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[quote=Anonymous]We are dealing with the same situation OP.  Male factor, low numbers, low motility, low morphology.  Had 18 eggs retrieved, 13 mature, 11 fertilized and only 3 made it to blast (one on Day 6 and two on Day 7).  We did FET (no PGS testing) with the Day 6 blast and got a chemical pregnancy.  Then did another FET with both Day 7s and am currently at 9 weeks with one that took, but am holding off getting excited until we get clear genetic test results.

To your question about the role that male factor plays in post-fertilization development: After our chemical, we went in to talk to our RE about next steps and his assessment was that since we lost most of our embryos between Day 3 and 5, and the ones that made it were slow to grow, it was a sperm issue. As he phrased it for us, for Days 1-3, the development is being driven by the energy of the egg. After Day 3, the embryo has to have enough energy and momentum from the sperm to keep developing.  If there's a significant sperm problem, you are going to see a sharp drop-off between Day 3 and Day 5.  He thought that this lower energy/slower momentum was also probably the reason we didn't have any embryos develop to blast before Day 6.

As our RE told us, there's not a ton you can do to improve sperm if you are already doing all of the right things.  He did put my husband on a supplement (conceptionXR), but said that now that we knew this was the situation and that my eggs were good, it was just going to be a process of picking the right sperm, which I assume they try to do anyway, but maybe there are special things they look for in cases like this?  Anyway, he seemed pretty confident that having seen this result, they could course correct enough for another round of IVF if we need it without needing to start talking about donor sperm.  Holding out hope that this little one is a-okay and we don't have to go there, though! :)

If you've done this a couple of times using ICSI, do you know if they are doing PICSI? That's the best way to get the strongest swimmers.

Have you always been with the same clinic?  Have you gotten any that made it to blast/transfer? I know that some clinics prefer not to freeze or transfer past Day 5, but we wouldn't have had anything at that point, so maybe yours need some extra time to develop too?  I'm with Shady Grove if that helps!

Good luck, OP!  Hoping for good outcomes for you and yours!

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