4 abnormal embryos from 3 egg retrievals

[Anonymous]

First cycle - one egg. Fertilized and made to blasto. Tested abnormal.
Second cycle - one egg. Fertilized and made to blasto. Tested abnormal.
Last cycle - two eggs. Both fertilized and made to blasto. Both tested abnormal.
I'm almost 43. Feeling pretty depressed. I think doctor is going to push DE. Don't want to go that route.
Has anyone else been here and been successful?
I have one live birth.

[Anonymous]

Have you changed protocols to see if you can get more eggs retrieved? Alternatively, what about considering not testing and just transferring what you get? There's obviously a risk there, but it seems like testing is not working for you. Otherwise, yeah, DE is probably the next best option. I'm slightly younger than you (almost 41) and also have one child - if I can't get pregnant again in a few cycles of IVF i'll probably be one and done b/c I am not interested in DE.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP re question about protocols. My first round yielded only 3 egg, one blast and the transfer was not successful. Then I did 2 back to back rounds at a different clinic, first round got 2 blasts, one was normal and 2nd round got 2 blasts and both were normal. They transferred the first normal and I am now 10 weeks.

[Anonymous]

https://www.thecut.com/2017/09/ivf-abnormal-embryos-new-last-chance.html
You could try transferring any that look organized or good from a morphological standpoint even if abnormal.
Women have had normal babies from this. Read the article, it was fascinating to me.

Another option to look into is the clinic in Ukraine that will basically scoop out the nucleus from an egg fertilized by your partner and insert in a donor egg whose nucleus has been hollowed out. The mitochondria in the younger egg can make a big difference. There is a NPR interview with a woman who had her son this way and which reviews how the procedure works. It is not FDA approved and people get all crazy about it, but I view it as an option worth considering. Best wishes to you.

[Anonymous]

NPR story about baby born from pronuclear transfer https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/06/616334508/her-son-is-one-of-the-few-children-to-have-3-parents

[Anonymous]

The stats on the number of abnormal embryos that go on to result in healthy babies is extremely low (add that to already low success rates for the people who need to resort to it). It's worth doing as a last resort if you happen to have abnormal embryos, but it's not really viable to plan at the outset. If you're only getting one or two eggs, it may not make sense to do the testing. At 43, chances are much higher that the embryos are abnormal anyway and the vast majority will fail to implant. Most clinics around here (or anywhere) won't transfer abnormals, but will transfer untested embryos. You could still bank and then transfer 3 at a time to save time $ on the # of transfers you do.

Have you tried NCIVF or the low dose stim cycles that Cornell does (like a mini-stim)? If you ovulate on your own, there's probably no point wasting $ on stim meds and/or a full blown cycle if you only get 1 or 2 eggs anyway.

I know you don't want to do it, but unfortunately, your doc would be unethical if he/she didn't suggest DE in view of the generals stats for 43 y olds using OE and the 3 cycles you've done. Not saying you should or shouldn't - just that it's not bad or insulting that a doc brings up DE and tells people to give it serious thought.

Hope you're one of the lucky ones!

[Anonymous]

Why not donor sperm? I’d think that would be the cheaper option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP re question about protocols. My first round yielded only 3 egg, one blast and the transfer was not successful. Then I did 2 back to back rounds at a different clinic, first round got 2 blasts, one was normal and 2nd round got 2 blasts and both were normal. They transferred the first normal and I am now 10 weeks.

Congratulations!!! OP here. I hope that happens to me. When you say "back to back" - do you mean one month after the other? SGF makes you wait a month in between. This to me seems just like wasted time. I'm also irritated because after my first child (natural) Dr. told me to wait to call him until I was ready to get pregnant again. For various reasons I was not ready to get PREGNANT until after a year had passed. No one explained to me that you could "bank" embryos. I would have loved to have been trying when I was much younger and to have banked embryos rather than lose a year. Which clinic was successful for you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not donor sperm? I’d think that would be the cheaper option.

Sperm is fine. Its the eggs that are the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP re question about protocols. My first round yielded only 3 egg, one blast and the transfer was not successful. Then I did 2 back to back rounds at a different clinic, first round got 2 blasts, one was normal and 2nd round got 2 blasts and both were normal. They transferred the first normal and I am now 10 weeks.

