What happened at my (second) egg retreival?

[Anonymous]

First ER: 16 follicles, 16 retrieved. Second ER: 17 follicles, 10 retrieved. What happened? I know they say every follicle doesn't contain an egg, but would it vary that much within the same patient? And 40 percent of follicles didn't contain an egg? Any other thoughts/explanations? Skill of Dr. doing the retrieval, maybe? I will make an appointment to see my RE, but it will be a few weeks until then. My RE did not do the retreival (either time).

[Anonymous]

Hmmm--I think it is rare to get all the eggs from follicles, so I was suprised they actually got all 16 the first time! That's amazing. Your second ER sounds more normal (average). Many of them won't be at the right maturity to actually retreive an egg, or, as you said, some may be empty, you'll have to ask your RE. I am guessing they just weren't at the right maturity. I doubt any good ones were not retrieved.

[Anonymous]

If the eggs are over mature or under mature they cling to the side of the follicle and won't come out. So there was probably an egg in most of them, but maybe it was too immature or too mature. I don't think skill of the surgeon has much to do with it.

10 is still a REALLY good number to work with. I completely understand why you're upset, but you still have an excellent chance with 10 eggs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. OP here. For the first retreival, 11 out of the 16 were mature. So maybe we got lucky and these are just the mature ones. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

what was the time gap between #1 and #2 retreivals

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm--I think it is rare to get all the eggs from follicles, so I was suprised they actually got all 16 the first time! That's amazing. Your second ER sounds more normal (average). Many of them won't be at the right maturity to actually retreive an egg, or, as you said, some may be empty, you'll have to ask your RE. I am guessing they just weren't at the right maturity. I doubt any good ones were not retrieved.

+1

Many, many factors involved. It's really more of an art than a science IMO (monitoring/refining protocols).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what was the time gap between #1 and #2 retreivals

1 year

[Anonymous]

I agree with other PP's. It is almost impossible to retrieve all the follicles especially if they are immature. I had 40 follicles but not all of them were mature. about 26 looked mature and only 20 were retrieved, and 16 were found to be mature after retrieval.

[Anonymous]

Also, you only need one to get pregnant ... I had 11 retrieved, but only 2 survived unto day 5 transfer; and I now have one healthy DD ...My advice: Right now, just relax and hope for the best!