Advice - only two good sized follicles (five overall)

[Kat_15]

Hi fellow IVF warriors

Just come back from my day 12 scan and feel a bit devastated to be honest. We have got two follicles which measure 14mm+ but the other three are pretty small with only one looking like it might get bigger. Going to carry on for two more days and see what is happening before we make a decision whether to go ahead with egg collection or abandon this cycle.

This is our first cycle privately (did two NHS egg batching cycles last year and one FET). I always had around 10 follicles and collected 5-6 eggs on both cycles. I was on a slightly shorter protocol last time and on Fostimon and Meriofert but this time I have been on Gonal F.

Feel like I have invested so much in this cycle, physically, emotionally and financially so would feel devastated to cancel it but conscious if we go ahead the odds are stacked against us. My hubby has DNA fragmentation which is fairly high but improved loads since our last cycle in summer 2019. We are planning to use IMSI if we do go ahead.

Any advice or experiences? Would you cancel or go for it?

Also, anything I can eat or drink to help them grow a bit more? 😊🤞

xxx 🍍❤️🍍

[Catlin555]

Hi Kat,

Your two at 14 will likely be mature enough by the time you trigger.

It only takes one. Take what you will from this. I had 10 follicles and quite a few were very big, I’d say too big as when it came to fertilisation, out of 8 mature eggs only one fertilised so I think many were post mature. They transferred the one good embryo at day 3 and it stuck. Still early days for me but thought it was worth sharing.

Take the advice of your clinic on what to do but like I said it only takes one.

Baby dust xx

[Kat_15 in reply to Catlin555]

Hi Caitlin, thanks so much for sharing your experience. I really appreciate it as it gives me hope. Many congrats on your BFP! How are you feeling so far?

Sorry to hear you had to go through that but so glad it had a happy ending for you.

I was wondering about asking if we could transfer at day 3. Did you ask for this or did the clinic recommend it?

Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy. Xx

[Ivfgotadream]

I decided to go ahead with egg collection on a cycle where I only had 2 follicles - it was a gamble and very stressful but both became blastocysts and were frozen and I’m now 14 weeks with twins as both stuck. This was actually my most successful cycle in terms of outcome compared to cycles where I was getting 14 eggs each time. For me focussing on much fewer follicles meant much much better quality

[Kat_15 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

Hello, thanks so much for sharing your experience. It helps to give me much needed hope. Many congrats on your BFP and twins, how wonderful! How are you feeling so far?

I think I would be keen to go ahead as we have put so much into getting to this point. I think I would always wonder if we didn’t!

I had a look at my past cycles last year and my best cycle with high quality eggs was where I had ten follicles and they collected four eggs. They were also in my right ovary (the same as this time) so hoping that’s a good sign. 🤞🤞🤞

Thanks again for reaching out. Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy. xx

[Char2189]

At my last scan they said I had 3 follicles, I waited a couple more days and ended up with 6 eggs. It does only take one egg and as you have come this far I would carry on, that obviously my opinion but whatever you decide I wish you all the luck in the world xx

[Kat_15 in reply to Char2189]

Hi Char, thanks so much for your kind message. It’s funny you should send this message today as I had my egg collection this morning, hoping we would get at least two eggs and we got five! I was so chuffed as it was so unexpected! Just hoping some of them fertilise. 🤞🙏We get the update call in the morning. I see you’re on your two week wait. How are you feeling so far? xx

[Char2189 in reply to Kat_15]

Hi Kat ahh hope you are feeling ok after EC take it easy. Yes I had a average quality 5 day transfer on Saturday so am only a few days into the 2WW. Googling every symptom, I think we cause ourselves to go crazy! My test day is 9th September, there’s nothing I want more than this! Xx