21 eggs collected, only 7 fertilised

[AnxiousAndHopeful]

Hi folks,

My husband and I have had a difficult few months.

We got pregnant last year, which resulted in a second trimester loss after we discovered that she had a trisomy and had stopped growing. It took us a while to conceive her as is, due to my history of a blocked tube and my husband's lower SA results.

The following week after the loss, my husband was put on some quite strong arthritis medication, which has since reduced poor motility and morphology to very few motile sperm, which means ICSI is our only option at the moment, at least whilst he is being treated for this flare up.

We started IVF earlier this month. They managed to retrieve 24 eggs yesterday, only 16 of which were mature, and only 7 of those fertilised. I am feeling blue and desperately hoping this cycle doesn't result in empty hands.

For context, I am 29 (very nearly 30), but I have a history of cancer, which I have 2.5 years of chemo for. They didn't expect any long term side effects from the chemo, but the embryologist told me this morning in the day 1 update that it seems like the eggs are poor quality. Does anyone have any similar stories that went on to be successful?

Ps. I know that we are very lucky to have conceived naturally and it's not infertility as such, but we are now classified as very low fertility given our change of circumstances

I am so so sorry to hear the story of your baby. That is truly awful, particularly after TTC for so long.

I am so sorry to hear also about the apparent quality issues after your high collection rate - I know the feeling. I did ICSI when I was 28 - I had 21 collected, 10 mature, 6 fertilised. 2 embryos didn't survive the unthawing and the third didn't implant. I too wonder if my poor egg quality was due to use of methotrexate that I was told wouldn't have an impact. Now almost 3 years later I am about to start again so hoping for a miracle (no tubes so IVF/ICSI the only way). Anyway having been through that situation I know how shocking it is to retrieve a high amount and end up with nothing.

BUT you are not there yet - you just need one. Stay positive through the next few days and do not give up hope.

I'm sorry for this response as I know I don't have a success story for you but wanted to say you are still very young and have time and if it is not this cycle I'm sure it will be another. It's an amazing sign you conceived naturally - this shows you can do it. So keep faith for the next few days and do not give up hope. Will be thinking of you.

I know this is easier said than done, but try not to focus too much on numbers as it’s so different for everyone how many fertilise/make it etc. I don’t have any known fertility issues and had 21 follicles on my scans, 15 were collected on EC day, 13 had eggs in and then 11 fertilised. On day 5 we had 6 blasts and a final one pushed through to blast on day 6 leaving us with 7 blasts from the original 21 on the scans. They say to expect percentage drop offs at each stage and it’s true, it does only take 1! I get that having a plan B/C/D etc is comforting though. Sorry for your loss and good luck x

7 fertised eggs is a great result. Not all eggs are mature in any women and not all sperm can fertilise an egg so 7 is a good result. It only takes one.
I had 3 fertilised eggs , all of which were poor quality.
We put in a 5bc and a 3cc which we were told our chances would be low considering quality which is why we opted to put back two and I'm currently 19 weeks pregnant so grade of the embryo means absolutely nothing. It can still develop into a healthy baby . It's basically a beauty contest of embryos but they do have potential. Lots of women put back top grade aa eggs and don't have success

@Vparisi That sounds very familiar. I was told that the chemo should have no impact on future fertility, especially as I finished treatment aged 18, but I was on methotrexate too (amongst others!). It feels hard to believe that in my 20s I could have a trisomy baby and poor quality eggs out of nowhere... no-one in my family has had difficulty conceiving. How did you find the time off?

@Btowngirl thank you! 7/11 fertilised is really good odds in the end, I hope we have something similar. Hopefully the eggs that fertilised are good quality but the waiting is killing me! Have you done any transfers on those 7?

@CoconutGirI haha that's a good way of looking at it. I feel somewhat comforted that our little girl made it past 14 weeks even with a genetically imperfect embryo and placenta - really hope that means I have a good uterus.

I really appreciate your responses. It can feel really isolating, especially people around are pregnant/ having babies, and it feels like the hope is starting to slip away for us. I know we are still a ways off from being hopeless, but the emotional cost of IVF is considerable. Holding onto the hope and optimism is hard

Sorry I shouldn't have said "good uterus". I meant a healthy uterine lining etc - good for implantation

@AnxiousAndHopeful I meant to also say, I probed the doc on my ET and he said don’t focus too much on the grade, obviously you want to get the best you can but he told me the stats which put my mind at ease. Grade A embryo has a 56% chance of taking, a grade C has a 50% chance of working and obv grade B is in the middle there somewhere. So actually the difference is not huge! I get that it’s sooo stressful though. Waiting is the worst part of all of this.

We did a fresh transfer and I am currently 5 weeks pregnant (had the transfer on 7 Feb). Have a viability scan in a few weeks so 🤞🤞 but the wait to hear about the embryos is long, then the 2WW is long and now even after a BFP it’s long waiting for what feels another 2WW for the scan to check it’s all ok in there 🤪 we did 2 rounds of IUI unsuccessfully before this.

When do you get your next update??

@Btowngirl awww congratulations, well done you! That's wonderful news. Lovely to hear it when the BFP has been so longed for. Are you doing a 6 week scan? How are you feeling? I started to feel so sick at 6 weeks, I hope you get a good first trimester.

