IVF low fertilisation rate - success stories

[confused2025]

Hi - I’ve just had my second egg retrival yesterday. I’m 39 - 40 next month. 12 eggs were retrieved, with 10 being mature and 4 fertilising over night. The embryologist said that the 4 look how they should but given my age and my egg retrieval in January where I had 9 collected and 6 fertilised with one final blastocyst, I’m feeling a little deflated this afternoon.

does anyone in my age group have a success story of having 4 fertilised?

Hi,
I had my last retrieval when I was 37. We got 8 eggs (which was a big number for me). 4 fertilised, and of those 3 made it to day 5. 1 turned into my daughter and the other two were frozen! So fingers crossed for you. And remember it only takes 1 magic egg! x

Thanks @Evi83. I think I’m just a little deflated as I had less collected on my first attempt but more fertilised and in the end I had one blast that turned into a chemical pregnancy. I just need to distract myself until Tuesday when I get my day 5 results. Thank you for sharing your success story - this has given me hope ❤️

@confused2025 oh god I get the deflation. Every part of this journey is so hard. Glad my story has given you hope. I know it’s a total cliche but it really is luck / a numbers game so I hope that your lucky one is amongst those 4 you have. 🙏🏻 🙏🏻

I got 11 eggs on my last go and only one fertilised. Anyone have any idea if it’s the eggs or the sperm that would cause this?

I was a couple of years younger but we had quite poor fertilisation rate. We had 16 eggs collected 12 mature and only two fertilised. Miraculously both of them made it to day 3 and then day 5 and one of them is our toddler while the other one has been frozen. During our first round we had a similar amount of eggs collected with 4 being fertilised, two made it to day 3 and 1 made it to day 5 but unfortunately that had ended in a chemical pregnancy.
I think it’s so hard to compare any cycle to a previous or future cycles or anyone else's experience as they all vary so much.

having four fertilise is amazing and I’m hoping you will have a great little embryo to transfer in no time ❤️

@Evi83it’s so true though and I just need to keep reminding myself of this ❤️
@Dodeedoo did your clinic give you any insights? It could be either. I’m making my husband have the dna fragmentation test if we need to go again.
@FrostedFlakeAwwh thank you. This is a rollercoaster of extreme highs and lows. This is exactly what I needed to here x

I had asked the embryology team for more information - they said five fertilised but one was abnormal and couldn’t be used. I was a little surprised they didn’t tell me this as think it’s slightly different to it not fertilising. I really wish there was more information that came from embryology. I feel like in my experience to date, it is the area where communication falls and it’s one of the most important pieces of the journey. Maybe it’s just me and I’m just being irrational and hormonal and stressed.

@confused2025 that is disappointing that they didn’t communicate this to you but good to know that there was 5 even though one was not able to progress.

Did you do IVF or ICSI?

I think the learning is to always ask questions. This is my second IVF round. I’m wondering if ICSI is the best route for next round

I think it probably really depends on whether ICSI is needed or if IVF will do the job. But if you are going down the ICSI route I would suggest looking at AOA. We got this the last two rounds and our fertilisation rate was better but it probably depends on again what the issues are.
“Artificial oocyte activation (AOA) is used to help improve the fertilisation rates for patients who have experienced failed or low (<33%) fertilisation. It involves the use of a substance called calcium ionophore which can artificially activate a human egg by increasing the amount of calcium within it and therefore improve fertilisation rates.“

I’ve never heard of AOA before but will definitely look into it. Thank you for the recommendation. I sometimes feel like I have more chance of winning euromillions than winning the IVF lottery

We’ve done a few rounds and switched clinics and I feel like IVF is such a steep learning curve. Not all clinics offer AOA and it might not be applicable to all cases but the more you know the better equipped you are to making decisions.

wishing you all the best and I’m hoping that you will have at least one little embryo to transfer in a few days x

thank you so much. wishing you all the best as well x

Update - ended up with a 3Aa and 5Bb blast. FET next Friday. Eeekkkk
hope everyone is doing ok

@confused2025 that’s great news. Congrats. Fingers crossed for your FET!

Thanks so much @Evi83x