Would you do IVF more quickly if you had frozen eggs?

[Anonymous]

Posting on this board because I'm hoping to get some feedback from parents who have experience with IVF (and posting on the Infertility board seems insensitive). I froze eggs at age 34 because I was single and wanted kids later in life. I'm now happily married and have a two year old with whom we got pregnant relatively quickly (2 months). I'm about to turn 40 and we've been trying for 3 months, so a fairly short time period. I've recently had two friends of similar age with pregnancies resulting in genetic abnormalities, so this has been on my mind, though I have no idea if their age played any role. I realize loads of age 40+ women have healthy pregnancies and that the chances that I would have a healthy pregnancy are very good. But, I also have a good number of eggs (50+ due to an overstimulation) sitting on ice and my employer's benefits would fully cover the cost of IVF. I realize IVF is not easy, but since I've already done the retrieval and the costs would be covered, might this be a logical path now? Or, is the transfer process only something someone would want to deal with after several more months of trying naturally? Any thoughts would be useful!

[Anonymous]

The transfer process is easier than the retrieval. If you want more than 2 kids, given that IVF would be covered by your insurance then I would start now. How does your husband feel? Is he ok jizzing in a cup?
Just want to mention that 50+ eggs is crazy high and you may have gotten good quantity but not good quality. That is to say, your fertilization rate may be lower than expected.

[Anonymous]

As someone who was in a similar situation, just do IVF! Why wait any longer to get pregnant?! I did IVF to preserve my fertility, got a decent number of embryos at 35 and said why wait? Let’s transfer one immediately, especially since insurance covered it. Also, don’t be shy posting on the fertility forum - they are full of good advice and I don’t think it is an insensitive question for that board- posts on there run the gamut.

[Anonymous]

Doctors want 40 yr olds to start IVF immediately because their egg quality is deteriorating by the months.

But since you have the eggs, you can still afford to wait for three months. But I'd shop for a IVF doctor right now so that if it doesn't work in three months you would begin the process immediately.

If you plan it right, you could be pregnant in 6 months from now by IVF and have a birth next Summer.

[Anonymous]

Yes do it. I'm 38 have suffered bouts of miscarrying every pregnancy and nothing at all. I'm still waiting to get through everything to start IVF.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all so much for this feedback. Husband is all for IVF, I’ve been the one who wondered if it was too soon. He’s a bit older and a lot more impatient, so he is feeling a time crunch. I did do two rounds of retrieval. I got 11 eggs on round 1. My clinic recommended I freeze 12 eggs, which is why I did the second round, where I got 50+ eggs. Understanding there many be a quality issue, particularly given the weird quantity in the second round, we’ve got a lot to work with. My insurance requires I use Shady Grove, so I’ll start gearing up to get an appointment for more info. I imagine it takes a while to get the process started, which will likely give us a couple more months to try naturally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posting on this board because I'm hoping to get some feedback from parents who have experience with IVF (and posting on the Infertility board seems insensitive). I froze eggs at age 34 because I was single and wanted kids later in life. I'm now happily married and have a two year old with whom we got pregnant relatively quickly (2 months). I'm about to turn 40 and we've been trying for 3 months, so a fairly short time period. I've recently had two friends of similar age with pregnancies resulting in genetic abnormalities, so this has been on my mind, though I have no idea if their age played any role. I realize loads of age 40+ women have healthy pregnancies and that the chances that I would have a healthy pregnancy are very good. But, I also have a good number of eggs (50+ due to an overstimulation) sitting on ice and my employer's benefits would fully cover the cost of IVF. I realize IVF is not easy, but since I've already done the retrieval and the costs would be covered, might this be a logical path now? Or, is the transfer process only something someone would want to deal with after several more months of trying naturally? Any thoughts would be useful!

You can do IVF with your frozen eggs or do a cycle with your current eggs. I have the embryos genetically tested. It’s that simple and yes that’s what you should do.

[Anonymous]

Go to IVF immediately before your window shuts. Frozen eggs don’t last as long as frozen embryos. Talk to your IVF doctor about this.

[Anonymous]

At 40, I'd start the process right away. Having frozen eggs just makes it easier because you don't have to go through retrieval. Your husband can provide his sample so you'll have embryos ready to go.

[Anonymous]

Your frozen eggs are younger, and thus theoretically healthier, and that would influence my choice personally.

[Anonymous]

If your husband is older, you should consider going straight to IVF. male sperm quality also decreases significantly after 35 and increases chances of genetic anomalies, which could be tested for with IVF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all so much for this feedback. Husband is all for IVF, I’ve been the one who wondered if it was too soon. He’s a bit older and a lot more impatient, so he is feeling a time crunch. I did do two rounds of retrieval. I got 11 eggs on round 1. My clinic recommended I freeze 12 eggs, which is why I did the second round, where I got 50+ eggs. Understanding there many be a quality issue, particularly given the weird quantity in the second round, we’ve got a lot to work with. My insurance requires I use Shady Grove, so I’ll start gearing up to get an appointment for more info. I imagine it takes a while to get the process started, which will likely give us a couple more months to try naturally.

This is a great plan, and I did many rounds of IVF. One thing to consider is that your insurance may not cover IVF until you qualify under their definition of infertility. That may be 6 months of unprotected sex (though they don’t really verify that) and/or a certain number of failed IUI attempts. In any event, it’s worth getting the process started now because it will take a few cycles for all of the initial appointments and testing.

[Anonymous]

I debated IVF for a second child using embryos I had previously frozen when I was only 37 (embryos frozen much younger). My OBGYN said to definitely consider going straight to an embryo transfer instead of trying naturally, because the older you get, the greater chance of a genetic abnormality and if that happens, the miscarriage could be at 5 weeks or 12. And then you are three months in and back at square one, possibly a D&C and recovery, possible uterine scarring, etc. It’s just that you could end up wasting more time than you think “just trying”. Do the embryo transfer, especially if you plan to genetically test them first.

[Anonymous]

You could fertilize them all and then pick the one with the healthiest genotype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could fertilize them all and then pick the one with the healthiest genotype.

You know genetic testing just reports normal or abnormal? There’s no ranking of embryos for specific genotypes?