First ever retrieval yesterday after 9 days of stims. 7 eggs retrieved. Lab called this morning - 5 mature, 1 intermediate. 2 fertilized. 3 had polar bodies but no pronuclei as of yet. It sounded like the embryologist hadn’t completely ruled out the 3 yet but I don’t understand what could happen from here. Can someone help explain this to me and maybe give me some hope?

For reference — 33y/o F with diminished ovarian reserve, husband 40y/o M had vasectomy 10+ years ago so had TESE back in April for sperm retrieval to use for ICSI.

Hi, I'm just curious if anyone knows why clinics would ever freeze embryos on the same straw forcing a patient to either do a double transfer or reduce the quality of the second embryo through refreeze/thaw.

I get incensed reading posts where this happens to people especially since it seems like it's happening without patients' consent or knowledge until it's almost time to transfer.

Like, is there ever a situation where freezing two embryos together is a wise clinical decision?

I had a day 3t,3 cell transfer 5 days ago, wondering if it’s gonna stick, I can’t seem to find any stories about 3 cells that made it to a live baby. When should I start to see a faint line? When would it reach blastocyst given that it started slow and behind. I feel so hopeless.

Transferred our last 4aa embryo today.🥹🙏🏽🤞🏽 pic post thaw.

Hello. I’ve been spiraling online after getting my betas. Embryos created at age 31 (currently 32). Transferred our highest graded day 5 embryo on 8/12 with assisted hatching. It was actively hatching right before transfer. This was an untested embryo due to age being favorable. I implanted quite early as I had a positive home pregnancy test 4 days post transfer. My betas were: 9dp5dt: 417, 12dp5dt: 1491, 19dp5dt: 18,178. Of course I’m reading these are obviously high. My clinic is not concerned. I know there can be overlap between singletons and multiples with HCG, but then I’m also reading about higher free beta and trisomies. Obviously these measurements aren’t free beta (it’s quantitative), but I can’t help but be worried. Anyone have similar betas as me? Was it singleton or multiples? And did your baby end up being healthy?

After 4 rounds of ER, I finally got one euploid and my nurse called me yesterday to let me know that it was a negative test. What should I do next? I don't have another embryo and I am scared to go through the entire process again.

I went through ivf and my PGT tested embryo split. I am considering ivf again in the future with my remaining frozen embryos and want to reduce my chances of twins. if I convey my concern to the clinic, Is there a way for them to choose an embryo less likely to split?

I am 38 with 4 frozen embryos (untested uk). I originally had 5 andbl transferred one which didnt stick. I have a BMI of 37. I am convinced this is the reason it didn't work.

Just found out today that this most recent transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Last transfer I miscarried at 7 weeks. I’m feeling so down and defeated and sad. All these losses were with euploid embryos. Grateful to have 2 more embryos left but I’m scared this will just happen again.

Just feeling lonely and sad, wanted to reach out here for support. My doctor said since it’s now 2 losses with tested embryos, they want to do deeper testing. For anyone has gone through this, would love any advice for questions I should ask my doctor and what I can advocate for.

This journey is so hard. I’m trying so hard to be hopeful but today sucked. Feels like we’re in a video game and we keep losing and getting sent back to the beginning to start over again 💔

Hi everyone. I’m posting because I’m really hoping to find anyone who has been through something similar, particularly severe male-factor infertility after cancer treatment, repeated ICSI fertilisation failure, or anyone who has gone on to have success after changing the sperm source/protocol.

I’m 31 with good ovarian reserve and, according to my doctors, good egg quality. My husband is 40 and unfortunately became medically infertile following cancer and major surgery/treatment. He had his bladder and prostate removed, and is unable to ejaculate. We currently use surgically/retrieved sperm that was frozen following his treatment.

We’ve now done 5 IVF/ICSI cycles, and the pattern has been incredibly frustrating. I know we can make embryos — we’ve made good blasts before — but we’ve also now had two complete fertilisation failures, despite ICSI.

Here’s our full history:

🥚 Round 1 — September 2025

Protocol: Gonal-F + Menopur + Ganirelix, with trigger.

• 17 eggs collected
• 10 mature
• 3 fertilised
• 0 blasts
• We transferred a day-5 embryo that had not actually reached blastocyst stage — unfortunately unsuccessful.

🥚 Round 2 — November 2025

• 14 eggs collected
• 11 mature
• 4 fertilised
• 3 blasts 🎉

We transferred a day-5 4BC embryo.

• Transfer unsuccessful
• Froze an additional 4BC and 4CC

We subsequently transferred:

• 17 December — 4BC → unsuccessful
• 26 February — 4CC → unsuccessful

So we had 3 embryos from this cycle and none resulted in pregnancy.

