Day 5 post egg retrieval update...

[Lyndsey8880]

Hi everyone, just need to vent a little. We have unexplained infertility (only 1 tube due to previous ectopic)
So back in 2021 we had an nhs ivf cycle, 3 day 5 blastocysts, transferred 1 fresh which we miscarried at 12 weeks. Transferred the 2 frozen embryos and now have a cheeky 3.5 year old daughter.

Decided it was time to try for a sibling, so saved up and went with abcivf on a mild ivf protocol using ICSI as my partners recent semen analysis showed 3% morphology rather than the preferred 4%.
Had my egg collection on 3rd October with 23 eggs, but had to be a freeze all due to high risk OHSS.

Day 1 call, out of the 23, 12 were mature and 9 fertilised.
Day 3 update, 4 had gotten to the correct stage so they decided to freeze the best quality on day 3 due to it being a freeze all. The others were as follows - 2 slightly behind where they like but likely to catch up, 2 a bit slower so not hopeful and one had arrested and not progressed at all. So they were still watching 8... with 3-5 being on the positive side, and 1 being a definite no go..
Day 5 update (today) 0 blastocysts... absolutely devastated to say the least! The embryologist was really negative and said she will leave for another 24 hours but that it wasn't looking hopeful for any to become blastocysts.

I dont really know what I'm expecting here, but I just feel so lost...

It's great we have our best one in the freezer from day 3, but I know they like to culture them to day 5.. so not feeling very positive now.

Just really didn't expect to get the 0 blastos call...maybe I was being naive after our first round...

Thanks for listening!

I'm so sorry you're in this position, it sounds like this round has been pretty rubbish. I think your day 3 has a good chance - generally top morphology on day 3 is very good prognosis for an embryo.

4 years is quite a long time fertility wise - unless you were very young for your first cycle, it's not necessarily surprising that you'd go from 3 to (probably) 1 in that time. However the low maturity rate does make me wonder if they definitely collected at the right time. I really hope you get one or two more - you might be lucky!

Thanks for your comment!
No, not young at all.. now 36 so appreciate the quality would have deteriorated over the years, just wasn't expecting such a huge drop off!
Yes I do wonder that myself...to have so many that weren't mature seems a bit odd, but I guess you have to put your trust into these people and that they know what they're doing?!
Thank you ❤️ feeling a little brighter today after reading some success stories on day 3 FET's....so just trying to stay positive about our little day 3 in the freezer! Waiting on the day 6 update but not holding out much hope... xxx

Wow thats is definitely a massive drop off and would have been very unexpected. I agree with above poster that it sounds like quite possibly the retrieval could have been done a little too early and this could explain also why you got no extra blasts. My husband and I have experienced the same, got 7 eggs, most were immature and we had a complete failed fertilisation with icsi but both of us went on some fertility supplements for 3 months and increased the dose of medications and next round we got 2 blasts. Every cycle is different and with a bit of tweaking you could get a different outcome next time. Do something nice for yourself, try to dust yourself off after having a good cry and definitely lean on each other for support.

I'm so sorry you didn't get any blasts, it's such a lot to go through and devastating to not get the result you were hoping for.

i wonder if a different trigger shot and longer time on stims might be helpful - my 1st round I had 8 eggs and only 4 mature, so the next round they kept me on stims a little longer, changed the trigger and initially it was going to be a double trigger to help boost the maturity, although due to some blood result I just did the one in the end. That round, I got 9 eggs, all mature

Thank you both.. yes it's been heartbreaking to see such a massive drop!
I had considered myself whether they collected too early?? They were concerned as I had so many follicles.. but maybe they jumped the gun!
I think we are going to transfer the day 3 fet (and pray) and if that doesn't work, try again and speak to the clinic about what went wrong and how to improve the next cycle!
Thank you, we live in hope! xxx

I’ve had the call from embryology today saying no blastocysts. It was such a shock as it’s not happened on our previous cycles. We have low numbers in general but given the embryos were looking good yesterday and scoring highly on the clinics ratings I wasn’t expecting this. Feels so hard to process after all the time, money and pain spent on an ivf round xx

Big hugs to everyone on this shitty journey. My first two cycles ended in total failed fertilisation and to have the chance snatched away is just horrific.

Has anyone had the follow up appointment with the doctor yet? Mine suggested going back to the previous protocol where we were getting blastocysts. I kind of agree but wanted them to look at something else - had heard of zymot maybe as something that could help select best sperm. It’s cheap in the scale of things but our doctor said our fertilisation rates weren’t t low enough to warrant it. I’m considering trying another clinic for a second opinion