Embryos Arresting or not making blastocyst

[TTCWithCHSweetheart]

Hey everyone.

Has anyone else been struggling to make a day 5 blastocyst at all?

I’ve had 3 cycles (IVF, IMSI & ICSI) collected a total of 37 eggs and only ever had 1 make blastocyst.

We had nothing to transfer in the first round, the one blastocyst plus one that was slightly behind transferred and in the second round (ended in an ectopic), and 2 which hadn’t quite reached blastocyst transferred this round which was a BFN.

I’m so scared that this is the end of the road for me and my husband to have a family of our own.

[Ranchu90]

Please do not lose your hopes. I know how you feel, I been in your shoes. We produced 1 embryo each cycle. Our last cycle was a massive surprise for us, we had 4 blasts and 3 normal PGS tested embryos. What I think led to that was our doctor choosing the right protocol for us. I also took some supplements to improve my eggs quality but I had to stop them after few weeks after taking due to side effects so I am not sure if supplements contributed also.

I must say you have a great number of egg, chose good embryologists they will know how to help you. You cannot give up, your eggs are good as you have embryos that are reaching day 3. After day 3 sperm is taking the lead. Is not the end of the road for you. You must find the way that will work for you. Our 4th cycle was the lucky one so far. Have you done all 3 cycles at the same clinic?

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to Ranchu90]

This is such an amazing story to read. I am taking CoQ10 and all debating DHEA also. What supplement did you take and also which protocol did you go into?

I had my first 2 cycles with one clinic and my last one was with a new clinic. I have 2 more at this clinic before we decide to take a different route to parenthood. I am so desperate for it to work for us.

Xx

[Ranchu90 in reply to TTCWithCHSweetheart]

CoQ10 I took for almost a year but I cannot say that contributed much because our 3rd cycle was again a failure - 1 blast and PGS tested mosaic (although transferable) but will be probably our last option. I took DHEA before 4th cycle successful one and ovusitol but just for few weeks.

It is good that you have 2 more cycles with them as many things can be improved. I will PM you the medications that we used during stimulation.

[Sangzee in reply to Ranchu90]

hi please let me know too, the supplements you took for your 4th round. I am about to start on my 3rd round. We got 14 eggs from both cycles, 11 fertilized but only 9 went on to day 3 and 4 went on to blastocyst (2 early and 2 full blastocysts) but unfortunately we didnt get any PGS normal embryos from those two cycles.

So for now i am going on a low carb diet (i have heard it can do wonders for egg quality, who knows i am willing to try anything!) i am taking 200 mg ubiquinol, myo-inositol (i have insulin resistance)

Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

[Ranchu90 in reply to Sangzee]

I don't think that supplements helped me that much on my 4th cycle I think it is more down to the protocol that I used (Meriofert+progesterone). But anyway I took for a year CoQ 10 200mg, omega 3,6,9, preconception vitamins and vit D. Just before my 4th cycle a added in the mix ovusitol for 1 month and DHEA for few weeks ♥️

[Ivfgotadream in reply to TTCWithCHSweetheart]

DHEA doesn’t sound like it would be suitable in your situation - it’s more for women who only produce a couple of follicles which from your numbers isn’t the problem? It can decrease fertility if you take it when not needed

What quality were the eggs - did they all fertilise? Did they arrest between 3 and 5? If you were losing them after day 3 it’s more likely to be a sperm problem

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to Ivfgotadream]

That’s my worry to be honest. I don’t want to do more harm than good.

I collected 14. 8 were good to inject (we did ICSI) and 5 fertilised.

On our first cycle they said we were text book on day 3 when checked but at day 5 we had nothing to transfer. Second round we had 1 blastocyst but ended in an ectopic. This last round we didn’t get any blastocysts again but we did transfer 2 early blastocysts so we’re hoping they wouldn’t continue inside me.

I’ve heard about it possibly being the sperm but I can’t find anything about that online. I don’t know if it’s egg quality or sperm it even both? Xxx

[KiboXX]

Hi TTCwithCHSweetheart,

I had really similar issues, our first two rounds we had day 2 transfers because of the drop off and our third we only had one make a 5 day blast. Having anything to freeze was never an option! All these rounds were long protocol. Only difference with round 3 was we added a double trigger and embryoscope which seemed to help a little.

Fourth round we moved clinics, changed to short protocol and it was a completely different story. We got three hatching blasts, all PGS normal. Two are in the freezer and the other one is due in 5 weeks time 🥰

Don’t give up! Have you tried both long and short protocols? I felt exactly like you did after my third round failed Xx

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to KiboXX]

I did hit reply but it went as a new message below x

[TTCWithCHSweetheart]

Oh hun this is amazing. It has given me so much hope. I’ve done 2 long protocols with a total of 23 eggs where only 1 made a blastocyst. Then the last cycle was a short one with 14 eggs collected and no blastocysts. We did transfer 2 early ones on day 5 but it didn’t work.

I’ve not heard of a double trigger before. How does that work? I did have to inject twice this time for a trigger but that was to get the full dose. Xx

[KiboXX in reply to TTCWithCHSweetheart]

So a double trigger is where you do a a double dose. Third round I did 2 x Ovitrelle pens. Fourth round where I moved clinics and changed to short, they liked to mix combine different drugs so I did a mix of Bemfola and Menopur for my stims (previously only used Gonal f) and for my double trigger I did a full pen dose of Gonasi and a full dose of buserlin.

Have you been using an embryoscope (time lapse incubator)? That was the only other thing that helped us a bit with embryo development as they aren’t disturbed xx

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to KiboXX]

Il look more into the double trigger. Thank you. We did the time lapse thing the last time when we did actually get 1 blastocyst but the new clinic doesn’t do it. I really don’t know what to do for the best anymore xx

[KiboXX in reply to TTCWithCHSweetheart]

Oh that’s such a shame as we only ever got to day 5 with time lapse as well. Whereabouts are you based?x

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to KiboXX]

I know that our clinic doesn’t get them out and disturb them during the 5 days though. Only at day 1 to see what’s fertilised. So that could be a good thing. I’m in Essex. Where are you? X

[KiboXX in reply to TTCWithCHSweetheart]

Oh ok that sounds like it would do the same thing then! I’m Cambridge based but I moved to a London clinic for my last round xx

[ttcemmie]

Sounds like you're getting a really good amount of eggs. I agree with the other ladies on here that maybe the clinic should change up your protocol. I think that might be my next conversation with my clinic after this round where they didn't do anything different again! (and I took the decision on myself to go for a day 3 transfer). xxx

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to ttcemmie]

I think we may need a day 3 transfer too. I worry that they won’t do much different in me than in the lab but what other choices do we have. It’s so stressful isn’t it. We worry at every stage and then they don’t change a hell of a lot xx

[Shivaya2020]

Hi I am facing the same issue. I have had 2 cycles - first long protocol and next short. The Short protocol yielded much better embryo quality but beyond Day 3 they did not seem to grow. We anyways transferred 3 but it did not stick. My clinic is now recommending Dual Stim for my 3rd cycle, anyone knows more about this? Also my husband’s DNA Frag is about 20%, so they said we cud use direct sperm extraction as that has better results and lower dna frag. Any experiences will really be helpful 🙏🙏