Clinic chucking all our embryos away,... - Fertility Network UK

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Clinic chucking all our embryos away, as usual

ttcemmie profile image
54 Replies

I KNOW I'm emotionally attached to the embryos, but I feel like my clinic is a bit heavy handed with throwing my embryos away. So at day 5, the update has been that out of 5, we have none that are good enough. None for freezing.

Breakdown: 1 early blastocyst that is low quality, 3 morulas, and a 7-cell embryo. Sure, I understand about the 7 cell one, but if the others are still developing... why can we not freeze them?

They have stated they don't transfer morulas... so it's blastocyst or bust (blastocyst or nothing). They said no clinics in the UK freeze morulas as they're just not viable and have 0% chance of being babies. That seems incorrect to me, but ugh.

It feels like they are completely not listening to me and I no longer feel I can trust them.

After pushing for a day 3 transfer this round (which, who knows, they might have discarded these embryos too and I would have had nothing to transfer), I think I will push for day 3 freezing going forward also. All 7 were great quality at day 3, so we would have had 5 for freezing. Does anyone know if freezing at day 3 is a bad idea?

I am absolutely devastated that out of 7 great embryos just two days earlier, we have nothing to freeze. It is so much effort and energy to go through a "fresh" cycle, I am desperate to have something to freeze just even for an easier cycle! Quite upset.

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ttcemmie
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54 Replies
CC2019 profile image
CC2019

Hello. I am so sorry to hear this, I can imagine you must be very upset. I don’t know about day 3 freezing but I was surprised to read that your clinic will not transfer morulas. I understand not freezing them if they’re unlikely to survive the process but I don’t understand why they won’t transfer them. I only had two morulas at day 5 and my clinic transferred both. While the chance of pregnancy is lower than with blastocysts there is still a chance. I am very lucky to be 34 weeks pregnant after that day 5 morula transfer. I am so sorry you are going through this, thinking of you x

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toCC2019

Thanks CC. It's good to know that you're pregnant (far along! congrats) after a day 5 morula transfer. Gives me hope, and the strength to go back to my clinic and fight my corner (not that I want to be fighting with my clinic).

FertileMind profile image
FertileMind

Dear Ttcemmie.

I'm not sure about freezing on day 3. But, I insisted that my 2 morulas on Day 5 were frozen as I had to freeze all my embryos. Yes it's a risk that they won't survive the defrost, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. If they do, and continue growing, then they can be implanted.

I know it's unusual to freeze morulas, as clinics want the very best outcomes for you and for their stats...but they are your embryos. You are the one who can make the decision. Big hug xx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toFertileMind

Thanks FertileMind. It's helpful to know you had morulas frozen on day 5. Of course there's the risk they won't survive, but there's a 0% chance of them doing anything if we just discard them! Thank you. xxx

Cinderella5 profile image
Cinderella5

Hey Emmie, I'm so sorry that your clinic wont freeze any of your residual embryos. Most clinics around the UK wont freeze anything less than a blastocyst at day 5 and a few may freeze them as day 3 embryos if all is looking ok. I guess the reason is that if they havent made blastocyst the chances of them surviving the process of freezing and thaw is very low. Most clinics will transfer a morula (I had a morula transferred in the past on a fresh transfer) but they told me outright it wouldnt be frozen...so same stance as your clinic. My old NHS clinic would have watched potential blastocysts until day 6 to seeing they reach blast but if not then it isnt frozen (been in that position too) but I'm not sure what the qualifying facts are for that. Big hugs lovely.xxx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toCinderella5

Thanks Cinderella. Glad to know I'm not alone, but even understanding that the chances are low, I want to take that chance! Better than no chance! Thanks for your support. x

Ranchu90 profile image
Ranchu90

I perfectly understand your frustrations. On our 3rd cycle we had 2 blastocyst that went into the bin because of the poor quality C and D, just 1 good quality embryo was frozen. We was also upset that embryos were discarded so easy when we care so much of them, so I really understand you ❤️🤗

What I want to say is that clinics have now the opportunity to keep the embryos to day 7 if they are not reaching on day 5 blast or expanded blastocyst. So I don’t understand your clinic in this situation, why are they not letting them grow?!?! All our embryos reached blastocyst on day 6, this doesn’t mean they are less viable.