Congratulations!!! OP here. I hope that happens to me. When you say "back to back" - do you mean one month after the other? SGF makes you wait a month in between. This to me seems just like wasted time. I'm also irritated because after my first child (natural) Dr. told me to wait to call him until I was ready to get pregnant again. For various reasons I was not ready to get PREGNANT until after a year had passed. No one explained to me that you could "bank" embryos. I would have loved to have been trying when I was much younger and to have banked embryos rather than lose a year. Which clinic was successful for you?

Thank you! CCRM did my back to back cycles (one in Feb, one in March). There is some evidence that doing that can result in a better 2nd retrieval bc of a priming effect. I weirdly had fewer eggs from my March retrieval. but then more normal embryos (more evidence that this whole process is so frustrating and unpredictable!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP re question about protocols. My first round yielded only 3 egg, one blast and the transfer was not successful. Then I did 2 back to back rounds at a different clinic, first round got 2 blasts, one was normal and 2nd round got 2 blasts and both were normal. They transferred the first normal and I am now 10 weeks.

Congratulations!!! OP here. I hope that happens to me. When you say "back to back" - do you mean one month after the other? SGF makes you wait a month in between. This to me seems just like wasted time. I'm also irritated because after my first child (natural) Dr. told me to wait to call him until I was ready to get pregnant again. For various reasons I was not ready to get PREGNANT until after a year had passed. No one explained to me that you could "bank" embryos. I would have loved to have been trying when I was much younger and to have banked embryos rather than lose a year. Which clinic was successful for you?

Thank you! CCRM did my back to back cycles (one in Feb, one in March). There is some evidence that doing that can result in a better 2nd retrieval bc of a priming effect. I weirdly had fewer eggs from my March retrieval. but then more normal embryos (more evidence that this whole process is so frustrating and unpredictable!).

Did you go to CCRM VA or CO? I keep trying to make an appointment with Dr. schoolcraft but can never get anyone to answer or return my messages!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP re question about protocols. My first round yielded only 3 egg, one blast and the transfer was not successful. Then I did 2 back to back rounds at a different clinic, first round got 2 blasts, one was normal and 2nd round got 2 blasts and both were normal. They transferred the first normal and I am now 10 weeks.

Congratulations!!! OP here. I hope that happens to me. When you say "back to back" - do you mean one month after the other? SGF makes you wait a month in between. This to me seems just like wasted time. I'm also irritated because after my first child (natural) Dr. told me to wait to call him until I was ready to get pregnant again. For various reasons I was not ready to get PREGNANT until after a year had passed. No one explained to me that you could "bank" embryos. I would have loved to have been trying when I was much younger and to have banked embryos rather than lose a year. Which clinic was successful for you?

Thank you! CCRM did my back to back cycles (one in Feb, one in March). There is some evidence that doing that can result in a better 2nd retrieval bc of a priming effect. I weirdly had fewer eggs from my March retrieval. but then more normal embryos (more evidence that this whole process is so frustrating and unpredictable!).

Did you go to CCRM VA or CO? I keep trying to make an appointment with Dr. schoolcraft but can never get anyone to answer or return my messages!

VA ... I had a very good experience with Dr. Payson.

[Anonymous]

I hate to say it, but this is 43.

I'm part of a lot of infertility message boards and support groups and I don't know anyone who has gotten pregnant through IVF with their own eggs at 43 or older.

You can keep trying and tweaking protocols and clinics for as many cycles as your body can stand. (My max was 4) Maybe you'll get lucky with that golden embryo after enough tries. But the odds of normal embryos at this age are just incredibly low. And even if you do get a normal embryo, the live birth rates are about 50-60% for each one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not donor sperm? I’d think that would be the cheaper option.

Sperm is fine. Its the eggs that are the problem.

I’m sorry, op it’s such a hard journey.

I agree with pps, try changing up the protocol if you haven’t already. I finally had success with minimal stun on my 6th full cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to say it, but this is 43.

I'm part of a lot of infertility message boards and support groups and I don't know anyone who has gotten pregnant through IVF with their own eggs at 43 or older.

You can keep trying and tweaking protocols and clinics for as many cycles as your body can stand. (My max was 4) Maybe you'll get lucky with that golden embryo after enough tries. But the odds of normal embryos at this age are just incredibly low. And even if you do get a normal embryo, the live birth rates are about 50-60% for each one.

I have so much anger that my doctor didn’t tell em at 42 that I could bank embryos. That would have been very useful, love-changing information