14 replies to this topic

[GrandaMalha]

Hi,

First of all let me thank you for allowing me to post my concerns here. I hope I'm writing it in the correct forum and that you may provide the answers I'm looking for. Also, English is not my mother tongue so I'm not quite sure I know all the correct technical words.

 

Me and my girlfriend have decided to go for an IVF with egg donor since we're both 44 yo. After a screening test we were told in the clinic that they had found a compatible egg donor. In the meanwhile, they also did a seminogram with REM and a FISH analysis and the conclusion was that my sperm had a (small) percentage containing two X chromosome. Therefore we were advised to run a genetic test on the sperm used to fertilise the egg in order to ensure that the best spermatozoid would be used, and finally do a genetic test on the resulting embryos. We had 7 embryos that seemed like good candidates for implantation. Unfortunately, today we've been told that after the final genetic test out of those 7 good candidates only 1 (!) was going to be considered for implantation! And hence my question in this forum: considering that the eggs were of good quality and that the clinic selected the best of my spermatozoids how is it possible that we only got one viable embryo for implantation? Can you please shed some light on this?

Many thanks in advance, much appreciated!

[dangey]

Did they inject them with sperm (ICSI) or let them naturally fertlize?

[GrandaMalha]

I think they didn't use ICSI as this is the 1st time I see that word. Anyway, I will confirm with the clinic. Does ICSI improve/reduce the probability of having perfect embryos for implantation? Thank you!

 

Did they inject them with sperm (ICSI) or let them naturally fertlize?

[AvaEva999]

Hey there!

There are many of us with not native English so don't pay attention to this. 

I am 41 and had 6 transfers before. During one of my IVF attempts I had only 6 eggs retrieved, 4 fertilised and 2 pgs-tested embryos. You know, every case is particular and the result always depends on different factors including how our body answers on stims, meds and hormones, also very important to avoid stresses, junk food, alko and smoking, etc. pI can't surely name the reason. A friend of mine had only 4 eggs, 4 fertilized and 3 untested embryos. Now she is waiting for her first scan. Others may have 30 follicles, 20 eggs and only a few of good quality. Anything may happen. 

I believe that this one embryo would be the main and the best embryo in your life and it will become your long-awaited LO!

I'll pray for you and your wife!

Good luck!

[GrandaMalha]

Hi AnaEva,

 

Thank you for your kind words. We're actually on the pre-transfer phase. What I'm unable to understand is why we only get one embryo deemed acceptable for transfer out of the 7 that initially seemed like good candidates. I would like to know if this a normal ratio even after proper selection of the spermatozoids or if such a ratio indicates that (for instance) the eggs weren't in a good condition to start with...

[dangey]

ICSI is where they inject one sperm into each egg and I'm surprised they didn't do that for you. I would ask them why? There still isn't a guarantee that the eggs would fertilize and evolve into an embryo however the chances do increase.

 

With that said, I had 13 eggs retrieved, 10 fertilized (maybe 9) and 3 made it to a 6 day blastocyst. Those 3 were tested and 1 came back as genetically normal. I'm 14 weeks pregnant so I'm proof it only takes one. I hope that is your one!

[dangey]

Don't pay attention this? It was a valid question and your telling her to ignore it is not helpful.

Hey there!

There are many of us with not native English so don't pay attention to this. 

I am 41 and had 6 transfers before. During one of my IVF attempts I had only 6 eggs retrieved, 4 fertilised and 2 pgs-tested embryos. You know, every case is particular and the result always depends on different factors including how our body answers on stims, meds and hormones, also very important to avoid stresses, junk food, alko and smoking, etc. pI can't surely name the reason. A friend of mine had only 4 eggs, 4 fertilized and 3 untested embryos. Now she is waiting for her first scan. Others may have 30 follicles, 20 eggs and only a few of good quality. Anything may happen. 

I believe that this one embryo would be the main and the best embryo in your life and it will become your long-awaited LO!

