Since I'm done posting about my cycles, I'll post about my sister's. This is her 3rd fresh cycle. I think her first cycle she ended up with 8 eggs, her second 5 eggs, and today she got 3 retrieved. Disappointing, but they said the quality looked really good. Which is confusing to me, since they never really say anything about the quality - how do they know? What was it in the past? They never say, which makes me think they don't really know. In the past they've transferred 3 embryos, and nothing ever made it to freeze. And obviously the first two cycles failed. They also don't tell you much about the embryo quality. They mentioned there was fragmentation the first time (and the pictures looked so different from my successful cycle, they were barely in a uniform ball at all), the second time looked so much better I was sure it would work, but it didn't. Not sure what to expect this time. I just hope she's left with at least 2 good ones to transfer. So does anyone have any success stories with 3 or fewer eggs?
We had 5 eggs, two viable embryos, and now two children. So kind of close. It only takes one. They did talk to us about embryo quality and told us they were an A+ and an A embryo.
They told me about egg quality also - but I had more eggs. I hope all goes well for your sister. As Rachael said, it only takes one embryo. Good luck for her!
I know someone who was told she had poor quality eggs, maybe three total retrieved. She went in for transfer and had one. And it wasn't the greatest. But it worked. Good luck to your sister. Keep us posted.
I had 21 retrieved, but only 8 turned into embryoes. Of those--- only 2 were of good quality, though we did a 6 day transfer since they were slow growing, but not fragmented. Good Luck to your sister!! :grouphug:
absolutely she can get pregnant! I have several friends who went to retrieval and only retrieved one, two or three eggs! one of my friends has had horrible cycles, and very few eggs, she actually went in recently to do a IUI cycle b/c she wanted to "do something"... but didn't want to pay for a full IVF, well, they talked her into a 'modified natural IVF' and she stimmed with letrozole. lo and behold she got two eggs, and one did well and she had a day 3 transfer and is pregnant! is 10 wks along and everything is going great. we "ivf patients" tend to rely on the numbers and all, but truly it only takes one. I hope this is your sister's cycle!
I had 24 eggs retrieved and inseminated, 8 made it to day 3, 2 looked "good but not great" and the rest did not make it past day 3. We transferred the 2 and I'd say they are perfect 3 year olds. We never had any to freeze. I think there is a lot at play besides quality.
She just got the call that only 1 fertilized. I know it only takes one, but this is just so much harder and more stressful than it should be.
I think so. From all my years (and now my sister's) of going to this clinic, I've never heard about when/why they would do a 5 day transfer instead. It's never come up. So I still don't understand when or why it's done. So I assume it's a 3 day - unless, would they do it sooner if they fear it has a better shot inside? I don't know.
Five day from what I understand, just shows you the strong embryos. Possibly. It certainly works on day three transfers as well. My guess is they will do a three day transfer as to not jeopardize possibly it not making it to day 5.
Like Meaghan said, they wait 5 days when there's more embryos, and the ones that make it to 5 days are considered stronger. My RE told me if we had a low nr they would do a 3 day transfer to give the embryos the best survival chance - that is inside the womb. I know how heartbreaking fertility issues are - I am so sorry that both you and your sister had to have this kind of issues. Please keep us posted about her progress and I wish her all the best!
I am a poor responder (high~ish FSH) and on my first and only cycle I had 3 eggs retrieved, 2 fertilized with ICSI, both were transferred at day 3 (8 cell and 10 cell) and today they are my 6.5 year old fraternal twin girls. I had a 3 day transfer because my RE did not want to take a chance on waiting until day 5 with just two embryos growing. I think they take 3 and 5 days on a case by case basis.
The clinic we went to preferred (at that time) to do 5 day transfers since it seems to help identify 'stronger' embryos. That said- they do 3 day transfers and also 6 day transfers (we did a 6 day). At 3 days we had 8 going strong-- but by day 5 only 3 'good' ones and one 'ok' one remained. We transferred two (our twins) and froze two. The two did not survive a thaw for a FET in 2008. We did a 6 day transfer to help identify the two 'best' since at day 5 all were still morulas (instead of blastocyts like the clinic wanted)-- basically they were slow growers but in our case that turned out to be just fine. I know several people that did day 3 transfers and had good results with one or two embryos.
I was wondering how her transfer went. I really hope it works for them , good luck!!! Keep us posted with her progress.
Week 1 down, one to go! My sister was feeling anxious that she wasn't feeling symptoms from the progesterone, so she went in to check the levels. They were good, in the 40's, hopefully that's a good sign...
I'm a bit late to comment but will add my 2 cents anyway. Hope your sister is managing the 2ww! It was always the hardest for me. At least the wait is almost over. With our successful cycle we also only had one fertilise on day 1 (despite having 9 eggs). I agree it is extremely stressful and very heartbreaking! I was very down and thought it'll never work with just one but it turned out to be my successful cycle. Although in the end a second one fertilised by day 3 and we transferred both on Day 3 I believe the original embryo that fertilised on Day 1 is the one that became my son (no proof obviously. I just think he was a fighter from the start). I know at my clinic if they have a lot of embryos to work with they continue to monitor them until Day 5. They however only freeze Day 3 embryos. If there is just a few embies they transfer on Day 3 to give the embryos a better chance in their natural environment. People prefer Day 5 transfers because then you usually have blastocysts which technically have a better chance to implant and also you have more time to see which are the best embies (the best one on day 3 might not be the best on day 5) I'm not convinced that a day 5 transfer really increases your chances much more than with a Day 3 transfer. With me my embryos obviously didn't flourish in a lab setting (from 4 IVF's I only ever had 2 embryos survive) so my doctor believed chances were better if they're transferred sooner rather than later. That's a good embryo! That sounds promising. Crossing everything for your sister!
Thanks for all the support and well wishes! She says she's done, but I know her and I don't think she means it yet.
I hate that people go through things like this, it sucks. My thoughts are with your sister. I'm so sorry!
