Only two good size follicles

[Hanna1978]

Hi every one, i am 42 years old, on day 11 of my IVF cycle, on day 9 i had only two goos size follicles 13 & 15 and 4 others remained 9, continued medicine and tomorrow have another ultrasound to see if the rest grew or not. Please pray for me.😔

[Orangeflowers]

Good luck. I'm 41 and awaiting FET, and I'm sure it's not too late for us yet! 💖 I've heard they can spring up fast in a couple of days 🙂

[Hanna1978 in reply to Orangeflowers]

Thanks for ur message💝, yes let’s be positive 😍

[Greekprincess1975]

Have you finished all your medication now ? When you have your trigger it should mature your eggs more 🙏 I am 44 . Consultant retrieved 6 eggs , 4 mature and grade 1 on day 3, I have to wait to speak tomorrow to pray they have reached blastocyst! What medication are you on ? Xx

[Hanna1978 in reply to Greekprincess1975]

I have medicine for tonight too dat (12), Gonal F, HMG, Orglturan.. today we will see if all 7 have been grown or only that two ones are good, will share results

[Greekprincess1975 in reply to Hanna1978]

Good luck Hanna will be thinking of you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[DaisyR]

Hanna stay positive!

And the quality matters not the quantity!

Someone was saying it : it only takes 1 to make our dream true!

[Hanna1978 in reply to DaisyR]

💝💝💝 tnx Daisy

[Muppetgirl]

I was 44 when ivf was successful. I felt it was my time and it was. Now mummy to a beautiful 9 month old boy.

[Hanna1978 in reply to Muppetgirl]

Woow congratulations, it’s great that u are sharing your experiences. It brings us hope, thank you Muppetgirl💝

[BettyBe]

They can just pop up at the last minute! I had 5 in scans, which jumped up just before collection and again on the day. Although they do take smaller ones also, just in case.

To echo everyone else, it just take 1 good one!! Wishing you luck 🥰 xx

[Hanna1978 in reply to BettyBe]

Hope mine also pop up😍

[jengi]

Best of luck! Hope they catch up over the next few days. Stay positive! Are you doing one or two trigger shots? Xx

[Hanna1978 in reply to jengi]

Hi Jengi, now i have four mature ones😊

[jengi in reply to Hanna1978]

Great news! When is egg collection?

[Hanna1978 in reply to jengi]

Monday Morning 😊 still need ur positive energy🌹🙏🏻🌹

[jengi in reply to Hanna1978]

4 follicles is a great place to be! Fingers crossed for you and sending lots of positive energy for retrieving 4 mature excellent quality eggs. Your body has got this! Xx

[Hanna1978 in reply to jengi]

Thanks billion

[ADC2019]

I am 39and in my scan I had two decwnt sized, Another 3 small and a tiny one. They kept me going extrs few days more to try and increase the others. At EC they got 4 mature eggs. Only takes one though. Good luck x

[Hanna1978 in reply to ADC2019]

Tnx ACD2019, did they transfer it for you?

[ADC2019 in reply to Hanna1978]

Two made it and i got a double transfer. Waiting to test again tomorrow but got a bfp on digital on Wed x

[Hanna1978 in reply to ADC2019]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🌹🌹🌹

[Carelia]

Hello Hanna,I am same age as you and went through a 3 rounds of ICSI until (now) got pregnant. As per previous comments, the extra day can be a key differentiator on how many eggs they collect. Overall, you don’t want them to grow “too fast” as what you might get is big follicles but ones which are in fact not mature. What you want is eggs that grow in a “cluster”. Not all of them will be in the cluster nicely together but you would like circa 3-5. The type of medication can be a key factor. I hear you have Gonal F. It is a good standard drug but if you are not seeing growth (and you are near max of their medication per day (circa 450 per day) then you might like to sugggest to your consultant in your next round to mix Gonal F and menopur. The stats from mixing fertility drugs are very encouraging in terms of results. For me, to get the cluster of growth I finally changed drugs from Gonal F and menopur to lesser used drug called recovelle. In price point it is same as Gonal F. It felt scary changing from Gonal F “which seemed to be working fine” but the quality of eggs were so much better (and it resulted in pregnancy) that do arm yourself with questions if this round is not successful.

[Hanna1978 in reply to Carelia]

Dear Carelia,

Thanks billion for sharing your experience especially on medicine. 💝🌹

Today was dat 12 and two other ones also grew.

Now i have 4 good size follicles and will be punctured on Monday morning.

Let’s hope receive eggs from all of them.🙏🏻

[Carelia in reply to Hanna1978]

Great news! It seems you will have the egg collection on your day 14, which is for many people the natural ovulation day! Timing the egg collection on your natural ovulation day should also be a good indicator to when your body "produces mature eggs". The scans only show the size, but that does not guarantee if they are mature.

