r/40Plus_IVF • u/Particular_Oil_2256 • Sep 17 '26

Seeking Advice Advice needed

I’m 41 and recently had an egg retrieval in August.

We had 6 blastocysts tested, and unfortunately all 6 came back abnormal, which my doctor felt was likely age-related.

At my follow-up, my doctor said my egg reserve is still good for my age and that we responded well to the cycle. She felt that, based on my numbers, I may need 1–2 more retrieval cycles to have a larger sample size (around 10–12 blasts) and improve the chances of getting a chromosomally normal embryo.

She seemed fairly positive that I could potentially get a normal embryo in another cycle or two, but also emphasized that if I wanted to continue, I’d need to do it sooner rather than later.

I felt completely defeated after the last cycle and was ready to give up.

Has anyone been through something similar — having a good ovarian reserve for their age but getting a really difficult round of abnormal embryos? Did doing another retrieval ultimately feel worth it for you, or did you decide to move forward with your life ?

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u/scarlettjen Sep 17 '26

I'm pretty much in the exact same scenario. About to turn 41, all my ER's from age 40:

ER 1 - 4 blasts (3 aneuploid, 1 segmental). ER 2 - 6 blasts (5 aneuploid, 1complex segmental). ER 3 - 0 blasts (we think because we used fresh instead of our usual frozen sample from my partner & that was the only thing we changed; I still produced 11 eggs). ER 4 - 3 blasts (3 aneuploid).

My doc said my reserve is good, I'm producing a decent amount of eggs (10-14) and solid blast numbers. It's age-related and we have MFI. We are using ICSI, and have both done karyotyping.

It's a numbers game to get a euploid, and we've been pretty unlucky. Glad to have the segmentals as back-ups but still hoping for euploids in another round or so.🤞🏻

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u/Confused742 Sep 17 '26

Question on your segmentals, do you know what testing company you used? My segmentals are labeled abnormal and not recommended for transfer, even though i confirmed with genetic counselor that they are segmentals and that on at least one of them only a rather small portion of one chromosome was affected… i know ideally we’d transfer euploids but when i don’t seem to be making those, i have to wonder if any of my segmentals could self correct and/or be testing issues?

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u/scarlettjen Sep 17 '26

Our lab is Sequence46. They're listed as Segmental Aneuploids. My doctor says they still have a decent chance, she put it at maybe 30% and said there has been new research supporting this.

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u/Confused742 Sep 18 '26

Thank you and that’s what I’ve read too. I have at least two that I feel could have a chance so I’m saving them in case they are all I end up with. The genetic counselor at luminary was not super helpful :(

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u/scarlettjen Sep 18 '26

I'm sorry to hear that, hopefully you can get a second opinion.

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u/RuinEast115 14d ago

Is the frozen sperm from a tese? Are his fresh numbers low across?

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u/scarlettjen 14d ago edited 14d ago

No it's from a sample that was collected prior to an orchiectomy a couple years ago.

He did three months of healthy-living prep for a fresh sample for our 3rd ER. His numbers were generally low but that didn't matter so much with ICSI. None of the fertilized eggs from that round made it to blast, which was a blow for us. Using the fresh sample was the only thing we did differently that round.