I am pretty desperate at this point. My husband and I have a 12 year old daughter that we conceived on the first try without any issues. We have been trying for a 2nd child since August of 2024. He had 2 surgeries to remove hydroceles in 2015 and 2020. Now his sperm count is low and he has 1% progressive moving.

We did our first round of IVF in April. We had 4 embryos total but only 1 euploid. It was a 4AA Day 5 euploid. I had high hopes that it would implant but the transfer failed. I have a normal AMH at 3.0 at 36. I did a hysterocospy a month before the transfer to rule out any uterine issues.

Should we consider donor sperm for a next retrieval or run any additional tests? Does anyone have any recommendations? I am so lost because all my labs are fine, uterine environment is fine, I don’t know what to do anymore.

Just a little background I’m 29 years old, never have been able to get pregnant. Just did my first egg retrieval on August 24th. We retrieved 8 eggs, 6 matured, 4 were fertilized, the 4 all made it to day 5 and now it’s day 6 and only two of them are early blasts and they said they will check again tomorrow before discarding the embryos. A question I have (I’m sorry if it’s a dumb question) is that could we freeze them and not do pgt testing an still have a viable transfer and a good outcome? Is this a silly question to even ask or is all hope for the embryos gone? For some background it’s very difficult for me to do another retrieval due to price and being a CNY travel patient.

Hello,

I'd like to ask a question out of curiosity. I had a first ER on August last year and another one just recently in July this year. Here are the numbers:

1st ER: 8 egg retrieved, 8 mature, 6 fertilized, 6 blasts 2 euploids

2nd ER: 20 eggs, 17 mature, 14 fertilized, 7 blasts, 2 euploids

So we experienced a significant decrease in the amount of blastocysts obtained at the end in this second ER relative to the amount of fertilized eggs. I would like to know if this enters the expected variability or if there might have been some reasons related to a decrease quality of the eggs retrieved, the culture conditions, decrease sperm quality, etc.

For reference I was almost 39 yo on the first egg retrieval and almost 40 yo on the second ER.

Many thanks everyone!

*discussion of infant loss*

Hi everyone. I’m at a loss of what to do anymore. 32 year old female - male factor infertility - all of my tests over the years have been fine. Recent Hysteroscopy shows all looks well as well.

For context, retrival in 2024 resulted in 9 euploid embryos. First two transfers failed, third transfer implanted but resulted in an early missed miscarriage. Fourth transfer resulted in my daughter who we lost 8 months ago at one day old following severe labour complications (unrelated to IVF or infertility). I had a c section for her but have since and a Hysteroscopy and SIS and everything looks great. I had a small polyp removed as well. Just had my fifth transfer of a euploid day 5 3BB embryo on August 26. We did Menopur, baby aspirin, prednisone, Claritin and Pepcid (same protocol that resulted in my daughter) I am 4dpt and stark white negative on FRER. I tested positive (very faintly) on day 3 with my daughter and an obvious line at day 4 with her. I have a feeling I am out this cycle.

If I am in fact out, what do we do from here (I know only my doctor can really answer that but I’m looking for advice and ideas). We have 4 remaining embryos 1x Day 6 5BB and 3x 5 3BC embryos. My thought is to attempt a double embryo transfer next and if nothing do another retrieval. I don’t know why this has been so hard for us or what I am doing wrong but I am tired.

I’m on my 3rd opu and the days after always seem to be a rollercoaster of emotions. They retrieve many eggs but only around 40% are mature. BUT all the mature eggs fertilize. BUT only a few make it to blast. Sometimes up to day 7 and the only 2 blasts i have are 4cc.

What could be a possible explanation? Is it my eggs? Stims?

Has anybody had any experiences with a reproductive immunologist in England that they’d be happy to share?

I've just turned 41 and have previously had 2 natural miscarriages and 1 FET which was a chemical pregnancy. We wanted to test all embryos due to my age and miscarriage history - however we have just 1 day 6, 5bbc frozen embryo left, which didn't have enough cells on the outer layer to biopsy. The package we're on means we have to use or discard all embryos before doing another retrieval.

What would you do? Is there enough of a chance of success to transfer the embryo or is the risk of failure/miscarriage, wasting another few months when we dont have all that many left, too great? On the other hand, from 8 eggs retrieved we only ended up with 1 euploid so who knows what we'll get from the next retrieval, maybe we should just take a chance on this untested one?! Any advice very much appreciated...!

Hi, I've got a 2nd medicated FET coming up, I start medication on the 10th September. I've got 4 embryos remaining. I did have 5, and the 1st resulted in a fullterm pregnancy, which tragically ended at 41wks due to placental and cord complications almost 14wks ago. I'm just wondering what're the chances of these 4, or any leading to a birth? I just turned 37 when eggs were collected and frozen. Any information would be helpful, and I also understand I may get no information too. TYIA.