In my experience, my first two IVF rounds were "rushed" by the clinics, blindly focussed on "growing the follicles and fast," and while we collected many eggs, not many were mature. This taught me to change clinics to one which understood the natural ovulation day being a good indicator for maturity, and us doing a cycle which grew the follicles at a steady phase and did the collection on the day of natural ovulation. (If you wonder when your natural ovulation is you can simply do the home tests for ovulation on a month when you are not on IVF.) This, and the right meds, makes a big difference. With same amount of eggs as before, I ended up with two embryo transfers on day 3 (being above 40 years they recommend two transfers per time), and another two blastocysts being frozen on day 5.

If your cycle is lucky and, 1) there are mature eggs from the collection, 2) some fertilise (with ICSI you are increasing your chances so a good call to do ICSI!), try asking your clinic to put your embryos in the lab "under a constant video". The video can be very useful in understanding how your eggs "behave and divide" and it also leaves the embryos in "peace" during development. Without video they are taking them in and out and that can disturb the development. However, video capacity is usually very limited in clinics so you do need to press for it to get it. Some clinics do not even have it.

Video is specially useful on your first IVF round to really understand how your eggs behave. It is normal that not all fertilise, and it is also normal that not all embryos make it to day 5/ to the blastocysts stage. The video can tell you if they are - however - developing well up to day 3. If they do, but then some struggle from 3 to day 5, in any later round you have solid data to support a day 3 transfer. (I say this as some clinics prioritise optimisation of their own stats/success rates and the easiest way to do this is to pressure people to do day 5 vs day 3 transfers. In practise you will hear this in them not wanting or recommending to do day 3 transfers. Therefore, you may need to push for this if this is relevant to you.) The fact is, your body is ultimately as good as or even better "incubator", providing your womb lining is good (between 8-12).

The only 2 downfalls with day 3 transfer is that 1) you take the best embryos from day 3 but "what are the best embryos" can look very different on day 5, and 2) by choosing to do day 3 transfer, you are then not able to transfer any further embryos on day 5 (any that make it to blastocysts) as a fresh transfer. Any embryos that do make it to day 5 and become blastocysts will then need to make a "high enough grade" to be frozen. The minimum grade they usually set is 2BB (the grading on day 5 is complicated so do google on this). In contrast, when you choose day 5 transfer you can transfer blastocysts even if they are only "early blastocysts" and not yet at a point where they can be graded. Therefore, the choice between day 3 and day 5 transfers both have their pros and cons.

Secondly, I strongly recommend that on the day of egg collection you ask your clinic "what is the minimum grade of blastocysts the clinic freezes -" as part of their best practise". Having this clarity and understanding right up front is key so if you get as lucky as to have day 5 blastocysts, you can then have "no emotions" conversation with them on freezing. You hear a lot of unhappy stories on this site on people being told their blastocysts were "not good enough grade" to freeze and hence simply disregarded. However, the clinics not being clear on what "good looks like". You don't want to be in that position. Asking the question up-front helps you to gain transparency and fairness to your treatment. Clinics tend not to "offer this info" and you do need to press for it unfortunately. Also, it is useful to note that they do need to provide you a clear answer on the minimum grade as otherwise they are effectively telling you that "they don't give equal care to all their customers".

Thirdly, I recommend that on your day of egg collection you also establish 1) how many were mature. They should be able to tell you this before you leave the clinic. 2) that they call you the day after the egg collection to tell you how many have fertilised, 3) they call you on day 3 to update you on how many have divided evenly up to day 3. And 4) if you have any further embryos, to call you again on day 5 to discuss fresh transfer or FET on that day.

Forthly, put your phone on loudspeaker and record these calls from embryologists with another device/phone. You are unlikely to remember 50% of what they are saying. It can be quite nervous moment for you and they tend to speak fast as they need to call a lot of people. Dont' get intimidated by this - ask as many questions and clarifications as you need and if you record, you can listen back.

Finally, if you only have couple embryos on day 3, or just one from the day of egg collection, the clinic should be prepared to do a transfer for you as a "placeholder" for both day 3 and day 5. They should offer this to you up front on the day after the egg collection when they call you to say how many have fertilised. The reason for preparing for day 3 transfer is the point above: "your body will give the embryos as good opportunity for success as the lab, ....or even better"....As much as they don't say it, not all clinics and their labs are created equal, and hence if you only have couple or one fertilised, the day 3 is not a bad option and they should offer you both options.

Wishing you lots and lots and lots of luck on this round.

[Hanna1978 in reply to Carelia]

Woow your advices are better than any consultant, dont know how to thank you for sharing such detailed experience. Wish u all the best🌹🙏🏻🌹