Frozen v fresh

chelsbum · August 2015

hi guys, I fell pregnant with a fresh embryo transfer and miscarried twins at 12 weeks. I have one frozen embryo that we plan on using next, in worried that the chances of it being successful are lesser than the fresh transfer. Has anyone had any experiences with frozen v fresh? Need some positive vibes

MKLEWIS2010 · August 2015

Hi, I am sorry for your loss I can't imagine what you are going through. Statistics show frozen transfers are usually more successful. However, I do not know too much about miscarriage's as I only started IVF recently had a failed fresh and just got my first BFP with a frozen a week and a half ago. Did you do any testing on the embryo before transfer? Was this your first round of IVF? I wish you the best of luck with this frozen transfer.

lilmissslp · August 2015

I keep reading more and more that frozen cycles are more successful! Best of luck!

MrsBwIVF · August 2015

Our stories are pretty similar. We did a fresh cycle last fall, got pregnant with identical twins, at 6w we saw the heartbeats but there were other concerning issues so we had a mri and extra u/s. Before 7w, we were told there were no more heartbeats and we were devestated. They believe that when they split, they didn't split correctly.

Fast forward a few months and we did a frozen transfer. The fet was MUCH easier on me and us as a couple, less meds and less stress. We had 3 frozen embryos left and implanted 2. Both ended up implanting and we are just over 19w.

I'm sorry you have to go through this again, it just sucks. And I don't know if frozen is better than fresh but I have heard rumors, not from my doctors, that they are normally more successful. I don't know if it's because they use a laser to kind of jump start the process of the embryo opening up?

I will warn you that after our latest loss through ivf, we were very pessimistic with this pregnancy. We were extremely happy it had worked again however during the last pregnancy and after seeing heartbeats, we thought we were in the clear. This time around, every ultrasound gave us a small sigh of relief for a few hours and then we'd worry about the next appt. At 11w, we graduated from our specialist to a regular OB and at 12w, our OB gave us the thumbs up. That is when we finally started to get truly excited. Fx this works cycle works for you! And if it does, I just wanted you to know that if you experience similar feelings, you'll know you aren't alone.

Best of luck to you!

chelsbum · August 2015

Wow thank you for all that info! It's giving us hope to know that other people have been trough what we are going through and end up with successful pregnancies from frozen embryos afterwards. Are you pregnant with twins with 2 implanted? We only have 1 frozen embryo and I've heard people lose the embryo because it doesn't thaw properly which was made my anxiety go through the roof.

Thank you for giving me some reassurance that the frozen is still a possibility of working! I will be very worried with the next pregnancy so it's nice to know that those feelings will be normal.
Thank you :-)

Wicked4589 · August 2015

Frozen does have a better success rate. My doc said its because our bodies are so amped up during fresh cycles and stressed. With frozen cycles our bodies are "rested". I had a neg from fresh and positive from first frozen cycle.

chelsbum · August 2015

Music to my ears thanks for the positive advise! Fingers crossed it all works out and we don't have to go through the whole process again!

MrsBwIVF · August 2015

@chelsbum, yes, we used two embryos and both implanted! It's crazy!
As for the thawing, I think they have a pretty good handle on a routine that works to give your embryo the best shot. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

chelsbum · August 2015

Oh really? That's really reassuring to hear I just have to try to be more positive which is pretty difficult at the moment.. I live in Australia and it would be very rare for them to ever implant more than one embryo unfortunately :-( but that is fantastic news that they both implanted! Congrats :-) boy/girl?

MrsBwIVF · August 2015

I know it's hard to stay positive, we still have days where we aren't positive about this pregnancy being viable. I don't think we'll be positive until we have both out and in our arms.
We do not know what sex either one is, we actually find out this weekend after our anatomy scans. We're just really hoping they're healthy as can be.
I know it sucks and I'm sorry ladies like you are still struggling but hopefully you can see the light at the end of the tunnel soon!

Joyzie77 · August 2015

Hey everyone.... I start my injections on Friday for my first round of IVF. So much to learn! I did see one person ask if anyone had tested the embryo's before transfer. The cost of the testing is pretty expensive but we are considering it. I was going to ask if anyone else had done it.....

chelsbum · August 2015

MrsbwIVF that's very exciting that you get to find out the babies gender on the weekend please update us :-) hearing about success stories like your definitely gives me some hope that I can get through this and this is only the start of our journey.

Welcome Joyzie I've never heard of anyone having the embryos tested before transfer I didn't know it was possible? The injections are unpleasant but over pretty quickly and you know your progressing every single day! Good luck :-)

ksteeb611 · August 2015

I've only had an ectopic from a fresh cycle. My DD and the triplets were both from frozen. Good luck!

Joyzie77 · August 2015

@chelsbum.. Thanks for the welcome.

Here is the information I was talking about. All of this stuff is too complicated. PGS is what I was talking about. I start my shots tonight. I can't imagine it will be worse than the iui. Just more medications. yay.

PGD, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, involves removing a cell from an IVF embryo to test it for a specific genetic condition (cystic fibrosis, for example) before transferring the embryo to the uterus.
PGS, preimplantation genetic screening, is the proper term for testing for overall chromosomal normalcy in embryos. PGS is not looking for a specific disease diagnosis - it is screening the embryo for normal chromosome numbers.