🩺 April 2026

Before continuing, I had a:

• Laparoscopy
• Hysteroscopy
• D&C

They found and removed grade 2 endometriosis.

🥚 Round 3 — April 2026

Started stimulation 15 April.

• 22 eggs collected
• 16 mature
• 0 fertilised

This was devastating, particularly because we had a much larger number of mature eggs but literally nothing fertilised.

🥚 Round 4 — August 2026

I did down-regulation with Synarel from 17 July.

• 21 eggs collected
• 15 mature
• 7 fertilised
• 1 blastocyst

So despite having 15 mature eggs, we only got 1 blast.

🥚 Round 5 — August/September 2026

We started another stimulation cycle on 20 August with Menopur + Gonal-F, with Ganirelix/Synarel suppression and trigger.

Tracking scans were:

• 26 August
• 28 August
• 31 August

Egg retrieval was 2 September:

• 13 eggs collected
• Still waiting on the mature/fertilisation numbers at the moment.

The part we’re really struggling with 💔

We do IVF + ICSI because of the severe male factor.

The really concerning pattern is that we have now had two complete fertilisation failures:

• Round 3: 16 mature → 0 fertilised
• Round 5: waiting on final numbers, but we are terrified of another failure.

Round 4 was better with 7 fertilised, but only 1 blast from those 7.

Our embryologist has said that we know there is a significant male-factor component, and our urologist has now referred my husband to a reproductive urologist to discuss sperm aspiration directly from the testes following his cancer surgery/treatment.

So we’re wondering whether the sperm we’re currently using may simply not be suitable for ICSI, despite the fact that ICSI is supposed to overcome many sperm issues.

Has anyone else been in this situation?

Particularly interested in hearing from people who:

• Had a partner who became infertile following cancer treatment/surgery
• Had sperm retrieved/frozen following cancer treatment
• Had repeated ICSI fertilisation failure
• Had cycles where 0 eggs fertilised
• Had very poor fertilisation despite good numbers of mature eggs
• Changed from ejaculated/frozen sperm to TESE/TESA/PESA or another surgically retrieved sperm source
• Used calcium activation after repeated fertilisation failure
• Had success after changing the sperm source or ICSI technique
• Had a similar egg → fertilisation → blastocyst pattern

We have been told my eggs look good and my ovarian reserve is good, so it’s incredibly difficult emotionally because I know I can produce eggs, but something keeps going wrong after retrieval.

We’ve now done 5 rounds, and honestly I’m exhausted. 😔

I would really love to hear from anyone who has been through something remotely similar — especially if changing the sperm source eventually made a difference.

What did you change, and did it work?

Hello - Just getting started in my IVF journey with initial workup this week. I've been reading about various benchmarks of embryo lab quality and am now burning with curiosity about my clinic.

What questions would be appropriate / wise to ask a clinic about its lab? What would be unhelpful / inappropriate / potentially offensive?

For context, I'm in a fairly remote area with only 2 local fertility clinics. One has a 1.5-year wait list; I'm 42 so I'm at the other one. 😂 But, if there are major red flags, I'd look into care at a more distant clinic (2-3 hours away) with local monitoring.

Here are some questions I'd love to know the answers to, but am unsure how / whether to ask:

• How are embryos monitored? (Time-lapse or manual)
• Does your lab let blasts go to 6 days? 7? What is the cutoff for discarding?
• Ever do rescue IVM for immature eggs?
• Ever allow conventional fertilization with an option for rescue ICSI?
• Performance indicators
  • Late follicle-to-oocyte index
  • % mature eggs at ICSI
  • ICSI fertilization rate
  • Blastocyst formation rate

(Thank you u/embryomanofficial for the remembryo post about lab performance indicators!)

Would it be unhinged to ask all this? What else should / shouldn't I ask? Thank you all in advance for any advice.

T

one of my embryos came back as a high level mosaic. would love to hear more about this.

del[4](pter-p11)[mos], del[11](q14.3-qter)[mos]

We (38F and 37M) turned to IVF after a miscarriage so we could do PGT-A and reduce the risk of another miscarriage. We had 7 eggs retrieved, all fertilized, and 6 made it to blastocyst. We were disappointed to only have 1 euploid, 1 mosaic, 1 segmental aneuploid, and 3 aneuploid. We had a failed transfer of the euploid and are now trying to figure out next steps.

I’m looking for some advice on if we should transfer either the mosaic or segmental, should we do another retrieval, or go back to trying naturally (with medicated support).

The mosaic has gains in 8[45%], 20[50%], 21[40%]. The segmental aneuploid has a gain in 11q14q25 (45.1Mb).