If you have the opportunity change the clinic, (Hope you will not need that🤞) embryos are everything that matters otherwise what is the point to have an IVF cycle.

Good luck, hoping for good news from you 💖

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toRanchu90

Thanks Ranchu. I know I'm emotionally involved, so it's difficult to see it objectively, but I wish they'd given them longer to grow, and not discard them so easily. Can't change clinic unfortunately as we're locked in for 2 years on Access Fertility! Oh well. Hopefully this is the round so none of this matters! x

Carelia profile image
Carelia

Hi ttcemmie, I am pleased to hear (from your earlier message that you got a day 3 transfer). I got a day 3 transfer on two of my IVF rounds tp-date. First day 3 transfers produced nothing, but my this last one is now a very early pregnancy (..waiting for my viability scan so no hopes raised yet).

On freezing, I thought I would share my experience across couple (London) clinics and having then "interviewed" more of the leading clinics before making my mind on which clinic to go with for my 3rd IVF cycle.

The consensus that I have found is that clinics are not willing to freeze blastocysts that are below grading 2BC. With that background, what is worth asking your clinic upfront is (,and anyone about to go to their egg collection do ask this,) - ..... What is the minimum grade of embryo ranking which your clinic is willing to freeze? Having this clear-cut clarity will then allow you to have follow-on conversations in day 5 (and 6 and 7) without any emotion. The clinic cannot tell you that "they don't have established a grade limit" as that would imply that they give completely inconsistent and unequal care to their customers.

Clinics are however very willing to do a fresh transfer of "early blastocysts" on day 5, even if they have not yet reached a grading stage. Again, ask this question up-front. While it is clear nobody does day 6 transfers, they are, and should be willing to keep monitoring any early blastocysts up until day 6 (or even 7), if they happen to develop from early blastocysts to something worth freezing. For them to "give up" on day 5 is not in line with best practise clinics and you should call them up on it firmly. If your clinic is not suggesting to monitor them further from day 5 then ask them promptly to do so -> that is what all good clinics do.

This is also a good time to ask your clinic (and your previous clinics) to provide you not only the IVF treatment summary (which shows all the medication and measurements of all follicles) but critically "the lab sheet" (which contains all notes of each embryo's development). Ask for this even if it is happens to be a failed round, and ask them to return it to you with accompanied email bullet points summary that outlines the development of each embryo (as reading their handwritten notes in the lab sheet is often hard/impossible). I found having this "evidence"..... to provide to next clinic/ same clinic in the next round, and particularly to share this with their embryologist on the day of collection... extremely useful! If the embryologists have this info, they can "learn from your individual historical data" and be in a position to give you more individualistic care vs. making decisions based on averages. It is a mystery that clinics don't bother looking at your "track record" unless you absolutely make them to look at it. If they do, they can then prepare for day 3 and day 5 transfer from the day of egg collection (-> this became my experience). And don't assume that by giving them the data up front that the data is magically being shared between your consultant and the embryology team...no... this does not happen. Discuss it first with the consultant and then again, "like a parrot", repeat the info to the embryologist 1) on the day before collection/on the day of collection and 2) continue to do so on each phonecall as you approach day 5.

It is normal that many embryos don't reach blastocyst stage. However, if your data shows that they are tracking well leading up to day 3, there is much to be said for day 3 transfer. Why? Not all clinics are created equal in their in vitro environments/capability. With that in mind, your womb may be a better incubator than their facilities...and that is the underlying argument for day 3 transfers. Therefore, if your embryos are tracking well to day 3 and then seem to experience a "wall of death", day 3 transfer is a good approach to take. Most consultants will also begin to recommend it, if you share with them your track record.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you (on your day 3 transfers).

