On day three we received a call to say four of our embryos were top quality and 6-8 cell and we should wait until day 5 for them to make blastocyst before transferring.
On day 5 we received the devastating news none of the embryos had grown any more and they were still 6-8 cells we were told this is very rare.
Has anyone else had this problem? If so did you have genetic testing?
Did you put any embryos back in?
Appreciate any feedback.
Thanks
Mel
Sorry to hear of your news, its devastating to go through this all for nothing! I had a bit of a disaster on my first IVF cycle. Im not quite sure if it was rotten luck or if the hospital made a mistake (I suspect it was a mix of both). Our embryos all arrested on day 3 too. The clinic said we could transfer but the embryologist was pretty clear it was all a bit pointless so didnt bother. Before the next cycle I decided to try DHEA to try to improve my egg quality (I was 38 at the time and AMH was 7.19). We were getting decent amounts of eggs for my age, averaging around 7-9 on each cycle. We did get 3 blastocysts out of the next 2 cycles. What is your clinics advice on it? I really feel for you, I didnt even know this could happen. You can have a look at my very old posts if you want a nosey. Hugs.xx
That’s so sweet of you to share your experience. I’m so sorry to hear you went through the same. I will certainly look through your old posts to read your experience.
I really appreciate you mentioning what you did as I will look into this.
They haven’t said the reason why or what we should try moving forward which is frustrating hence why I’m after as much advice as possible.
Xx
I asked what they thought was the most likely reason for it and they said egg quality due to my age (38 at the time). Although no tests for egg quality, just an educated guess. I had started to read about DHEA helping improve egg quality and had decided I would try it. The embryologist said there wasnt enough evidence to support this yet but it might be worth a shot so that's what I did. I know another girl that had poor embryos and she took it too having seen my embryos improve and she has twins. I unfortunately didnt get a pregnancy and we are now using donor eggs and it turns out the clinic were right with it being my eggs as we got 6 blastocysts out of 9 from our DE cycle.xx
I’m so sorry. It must have been tough getting that phone call.
While I have had one cycle that ended in only 1 blast when we were told to expect more, I have been fortunate not to be told we got nothing.
That said, 2 of my friends have. One had two cycles where she got no blasts then on her 3rd they transferred the best 3 day-3 embryos and she has a 6 month little girl. None of the rest of the embryos survived to blast. The other got none on her 2nd cycle and on her 3rd got 1 and now has a son. Both were 40.
So I guess what I’m saying is don’t lose hope. Success can still come following such disappointment.
Neither did genetic testing. I believe you can test day 3 embryos, but your clinic will need to advise on whether it’s worthwhile to test.
Wishing you lots of luck as you work through next steps. X
Thanks so much for your reply. That’s so helpful to hear that your friends who had the same problem finally got what they wanted. That gives me hope. Did they have any justification for why their eggs didn’t reach blastocyst do you know? Thanks so much for your positivity. It’s much appreciated. X
You could have gotten really unlucky on this cycle, so try not to lose hope. Do you mind me asking how old you / your partner are? As that may have a bearing on what you should consider next by way of tests (if any) before giving IVF another go (based on my friends experience below).
Both my friends were 40 / 41 when they had their babies. 1, as a couple, and 1 as a single parent with youthful sperm donor.
The former had 2 cycles of getting no blasts when they started with 10-14 + eggs each time. They were at CCRM one of the best clinics in the States and they were totally baffled by it as they’d been tested to death (both of them). Basically while she had a decent AML / egg reserve, it took until her third cycle to get a decent quality one. Sperm while not totally amazing was decent enough. Both went on a crazy diet / no drinking / supplements regime before their 3rd cycle. Even they question whether that really impacted the outcome or not, but it helped them feel more in control of the journey.
The latter had a low AML / reserve so only produced 4-5 eggs per cycle. Based on her age, it was therefore likely that some cycles she wouldn’t get a blast. And sure enough on her second she didn’t. Sperm quality was not an issue. She continued to drink in moderation and live her normal life (despite having the added complication of being diabetic).
I guess this proves that there can be a number of reasons why things don’t always work. However, as their journeys prove, one bad cycle is far from the end.
Try to take the positive from this. You will get there. Lots of love, x
I had this disaster in my 2nd Ivf
10 eggs collected all fertilised
6 went to 5 day but nine good enough to be frozen . Even devastated was a small word but after that I went through so much that , thinking back now I feel that it wasn’t that bad , there are more worse things in life . So chin up gurl xx
This happened to me - I was totally devastated. 14 eggs, none made it to blastocyst. We have a problem with sperm fragmentation, so, depending on your age, don’t assume this is just an egg issue.
Sending love x
Anna thank you so much for sharing, we heard this happens to less than 3% so have felt so alone and the embryologist said they don’t know why it happened. Now with your advice we can look into this.
Are you still ttc? What have they suggested post the diagnosis?
Thinking of you and really appreciate your message. Xxx
My doctor said the same...we were in the bottom 5% of cases. I was completely broken and petrified. You are not alone.
I was shocked when they told me - I was already planning the transfer. I had no idea it could happen.
You should do all the tests you can - karyotyping, COMET fragmentation etc - and then take it from there.
We did MACS (sperm fragmentation sorting) on the next cycle and we got one quality blastocyst - it didn't work, but it was an improvement.
In January we are trying IMSI and TESE, both for better sperm quality.
There is clearly an issue, so worth pinpointing it so you can improve next cycle.
