Infertility

IVF with donor eggs

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Re: IVF with donor eggs

  • @hopefuljj- soo glad things are moving forward finally!! I know it’s scary but I’m so hopeful this will finally be it for you!! I can’t wait!
    History in Spoiler

    Age: 32 (same with DH). Together since 2006, Married June 2013 and TTC since August 2015
    Diagnosis: Mild Endo, DOR (AMH of 1.5), Poor Quality Eggs/embryos, Displaced Window of Implantation (ERA Post Receptive)
    March-May 2016: 1 TI and 2 IUIs- BFN 
    June 2016- Laproscopy- found/removed mild endo and confirmed only 1 normal healthy ovary.
    August 2016- IVF #1 with Antagonist Protocol- Cancelled (2 lead follies), converted to IUI- BFN
    Oct-Nov 2016- IVF #2 with Estrogen Priming Micro Lupron Protocol, 2 eggs retrieved, day 3 transfer of 1- BFN
    January 2017- New RE, IVF#3 with Estrogen Priming Antagonist Protocol, 12 eggs, 8 mature, 6 fertilized, 2 day 5 early blasts transferred (none to freeze :(), BFN
    May 2017- Sept 2017- Starting Donor Egg process! Waiting for donor to be available... and then she is pregnant at baseline :(
    Oct 2017- Donor #2: 25R, 22M,18F, 12 blasts frozen! Fresh transfer cancelled due to thin lining with fluid :(
    Nov 2017- Hysterscopy to remove polyp
    Dec 2017- DE FET #1 on 12/8 on 2 perfect blasts- BFN and devastated
    Jan-Mar 2018- ERA #1- Post receptive by 24 hours, ERA #2 RECEPTIVE with 4 days of Progesterone
    Apr 2018- DE FET cancelled for lining issues :(
    Jun 2018- DE FET #2 of two 1AA blasts- first BFP ever! Beta 10dp5dt- 378, Beta 14dp5dt- 2840, Beta 16dp5dt- 4035, beta 18dp5dt- 10916. Due on 2/20 with one baby after a vanishing twin
    Baby Born born early @ 33.5 weeks due to Pre-e
    Back for # 2!
  • Hi everyone. We are doing donor egg IVF. The retrieval was yesterday and they retrieved 20 eggs. However they called today and said only 13 were mature and one didn’t fertilize so we are left with 12. They will continue to call us to let us know how many make it to day 5. 

    I was wondering if it was normal to lose 8 eggs like that. I know not all are mature but 7 seemed like a lot. I am worried after day 5 and PGS that I won’t be left with much. 
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  • c-town18c-town18 member
    edited May 2019
    hopefuljj - OMG how exciting!  Yes, the uncertainty is always scary, just keep reminding yourself that you have put yourself in the best possible position to have a successful outcome this time. 

    casey301 - Welcome! Wow, what an exciting time. I cannot remember what ratio of my donor's retrieved eggs were mature and fertilized, but we wound up with 8 day 5 embryos and all 8 came back pgs normal (which was a surprise, I was just hoping for 3-4 to be normal).  If you're working with 12 fertilized donor eggs I'd say you're in great shape. Has she donated before and do you know the results? If she had past successful cycles that might give you some peace of mind, but either way the odds are in your favor here which I know is hard to get used to given what we've all been through. Let us know when you get an update, we're all rooting for you!  
  • Hi @casey301!  That sounds pretty great to me! But I 100% understand your fear of not being left with enough, at this point it doesn’t matter how many we end up getting I’ll likely still be certain it’s not enough:-/. When do you get your next update? Are they giving you a day 3 or just day 5?
    Me: Hashimoto Autoimune Disease
    Homozygous MTHFR Cr677
    DOR - AMH  .27 High FSH (don't even know how high)
    2 iui's to start - BFN 
    IVF 1 -3 made it do day 5!    2 5AA 1 6BB  PGS results =  all abnormal :(
    IVF 2 - stimmed for 19 days. insanity. Had 5 follicles that looked mature but only 2 contained mature eggs the others were empty.  Nothing made it to day 5
    IVF 3 - added in HGH - 4 mature follicles (had some empties again) 3 made it to day 5/6 for PGS (held for testing with next retrieval
    IVF 4 - Upped my dosage for the first time - Canceled 11 days into sims - looked like 1 follicle and we were afraid it was empty
    IVF 5 - Canceled -  looked like 1 follicle and we were afraid it was empty
    IVF 6 - 3 mature, 2 fertalized 1 made it to day 5 and sent for PGS

    Sent in IVF round 3 and 6 (4 embryos) for PGS testing and got 2 normal embryos!!!  1Boy and 1Girl. Took a little over a year to get those two embryos so demanded all sorts of test prior to attempting transfer. Did EFT, ERA and NK Cells testing.

