and ICSI with half eggs (or similar) with known male factor. Obviously they will want us to do ICSI again, but I'm wondering why the few million motile he does have can't be put with some eggs to see what happens? If anyone has experience of this I'd love to hear.

Anonbaby · 07/12/2022 20:18

Hi @thislittlebird we are undecided about whether to go down the ivf route as it’s secondary infertility for us. The clinic recommended icsi but we won’t do icsi because we’re not comfortable with the risks anyway. I’m sure it’s your call at the end of the day? They can advise you but surely they have to go with your choices? They will probably outline the risk of failed fertilisation which is what they highlighted to us

Original poster

thislittlebird · 07/12/2022 20:37

@Anonbaby Yeah they just pushed back on me a fair bit on other things so I assume they will on this too, I’m interested to see if anyone has done it and it hasn’t gone terribly but no doubt for us it will go terribly whatever we choose.

Were you hoping to ivf only? Tbh you will probably have more success than us with ivf because you’ve had kids before but I wouldn’t recommend this route to anyone who didn’t absolutely have to do it iykwim. If you have first time success it’s comparatively simple, however. Hopefully alternative options will work for you.

OP posts:

Anonbaby · 07/12/2022 20:43

@thislittlebird we are really unsure of what to do. We were certain we were going to go down the IVF route until we got the latest SA results and ICSI was recommended. Since then we have been put off. We can’t decide whether to do one round, mainly just to satisfy ourselves and know we’ve kind of tried everything. Or whether to focus on the two we have and forget it. I don’t know how we are going to make our minds up. It’s hard to move on from I think even though we have children, we had a place in our hearts and heads for another and naively thought that would be the outcome. So I don’t know to sum it up. I don’t know what we are going to do. I feel a ticking age time bomb. It’s not like we can wait 12 months and see how we feel because after 35 every month counts doesn’t it. I just don’t want to have regrets in the future. I think I would rather come to terms with it but I don’t know if that’s possible and don’t want to look back and wish we had tried it. Sorry for the essay. It’s just 🤯

Anonbaby · 07/12/2022 20:46

I should just add that I know we are in different boats here and you probably can’t understand from my perspective as I do appreciate I am already very lucky with what I have but still hard if that makes sense x

Original poster

thislittlebird · 07/12/2022 20:59

@Anonbaby i think in your situ if you decide to go ahead definitely have that very strict cut off, like one round only and only what you’re comfortable with. Because it’s so horrible when it doesn’t work, it’s the worst experience of my life. I’ve wanted to quit all of this so much and I can’t because I can’t give up on having a child entirely yet, so we continue despite how shit and expensive it is. But it’s damaging so much of our mental health, happiness etc. So if you do decide to do it and can do the one and then move on with what you have/draw a line under it you’ll probably be happier for it. And it might work with ART or naturally yet, one bad SA could just be a fluke etc.

OP posts:

Anonbaby · 07/12/2022 21:17

@thislittlebird yes maybe although we’ve tried letrozole and it’s been 19 months now so I don’t see anything changing! But keeping trying naturally is obviously always an option.

I feel stuck at the moment. On the one hand, I can’t see me signing up to it, on the other, I can’t see me telling the clinic I don’t want to do it and I don’t want them to contact me again. Just don’t know how we will decide what to do x

PMAmostofthetime · 08/12/2022 00:32

Anonbaby · 07/12/2022 20:43

@thislittlebird we are really unsure of what to do. We were certain we were going to go down the IVF route until we got the latest SA results and ICSI was recommended. Since then we have been put off. We can’t decide whether to do one round, mainly just to satisfy ourselves and know we’ve kind of tried everything. Or whether to focus on the two we have and forget it. I don’t know how we are going to make our minds up. It’s hard to move on from I think even though we have children, we had a place in our hearts and heads for another and naively thought that would be the outcome. So I don’t know to sum it up. I don’t know what we are going to do. I feel a ticking age time bomb. It’s not like we can wait 12 months and see how we feel because after 35 every month counts doesn’t it. I just don’t want to have regrets in the future. I think I would rather come to terms with it but I don’t know if that’s possible and don’t want to look back and wish we had tried it. Sorry for the essay. It’s just 🤯

We were recommended ICSI however both times ( first round failed) on the day OH sample was good and IVF was used. Currently 5 months pregnant.
They decide what will work best on the day.

duckling3 · 08/12/2022 02:31

We did half icsi half ivf. Sperm on the day was borderline so they gave us a choice of ivf/icsi or half and half.

We had 19 eggs and ended up
With 8 blastocyst.

The number that fertilised and made it to blastocyst stage was about the same using both techniques.

It was a few years ago now so can't remember too may specifics, but def possible to do half and half, at least in some cases.

Spudsmum18 · 08/12/2022 11:50

Hi @thislittlebird
We completed IVF in May 2018. We got 5 eggs, 4 fertilised, lost one on day 3 and transfer of 1 embryo on day 5. On day 6 we were told the other 2 weren't freezable. These were all IVF. Our son is now nearly 4.
We have just started another round exactly the same amount of eggs, exactly the same amount fertilised. We had one transfered on Saturday (3rd) and on Sunday got the dreaded phone call that the other 3 weren't freezable. This round was all completed with ICSI as my husband now has a lower sperm count. I think it's hard to make a decision of what to choose but I know for us it was all about getting a better result with ICSI and having higher possibility of it working. Only you can make that decision on what you want to do. We are now waiting for test day and I'm petrified.
Good luck with it all.
Lots of love xx

PMAmostofthetime · 08/12/2022 23:00

Spudsmum18 · 08/12/2022 11:50

Hi @thislittlebird
We completed IVF in May 2018. We got 5 eggs, 4 fertilised, lost one on day 3 and transfer of 1 embryo on day 5. On day 6 we were told the other 2 weren't freezable. These were all IVF. Our son is now nearly 4.
We have just started another round exactly the same amount of eggs, exactly the same amount fertilised. We had one transfered on Saturday (3rd) and on Sunday got the dreaded phone call that the other 3 weren't freezable. This round was all completed with ICSI as my husband now has a lower sperm count. I think it's hard to make a decision of what to choose but I know for us it was all about getting a better result with ICSI and having higher possibility of it working. Only you can make that decision on what you want to do. We are now waiting for test day and I'm petrified.
Good luck with it all.
Lots of love xx

@Spudsmum18 good luck and I hope the 2ww is not dragging too much for you x