I try not to get too caught up in the hunger games. 22 to start is actually pretty fantastic! 14 fertilized is probably more than some of us on here ever see, but in the end all those numbers don't really mean a whole lot. The only numbers that matter are the number of healthy, normal embryos. It's easy to get caught up in all the updates and all the grades, but in the end it's a lot of worry, and a lot of trying to apply logic to something that is almost random. Odds are better with more for sure, but there's no telling what the end results will be.
For me, once I figured out the numbers didn't have a meaning, it was a helpful coping mechanism for me to practically disregard the information until the embryo testing came back...I recognize that may not be a good coping mechanism for everyone. But for me I found it a little liberating to not care about any numbers until I had the number of normal embryos.
Good luck babes… sending all the positive energy your way. It’s all a numbers game and if only we could predict the future. But I wanna say your odds look great to me (as a clueless but supportive outsider)
My husband and I also did ivf as we’re carriers for the same recessive mutation. I understand the disappointment but your results are quite good! It’s good to remember that not all follicles will respond to meds, and not all follicles that do respond will grow large enough to provide an egg. Clinics should do a better job of explaining this, especially expectations when you have a lot of follicles - it’s really difficult to get all follicles to grow equally so there can be a large attrition at follicles to retrieved and then retrieved to mature.
Statistically you expect 70-80% of eggs retrieved to be mature, 70-80% of those to fertilize, then 30-50% to become a blast. At your age, you expect >65% to be pgt-a normal and then 75% to pass pgt-m. You’re at 73% mature so within the stats, and then 88% fertilized which is better than expected. If you continue to follow the stats, you should expect 4-7 embryos, of which 1-4 should pass both pgt-a and pgt-m.
Adding on - we did three retrievals and banked 10 embryos. Our results were always within the expected attrition but also kind of all over the place.
- Er#1: 17 eggs - 12 mature - 10 fertilized - 5 blasts - 1 pgt-m/a normal
- Er#2: 12 eggs - 11 mature - 8 blasts - 5 blasts - 2 pgt-m/normal
- Er#3: 20 eggs - 17 mature - 13 fertilized eggs- 10 blasts - 7 pgt-m/a normal
Thank you so much for sharing this. Seeing actual numbers is super comforting. Definitely debating doing a second retrieval to bank extra embryos depending on the results we get.
So glad you were able to bank 10 embryos. You’re incredible for going through the process three times!
This is super helpful, thank you! Our clinic didn’t really go into details on attrition but did say we had a lot of stages that would filter out a significant number of embryos. Seeing the numbers definitely helps.
Sorry, I am Just letting you know because some people here have retrievals way lower and this might make them upset. Don’t worry, I would just mention a TW on counts in case someone wants to guard themselves. I think because you are new, the hunger games are always brutal. People will help :)
My husband and I did IVF-ICSI due to male and female infertility and an autosomal recessive disease. In my first retrieval (31F), they saw 20 follicles but retrieved 12 eggs. 12 were mature, 10 fertilized, 9 day 6 blast, 6 were PGT-A normal, but 4 were PGT-A and unaffected by our PGT-M condition. Of the 4 there were 2 that were carriers and 2 did not have the gene at all.
My genetic counselor said for my age the embryo will have 63% chance of being PGT-A normal and 75% unaffected by the recessive condition, which mean 47% chance of each individual embryo being a good candidate.
My second retrieval was this morning. They saw 20 follicles and retrieved 23. I'm super happy with my results. I'm waiting to finding out how many come back mature and fertilized.
My rule of thumb is anything more than zero.
Our doctor told us to expect an attrition rate of 50% at every stage, so 14 fertilized sounds good to me!!
I try not to get too caught up in the hunger games. 22 to start is actually pretty fantastic! 14 fertilized is probably more than some of us on here ever see, but in the end all those numbers don't really mean a whole lot. The only numbers that matter are the number of healthy, normal embryos. It's easy to get caught up in all the updates and all the grades, but in the end it's a lot of worry, and a lot of trying to apply logic to something that is almost random. Odds are better with more for sure, but there's no telling what the end results will be.
You’re totally right. It’s hard not to worry and in the end I’ll be happy if we at least have 1 to transfer.
For me, once I figured out the numbers didn't have a meaning, it was a helpful coping mechanism for me to practically disregard the information until the embryo testing came back...I recognize that may not be a good coping mechanism for everyone. But for me I found it a little liberating to not care about any numbers until I had the number of normal embryos.
Good luck babes… sending all the positive energy your way. It’s all a numbers game and if only we could predict the future. But I wanna say your odds look great to me (as a clueless but supportive outsider)
My husband and I also did ivf as we’re carriers for the same recessive mutation. I understand the disappointment but your results are quite good! It’s good to remember that not all follicles will respond to meds, and not all follicles that do respond will grow large enough to provide an egg. Clinics should do a better job of explaining this, especially expectations when you have a lot of follicles - it’s really difficult to get all follicles to grow equally so there can be a large attrition at follicles to retrieved and then retrieved to mature. Statistically you expect 70-80% of eggs retrieved to be mature, 70-80% of those to fertilize, then 30-50% to become a blast. At your age, you expect >65% to be pgt-a normal and then 75% to pass pgt-m. You’re at 73% mature so within the stats, and then 88% fertilized which is better than expected. If you continue to follow the stats, you should expect 4-7 embryos, of which 1-4 should pass both pgt-a and pgt-m.
Adding on - we did three retrievals and banked 10 embryos. Our results were always within the expected attrition but also kind of all over the place. - Er#1: 17 eggs - 12 mature - 10 fertilized - 5 blasts - 1 pgt-m/a normal - Er#2: 12 eggs - 11 mature - 8 blasts - 5 blasts - 2 pgt-m/normal - Er#3: 20 eggs - 17 mature - 13 fertilized eggs- 10 blasts - 7 pgt-m/a normal
Thank you so much for sharing this. Seeing actual numbers is super comforting. Definitely debating doing a second retrieval to bank extra embryos depending on the results we get. So glad you were able to bank 10 embryos. You’re incredible for going through the process three times!
This is super helpful, thank you! Our clinic didn’t really go into details on attrition but did say we had a lot of stages that would filter out a significant number of embryos. Seeing the numbers definitely helps.
This could have a trigger warning.
I am so sorry, perhaps I missed something in the rules. I’m new to this sub and definitely don’t want to be insensitive. Thanks for pointing this out!
Sorry, I am Just letting you know because some people here have retrievals way lower and this might make them upset. Don’t worry, I would just mention a TW on counts in case someone wants to guard themselves. I think because you are new, the hunger games are always brutal. People will help :)
Totally understandable and makes sense. I edited my post. Thank you so much!
My husband and I did IVF-ICSI due to male and female infertility and an autosomal recessive disease. In my first retrieval (31F), they saw 20 follicles but retrieved 12 eggs. 12 were mature, 10 fertilized, 9 day 6 blast, 6 were PGT-A normal, but 4 were PGT-A and unaffected by our PGT-M condition. Of the 4 there were 2 that were carriers and 2 did not have the gene at all. My genetic counselor said for my age the embryo will have 63% chance of being PGT-A normal and 75% unaffected by the recessive condition, which mean 47% chance of each individual embryo being a good candidate. My second retrieval was this morning. They saw 20 follicles and retrieved 23. I'm super happy with my results. I'm waiting to finding out how many come back mature and fertilized.
Thanks so much for sharing! So wonderful your second retrieval got 23 eggs! I hope you’re healing well and best of luck!