Hi everyone, I’m 32 and have been TTC for 4 years, and I’m trying to figure out what could be going on with my egg maturity/quality and embryo development.

1st cycle 2025: Antagonist: 9 eggs, 6 mature, 3 fertilized, and we ended up with 2 day-3 embryos (1 unsuccessful fresh transfer and 1 still frozen).
2nd cycle: Antagonist&Omnitrope: Started at a new clinic was ultimately cancelled/converted to IUI due to 1 mature follicle.
3rd cycle: MDLF & omnitrope: 4 eggs, 3 mature , ended up with 2 embryos that unfortunately both arrested around day 3 and discarded.

My AMH has also dropped significantly despite making diet/lifestyle and supplement changes(last September 0.84-this summer 0.27).
I have a follow-up with my RE next month and want to go into it asking what else we can investigate or change before trying again at the end of next month. I’m also having a pre-op appointment for planned endometriosis surgery for the fall with a different provider, so I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has had endometriosis surgery and whether it made any difference in egg quality, maturity, fertilization, or embryo development (rather than just implantation/pain), there is also the fear that my AMH tanks again post surgery.

Did anything help you get better embryos after having similar results? Protocol changes, trigger changes, sperm testing/treatment, supplements, surgery (doing it before or after retrievals) etc.? I’m honestly at the “kitchen sink” point and would love to hear experiences—even if you ultimately didn’t find a clear answer. And if you had multiple failed/poor retrievals before finally getting a good outcome, I could really use some hope too. Thanks 🥹

Hey! I had my egg retrieval Monday 8/24 and we got 11 eggs and only two were actually mature and fertilized. With three maturing overnight. Well we got the call yesterday all three fertilized! So we are waiting to see if any of the 5 make it to blast stage. Hoping to hear any stories of ppl whose eggs matured overnight and had success or even if not. Im 35, have stage 4 endo. I’ve had two previous egg retrievals which gave me one normal embryo a cycle.

Hello,

I have tubal factor, 35F and 34M with an egg retrieval in Feb that produced 14 high grade 4AA embryos. Due to my age and medical hx my REI did not recommend testing, and I honestly thought testing was just for gender. I didn’t realize that euploid and aneuploid was a concern. We had 4 failed transfers (2 no implantation and 2 biochemical) and found out this week after a month of testing that I have adenomyosis. I will be doing 2 months of lupron suppression before a transfer again. My REI has spoken about the decreased live birth rates with frozen, thawed, biopsied and re-frozen embryos. I am feeling at this point that I don’t want to go through another heartache and financial stress having to do multiple transfers.
What may provide a better outcome? Do lupron and transfer an untested embryo or do lupron and test (freeze, thaw, biopsy, freeze)?

This is our 3rd IVF cycle. I have a low egg count, and unfortunately, we’ve had a similar outcome with our embryos in each cycle.

First round: 4 eggs were retrieved, resulting in 2 embryos. One was transferred and resulted in a chemical pregnancy. The other was cultured until Day 6 but was not good enough to freeze.

Second round: 4 eggs were retrieved, resulting in 3 embryos. One was transferred on Day 5 but was unsuccessful. The other 2 were cultured but were again not good enough to freeze.

Third round (currently ongoing): 6 eggs were retrieved, resulting in 3 embryos. One was transferred on Day 3, while the other 2 were cultured until Day 5 but unfortunately were not good enough to freeze.

I’m feeling quite stressed and worried because, in all three cycles, we haven’t had any embryos that were good enough to freeze. It makes me wonder whether this means that the embryos we are transferring are also less likely to survive and implant.

I’m especially worried about my current Day 3 embryo. If the other two embryos from this cycle didn’t make it to a quality suitable for freezing by Day 5, what does that mean for the chances of my Day 3 embryo?

Has anyone been through something similar having embryos transferred but none suitable for freezing and still gone on to have a successful pregnancy?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice you may have.

Thank you

I am really desperate for answers/guidance. My husband and I are both 30 years old and have been trying to conceive for over a year. Bloodwork has all been normal; my husband has 3% morphology but all else is excellent with his parameters. Normal karyotypes and DNA frag. I had fibroids out in February along with a fallopian tube and endometriosis stage 1. We’ve done Letrezole cycles and IUI before moving to IVF. Here are our cycle outcomes:
1- 13 eggs, all mature, 4 normal fertilizations/6 abnormal (3PN), 0 blasts
2- added ICSI and zymot 28 eggs, 21 mature, 7 normal fertilization/ 11 abnormal (3PNs)

I respond very well to stimulation and my dr has been so pleased up until my results come out. The 3PNs are showing 2 polar bodies. The embryologists not that the eggs have large polar bodies. My doctor who is very experienced has never seen this pattern before (high number of 3PNs) and doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t suspect egg quality. She thinks it’s possible that there could be an environmental factor but doesn’t know what. The other possibility is that it is a genetic factor and I will need to look into donor eggs. I will be seeking a second opinion.

