Egg Donor retrieval with no eggs.

[Wellington22]

Somewhat in desperation this evening, as we just had the news that our egg donor in Spain had her retrieval today and this resulted in no mature eggs at all. We're waiting to speak to our consultant tomorrow but it all feels very hopeless. After three IVF attempts with my own eggs and a miscarriage, I really thought donor eggs were the answer and we are just so exhausted with all of the constant bad news and waiting, waiting, waiting.Has this happened to anybody else and is this a sign that we should just give up completely? It certainly feels like hope is a very long way away.

[Kitkat10]

Please don’t give up, I can understand this is devastating. I used DE in the UK and I asked my clinic what would happen if no eggs were collected (fresh) or none fertilised if I purchased frozen eggs. They said they would ‘seriously review the situation’ which didn’t mean much but I asked them to confirm that they wouldn’t charge me if that happened or they would give me another donor in my package FOC. They seemed to agree to that.

I’m so sorry this has happened. It’s not a sign, please try and hang in there and try again. I totally understand how tough this is. I had 3 failed OE transfers before moving to DE at 42 and know how low my resilience had become with the process. I hope your consultant can step in and help xx

[Zassa]

Please don't give up, this is just bad luck! Even though many clinics claim that donor eggs is a sure thing, but I know after following many people and their procedures it is just a gamble. It means in most clinics that a woman under the age of 35 donates her eggs, I did IVF under the age of 35 (I could have become an egg donor with my blood test results I think), still it didn't work (no blastocysts). I had even tried to be very healthy, reduced alcohol and taken a prenatal 3 months before this (which is no guarantee a donor has).The clinic needs to have a guarantee for the number of blastocysts and if they don't reach that number they should give you a new round. Otherwise it is a bad clinic.

[jinis]

Hey lovely, sorry this has happened to you.

Something similar happened with my own egg retrieval.

I did 3 back-to-back batch freezing rounds a few years back and in the 2nd cycle, even though we used the exact same protocol as other cycles and ~10 follicles were visualised during the stim, they could only retrieve one egg on the day. To this date there's no clear answers as to what happened other than the guess that the trigger somehow failed. In contrast, in other rounds we collected 5~7 eggs.

So this doesn't indicate the results of any other rounds with the same person with the same protocol - please don't let this result alone make you give up! xx

[Freeway24]

I am so sorry to hear this has happened. You must be devastated. Please don't give up. I don't have experience of this as I am just starting out with DE. The clinic should provide a free round with a different donor. I hope you have success on the next one. I am sending lots of luck your way xx

[CyclingAddict]

That's very bad luck indeed. Have you explored using donor embryos? Many couples who go through IVF have left over, good quality embryos that they then donate. A friend of mine is going to donate her embryos after having the children she wants and I'm planning on doing the same if I have any left over. I suppose it takes the stress out of hoping that an egg collection results in healthy eggs and then that the sperm is able to fertilise the eggs because the donated embryos have already made it to blastocyst stage and many will have been PGT-A tested. Best of luck to you x

[Wellington22]

Thank you all so much for your replies - it is so heartening knowing other people understand.Our clinic have been excellent and have been very active in finding alternative solutions for us so there is hope on the horizon.

What a rollercoaster.

[els3823]

Yes. In Spain as well. The first retrieval had viable blastocysts until the actual day of the transfer. It was hugely disappointing as we had already travelled to Spain and had combined with some resemblance of a holiday. The call you get that dashes your hopes is awful. Our clinic had guaranteed 2 viable blastocysts and so despite the disappointment there was still the hope. This meant prepping me yet again and the second time round there were 2 viable. One is now on ice and one failed but I was 48 so it is a bit more tricky.

I am now a year older and going in for another round but this time on my own and with donor egg and sperm. I have no idea if it will work or fail but I can only try. And right now am taking any kind of relaxation therapy I can and trying to be kind to myself.

I realise it is hugely stressful - I don't think anyone can prepare you for it, but really do everything to try and relieve that stress - anything relaxing at all. Take a week off and put your feet up. And I more than realise how you mind will be in bits and you may feel right now that you will never feel calm - you are not alone and it is an unfortunate journey to go through. But just because one donor failed it does not mean that all donors will fail. They will find you another one.

[Boo718]

hello I’m so sorry to hear this. We were on the donor route and had a number of rounds where there was nothing and then rounds where the embryos were all abnormal. This was with double donor too xxx