    FET#1 - Intralipid drips, Prednisone, and did a depot lupron shot before starting the FET protocol
    Chemical pregnancy
    FET#2 - PGS normal boy - BFN
    Natural pregnancy - cycle following the FET2????   Miscarriage at 8 weeks.  viability scan had shown an enlarged yolk sac so I had been warned that it was likely not chromosonally normal :(

    DEIVF cycle - picked a donor who is willing to be open! Her cycle resulted in in 4 PGS Normal embryos
    1st transfer - chemical pregnancy
    2nd transfer - success, May 17 2020 due date!
  • I got my day 5 update today and only 4 made it to blastocyst. I am so upset. They are watching another 4-5 to see if they can make it to day 6. I am so upset that out of 20 eggs, only four made it to day 5. I am thinking if they don’t get more tomorrow that PGS may not be worth it. 
  • casey301 - How many embryos does your PGS fee cover?  Even with 4 blasts and donor eggs, the chances that you are going to have at least 1 or 2 normal is pretty darn good ya know?  Are you leaning towards maybe just not testing them?  Honestly I was on the fence re: whether to test with DE.  I could have gone either way.  
  • @casey301 I am so so sorry. I am hoping with everything I’ve got though that you are going to get a take home baby from your first transfer.  I hear you on the PGS and considering whether or not to do it...I would ask your doctor what they recommend.  Ugh, my stomach is in knots for you because I know it is crazy stressful to be watching the numbers go down but try to remember that these are young healthy eggs! And so hopefully you are still working with a good number. Is she a proven donor?
    Me: Hashimoto Autoimune Disease
    Homozygous MTHFR Cr677
    DOR - AMH  .27 High FSH (don't even know how high)
    2 iui's to start - BFN 
    IVF 1 -3 made it do day 5!    2 5AA 1 6BB  PGS results =  all abnormal :(
    IVF 2 - stimmed for 19 days. insanity. Had 5 follicles that looked mature but only 2 contained mature eggs the others were empty.  Nothing made it to day 5
    IVF 3 - added in HGH - 4 mature follicles (had some empties again) 3 made it to day 5/6 for PGS (held for testing with next retrieval
    IVF 4 - Upped my dosage for the first time - Canceled 11 days into sims - looked like 1 follicle and we were afraid it was empty
    IVF 5 - Canceled -  looked like 1 follicle and we were afraid it was empty
    IVF 6 - 3 mature, 2 fertalized 1 made it to day 5 and sent for PGS

    Sent in IVF round 3 and 6 (4 embryos) for PGS testing and got 2 normal embryos!!!  1Boy and 1Girl. Took a little over a year to get those two embryos so demanded all sorts of test prior to attempting transfer. Did EFT, ERA and NK Cells testing.

    FET#1 - Intralipid drips, Prednisone, and did a depot lupron shot before starting the FET protocol
    Chemical pregnancy
    FET#2 - PGS normal boy - BFN
    Natural pregnancy - cycle following the FET2????   Miscarriage at 8 weeks.  viability scan had shown an enlarged yolk sac so I had been warned that it was likely not chromosonally normal :(