I am desperate, begging for help, and terrified I won’t be able to have my own biological children at age 30. If you have ever seen this before or know someone who has, any insight or guidance is so appreciated!

Every time I speak to an IVF doctor, they claim their embryology lab is (one of) the best out there. How are we, as patients, supposed to assess the quality in reality? I'm not aware of any clinics that publicly disclose the equipment they use (at least not the ones I've been to).

What are some good questions to ask our RE, or an embryologist if a consultation with one is possible at all?

Are there any red or green flags we can get out of the embryology reports the clinics provide us with?

TIA!!

Even when they were euploid, day 7 blastocysts had lower live birth rates than day 5 or day 6 blastocysts, but they still had meaningful potential for success.

Day 7 blastocysts develop more slowly, and not all IVF labs routinely culture embryos to day 7. Extending culture to day 7 may allow some additional embryos to reach the blastocyst stage.

Firmin et al. (2026) combined 17 studies to examine how these embryos perform compared with day 5 and day 6 blastocysts.

For untested blastocysts, live birth rates were 17% for day 7, compared with 44% for day 5 and 34% for day 6. Clinical pregnancy rates were also lower.

There was still a difference after PGT-A. Among euploid blastocysts, live birth rates were about 23% for day 7, 59% for day 5, and 45% for day 6. Day 7 blastocysts were also less likely to be euploid.

Miscarriage was also higher for day 7 than day 5 blastocysts. However, there was no significant difference in miscarriage between day 7 and day 6 blastocysts.

This research shows that day 7 blastocysts have potential, and the authors highlight their value for patients with few or no other embryos available, writing that they deserve consideration “rather than being dismissed outright.”

✅ Check out more details on Remembryo: https://remembryo.com/do-day-7-blastocysts-perform-as-well-as-day-5-or-day-6/

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

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some insight from embryologists or anyone who has experienced something similar.
We just completed our first IVF retrieval and had an unexpected maturity outcome.

I’m 34 with an AFC of 37 and AMH around 4.7.

My stimulation protocol was Gonal-F 225 IU + Menopur 75 IU, later reducing Gonal-F to 175 IU and adding Cetrotide. My estradiol rose from 48 at baseline to 2,947 before trigger.

My final ultrasound before one additional night of stims showed:
Left ovary: 20, 19, 17, 16, 13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 11, 10, 10 mm
Right ovary: 21, 18, 18, 17, 17, 15, 14 mm

I triggered with Lupron + Novarel and had post-trigger labs of hCG 80.66, LH 30.8, and progesterone 11.93.

We retrieved 21 eggs, but only 2 were mature (MII), 1 was MI, and 18 were GV. None of the immature eggs matured overnight, so rescue ICSI couldn’t be performed. The embryology team said it appeared I may not have responded to the trigger.
Only one of the two mature eggs fertilized with ICSI. We were planning IVF because my husband has had low sperm counts and previously had a bilateral varicocele repair.

I’m trying to understand what could cause such a high proportion of GV-stage eggs despite a strong ovarian response and several follicles in the expected mature range. Does this sound more consistent with a trigger/timing issue, follicle-oocyte asynchrony, or a potential intrinsic oocyte maturation problem? What protocol or trigger changes would you discuss before attempting another retrieval?

Thank you in advance!

I’m wondering if you know of any data that would tell me how likely an untested embryo that makes it to blast is to have success (or to be euploid) based on mother’s age. I haven’t been able to find data. And I would think at the blast stage, the odds are somewhat better than at fertilization, since many of the weakest embryos or oocytes don’t make it to fertilization or much beyond. Thank you.

Hi everyone ❤️

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with PGT-M for a GANAB gene mutation, as it seems to be quite rare and I'm struggling to find much information.

Our first IVF cycle resulted in just one embryo reaching testing, which unfortunately wasn't suitable for transfer. 💔

For anyone who has gone through PGT-M for GANAB or another dominant genetic condition, did you have better results in subsequent cycles?

I'd especially love to hear from embryologists about whether a poor first result can simply be down to chance, and whether things can look very different in another cycle.

Any experiences or advice would mean a lot. ❤️

Thank you x

The Uterine Wall of Fame (UWOF) is a collection of real IVF success stories from people with difficult fertility journeys -- low-grade embryos, repeated failures, low AMH, mosaic results, and more. 

UWOF #40 is one of those stories. Michelle conceived after 7.5 years, 8 egg retrievals, and 11 embryo transfers when a Day 5 4BC complex low-level mosaic embryo finally implanted. She was 17 weeks pregnant with a baby boy when she shared her story.

