New to IVF question about freeze all cycle

Frenchteachermama

Hi ladies!  I hope it's ok that I post over here (from the IF and 2IF boards), I just went through my first IVF cycle and hope that someone might have gone through the same experience that I did.  I have been diagnosed with DOR and very low AMH (I'm 36).  Throughout my cycle, my RE practice was very disappointed with my response to my drug protocol.  We were all shocked to find out last Friday at my egg retrieval that I had 9 eggs hiding in my follicles!  On day 2 7 were mature and 7 fertilized.  I wasn't able to do a fresh transfer this week because I had a lot of fluid in my uterus so all of my embryos were frozen on day 2.  The embryologist said that when I was ready for my FET my embryos would be thawed and hopefully we would have some good growth at that point and be able to transfer 1-2 at that time.  

Has anyone else gone through something similar?  I was surprised that they didn't let my embryos grow to day 3 or 5 before freezing.  DH said I did ask about this (still foggy from the anesthesia) and my RE said that in my situation (freeze all cycle) they want to be able to transfer the "freshest" frozen embryos so it's better if they freeze on day 2 and then allow them to grow to day 3 or 5 before transferring.  

Thanks in advance!!

cls78

I did a freeze all, but my embies were grown to 5 day blast before frozen. My clinic does a lot of frozen cycles and only freezes 5 day blast I believe.

Is this a normal protocol of your clinics?

Congrats on a good ER and best of luck to you!

Frenchteachermama

@cls78 I'm not sure.  They are connected to a very respected teaching hospital and follow a "traditional" approach to IVF.  

gsancho

When I did my freeze-all cycle, they only froze 5 day blasts.  But over the 2 years on the boards, I've learned every RE is different.  Did they say what would happen if more than 2 grew to blastocysts? Would they re-freeze them?  Or will they thaw them out in batches?

poohniki

Hoping it's ok to page @twistsandturnsto2‌ I think she did something like this. I know she moved on to SAIF.

ajlmom

I did a freeze all because of high risk of OHSS, but they waited till day 5 or 6 to freeze.  I think every clinic has their own way of doing things, it also depends on the RE.  Good luck with your FET cycles!  It took us two FETs and a total of 4 frosties to get pregnant with this LO but it's all worth it. 

Neesey

We did a freeze all cycle and they froze one on day 5 and the other on day 6.  I've never heard of freezing them on day 2 but we did PGD and had to wait for enough cells to biopsy.  What did the gals on IF say?  

Aurora1181

I did something similar, not due to fluid though. It was hormonal (high progesterone levels). They froze mine on day 3 and I had the same question- why not wait for blasts on day 5? It was really nerve wracking during the frozen cycle.. Not knowing how many will survive the thaw.. Not knowing how many will grow to blasts.. Not knowing how many we'll have to transfer. Honestly I was really stressed out. So I don't have any advice other than find ways to take your mind off it. We did a bunch of date nights and things I wouldn't be able to do pregnant while we waited for the frozen cycle.

freakyfast

Mine were all frozen on day 5.  We also did the PGD/PGS testing on the embryos. 

I would see if this is a normal practice for your RE office, and if not, I would ask more questions.  Usually they tell you all this before what their plan is and why. 

chickyclg

We did a freeze all due to OHSS risk and high progesterone. Mine were frozen on day 5.

mdiblasi10

We also did a freeze all because we did PGS and because my RE recommends giving your body a break before transfer. He only freezes day 5/6 embryos.

Good luck with your cycle!

orange1414

We did a freeze all due to OHSS. They were frozen at day 5. We transferred two back three months later and I'm now nearly 24w. During a previous IVF we had transferred, even though I was on the cusp of OHSS and it ended in a c/p. I think there are a lot of benefits to freezing and doing a FET. Good luck!