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toCarelia

Hi Carelia. Congratulations on your pregnancy and thank you so so much for taking the time to share all this. I wish I'd known to think about what criteria a clinic uses for freezing and asked this before deciding on a clinic. You don't know what you don't know, I guess! They haven't even been telling me the grading (just "poor quality" or "good", "great", or "not good enough" - very unhelpful). I WILL ask for my IVF treatment summary; thank you for that suggestion. My clinic has been very un-forthcoming with information, so this would be useful to see! Thanks also for your understanding of a day 3 transfer. All 7 of my embryos were great at day 3 with about half of them "top quality", so to have none to freeze just 2 days later is very hard. Thank you very much Carelia. xxxx

Carelia profile image
Carelia in reply tottcemmie

No worries. So when you ask your clinic for the data you want to use the following wording so they know what you are looking for:

1) IVF Treatment summary - This is usually a screenshot of an excel worksheet looking screen, which shows in a table the number of follicles shown on the date of the baseline scan, and then again the number of follicles and their size on each of the following scan dates. (There are usually circa 3 scans in total if you are on a short protocol before egg collection). The sheet will also show the type and quantity of medication being taken on a given day during the simulation - such as 300 iu of Gonal F or Menopur as an example, and any other medication and from which day it was added, usually fyremadel or similar if the lining of the womb needs extra help.)It will also show the day when the trigger medication was trigger meds were given and what quantity this was. Why is IVF treatment summary super important - It will guide your next round of IVF to optimise both medication level and the time on simulation/date of egg collection. Each person is different so each person will react to medication differently. By doing a lessons learned from each cycle in your post-cycle consultation meeting, you are able to tweak the approach on the new round, yet retaining what is working. Thirdly, it allows the consultant to see how well (or too well if they are growing too fast) the medication is working and adjust the medication. The name of the game is to get as many follicles to grow at as even speed as possible so they reach maturity (circa 18mm) around the same time.

Side note - If this cycle does not work out for you, ask for this information from your clinic first and ONLY THEN schedule the the post-failed cycle consultation meeting. You want to go to that meeting "armed with this info" so you can have a useful conversation on "Given what we know - what is the your recommendation of changes for the next round? In detail: Do we need to change meds in your view and why, do we need to change meds dosage and why? Do we need to take the eggs out sooner (if lots were overture at point of collection), or do we need to keep the eggs in one or so days more (if lots of eggs were immature at point of collection and could not be fertilised.)Further, given the fertilisation rate, do we need to consider ICSI etc? By having the consultant give you their recommendation for what to do next in this consultation meeting, you are in a place to decide if you wish to continue with them, or change clinics. You can then take this to your intro consultation emails with a new clinic and establish the questions with them, even before you have paid for any initial consultation fee.

2) Lab Sheet - This is usually a template which is filled in by hand and tells you how many follicles were collected, how many were mature at point of collection, how many were immature, and how many "over mature". Then out of the mature eggs, how many were fertilised, which of the fertilised reached what cell division by day 2, and then again day 3, and the level of fragmentation on each. Then, which embryos were implanted either on day 3 if any. For day 5, what was their grading at the start of the day and if implated, at the time of implantation, and then for the remainder, what was their development grading on day 5, and day 6 (if needed), and which survived long enough to be frozen and which did not and started to degenerate. They will send you the paper or digital copy but often you are not able to understand their terminology etc and hence it is super important for you need to ask them to give you a "bullet point summary" written for you.

This data is yours - the clinics must give you this info but they don't offer it. The best time to do this is right after your cycle, let it be succesful or not. I also suggest to take photos of the entry screen the person doing your scans is entering the follicle numbers and sizes so that you have a track record as you go along. Finally, all phone calls with embryologist, set them on "speaker", have your questions ready and don't worry about asking them to explain what grade the embryos are and what the grading means. Having them on speaker allows you to record the calls for your own reference with another phone. This is key as it can be quite emotional "moment"and as such so you will miss half what they are saying to you.