I'll pray for you and your wife!

Good luck!

[cj123]

IVF is honestly such a gamble.  My husband and I only have male factor infertility.  Our IVF resulted in getting 10 fertilized eggs, we had 7 embryos still growing on day 3 and on day 5 all of our embryos had slowed or stopped developing.  We ended up transferring one that was behind (no pregnancy) and ended up with no embryos to freeze.  The doctors called it a fluke, they expected our IVF to be easy.  All this to say is that everyone's experiences are different and there seems to be no normal.  Hoping that one embryo is all you need!

[GrandaMalha]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with me. From what I'm able to understand from them it seems that, as cj123 said, "IVF is such a gamble". I would expect that if you have perfect eggs from a young donor and also male cells that were tested to be the best in morphology and genetical terms, you would get viable embryos for transfer but by reading your experiences it seems that's not the case at all. As a matter of fact, embryos that look viable on day 3 may very well be all deemed untransferable on day 5.

Once again, thank you for sharing and I wish you all the best for your treatments and pregnancies!

[Chil22]

As I can readl from your post the focus has been on the sperm analysis and the genetic testing but typically issues have to do with the egg- we often hope with a donor that due to age and the testing the clinic does, it is a guarantee results and often it is the answer but this could solely be an issue with the eggs.

How old is your donor? We had a young donor (21 yrs old and proven, apparently) for our first round who had 56 eggs removed- 33 made past day 3 and on day five we had six. 2 eupoloid, 3 mosiac and one abnormal. The entire round was a bust- never implantation (I had been pregnant on two rounds previously with my own eggs- one our son and one a miscarriage) with any so we had to find another donor. I have been told sweet spot age for donors is 23-29.our recent donor was 25- 57 retrieved-19 tested in day 5 and 18 perfect embryos. These results are above average however we only put one in and I am currently holding our ten day old daughter. I would ask some more questions of RE about the eggs and the donor.

[islandecho]

Day 3-5 having so many arrest is actually likely a sperm issue not egg. First 3-3.5 days is the egg and maternal DNA and beyond that is when the male DNA comes into play. At 44, its also possible its a male factor issue. This is what my re told me as we had 19 mature 15 fertilize all 15 made It to day 4 and then we lost 11 from day 4 to 5, we had four tested and they were mosaic or abnormal

[Cotton2]

1 embryo from 7 is a bit low but it's not out of the ordinary. I think egg donation clinics only guarantee one embryo per batch. 

 

Islandecho is right. Men have a biological clock too, it just doesn't have that inflection point at age 35; it's more of a gradual decline. The embryos can start developing problems after fertilization. You're asking them to rapidly divide with no mistakes and even in young healthy people alot of them don't make it. 

[33sunflowers]

Day 3-5 having so many arrest is actually likely a sperm issue not egg. First 3-3.5 days is the egg and maternal DNA and beyond that is when the male DNA comes into play. At 44, its also possible its a male factor issue. This is what my re told me as we had 19 mature 15 fertilize all 15 made It to day 4 and then we lost 11 from day 4 to 5, we had four tested and they were mosaic or abnormal

[33sunflowers]

I had something similar happen to us on day 4 to 5 were the embryos stopped growing. But had 2 normal tested PGTA tested embryos, one high level mosaic, and one abnormal. Our case was male infertility so My husband was (and still) taking extra supplements from the clinic. I have added coq10 (antioxidant) to his regimen 400 mg (just in case we need to go through ivf again). No hot tubs, lots of air conditioning because he has to keep cool, and loose underwear. He doesnt drink alcohol and eats lots of veggies and fruits. Im pushing for more organic items but he is resisting I am also listening to an audiobook called its start with an egg and they have a chapter on sperm quality.

[happyfrog]

I have just watched one of the videos where a doc says they have 2 - max 3 embryos from 10 eggs as humas are not so fertile.