Icsi results

[Jcl22]

Hi,

Just done 1st round of IVF due to male factor so had to have ICSI. Yesterday was my egg retrieval and I was so delighted to hear there were 15 eggs retrieved but got a phonecall from the embryologist today to say only 13 of those eggs were mature and out of those 13, only 2 have fertilised on day 1. I am so devastated and cried all morning about it.

I don’t know what I’m looking for - maybe some reassurance of positive stories or someone to set my expectations. Can only 2 embryos that made it to day 1 go on to make it?

The clinic we are at only does day 5 transfers and I am feeling hopeless that we will even reach that stage.

These have really been the hardest few months of my life I just don’t know how I’m going to cope if this fails.

It's heart wrenching. I really feel for you & can completely relate.

I had my first round in December 22 - 10 eggs collected and only 2 made it to maturity. One was transferred and the other frozen. I was heartbroken but grateful to have 2. Unfortunately AF arrived the day before I was due to test (NYE). It was a lot to process. My husband started chemo in December so I think it was probably all too much for my body & mind to take.

I'm now in the midst of round 2 - With my husband's diagnosis I wanted to do the whole process again, with him rather than use the frosty at this point.
They changed my drugs this time to hopefully produce more & 'better quality' eggs but again retrieved 10
2 made it to embryo stage but by day 5 there was only one that could be transferred. We had a call day 6 to say the 2nd little one had made it to blasto stage so is now frozen too.

I had my transfer last weekend and I'm now starting to cramp. It's such a head fuck phase - Will it be AF 💔 or will I finally be getting my rainbow 🙏

I'm not sure if this is comforting but you have to keep the faith. IT's amazing to have 13 mature & 2 have fertilised on day one. Hold the hope that more will get there over the next couple of days - come on little em-babies!

I know it's so much easier said than done but try not to over think it & try to relax. Go easy on yourself the next few days and take it really steady. I'm rooting for you 😘

Thank you so much for your kind words. It means a lot that you took the time to reply and really did make me feel better.

i am so sorry to hear about your husband, you are one very strong lady to be able to go through all of that at once, a true inspiration. Life is just so bloody cruel sometimes.

sending so much love and good wishes to you for this time round!! really rooting for your rainbow baby! Will be thinking of you over the next week and praying for your BFP! ♥️

It can be heart breaking. Please try and keep telling yourself it is quality over quantity. I also had my egg collection yesterday and having ICSI, but we have to freeze all as I am high risk of OHSS, our 5 days have to be super good quality. We ended up with 22 fertilized, but I know this will have a massive drop off rate come day 3, due to my age :(

All fingers crossed for you x

@SadieBarts thats a great amount of eggs fertilised!! Got fingers crossed for you.

we now only have one poor quality embryo on day 2. the embryologist called me and said it was my decision if I wanted to go with a day 3 transfer but they would only do so if the embryo looked good enough. At the moment on day 2 it has split into 2 cells which I think is the minimum of what it should be doing. They will call me tomorrow morning with an update on how the embryo has progressed and if I want to, I can come in same day for transfer. I’m just scared even that option will be taken away from me if it hasn’t progressed enough overnight. Just in a constant state of worry. The whole process is so tough

@Jcl22 I really hope it progresses and you get to go ahead. This is my 2nd collection, 1st was freeze all too and took me 4 attempts at FET due to lining issues. I have 2 still frozen. We originally started out with male factors, now looks like we are both faulty.

Kinda getting to the point on giving up purely coz of how stressful it is and how it controls me life. I will hopefully get the 2nd FET funded, but if that fails it is def time out for me until next year.

Hey there,

I'm about to start my IVF journey and haven't gone through any experiences yet, but I have read a lot and have friends who have been through.

If you're worried and feel you'd like more answers then you could ask for a DNA fragmentation to be done. It looks at the quality of the sperm make up, this matter because if the sperm has issues then your eggs won't fertilise / there's a higher chance of implantation failure or miscarriage.

I've been considering whether we should do the tests before we even begin as I know I'll find the losses hard to bear.

Lots of hugs it's an emotional rollercoaster.

It is a very tough process. How have yours progressed?

I got my 5 day call today and 4 made it to blasto and will be freezed. I still have 9 in early blasto, which they think a couple more make it. I honestly can't believe I have that many. My partners results came back worse from last year, even though he mad massive changes which is annoying and probably means we will never conceive naturally :(

@SadieBarts that's some great results. If I was you i'd be so pleased to have 4 to freeze.

I haven't had my first egg collection yet. I'll start stims for my first round this week (first of everything)

I've read so many stories in groups I'm in of women who've only had 3 eggs collected and one fertilise and transferred and it sticks. It really does only take one! When is your transfer booked for?

@charja100 I am happy with 4, I have a total of 6 frozen now - I turn 40 in July, so wanted as many as I could before then (funding would stop).

I expect May will be my frozen transfer, however I will be on holiday when I am likely to ovulate, which I typical. Just waiting on follow up call from, Nurse and I will see if there are tablets to delay my period. Really do not want to miss a month.

Hope your cycle goes well. Have you had one before?

