fet vs fresh

Flipnfop

Hi Everyone!  My husband and I are going back and forth btw fresh and frozen transfers, although have heard and read that frozen is a better success rate, we are still on the fence.  Here is the story of our infertility journey.

We have unexplained fertility. So it is to believe nothing is wrong with either one of us. I am 31, and my hubby is 33.

2014 - IVF Round #1 - We retrieved 13 eggs, 8 were fertilized and 5 made it to day three and one made it to day five.  We were devastated to say the least on transfer day, my doctor didn't even mention FET, we proceeded with a fresh transfer.  That 1 Embryo (grade 3aa) became our miracle baby, she is now 3 years old! 

2016- Pregnant on our own... SHOCKED! we have been together over 10 years never did we imagine getting pregnant on our own after trying for 5 years. But we sadly miscarried at 10 weeks. 

2017- IVF Round #2 - We retrieved 12 eggs, 5 were fertilized and 2 made it to day five.  They weren't a good quality, however we decided to put both back in on a fresh transfer to give it a shot since we were successful with our first fresh IVF transfer.  Unfortunately it ended in a chemical pregnancy.  

IVF Round #3 -  8 retrieved, 5 were fertilized and 3 made it to day five.  We decided to freeze at day 5 and 6.  We had 2 great quality embryos 4 AA, 3AA (just like my daughter), and 1 okay embryo. We put in 1 thawed embryo 4AA, FAILED! One month later I did an HCG wash before transfer, put in the last two, and again FAILED!

IVF Round #4 - As of today we retrieval 16 eggs.  We were thinking optimistically and to do a fresh transfer bc of the success ive had with it. But then im second guessing it when my doctor told me I can do whatever I want but frozen is statistically better. From what Ive read it is better, but isn't everyone different? Should we do frozen? They want me to take all these new medications to make sure my killer cells don't attack the embryo which I have never done before HCG wash, neurogenic, intralipids, prednisone .

At this point in our journey, we are not in a rush anymore.  This decision to do fresh vs frozen has absolutely nothing to do with "getting it over with".  I've already put myself down that road too many times.  At this point, we are very happy and blessed to have a 3 year old girl.  In the end we want however many more children God will bless us with, but what is the best decision in this case?  I have had success with a fresh transfer and no success with frozen in my "short" track record.  Since I am not mentally fighting myself about doing it ASAP, do I let my body rest, start the new medications that I have nothing done before and do a FET?  Or do I continue the new medications immediately and do a Fresh one?    

All feedback is appreciated and I wish everyone on this forum the best of luck and thank you all for listening.

AlohaKumu

My previous clinic required a frozen transfer, as the recent literature suggests it is much better to let the body "rest" after an ER. My current clinic will do a fresh transfer, but they strongly recommend frozen. Ultimately, it's up to you and your doctors, but I generally trust what my doctor recommends for major decisions like this.

roadrunnerrita

one benefit to the frozen transfer is the ability to do genetic screening, but otherwise there seems to be some data that show some decreased endometrial receptiveness for fresh transfers. My physician said something about being able to predict response by looking at progesterone levels. It's not clearcut, but if you aren't in a hurry then perhaps some of the information would tip you towards doing a frozen cycle

buggles01

I'm in Europe so rules may be slightly different here. However, I also have unexplained infertility. I'm 33 now. Over the past 2 years we've done 3 IUIs, 1 fresh IVF cycle, and one frozen. I'm pregnant now from the frozen. Also did endometrial scratch since there's evidence it helps with implantation. My clinic said there's no significant difference in success rates for fresh vs frozen but it makes sense that your body needs some time to recover.

ashleymarie512

I have no real science behind my answer, but I know I’ve felt better going into my FET (x2) than my fresh cycle. I had some mild OHSS, but a FET just seems easier on the body from the start. Good luck with whatever decision you end up making!