What causes Day 1 to Day 3 drop off?

[OneMoreCookie]

19 eggs, 18 mature, 14 fertilised.

Only 8 made it to Day 3 though.

This isn’t normal, is it? What can cause such a big drop off at this stage? Generally numbers don’t drop much between Days 1 and 3.

Wow what a great starting number :)

Unfortunately I think this is pretty standard. When I was going through my IVF I read that you lose approx. 50% between each stage (fertilisation/3 day/5 day etc). On my first round this pretty much happened to me, I had 14 follicles, only 8 fertilised, 4 left at day 3 and 2 left by day 5.

My second round was better even though same meds/process was used. On a positive note, to have 8 by day 3 is excellent, hoping they all make day 5 for you :)

None made it to Day 5.

I feel like this was the start of things going wrong and I’m wondering what happened.

I’ve got to wait another week for the consultant follow-up but one the nurses has already commented that something doesn’t sound quite right from the Day 1 to Day 3 drop-off.

Hopefully, they will find an underlying issue for you as that does seem like a lot to lose by day 5.

Its such a tough process, I felt that every step was a fight to get to the next stage, try not to lose hope. I was told its trial and error on each cycle as everyone reacts differently. I had 2 rounds and both varied hugely yet the meds/process and my body was exactly the same.

Wishing you all the best :)

@OneMoreCookie Hello, sorry about your news. My emotions were put on a blind-folded rollercoaster ride in my first cycle. The things they dont tell you...
16 eggs collected, for some reason they forgot to do ICSI, so only 3 fertilised, 2 made day 5, 1 was freshly transferred but failed, and the other tested with 3 more embryos from my second cycle and came back abnormal.

Did you do ICSI?

It is important to maintain a healthy diet and take all your vitamins (for both egg and sperm) during a treatment cycle. My last cycle was by far my healthiest and produced the best quality day-5 embryos (however, not tested yet so not sure if they are normal). You can only give it your best and know that you have done all the right things/eat all the right food.. everything else cannot be controlled.

Good luck!

Yes it was an ICSI cycle. It was with two donors, both under 35 and of proven fertility. I’ve never met either of them so don’t have any control over their diets or what vitamins they take alas.