Donor Egg Cycle- Only 3 Embryos to Work With

[Katiluna]

Hello ladies,

I hope you are all doing OK.

I had my first embryo transfer done on Tuesday using donor eggs. From this cycle, a total of 13 eggs were retrieved and all 13 eggs were mature and fertilized with Fertile Plus/ ICSI, which initially led to 11 embryos. We also added EmbryoGlue (not sure if this add on will help!).But then we ended up with 2 blastocysts Grade 1 (day 5) and 1 blastocyst Grade 2 (day 6). We transfered one Grade 1 embryo and froze the other two.

Our IVF clinic think this is a good result (3 good quality embryos) but honestly I was hoping we would get at least 4 good quality embryos from this cycle considering the fact that we are using donor eggs. The age of the donor is 29. I feel like with only 3 embryos to work with, our chances for success are limited.

For those who got 3 embryos ( grade 1 and grade 2) from your cycle, did you manage to actually have a successful pregnancy?

Any input would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

[JA-fnuk Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Just wanted to wish you good luck and send you a big hug Make sure have people around you for support

Look after yourself

Janet-Partner

[Katiluna in reply to JA-fnuk]

Thank you Janet. I appreciate that.

[Boo718]

hello, what I have learnt on the donor journey is that there is absolutely no guarantee at all. We had a round and got 3 all were abnormal when pgta tested, then another round with just one and it was ok. I’ve heard of people have 6 embryos and none work. The next has one and they have a baby. I genuinely thought moving to donor would be so easy and the answers but it still took 4 more transfers. All I can say is try to relax (I know it’s not easy) as much as possible. Your doing all that you can xxx

[Katiluna in reply to Boo718]

Hello Boo718, thank you for your response and for sharing your experience on your donor cycles. I'm glad it finally worked for you after a very long journey. It really feels like a numbers game. The unkown is scary, esp after going through disappointment after disappointment, trauma after trauma. I'll try to do some more walking and breathing sessions. We shall see where this cycle will take us if anywhere lol XXX

[Kitkat10]

hi, I only got 2 embryos and my donor was 23. I was also initially disappointed but the first transfer worked and brought me my little girl 🩷

Plus, the embryos were graded 4BB I think and I had produced embryos graded 5 AB from my last own egg cycle but mine didn’t stick and were probably genetically abnormal (I was 42) whereas the donor eggs were more likely to be genetically normal so the grading as such doesn’t mean that much, if that makes sense?

Three embryos is really a great result and I have everything crossed that your first one works too 🩷🩷 good luck 🍀🍀 xx

[Katiluna in reply to Kitkat10]

Hello Kitkat10, thank you for your input and for sharing your happy ending. Congratulations on the birth of your little girl. That's amazing! I need to teach myself how to try to stay positive. A difficult one after all the struggles and traumas we have been through. But we are trying to do the best we can like everyone else and all we can do now is hope for the best. I guess only time will tell whether or not this cycle will give us that happy ending.It's all down to luck XXX

[Hidden]

Hi there we got 3 from our DE round, the first two transfers failed and I’m 10w 5d with the 3rd! I think I remember being disappointed by 3 but I’m told it’s a good result and it’s worked for us. Good Luck ! X

[Katiluna in reply to Hidden]

Hello Forevertrying2, thank you for your reply and Congratulations on your pregnancy. That's great! I hope you have a healthy pregnancy. Enjoy every bit of it XX

[Tinkertinkerbell]

Hi, I got 3 embryos from a batch of donor eggs and I am currently 35 weeks pregnant- just another couple of weeks to go as she’s going to be induced early due to being a big baby.

I was really happy with 3 blastocysts as I had done 2 rounds of egg collections with my own eggs and only managed to get a morula the first time and a morula and low quality blast the second time. So to get 3 blasts! I was so excited.

My clinic don’t grade the same way - they just describe the blasts as ‘poor’, ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. I had a batch of 7 donor eggs and got 3 ‘outstanding’ embryos. The clinic thought that was an amazing result. The first 2 didn’t stick which was disappointing because I was so hopeful each time. But then I did the EMA, Alice and ERA biopsy and found out that the problem wasn’t the embryos - the timing wasn’t right and I needed an extra 30 hours of progesterone and a later transfer. Plus I needed probiotics first. Then with these adjustments the third blast stuck and I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant. I’m in no doubt that the first 2 would have worked had we known about the timing and probiotics. But yes, I got 3 embryos from a batch of donor eggs and it worked

[Katiluna in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Hello Tinkertinkerbell, congratulations on your pregnancy and on making it this far. That's awesome! Well done you. You can now relax a bit and focus on your preparations for the last two weeks. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and your baby :)The hardest part of infertility is when not knowing what's causing the issues. At least your clinic managed to figure that out eventually, which is great! If that's OK, can I ask what what probiotics you were taking? Is there any test that you had to take that led your clinic to prescribe you those probiotics?