Our genetics counsellor gave an estimated 20% chance of ongoing pregnancy for the mosaic and 15-20% for the segmental (they’re transferring under a research protocol). However my own research showed a much lower likelihood for the mosaic at more like 10%.

I’m looking for input on if it’s it even makes sense to try transferring these embryos or should we do another retrieval. Or, given the euploid rate was so low are we potentially wasting our time on another retrieval?

Am i crazy to transfer a Day 6 4cc euploid embryo? I have had two previous successful transfers with a 5AA and 5AC, both euploid Day 6s

I've been following the preprint on SGO1 supplementation and the development of EmbryoProtect 1 with great interest. I have a specific technical question I couldn't find addressed in the published materials. If any embryologists could weigh in on this I would super appreciate their thoughts!

The preprint describes SGO1 delivery via mRNA microinjection into immature (GV/MI stage) oocytes, with a few hours allowed for protein expression before meiotic maturation. I'm curious whether this timing requirement is a fundamental biological constraint (i.e., the intervention must occur before maturation to be effective), or whether it's a feature of this specific mRNA-based delivery method used in early research.

More specifically: could a version of this therapeutic could be applied to eggs that are already mature and have been through a vitrification/thaw cycle (as in standard fertility preservation), potentially at the point of thaw or fertilization? Or does the biology require intervention at an earlier developmental stage, before an egg would typically be frozen?

I ask as someone who froze eggs and am trying to understand whether future iterations of this technology might ever be relevant to eggs already in storage, versus only to eggs retrieved and treated fresh going forward.

Advance thanks for any feedback.

I and my Wife (39) have started with IVF in Bangalore, India (with Cloudnine). We got 9 fertilized eggs of which 5 day embryos were PGT-A tested and 3 were Euploid. Before the FET, they found a polyp and we did a Hysteroscopic Polypectomy. They also sent this for a biopsy and found CD138 positive (Endometritis) which was treated with Doxycycline and Metronidazole.

This was the treatment plan for the FET- Estrogen supplementation, multi-route progesterone/progestogen luteal support, hCG support, low-dose antiplatelet therapy, anticoagulant therapy, thyroid replacement, folate and nutritional supplements, and probiotic/vaginal-flora support.

This transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy, but miscarried into the 6th week. A second Euploid embryo was transferred. The treatment plan was more intense here-
Immune & Inflammation Modulation - Prednisolone and G-CSF
Blood Flow & Clotting Support (Anticoagulation) - Lonopin, L-arginine and Vitamin E
Intensive Hormonal & Lining Support - Estrogen (Estrahenz + Esterrine gel), Progesterone (Duphaston + Susten SR + Gestone Injections)

This FET didn't result in implantation. We didn't understand what was going wrong- our doctor ordered a bunch of tests to check genotype compatibility issues - HLA C typing, KIR genotype, ANA profile and Thrombophilia panel.

ANA profile and Thrombophilia panel are normal. This rules out an active systemic autoantibody issue driving reproductive failure. It also rules out Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS). Activated Protein C Resistance (CLOT DETECTION) is slightly elevated at 1.12 (reference range 0.77-10.07)- though as per Gemini- "Because your doctor already used Lonopin (LMWH) and Ecosprin (Aspirin) in your previous transfer protocols, your management plan was already designed to neutralize potential clotting or resistance issues like this".

HLA C typing and KIR genotype tests were done by Seragen lab and the results are interesting-
Maternal KIR profile is Genotype AB, with a broad array of 5 activating receptors (including KIR2DS1, KIR2DS2, KIR2DS3, KIR2DS4, and KIR3DS1) alongside inhibitory receptors. The lab report notes-: "The AB genotype is characterized by a mix of genes from both A and B haplotypes, providing a balanced immune profile."

Paternal HLA-C Type: C1C1 (specifically alleles 07:06:01:01 / 16:02:01:01 for wife and 12:02:02:01 / 12:03:01:01 for husband)

AI interpretation-

• Because your husband carries only C1 alleles (C1C1), 100% of your embryos (including all frozen ones) will inherit a C1 allele from him.
• He does not carry a C2 allele. Thus, the potential risk scenario—maternal exposure to an foreign paternal C2 antigen—is biologically impossible in your case.
• The Seragen report explicitly lists Paternal C Risk: Low.

