Second egg retrieval success stories

[Quickdraw23]

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping for reassurance/hope I suppose!

I’ve just had my third BFN after my third embryo transfer from my first egg retrieval. I’m feeling pretty miserable. (Mild stim cycle —>8 eggs —> 3 good quality blastocyst embryos.)

doing ivf with donor sperm as I am in a same sex relationship. Age 34.

I feel like I went into this eyes open, knowing that it probably wouldn’t work first time, or second time. But I did think it would be extremely unlucky to not work at all!

I know comparison is the thief of joy, but I’ve got two friends, both older than me, who conceived quickly via iui, and a third who conceived on her second ivf transfer. It’s really hard not to feel like there is something wrong.

I really don’t want to keep chucking money at this if it’s not going to happen for me.

Has anyone else had success on their second egg retrieval after BFNs in the first batch?

would really appreciate any stories!

Hello
I responded poorly to my first round. 3 eggs and 1 blastocyst (3BC).

Upped the drugs and supplements for second round and did fertility accupucture. 10 eggs, 4 blastocysts (5AB, 4AB, 4BB, 3BC). Transferred the 3BC as wasn't happy with my lining thickness and didn't want to risk top quality embryo.

Transferred my 5AB on a FET and currently 18 weeks pregnant.

Have you read the book it starts with the egg? I feel that really helped me with supplements, I upped to the Advanced plan the 3 months before my last round to also the accupuncture weekly. I also followed ARGC advice for during stims even though I wasn't at ARGC - you can find that online.

I was 40 and my AMH 13.4

Thanks so much for your reply and congratulations on your pregnancy!

I have heard a lot about it starts with the egg and certainly intend to read it before another egg retrieval.

very best wishes for your ongoing pregnancy and safe arrival of your baby.

@Quickdraw23 hang in there, you will get there :) I had 2 retrievals and 4 transfers, currently 19 weeks pregnant on 4th transfer.

@Quickdraw23 thank you, best of luck with your next round x

I did two more egg retrievals after my first collection wasn't the best (quantity or quality). Second and third were part of duo stim with pgta. Currently 30'weeks pregnant x

@SH998 thanks so much for your reply and congratulations! Hope everything goes well for you.

@CR7 congratulations on your pregnancy, and thank you for your reply! What is duostim?

do you mind me asking what protocols you were on? I did a mild protocol with abc, so quite one size fits all, though I was quite reactive to the bemfola, they actually lowered my dose and I think I only took stims for about 6 days.

we have agreed that if I do another round I need a consultant review and I’m going to want to PGA test the embryos. I don’t want to go through another three transfers if the embryos are all abnormal.

@Quickdraw23 xx

@Quickdraw23 I'm 39. I got 2 blastocysts from 10 eggs on my first round. First transfer failed, second was successful but I miscarried due to probable embryo abnormality. I then did a second round on a max stims dose, got 6 eggs and 3 blastocysts. The blastocysts were better quality than on my first round. I'm now 20 weeks pregnant from the first transfer on my second round.

I took more supplements on my second round - I did loads of research on this. No idea if it made a difference, maybe I was just lucky.

You are young though and donor sperm should be great quality. Will your clinic investigate possible implantation issues?

Congratulations @countrypunk so pleased to hear of your successful third transfer! So sorry to hear of your miscarriage 😞

Re implantation issues this is one of the questions I’m going to be asking at my review. I’m not sure my clinic do ERA/EMMA/ALICE testing. I know that the evidence base of this sort of thing is far from solid and that that they are considered to be an “add on”, but I definitely want a discussion about it. One of the nurses did suggest trying a different drug regime for the next round to get “better quality eggs” which makes me think they suspect I’ve got poor eggs.

there’s no indication that there is an issue with the sperm in the sense that of my 8 eggs, 5 fertilised and I got 3 blasts: 4AA, 5BB and 3BB. They left the other two until day 6 but decided not to freeze them.

I think if I can’t get a decent discussion out of them I will have to seek a second opinion in a different clinic.

did you have any tests before your second lot of stims?

I had the Era testing and mine came back that my implantation window was displaced and that my microbiome needed adjusting. The following transfer worked. I also had steroid injections and extra progesterone after my blood test on transfer day x

Steroid tablets and blood thinners injections sorry x

@Quickdraw23 Ah thank you. I really hope the same happens for you. I know how difficult and all-consuming it is ❤️

Definitely good to investigate implantation issues, if 3 good quality embryos didn't take. I didn't do anything like that because I didn't have a problem there - I've had 2 out of 3 take. Which I know is very lucky.

I think my issue is old eggs. I took matters into my own hands a bit and got stuck into the supplements for my second round. I took:

FH Pro for women (expensive conception supplement that contains basically everything cited in It Starts with the Egg)
Vitamin C
Vitamin D + K2
Magnesium
Açai powder
Green veg powder (foul!)
Probiotic
NMN (this is a substance our bodies make naturally but depletes as we age. It's vital in various cell formation functions. There haven't been any human trials but lots of anecdotal evidence that it improves egg quality, and trials in ageing mice show the same.)

I may just have been very lucky this round. I didn't do anything special with my diet and in fact had 2 holidays just before we started where I drank like a fish!

Thanks so much for sharing @CR7 and @countrypunk this has given me lots to consider and ask about. It’s very comforting to know that this is not necessarily game over for me! It’s just a shame it’s all so expensive!

very best wishes to you x

Take care @Quickdraw23 and best of luck x