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toCarelia

Thanks Carelia. This is really very helpful. I have no idea why the clinics wouldn't be forthcoming with this information! Surely we all want a positive outcome, and the best way to do that is to look at my history and me as an individual, rather than just putting me on a conveyor belt and hoping for the best! Thank you; I will ask for these. Hopefully this is the round, though!! xxxx

PaulaDag profile image
PaulaDag in reply toCarelia

Hi Carelia

Why does nobody do day 6 transfers? I had my first failed IVF cycle in July that ended in an unplanned day 6 fresh transfer as apparently the grade wasn’t good enough to pgs test - it was 5BC ( which was our plan to bank and send off for pgs after our 2nd cycle).

Now wondering why it failed. They also said it may fail freezing so that’s why we opted to do a fresh transfer x

Carelia profile image
Carelia in reply toPaulaDag

Hi Paula, nice to meet you. I had a quick look at your other notes just so that I had a better overall understanding. Firstly, day 6 transfers are not done as the womb environment is not optimal for implantation after day 5. It is better to freeze the blastocyst on day 5 and come back to implant as FET on day 5 of another cycle. Data on this is pretty clear. Clinics are not doing it simply due to what data is telling us.

I don't know enough about PGS testing to comment on the grading for PGS testing, but 5BC is certainly good enough grade to freeze. When the second letter gives you C it usually becomes a choice that clinic should give for you to make, and of course you should take the option to freeze. Lots of beautiful babies are born from C grade :)

For your second cycle, I hear you are switching to menopur, and that is a good choice. You could also mix menopur and Gonal F, (but Gonal F is expensive and I understand why your clinic may introduce one new variable at a time). Another drug that is good for (us) women over 40+ is rekovelle, particularly in terms of egg quality and low egg count. It is also same price point as Gonal F but worth it. With that, I would encourage for you to discuss both menopur and rekovelle with your consultant. The good aspect of menopur is that it allows you to dial up and and dial down, based on the rate of growth.For your age, with Rekovelle you would be on the highest dose. However, 450 for menopur, in the main, is the max dosage, and sometimes that level of dosage gets them to grow fast but not mature so don't focus solely on the growth rate. With that, to optimise your egg quality and egg number ratio, you can also check when your natural ovulation day is today and try to do an overall ambition with your consultant that the egg collection and meds may result in collection aligned with your natural ovulation day. I found that my natural ovulation day shifted from day 10 to day 14 over the years (I am 41 now). I also found that within my first couple IVF rounds they "rushed" the collection way before my natural ovulation day (day 14) and it resulted in eggs not being mature. When we then timed it to align with my natural ovulation day, I had x 3 eggs not only to collected but to freeze or transfer as fresh. This made a big difference. Target - aiming for steady growth alongside the right "development timeline" for your body. I generally observe that the clinics have more younger ladies coming through the door, who's ovulation day may indeed be around day 10 or 11 etc, and this makes the standard short protocols "to rush it" when the client is actually 40+ years. It would be interested to see the stats for ovulation days for 40+ women and how that would change the way we view standard protocols for 40+ women. Clearly my experience is not statistical but it seems so obvious to consider the woman's own timeline to produce mature eggs that I am surprised why more clinics don't pay attention to it.

PaulaDag profile image
PaulaDag in reply toCarelia

Hi Carelia

Sorry for the delayed thanks, but thanks for the detailed reply with all this information, it was really helpful and I took a number of questions to my consultation follow up in October which was mostly fobbed off!