Don't worry, they said the first cycle is always a trial (infuriating, I know).
Sending love xxxx
It is also worth noting that many doctors (not all) will say the sperm/paternal gene kicks in on Day 3....so if you are still below 40ish and everything stops on Day 3 it is highly likely you have a sperm problem xx
I’m so sorry this has happened to you, it’s devastating to get that kind of news. Has your partner had his sperm tested for DNA fragmentation? If you look up “late paternal affect” generally between days 1-3 most of the work is being done by the egg, days 4-5 the effect of the sperm kicks in, so embryos arresting after day 3 can suggest a sperm quality issue. DNA fragmentation is not tested as part of a routine semen analysis so even when all other parameters look normal, the DNA fragmentation still be high and you wouldn’t know. We always had very high perfect quality embryos at day 3 suggesting that egg quality was good but on our first cycle only managed to get one high quality blastocyst (ended in a MMC). On our second cycle (on recommendation from our urologist who specialises in male factor infertility) we used IMSI instead of ICSI and every single one of our eggs fertilised and made it to blastocyst so it was a huge difference.
I can’t thank you enough for your message and the advice given which I will look into straight away.
I have been searching on the internet for days and not seen anything similar to our situation so I can’t thank you enough for sharing your experience.
May I ask, did your partner have high levels of white cells in their sperm as this is a condition my husband has along with poor motility.
Really appreciate your help more than you realise. Xx
You are so welcome, if you ever need to ask questions feel free me to private message me any time. I don’t know about white cells but his fragmentation index was >50% first test (normal is <15%) so really bad. We’ve managed to get it down a lot over the past 12 months. Our male factor specialist (who I highly recommend) got us to test three main things: 1) genetics - karyotyping tests were normal, 2) hidden infections - again normal, 3) varicocele - turned out DH had a large one which we had operated on just over a year ago and made a big difference. We also saw a nutritionist and DH is on a cocktail of meds. I also got him to sit with an ice pack on his balls for 30 minutes every day and that also helped a lot xx
Hi Melrey, I also had this on my 2 cycle. 1st cycle 8 eggs and 4 blastocysts, 2nd cycle exactly same protocol 8 eggs and 0 blastocysts. They were all looking great on day 3, went in for a 5 day transfer to be told none made it to blastocyst. I agree with Cinderella it was either bad luck or something went wrong with the hospital. They didn’t know the reason why and said it was rare too. I’m sorry you’re going through this it’s devastating however don’t give up hope. We changed hospitals for our 3 cycle and also changed from long to short protocol and got 11 eggs, 5 blastocysts. I haven’t done genetic testing, our clinic advised against it. Good luck xx
Hi Mel, that must have been such an awful shock- so sorry you’ve had to go through it. We had similar throughout our 4 cycles. Have a look at my bio for more info if you like, but basically despite usually good egg numbers we only ever saw one Blastocyst out of the whole lot(!) and that was a very poor quality one which was being watched in the lab after a couple of others had already been transferred. Ours were always behind with their development and/ or then went on to arrest after day 3. We did get one good quality one on day 3 which was a clear front runner so we put back then, but that cycle was actually a bfn 🤷🏻♀️
Poor egg quality was blamed and donor eggs recommended, but I would definitely look into possible sperm issues as per the advice from the ladies above. We had the DNA fragmentation test done at another clinic (mine are NOT forward thinking) and it was “borderline high but fine for IVF”. I think some clinics are sometimes only thinking of the fertilisation aspect, instead of any potential impact upon embryo development.
Despite all of this we have had two bfp’s with cycles 1 and 4.. both of which were day 3 transfers of two poor quality embryos and had been all but written off by the clinic. Sadly our first cycle ended in an early mmc, but I’m currently 9 weeks pregnant following our last cycle. So it is possible!
We didn’t do genetic testing as didn’t have enough embryos to work with and decided that we’d rather put the front runners back where they belong on day 3 and give them a fighting chance in there. Myself and my husband very much feel that IVF is a numbers game and whether you’re able to use your own eggs or are needing to use donor, if you roll the dice enough times you should get there. Just sadly much longer for some than others 😔 Similarly, I personally think that really good egg numbers are vital in this situation (to try to get that one good egg/sperm combo) and I had to really push for my protocol to be changed to maximise egg numbers.
Lots of luck to you for the future and don’t lose hope! 🍀🍀 xx
My husband doesn’t make sperm. So that was that. It took my husband 10 minutes to decide he wanted to use donor sperm. It took me two years to decide. I was 32 My first round was a living hell due in part that we chose a clinic across the country. This clinic could find sperm in my husband and then right upstairs I’d be waiting with my eggs. Nope. It’s a long story that we have made peace with.
We decided to take a year off and then BOOM January 2020.
Age 34- 7 iui’s with Various donors. None worked.
Fast forward 8 months.My eggs were thawed and sperm mixed...We got one poor quality that didn’t make it. Our HCG was 5, so something happened.
Age 36-IVF round two (in our home town). New sperm donor.
I’m in the 10 day wait period for our grade 3AA blastocyst. I assume it won’t work. I’m not really being careful. I’m drinking coffee and mowing my lawn. I’m not living my life in fear and angst anymore. 😊
3 day embryo transfer or blastocyst!?
Did your clinic tell you the grading of your embryos? 
Embryo transfer - blastocyst didn’t survive
3 embryos transferred today day 5 blastocyst 