@Jcl22 Did they transfer go ahead?

@SadieBarts yes, transferred a day 3 average grade embryo last Friday with last ovitrelle injection on the Sunday to help support lining so almost a week into the 2 week wait. Glad to be given a chance but know it’s slim. No symptoms other than bloating but that hasn’t seem to have gone from egg collection to be honest so nothing different.

@Jcl22 I have everything crossed for you x

@SadieBarts thank you 😊 I am feeling a bit negative today as I really feel like my period is coming. I know they say the symptoms are similar but really convinced it’s on its way. I don’t even know if that’s possible 4 days after having ovitrelle but just can’t shake feeling

@Jcl22 Try not to think in to it too much. So easy to symptom watch and worry ourselves. Try keeping yourself busy x

Hi OP. I don't have a lot to add but I've been in the same position as you with ICSI and not many eggs fertilising. It's so, so hard. People say to try and keep busy etc which is good advice, but when you are in the midst of it, it's almost impossible to stop yourself focussing on it.

Is there something you enjoy doing, or a treat that you enjoy, maybe something that you don't have often? That can be a nice way to keep yourself going. We went out for ice cream, played a video game, bought myself some new clothes. Anything to keep my spirits up.

I hope you get the result you want, fingers crossed for you xx

@Jcl22 best of luck! It does take just one! X

I can so relate to you… we have had two icsi cycles (male factor) and had fertilization of 2/20 and 4/24. Both times had two blastocysts. Two from the first cycle did not implant and the current two are sent off for pgt-a given our recurrent implantation failures. So worried both will come back abnormal. In our case we have high DNA fragmentation…it seems to be the reason for low fertilization as embryologists have no way of determining which ones have dna fragmentation and which do not.

Negative beta result for me today 😢
clinic having a review meeting in next couple of days which we will hear about on Monday and decide on next steps from there. Husband and I keen to try again but just such a tough process. X

@Jcl22 so sorry to hear it dear xxx virtual hugs
Keep strong 🌹Don’t lose fait. We totally will try again if unsuccessful this time round..

@Jcl22 learn from this cycle and I'm sure there is room for improvement with medication etc so best of luck on your next cycle! It's not easy but if there is hope there's light in the tunnel

@SadieBarts it's my first everything this cycle. Due for my first stims scan tomorrow which will be CD10 so I expect egg collection to be this week some time.

We were told hubby had low everything, and I'm nervous about our fertilisation rates. I did a lot of pre reading and research and to increase our chances of success I've had DH on ubiquinol, Acetyl L carnitine Alpha Lipoic Acid, DHA and some other vitamins for a few months now so I'm hoping they've helped play some part in improving the quality of his sperm count, motility, and prevent DNA damage.

@everyone - do you have your husbands / partners on and vitamins etc? Has anyone seen positive results?

@Jcl22 thinking of you. It's a long hard journey so be kind to yourself. They will be able to learn so much and use it for your next cycle if you do decide to continue. Sending you positive energy ✨

Hi everyone, hope you are all managing to stay sane whatever part of this rollercoaster process you are in! Sending everyone lots of love!

we had our review letter through from the clinic today after our failed ICSI cycle. They said they wouldn’t change anything in regards to the protocol I was on as they were happy with the amount of eggs collected and they are attributing poor fertilisation rate to poor quality sperm. They’ve said going forward what they would change is that they would employ assisted oocyte activation (AOA) to increase fertilisation rate. Had anyone had any experience with this? Feeling deflated as the thought of them able to really change things next cycle kept me going but doesn’t sound like much would be different. Also any tips on improving sperm quality?

Hello @Jcl22 good that you know the cause! As you can focus on this.
Maybe try Proxeed for 3 months (this helped on our side) also we have opted for Zymot sperm selection which also helped as we've had 7 eggs fertilised out of 7. (Obv not all made it to blastocyst) but first time we've had very good quality one! And one good to freeze.

Fingers crossed for you!

@Jcl22 I popped some things in my message last night that might help vitamin wise. See up. The vitamins I recommended are all in proxeed. Whilst Proxeed is okay my consultant recommended DH taking specific doses of things and the mg of dose in proxeed is quite light for some things they definitely need more of.

Other than that the normal stuff. Healthy diet. No drinking, or smoking. Avoid cycle spin classes, saunas, baths, steam rooms and laptops on his bits etc. switch to lose fitting boxers.

@AlisonDanuta we've been offered zymot as an added extra. We've been deliberating but haven't come to a decision. Would you recommend it?

If you don't mind me asking. What led you to try using it this time? Was it recommended by the clinic? Thank you in advance

Hi @charja100 I think we've decided with Zymot as we've had poor response in 2 other cycles and no good blastocysts..
1st cycle - completely no luck as low amount of eggs and zero blastocyst.
2nd cycle we've had a one very poor quality. It wasn't good enough to freeze. (One transferred on 3rd day but did not implant)
This time we've decided to take on any help we can so if this would select best sperm then why not try. We've ended up with 2 blastocysts - 1 very good quality - positive test! (Just ended 2ww) And 2nd good quality which is frozen.