When do you go for blasts and not 3dt?

[riogirl71]

My first RE did not have the capability of doing blasts so of course he pushed 3dt cause that's all he could do.

The RE I consulted with said they do not go to blast satge if you have 6 fertilized eggs or less because the attrition rate is high and you lose too many and might not have any left.

My question is in your experience what was the cut off to go to blasts?

thanks!

[DCRunningMama]

My RE only does 5DT now b/c they have a higher success rate than 3DT and he believes that if the embies don't make it to Day 5 they wouldn't have survived anyway.

For whatever reason, I am a low responder as well.

My first IVF: 6 eggs (all mature), 6 fertilized, 5 made it to day 3. At this point RE was still doing 3DT, so we transferred 2 embies, resulting in my 22 mo old son! We waited to Day 6 w/ the remaining embies and froze them. (Did FET in May/June w/ these that didn't work.)

2nd IVF (current cycle): 9 eggs, 8 mature, 5 fertilized, 4 made it to Day 5. 2 transferred on Day 5. 2 left until Day 7 to decide about freezing, but they didn't make it.

It is a risk w/ fewer eggs to do a 5 DT.

I think you need to take into consideration the quality of the embryos, the numbers, and your emotional state. What if you get to Day 5 and there is nothing? Do you believe that the cycle wouldn't have worked b/c the embies weren't good? Will you question whether they would have done better inside of you? In the minimal, non-scientific research I have done, Day 3 transfer have about 40% success for my age group (under 35) and Day 5 have 70% success. I was willing to take the risk b/c my dr was a firm believer.

As with all this stuff, sometimes it just feels like a crap-shot.

[riogirl71]

Thanks DC! Do you mind telling me what your protocol was on your #2 IVF? I am hoping this new RE can help me a bit instead of the cookie cutter approach my old RE had.

[dolo977]

Where I go they do not do 5 day blasts transfers unless you have more then 5-6 available. I have learned that blasts verses 3 day transfers to not increase your chances, all it does is allow the lab more time to monitor the quality of the eggs. They have found that some 3 days can survive better in the mother's womb rather then the lab. I had a 5 day transfer and ended up with a M/C and ectopic all at once. I have had a 3 day transfer and a BFN. My last cycle, we did another 3 day and I am now 27 weeks pregnant with Twin girls. so like the other post mentioned, it is the quality of the embryos that is important rather then which day they are put back in. Don't get discourage if it does not happen for you right away, it took us multiple times to get good quality embryos and a viable pregnancy. No cycle is the same and sometimes meds need to be adjusted, etc. Good luck!

[DCRunningMama]

For my most recent cycle, we did 10 u Lupron until period, then down to 5 u. During stimming, we did 150 menopur and 150 follistim for 6 days and then upped follistim to 200 for 4 days, HCG trigger and retrieval 36 hrs later. My prior cycle w/ my son, they did 75 units follistim and menopur, then upped follistim and menopur to 100.

[jenice]

I have done both. My first cycle transferred with 2 blasts and had a bfn. Then FET was preggo then had a chemical we transferred 2 2day that cycle. This last cycle I wasn't willing to go to blast, I did transfer 3 3day embies and currently 14 weeks preggo. My fist cycle with the blasts I had started out with 15 embies they froze 2 right away which is what we used for our FET. I now wonder with all my embies that cycle making it to day 3 with no problem I could of froze 11 embies. Not sure if they would have made them go to blast to freeze anyway. I definitely think the embies do better inside than out. 5 day is better but it is a gamble you have to make of losing the whole crop. I couldn't take that chance again, so I increased the number put in this time to three. Then I had to worry of having a multiple pregnancy or even triplets. There is never an easy answer involoving IVF.