cells and increase of..

Hello,  I have just received my negative after my first IVF with ICSI.  I had 15 eggs, 10 eggs that fertilized but only 2 made it to the blastocyst stages.  One was decent in size and inner cell development, but the cells that make up the placenta were weak.  My other blastocyst was not so strong (early blastocyst stages) and also weak placenta cell make up.  What can I do to improve the make up of those particular cells??  Vitamins, diet???  Also, My husband had a high WBC count.  My RE washed it before ICSI but could that have effected the quality of our blastocysts?  We didn't even get any to freeze!   Please help me to understand what went wrong.

[Forum-M.D.-SP]

It is hard to know what went wrong. It is very important to understand that, even with a perfect IVF cycle, the chances of getting pregnant even in young women is at best 40% per cycle. I do not think white cells in your husband's sperm made a difference - often immature sperm and white cells can be confused with each other, so it would be worthwhile asking your RE if the white cells were identified by special stains to confirm they are indeed white cells and not immature sperm.

I would dwell on the positive - excellent fertilization. I would recommend that you have your embryos transferred at cleavage stage (3 days after retrieval) rather than blastocyst stage next time. Embryos may do better in a uterus than they do in the lab and you may benefit from an earlier transfer.

Poor progression from day 3 to blastocyst may just be because your embryos do not like the lab environment, or may be because of poor quality embryos as one of the causes for your infertility. It is impossible to know which. My experience tells me that with 15 eggs and 10 fertilized, you still have a very good chance of succeeding at IVF.

Good luck

[SDteacher]

Thank you for your advice and timely response!  I will talk to my RE about it. Much appreciation.