We just went through our first IVF. 6 eggs retrieved, 4 fertilized.
we were supposed to do Day 5 blast transfer and told usually 30-40% of fertilized egg makes it to blast stage. so we were hoping at least 1 or maybe 2 blast on day 5.
but on the day of transfer (day 5) we were told that 3 were only at morula stage, 1 arrested, no blast.
we felt the game was over - well DH was more optimistic but I was pretty deflated.
the doctor suggested to transfer 2 morula and keep growing the third one to see if we can freeze it. not sure why she didn't suggest all 3 to transfer even though they are all slow growing low odd morula, but we must have been in shock to hear no blast and not thinking well. we did what was recommended.
on the following day, we heard the third one didn't make it to blast so nothing to freeze. another disappointment.
my questions are:
i understand Day 5 blast is the best. many people suggest that, if it is still morula on day 5, you are better off growing one day longer and freeze day 6 blast if it makes that far. what is the pregnancy rate of day 5 morula transfers?
the last one didn't make it to blast on day 6, is this an indication that the two day 5 morula transferred probably have low chance?
overall, out of 6 eggs, 3 made it to morula on day 5 and other didn't work. does this 50% rate mean anything in terms of quality of egg and odd of 2 morula?
was it a good decision not to postpone the transfer to Day 6? who knows how many survived up until that point.
Should we have done all three transferred on day 5 instead?
i know what is done is done and all i can do is to wait for the beta but any insight/comments/experience will help me understand the situation and hopefully feel calmer and stop googling entire days.
"many people suggest that, if it is still morula on day 5, you are better off growing one day longer and freeze day 6 blast if it makes that far."
That approach is increasingly common. My center has been doing that.
"what is the pregnancy rate of day 5 morula transfers?"
Not as good as for day 5 expanded blasts. Maybe 30-40%. Don't give up.
"the last one didn't make it to blast on day 6, is this an indication that the two day 5 morula transferred probably have low chance?"
There's a little bit of a correlation there, but not enough to worry about.
"overall, out of 6 eggs, 3 made it to morula on day 5 and other didn't work. does this 50% rate mean anything in terms of quality of egg and odd of 2 morula?"
Yes. That is a good rate and suggests you have good embryos despite the modest number of eggs.
"was it a good decision not to postpone the transfer to Day 6?"
Probably made little difference.
"Should we have done all three transferred on day 5 instead?"
Probably made no difference in retrospect. Based on the information at the time (not knowing one would arrest), the transfer of three embryos is too risky. I think your clinic did the right thing in not transferring three.
Best of luck.
Avoid IVF and surrogacy in Ukraine. Ukrainian centers pay shills to post here under numerous sock accounts pretending to be patients in Ukraine. Centers using such deceptive advertising cannot be trusted and should be avoided.
Thank you for the detail explanation and encouragement, Ghost! 30-40% is better than what i was guessing, so it's great to hear your expert comment.
btw, I started to have slight fever (99.15F) since yesterday and it continues today too (only happens mid day and goes down toward the evening), but it is only 3dp5bt so it must be my imagination, there cannot be such early symptom, right? or just influence of progesterone shots - which i started 9 days ago? this wait is driving me crazy already.
46494649 wrote:Thank you for the detail explanation and encouragement, Ghost! 30-40% is better than what i was guessing, so it's great to hear your expert comment.
btw, I started to have slight fever (99.15F) since yesterday and it continues today too (only happens mid day and goes down toward the evening), but it is only 3dp5bt so it must be my imagination, there cannot be such early symptom, right? or just influence of progesterone shots - which i started 9 days ago? this wait is driving me crazy already.
If your embryos are going to implant, they are starting right now, so I suppose some sign is possible. There will be no detectable hCG in a blood or urine test for at least a few more days (except maybe from your trigger shot), and even then a negative would be meaningless.
Years ago, when this board was much more active, ladies would post that they observed implantation bleeding. To my knowledge, such a thing is not medically established.
Avoid IVF and surrogacy in Ukraine. Ukrainian centers pay shills to post here under numerous sock accounts pretending to be patients in Ukraine. Centers using such deceptive advertising cannot be trusted and should be avoided.
I understand how frustrating the whole thing is. I myself am going through IVF, I have had the transfer three days ago. We have been trying five years and I've been followed by doctors and gynecologists the last three years. I had one failed attempt at IUI. Apparently when the embryos get to blastocyst stage it has the best chance of pregnancy. My clinic wouldn't transfer any before blastocyst stage it could be because aswell i had so many embryos they imagined some would get to Blastocyst. There are also transfers in that clinic on day 3 for other cases. Out of 11 embryos only one made it to "Blastocyst". They confirmed it is definately not normal to only have one Blastocyst out of 11 in my case and said they expected more. Before that the merula stage two had made it to merula. So the one Blastocyst was transferred but it had grown abnormally with an extra cell on day two (2-5) but it got rid of the extra cells at the Merula stage. Because it had formed abnormally we only have a 30 to 40% chance and thats because we're young so i dont have a lot of hope. Anyways my embryologist recommended to do Chromosone testing saying one of our Chromosones could be uneven or a Sperm Fragmentation test to check the quality of the sperm. She recommended to do this if it doesnt work haven't got the results yet and as much i'm trying to be positive its hard given the circumstances. I hope this information can help you and if you would like to chat or have any other questions don't hesitate as i myself know how difficult it is. I hope it worked out for you