second opinions

hi, I hope everyone is ok ❤️🙏🏼

Sorry if this is a ramble, but I just wanted to thank everyone who responded to my posts of despair following my last 2 failed egg retrievals.

2 egg retrievals, 19 eggs, and just 1 fertilised, including one ICSI round with total fertilisation failure. The consultant told me to not try ivf/icsi with OE again and that my age (36) plus a potential genetic disorder was the problem and the reason for my pitted terrible eggs. I was devastated.

I went for a second opinion and then on to a third and a new clinic who changed my protocol (less aggressive with AOA). I’m still not out of the woods, but we already have a much better outcome with 11 day 2 embryos, I’m shocked. I know very well things can still fall apart and we must reach day 5 blastocyst, and I’m still very far from a baby in my arms. But, it just goes to show, if you can, get that second opinion, trust your gut and listen to advice from fellow ivf warriors.

I’m taking the time to celebrate this small win and it feels nice to have some hope again. thank you x

[kayray87]

Hi again Elsidee, I'm so so sorry to hear about your second round. I know myself the shock to hear of zero fertilization 💔💔💔

That is incredible to hear how your embryos are doing on day two... I wish you all the luck and good vibes in the world for them to keep growing and progressing.

Please could you let me know what changes they made? I'm so similar to you in age, number of eggs retrieved and then complete lack of fertilization. We are just starting our donor egg journey xxx

[Hidden in reply to kayray87]

Hi kayray ❤️ I hope you’re doing ok - are you going back to Spain for donor? That’s great news that you have come together with a plan. Wishing you all the best and lots of luck.

I down regulated with Buserelin for 2 weeks (0.5) and then took 300iu of meriofert for 11 days. I religiously took 600mg of ubiquinol, DHA, vitamin D and pre natal for 3+ months and had a high protein diet but still treated myself (quite a lot!). We collected 18 eggs which is crazy as our plan was to collect less eggs and I didn’t even have that many follicles in my monitoring scans 🤔. The high numbers made me think they were immature and bad quality again but we got the call to say 13 were mature and 11 fertilised and all are dividing and ‘good quality’. We also used calcium ionophore.

I don’t know exactly what helped, as we changed quite a bit. Meriofert is expensive but I have read some studies that it helps with quality. But I don’t know how true this is. We still have a long way to go, but to go from zero fertilised with ICSI to 11 feels like a small win.

Thank you so much for your well wishes. Look forward to hearing your updates ❤️ and really hoping things run smoothly for you xx

[Kilk22]

this is super news. I’m so pleased for you ❤️ It’s looking good so far so fingers crossed for good strong blasts 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Keep us updated x

[Hidden in reply to Kilk22]

Thank you so much kilk22 ❤️❤️ they phoned this morning (day 3) and I have 3 morulas and 8 x 6 cell embryos - one graded excellent and the rest good. I have no idea what the drop off rates are between days 3-5 so I just pray 🥹🙏🏼 xx

[Kilk22 in reply to Hidden]

Everything crossed for you 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽 They are looking good. Hopefully there won’t be too much of a drop off. I had 1 egg out of 5 eggs fertilize and that 1 made it to day 5, keep positive. 🫶🏼

[Hidden in reply to Kilk22]

Thank you so much ♥️ just trying to keep positive now, this wait is always soo stressful. Especially after 2 crap rounds. xx