Slow growing embryo miscarriage

[MJE1]

I was wondering if anyone has had a miscarriage with a slow growing embryo?

Initially my HCGs were strong and going well. Had a bit of dark brown discharge so went to the EPU at 5 weeks. Sac visible but that was all.

At 6 weeks I was told I had a blighted ovum then 2 days later a fetal pole was visible but measuring a week behind.

Had a scan 3 days later and there was growth but a slower heart beat of 80bpm. We were told it was likely bad news.

A few days later I had a one big gush of blood and a few days later again the scan could not detect anything (7.4 wees) Waited for things to progress but they haven’t so am booked in for an MVA.

This was a donor egg pregnancy via ICSI, The embryo was graded as perfect. I’ve had 4 egg collections with my own eggs (I had a miscarriage at 5-6 weeks but the HCG was under 100 at day 14 with a 3 day transfer and likely poor egg quality).

I know there can be issues the eye can’t see with embryos but I’m worried there may be a bigger issue than just bad luck and embryo abnormality and I’m scared to use the 2 frozen embryos we have, made with the same donor.

We did not have them tested as it was all a bit of a rollercoaster if we would even have any embryos and were told not to due to donor’s age and good sperm quality. I wish I had gone with my initial thought to test them.

Has anyone else had a similar experience they wouldn’t mind sharing? Just so I know where to focus my questions and ideas in my follow up.

Thank you x

[Boo718]

I’m so sorry you are going through this 😢

It’s not similar but I’ve had a few rounds of double donor. They said I didn’t need to test them due to the age of donor and quality of sperm but we chose to anyway. Out of the 4, 3 were great quality, one was poor quality ….. the 3 great quality ones were allll abnormal 🤦‍♀️ and the other one was normal but wasn’t good enough to transfer as they didn’t think it would defrost. I hope you are ok I’m not sure if they can test them now they are frozen xxx

[MJE1 in reply to Boo718]

oh no, I’m sorry you had to go through that! It seems so odd given the idea that the donor eggs should be better quality and donors are well screened.

They can test I believe but it’s thawing, freezing and thawing again, which obviously can impact them. Will definitely be testing next time.

I hope things progress well for you x

[Hidden]

I am sorry you are having to go through this, especially after all the hope of the donor solving things for you. I have been told that early miscarriages tend to be chromosomal but my clinic also don't always advise testing embryos particularly if you don't have loads as they say its not a completely done deal that a not so good embryo won't work.. but it is obviously personal choice and I get why people do.

Have you had an MOT? I am just thinking about the state of your uterus for example, it might be worth a 3D SIS or hysteroscopy just to check for things that could cause issues. The other thing to ask for is repeat miscarriage bloods to check you don't have any blood clotting issues that could cause miscarriage or implantation issues too.

Sorry if you have already thought of those x

[MJE1]

Thank you for your reply and suggestions.

I’ve had a hysteroscopy, HSC, kareotype and thrombophilla screening- all ok aside from a MTHFR mutation, clexane was given as a just in case.

The thing that’s an issue is my thyroid and it’s currently medicated at 1.2 TSH but I do have high antibodies. Have seen the GP about this and endocrinologist appointment will be soon.

I know they will try to say it’s chromosomal, and it likely is, but after so much pain and loss, I’m a bit fed up of people betting on what it might be that what else could be an issue. Each time they throw a little bit more at it and we get a little bit further- but never to a safer time frame or live birth x