XP: Not fertilizing all eggs?

SLPMel

Did anybody here choose not to fertilize all their eggs?  We are running into the issue of me having a large amount of eggs (RE thinks about 30), and not wanting to discard embryos (if they do make it to blast).  The RE who I am dealing with is NOT my RE, since he is on vacation. 

RE feels like we either need to fertilize ALL of the eggs, or only fertilize two and freeze my eggs.  We would like to do a smaller amount-say 10 or 12, and then freeze the embryos that make it.  If by chance we would have extra that we could not use, we plan on donating the embryos.  But there is a difference between donating 3 embryos and donating 12!  

We are just struggling so much with this.  I thought we had come to a good decision, and then the new RE drops this on me 24 hours before ER!

I would appreciate any and all advice!!!!  Thank you so much!

Omega20

If it were me, I'd give myself every possible chance to get good embryos.  I'd fertilize them all, freeze any remaining embryos after ET, and then wait and see how you feel in the future about more children.  Just because you are getting a ton of eggs, they won't necessarily all be mature or good quality.  Meaning, you might not get as many embryos as you think.

After you're done having children you can decide what to do with your remaining embryos.  I do agree though that donating 12 or more is alot harder of a decision than donating just a few.  But, for now, I'd concentrate on making sure this IVF is successful.

Oh, and I went to McDaniel College! 

Villo24

Omega20:

If it were me, I'd give myself every possible chance to get good embryos.  I'd fertilize them all, freeze any remaining embryos after ET, and then wait and see how you feel in the future about more children.  Just because you are getting a ton of eggs, they won't necessarily all be mature or good quality.  Meaning, you might not get as many embryos as you think.

After you're done having children you can decide what to do with your remaining embryos.  I do agree though that donating 12 or more is alot harder of a decision than donating just a few.  But, for now, I'd concentrate on making sure this IVF is successful.

 

I agree with this. i would try to fertilize them all.

BBColt78

Omega20:

If it were me, I'd give myself every possible chance to get good embryos.  I'd fertilize them all, freeze any remaining embryos after ET, and then wait and see how you feel in the future about more children.  Just because you are getting a ton of eggs, they won't necessarily all be mature or good quality.  Meaning, you might not get as many embryos as you think.

After you're done having children you can decide what to do with your remaining embryos.  I do agree though that donating 12 or more is alot harder of a decision than donating just a few.  But, for now, I'd concentrate on making sure this IVF is successful.

Oh, and I went to McDaniel College! 

This is great advice. I agree too.

See what fertilizes. They should be charging you the same price to freeze 4 or 40. You may as well get yourself the best embies possible.

MrsVicki

I would try to fertilize them all as well, because as Omega20 said, you don't know that all 20 of the eggs retrieved will all be mature or not.

4510heather

I agree re fertilizing all eggs.  Two days before my ER, the RE guessed we would get 16-18 eggs; we only got 8 mature usable eggs (some of my follicles were empty; others had terrible eggs).  Of the 8, only 3 made it to day 5.  We froze 1.  It really is a numbers game and you want to give yourself the best chance possible.  I know it's a tough decision - good luck!

fallbride110406

I agree with the others.  Follicles do not equal eggs or even mature eggs and you have no idea what you'll actually have to try to fertilize until after ER.  We had an estimated 30-40 follicles each time and 21 retrieved/19 mature the first time and 26 retrieved/16 mature the second.  We transferred two the first time and three the second and have one single frozen embryo from our first IVF.

Lots of follicles does not equal equal lots of frozen embryos 99% of the time.  Fertilizing all mature eggs gives you the best odds.

Dragonfly1226

Omega20:

If it were me, I'd give myself every possible chance to get good embryos.  I'd fertilize them all, freeze any remaining embryos after ET, and then wait and see how you feel in the future about more children.  Just because you are getting a ton of eggs, they won't necessarily all be mature or good quality.  Meaning, you might not get as many embryos as you think.

After you're done having children you can decide what to do with your remaining embryos.  I do agree though that donating 12 or more is alot harder of a decision than donating just a few.  But, for now, I'd concentrate on making sure this IVF is successful.

I agree with this completely. I was told that the average fert rate is 50%. So even with 30 eggs, you may start with 15 embies. And you wouldn't expect all of the remaining to even make it to freeze.

For me...

IVF #1 - 15 follies, 14 eggs, 8 embies, transferred 2, and 3 made it to freeze.

IVF #2 - 10 follies, 10 eggs, 10 embies, transferred 2, 4 made it to freeze.

So even though we had more eggs with IVF #1, we actually had one less embie make it to freeze.

I would fertilize them all, and then you can use the frosties later on before ever having to decide to donate.

Good luck! 

eyenerd

I think you should fertilize them all!  With no sperm problems there is usually a 75% fert rate.  That drops with MF.  Once you get past this point, you are probably going to have another percentage drop off, and then once you do hit the blast phase, for a young healthy person, there is usually 30% of blasts that have abnormalities.  ANd like others said, follicles do not equal mature eggs.  

I have also had friends have 12 blasts who were lucky to get 2 kids from the bunch!

Plus i have heard that some places won't take embryo donations unless you have at least 6 to donate. 

good luck!