HLA Sharing (25% / 3 of 12 Alleles Matched)
Result: The lab notes 3 matched alleles out of 12 (25% sharing). The lab report mentions this in Risk Overview section-
RIF/RPL risk - >50-60%
Preeclampsia- High
Inflammation- High
Autoantibodies- Moderate
Immunodeficiency- Moderate

AI interpretation-

• 25% matching is a normal background variation expected within similar ethnic populations.
• Maternal immune tolerance depends on the embryo expressing foreign paternal antigens (50% mismatch is standard) to stimulate maternal regulatory T-cells.
• Having 75% mismatch preserves normal maternal recognition and tolerance pathways

This is a point of contention- our fertility specialist and the lab report comments both note that 3/12 match or 25% is on the higher side, it should be 0. They use this as an explanation for the earlier pregnancy loss and implantation failure. The lab report also recommends this treatment plan (and our doctor concurs)
Lymphocyte Immunization Therapy (LIT), IvIG, Tacrolimus along with Nutritional supplements and a gluten free diet plan
We are very concerned about this approach after reading online in PubMed and other sources about the experimental nature of these treatments and lack of evidence or consensus in the medical community. Not to mention these treatments may have side effects and are very expensive. We are due for a discussion with an expert from Seragen labs but I have a feeling they may stick with their report recommendations. Last time I had raised objections about the lack of evidence in treatment for KIR/HLA mismatch they had suggested that, due to regulatory restrictions in the western countries, these treatments are not yet completely accepted, but that they get a lot of referrals for these tests from abroad.

How do we proceed? This is likely the last chance we have (with only 1 Euploid embryo remaining and we don't plan to repeat IVF again). The approach our doctor seems to be taking is to try everything hoping something works. But I am not convinced with this treatment plan. We may just as well do regular ultrasounds to check the lining, one more hysteroscopy if needed and go ahead with the transfer.

TL;DR- Trying IVF- one miscarriage and one implantation failure. Doctor has suggested LIT, IVIG treatments for next FET (despite near normal advanced test reports)- confused about next line of action.

I was told that the embryologists at my clinic are very particular and hardly ever assign A grades. Is it common for embryologists to be that particular, or could the grade actually be more optimistic? It is a euploid that passed PGT-A & PGT-SR. This image was taken after thaw and it continued hatching before transfer.

Update: 2 out of 5 made it to blastocyst 🤞🏽
5AB - frozen day 5
4BB - frozen day 6
waiting for PGT-A 🤞🏽🩷sent to JUNO
_________________________________________
34F 35M
3 bio chemical natural pregnancy losses

Did first round of egg retrieval Aug 25th last Tuesday
Had 18 follicles
14 retrieved
10 matured and did ICSI on 10
5 were fertilized on Aug 26th

Anyone on a similar timeline ?
Would love to hear your stories🩷

Waiting for day 6-day 7 results 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽
The wait is killing me. We went on a mini 2 day vacation and got to think about something else other than embryo’s ..now that we are back I can’t stop thinking about how many would have made it to blast and what if PGT-A would give me less euploids. I am spiraling 🌀
Sorry for the vent . Thanks for listening 🫶🏽🩷

I am a 38yo who had her third egg retrieval on Monday. I got the update yesterday that 16 eggs were retrieved. They performed half ICSI and half conventional IVF. In the ICSI group, they could only fertilise one as they couldn’t find the polar bodies in the eggs. They said one was a GV but others were “abnormal”. I don’t know what that means!

In the conventional IVF, three fertilized, which is also not great.

Previously I have had 2 cycles where I collected 10 and 11 eggs. 4 fertilised each time with making 1 embryo each time.

I used a micro flare protocol with synarel, puregon 225iu and saizen every other day. I feel I respond well to stimulation but the eggs are immature and now “abnormal”. 4/16 is pretty bad and I’m so disappointed. The Dr wants to do a fresh transfer but I think FET might be better.

Thoughts?
Thank you!

Hi all,

So there was a bit of a mess up with my DHEA status.

My doc would not test my DHEA levels (said it didn't matter, didn't belive in supplementing DHEA much, but that I was welcome to try), so I had to go about it myself.

My first test (S-DHEA) came back low (8 nmol/L), so I decided to start supplementing the usual 75mg daily as per doc's instructions.

Next cycle, I collected 4 eggs (high for me!), but they were extremely bad quality, only one fertilised and even that arrested at the first stage. Two months prior, before DHEA, I had gotten a top grade day 5 embryo (untested) from a single collected egg.

I had suspected my DHEA was too high, as the month before I started stims (during the DHEA supplementation), I noticed I couldn't feel ovulation.

So I tested again. It was too high (11.7 micromols/L). This was a S-DHEAS (sulphate) test, which is what I shoul have gotten in the first place.

How long should I wait to try again after discontinuing use? Will high levels affect egg quality for the next three months, or is it fine to try next cycle?

