Question about "3 IVF Cycle & 3 Frozen Embryo"

TTCMale · March 2011

Hi All -

The Dear Wife & I are beginning the ICSI method to try and start our family and I have some questions please. To summarize us (and she just registered on this site as well): I had a vasectomy reversal about 16mths ago....13mths (1st SA) ago I came back with great results...we started TTC about 3mths ago and nothing happened so I had another SA and I found out I have low count with non motility...we have decided to try the ICSI method.

Anyway...to help with the costs (and wow this is very expensive) we picked up a brochure at the RE office about "Attain IVF", which is some sort of financial package....long story short: They will cover "3 IVF & 3 Frozen Embryo" cycles. Now, I think I understand this...the RE will freeze up to 3 embryos...but specifically - What about the other 3?? I believe they will implant 1, maybe 2 (my DW is under 35) but I dont undertsand what will happen to the eggs? I think the most they can be in a petri dish is 5 days before implantation...but what do they do with the non frozen embryo?

Has anyone used Attain IVF? What are your thoughts? Any advice?

Thanks so much for any help or advice you can give.

TTCMale

Edwina.McDunnough · March 2011

Welcome!

I believe that the package you are talking about is for three fresh cycles and three frozen cycles. With a fresh cycle your wife will undergo IVF with ICSI, and depending on how many embryos are produced from that (could be a little, could be a lot) and the quality of them, you'll transfer a certain number to her uterus, and freeze the remaining. Most clinics have some sort of quality standard for freezing embryos, so it's not uncommon to have none left to freeze.

Thawing these frozen embryos is a FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer). These can be unmedicated or medicated, but the gist is, embryo gets thawed and transferred into your wife's uterus at the optimal time. Because there is fewer medications, and no Egg Retreival (ER) operation, the cost is significantly less.

Advanced Fertility has a lot of information about the IVF process.

Regarding shared risk programs, there is a lot of debate as to whether they benefit the patient or the clinic...as in, if you're the patient and could benefit from it, you probably don't qualify. So in the end, there isn't a lot of risk for the clinic.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask away!

ecleptic · March 2011

It's not 3 eggs, it's three entire cycles. As an example- I have 18 follicles growing right now for our IVF with ICSI. If I qualified for an shared risk program I would complete the cycle as normal. They'd take the eggs, shake and bake in the petri dish, put two back in me, and freeze any that look good. That could be as few as none or as many as I have available. My SIL has 10 frosties (also called snowflakes or totsicles depending on how irreverent you feel on any given day) as an example.

Freezing all the frosties left over from the first cycle is part of the first cycle. That's fresh cycle #1. Defrosting the frosties and putting them back in for another try is a Frozen Embryo Transfer- FET.

You get three FET tries to put back whatever number of frozen embryos you happen to have.

You get three fresh cycles (including freezing all the embryo's that qualify for freezing, no limits)

It's a good program.

TTCMale · March 2011

Ok...so if I'm understanding this correctly:

1 cycle is when all the follicles/eggs have been used up? IE: If 5 follicles are harvested and 2 are used and 3 are frozen...then all 5 of them have to be implanted in order to be considered a "cycle"?

KDR1979 · March 2011

I didn't do attain, but my RE offers the same package. We paid $17K and get 3 fresh & 3 frozen cycles. We have completed 2 cycles on the program (3 total) & didn't get frozen embryos.I'm 31...ivf #1. 12 eggs, 8 fertilized 2 transferred on fresh, 3 frozen for fet.Ivf #2 (1st on program) only 4 eggs & 2 fertilized.Ivf #3 9 eggs, 7 fertilized, none froze!Some people are lucky and get lots off eggs and embryos...not us.Good luck!

ecleptic · March 2011

Nah. The cycle is a time frame. Example:

IVF Cycle for me (I may have a different schedule of meds so the specifics can change):

Period begins. On cycle day 3, I go in for a check up. I start taking birth control pills for 21 days. I come off them for 3 days, and have a second check up at which point I will have probably started another period (Most girls do. I didn't. That's okay).

Start stimulant shots each night for 8-14 days, take a trigger shot, retrieve eggs, shake and bake in the petri dish.

On the transfer day, you'll transfer a certain number of eggs (I'm doing two) and the rest (if any) will be graded. The ones most likely to survive (if any) will be frozen.

End of Cycle #1 happens after your eggs are transferred or frozen and has nothing to do with the number of embryos. Nothing with the Attain IVF program is specific to a number of embryos. Cycles are the time frame from the start of medications until the end of medications resulting in either a pregnancy or no pregnancy.

Using the frozen embryos from the first cycle would be a FET cycle- that starts with a period and ends with either a pregnancy or no pregnancy.

If you had 100 eggs from your first fresh cycle frozen (no one has this many) you could split the embryos into 3 different FETs. If your first fresh cycle has 1 frozen embryo and you second fresh cycle has 1 and your third has one, you can combine all three into a single FET. Nothing to do with the embryos, everything to do with the menstrual cycle and medication cycle.

Edwina.McDunnough · March 2011

My husband read THIS BOOK and found it helpful. He found it used for $2.

I appreciate that you're so involved!

pennylanehd · March 2011

PPs advice is spot-on, but I wanted to say welcome to the board...I think it is great that you are so involved and wish you and your wife loads of luck with the very first IVF cycle!

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