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Third IVF round, would earlier egg collection help avoid a freeze-all?

4 replies

Magix86 · 14/08/2026 22:31

Just hoping anyone can share their experiences or thoughts really on our situation! I'm completely overthinking this and getting myself a bit worked up trying to figure things out.
This is our 3rd round of IVF. I have an AMH of 11.something. Age 39.
First round in 2024. 150 Ovaleap and ovitrelle trigger. Stimmed for 9 days, egg collection brought forward by a day. 16 eggs collected, 13 mature and 11 fertilised with ICSI. 2 day 5 blastocysts graded 4AA and 3AB. 4AA fresh transfer which was successful.

2nd round in June 2026. 175 gonal-f and buserelin trigger. Stimmed for 10 days. 16 eggs collected, 12 mature and 8 fertilised with ICSI. 1 day 5 blastocyst graded 4BB and 2 day 6 blastocysts 4CC and 3BC. They reluctantly agreed to freeze the 4CC despite them discarding this grade of embryo on our first round.

Going for our third round now. 175 Gonal-f again and really keen for a fresh transfer. At day 6 we already have 19 follicles growing, 16 between 9mm and 13mm and 3 smaller ones. The clinic have already advised it would be a freeze all if we have 20 follicles over 10mm which is also why we had to use buserelin for our second round.

We don't have another scan until day 9 of stims - probably because of the weekend timings. On our last 2 rounds we had our second scan at day 8. So it's likely by day 9 a lot of follicles will have reached at least the 16mm point.

Would it be reasonable for egg collection to be brought forward by a day or 2 in the hopes of avoiding too many follicles hitting the 10mm mark and avoiding a freeze all? Or is this likely to affect maturity and would we be better off just trying to get as many eggs as possible, even if it means delaying things by going for a FET instead? We seem to have a very big drop off after day 3 but I'm not sure we can really do much about that as we're using donor sperm. Just concerned that egg quality might also be lower with a higher amount of eggs.

Thanks to anyone who's read this far! Please put my mind at ease 😬🙏

OP posts:
TheFanciestPants · 14/08/2026 23:00

@Magix86 glad your round is going well! My understanding is that they are very unlikely to trigger early and stats wise you are much better off getting higher numbers and doing a FET when you have had time to recover.
I have met a few people who had OHSS which was exacerbated by pregnancy and it's definitely best avoided!
Good luck xxx

Magix86 · 15/08/2026 17:19

@TheFanciestPants thank you. How are you doing? I did wonder that but they brought our first egg collection forward so I guess there's always a chance, especially if they grow to a good size?
Definitely want to avoid OHSS but just super keen for a fresh transfer as it worked so well for our first one! Haven't had a FET before so just worry really.
Also agree that given our massive drop off after day 3 that more eggs might be better for us but it's so hard to know!

OP posts:
Magix86 · 17/08/2026 12:59

Just keeping this thread updated. 2nd scan today showed 27 follicles!
They are moving egg collection forward by a day and hoping this will aim to stop the bigger ones getting too big (biggest is now 20mm) but also allow the smaller ones to catch up too. Happy to go with the ovitrelle trigger as only 18 are over 10mm so we're still on track for a fresh transfer if it all looks good 🤞🏻
Not sure what will happen to the 9 that are below 10mm

OP posts:
TheFanciestPants · 18/08/2026 15:31

Good luck @Magix86 , fingers crossed for a great clutch of eggs! xxx

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