Re the day 6 transfer, I queried this with my consultant as I had no idea and I had a day 6 fresh transfer in early August. He said "we ideally go for day 5 transfer wherever possible or freeze and put back on day 5 but in your case it was not good enough grade to biopsy, it was a 5BC, (were supposed to be having PGS testing after 2nd cycle which just started last week) and Embryologist said it was debatable that it would freeze/thaw OK and so that i why we opted for the last minute unexpected fresh transfer. I didn't actually realise they need to be a certain grade to freeze or PGS until very recently, such the newbie to this I am. I don't know why they said 5BC could not survive the freeze/thaw if it was not true. I won't let this happen again as I feel a bit unhappy knowing what I know now.

For this 2nd cycle, I've started Buserline and Menopur 450 IU is starting on 23rd Oct, I really hope it helps this time around as only 3 eggs with 300 IU Ovaleap last time.

I also asked about the option of alining with my natural ovulation day with meds and egg collection to maximise mature eggs, this was almost laughed at and he said it is impossible as i am on a programmed long cycle. I left it as that as i don't really understand what it means and assuming may it is just for short protocol?

Can I ask what your view is on PGS? I am reading more and more about it and am wondering whether not to have it. It was recommended to me due to my age (42) and 4 natural miscarriages and them thinking it is most likely to be chromosomal abmormatlies but I have read that a large number of younger women's embryos are coming back as abnormal and this doesn't really stack up? I have also ready in the US they will implant abnormals and it has resulted in perfectly healthy babies. I hate the thought of them discarding any that come back as abnormal when it could work. Saying that I don't really want to potentially go through more miscarriages but with this being out last cycle (financially) the next option would only be donor if i can convince my partners so I am in a dilemma of deciding which way to go. I asked my consultant and he said they would not transfer any abnormals even if i wished so he said they only way would be not to have PGS.

Sorry for long post and thanks again for all the advice xx

CLDxxx profile image
CLDxxx

Hey Emmie,

My clinic froze one of mine at day 3 and the intention was when it was thawed they would try to get it to blastocyst before transferring. I did end up having it transferred on my 2nd transfer but I don’t think it wasn’t given enough time to develop so they couldn’t tell if it was good enough or not. This one failed.

Your clinic does seem to be a bit hasty especially as back in the day the science wasn’t there for blastocysts and day 2/3 transfers were still successful.

Sorry you’re upset. I’d feel the same. Sending love xxx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toCLDxxx

Sorry to hear that round failed. Obviously you're in a very different place now! :) Thanks for the love. Multiplying it back! xxxx

CLDxxx profile image
CLDxxx in reply tottcemmie

Thanks lovely 💕

Chel91 profile image
Chel91

So sorry hun! It's bad enough getting results that aren't what you wanted, but to feel like the clinic isn't doing their job right makes it all the more upsetting! Totally get where you are coming from!!

Am I getting this right, they are refusing to let them grow to day 6 and 7? That's quite common practice now I thought, maybe you could ask for that if it's possible? If you could give them an extra day or two to grow and you could maybe try convince them to freeze as much as possible? Must be heartwretching for you. Massive hugs!! 💕 xxx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toChel91

It sounds like to me they were giving me a day 5 update, and there are to be no further updates. They went to day 6 on the other cycles, though. I am only expecting a call back from them now today as I have emailed them asking about freezing morulas/day 3 embryos. I will ask about letting them go to day 6/7 in future too. Thanks for the advice. I do want them to freeze as much as possible! (and by as much as possible, I mean any!) x

Sakura88 profile image
Sakura88

Hi Emmie,

The clinic I go to freeze the best 1 on day 3 If there are multiple eggs to choose from and then let anymore continue to grow until day 5/6. They do this incase none make it further along so there is still a viable fertilised egg to transfer in a FET should the others not make it.

As CLDxxx has said, it wasn’t that long ago they only did day 3 transfers.

It is so important you feel confidence in your clinic. I wish you ALL the luck and that this one works for you. Regardless of what the immediate future holds it sounds like, as others have suggested, you need to get hold of all your reports for a review should you wish to do further rounds in the future. You can build your confidence with them or take your results elsewhere.

I have everything crossed for you!