[Tinkertinkerbell in reply to Katiluna]

Hi, the EMA and Alice part of the biopsy tested my microbiom - one looks for good bacteria and the other looks at the bad I think. It’s a biopsy of your uterine lining. My result was that I had no bad bacteria (some people do and need antibiotics) but also that I had 0% of the good bacteria that you need to make it a good environment for an embryo to implant. That was a suprise. I used canesflor vaginal probiotics for 3 weeks prior to transfer but canesflor has been discontinued. I was just advised to get a vaginal probiotic though - so I’m sure you can find a different brand. The consultant told me he would advise everyone to use a probiotic even without the biopsy as it can only do good. I will say I was also told to ignore the one a day instructions and instead use 3 a day (I literally used LOADS) because I had 0% and only 3 weeks to build it up. x

[Katiluna in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Ah I see. That probiotic was a life saver then! Like your consultant suggests, everyone should take it even without those tests if there is no harm taking it. In case my first transfer fails, I will get one (I'll see what's available), and ask my clinic when I can start taking it prior to the 2nd transfer. It's worth trying. Nothing to lose. Thank you XXX

[CharlieB2018]

Hi, we had 9 DE, all fertilised but only achieved 2 5 day blastocyst and one 6 day. All were PGTA tested with only 2 being euploid, the 5AA 5 day blastocyst and 6BB 6 day blastocyst.

The 5AA embryo was transferred using embryo glue in July and I am currently nearly 18 weeks pregnant. The other embryo was frozen. This was my first and hopefully last transfer. Good luck!😘

[Katiluna in reply to CharlieB2018]

Hi CharlieB2018, thank you for your response and Congratulations on your pregnancy🎉 PGTA definitely gives some sort of reasurance to increase chances for success. But I wasn't confident to do it as I was worried I might be left with no embryo to transfer. So unfortunately the risk of ending up with a chromosomally abnormal embryo is not ruled out. We shall see what the outcome will be in the near future! I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly. Enjoy it XXX

[nat55zt]

I don’t think it is a bad number. It was my own eggs (harvested when I was 39) but we got two embryos and one morula from 11 fertilized eggs. First transfer was double fresh transfer that resulted in my beautiful daughter (16 months old) and I had morula transferred in march and I am currently 33 weeks pregnant with my son. Good luck 🍀 Unfortunately donor eggs aren’t magical answer as my friend says. They tried donor eggs three times, got a few embryos but it ultimately didn’t work. Supposedly sperm was ok. However she later got pregnant naturally with her new partner.

[Katiluna in reply to nat55zt]

Hello nat55zt thank for your input and congratulations on your beautiful princess and your current pregnancy 🎉 That's great if you could achieve that with your own eggs, so well done! Donor eggs are certainly not the magical solution as they can be chromosomally abnormal as well. That would be naive to think so. Everyone's body reacts differently to different things whether it's the donor or the recipient or the way the gametes mix up. But also, we have other factors that cause issues with fertility including immune issues, blood clotting, male factor. So far, I found issues in all of these- high KN cells which I have been taking treatment for ( but still ended up with another miscarriage) PAI-1 4G/4G gene mutation issue which may cause blood clotting and was only discovered recently through a test. Now I'm taking Clexane 0.40ml. My partner's sperm quality is poor ( DNA fragmentation).That's why we decided to use Fertile Chip with our IVF cycle. I previously had three miscarriages, the pregnacies were all conceived naturally. With the last miscarriage, the genetic testing of the pregnacy tissue showed some chromosomal abnormalities for Trisomy 14 and Trisomy 18. I don't know if donor eggs are any better than mine as we haven't done PGTA testing on them, but what I do know is that with my own eggs, I keep miscarrying. Like most of those who have experienced multiple consecutive miscarriages, we will never get to know the reason for all those losses. It could be one of the reasons I mentioned above, or a combination of those, or something else that we still don't know... Such a tough journey. Enjoy motherhood and the rest of your current pregnancy XX

[nat55zt in reply to Katiluna]

I really hope everything goes well this time. One miscarriage is hard but going through multiple miscarriages I cannot imagine how resilient you must be. You are doing everything you can and from the bottom of my heart I wish you to soon have a little baby in your arms ❤️

[Katiluna in reply to nat55zt]

Thank you for your kind words💞 I hope so too. We have to keep going XX

[Doodlebug23]

I only got 3 embryos from my first donor round. That’s the minimum my clinic guarantee. I then got 7 from my second round with new donors. Both were very early 20’s.

DE wasn’t the magic answer I thought it was and it took me 7 transfers to get my daughter. No known issues. But it was modified natural that worked for me. I think my body just didn’t like being tricked into doing something!

I know it’s hard but don’t give up. Stay positive. It really is a numbers game and lots of luck but I promise it’s worth it in the end 💖

[Katiluna in reply to Doodlebug23]

Hello Doodlebug23, thank you for your response and for your kind words. Congratulations again on the birth of your daughter 💝 There are times when I feel like I can't keep going on like this. And then, I feel like the desire to become a parent is stronger than anything else. I'm trying to work on staying positive. Enjoy motherhood XXX

[Doodlebug23]

You said it! I think you have plenty of fight in you left yet! You’ve got this 💪🏻