That's really good to know about the embryo quality vs the chances of success - the diff is much less than you would think!

Next update is Sunday. I am praying my age will mean the 7 that fertilised stick around! But my husband and I have quite a checkered medical history between us!

@AnxiousAndHopeful thank you so much! Not getting too excited yet as it’s so early but it’s definitely a hurdle I am not taking for granted either! Yeah our clinic does a scan at 6.5 weeks and then another 2 weeks later and all being well I’ll be back under the NHS from 12 week scan 🤞

Theres so much varying info online it’s so hard not to fall down a hole of info isn’t it. I felt reassured that the face to face doctor in my clinic was confident with what he was telling me so I focussed on that after and found it quite comforting. Additionally we have a friend with twins and one of the twins was a poor grade embryo that wasn’t going to survive freezing….. so it just goes to show!

I gathered from both your previous cancer treatment and you mentioning he’s on arthritis medication! Such an unfair challenge for you both. Got everything crossed for Sunday, come back and update us I am feeling positive for you 🤞😊

@Btowngirl I have a feeling your wean will be sticky - but let me know how it goes at the 6 week scan, I'll be thinking of you. I know we lost our little one, but seeing her heartbeat was just magical. Drink it in!

We've partly struggled because no-one we've spoken to has been confident whether or not the chemo will have affected my eggs ... so we are flying blind to a degree. And the consultant oncologist I had for my treatment is in prison now, if you can believe it! So can't ask him 😂😂
We have had a bit of a string of bad luck you could say! I will update on Sunday when we know how many have made it to day 3

@AnxiousAndHopeful aww thank you! Yep will do, feels long waiting doesn’t it. Once again so sorry for your loss ❤️ must be so meaningful talking about her.

Wow well that’s a story that he’s in prison oh my god!!! It’s a shame someone else can’t look into your notes, I used to work in orthopaedic oncology and I’m sure I remember some of the younger women and girls being offered EC’s prior to certain types of chemo.

Got everything crossed for Sunday for you! Hope you have some nice plans over the weekend to keep you busy!

@Btowngirl mad isn't it! He is called Dr Myles Bradbury, it's on the news. Turns out he is a terrible man, but I didn't know it or experience it personally.

He told me, before I finished treatment, that he didn't expect any long term effects on my fertility but I guess time will tell with how the embryos develop the next few days. I certainly wasn't offered EC before, but it was a long time ago - 2009!

@AnxiousAndHopeful wow I’ve had a quick scan and seen he’s at BCH too, I am from the midlands originally so surprised I haven’t seen this! Thank god you were not affected though, awful when people are so vulnerable especially children. I guess they thought at the time the chemo wouldn’t affect your eggs, hope that’s the case and you get lots of lovely blasts on sun xx

Hi op just wanted to wish you lots of luck, I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks which was also due to a trisomy, it is such a tough thing to go through. I am also going through ivf. I am a lot older than you (37) so suspect in my case It is age related I was 35 when the miscarriage happened. I am getting pgta so waiting on results which will take a month. I think the waiting is the worst part of ivf.

@Helengreggregson funny how rapidly "ageing" happens with eggs rather than the body - I feel like 37 isn't that much older at all, but I know trisomies can be more common with age. I am so sorry you lost your little one at 11 weeks - it's so desperately sad and unfair. How did you find egg retrieval and IVF? It can be lonely out here but hopefully phones will ring soon with good news

@Btowngirl I know, so glad he was caught. Thanks for all your support, will update with news when I have it xx

thanks. I did not find the process itself too bad , the injections were fine and the egg collection was ok I was sore for a day or 2 after. I had 19 eggs and 9 fertilised , I did end up with a few embryos and they are being tested. I have a high enough AMH for my age but suspect poor quality eggs. It’s all speculation though. All we can do is hope for the best as it is outside our control I guess.

@Helengreggregson Glad you didn't find the process too tough. Did you. have any big drop offs after day 1? I'm really hoping we get some out of the 7 fertilised. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you waiting for the PGTA

@AnxiousAndHopeful how did you find it? i think 9 fertilised , there were 14 mature. They used icsi despite my husband having a normal sperm test previously, we had agreed to icsi as back up I’m not sure why they went ahead and did it . They told me on day 1 that one was slower than the rest and not likely to make it. Day 3 there were still 8. By day 5 I had 4 frozen. Another on day 6 of lower quality. I wish you lots of luck .

@Helengreggregson I found the IVF actually not too bad either, the retrieval was fine and I've just felt bloated since, which is starting to go down. 8 on day 3 is amazing, I hope we don't have too big a drop off when we get our call tomorrow. Thank you, I will update the thread when we have an update

@AnxiousAndHopeful that’s so unfortunate that the dr is in prison. Is there anyone else in the hospital department that you attended that you could ask to speak with? like a nurse specialist or one of the other doctors ?

@AnxiousAndHopeful good luck today!!

@Btowngirl i just got the call… all 7 have made it to day 3 😭😭😭😭 over the moon. Obviously preparing myself for a drop off before Tuesday but I couldn’t be happier

Yesss great news congrats 🥳!!! Xx

@Btowngirl you're so kind for remembering. They said they all look really good too! Now just another 2 days of waiting for the day 5 count

@AnxiousAndHopeful thats brilliant ! Fingers crossed now for the next few days !