Disappointing last scan before EC :(

[LimeBird]

Hi all
Just wondering if anyone has any stories of hope as had a disappointing scan today, my last before egg collection on Weds. I only have 2 follicles big enough. The rest are lagging behind and too small, but the nurse said the main 2 are so big that they need to do egg collection now or else they’ll go past maturity.
I’m on my second round of ICSI, and last time we got 8 eggs (only 1 made it to embryo though and failed to implant). The nurse has said a few times ‘I have no idea where those 8 came from!’ as last time my final scan only showed 3 follicles big enough. I don’t know what to think about that, if they don’t know where they came from then I certainly don’t! So I have no idea whether the same random magic is going to help me out again, or whether I will be looking at 2 eggs max. The worry is, will any make it to blastocyst if there are only 2?
Has anyone had any luck with just 2 collected?!
Thanks in advance and best of luck to everyone else on this mad journey x

Afraid I don't have any words of advice other than to sympathise that's frustrating. My EC is on Weds too (ICSI as well) so wishing you well and perhaps we can check in with each other then! I had a scan this AM too and it looks like mine have grown better on one side than the other so might be a mixed bag too. Best of luck!

Hi @LimeBird
My first round we had 2 good follicles and one small one. They managed to get two eggs and we had one fertilise. Because there was only one egg they called us in for a day 2 transfer as they said it was better to get it into its natural environment instead of wait the 5 days. It resulted in a positive test but we had an early loss at around 6 weeks.

we are doing our second cycle now and had 3 follicles again but only 2 eggs were retrieved as they couldn’t get to the 3rd follicle. Again 1 fertilised and they called us in for a 2 day transfer which we had on Friday.

although only 1 egg was fertilised each time both were graded the highest grade. I have read many peopled have success with just one so we keep our fingers crossed! I hope your collection goes well and you get all the right results you are wanting

Thanks so much for your replies @tpeas and @wishinghard2 ! I did my final injections last night, trying to mentally prepare for tomorrow now. I hope yours goes well tomorrow too@tpeas ! and will keep everything crossed for your implantation @wishinghard2 !
I’m not actually having a transfer at this stage as we are having 3 egg collection cycles with PGTA testing at the end (prior to transfer of any normal embryos if we are lucky enough to get one!)

Hi both @tpeas and @wishinghard2 just an update from me.
I ended up getting 7 eggs, 6 of which were mature. 3 fertilised but got the Day 5 call today to say that only one is an ‘early blastocyst’ and isn’t ready for biopsy. They are going to leave it another day but it may not develop further, then there’s a risk we have nothing to show from this cycle (which has been way harder than the previous protocol). So gutted and struggling to pick myself up for the planned next 2 cycles as feeling like there might be no point?! Hope you both are getting on better than this x

Actually I might pop over to the Dec ICSI group chat as realise the title of this thread is a bit out of date! See you on there x

Hey there. I had my first scan today and they said they could only see 3 good sized follicles too. There are 2 more but they're quite small and the nurse said she doesn't think they'll grow anymore. I have another two scans and continuing with stims, with the potential to have a EC on Friday next week. I read they managed to collect more than 3 eggs in the end. This sounds hopefully as I was so disheartened today to hear I only had 3 good sizes follicles 😔

I know you said you were popping over tonthe Dec ICSI chat but have you got any updates on where you're at in yiur process?

Hiya @RoseWinter - they did collect 7 eggs in the end, I ended up with one blastocyst (I think more dropped off than average, but I was 40 at the time so that may be why). It’s been frozen at the mo, as I’m awaiting further egg collections and PGTA testing.
I had another round before the Nov one, in summer 2024 and I had same experience (they collected more eggs than the number of follicles they could see at last scan). So I think this may be normal for me, not sure how common it is for others! But I really hope it’s the case for you too as I know how frustrating it is to hear the low numbers after all your efforts! Best of luck x

Thank you for sharing your experience @LimeBird I really appreciate it. I've just turned 39 and this is my experience too. Low follicle count, I actually had more prior to starting the IVF process when the did an inital scan before I started my meds. So, I'm not sure if the down reg has affected this. I'm hoping they manage to collect more when I go for EC.

Wishing you luck for your next EC and for the year ahead. Hope its finally our turn x