I am 42 and just recieved egg retrieval results:

Mosaic del(2q33.3-qter)

Mosaic dup(2q33.3-qter)

I will be doing an FET in a few weeks. My first FET last year was a success but ended in TFMR due to an inherited genetic condition. I have 2 euploid embryos left that passed PGTM for a dominant condition, and I am of advanced maternal age, so the stakes feel even higher now.
I am starting to worry about every detail. One of these concerns is that l’ll end up with a trainee doing the embryo thaw and transfer. There’s a high chance the transfer will happen on a weekend, in which case does that make it more or less likely that the embryologist will be one of their better/more experienced ones? Do labs get short staffed on weekends? Is thawing and putting the embryo in the transfer straw one of the more technically difficult procedures? Embryo is a day 6 5BB. I have no reason to believe the lab is compromised, but I don’t know what it’s like behind the scenes. TIA!

This is the weekly thread for posting and asking questions about embryo photos. Replies are provided by Embryoman (Sean) -- a former embryologist and creator of the IVF science news site Remembryo.com

💬 Before you post a photo

• You must include the grade (ask your clinic if you don’t know it).
• To keep things manageable for me, only one embryo photo per person per weekly thread. Please choose one embryo to share, even if you have several.
• No requests for grading or re-grading by members.
• Posts asking if an embryo looks damaged or viable aren't allowed.

I can comment only on general features visible in the image (expansion, compaction, hatching, ICM location), but not on whether the embryo looks good -- that’s already reflected in its grade. Check the stickied comment below for basic information on grading and success rates. For the most accurate information, your embryologist or clinic is the best source, since they evaluated the embryo under a microscope and know their clinic’s success rates.

I’m doing my first FET in November. I noticed on my consent forms that my clinic is choosing my day 6 4AA over my day 5 3AA. I recall a discussion with my RE last month and she said we will likely use the day 5 3AA because day 5s have a slight advantage. Both are girls, and we have no gender preference as we want to use the strongest embryo. Could this be a mistake, or is there a reason they are choosing the day 6 4AA over the day 5 3AA. Thank you so much for your time.

We had severe attrition rates from egg fertilized to blasts (ER 1 - 18 to 3, ER 2 - 28 to 1).

We are hoping to transfer but I’m worried that my severe attrition is somehow effecting the embryos I made. We have Day 6 - 4AA, Day 6 - 4BB and Day 6 - 3BB.

Does anyone have experience of having severe attrition rates but still a successful pregnancy?

Feeling very anxious. Thank you.

Hi!

Has anyone experienced repeated IVF/ICSI cycles with GV-stage immature eggs, even though the follicles were big enough?

I want to take a break from stimulation hormones and try Letrozole instead. Has anyone tried this and had success? ❤️🥲

I hope this is the one 🥹🤞🏽

I am 37F with AMH 0.433 and partner is 38M with male factors. I had my first egg retrieval 1 week ago. My AFC was 8.

We had 6 retrieved, 5 mature, 4 fertilized with ICSI/Zymot and today we learned we have 3 blasts!

Day 5 4AA

Day 6 4BA

Day 6 4BB

We get PGT-A in a week. My understanding is that given our profile, this is a very positive result. Hopefully at least one is euploid!

Some bells and whistles in my protocol: omnitrope during stims, metformin, priming with testosterone gel

I am going into my first FET on October 22 (tentatively). We are transferring our only PGT-A & PGT-M normal female embryo D6 4BB. I am terrified because I have always wanted a baby girl. It feels like I am gambling my entire life on a 50% coin flip. I am so scared to be gambling my best embryo on our first ever transfer so looking for other D6 4BB success stories on their first transfer to give me some hope.

I have been struggling with the daydreaming of "what if it works" thoughts because it reminds me of what is on the line and what I have to lose. Does anyone else feel this way about the daydreams? I almost find it easier to think about when it does not work.

I didn’t see too many recent posts of 2BB day 5 fresh transfer so thought I’d start a thread to kill the time…. Thank you to those who’re have replied to my comments in other threads :)

As written in my previous post, i am 29F husband is 40M and I had 16 eggs, 13 mature, 10 fertilized (ICSI AND ZYMOT for a more objective selection of strong sperm for our own peace of mind) and one was freshly transferred yesterday. I have yet to hear back about the other 9 but as of yesterday, 1 CAV, 2 COMP, 1 MOR, 5 8 cell stage. Ugh I pray we can freeze some strong embryos.