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toSakura88

That's a great idea freezing one on a day 3 "just in case". That's the main reason I had a day 3 transfer this round. Because I couldn't trust that the clinic were not going to throw out all the embryos! Sounds like I definitely need to get a hold of my reports so I know what's going on. Thanks. xxx

LCharlton profile image
LCharlton

I don't know - I did have a transfer of an early blastocyst on day 5, and got pregnant, but the embryo unfortunately was not normal and I lost it at 8 weeks. Personally, going forward I really do want to transfer only embryos that make blastocyst by day 5 because I feel like that way I know my risk of miscarriage is lower. But everyone feels differently. Wishing you so much luck with your current precious cargo xx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toLCharlton

Hi love. I had a similar situation transferring a good quality day 5 blastocyst, which didn't continue growing and I had a medically managed miscarriage at 13 weeks. Heartbreaking. Unfortunately, having blastocysts or even PGS tested embryos doesn't guarantee a successful pregnancy. For me, my clinic has said there's nothing specifically wrong and so it's just a game of chance, a game of numbers, so I want to have as many chances as possible of embryos put back. I would rather have a small chance of a day 3 embryo working that a zero chance by discarding it. You're right, though, everyone's different. x

Bistbee profile image
Bistbee

I’m sorry your having this battle with your clinic, it seems so unfair they’re taking an all or nothing attitude. We have just had egg collection today and will be freezing on day 3 as part of a 3 cycle embryo banking procedure - so it is possible. Once we’ve done our 3 egg collections all our embryos will be thawed and given the chance to develop into blasts before being genetically tested - if we have any that make it they far. However I am assuming that if all our embryos are crap quality (we’ve experienced this before) we may not have anything deemed worth freezing even on day 3 - not really sure but will find out soon!

Have you explored potential sorry issues? I’ve been told that embryos which arrest after day 3 may be due to male factors as this is where the sperm dna kicks in. We have low fertilisation rates and therefore minimal blasts but we’ve been able to achieve a slightly better result using imsi and calcium ionophore to give the sperm the best chance possible of doing their thing.

Bistbee profile image
Bistbee in reply toBistbee

* sperm issues

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toBistbee

That's great to know that you've had embryos frozen on day 3. Thanks, yeah, we do need to explore potential issues. The consultant did say on our last consultation that as the embryos were doing great at day 3, it could have been a sperm issue on that round. Now that we have another cycle with similar results, I think we should continue pushing for additional testing. Again, the clinic hasn't been interested in doing testing to work anything out. Last cycle they prescribed Clexane (for no reason) and I started bleeding early because of it. Sigh. What's calcium ionophore? And you rate imsi? Thanks. xxxx

Bistbee profile image
Bistbee in reply tottcemmie

Yeh my clinic prescribe clexane too just as standard which i thought was a bit odd but just went with it! Calcium ionophore is something they add to the culture medium that they grow the embryos in, it’s meant to help activate the eggs into accepting the sperm apparently. And imsi is basically the lab just using a mega microscope to wash and select the sperm so they can get a better idea of morphology etc. Before we used those techniques we had one fertilised egg out of 9 and in our two rounds since using them we’ve had 4 and 6 fertilise out of 8 and 9 eggs respectively, plus our blast grading does seem to be better than we’ve had before so I can only assume these techniques are helping us! We’ve still not managed to get one to stick as yet so next step is for me to have further investigations to check whether it’s my uterus or just bad luck so far!!

Bistbee profile image
Bistbee in reply toBistbee

there’s also something called picsi (so many acronyms!) which is where the sperm are put in hydralauric acid I think which the good sperm bind too so they can better select the healthy sperm to then inject (icsi). I’ve never looked into it because you need to have motile sperm, which we don’t have much of (it having been in the freezer for 15 years 😂) but some clinics do offer it as an alternative.

