IVF and # of eggs fertilized?

[Trusting77]

IVF recipients: How many eggs did you fertilize (particularly using ICSI) and how many of those actually became viable embryos?  

[Trusting77]

Congrats! Well, my dilemma is that I do not want to destroy any embryos and I would prefer not to fertilize more than I'd be willing to actually use.  So, right now we are thinking about trying to fertilize 4 with ICSI, but we are paying per treatment (no shared risk program b/c we don't want to fertilize so many eggs), so I'm starting to wonder if it is worth the risk or whether we should gamble on fertilizing more just so that we can end up with at least one blast.  We feel strongly about not destroying or freezing more than we'd ever use.  Just wondering if anyone feels the same way and how they are dealing with it.

[tones99]

the thing with freezing some is that it gives you an insurance policy if it doesn't work out .. I had 3 blasts from my last fresh round of IVF ... had one transferred and got BFP but lost it at 12 weeks .. we used a frozen one for our next round . . got BFP again .. but have just lost it at 7 weeks .. there are no guarantees with this business, so always good to have another frozen one there so you don't have to go through the whole fresh process again .. it does put a lot of stress on your body, and a frozen round is much easier!

there is always the option of donating your remaining embryo's to a couple who can't produce their own .. that's what we planned to do if we didn't use all of ours .. keep an open mind and find out all your options.  But I think it is important to fertilise all as you can't see which ones are going to develop and which aren't after extraction .. what if you only chose to fertilise a few but they were the ones that were going to fail?

good luck with your treatment!

[Trusting77]

Thanks for your thoughts. Believe me, I have played out the "What if" scenarios over and over again in my mind.  It wouldn't be the worse thing in the world to have to freeze one or two, but there are no guarantees that only 1 or 2 would be left.  We could have 3 or 4 or maybe even more depending on how many we'd fertilize.  So, I think by limiting the number we fertilize at any one time, that will guarantee at least that we won't have more embryos than we are willing to use.  Of course, as you point out, the negative is that we might not have any at all and all that money is spent.  My doc did say we could freeze the eggs and use them for a second round if this one didn't take, so that I wouldn't have to undergo extraction again.  I'm just not sure of the expense there.  I understand what you mean about keeping an open mind, and we also thought about embryo adoption....but I'm just not sure how I feel about that. Believe me, sometimes I wish I didn't feel this way as it would greatly increase our chances of pregnancy and save us loads of money (shared risk that is), but I have to trust it will all work out in the end...the way God meant it to.  Anyway, I don't want anyone to feel judged here.  This is an incredibly difficult situation to navigate through and I don't cast blame on anyone.  So, I hope no one is offended by my posts.  Thank you all for your thoughts and I still welcome more.  I'm interested in your experiences and about the chances of fertilization with ICSI.

[brandiw13]

I had 30 eggs retrieved and 23 fertilized with ICSI. Two were transferred back to me and I'm almost 31 wks with twins :D

[Trusting77]

So does anyone know the stats? Like what % of eggs that are fertilized actually make it to blast stage? Anyone have any numbers for me?

[beanandsprout]

Hi there,

I had 24 eggs retrieved, and 19 fertilized with ICSI.  1st transfer was 2 blasts and unfortunately miscarried very early.  Out of the 19, transfered 2 and froze 3 blasts, all others were not of a quality that my RE felt could survive a thaw.  So, next month doing a natural FET with however many of those 3 make it through thaw.  

I agree with Tones, since there is are no guarentees, I would (and did) fertilize as many as possible.  

Brandiw13 - CONGRATS on your TWINS!!!  How exciting!