Starting 4th ivf cycle and so anxious. To test or not?

[Anonymous]

I am 41, starting a 4th cycle. Just finished a cycle and had 1 day 5 blast tested high level mosaic/aneupoloid. For this next cycle, I have the option of fresh transfer. This is probably my last cycle. It’s been all oop. My doctor suggests a fresh transfer. I’m on the fence. I’ve had two miscarriages. In the cycles we’ve done. Cycle 1 (I was 39) 1 normal embryo that didn’t stick. Cycle 2: 2 abnormal

I remind myself that plenty of women who get pregnant naturally don’t know the genetic makeup of their embryos and they go in to have successful pregnancies.
I’m scared of a another miscarriage. I’m scared of having to tfmr. But I also want to give myself the possibility of a child.

[Anonymous]

I know some people think you need to test but we didn’t do PGS testing at all and have a 3 year old

[Anonymous]

^ did do a cvs after conceiving though

[Anonymous]

I think the answer lies in which possible outcome would upset you more: 1) not testing and experiencing another miscarriage/TFMR or 2) testing and transferring a normal embryo that doesn’t lead to a successful pregnancy?

Cycle #4 was my lucky one. I hope it’s yours too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ did do a cvs after conceiving though

how old were you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the answer lies in which possible outcome would upset you more: 1) not testing and experiencing another miscarriage/TFMR or 2) testing and transferring a normal embryo that doesn’t lead to a successful pregnancy?

Cycle #4 was my lucky one. I hope it’s yours too.

Thank you. I think I’m having doubts because of hearing that sometimes embryos that are tested mosaic have a better chance in utero without testing. But given past miscarriages (two spontaneous pregnancies in between cycle 2 and 3) the thought of having another scares me. It’s just been really upsetting to not have anything to transfer.

I just don’t know. And I have to decide in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

We did PGD the 5th cycle after 3 miscarriages. Had 16 embryos, but after pgd only two viable. Implanted both and one took. I needed to know. I wish you all the best. There’s so much unknown in the process and each loss is awful and each cycle the anxiety gets worse.

[Anonymous]

Honestly if I were you I wouldn’t test because there is increasing evidence that mosaic and even abnormal embryos can lead to healthy babies. It’s true the live birth rates are lower for those embryos and miscarriage rates are higher, but there is still a chance it could work, which if I were you I’d weight more than the pain of another miscarriage (trust me I’ve had two and know how gut wrenching they are). Plus you aren’t getting a bunch of embryos so you don’t need to worry about prioritization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly if I were you I wouldn’t test because there is increasing evidence that mosaic and even abnormal embryos can lead to healthy babies. It’s true the live birth rates are lower for those embryos and miscarriage rates are higher, but there is still a chance it could work, which if I were you I’d weight more than the pain of another miscarriage (trust me I’ve had two and know how gut wrenching they are). Plus you aren’t getting a bunch of embryos so you don’t need to worry about prioritization.

OP here. — thank you. I’m starting to lean towards not testing. It could be good to change protocol if we weren’t getting the results. Now I have to decide between fresh transfer or FET.

This whole process is so fraught.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the hardest decisions for women over 40. I really struggled with this too. Different doctors have different opinions as well. We went wth Dr. Davis in Cornell for our last round and he did fresh 3-day transfers to remove as much stress on the embryos as possible (stress from freeze/thaw, biopsy, growing in a lab for 2 more days). Of course there are plenty of studies saying the odds of losing a viable embryo at these stages is statistically small. I think comes down to what you feel in your gut is right for you. Wishing you all the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the hardest decisions for women over 40. I really struggled with this too. Different doctors have different opinions as well. We went wth Dr. Davis in Cornell for our last round and he did fresh 3-day transfers to remove as much stress on the embryos as possible (stress from freeze/thaw, biopsy, growing in a lab for 2 more days). Of course there are plenty of studies saying the odds of losing a viable embryo at these stages is statistically small. I think comes down to what you feel in your gut is right for you. Wishing you all the best.

Thank you. I was considering dr Davis at Cornell for this cycle but covid makes it a bit harder to travel and decided to stay in dc. I hope it worked out for you and wish you all the best.

[Anonymous]

I shared a lot of your concerns. I was 38, and had had several failed FETs behind me. My doctor suggested a fresh transfer and we tried it and had success, and have wound up with a neurotypical, healthy child. I think at this point you don’t have a lot to lose. If you wind up with a large number of embryos you could move ahead with a fresh transfer, and freeze others for potential screening if that’s what you might prefer to try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I shared a lot of your concerns. I was 38, and had had several failed FETs behind me. My doctor suggested a fresh transfer and we tried it and had success, and have wound up with a neurotypical, healthy child. I think at this point you don’t have a lot to lose. If you wind up with a large number of embryos you could move ahead with a fresh transfer, and freeze others for potential screening if that’s what you might prefer to try.

Thank you. You’re right about not having a lot to lose. My doctor outlined the risks. While she didn’t push a particular protocol, she did say personally, she would do the transfer. I would t be wasting any time if I weren’t going to do any more retrievals.

I always said just 3 retrieval’s but here I am doing a 4th.

[Anonymous]

If I don't get cancelled today for poor response I am in the same boat. 41 and think we're not going to test. good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I don't get cancelled today for poor response I am in the same boat. 41 and think we're not going to test. good luck

Good luck to you!