Rainbowdreams82 profile image
Rainbowdreams82

This sucks and nothing worse on our IVF journey than to feel like your clinic are not supportive & against you. I hope you can get them on side. Have faith in your day 3 transfers. Still got my fingers crossed for you and hope you’re doing ok for the rest of the 2ww. Big hugs xx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toRainbowdreams82

Thanks. Really don't want to fight with them! Hugs. xxx

Ivfgotadream profile image
Ivfgotadream

My clinic has a policy that at least one had to be frozen ons at 3 - and that worked for me - thawed and cultured to day 5 and is no one half of my twins. The other is my day 5 blastocyst

Are they not letting hour early blastocysts/morulas go to day 6 at least? Some clinics will also push for a day 7

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toIvfgotadream

Glad to know it worked for you. Congratulations. This cycle it sounds like they were only checking day 5 - no further updates. But other rounds they have definitely checked to day 6, so don't know. Maybe it's because my day 6 fell on a Sunday when they don't work? x

CharlieW1985 profile image
CharlieW1985

Hi, our last cycle resulted in 9 progressing to day 5.. We had 1 transferred and was told that 1 was on its way to blastocyst when I went for the transfer, the other 7 were a little slow growing. They said that they would have a look at day 6 and call back. They called back to say none had developed further and would discard the day after...

My hubby and I weren't happy about this so hubby called the next day only to be told they had been destroyed after the clinic has spoke to me.. Upset and angry was an under statement!

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toCharlieW1985

That's devastating Charlie. And such unnecessary stress when communication could have been clearer and they could have taken the time to explain why they were wanting to discard them and giving you and your husband the decision on what to do next. Every time it has just been the clinic telling me what they are doing with the embryos, but they're my embryos! I took the decision in to my own hands this round going for a day 3 transfer, but will have to do this for freezing as well. x

KiboXX profile image
KiboXX

Hi ttcemmie,

Are they not letting them go to day 6 to see if they catch up? I don’t know how possible that is with morulas but they should at least give them an extra day.

Sorry you’re feeling so disappointed but remember you’ve got two beauties back where they belong and I’ve got everything crossed you get good news on OTD xx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toKiboXX

Hi Kibo. They usually give us updates on day 6, but only monitored until day 5 this time around. Maybe because they were only morulas/a poor quality blast? I've emailed them (phones still off - "covid"), so we'll see what they say. Focusing on these two embies now, yes!

KiboXX profile image
KiboXX in reply tottcemmie

Glad you’ve emailed them. They should at least get an embryologist to respond with a more detailed explanation which should hopefully make you feel better about the decision they made.

When is OTD? ❤️

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toKiboXX

OTD is next Tuesday. :)

KiboXX profile image
KiboXX in reply tottcemmie

Exciting! Hope the next week is as relaxing for you as possible ❤️

Picalilli99 profile image
Picalilli99

Really sorry that you are in this stressful situation. Our embryos are so precious and it takes such a lot throughout this process for us to make them so I think it’s totally understandable that you are upset. I haven’t got any advice. We experienced similar issues with our embryos and I think in hindsight I didn’t ask enough questions I just took what they said (which was often “none good enough quality to freeze”). So good on you for pushing this further. Looks like some good info from others. Our clinic did always watch to day 6 I think. It definitely seems worth pushing for that. Best of luck. But here’s hoping those currently on board bring you your BFP 🤞 xx

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toPicalilli99

Soooo precious! And this is such an arduous process to go through to get them. Thanks for your support on me pushing this further. I feel like I'm being difficult and my clinic makes me feel like I'm being hysterical, but this is important! Hopefully this transfer is a BFP next week! xxx

Abbywithag profile image
Abbywithag

This happened with me - I’m only 28 and on no rounds did I have any eggs to freeze Even though no issues on my side and they were fine on day 3. Didn’t really get an explanation except 1 was good enough to put back and it wasn’t worth freezing the others. This happened on both rounds and I should have probably questioned more in hindsight but I didn’t ! Now looking back I always wonder what the issue was! X

