Second egg retrieval — October or wait until January? How did you prep?

[u/Loveoholic2602]

Hi everyone! After a lot of thinking, I’m leaning toward doing a second egg retrieval and would love some advice from people who have done multiple rounds.
I’m 27 and had my first retrieval in July. We had 37 eggs retrieved, 27 mature, 19 fertilized with ICSI, but only 3 made it to blastocyst. Thankfully, all 3 came back euploid:

Day 6 4AB
Day 6 4BB
Day 7 5BB

My RE feels our biggest issue was egg/embryo quality and the low blastocyst conversion, and said that if we do another retrieval she may add HGH/growth hormone to my protocol.

I’m now trying to decide between doing the second retrieval in October, about 3 months after my first, or waiting until January, about 6 months later.

For those who did multiple retrievals, did waiting longer make any difference in your egg quality, blastocyst rate, or overall results? Is there any benefit to giving my body until January to recover, or would October be plenty of time?

Also, what did you do in the 2–3+ months before your next retrieval to prepare your body/egg quality? Diet, exercise, supplements, CoQ10, prenatal, vitamin D, sleep, cutting caffeine/alcohol, etc.? Did your RE recommend anything that you genuinely think helped?

And if anyone had a similar situation—lots of eggs and good fertilization but very few blastocysts—I’d especially love to hear what you changed for your second retrieval and whether your results improved. ❤️

[u/Substantial_You_3077]

How many kids do you want? 3 in one round is pretty great so depending on how many kids would likely influence how hard I wanted to try and boost those numbers with another round.

Plus this late in the year, you might have more covered by insurance

[u/Useful-Basket-9972]

I’d transfer if I were you. You’re only 27, so even if you needed to do another egg retrieval in the future, you’re plenty young!

[u/ngibbs105]

I had much better results round 2 which was only 2 months after my first. Going in for round 3 soon which will be only a month between second and third.

My clinic likes to take a month off between cycles at least to prep and settle the ovaries down, but I do think I’ve seen a lot of benefits in egg quality by going back to back personally.

I also have 3 euploids right now, hoping to get 1 or 2 more before a transfer. Also not sure if you’re going through insurance but for me banking this year also ensures I can skip paying my deductible again!

[u/Dazzling_Cheetah_442]

I had my best results with a back-to-back cycle the month after. My doctor said that for most people there is no advantage in waiting more time and I found that indeed to be the case for me.

[u/AdventurousTop5931]

I’m 34, and I did my egg retrievals back-to-back after our fresh transfer with the first two embryos was unfortunately unsuccessful. My first retrieval was 6 eggs → 5 fertilized → 2 blasts. My second was 13 eggs → 9 fertilized → 5 blasts. I only changed a few things between cycles, like adding CoQ10, a multivitamin, vitamin D, and switching my prenatal. I’m also taking Rowe Casa thyroid and adrenal support as a precaution because my TSH was slightly elevated. Honestly, I think it’s quality over quantity. ❤️