The Trials & Tribulations of Trying to Conceive when its just not happening (12m+)

time2deal

Picklekin - was that what you expected? 36 seems terribly young for the cutoff.

vseviour

Whattodonow wrote: »

Stupid question, but does anyone know if I can ask to delay egg collection by one day?

I was moving away and had job interview on Fri, so they scheduled my egg collection for Sat, but then my FS was super helpful. We had day 3 transfer on Tuesday, think this is more common than day 5

picklekin

No it wasn't expected at all, I thought what I'd read about 39 being the age limit was true... I thought there might be more waiting our more tests first, butthis has knocked me for 6

tea_lover

!!!!!!?? 36??!?

fluffnutter

time2deal wrote: »

WTDN - we really are on almost exactly the same dates. Except I'm stimming from tonight, but also looking at EC around the 15th.

I think you can move the EC day a little. I think the nurse was mumbling a bit last time, and said.. hmm.. Wed or Thurs, and I said Wednesday was better so they worked to that. Obviously you can't move it around too much, but I suspect one day is possible. Just let them know in advance to put the idea in their heads!

ET is more complex though. The time depends on the number of embryos. If there is a clear 'leader', or you only have 1 or 2 embryos, I think they put them back sooner rather than later. They only wait (AFAIK) if there are a number to choose from, and they want the best.

So, the longer the wait the better really - as it means you have more to choose from. I've never made it to ET though, so others can give more personal advice. I did find a great link about what happens on the various days - I'll see if I can find it again.

It depends on the clinic too - some really like to see what goes to blastocyst, some like to pop them back in quickly. There are benefits to both techniques. In my (limited) understanding...

Pros to waiting until day 5: It's the difference between predicting who's going to win a marathon at the start of the race versus a mile before the finish. When eggs are dividing, some will continue well and some will falter. At day one they might all be doing fantastically, by day five only one or two will still be 'in the race'. If you can leave it until day five (by which time the embryo is technically a blastocyst) you will have weeded out those embryos which won't make it. Remember it's completely natural that not all fertilised eggs go on to make a baby, with or without IVF. There's another important reason why clinics like to transfer blastocysts where possible - this is the state the embryo is in when it actually implants in the womb. Up until that point the embryo is usually in the fallopian tube which is actually quite a different environment. Trying to emulate the actual likely day of natural implantation as much as possible has proved more successful.

Pros to not waiting: There's no better environment for an embryo than tucked inside the fallopian tubes/womb. Lab conditions do their best but a baby wants to grow in a tum, not a petri dish. If there are few embryos it's likely that an early transfer will be chosen.

fluffnutter

I was deemed too old for NHS funding. The cut off in my area is 35.

Whattodonow

Thanks all for advice.

time2deal wrote: »

WTDN - we really are on almost exactly the same dates. Except I'm stimming from tonight, but also looking at EC around the 15th.

yay! IVF/ICSI buddies

picklekin wrote: »

(I turned 36 yesterday).

Picklekin that is sh*te. Whereabouts are you? How do you stand regarding private treatment? Seems so unfair.

Whattodonow

fluffnutter wrote: »

I was deemed too old for NHS funding. The cut off in my area is 35.

So unfair. These things should be consistent not a postcode lottery. :mad:

Whattodonow

Thanks fluff & T2D for detailed explanations. I kinda hope they make it to day 5 now (if I'm lucky enough to get any eggs of course).

fluffnutter

Whattodonow wrote: »

Thanks fluff & T2D for detailed explanations. I kinda hope they make it to day 5 now (if I'm lucky enough to get any eggs of course).

But don't worry if your clinic likes to transfer earlier. Sometimes it's just their policy. TBH, the difference in success rates is probably quite small - an embryo's going to make it or it's not. The main factor is egg quality really and that's not something you can do a lot about.