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

Thank you @Helengreggregson! hopefully you get an update soon too 🍀

Sort of middling news this morning... 2 early blasts which apparently look "amazing", which they should be able to biopsy this afternoon for PGTA if they continue growing (although growth could stop before then wah). 2 embryos have grown a wee bit since Sunday but not blasts yet. Getting an update tomorrow. We have an abnormally fertilised embryo which is now blast - our little wild card - which is being biopsied too. @Helengreggregson @Btowngirl have either of you had day 6 blasts?

@AnxiousAndHopeful that sounds good to me ! Fingers crossed they will biopsy those 2. I had one 4bb embryo on day 6 the rest were day 5. Hopefully you will have a few more tomorrow .Will you have to wait long for pgta results ? I have to wait a whole month for mine because they are being sent to Europe 😕

I really hope we get another one or two tomorrow, but trying not to get my hopes up. The drop off is scary!
Wow a month is so long :( Do you know why they were sent to Europe? They said we should get the results back by the 8th of March if they are able to biopsy today

@AnxiousAndHopeful i don’t live in the uk in Ireland and they don’t test them here . 8th march isn’t too bad . Let us know how you get on tomorrow .

Hey sorry only just back, been wild busy at work this week.

We unexpectedly got X1 grade A on day 6 which was a nice surprise. I notice my clinic just gives a letter grade and no other details compared to everyone else though!

I read that a day 6 is just as good as a day 5 and has the same success chances if used on a frozen cycle instead of fresh. The logic behind it is that it’s not a dud 6 dayer, but your body is no longer in sync with it if that makes sense?

Fingers crossed for more good news tomorrow 🤞🤞 and 8th March is next Friday hey so hopefully will roll around quickly!

We had 20 collected and 7 fertilised, I was so disappointed at the time as it felt like such a huge drop off. We ended up with 2x day 5 and 2x day 6 blasts in the freezer. One was transferred and he’s now a very energetic 3yo. I don’t actually know if he was a day 5 or day 6, they just told me it was the best looking one. Best of luck!

Oh how lovely @Betsyboo87 thats amazing to hear. We just found out we got two very nice looking blasts which have been biopsied - one is 5AA so very much hoping it’s euploid! Did you do a fresh transfer or FET?

@Btowngirl hope work isn’t too manic for you!

no day 6s today but two nice looking blasts in the freezer until PGTA comes back ❄️

@AnxiousAndHopeful glad to hear you got some good quality blasts !

@Helengreggregson thank you! I was hoping for more as we got 16 mature eggs, but attrition is real I suppose. I really hope they are both euploid - now for the waiting! It is agonising!

There is worry at every step isn’t there ? It’s just endless !! Some people get one blast and a baby, some people get ten and no luck, you just never know.

@Helengreggregson it's going to be our time, I have a feeling 🍀

@AnxiousAndHopeful i really hope so ❤️

Two is fab! I did a freeze all and then FET as I was at risk of OHSS. I was initially frustrated when they told me but it was actually really good to have a break from thinking about it for a couple of months.

@Betsyboo87 do you mind if I ask how your FET was? When did you do it? X

After my EC I had a withdrawal bleed and then my clinic asked me to wait until my proper af to start the FET process. I think it ended up about 6 weeks after the EC. The FET was very easy compared to the retrieval cycle. I didn’t downreg, just straight to oestrogen tablets when my cycle started and then had a lining scan and added progesterone pessaries after around a week. Transfer was about cd14 and test date was 10 days later.

Do you plan to do a transfer once the testing is complete?

@Betsyboo87 Yeah I think so, although we are weighing up whether we should be banking embryos now bc I am 30, or whether we will still have successful IVF rounds in a couple of years when we want baby 2 and 3. Have you still got a few frosties then? Did you do PGTA?

We didn’t test. I think it’s good to think long term and collect eggs whilst age is on your side but also I know I would want to just get on with transfers asap. It’s so hard! We have 3 frozen but we’re unlikely to use them as we conceived DS2 naturally (big surprise!) and we feel our family is completely now.

@Betsyboo87 That is amazing, congratulations! I love hearing those fairytale endings to a fertility story, well done you.

We will have to see what our doc says, as my husband's arthritis meds are so hardcore they might think it's worthwhile waiting for him to have a remission to bank some embryos rather than go through it again and see a relatively poor fertilisation + attrition for our age. I am impatiently hoping we can do FET straight away but I also know I would be gutted if the transfer failed and we didn't have any back up Frosties xx

Hi all, I thought I would provide an update... we had 2 blasts tested, and both came back normal. Been happy-sobbing. Now time to plan transfer!

@AnxiousAndHopeful Yay!! That is fantastic news I am so happy for you. Best of luck with the transfer !

@Helengreggregson thank you so much! Have you heard back yet?

Nope have not heard anything. I still have another 3 weeks to go until my appointment. It’s hard not to think of it !

@Helengreggregson I've been thinking of you- any news? xx