Straight to frozen eggs or try naturally at 40 for #2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would move to the frozen eggs now. They are younger, so less of a chance of miscarriage or other issues. And it's better to know now if they are any good versus finding out when you are older. (If you were hoping for a #3, I might feel differently, but at this point, what are you saving them for, you know?)

I'd be inclined to PGS just because you will probably have a decent number of embryos to pick from. From 21 eggs frozen at 35, I had 4 Day 5/6 embryos of which 2 were PGS normal. It was 4-5k to PGS test them and would have been 4-5k per transfer. So testing saved me 4-5k and two bad transfers.

OP here. This is super useful. Were you able to get pregnant with one of those PGS embryos?

First transfer didn’t take. About to do second. Odds with PGS are pretty high with 2 tries, though, so still hopeful.

The other benefit of PGS is you can choose gender if you want to.

Good luck to you however you proceed!

[Anonymous]

Do the day 3 blood work with an RE and see what the story is. Your OB won't have the best answers on helping you decide between the 2 since they don't have as much knowledge about IVF with frozen eggs. The RE would also have your DH tested (which is 50% of the equation, so don't dismiss it! MY DH had significant MF, but we had our first easily, so it was a HUGE surprise). If you use the eggs, you'll also need to do the other testing to ensure that your uterus is in good shape (no polyps, etc. that could interfere with implantation). You may want to do that anyway just in prep for whatever you decide to give yourself the best chances.

You can always do both - try while you prep for using the eggs, as it can take some time to get everything in order. In either case, I think you'll have to wait until you get your cycle back (and check to see if you can take all the hormones for an embryo transfer while breastfeeding, although, I'd assume so, since they're pregnancy hormones and you can breastfeed while pregnant).

You're not likely to get as many blasts with frozen eggs as fresh, but with 20 from when you were 35 there's still a good chance for at least a couple. You can make the call on PGS pretty last minute. Personally, I wouldn't test unless I had at least 5 blasts, most of which were day 5 blasts (as opposed to day 6 or 7, which have a lower likelihood of being normal). Most abnormal blasts will not implant, although there is a higher chance of a chemical or early miscarriage with an untested blast (which, I know is terrible and not to be dismissed lightly). But, if you have very few blasts and things don't work out, you may have regrets about testing since according to some initial research some "abnormal" blasts could still be viable (it's a low chance, but still appears to be possible). For me, the possibility of a miscarriage/chemical would be easier to deal with mentally than that kind of regret, but it's reasonable to have a different opinion. And, PGS is also expensive, but I think worth it to have a better shot of avoiding a miscarriage or failed transfer, if you do have lots of blasts. It's also worth asking if testing blasts from frozen eggs has greater risks. I know re-freezing blasts carries greater risks and the tested blasts will have to be frozen while you wait for the results.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would move to the frozen eggs now. They are younger, so less of a chance of miscarriage or other issues. And it's better to know now if they are any good versus finding out when you are older. (If you were hoping for a #3, I might feel differently, but at this point, what are you saving them for, you know?)

I'd be inclined to PGS just because you will probably have a decent number of embryos to pick from. From 21 eggs frozen at 35, I had 4 Day 5/6 embryos of which 2 were PGS normal. It was 4-5k to PGS test them and would have been 4-5k per transfer. So testing saved me 4-5k and two bad transfers.

OP here. This is super useful. Were you able to get pregnant with one of those PGS embryos?

First transfer didn’t take. About to do second. Odds with PGS are pretty high with 2 tries, though, so still hopeful.

The other benefit of PGS is you can choose gender if you want to.

Good luck to you however you proceed!

OP here, thank you and good luck with second FET!

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for all the thoughtful responses. We had all the fertility testing done a little over a year ago and DH is totally normal (my numbers were still decent but of course not as good as when I froze the eggs) because I had had one m/c and didn't want to waste any more time. I got pregnant naturally shortly after the testing but was going to go straight to IVF given the low odds of IUI at my age. I'm combo-feeding now and my supply has tanked so I suspect my DC will be fully weaned by six months. I'm hoping my cycle returns in the next month or two and I'll go in for testing then and see what my numbers look like. Depending on how many embryos I get from the frozen eggs, I may do another fresh cycle and combine those with the frozen eggs to maximize our chances. Thanks again, everyone.