Third egg retrieval done - 6 mature and two empty shells?!

[Eggfreezing36]

I had my third egg retrieval today, all finished!!

I got 8 eggs...but when I got the call from the lab, they said that 6 were mature and frozen, but the two other eggs were not actually immature, they were a shell/cells with nothing inside! So I don't know whether it's 8 eggs and 6 frozen, or 6 eggs and 6 frozen because the other 2 were not technically eggs.

I haven't had this in my previous two egg freezings, the first retrieval was 8 eggs 6 frozen and second cycle 8 eggs and 7 frozen. I did ask and they said they see this empty egg/not an egg thing regularly so nothing to worry about. Anyone know what it means/if it means anything?! I am hoping this does not mean some of the eggs were poor quality as there was a shell but no egg? Over thinking as usual...

This cycle they did up my stims for a few days and the outcome was the same, so higher stims did nothing for me sadly in terms of numbers. Also...I had 14 follicles so would have thought maybe 10 eggs, quite a few follicles didn't have an egg it seemed. Does anyone have any stats on follicles to egg ratios and what's normal/good?

But in total from 3 rounds of egg freezing I have 19 eggs.

I will do another post when I have recovered and got some headspace about whether I go for a 4th, listing some points I think I should consider, as want to get people views.

What do you think of 19 eggs frozen at age 37 in terms of an insurance policy? My ideal would be 25-30, purely because I am not using these now as I am single....and the way dating goes I may be early 40's when or even IF I meet someone and try. And I am a heavy drinker and had a few holidays in between cycles when I was drinking like 10 drinks a night, so unsure what the quality of my eggs is.

3 egg retrievals in 6 months anyway - I am definitely not doing ANYTHING else until next spring or summer if I even do. Can't wait to have alcohol again!

[Ivf41x]

Hi hun, I also had missing eggs in latest retrieval which never happened in the first two. The doc said it could be stuck in tube during retrieval and no worry about the empty follicles. Of course, it might be different cause to yours. Good luck 🍀

[Eggfreezing36 in reply to Ivf41x]

Interesting. Hmm yes no idea but hope doesn’t mean the whole batch was bad quality or weak. Glad it’s all over been feeling bit racey chest today - not loving the sedation effects this time. last time felt better!

[km307]

In my first cycle I had 18 follicles, but only got 9 eggs. I think the number of follicles alone doesn’t say much, you need to know the sizes too. I’ve seen the growth chart for that cycle as I’m doing my second cycle now, and many of the 18 would not have been big enough to get mature follicles, but didn’t know that at the time.

From those 9 eggs, 7 were mature and 6 got to blastocyst. I transferred 5 across three transfers, two miscarriages and one successful pregnancy. I was 40 when I did the cycle, so age / egg quality probably plays a massive part as to why I had two miscarriages. Also the quality of the sperm has a big effect, something to bear in mind as well even with good quality, mature eggs.

[Eggfreezing36 in reply to km307]

yes, they triggered me one day early this time cos I was on stronger stims. We can’t control the rates they grow at can we!

9 eggs to 1 pregnancy is good from age 40 tho! I have 19 eggs frozen age 37 and am concerned that’s not enough

[km307 in reply to Eggfreezing36]

I’m on stronger meds this cycle and have just had my egg collection delayed as the follicles aren’t responding as well. I’m 43 now, so only to be expected. My amh dropped quite quickly in the last couple of years. Def a good idea to try and get some good eggs now.

[Eggfreezing36 in reply to km307]

Yep def! What number to aim for is the tricky one.

[Jumpppy in reply to Eggfreezing36]

19 is a good number - good going 😀 I assume you've seen the "Egg freezing calculators?" (E.g. springfertility.com/eggcalc/) They may help you figure out the right number for single or multiple children for you. But listen to your body and don't be afraid to stop or take a break. Good news is you are correctly seeing frozen eggs as an "insurance policy" - recent studies show the vast majority of people never use their frozen eggs. You also don't know if the policy will "pay out" if you need it. Clinics vary in their quality so that will make a difference that you cannot appreciate until you need to thaw. Some eggs are more delicate than others and you won't know until you try to use them.Frozen eggs are less hearty than embryos, so you are right to plan on needing more frozen eggs than someone might need fresh eggs for the same number of embryos. It's not uncommon should you struggle in the future to be advised to thaw the frozen eggs and do a fresh cycle simultaneously to maximize success. There are also some stats on frozen donor eggs that might help you decide too. Frozen donor eggs are usually in lots of 5-6, to yield 2-3 blasts and 1 live birth. (Not saying this works out like this.) In the US they provide "garentees" on this basis - they give you more eggs not your money back. Frozen Donor egg stats are say your best case scenario.

Best of luck!!!

[Eggfreezing36 in reply to Jumpppy]

Thank you for sending that calculator! Helpful. I have googled plenty and they all say different things, so it seems it's not an exact science - which makes sense as it's about quality too. On that calculator I have 70-76% of one child, 40% of 2.

Yep, I would go for donor eggs if in the future I wasn't getting pregnant naturally and none of these frozen eggs work. That is the last resort of course.

For now I recover and I will consider if I do a fourth round next summer. It's a tricky one, because if the 19 eggs I have frozen this year did not work, then why would say 5-6 I get next summer, a year on? So it's not super confirmed if it's worth to do more...

[Jumpppy in reply to Eggfreezing36]

The calculators are (unregulated) sales tools too - TBH the research is really mixed. You just won't know until you know 😞 There are multiple celebrity stories of eggs frozen at an early age and none of them work and others where they have biobabies in their late 40s/50s that could have only come from frozen eggs.In the US SART is where clinics have to report outcomes, it might be helpful too (sart.org/).

Even on this forum you'll see a lot of variability in results. You just can't really predict. Listen to your body and stop when you are ready and you won't regret it.

Good luck 👍