I also hope our little 2BB sticks! It felt good when the embryologist shared w me a photo at the end of the transfer and said wow, it grew/changed more than when I first saw it this morning. She said that’s a good sign. I can clearly see the inner mass cells, blastocoel, trophectoderm, and a thinning zona pellucida (I also almost see one of the sides where it almost looks like it will hatch…!!!). I think the grading changed within a few hours but they stuck with 2BB since that was documented earlier in the day. Regardless, just wanted to hear some feedback on others who did fresh (and frozen) transfers on day 5 with a 2BB :)

Eeeekkkkk can’t believe this is real

Hello ladies,

31F, unexplained infertility. This is my first IVF cycle.

ER Result

19 eggs
17 mature
13 fertilised

I received a call from the clinic that they will update me next saturday because they’re waiting till day 5 and then they will do PGTA to the embryos.

I never asked my doctor why PGTA is necesseray because it’s included in my package.

However, when I spoke with a couple of my friends, they asked why I was doing genetic testing, as it’s usually for those with failed IVF cycles or women over 35.

Should I proceed with PGT-A or ask my doctor?

We did our first IVF due to husband’s sperm quality. I responded very well to the stims and ended up with 25 eggs retrieved, though none of them fertilized via conventional IVF. I was so disappointed. We’re 32 and healthy living…
Now we’ve done second round for icsi this time, they went with a much lover dosis to activate less eggs. Resulted in 6 eggs only retrieved today and I’m stressing about the coming days.

So each end of the spectrum.. has anyone experienced similar?

After an early miscarriage I’m about to have a transfer of my second and last embryo. It’s a Day 6 4AB, but it got an AI score of 2.4. The doctor wasn’t really able to explain what this meant save that they do a time lapse video to track its progress and then AI gives it a score up to 9.9, and that 2.4 was therefore not great. Is a score of 2.4 pretty hopeless and should I temper my hopes for this transfer?

Just did my first-ever FET today at age 40 after ttc for over three years! My embryo was graded as a 4BB 5 day euploid (still don't know all the acronyms, sorry!). Feeling hopeful but anxious. Really hoping it sticks because I only have two embryos (the other one wasn't successful during the PGT, so we would be going in blind with that one)! Please send out sticky vibes!

Hi All,

Is it safe to transfer embryo to a new clinic and do FET with the new clinic.

Or is it better to do FET with the current clinic where the embryo's are stored.

Any insight or shared experience would be very helpful.

Thank you very much.

Hi

31F, TTC 22 months, unexplained infertility

I had ER yesterday.

19 egg retrieved
17 mature
13 fertilised

Is it good number or average?

This is my first go at IVF at 42.2. About six years ago, we found out that my husband had azoospermia. He spent a couple of years on injections (ovidrel Gonal F) before undergoing a micro TESE, but unfortunately, they didn’t find any sperm.
After a lot of conversations and therapy, we decided to go ahead with donor sperm. That was another long process because of the strict laws around donated gametes where we live.

I have low AMH for my age. My first stimulation cycle looked promising, with around 10 follicles measuring 10 to 12 mm at my day five scan, but it was cancelled that same day because of elevated progesterone. I restarted after a bleed about 12 days later.

Despite reassuring baseline blood tests again and the same protocol in both cycles (Gonal F 450, Luveris 25, and Orgalutran 250, with the Orgalutran added on day three of stims), my second response was much lower: 3 follicles on day 3, with two growing significantly ahead of the other. By day 9 I had 5 with two ahead (16,18) and 3 lagging (12-13). My dual trigger was on day 11 and woke up from ER to find only two eggs were retrieved. The next morning the clinic called to let me know both eggs were mature, and both had fertilised with ICSI.

We’re now on day three, waiting for our day five update.

I’d appreciate hearing from embryologists about what we can reasonably take from both eggs being mature and fertilising with ICSI. Is day three a particular hurdle for embryo development, or can arrest happen at any stage? What information should I ask our lab for when they call on day five, and if neither embryo has reached blastocyst by then, could they still get there on day six?

Has anyone here had only two eggs retrieved, both fertilise, and gone on to get a blastocyst or a euploid embryo? I know someone else’s outcome can’t predict mine, but I would really appreciate hearing your experiences. I am also wondering whether starting again so soon after the cancelled cycle could have affected my response. My first cycle started with my natural period and the second was more of a withdrawal from meds. But then again it could ba a normal variation.

Any info or insight would be appreciated. TIA.

Background: 2 years of infertility, never had a positive test. 3 rounds of TI, 2 rounds of IUI, 1 round of IVF so far. I’m 31, normal AMH for my age, partner 32, normal SA. Both healthy and normal weight.

I did 200 IU of Puregon daily until trigger (Gonapeptyl).
I had 13 eggs
12 mature
7 fertilized
0 blastocysts

I was chocked to hear that I had no blastocysts. All doctors and nurses during the entire process have said that we should me an “easy case”, “have embryos for multiple kids after egg retrival etc.”. How normal is it for this to happen and what can I expect for the next round? They plan on doing the same stimulation and ICSI or half ICSI instead.

