Frozen transfer or another fresh round with PGT?

[Purple276]

Hi all,

I've fallen off the wagon a bit after our second ivf round failed. Our review meeting is 15th Jan so now focussing back on healthy eating, exercise and trying to relax. Wonder if you lovely people might help with your experiences and any suggestions on the below.

We got 2 eggs, 1 blast, BFN from the first round. 4 eggs, 2 blasts from round 2 with one embryo amazingly in the freezer.

I'm 39 in March, low amh and low follicle count so realistically a couple of blasts is the most I would get from a third fresh round. Now do we transfer the frostie in Feb or should we do another fresh and get any new and the frozen emby pgt tested? Anyone have experience of this on low embryo numbers and found it worth doing?

I found the 2ww really tough and with lack of info otherwise assume the embryos were both abnormal so the testing night help.

We also will run out of money and said we would only do 3 fresh cycles as can only take so much of the injections and feel like our life is on hold and can't handle the uncertainty. Trying to work out if we do the fresh cycle and pgt sooner will get the eggs while I'm younger and more answers.

Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks all x

[Ivfgotadream]

I PGS tested age 36 when I got low blastocyst numbers (2-3 per cycle) - I didn’t get any normals. I decided not to test again and transferred 2 blastocysts from the next collection and am pregnant with twins so pretty sceptical of PGS now.

I’d only do it if you were getting at least 5 blastocysts per cycle and were prepared they all might have to be destroyed? (Not allowed to transfer abnormals in the U.K.)

[Purple276 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

Hi,Thanks so much for your reply. That's useful to know that any abnormal could be destroyed. I feel like I worked so hard to get my embryos to a blast stage as at one point thought I'd never get any of my own eggs so would definitely need to prepare for that.

Appreciate you sharing your experience and so happy for you expecting twins. Sounds like you've had a rough time lately so hope you are all okay and they stay comfy for a little while longer. Take care xx

[Ell493]

I'm in favor of the testing. We had 3, 5 day embryos that looked normal but one was actually an XXYY. So we obviously are not implanting that one. I totally understand about the money though. It's hard trying to weigh your options on a tight budget. I have the same issue.

[Purple276 in reply to Ell493]

That sounds like it was really useful to find that out and prevent the cost of having it transferred and going through the 2ww. It's such a shame that money has to pay such a factor. I know it would be worth it if its successful but just scared we will get into debt and not have anything from it but heartbreak. Anyway let's try to be positive. Hope everything works out okay for you xx

[JuicyLu]

We had 9 embryos tested in our last round (8 from a fresh and one we had frozen), because we tend to have a lot of embryos but no pregnancies. Sadly we only had 1 normal from this with 2 others where the test had failed. So 6 got binned which was gutting.

If we had 2 or 3 embryos per cycle I don’t think I would test them tbh - you aren’t saving much time or treatment cost and PGS is very expensive. If you felt comfortable you could always but 2 back which would reduce the number of frozen cycles (which is what we were trying to do, although I have to say I am a little sceptical of PGS after so many of ours were binned). But it’s all a very personal decision. Good luck whatever you decide. I don’t there’s a ‘wrong’ answer xx

[Purple276 in reply to JuicyLu]

Thank you so much for sharing that. It must have been gutting to lose those embryos but guess you have to trust that the pgs works and they wouldn't have been viable and saved the pain in the long run. I can see from responses that it really is a personal decision based on our own situations. My oh is so fixated on having a child before I'm 40 because of health issues with his parents. Lots of tough decisions and can see you had a similar dilemma with transferring frozen or doing another fresh round. Such a rollercoaster this process.

Good luck with your journey xx

[ToughCOOKIE78]

I personally think PGS should be mandatory over a certain age (35 onwards). I tested 3 embryos from 2 cycles (after one didn’t implant and the other one ended in MMC at 11weeks) and they were all abnormal, despite looking good morphologically (4AA and 4ABs). That saved me at least 3 months of transfers, potentially other miscarriages and money for transfer cycles.

It also helped me realise that my eggs are not good anymore and if I wanted a baby I should have moved to egg donation.

It’s unfair to ourselves to keep trying and trying when science is telling us to stop and look for other solutions.

Good luck for your next steps! 🍀

[Purple276 in reply to ToughCOOKIE78]

Thanks Toughcookie. Also congrats on the implantation and everything crossed and best wishes for the next 8 weeks and beyond xx

[Ell493]

I watched a fertility doctor on YouTube explain how the majority of embryos we make are not viable, even in younger women. I think he said the average time to get pregnant naturally is four months, and that's when you have a healthy egg supply. Then I read an article that said PGS increases the odds a transfer will work. Assisted hatching also helps. I've been researching thing quite a bit. It's all so stressful!

[josephnsn]

I have read about PGT not being that accurate so personally I wouldn't risk throwing away what might be a good embryo. I would look into it and check the HFEA website before doing PGT.