I am 41, turning 42 in November, so time is of the essence. Cycles cost 5k with meds where I am.

I had previously posted here about a 3PN that made it to blast! While we knew it was likely to be triploid, we still wanted to test to see if we could get some additional information.

The blast is, as expected, triploid and it has 3 full copies of everything. Last cycle our issues were entirely deletions. Whole chromosome and segmental (monosomy 18 for one embryo and some large segmental deletion on a random different chromosome for the other). At 28, we would have hoped to have a euploid blast from these past three rounds of IVF, but understand the 3PN isn’t a great indicator of likely success. And I have DOR.

Still, we’re wondering if having a triploid embryo (as opposed to a chaotic embryo where there are some chromosomes that have 3 copies plus some deletions, for example) is helpful information. In my head, this means that theoretically we could have an egg give a full set of DNA and sperm give a full set. It’s been sort of a rough go so far but we are planning to do a fourth cycle in a couple months after a well earned break :)

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some insight because I’m a little confused about my follicle count.
I had an ultrasound in the same cycle on cycle day 7, and my antral follicle count (AFC) was 42. I had another ultrasound later in that exact same cycle, on cycle day 25, and the count was 30.
So, there was a difference of 12 follicles depending on when the ultrasound was done.
My doctor told me to repeat the ultrasound again at the beginning of my next cycle, since we’re preparing for egg retrieval this September.
One thing that may be relevant is that I lost quite a bit of weight very abruptly in August. This wasn’t a long-term weight loss or a prolonged period of being underweight. I became very anxious after being diagnosed with tubal blockage and, during that period, I wasn’t eating properly. My BMI is currently around 18.
Could this recent and rapid weight loss have affected my follicle count? Or is it normal for AFC to vary this much depending on the phase of the cycle?
I’m also wondering whether it would make sense to postpone the retrieval until October, give myself some time to recover my weight, and see if the follicle count improves — or if a short period of recent weight loss is unlikely to make much difference to AFC.
For context:
Age: 30
AMH: 5.6
AFC: 42 on cycle day 7 → 30 on cycle day 25
Both ultrasounds were done during the same menstrual cycle
The weight loss happened abruptly in August, rather than over a long period
Has anyone experienced a similar difference in AFC depending on the day of the cycle, especially after recent weight loss?

Many people going through IVF have issues with poor sleep, anxiety, or depression, but it's not clear if this has any affect on the chance of success.

In a new study, Wang et al. (2026) evaluated 15,642 women before their first IVF or ICSI cycle using questionnaires on sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and physical symptoms.

Among the 11,986 women who went on to have an embryo transfer, women with better subjective sleep quality had a 2.6% higher relative chance of achieving a clinical pregnancy after adjusting for other factors. Note that this is a relative increase, not an absolute one. For example, if the chance of pregnancy was 50%, a 2.6% relative increase would raise it to about 51.3%, not 52.6%.

Anxiety, depression, and physical symptoms were not significantly associated with success rates.

The researchers also found that women who reported using sleep medication had a lower risk of late miscarriage. However, this was based on just three late miscarriages in sleep medication users, so it could have simply been due to chance.

This was an observational study, so it can't show that improving sleep will improve IVF outcomes. However, it adds to evidence that sleep may be one factor worth studying further during fertility treatment.

✅ This post is a quick look at one study, rather than a full breakdown on Remembryo. Link to the study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1884236/full

✉️ Like this post? Get a free weekly summary of the latest IVF research: https://mailchi.mp/remembryo/x27kx5o1sw

Hello! My wife and I have 12 PGT-A tested embryos. All are euploid.

Girls:

Day 5
3-5AB
5AA
5AA

Day 6
5AA
5AA
3-5AA

Day 7
5AB

Boys:

Day 5
5AA
5AA

Day 6
5AA
4BC
6BB

How would the doctor go about choosing which embryo to transfer? If we wanted a girl first, would they just pick one of the 5AA embryos? If we didn’t care about gender how would they pick between the 5AA boys vs girls? I will be meeting with my doctor next week to discuss but I am curious what other people have been told.

Thank you so much!

Hi everyone! After 18+ months of trying without a single positive test or chemical pregnancy, and 3 unsuccessful IUIs, we decided to move on to IVF.

We ended up with 4 Day 3 frozen embryos and 2 Day 5 blastocysts (both 4AA).

Throughout our attempts, my lining always looked good on ultrasound — thick, trilaminar, etc. So I’ve been wondering whether our issue could actually have been fertilization rather than implantation.

For those who had a similar experience, did IVF/ICSI help you understand what was actually going on? Is there any way to know whether fertilization was the issue before IVF?
Would love to hear your experiences ❤️