Fertilisation rate donor eggs

[Jules0277]

Hello all

For those of you who have used donor eggs, what was your fertilisation rate? We have had 2 back to back rounds this year and only 1 embryo of 9 (per round) fertilised and went on to day 5 blastocyst. This seems way below the national average. Both times we have become pregnant but have lost the baby each time before 12 weeks, 1 most recently I am waiting to miscarry and the other was a chemical.

We also had a donor round 3 years ago, which ended in miscarriage around 7 weeks. And I had an awful few weeks of bleeding and getting rushed to hospital for a d&c so am really dreading going through it again 😓

My husband has had the sperm sos test which showed no issues, and we most recently used the zymot to process the sperm. Both don’t appear to have made any difference at all.

Thank you, will look forward to your experiences xx 🙏

[Jules0277]

Just to add, these were all frozen donor cycles rather than fresh. We are next thinking (after our frozen embryo we have in storage has been transferred possibly in January/February may move on to donor embryos).

[Cinderella5]

The fertilisation rate does seem very low however my experience has always been with fresh donor eggs. Has your clinic not offered any explanation? We had poor sperm motility and count but fertilisation rate was really good using ICSI even with my own eggs. I would be inclined to lean towards a sperm issue but I'm in no way an expert. Hugs, I'm so sorry for your losses.....you've been through a tremendous amount of grief and upset already.xxx

[Jules0277 in reply to Cinderella5]

We will book our review with the consultant and see what they say. Not sure what they can really say as they never guarantee the end results do they. We used ICSI each time too. It’s so frustrating. Thank you so much for your message xx

[Tinkertinkerbell]

Hi, I got one batch of 7 frozen donor eggs which resulted in 3 top quality blastocysts. I got pregnant with the third one. Currently 37 weeks. Wishing you luck

[Jules0277 in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

That’s good odds, nearly half of what you started with. Did they guarantee so many mature eggs from the donor? Thank you 😊

[Tinkertinkerbell in reply to Jules0277]

No they didn’t guarantee quality. They said that was a really good result

[Jules0277 in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Wow 3 blastocysts from 7 eggs is good! Congrats on your pregnancy. Thanks for replying x

[Clara22]

I’m not sure how many donor eggs were collected in our fresh cycle as the clinic do not give this information but 8 fertilised and resulted in 6 blastocysts. The first transfer resulted in pregnancy. I am sorry losses and wishing you luck on your next transfer xx

[Jules0277 in reply to Clara22]

Wow that’s fab results!! Thank you for your message 😊xx

[Amywoz84]

sorry to hear that you have been struggling and sorry to hear about your miscarriage.

1 out of 9 is a very low fertilisation rate. Did you use ICSI ? For 9 eggs you should be looking at 3-4 blastocysts. I find ICSI helped my fertilisation rates as with normal IVF we had very poor results - have you used ICSI at all? If not I strongly recommend for the next round.

[Jules0277 in reply to Amywoz84]

Hi, yes we did for each round. I agree that’s what we thought. We’re not sure what to ask the clinic, as it seems so odd to have 3 donor cycles and such poor results. Thanks for replying.

[Kilk22]

has your partner had the dna frag test done? Def does seem like a poor fertilisation rate. Would a new donor be an option if the dna results come back fine? Hope your ok, such a tough journey x

[Jules0277 in reply to Kilk22]

He had the SOS test, I think it’s the same test isn’t it, tests for oxidative stress? We have tried 3 donors and had 2 miscarriages and 1 chemical with each. We have 1 frozen embryo from a previous round so will transfer that in the new year at some point and if that doesn’t work, we will look to move on to donor embryos. It’s exhausting isn’t it. I’m on a heap of meds too including intrelipids and steroids so end up isolating due to risk of infection. It’s quite isolating.

Thanks for your message 😊

[Boo718]

hello, I’m sorry your going through this. I hope you’re ok. As ok as can be. We did donor eggs and on a few rounds got nothing. And ones that did get to blast weren’t good enough quality to transfer or didn’t defrost properly. I suppose when you think about it just because the donor may be young doesn’t necessarily mean good quality eggs. A lot of it is luck. Did you ask them the quality when they were injecting the sperm if it was icsi. We were told on one of our rounds that they could see the eggs weren’t the best when they went to do icsi. I’ve heard of a number of people just getting one or two embryos out of 15 eggs xxx

[Jules0277 in reply to Boo718]

That makes me feel better about our results, that it isn’t just us. They didn’t say, but I will ask about the donor egg quality when they were thawed, thanks for the tip.

[alockie]

Hi, you might find it helpful to check the stats on the Egg Donation Friends website—they publish a lot of useful data. If I’m not mistaken, success rates can vary greatly depending on several factors, including the clinic's or lab’s level of expertise. Best of luck!

[Jules0277 in reply to alockie]

Thank you, I never it existed!