Embryo Quality?

At my appt yesterday we discussed that I responded better than expected to the stims, they retrieved a very good amount of eggs, RE was very pleased with how many fertilized but the fact that we had none of them make it to freeze & the cycle was unsuccessful could mean that there was some other genetic problem with the embryos. He does not believe its an immune issue or a uterine lining issue.

My CD3 blood work is normal, IVF bypasses my endo so the eggs are not being compromised by that, DH's SA was normal and all of our screening blood work was also normal. So what could be our issue? Right when i thought Endo was going to be our biggest hurdle seems like it might be something else.

Here are the options RE gave us:

#1: Do the next cycle exactly the same way we did the first and see if we get a different outcome with our embryos. (he did say that every cycle is different and there is no way to say for sure that the embryos with the next will not continue to grow)
#2: Do the next cycle with the same meds but do a day 3 transfer. We would still wait until day 5 to see if we have any embryos to freeze.
#3: Do the next cycle with the same meds but before starting get the sperm fragmentation test done. Just to see if it is a sperm issue causing our problem. I'm not sure if this test is covered by GHI but it costs $400 OOP.
#4: Do the next cycle exactly the same except get pgd test done to all embryos before transfer. This will let them know which embryos will continue to grow. This test is not covered by GHI and will cost about $8,000. (DH & I cannot afford this at this time) RE informed us that doing this test will be helpful but is not necessary at this stage for us. He said because of my age and we only did 1 IVF cycle many couples would not choose this.

sorry for how long this post is....but i think we are leaning towards option #2. I cant help but feel so defeated

Re: Embryo Quality?

Ugh! I'm so sorry!

As far as PGD they told me that even if some embies are "corrupt", some will actually correct themselves so you could be tossing perfectly good embies. I was also told it was about $4-5000.

I would try the 2nd option so that at least you are trying something different.

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can you do option 2 along with the sperm fragmentation?

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Id probably do the 3rd also. Whats another 400 in the midst of $10K?

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I agree with you ladies....at this point $400 doesn't seem like that much at all....I am leaning towards #2 w/ the sperm frag.
Why can't it be easier to get pregnant

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may I ask how old you are?

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not sure what sperm frag is....but i would def get alllll sperm checked before anything.
so iw ould do 2 and 3 xox

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1st ivf i made 24 embryos and only 4 made it to day 5. Both transfers resulted in chemicals. For my 2nd ivf we decided to do a 3 day transfer ( before we even knew how many eggs were retrieved). Less eggs were retrieved and therefore less embryos We tranferred 3 embryos on day 3 and I am now holding my DD! For us, a day 3 transfer was more successful than a Day 5. I always think changing up the protocol in some way is a good idea. Wishing you lots of luck!

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I would do the day 3 transfer and the DNA fragmentation test. I read somewhere though that it's less than $200 if you pay upfront through reprosource.

I would also start acupuncture right away if you aren't doing it already (sorry ladies, I know I'm an acu-pusher ).

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I also don't know what sperm fragtmenttaion is but I would think a transfer on cd3 might be better since the embies are in a more natural habitat. I think that's the best of all the options so far.

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Did you do ICSI? I thought if you do ICSI it corrects any sperm issue? I could be wrong though. I thought if something comes up abnormal on the sperm dna fragmentation then they would do ICSI to correct it. But usually with IVF they split and do half or all ICSI. Do you know if they did do it? If you did, I would ask doctor if you did do the test, what information are you looking for and how would that change your protocol for the next cycle?
I would do the 3 day transfer if I were you. You had a great response and had great embryos. Unfortunately it takes a few times for it to work. Good luck

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Posted by pp1107

Did you do ICSI? I thought if you do ICSI it corrects any sperm issue? I could be wrong though. I thought if something comes up abnormal on the sperm dna fragmentation then they would do ICSI to correct it. But usually with IVF they split and do half or all ICSI. Do you know if they did do it? If you did, I would ask doctor if you did do the test, what information are you looking for and how would that change your protocol for the next cycle?
I would do the 3 day transfer if I were you. You had a great response and had great embryos. Unfortunately it takes a few times for it to work. Good luck