    DEIVF cycle - picked a donor who is willing to be open! Her cycle resulted in in 4 PGS Normal embryos
    1st transfer - chemical pregnancy
    2nd transfer - success, May 17 2020 due date!
  • c-town18 said:
    casey301 - How many embryos does your PGS fee cover?  Even with 4 blasts and donor eggs, the chances that you are going to have at least 1 or 2 normal is pretty darn good ya know?  Are you leaning towards maybe just not testing them?  Honestly I was on the fence re: whether to test with DE.  I could have gone either way.  
    My PGS fee is $2000 plus $200 per embryo. I just read it was damaging to the embryo sometimes and with a small amount of embryos possibly, I didnt know if I wanted to risk it.  But I have heard it is helpful sometimes. I dont know. 
  • hopefuljj said:
    @casey301 I am so so sorry. I am hoping with everything I’ve got though that you are going to get a take home baby from your first transfer.  I hear you on the PGS and considering whether or not to do it...I would ask your doctor what they recommend.  Ugh, my stomach is in knots for you because I know it is crazy stressful to be watching the numbers go down but try to remember that these are young healthy eggs! And so hopefully you are still working with a good number. Is she a proven donor?
    She had five previous donations and we only found out the results of one of those. My clinic did one cycle with her and they got seven embryos and a pregnancy. The agency said they were never given the results of her cycles which we found weird, because other agencies gave the info, but when we asked our clinic to get them they said we couldnt due to HIPAA. Because we really liked the donor, and our clinic had a success with her last year, we thought it was ok to continue with her but now we are second guessing ourselves. She is 32. Maybe we should have used another donor. So stressed. 
  • Well they called today and said only one more made it, a day 6 blastocyst. So we have a total of 5. I am really upset over this result. Due to her age we are concerned the PGS testing will not come back great either. I don’t understand. My donor had an AMH of over 5 and an FSH of 4. Four day 5 and one day 6 embryo seems like a very small amount for a donor with those numbers. 15 out of 20 of her eggs retrieved were bad. So we are not hopeful with the PGS. So upset. 
  • c-town18c-town18 member
    edited May 2019
    casey301 - I understand why you are upset. But 5 blastocysts with 32 year old eggs is not nothing though, it's just not what you expected I know. What is your RE recommending? I think it would be totally reasonable to just have them transfer the best quality 1 or 2 and skip the PGS if you're second guessing it. That's probably what I would do.  I'm sorry this is such a rollercoaster; these are still good odds though if you ask me!  
  • c-town18 said:
    casey301 - I understand why you are upset. But 5 blastocysts with 32 year old eggs is not nothing though, it's just not what you expected I know. What is your RE recommending? I think it would be totally reasonable to just have them transfer the best quality 1 or 2 and skip the PGS if you're second guessing it. That's probably what I would do.  I'm sorry this is such a rollercoaster; these are still good odds though if you ask me!  
    They said they are all the same grade, BB. We are still just going to do the PGS. I know 5 isnt the worst, just really expected a little better. I guess I am just concerned for the PGS results since 15 out of 20 eggs werent good. 
  • casey301 - Sounds like a good decision. I've got everything crossed for you, girl!  Keep us updated on the results. I know how bad the PGS wait sucks; hopefully you are able to keep yourself busy and stay optimistic the next several days. 
  • @casey301 *lurking* i might be doing DE IVF so following this board and just wanted to say I’m rooting for you. This stuff is so hard. Thoughts and prayers for you ❤️
  • Thank you everyone. 
  • If there were 13 mature eggs, and 8 of them were not good (didnt create blastocysts), is that a bad sign for the PGS results? I have read that the average blastocyst rate is about 60-80%. Since only five of 13 mature eggs created blastocysts, we are a little under 40%. I guess thats why im extra concerned about the PGS results.
  • casey301 - I went back and got my numbers and hopefully this helps.  My donor had 27 eggs retrieved but only 19 were mature; we had them fertilize 15 via ICSI (we froze the other 4). 15/15 fertilized via ICSI.  8 made it to blast, and after PGS 8/8 were normal.  My donor was in her late 20's.  I don't think proportion-wise my numbers are vastly different from yours, ya know?  Of those that fertilized, roughly half made it to blast for both of us. A good chunk of my donor's weren't mature either but the blasts we did get were all normal so apparently that wasn't indicative of the quality of those that remained.  Also in scrolling for my results, I found our friend laurad75 who said on her successful DE cycle she had 19 fertilize and got 9 blasts.  Again, proportion-wise, in the same ballpark as you.  I hope this helps give you maybe just a little peace of mind during your wait!  
  • C-town18- thanks so much! That definitely did help me with a little peace of mind. I guess after multiple failed cycles with my own eggs, the stress of doing a DE cycle, etc, I just keep expecting the worst. But, fingers crossed. 
  • Our donor egg cycle PGS results came in today and only one of five embryos were normal. We are devastated. $40,000 spent and only one chance. I have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, etc. I am so afraid this one wont work. I needed more than one chance. I cannot believe for a proven donor with five previous cycles that this happened. Our doctor thinks it was just a “bad batch”, but I dont know. Just a year ago she had good results. I am still thinking back to the fact that the last ultrasound was done four days before retrieval. It felt too long. But I cant prove anything. This is just horrible. 
  • casey301 - Ugh, I'm so sorry.  I don't know what to say.  This shit is so unfair I know.  What is your doc saying as far as a game plan?  
  • c-town18 said:
    casey301 - Ugh, I'm so sorry.  I don't know what to say.  This shit is so unfair I know.  What is your doc saying as far as a game plan?  
    Yeah, unfair is an understatement. Disgusting. 

