My first IVF cycle - what outcome to expect?

[cakeMaker93]

Hello, I've just started my IVF journey and I am really nervous about the outcome.

I'm 41, turning 42 next month, with an AMH of 4.9pmol/L (I think).

My baseline scan (after 2 stim injections) showed 9 follicles on the left side and 3 on the right. On my second scan, (after 5 stim injections) I had 10 follicles (7 on the left, 3 on the right).

Today I had my third scan (after 10 stim injections), which found about the same as the previous one (7 on the left, and only 2 about good size on the right).

However, I received a phone call from the clinic this afternoon, asking to go back for another scan tomorrow morning, as they want to monitor the follicles' growth more closely and act accordingly. They said that the reason is that I have some that have developed a lot (21, 18, and 17 mm) and some baseline (2 of around 13 mm) and the rest are smaller and hopefully still growing. But they want to monitor, as they don't want the already big ones to become too big...

I am getting nervous that I will end up with too few eggs for my egg retrieval day, and then after fertilisation, with possibly 0 or hopefully 1 or 2 blastocysts.

Do you have any similar experiences? What should I expect as an outcome on my egg retrieval day, and what can I expect after fertilisation?

I know it's all about egg quality and chances - so nobody can tell what is going to happen, but I'd love to hear similar experiences and what heppened in the end - even if they are not positive.

Also, is it normal that my left ovary is responding well, while my right one not that well?

Thank you in advance for sharing and for all the support :)

I'm so sorry, @cakeMaker93. My first cycle of IVF I was just turned 40, and they were all aneuploid, and honestly, it flattened me. It is such a horribly upsetting thing and I wasn't prepared for how much it would hit me. So I really sympathised with you there.

I think the positive thing is that the second cycle seems to have gone better than the first, so hopefully they have got the protocol working for you a little more?

I did a second round this summer, when I was coming up to 41 and got 3 mature eggs; they all got to blastocyst and one was euploid.

It's just a numbers game. If you can bear to put yourself through it, that is. FWIW, I read that getting embryos to blastocyst stage is a predictor of euploidy - that is, if you are producing embryos that can develop that far, you ought to be getting some euploids in the end, because so much is going right.

Lots of love to you.

Hi @cakeMaker93 - I'm sorry it's been so tough.
My story is slightly different, but we're a similar age category. I'm 39. Had 28 follicles (and yes it's normal to have a dominant ovary, 17 of mine came from the left!), 20 mature, 14 fertilised and all 14 made it to good grade blastos on day 5 which was an incredible result.
However, I knew something had to give cause we weren't getting pregnant naturally and that's where the PGT-A gave similar results to yours. For my age bracket, I should've gotten 30% euploids, but we tested 7/14 blastos and only got 1 euploid! We transferred that yesterday, but if that doesn't stick we'll test the remaining 7 and hope 1 more might be hiding in there.
I suppose it could be comforting to know the number of blastos (nor their grading on day 5) makes any difference to whether they'll be euploids in the end and that's what you need. You do just need 1 for this all to work ❤Fingers crossed

I suppose it could be comforting to know the number of blastos (nor their grading on day 5) makes any difference to whether they'll be euploids in the end and that's what you need.

There is a significant correlation between embryo grading and euploidy. See, eg: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6345636/. And a correlation between day 5/day 6 embryos and euploidy.

I think there's more uncertainty about numbers and euploidy, but some studies do indicate that getting higher number of blastocysts is a predictor of euploidy, too.

Sorry, I know it's not what any of us wants to hear, me included, but my clinic kept on trying to pull the wool by saying it was all random and all luck and so on, and I really found it unhelpful.

Thanks for sharing @SarahAndQuack I love a good study!! I guess I'm the outlier then, cause having 14 fertilised, have all 14 get to day 5 good grade blastos (not one under 4XX rating and not one with C rating) - and still barely any euploids!

I'd really hope the euploids are all hiding in your untested 7!

I know people are really different in terms of whether they want to know the research or not, but for me it felt better to try to understand it. With me there were things the clinic never bothered to tell us were issues and I was so upset when I found out, because I almost felt they'd lied to us about how likely it was to work. I really minded that.

@SarahAndQuack oh goodness I completely understand. I use Claude for AI support (a techy friend says it's much better at medical stuff than ChatGPT) and the number of scenarios I've run through it is mental. But I love seeing a proper medical study vs my clinic said this - my friend did this - google said this etc. But if anything I think there are no rules in all of this, you genuinely do just need baby dust, as annoying as that is for someone who likes to control things. On the other hand, I've found it quite liberating, cause I know there's nothing I can do except eat healthy and exercise and hope for the best! My gynaecologist said ages ago "unfortunately in biology, 1+1 does not equal 2" and I found that so liberating. Thanks again for sharing!

Hello @cakeMaker93 how did you get on? In a similar boat

Omg it’s so weird seeing my old posts! So happy to report I am still pregnant with this one euploid, hit 23 weeks yesterday and can feel them kicking as we speak ♥️