Experiences of getting pregnant twice from one egg collection?

[Nutshell85]

Has anyone in the 35-40 category ever got pregnant twice from one egg collection? My husband and I (both 38) started our first IVF cycle recently and we were delighted when our first fresh transfer led to a BFP. However, unfortunately my hcg was only very slowly rising with nothing visible on a scan (my hcg never got above 300) and that pregnancy eventually ended in a natural miscarriage at 6 weeks. Officially our clinic class this as a pregnancy of unknown location but our consultant thinks it could also have been a biochemical pregnancy. We are lucky enough to have two frozen embryos (one “good” and one “poor”) from the same cycle but my husband and I are going round in circles trying to decide whether to transfer one of these ASAP or go straight into another fresh cycle. We’re contemplating the second fresh cycle option because of the chance that, statistically, that first fresh embryo might have been “the one” (ie our only normal embryo - we didn’t test any of them but we’d certainly consider testing in the future). If that embryo got me pregnant then is there little to no change that another one of the two embryos remaining from that cycle could get me pregnant too? I’ve read lots about an average of one in three embryos being genetically normal / leading to live birth at our age so I’m worried that might have been our only viable one out of the three. We’d love to avoid the stress and cost of another fresh cycle if one of the frozen two could lead to a successful outcome but are the chances of that slim to none? Or am I trying to predict the impossible?! Sorry for the long post!

I'm sorry for your loss. I think unless you have tested the embryos there is no way to know. I did my first cycle of IVF at 40, I got 6 embryos and had a mmc with the first transfer, my daughter from my second transfer (double transfer this time), early miscarriage from third transfer (double) and then failed implantation. So one of six was successful. You're younger than I was, so more likely to have better quality embryos.

I would say, if you think you might ever want a sibling, definitely do another egg collection now. Good luck with your decision

Hiya 😊 I'm not sure if your embryo that resulted in a biochemical pregnancy could be classed as 'the one'. Statistically the most common reason that embryos result in biochemical pregnancies or missed miscarriages is chromosomal abnormalities.

Would you consider thawing and pgta testing your remaining embryos?

I had a baby in December from my first egg collection but we sent all 6 of our embryos for pgta and so then transferred one of the two euploids, 3 were abnormal, 1 was no result. I was 37 at the time. I'm hoping to transfer the other euploid embryo later in the year. But I would say that if your embryos aren't tested you could just transfer what you have and see what happens, and then plan for another egg collection if that doesn't work? X

Sorry @Nutshell85 I hope that didn't sound insensitive with 'the one' comment, I was just saying that you are still in with a good chance that one of your remaining embryos will work for you, but like pp said maybe another egg collection is worthwhile if you want to have more than one child

We had 2 collections and 4 transfers, my beautiful son was the result of a 5 month old frozen embryo. We had previously transferred 2 higher grade embryos from the same cycle.
Any of the embryos per cycle could be the one, I would personally try the ones you have but I understand the urgency to go again due to age, I was 38 on my first collection, 39 on my second and 40 when my son was born.
Good luck x

Thank you for your reply, @kirstysmbc. I appreciate you sharing your range of transfer outcomes from one egg collection. Six embryos is great and congratulations on your daughter. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot. Your point about future sibling options does tie in with my thoughts about time perhaps being of the essence!

Hi @browneyedgirl626. Your comment doesn’t sound insensitive at all - I understand what you mean so please don’t worry. I really appreciate your helpful reply too. What you’ve said about most miscarriages / missed miscarriages / biochemicals being mostly due to chromosomal abnormalities makes sense and echoes what I’ve heard from my consultant and read online. I suppose I’m extra worried about whether our first embryo and loss could have been “the one” normal embryo because of the (small but apparently possible) chance that it was a pregnancy of unknown location / ectopic. I know there’s no way of knowing whether that was the case but the thought that it could have been our best / only viable embryo from our set of three does worry me. I desperately hope that it wasn’t an ectopic (it comes to something when a normal miscarriage is the preferred option but I hope you know what I mean) because that could mean that one of our remaining two could be viable. I appreciate that all embryos have relative chances of implanting or leading to a life birth, though.

My husband and I are certainly willing to consider PGTA if we do need / choose to do another fresh cycle. With only two frozen and one of those being “poor quality”, we feel like the double thaw risks of testing them in their frozen state are too high but I can certainly see the value of PGTA. Your outcome of six blastocysts and two euploids is interesting and positive.

Huge congratulations on your four month old baby - you must be delighted! And how wonderful that you’ve got one more euploid embryo to try again with.

Thank you again for coming back to me x

Thank you for your reply @SH998 and congratulations on your beautiful son. I hope you don’t mind me asking whether the two higher grades embryos before your son implanted? Interesting that your best grade embryos didn’t lead to success. Thank you for understanding my perspective with age. Worrying about our chances of success rapidly declining over the next couple of years is stressful but I also know that, for all we know, one of our two currently frozen embryos could be our much-wanted child. I think the typical one in three success rates have got in my head a bit and made me paranoid but I do know that it’s probably logical to spend the next few months trying our frozen embryos before embarking on the stress and expense of another fresh cycle. These decisions are so hard, aren’t they? Thank you for your good wishes.

Hi @Nutshell85, I'm so sorry for your loss with your recent transfer.

With our second EC, I was 35 and we had 2x Day5 4BB and a Day6 4BB, all untested. First transfer from that set resulted in our son, almost 2. Second Day5 4BB was a failed FET, but our recent FET with the Day6 4BB resulted in a BFP. It's still early days and I'm still waiting for the viability scan, but I definitely wouldn't take the one in three so literally. There are plenty of women in that age range who have multiple pregnancies from the same EC, and there's no saying that there's just 'the one' potential for a successful pregnancy. Maybe not too scientific but my thinking was actually that the cycle that gave me my son had good quality eggs and the other embryos from that batch could be equally good 🤷🏻‍♀️

Of course, if you feel more comfortable banking embryos earlier to have more possibilities with younger embryos (especially if you'd like more than 1 child) that's one thing, but transferring your existing embryos won't delay you very much and I, personally, would always try the embryos I have first - I think there's every chance your baby comes from one of the embryos you already have.

Good luck! xxx

Thank you for your reply @beachbum85 and congratulations on you recent BFP as well as your 2 year old son! I love the idea of a decent batch of eggs / embryos and logically (financially, physically, practically) it would be easier to try our two frozen embryos before rushing into a second fresh cycle. All these replies are really helping me think things through so thank you for coming back to me. Sending you good wishes for your viability scan and pregnancy!

@Nutshell85 don't be afraid to ask anything 😌
The 2 higher grades from the second collection were transferred together and both the AA grades failed to implant. The third embryo from that collection was a 5BB and was transferred 5 months after collection and resulted in my little boy, it is strange that the higher grades failed over the lower grade embryos but it just shows you can never go by the grading alone.
I completely understand your age worry, I had the same concern and was rushing to get every transfer done asap. This led to a lot of additional stress.
I can’t comment on what you should do, I don’t even know what I would do being in your situation.
I was NHS funded for 2 rounds so the ball was in their court and I had to go with their suggestions/timelines. If I was paying private then maybe I would have the same mindset as you.
Do what’s right for you as you don’t want any regrets X

Thank you for coming back to me @SH998. It's so interesting that your two AA embryos did not implant but your BB became your son. This helps give me some more hope because our two frozen embryos are lower quality than the one which ended in miscarriage. You're right that it shows embryo grading isn't everything. X