What's a good number of eggs to get at retrieval??

[AnnieMac123]

So am waiting on news this week about my donors egg retrieval which is going ahead as planned in Prague.

Feel so gutted.. If everything was normal we would be heading over there to get pregnant next week!!

We now have to freeze her eggs.. One of the main reason we were going to Prague was so that we could use fresh eggs. Everything was cancelled on us on Friday the 13th..we were due to fly over for my partners sperm sample a few days later.

So now its frozen eggs and fresh sperm (whenever we are able to fly again) instead of the other way around.

I am trying not to Google too much... I didn't have the option of using my own eggs so never had an egg retrieval myself am just wondering.. How many eggs would be considered a good amount to get??

I know they won't all survive the thawing and that some won't make it to 5days but am living in hope the more we get the more chance we have of getting a healthy embryo.

[Hidden]

Hi AnnieMac, I wouldn’t be too hung up on numbers, it’s more about the quality. I am 40 and only got 7 eggs retrieved, 6 fertilised however only 4 made it to day 5. Of those only one was really good enough but had 2 put back in, the other 2 had to be disguarded. Got a BfP and had an early scan last week and we have one good one progressing. So all it takes is one. There will be women who get say 15/20 eggs however not all will fertilise. Try not to worry to much on this as you can’t do anything to change the numbers and all you can do is hope that the one you need makes it. Good luck with your journey when you’re able to start this again 🤞

[AnnieMac123 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you and big congrats!!!! Am just about to turn 40 this month too had pretty much made a promise to myself and partner that I wouldn't go into my 40s with all this stress in our lives. I have said if it doesn't work then we have to let it go at that. I neither have the money or the mental health left to keep painting on a happy face... I was due to transfer to a new job and was so looking forward to going somewhere where people don't know me or know I have had so many surgeries etc... But all that got put on hold too for 6mts so am worrying now am gonna have to go into a new job and ask for time off straight away to trave and spend a week in Prague!! There's always something to stress over! Really taught by end of April I would have a future to look forward to or be able to draw a line under it all and move on! It's like been frozen in time!! Lol surly the 2 week wait will be a breeze in comparison to actually waiting for flights to open again haha

[Rebecca2384]

Hi 👋🏻 I only got 3 eggs collected, one didn’t survive but the other 2 were top quality. Mine were a really low count but they both made it to 5 day blastocyst. Have a bit of faith and try not to focus on numbers as you only really need one good one to stick. Fingers crossed for you xx

[Cmc2020]

Hey I got 27 eggs 14 fertilised and 7 made it to freeze they are top grades 😊still awaiting my transfer I had ohss

[CarrieK]

Hi, I’m sorry you can’t carry on at the moment. I hope I can give you some hope following my first cycle. My donor had 14 eggs, 10 fertilised, 7 did great for 3 days, and 4 were ‘top quality’ but on transfer day which was 5 days post collection, we were really disappointed that only 2 had made it and neither were great quality or suitable for freezing. We had both transferred, but to be honest didn’t hold out much hope. To be honest I felt quite cheated. However...fast forward a few weeks and I’m now 5 weeks 3 days pregnant! Got a viability scan on 23 April to see if one or twins. Good luck and all the best going forwards. It is all such a rollercoaster and even getting to transfer seems like climbing a mountain. I know it’s early days, but I feel really lucky to have got this far xx

[AnnieMac123 in reply to CarrieK]

That's fantastic... I know everyone says twins is tough but going through all this I think it would be a total blessing. All the best with you scan

[CarrieK in reply to AnnieMac123]

Thank you, I think it would be too x

[EK20]

Hi my donor’s egg retrieval gave us 12 eggs which I was told would give us a good chance. 11 of those fertilised and by day 5 we had 6 blastocysts. I had 1 transferred and 5 frozen. I’m currently 32 weeks pregnant. One caveat I would say around the number and quality of embryos is that it also depends on the quality of the sperm. My hubby had high dna fragmentation so he was put on treatment (taking tablets) for 3 months to bring this down before he provided a fresh sample. I think our results improved because of this as well. I was pleased that our clinic in Madrid focused on the sperm too as that is also half of the equation. Good luck for when you get to transfer stage x

[AnnieMac123 in reply to EK20]

Congrats... Hope you keeping well... Can I ask if ur eggs were frozen as u waited the 3 months of your husbands treatment to work? I know am over thinking the whole fresh V frozen issue but its only cos we really wanted to do fresh but that choice was taken away from us not being able to fly at minute

[EK20 in reply to AnnieMac123]

Hi we had a fresh cycle so we arrived in Madrid a few days before the egg retrieval and then hubby provided a fresh sample at the sample time of retrieval. If we had any problems getting the clinic I had agreed for them to freeze the eggs. I believe the thaw rates are improving for frozen eggs so if your donor provides a good number of eggs hopefully you will have some lovely little embryos for transfer - as they say it only takes one.

[Cook7786]

7 eggs, 7 mature and all 7 fertilised. 4 made it to day 5. 1 was transferred and 1 was suitable to freeze. Currently 24 weeks

Good luck x

[k82510]

I’m 31, secondary unexplained infertility.

Round 1 - 15 eggs, 6 fertilised, 1 top quality at day 5. (Ended in mc)

Round 2 - 10 eggs, 8 fertilised with icsi, 2 top quality at day 5 (currently 28 weeks pregnant and 1 embaby on ice.)

[Same0508]

Hi I think it's not about how many eggs you retrieve,but how many can fertilize!!! Anyway anything above 11 are fine...

[IJ13]

Hi Annie! So exciting!!!! And so sorry about the frustrating turn of events (if that even remotely covers it!)

I am also 40, and had 9, 7 of which were looking good... and ended up with 5, two of which were used, and 3 frozen.

That being said, I know of at least 3 friends (acquaintances?) who were super disappointed to only get 1, 2, and 1 respectively... and all got pregnant, so, the number doesn't really matter

Also - if I may, someone recommended this book to me (well, it was on a forum!) and, it changed so much for me!!! Prayers and Promises for Supernatural Childbirth by Jackie Mize - I haven't read it all yet, and I am a big ol' Christian so, it's right up my alley, but, either way, I have found it so incredibly comforting... so, just in case it helps ease the angst! Xoxox

[AnnieMac123 in reply to IJ13]

Ah thank you... Funny my aunt showed up at my house a few weeks back with a pray book for mother's and childbirth and made me promise to take it with me to Prague... I don't think there's anything wrong with having a bit of faith in something that helps get u through the tough days. There just seems to be a lot of them these days!!

[AnnieMac123]

We got confirmation of 12 eggs this morning 😁🤗🤗😉