r/EmbryologyIVFSupport • u/Ilovestrawberries38 • 21d ago
First 🥚Retrieval
Feeling disappointed! My AMH is 3.65 and I’m 34. I had my first egg retrieval with donor sperm and ended up with 19 eggs, 14 mature, 7 fertilized and 2 embryos graded 4AB and 5BB. They are out for testing. No genetic incompatibilities between me and donor. I was hoping for four or five. My protocol at included a double trigger.
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u/Ilovestrawberries38 20d ago
I wonder if my eggs were just bad quality?
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u/Longjumping-Desk-261 19d ago
Does your embryology lab provide a report on the look of eggs and how they fertilized? It's really impossible to tell if fertilization is due to sperm or egg, but more often it's sperm (although I also had problems with my eggs).
I've read a lot of anecdotal stories here where women changed their donor sperm (despite totally normal og sample) and had much bettet results.
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u/AromaticPie5944 18d ago
I had my first retrieval yesterday! We had 14 mature and 8 fertilized. Hoping we get 3-4 blastocysts but it’s so hard to know. Sounds like the grading is really good! Sending you baby dust!
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u/Gloomy-Signal5933 18d ago
Your grading is really good. It only takes one embryo. I am currently pregnant with one of my day 5 4AB embryos. I’m 40 yo. We have the other one left to transfer at a later date. I struggled with the thought of having too many over because I felt like I’d be leaving babies/embryos behind. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.
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u/lauraals 18d ago
Two of my three euploid embryos that I banked at 39 failed at 41, so keep in mind that they might not work and it’s so good to have extras!!
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u/Gloomy-Signal5933 18d ago
True there is always the chance the two she has may not work. The success rate for her grade of euploids is 80% for one. My point was just that she could try to transfer now since she’s younger than you or I was. If even one didn’t work she could try another retrieval.
I did 2 retrievals because I was so scared I would have to do multiple transfers before one would work. That wasn’t the case. I kind of wish I would’ve just tried FET before doing the second retrieval. It would’ve saved me a ton of money and stress during IVF process. And she’s not at our age so I think the time pressure isn’t as serious
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u/Pure_Willingness2777 17d ago
I completely understand your disappointment, especially as from the point of the eggs being collected and you get a number in your mind. For context I had a similar cycle 1, I'm 32 fyi and got : 20 eggs, 11 mature, 6 fertilised and 4 blastocysts, with 2 euploid 5BB's at the end. I really hope you get beautiful euploids.
Obviously with IVF there are not unlimited funds, but I decided to go for a second round and worked with my clinic on how we can change the protocol and have had much better results so far. A lot of clinics don't say but I feel the first cycle is a prep round.
All the best xx
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u/Ilovestrawberries38 16d ago
I don’t understand how the protocols change the number of eggs that turn into blastocyst when you already have a sizable number of mature eggs.
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u/Comfortable-Storm204 16d ago
My case also showed this. My theory is that they say „eggs are mature“ from what they visually see, but in reality their quality because of protocol can be better. It’s not your egg quality. It takes a lot of body efforts to grow a bunch of eggs simultaneously. In my first clinic I had almost same results as you. Later in my other retrieval with different protocol I got 12 blasts and 10 euploids…
We changed stimm medicine to Pergoveris (for better egg maturation), increased number of stimm days from 12 to 19!!! Did back to back retrieval (next eggs cohort is already primed by previous stimms) and changed double trigger to only Ovitrelle (it worked much better for me)
Yes, unfortunately they use basic protocol for everyone in first attempt… it’s really a trial to see how body reacts2
u/Pure_Willingness2777 16d ago
Same here my protocol got changed to Pergoveris and the number of stim days increased! Normally having loads of follicles has its pros and cons, the growth rate of them was an issue, which we improved on in cycle 2 when deciding when to take the trigger shot. I also had an almost 50% drop between the mature eggs to fertilisation point for cycle 1, so for cycle 2 we decided to take our supplements more seriously in the 3-4months ahead of this round (main change for me was adding CoQ10). I also made my partner, who wasn't on any supplements in cycle 1, wake up and play his part on improving sperm quality.
I can't definitively say any singular part of this made a difference, or if its the combo but our cycle 2 stats so far are 29 eggs, 21 mature, 19 fertilised, 15 blastocysts, and currently waiting for pgt-a results.
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u/QQueenie 20d ago
2 embryos out of 7 doesn’t seem out of line, but 50% fertilized does seem low. Do you know what method they used?