UPDATE: Question about thawing eggs

megandchase

My sister just received a call that out of her 17 eggs that were frozen only 1 made it through the thawing process. Is this normal? The one that did make it through is not showing signs of progression after being fertilized. She is devastated, I'm just trying to see if anyone else has an experience similar that ended successfully that I can share with her (she is not a member of The Bump). This is their second round and will have to wait 3 months until the next cycle.

UPDATE: So the doctor called my sister today and they feel bad about what happened with her eggs and they think they waited too long to freeze the eggs which jeopardized the quality of them (there were problems with sperm count and they were trying to wait during round one for confirmation) They actually offered to cover the cost of everything next round! In the devastation this is a little bit of relief as the financial burden of a third round was lifted and we are all hoping and praying for round 3 to be the one!! Thanks for your answers ladies and good luck to you all in your motherhood journeys. 

Maladroit

There are a lot of factors that can affect egg thawing on both your sister's side and the embryologist's side.  I had 11 eggs harvested and only 5 made it to 5day blasts, and of that group - 1 didn't make the thaw.

dp21

So eggs were frozen but they were not fertilized before? I think most people on here going through IVF had embryos frozen (fertilized eggs grown out to blasts). You could also ask on infertility board but I haven't seen any situations of frozen eggs on here personally.

dp21

Wanted to add, I have seen with fresh eggs have zero fertilization rates on this board, it happens.  I'm sure there is data out there on what the success rate is on egg thawing.  And sorry to hear the sad news, the infertility board on here was a wonderful support for me when going through the process.  A bunch of girls jumped ship and there is also another board that has many great ladies on there too. 

megandchase

Thanks ya her eggs were frozen and not fertilized. When they retrieved her eggs the first round they found out that her husbands reversal had so much scar tissue that he no longer had a count. They had to freeze her eggs and he had to go have his sperm extracted surgically a couple of months ago so they could unfreeze and fertilize. I tried the infertility board and they weren't too nice since I am asking on behalf of my sister and am pregnant myself. They sent me here. But thanks for your responses!

hopeful16

haha I just asked you to be respectful. I'm not sure how that is defined as not "too nice". 

Mrs.AmyDylan

I'm not sure how that measures up against the statistics, but I know that many of my single friends who are nearing that 35 mark are considering freezing their eggs in case they meet Mr. Right in the next 5-10 years. If your sisters results are anything like the typical outcome, it probably isn't something most people would consider. 

I know that egg freezing is not as well studied (yet) as embryo freezing. We had actually talked to our RE about only fertilizing a handful of eggs and freezing the remainder unfertilized. He said while the technology has improved, it isn't as good as embryo freezing. 

I'm very sorry for your sisters situation. Hopefully if they need to do another cycle this result is not indicative of their future outcome. 

1983Lindsey2

I am so glad that they are going to cover the cost of the next cycle and are making it right.  That is a huge relief for anyone paying OOP.  I wish her good luck!!! 

IfMamaAintHappy

@dp21 do you mind me asking what happened over on the infertility board? Or where did everyone go? I used to be pretty active over there but then took a couple month hiatus when I did ER #3 and I just came back and it's like a ghost town. I contemplated asking IF Vets if I could join but it seems very slow there too.

dp21

@IfMamaAintHappy Some crazy stuff went down, I don't know exact details but some of the long term great moderators were banned, many deleted their bump accounts.  So they created a whole new board and I'd say most jumped ship.  I can PM you the link, I bet you'll find many IFvets on the new board.  I'm not over there much just out of habit but all my friends are over there   Just too hard to check two boards. 

IfMamaAintHappy

@dp21 if you don't mind PM me the link that'd be great. I can't believe I missed all that. Damn IF induced emotional breaks!! It's like crickets over there. I lurk here for inspiration but also because there is no one over there.