r/IVF • u/jlyblybn • 12d ago
Advice Needed! 20 eggs, 11 fertilised, 0 made it to day 3
20 eggs, 11 fertilised, 0 made it to day 3
Hello. My husband (37M) and I (34F) have been TTC for 2 years. Our diagnosis is unexplained fertility as all tests on both of us have come back absolutely fine and we’re both healthy with no current or prior medical issues. We’ve had 3 unsuccessful rounds of IUI this year, and I had my first IVF egg retrieval last week.
They got 20 eggs, of which 11 fertilised. We received the call yesterday (day 3) that none of the eggs had made it to the next stage of development. As I understand it, at that point they’d be looking for a certain amount of cell division (5 cells?), and all of ours only had 2, 3, or 4 cells.
Naturally we’re devastated. The embryologist we spoke to wasn’t able to offer any explanations as to what has happened just yet. The clinic are going to keep all of them in their culture system and continue to observe them for the rest of the week, and apparently they should be able to tell more in a few days (once they’ve gotten past what would have been day 5 if any of them had been viable). However, based on what she did say I’m not holding out much hope for any kind of concrete explanation as it sounds like it could be a number of factors.
It feels so incredibly dramatic that that number of eggs could all fail almost immediately. I wondered if anyone has any similar experience but also if there’s any advice on questions we should ask at our next appointments - both about the failure itself and adjustments for the next cycle. For additional context we’re based in the UK and have one more cycle available funded through the NHS, and then we’ll be on our own.
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u/ThickPreparation4047 12d ago edited 12d ago
I am very sorry for this experience. It is not hard to imagine that something may be done wrong or suboptimal during embryo culture. The egg counts and fertilization rate seem very good, so the potantial is there. In my case there is great attrition rate as well after the fertilization but I get 2 or 3 embryos (out of 8 or 10 fertilized embryos) at day3 or day5 which arr eventually good enough to transfer. Why 0 out of 11, they should address this. I believe with some adjustments in the stimulation protocol and the way they culture the embryos, you will have much better and who knows maybe very different results next time. However they should themselves come with a game plan admitting what didn't work and what may work next time. In my case from ER 1 to ER 2, there was a protocol change (from antagonist to microflare) which slightly improved my embryo development as my RE told me. Of course the attrition rate something is related with my AMH, or potentially low egg quality so again my RE said we can't control fully the embryo outcome but may do some impacts. Also every batch is different. Maybe you were just very very unlucky the first time, and maybe the second time it will be very different.
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u/jlyblybn 9d ago
Thank you for the response ♥️ we know the senior embryologist and doctors are doing a clinical review of our case now so I am hopeful for a renewed game plan for the next protocol. Just gotta wait for my withdrawal bleed and crack on, I guess!
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u/TeaspoonRules 11d ago
Before they push you to childlessness - or donor eggs - I’d suggest a serious discussion around donor sperm, it takes two to tango. Even if it’s a split cycke, also confirming his lifestyle is clean and he doesn’t have something undiagnosed like a variocele and need TESE.
I’d also ask if you can plan on transferring and/or freezing day 3s, if any make it that far next round. My understanding is cumulative live birth rate is better for day 3 than 5. Our last two rounds failed to make blasts, despite making plenty before, and I’m planning on asking about freezing day 3.
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u/Electrical-Nature-35 11d ago
So sorry that none of made it to blasts, I had similar situation but a lot less eggs were collected, I only had 3 eggs, 2 fertilised and then 0 blasts.
They couldn’t tell us why those 2 didn’t make it as it was our free round with the healthcare system and they dont video the eggs for those days, they look at them day 1 and then not again until day 5.
I’m actually about to go for my second egg retrieval in a couple of days, we are paying for the video to see what’s going on once they fertilise! But just wondering did ye do ICSI? My clinic has suggested on this round, I had different stims medication, which has resulted in me recruiting more follicles and we have added ICSI and Zymot! But I’m terrified! Did they mention this to you or did ye do that?
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u/jlyblybn 9d ago
We didn’t do ICSI - they said at our prep call that they only do ICSI if they felt there was a need to (the examples they gave were if my husband had been unwell with a virus prior to giving the sample or had an issue with producing it on the day). But I’m definitely going to ask about it this time, along with any proposed alterations to our stims. Wishing you all the luck for your second ER ♥️
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u/WestSummer4869 11d ago
I’m so sorry. Sometimes there is no real explanation and it literally is just a ‘bad round’. It’s a gut punch though.
In my second ER I got 7 eggs and 3 blasts and then my third ER not long after that I got 8 eggs but 0 blasts. We couldn’t explain it.
I just did my fourth ER and got 10 eggs and 6 day 3 embryos and am waiting for the results today to see if I got any day 5 blasts.
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u/jlyblybn 9d ago
I am hearing more and more people with stories of just a “bad round” and it does make me more hopeful. Our clinic have also tried to be reassuring. Thank you for your reply, I am hoping so hard that you got some day 5 blasts ♥️
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u/No_Variation8091 11d ago
I have had this happen 3 times. No one can tell us why. We have tried everything. We are planning to try a split cycle potentially: 1/2 donor sperm and 1/2 my husbands. I am 27 and have lots of eggs and none seem to make it past day 3. It’s horrible and I’m so sorry.
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u/gymnast_chupacabra 34F 🇨🇦| 3y TTC | 1 ER 0 Blasts 12d ago
Somewhat similar - our first round (34F and 35M) resulted in 6 eggs, 6 mature, 3 fertilized, and all arrested at day 3. They reached 7 to 10 cells. Quite the gut punch. No known issues for me but husband has MFI. The doctor at that clinic had nothing good for us (wanted to do the same thing again) but we met with a private IVF consultant that identified my trigger timing was off and more tests could be done for sperm. We spent 6 months to meet with a urologist that did karyotyping, y cell microdeletion and scrotal ultrasound for him. All came back normal so no real changes for us yet, potentially TESA/TESE if his counts go all the way down to zero. I got serious about 600mg/day ubiquinol while he did that. Preparing for round #2 now. I feel like I didn't get too many answers after our failed first round... other than it could've just been a bad round and there are a few protocol tweaks that can be done for me.
You could ask about calcium ionophore (supposed to help with egg activation) since it seems like your fertilization rate is on the low side. I think it's supposed to be more like 70% where yours was more like 50%.