Help 1st ivf in november

[cheryl27]

My dh and I want some opinons on choosing to freeze embryos or not.My dh dosen't believe it is morally right to freeze the eggs.He is a man of faith and so am i and we can't agree to do it or not.My husband wants to just retrieve 3 eggs the number of eggs we want to implant.But it will decrease our chances that the eggs that will be fertilized.help

[AmandaM]

Cheryl27

First , welcome to the board.

When doing IVF, they will remove all of the eggs that are in you. They can't just remove a certain number, the number that you want. This is for several reasons. 1.) Not every follie has and egg in it. 2.) Not all eggs are mature. 3) Not all eggs will fertilize. 4.) Yes it does lower your chances.

I understand how you may feel. I am doing IVF with PGD to prevent passing on a genetic condition. So in a certain way, I feel bad saying the babies with the genetic condition aren't good enough. But as a parent you want to have the healthiest child possible. And if you want to have a child it would be most successful to remove all of the eggs.

Even without freezing them, the more eggs you have the higher the chances are for a fresh cycle. Even if they removed 15 follies. By the time you get down to only mature fertilized eggs you may only end up with like 6.

Hope this helps

[amysbabies]

Hi Cheryl.. I can totally understand your thoughts about freezing, but like Amanda said you can't just choose the # of eggs you want to take out and you may end up with only a few fertilized eggs.

I had 8 mature follies..only 4 eggs were mature..only 3 had fertilized..and finally only 2 had made it to day 3 transfer. This happens to many people..I think it's rare that all eggs retrieved fertilize and survive.

Another thing is... sometimes fresh transfers don't do as well as frozen ones in some women... so if you're able to have some on ice I think that is a blessing. I was never able to have enough to freeze in both my cycles.

What ever your decision..I hope it's one that will make you both happy. Goodluck on your IVF !!

[Ghost]

My dh and I want some opinons on choosing to freeze embryos or not.My dh dosen't believe it is morally right to freeze the eggs.He is a man of faith and so am i and we can't agree to do it or not.My husband wants to just retrieve 3 eggs the number of eggs we want to implant.But it will decrease our chances that the eggs that will be fertilized.help

You have a few options here.

1. The usual approach is to retrieve every egg, fertilize them all, transfer the best of them, and freeze the remaining that appear to be viable.

2. Another approach, required in some morally strict countries, is to collect all the eggs, fertilize just a few, and transfer all of those that appear to be viable. Any remaining eggs, are not fertilized, but are frozen for potential future use. (Note: The eggs are unfertilized at this point and thus not considered "human life" by any major groups. Freezing eggs is morally much like freezing sperm.) If the first try fails, you have a back up. If it succeeds, you can possibly have more kids from the frozen eggs. They would be fertilized after thaw.

3. Or you could just retrieve a few eggs as you say, and leave the rest in the ovary to ovulate.

Of these, the most likely to succeed is #1.

Option #2 is mandatory in Italy (and Germany too, I believe), and is known to result in mediocre pregnancy rates. Look for the 20% range, in the fresh cycle.

Option #3 would be even worse for pregnancy rates, and even worse, you'd have to keep going through ovarian stimulation (expensive and risky) every time you wanted a few more eggs.

If you go for option #2, try to find a clinic that does oocyte (egg) freezing, and will tell you their success rates with it. Many clinics won't do it because it's pretty new on this side of the Atlantic. Others do it routinely, at least with large cohorts and some (ahem) have had good success with it. If they do it, make sure they freeze 3 to a straw, so you can thaw just 3 at a time. If they thaw the whole cohort, they cannot refreeze the unused oocytes.

Keep in mind many oocytes are just not good from the outset. About 20-40% are immature or will not fertilize. At least half of those that do fertilize will not develop past day 5.

[amysbabies]

Thank you Ghost... I was misinformed that all eggs had to be taken out at time of retrieval.

[Ghost]

Thank you Ghost... I was misinformed that all eggs had to be taken out at time of retrieval.

I think most docs would insist on getting them all. A risk of leaving many in there is that if the couple has intercourse, a high order multiple pregnancy might develop, in addition to anything from the transferred embryos from IVF. Leaving most behind is also seen as a waste of good eggs. But technically, it is not absolutely required to try to collect every egg.

[riogirl71]

I developed 2 cysts in my left ovary and my RE said they were follicles that came after ER. So I assume that if you leave follies in there that you can get cysts in your ovaries.

THis is a numbers game and every single one counts. I had 10 follies retrieved, 7 eggs, 4 mature enough, 4 fertilized, transfered all 4 and got pregnant with one baby. You need to increase your chances and I have seen in this board many women get BFNs with fresh cycles and BFPs with frozen cycles. You can also consider donating the embryos to another couple.

Good luck!