MKLEWIS2010 · August 2015

@joyzie77 these types of testing are expensive but I heard it does help with finding out if there are chromosomal abnormalities. A major reason for early miscarriages or for embryos not implanting are chromosomal abnormalities. Also if you have a genetic disease that runs in your family and you want to make sure you don't pass it on to your baby you can do these testings to see if they have the gene. Did you do genetic testing on yourselves already? My doctor told me since my hubby and I didn't have any diseases in our family and that she didn't recommend us doing the testing but we could do it if we wanted. We chose not to.

@chelsbum when are you doing your frozen? Keep us updated! Good Luck!

NicWalker10 · August 2015

We recently finished our first IVF cycle and we did do the PGD screening. They collected 11 eggs during egg retrieval, 8 mature and all fertilized, but only 3 embryos made it to day 6 . The three survivors were biopsied and we were informed that 2 of the 3 had chromosomal abnormalities and would not lead to a viable pregnancy. neither I nor my husband have any history of genetic abnormalities and we both did the testing on ourselves prior to beginning IVF. We chose to do these tests because we are both 36 and wanted to do everything we could to support a viable pregnancy. As you can imagine, we were fairly devastated to go from a collection of 11 eggs down to only 1 viable embryo, but in trying to be optimistic, I feel like it is better to have that feeling now, rather than to go through transfer and end up going through the pain of a miscarriage. Our clinic froze the embryo because it was a day 6 embryo and they were concerned about synchronicity so we are hoping that the only embryo we have will survive the thaw for a FET.

long story short, the pgd/pgs testing is extraordinarily expensive and not covered by insurance, but I feel like it has been money worth spending to prevent more heartbreaking loss down the road. Our clinic does take credit cards, so we just took a deep breath and charged it, knowing that we'd have to save our pennies to pay it off.

hope this helps. good luck!!

Me -36

Husband -36/ low morphology

TTC since 7/2014

IVF #1 waiting for FET scheduled for mid September

Joyzie77 · August 2015

@MKLEWIS2010 ... Thanks for the information. We did do testing prior to starting all of this and there were no issues. @NicWalker10 .. I'm so sorry to hear the news about only having one viable embryo. I can imagine how frustrating that must be. I will be thinking of you. We decided to suck it up too and do the PGD testing. It's all coming out of our pocket and we want to do anything possible to make this work... I haven't had to pay for it yet but we were told the cost. Good luck to you. Keep me posted.

pascorra · August 2015

Hi ladies!

I am new to the bump and have been reading the posts and this one hit home. My husband and I just went through our first cycle of IVF ( I am 40) and had 3 failed IUIs prior. Similar to the story below, they collected 17 eggs, out of which only 10 were mature, all were fertilized but only 7 became embryos. We did the pGD testing as well, only 4 were able to be tested, and after all was done with PGd, we were told we just had one healthy embryo. I was shocked, crushed and optimistic at the same time. Without the PGD we would have 4 embryos but with the risk of abnormalities.

I have been trying to stay grateful that it was our first ( and will be our last, it is just too expensive ) and even though we did not get the numbers we wanted, one is considered a success. I know many women who go through this and end up with zero. But, it is very difficult to not think of the odds by having just one..but we are taking it day by day, and I wake up everyday being positive.

Due to PGD, it was frozen and we will be doing a transfer in early September, I can't even think of the defrosting risks...it's overwhelming. So in the interim, I am taking the best care possible of my body to welcome this baby girl! And have my body carry her and develop. I have quit coffee, refined sugars, and alcohol. I am eating all organic, doing yoga and just trying to relax and prepare. I am even doing Castor Oil packs (look this up) to heal my uterus. I had to have polyps removed two weeks ago ( for the second time ). So the journey has been interesting to say the least, and I know so much is out of control, but being positive and taking care of me, I can control.

So, I hope this helps a bit. And would appreciate any words of advice or experiences as some days are harder than others.

Thank you ladies,
Patty

NicWalker10 · August 2015

Thank you for your kind words @Joyzie77.

Hi Patty, I am right there with you on the range of emotions this process and this 1 embryo brings. I am impressed and marvel at your positive attitude and optimism and I am going to try and follow suit, but I'm worried about the tremendous sense of disappointment that will follow if the embryo does not survive the thaw. I'm not sure how to prepare or what to do I haven't gotten any help from them in terms of how to physically or mentally prepare for this which is also frustrating.

To make it a little less emotional, I've limited my conversations with my husband on the whole subject to only talking about it as needed. I find that it's difficult for him to truly understand how I feel and there's just nothing he can say to make it better, which is not his fault at all. I'm just trying to get through the next few weeks without really focusing on it and trying to go about my normal life as much as I can. I've been trying to spend time with friends who dont know that we are doing IVF, or family because they dont talk about it and in all honesty, keeping a distance from our friends who do have kids because it's hard to be around that right now. These weeks seem to be dragging though and I have this feeling of just wanted to get the transfer over with. I wish I could be more excited, but instead I have this overwhelming sense of dread. I'm hoping that I can take away some of your optimism for today!!

MKLEWIS2010 · August 2015

@pascorra and @nicwalker10 I know how frustrating this can be. I really hope this works for you. The one thing all of my research and doctors told me was frozen transfers are usually more successful. I wish you both good luck!

Want a personalized experience?

Frozen v fresh

Re: Frozen v fresh

Choose Another Board

Search Boards