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply toAbbywithag

Sorry to hear this, Abby. (Gabby?) I'm 33, but we've been trying for 4 years now! God. So, like you, I don't think it's my age that's against us. I think I will be asking for morula or day 3 freezing going forward because some chance must be better than none! Plus, the communication on why embryos are being discarded is really poor. I do wonder if some of it is the clinic pushing for fresh rounds as they have higher chances of taking and they're only thinking about their own stats.... x

Abbywithag profile image
Abbywithag in reply tottcemmie

Yes I definitely wonder now looking back. It just seems strange they never ever told me anything was wrong with my egg quality etc however I have no Frosties! Xxx

12356 profile image
12356

Am sorry for all the stress darling, but not transferring day 3 embrayo is what I don't understand, am currently 35 weeks gone and is day 3 embrayo with embrayo glue that was transferred, I think is time you change clinic, wishing You lots of baby dust in your future decisions.

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply to12356

Thanks. Congratulations. 35 weeks! x

josephnsn profile image
josephnsn

Hi,

I don't understand why your clinic won't transfer the morula. I had 1 3CC blastocyst, 1 morula and a blastocyst which they couldn't grade. My aim of this cycle was too freeze embryos as backup. The clinic said they normally only freeze from 3BC upwards. If I insisted they would have frozen the 3CC. They advised to transfer all 3 and in the end I gave in to what they suggested. I am now 13wks pregnant and who knows if it was the morula. I would look into other clinics and check their transfer and freezing policy before you start a cycle with them.

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply tojosephnsn

I wish I had found out the grading of the blastocyst. I don't know why they are so keen to check everything away! I didn't know you could transfer 3 embryos! Are you in the UK? Thanks for telling me about your experience. It's very helpful. x

josephnsn profile image
josephnsn

Another clinic I did a cycle with waited till Day 6 to see if one would become a blastocyst and it did and it was frozen

josephnsn profile image
josephnsn

I can't believe they didn't tell you the grading. I have been with 2 uk clinics and 1 in greece and that is standard they tell you the grading unless like my recent one they couldn't grade the blastocyst. You can transfer 3 if you are older, I think 40 and over. I transferred 3 in Greece and also 3 at Lister in London. At Guys hospital I transferred 2 but could have transferred 3 if I had insisted. Greece waited till day 6 to freeze 1 to see if it would develop into a blastocyst. Lister gave me the option to wait till day 6 with the morula and blastocyst they couldn't grade and if they improved would have frozen them.

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply tojosephnsn

Thanks for the info. x

lizzybee81 profile image
lizzybee81

I don’t know much about this as we were incredibly lucky to get pregnant with our first round but I do know I had 13 eggs, 8 fertilised.

2 got to blasto on Day 5 and are cooking away 9+4 in me now BUT my clinic said 5 more could be ready but needed another day.

Day 6 they called to say they were happy to freeze all 5. 2 were quality A’s and 3 C’s.

Can you not push for 6th Day, I thought it was normal till I read this.

ttcemmie profile image
ttcemmie in reply tolizzybee81

Thanks Lizzybee. Yeah, I, similarly, have had no problem with number of eggs and number fertilising, and even number getting to day 5 (previous cycle back in March we had 7 get to day 5), but they just transferred 1 and said all the rest are not good enough to freeze and get rid of them (similar to this cycle). Either they're not giving me enough information to understand why they're doing this or I think they're making the wrong call. Seems incredibly unlikely, to me, that all 5 in a round (or 6 out of 7) at day 5 would be bad quality. Odds-wise seems unlikely! Anyway, luckily I pushed for a day 3 transfer and I am now 9 or 9+2 depending on dating by IVF clinic or NHS, and so happy! Similar stage to you! So all my embryos couldn't have been bad! :) In future, they are doing a full review with me before discarding embryos. I would also push for a day 6 to let them have that extra time too. Thanks. xxxx

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