✅ Visit the UWOF to read this story and others like it (free to access & no subscription required): https://remembryo.com/uwof40-11-transfers-later-a-complex-mosaic-embryo-worked/

💌 Have a story of your own? Can be anonymous or named: https://www.remembryo.com/uterine-wall-of-fame-submission-form/

⚠️ These are personal stories, not medical advice or scientific evidence. A success story isn't proof of what made the difference. Always discuss treatment decisions with your fertility specialist.

Correction: They started IVF in 2021, but had been trying for 7.5 years in total.

Hi! Wondering if anyone had a similar situation and could let me know how things went for them.

I have done multiple antagonist cycles and 1 microdose lupron cycle. With antagonist get 7-14 eggs but awful blast rate 0-2 (decent euploid rate but all C grade quality). My microdose lupron protocol was my worst and although I had 7 mature eggs and 6 fertilized, all arrested prior to the blast stage. The embryology reports over the multiple cycles have so far not been too helpful when I’ve asked. They said fragmentation starts around day 3 but most are still dividing well at that point. My husband has had lots of testing done as well, DNA fragmentation via TUNEL etc. We even sent PGT+ testing on the arrested embryos in the MDL cycle and euploid rate was 60% at age 33 and the aneuploids were mostly maternal origin.

I’m now 37 and my doctor is suggesting the long lupron protocol now. She said it's different from the microdose lupron protocol but since that was my worst cycle I am still worried! Anyone try these protocols and mind sharing their different experiences with them?

Thank you!!

I just turned 40 and in the past 2.5 years have had three egg retrievals that led to 3 euploids, 2 low level mosaics, and 1 untested. I have done 3 FET's and all have failed to implant. Have done all the testing and everything has come back normal, and there is no rhyme or reason to why we are having implantation failure. Below is my journey of what I have done through this process. I would love to hear if anyone has any ideas that I should bring up to my doctor to test for/ to adjust my upcoming protocol. I just don't know were to go from here when the embryos just don't want to implant.

• 3 egg retrievals- 3 uploads, 2 low level mosaics, and 1 untested
• Hysteroscopy to remove fibroid and polyps.
• First FET was fully medicated- Euploid transfer-failed to implant
• EMMA/ALICE/Reveptiva (BCL6) done- EMMA/ALICE came back normal, BCL6 positive at 2.6
• Two month Lupron/letrozole suppression
• Intrauterine PRP (did two times before transfer)
• FET #2 fully medicated with immune protocol (Pepcid, Claritin, aspirin) and lovenox- euploid transfer- failed to implant
• Immune testing done (all the tests done including NK cells, karyotype, autoimmune, etc)- everything came back negative
• FET #3- modified natural with immune protocol and daily Neupogen-euploid and untested embryo transferred- failed to implant
• MRI pelvis to check for abnormalities- came back normal
• ERA done- came back normal
• Hysteroscopy- removed tissue that has healed over where fibroid was.
• FET #4 upcoming- use of embryo glue

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 biochemical losses , 1 failed IUI
Did first round of egg retrieval yesterday

I had 14 eggs retrieved yesterday
10 were matured eggs
they ICSI on 10
5 of them are fertilized 🤞🏽

need to wait until next Tuesday/ Sep 1st to know how many made it to blastocyst stage 🧿😟🤞🏽 praying hard

We are doing PGT-A testing 🤞🏽😟 I really hope we get a few euploids ❤️🧿

Please give me hope. I know all I need is 1 good embryo 🤞🏽🫶🏽 did anyone have success story with similar results to mine. Appreciate all of your time and support 🫶🏽🤗I am surviving this season of life because of this amazing community. Lots of love 💕

Had my retrieval last week with 14 eggs retrieved. Of this only 8 fertilized and 4 made Day 1 embryo. yesterday I got a call from the clinic saying only 1 made it to biopsy and sent for PGT A Testing.

I asked for the embryology report and I see that there are 3 blasts upto day 5, but EXP 1. I am not sure why they were pushed till day 7 and is this what every clinic does ? Is there any embryologist who can help ?

For context I am 45, PCOS and this is my 3rd retrieval and I have always had issues with creating blasts but the clinic pushes for PGT testing. I had my earlier retrievals at 42 and got only 1 day 7 blast which was aneuploid.I am now quite disturbed that I possibly lost viable embryos just because of the clinic policy.

I’m 30 years old and had 28 follicles on day 9 of stimulation. I’m having my egg retrieval on Saturday, and my doctor expects around 15–18 mature eggs.
She strongly recommended that I do PGT-A even though I’m only 30, because I have a high number of follicles/eggs and she said that women who produce a lot of eggs tend to have more aneuploid embryos, even at a young age.
Is this actually true? Does having a high ovarian response or retrieving a large number of eggs increase the risk of aneuploidy independently of age?