Another FET question

beachgal0114

The RE's nurse also said approx. 70-90% of frozen embryos survive thaw at my lab (they only freeze blasts).  How many are usually thawed at one time? We'd transfer two at most, so will they thaw only two at a time or more than that?

Sorry if these are basic questions, I'm clueless about FETs--with my DOR, I never even thought we'd have enough embryos to freeze.

mrsolsenk12

How many they thaw depends on how the froze them. Some places freeze them in pairs, some in tubes. Ours were frozen in tubes so you have to thaw the whole tube. Our Day 1 embryos that they froze (6 of them) were frozen together in one tube so we thawed them all. (none were viable.) The Day 4 we had(5 of them) were frozen together in a tube so we had to thaw all of them. We transfered the best 2. If you are not sure how yours were frozen call your RE.

JackieMac824

mrsolsenk12:

How many they thaw depends on how the froze them. Some places freeze them in pairs, some in tubes. Ours were frozen in tubes so you have to thaw the whole tube. Our Day 1 embryos that they froze (6 of them) were frozen together in one tube so we thawed them all. (none were viable.) The Day 4 we had(5 of them) were frozen together in a tube so we had to thaw all of them. We transfered the best 2. If you are not sure how yours were frozen call your RE.

So do they charge you more to thaw twice??? 

smeyer

My clinic freezes in pairs (and occasionally in 3s) according to their developmental stage.  The number they thaw depends on what you and your RE agree upon in the written and signed transfer plan.  

mrsolsenk12

JackieMac824:

mrsolsenk12:

How many they thaw depends on how the froze them. Some places freeze them in pairs, some in tubes. Ours were frozen in tubes so you have to thaw the whole tube. Our Day 1 embryos that they froze (6 of them) were frozen together in one tube so we thawed them all. (none were viable.) The Day 4 we had(5 of them) were frozen together in a tube so we had to thaw all of them. We transfered the best 2. If you are not sure how yours were frozen call your RE.

So do they charge you more to thaw twice??? 

No they didn't. Since none of the first batch were viable, they were thawing the rest to get some viable embryos.

AvaLikeLava

It depends how they're frozen. We had 3 embies. 1 frozen in it's own straw (due to how long it took to get to cell # count to freeze) and 2 in another. You thaw depending what you want to transfer. We only wanted to transfer 1 at a time, so we opted to thaw the single-straw first. That cycle was a BFN. The embryo had 90% cell survival rate.

We then thawed the last straw. One embie survived at 100% rate, the other only at 50%. 50% if the cut-off for what they consider "survived". We transferred the 100% embie and donated the other one.

Anyway, to answer your question, ask how they are stored. If stored 2 at a time, then you're good. If stored at more than 2 at a time, they'll thaw them all, and then if they all survive, you'll have to choose between:

1. transferring all (some clinics may not let you do this)

2. re-freezing extra

3. donating extra

4. discarding extra

Kim777

Ours were frozen singly. We thawed one and it did not survive. We really did not want to have twins, but had decided if the first did not survive then we would thaw the remaining two so that we were not just putting one back in storage. They both survived and we ended up with M&W. And just to clarify, although one was our ideal number I can't imagine our lives any other way now!