    He is saying to transfer the one embryo and hope for the best.

     IPs have no real rights in this whole process, its horrible. 
  • @Casey301 I am so so sorry.  This is totally unfair. I’m just so so sorry.  
    Me: Hashimoto Autoimune Disease
    Homozygous MTHFR Cr677
    DOR - AMH  .27 High FSH (don't even know how high)
    2 iui's to start - BFN 
    IVF 1 -3 made it do day 5!    2 5AA 1 6BB  PGS results =  all abnormal :(
    IVF 2 - stimmed for 19 days. insanity. Had 5 follicles that looked mature but only 2 contained mature eggs the others were empty.  Nothing made it to day 5
    IVF 3 - added in HGH - 4 mature follicles (had some empties again) 3 made it to day 5/6 for PGS (held for testing with next retrieval
    IVF 4 - Upped my dosage for the first time - Canceled 11 days into sims - looked like 1 follicle and we were afraid it was empty
    IVF 5 - Canceled -  looked like 1 follicle and we were afraid it was empty
    IVF 6 - 3 mature, 2 fertalized 1 made it to day 5 and sent for PGS

    Sent in IVF round 3 and 6 (4 embryos) for PGS testing and got 2 normal embryos!!!  1Boy and 1Girl. Took a little over a year to get those two embryos so demanded all sorts of test prior to attempting transfer. Did EFT, ERA and NK Cells testing.

    FET#1 - Intralipid drips, Prednisone, and did a depot lupron shot before starting the FET protocol
    Chemical pregnancy
    FET#2 - PGS normal boy - BFN
    Natural pregnancy - cycle following the FET2????   Miscarriage at 8 weeks.  viability scan had shown an enlarged yolk sac so I had been warned that it was likely not chromosonally normal :(

    DEIVF cycle - picked a donor who is willing to be open! Her cycle resulted in in 4 PGS Normal embryos
    1st transfer - chemical pregnancy
    2nd transfer - success, May 17 2020 due date!
  • casey301 - Hello, I wanted to check in and see how you're holding up.  Any idea when you might transfer?  
  • @c-town18 thanks for checking in. I think I am going to transfer sometime in August. With the stress this failed DE cycle has caused, I dont think it would be a good idea to transfer anything in me right now. Im still in shock. Im very nervous with only having one shot with all my pre-existing health issues, and I want to get myself more emotionally and physically ready for this before doing the transfer.  
  • @casey301 I’m so sorry about the disappointing cycle , I’ll be keeping you in my prayers for your transfer 🙏🙏
  • Hi everyone! I’m on my second cycle of IVF...first one was canceled because I had literally no response to the stims. If I have no response this time, I’m moving on to donor eggs. Can anyone speak to fresh vs frozen eggs? There’s a part of me that can’t bear to think of someone going through a great cycle of IVF for me while I can’t but it seems like there’s better odds with fresh eggs?
  • @lucyb1954 we used frozen eggs instead of fresh due to my doctors recommendation for cost and the fact that the eggs are ready to go . Although I know a lot of people do fresh because you do have a chance to end up with a lot more eggs , at a more expensive price . Just to give you some numbers we had 12 frozen eggs , 9 were fertilized and 4 made it to day 5.  We transferred one and I’m pregnant now so we have the other 3 frozen . We were pretty happy with that cuz we are hoping we can have at least one if not more kids from the remaining eggs but I’ll take it one at a time 😂
  • lucyb1954 - With fresh you may wind up with more eggs/embryos, but of course there is no guarantee there. 
    With frozen you can usually transfer more quickly and it usually is less expensive if you're paying out of pocket, and it takes a little bit of unpredictability out of the process (this is coming from someone whose first donor had a poor response and we had to cancel and choose a new donor).  You may not be able to do PGS with frozen egg embryos, but ask your doc b/c that may depend on the lab. Also you typically aren't going to end up with more than a few embryos at most if you just get one lot of frozen eggs so it depends on how receptive your uterus is and if you think you might need multiple tries at transferring.  
  • Thank you for the info @c-town18 and @knottie7777 I don’t know whether I’ll be receptive because I’ve never been pregnant. I’m out of the game for awhile though because I have three ovarian cysts at 3cm each 🤦‍♀️🙄🙄🙄 man this stuff is trying. 
  • Hello! I just wanted to bump this thread because it is full of very useful information that I read through in detail when making my decision.
    Our Journey:
    Me: 40
    TTC since 2017
    3/18-9/18- IUI's
    11/18- IVF #1
    1/19- IVF #2
    8/19- DE Cycle #1- 5 PGS tested normal
    9/19- FET #1- SUCCESS! May 2020
    10/21- FET #2- SUCCESS! July 2022
  • Hi ladies!  I wanna try jumping in but boy this thread is loaded!  I had egg donor and sperm donor both and got my BFP last month.  Having my first scan on the 26th and can't wait.  I got three embies frozen back in Cyprus but I'm putting all hopes that my next trip there would be on our first vac with our new baby!
  • Hi @nken20 and @cmhme! I’m not a DEIVF person (yet, maybe) but I also wanted to shoot you both over to the low AMH thread as well. Definitely some DEIVF folks on that and even more helpful information!
  • nken20 - Wow, congratulations!  Wishing you the best!  
  • @lucyb1954 sorry yet unfamiliar but what does AMH thread mean?  How do I find it?
    @c-town18 thank you
     