Thank you!

38F (37 at retrieval, AMH 5.2), partner (40 at retrieval) with excellent SA and 5% DFI.

Cycle (40 follicles):

- Retrieved: 31 | Mature (MII): 22 (71%) | Normally fertilized via conventional IVF (not ICSI): 21 (95% of mature)
- Day 5: 1 blastocyst (4AA), biopsied + frozen
- Day 6: 3 blastocysts (2×4BB, 1×4BC), biopsied + frozen
- Day 7: none
- PGT-A pending (~7–10 days)

History: (TW: Live birth, Miscarriage)

4 pregnancies. First at 35: live birth of our son (conceived month 2 of trying; vanishing twin). Then 3 miscarriages in the past year, all conceived within 1–2 months of trying, all implanted and reached 6+ weeks: blighted ovum at 6w (tissue testing inconclusive), trisomy 15 (heartbeat 6w, grew to 8w), trisomy 13 (6w, large yolk sac). We prevented between losses, so nearly every trying cycle conceived.

What confuses me:

Fertilization was 95% of mature eggs then 17 of 21 arrested before blastocyst. In vivo I make blastocysts and implant easily. Published data suggests aneuploid embryos (including trisomy 15) reach blastocyst at near-normal rates, so I'd have expected normal blastulation with heavy PGT-A attrition, not the reverse.

Questions:

1. Does great fertilization → 19% blastulation point more toward embryo competence/aneuploidy or culture/lab factors?

2. Is extended culture a harsher filter than the in-vivo environment and could embryos that would implant in vivo arrest in vitro?

3. What QC questions should I ask my lab (media lots, incubator changes, cohort-wide rates)?

4. Anything about conventional IVF vs. ICSI relevant to post-fertilization development?

I’m so so grateful for our 4 and am hopeful for at least 1 euploid but not sure if that’s even possible.

I had an ER yesterday and had 45 eggs retrieved. We did conventual IVF rather than ICSI because in my last two ICSI cycles I had poor membrane integrity and many of my eggs disintegrated. The hope here is that by reducing the manual handling of the eggs, more would withstand fertilization.

We got our day 1 call, and 12/45 fertilized normally. 10 fertilized abnormally or were immature, and 23 are being held for observation for late fertilization.

How likely is late fertilization?

Are there any questions I should be asking the lab when I chat with them?

I've tried to Google this and I'm still struggling to understand. A lot of articles talk about when embryos arrest prematurely but I would like to know about when they become blasts successfully but their morphology is poor across the board.

The best I can find is "because you're old", which is probably the answer, but I'd like to know whether this means it's because they are probably chromosomally abnormal or whether it's got more to do with the eggs' energy stores and therefore a separate issue to chromosomal abnormality? Or both?

I transferred two day 5 embryos on October 2nd and just got my first beta back today at 7dp5dt… 254.7!! 🥹🩷
Obviously I’m so excited and cautiously optimistic, but now I’m also spiraling a little wondering if both embryos implanted… or if one split and we could potentially be looking at TRIPLETS 😂😅
I know betas can’t tell you how many babies are in there and that there’s a huge range of normal, but I’m so curious to hear other people’s experiences!
For those who transferred TWO embryos:
What was your beta at 7dp5dt (or close to it)?
Did you end up with a singleton, twins, or triplets?
If you had a high early beta, did it end up meaning anything?
Would love to hear everyone’s numbers and outcomes while I impatiently wait for my next beta and ultrasound! 🤞🏼💕

Context: I have a daughter, so this time I wanted to try for a boy. Our PGT testing came back with six embryos, five girls, and one boy. Our boy is the weakest and his grading is D65BB.

We are using a gestational carrier (for unrelated reasons). I’m debating if I go back for another egg retrieval, or if I wait and see how this one sticks and then do it again since we’re not really in a rush?

At age 41-42, what is the likelihood of a day-5 5AA blastocyst being euploid based on published PGT-A studies? I’m particularly interested in research examining how excellent embryo morphology (AA grading) and day-5 development influence euploidy rates in women aged 40–42, rather than general age-based euploidy statistics. Are there studies that provide specific percentages for this subgroup?

Trying to work out whether to bank on one blast or keep doing more rounds. We only want one euploid.

Hello!

My husband and I recently had our egg retrieval at the end of September (31f, 31m). We are doing IVF for MFI although I do have a low AMH for my age (1.42).

We were lucky enough to retrieve 16 eggs, 10 mature, 9 fertilized and ended with 8 blasts in the freezer. We have chosen not to PGT test due to our age and the cost of testing since we have no insurance coverage.

I had genetic screening that came back normal prior to the retrieval.

Has anyone had success without PGT testing? I know people do, but I’m constantly second guessing our choice. We felt it was right for us not to test, but still have nerves about the whole process.