Day 5 update help please!

[waitingforourmiracle]

So starting from the beginning, this is our first IVF cycle and egg collection on Sunday we retrieved 21 eggs, 11 fertilised and by day 3 we had 9 above average embryos, 1 average and 1 below average so so far everything seemed to be going well. Today we've had our day 5 update and only 1 has made it to a blastocyst and have graded it 4CC, they said they're going to continue to watch until tomorrow to see if any others make it to blastocyst stage. Does anyone have any positivity stories of day 5 to day 6s? We're going to be doing a frozen cycle due to high risk OHSS.
It just feels like such a low from such a strong start to potentially having 1 poor blast, I know we're not out but it really has thrown me 😢
Any advice would be massively appreciated x

Hi @waitingforourmiracle

We had 8 at day 3. 2 of these were ready to freeze on day 5. They left the others for another day, and 3 more were suitable for freezing on day 6.

Hopefully some of your day 6 embryos will come through too 🤞. I felt similar disappointment on day 5 after 10 fertilising initially. But there's still a chance.

Also I know the idea of multiple cycles is daunting (and expensive), but response can vary so much between cycles. If you don't get any more at day 6, don't be disheartened as you may have a very different result if you end up doing another cycle.

Your fertilisation rate is looking on the lower end, did you do ICSI? The stats are 30-50% once fertilised, and then also 30-50% from day 3 (the sperm takes over).

Hope you get better news today.

Thank you both for your replies, we've just had our update and unfortunately no made it so putting all our hope into the one they froze yesterday x

Fingers crossed for your day 5 frozen embryo then @waitingforourmiracle x

Hi, I came across this post as I am in a similar situation as the OP, just had an update of day 3 .. just reading this thread and wondered what you meant be sperm takes over from day 3 ? Hope you don’t mind me asking I am just trying to figure out how many of our 4 day 3s might make it to day 5 .. does this mean it’s the quality of the sperm after day 3 ? Thanks hope you can help

Hi @hopefullsosbry Yes, the sperm takes over from day 3. So, if the sperm is not strong then it won't sustain the development of the embryo. Have you had a sperm analysis done?

We ended up doing ICSI and MACs in our last 2 rounds to ensure only the best sperm is selected. No success yet though, preparing for a transfer in the new year..

Hi , yes we had sperm dna fragmentation test - came back 37 % so just over .. he has also been checked for infection and varicocele which was all fine. We done ICSI the last two rounds, can I ask what MAC’s is ?? thanks so much for sharing and wishing you lots of luck for your upcoming transfer next year .. hopefully 2025 will be your lucky year 💫🧡

They described it to me like a computer opening too many systems at once and then after too many the computer can't keep up and crashes, it made sense to us not sure if it does to other people 😅
After this, it was discovered my partner had a varicocele - I did get pregnant from my one embryo but unfortunately ended in a mmc at around 8 weeks. My partner has his varicocele embolization done in September so we'll be starting round number 2 in the new year x