struggling with my thoughts today - does anyone have positive stories with 1 embryo ?

[Hopewhite]

hello lovely warriors , I hope you’re keeping strong and well.

I started stims on 12th June the doctors changed the protocol from step down to normal antagonist, hoping they’d stim for longer than last year (8 days) and get better results (last time it was 11 eggs , 9 mature, 9 fertilised , 3 blastocyst). On Wednesday this week on the first scan after 7 days of stims they told me I needed to have egg collection on Friday (yesterday) because despite I had less of them , some follicles were already of good size , I questioned this as they had told me the change in protocol was to get better results over longer stim period , the doctor said I may lose the ones if we waited until Monday.

I had my egg collection yesterday only 7 eggs were collected, this morning they have called and said 7 eggs were mature but only 4 fertilised, other 2 fertilised abnormally so they suggested to keep those and see if they make it any further. The original plan was to do pgta if we got 3 embryos ( I was already not 100% convinced given how few those were) , now I’m really struggling as I strongly feel we’ll end up with just 1 embryo this time if we are lucky (if that’s the case we’ll do fresh transfer).

I’m really upset that we have got these results, my amh didn’t change drastically over the last year (around 30) , I know I have to take it one day at a time , but I didn’t remember how gruelling this bit was, I’m grateful we have got something and are still on the game, but struggling to remain positive given the huge drop we saw last time from 9 fertilised embryos to 3 blastocysts.

I’d be grateful if you could help me with positive stories , thank you very much in advance.

Sending you loads of good luck and hope your way xx

[PRAYINGFORTHISTOWORK]

Hey I know it’s so hard to stay positive but my daughter on her first round got zero on her second only got 2 and she was devastated we all were we it was so unexpected (we didn’t even realise getting nothing was something that could happen) but those “only two “ not tested embryos are now after a double transfer, 3 month old twins, low numbers do not mean it’s not going to work … quality over quantity… wishing u all the best for the next step to becoming a mum… x x

[Hopewhite in reply to PRAYINGFORTHISTOWORK]

Thank you so much for sharing this ❤️, stories like this give me hope and help me keep positive, I’m so glad it all work out well for your daughter in the end, I bet you’re over the moon with the twins, congratulations xx

[Kitkat10]

Hi, I’ve been where you are but with worse numbers and it still worked out. Try and stay positive 🍀🍀

I had 7 follicles of which 4 were empty 🤷🏻‍♀️ had 3 eggs collected, only 1 fertilised normally…. And he’s now my 2.5 year old little boy.

It was my least successful round numbers wise, and I felt hopeless and devastated after the phone call from the embryologist and I definitely did not think my single embryo would get to day 5 but he did 🩵 🩵🩵🩵🩵

I had previous rounds with more eggs collected but always ended BFN. For me, fewer eggs was the cycle that worked 🙏 everything crossed for you, keep going 🍀🍀🤞🤞 xx

[Hopewhite in reply to Kitkat10]

Hi lovely, thank you very much for sharing your positive experience , it means a lot to me to get some words of reassurance from others who have been there before xx, I’m so glad it all worked out for you and that you have your little boy ❤️, I keep telling myself is quality over quantity, but very nervous about the week ahead , I hope Monday and Wednesday brings good news 🤞🏼, wishing you all the best of luck in your journey x

[Ssmylie17]

It only takes 1 egg to stick🤞

My first round of IVF I got 5 eggs to blastocysts and unfortunately all was unsuccessful

My second round of IVF I only got 2 eggs froze both of them, the next cycle I used one and got my nearly now 3 year old daughter.

3 years later I used the other egg that was still in the freezer and im now holding my 5 week old baby while writing this.

I know how much a emotional roller-coaster IVF is but dont lose hope and hoping you get some good news 😊

[Hopewhite in reply to Ssmylie17]

Hi Ssmylie, thank you very much for taking the time to share this , it gives me lots of hope, I’m glad it all worked out for you in the end , congratulations on your baby , I hope you’re both well xx

[pink_lemon]

yep, here. First cycle 5 eggs, 2 fertilised, 2 embryos, one euploid (my beautiful toddler), one no result (still frozen). Second cycle failed. Trird cycle 10 eggs. 5 fertilised, one got to blast, was euploid and became the baby that is sleeping in my arms now. I was 39 at the time of ivf, had two mmcs for chromosomal abnormalities before ivf and very low amh. It can happen. Go with your gut. xx

[Hopewhite in reply to pink_lemon]

Hi pink lemon thank you very much for taking the time to respond and share your lovely story, so sorry that you had to go through all the pain of Mmc, but I’m glad you were lucky to get your your children ❤️.