  • Hi everyone.  This board has become so quiet so hopefully everyone is getting what they need.  An article I wrote about my infertility/ donor egg story was just published and I wanted to share it with you.  I'm so grateful to this community for their support while we were navigating the options.  Good luck to everyone who is still trying!

    https://livingthesecondact.com/2019/11/12/my-journey-from-infertility-to-motherhood/
    History and blog link in spoiler
    2016 - dx with super low ovarian reserve; failed cycle with clomid, failed IUI, 
    2017 - egg retrieval #1 - 3 eggs, 0 embryos appropriate for transfer; ER #2 2 eggs, 0 embryos on day 3; ER #3 1 egg 0 embryos
    moved to donor egg in summer 2017; 35 eggs retrieved; 19 fertilized; 9 total embryos
    Fresh transfer Dec 2017= BFP!  baby boy born 8/22/18

    May 2019 - surprise natural pregnancy ended in MC
    Nov 2019 FET; MC at 9 weeks
    May 2020 FET; BFN
    July 2020 FET; CP treated with methotrexate
    Oct 2020 BFP! 

    Take a look at my blog


  • @laurad75 that’s a great article, thanks so much for sharing !   I haven’t given an update in a while, I had my daughter on October 25th... after 7 failed cycles with my own eggs, the very first donor egg cycle worked ! I had my transfer back in February and we have 3 more embryos frozen for the future . 
  • Congratulations @knottie7777 and thank you for your kind words!  
    History and blog link in spoiler
    2016 - dx with super low ovarian reserve; failed cycle with clomid, failed IUI, 
    2017 - egg retrieval #1 - 3 eggs, 0 embryos appropriate for transfer; ER #2 2 eggs, 0 embryos on day 3; ER #3 1 egg 0 embryos
    moved to donor egg in summer 2017; 35 eggs retrieved; 19 fertilized; 9 total embryos
    Fresh transfer Dec 2017= BFP!  baby boy born 8/22/18

    May 2019 - surprise natural pregnancy ended in MC
    Nov 2019 FET; MC at 9 weeks
    May 2020 FET; BFN
    July 2020 FET; CP treated with methotrexate
    Oct 2020 BFP! 

    Take a look at my blog


  • Congratulations on your daughter!  She is the best gift after everything you went through  :)  enjoy every minute with your new girl! <3
  • Read your article @laurad75 it was great of you to share your story.  You are a lovely family  <3

  • laurad75 - Haven't check in in a while but just did and read your article.  I love it, your little family is adorable.  I like the idea of discussing being grateful for everyone who helped bring your son here (doctors, nurses, donor), I'm going to steal that one to talk about with my own son.  Thank you.  

    knottie7777 - Belated congratulations to you!  I'm sure your little girl is precious.  
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