We had a MMC last year , and decided to go for pgta this time but , I’m now doubtful if it’s worthy to test 1 or 2 embryos , did you decide to test regardless the number ? I wish I was more decisive xx

[pink_lemon in reply to Hopewhite]

Hi Hopewhite, yes we tested even though we had only three blasts. The point of ivf for us was to be able to test. The mmcs were natural pregnancies. Had we continued trying naturaly and possibly kept having losses we would be out soon with my age and rapidly declining fertility. I lost a year of time recovering from the two mmcs. I absolutely realise how lucky we were to have both good quality embryos euploid. The mmcs are also very painful, as you unfortunately know and so we wanted to know if we even have a chance, rather than keep going through heartache we employed science to speed us up. But I also read studies on embryos being able to correct themselves and how the results of pgta are not always accurate. You need to consider what your goal is depending on why you got to ivf in the first place, how much time of your fertikity you have left. And at the end of the day it is a process that you cannot control completely and just have to go with your gut and hope.

I used to read study summaries on remembryo - a page by a former embryologist. It helped me understand embryos and the potential results of transfers (tests or not). Maybe you would find it helpful where you are now.

[Hopewhite in reply to pink_lemon]

Hi pink lemon thank you for sharing this , it was also to try to avoid a MMC again and to be able to identify if there’s something else , as the last 2 transfers didn’t implant. We were naively assuming we’d get similar results than last year and would be able to test 3 embryos , given where we are so far I got a feeling we might end up with less, but we’ll have to wait and see what surprises Wednesday brings.

Thank you for sharing this website, it’s just so hard to make decisions as it’s not an exact science.

[pink_lemon in reply to Hopewhite]

I know. It is a numbers and luck game. Out of our control. I found the study summaries really helpful in understanding the odds. There were stats of how many uneuploid embryos implant and result in live birth. Same with mosaics. What the chances are of having euploid embryos at certain age, etc. Sending baby dust. Hope all goes well for you. xx

[Hopewhite in reply to pink_lemon]

Thank you very much!, we are going ahead with transfer today, we only got 1 blastocyst, perhaps if we do another cycle we'll get better luck to get to pgta

[pink_lemon in reply to Hopewhite]

All the best with the transfer!

[Hopewhite in reply to pink_lemon]

Thank you lovely, it has all gone well, I'm now back home just need to sit and wait!!

[Lovkat86]

It seems too soon to assume you'll only end up with one. On the positive side, we had one 5CB (euploid) transferred and we're 29 weeks along and developing well. This was our first transfer, so it could definitely happen for you.

[Hopewhite in reply to Lovkat86]

hi lovely thanks for taking the time to share your positive experience, I hope you’re well and having a smooth pregnancy so far x

I know it’s too early and that I have to take one day at a time, I’m just getting ahead of myself given the big drop in numbers that we saw last time from fertilised to blastocyst (9 to 3), we have MF and I’m ‘old’ so I’m kind of expecting this again, but hopefully each cycle is different and we can get a nicer surprise on Wednesday. Did you decide to test only 1 embryo? I’m very conflicted about this decision, I’m thinking whether that would be worth it xx

[Ell777]

I had similar numbers with 7 eggs, 7 fertilized (ICSI), resulting in 4 blasts. We were going to pgta test regardless of the results, since I’m 40 (husband is 39), and I knew there would be a high chance of abnormalities. The drop was disheartening, but we ended up with 1 euploid. Thankfully, it stuck and I’m 20 weeks along, so ‘it only takes one’ does happen. I understand testing is a personal choice, but for me it made sense knowing it would reduce future mc, and after seeing the pgta results I would have transferred 3 times with blasts that were incompatible with life. You are much younger than myself, so hopefully that works in your favour and your eggs should have less genetic issues statistically. Wishing you all the best.

[Hopewhite in reply to Ell777]

hi lovely thank you for sharing your experience and congratulations on your pregnancy, glad it has all worked out for you in the end , I hope you’re having a smooth pregnancy so far and you have been able to relax and enjoy a little bit. We have paid to do pgta , but I’ve got a strong hunch we might only get 1 blastocyst given the drop we saw last year from 9 fertilised to 3 blastocysts, this time only 4 out of 7 mature eggs fertilised with ICSI , so I’m not sure is worth to test 1 , but I know I have to hold my nerve and wait and see what happens by Wednesday, I’m preparing for fresh transfer just in case. Thanks again for taking the time to respond and spreading the hope xx

[PenpalLdn]

Hopewhite I wish you all the luck lovely. I hope the transfer goes well today 🙏🏻🍀

[Hopewhite in reply to PenpalLdn]

Thank you so much PenpalLdn , we need all the luck!