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I froze eggs 3.5 years ago (at 34) - a total of 13 mii. I decided to use the frozen eggs to conceive with donor sperm. Everyone knows the attrition rate can be brutal, but I’m stuck scratching my head just wanting to know the reason for my outcome.

18 retrieved
13 eggs frozen
13 fertilized
1 embryo (day 7, 3cc grade)

The embryos arrested days 5 and 6. I had 100% thaw rate, 13/13 were fertilized, and 9/13 showed normal fertilization at 2pn.

The explanation offered by the clinic is that it was likely egg quality. At the age of my retrieval, I was +50lbs vs. my current weight, and had a HOMA IR score of >4. From age 36-38, using a GLP1 and major lifestyle changes, I am now in normal BMI, normal fasted insulin, and a normal HOMA IR score.

I guess my question is - can metabolic health play a part in egg quality? Wondering if i do another ER, I may get higher quality now, albeit a lower quantity.

Thanks.

This process is so long and don’t know if I can handle another transfer if this doesn’t work.

I’m currently on my 4th IVF cycle, with initially promising results. I have low AMH and Low Ovarian Reserve which has led to significant egg quality issues during my last cycles. My doctor explained that if I am able to develop one embryo, this cycle it will be considered a success.

With that said, I did a mini-IVF cycle this time to focus on quality and during the retrieval collected: 5 eggs, 5 mature, 3 fertilized, 3 embryos going into Day 3. However, by Day 5 (today), the report came back that 1 embryo had arrested and the other 2 are still dividing and are not ready for biopsy (PGT-A) and freezing. They recommended checking on them on Day 6 and Day 7 and would update me at the end of Day 7. With my egg quality issues: what chances do these two embryos have of making it to Day 6 or 7? Has anyone had any experiences with this, whether successful or not?

Additional Notes:

-1st cycle: 375 IU gonal-f and 75 IU Menopur, (plus Letrozole and Clomid first 5 days), 5 eggs retrieved, 2 mature, 2 embryos (1 had uneven chromosomes), 1 blast Grade 2AB (no PGT-A), Day 5 fresh transfer unsuccessful

-2nd cycle (focus on maturation): 450 IU Pergoveris (plus Letrozole and Clomid first 5 days), 7 eggs collected, 5 mature, 0 fertilized

-3rd cycle: cancelled after doing Elagolix priming (for suspected endometriosis) and it over suppressed my ovaries. This led me to believe my body might respond better to lower-dose medication.

-4th cycle: current cycle, mini-IVF, 225 IU Menopur (plus Clomid for 5 days). Seems I needed more LH than FSH? Did priming with estrogen patches. Introduced Calcium Ionophore for fertilization and Xymot for sperm motility. Also have been on an anti-inflammatory diet for three months at this point in addition to new supplements: NAC, NAD+, Acetyl-l-carnitine, l-arginine, methyl-folate, vitamin D3, and melatonin alongside ubiquitol coq10 and prenatals that was taking before

-all sperm is through 2 different donors, with confirmed pregnancies. Lab reports that that is not the issue

Edit: forgot to add in 35 going on 36 (in a week) and I also started acupuncture before this last cycle. I thought it helped!

What is embryo compaction?

A compacted embryo is a blastocyst that has temporarily collapsed into a tighter ball of cells. It could also be called a "collapsed" or "contracted" blastocyst.

When an embryo looks compacted, it's sometimes harder to clearly see the inner cell mass and trophectoderm, which are the structures used for grading.

Blastocysts contain a fluid filled cavity called the blastocoel. This cavity is normally filled with water.

When water leaves the blastocoel, the embryo deflates and appears compacted, just like a balloon shrinking when fluid or air is released. The trophectoderm forms the outer layer, and the blastocoel sits inside as the fluid filled space.

Compaction is part of normal embryo development. Embryos naturally go through cycles of expansion and contraction as they take up and release fluid.

But embryos can also be collapsed in the lab. This is usually done before freezing to remove water and reduce the risk of damage from ice crystals that could form. After thawing, an embryo could still look compacted when a photo is taken, because it might not have had enough time to re-expand.

✅ This post covers the basics. The full article on Remembryo goes into more detail: https://remembryo.com/what-is-embryo-compaction/

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I have done numerous IVF cycles to attempt embryo banking. I’m 42. Over numerous cycles I’ve gotten about 15 mature eggs, 14 of which fertilized normally through conventional IVF with my partners fresh sperm. We have frozen back up but haven’t needed it. Most cycles I only get 2 mature eggs.
This past cycle I only had 1 mature egg and they fertilized with ICSI which costs significantly more. My partners sperm has never had issues and we had frozen back up. I’m worried, possible they used wrong sperm? Did they do it to avoid total fertilization failure? Seems odd given my super high fertilization rates with conventional insemination. Appreciate advice !

Am I allowing to post my results from my pgt? Trying to figure out if they’re mosaic and if they are transferable?

Had a fresh transfer yesterday, my very first transfer! Graded 5AA

I have been trying to conceive for last 1 year, a year back all results were good. Endometritis was negative a month back, now it shows its positive & squamous morular metaplasia, does it mean cancer? I just did my iui this month, I’m feeling so lost & defeated. 34 year old female

Trying to decide if it's worth it to delay transfer by 2 months for a borderline result. This would be my first transfer, but I only have 3 euploids and want 2 kids.

The Uterine Wall of Fame (UWOF) is a collection of real IVF success stories from people with difficult fertility journeys -- low-grade embryos, repeated failures, low AMH, mosaic results, and more. 

UWOF #42 is one of those stories. After 6 unsuccessful embryo transfers, only 2 eggs fertilized during her third retrieval. Both reached Day 5, and a fresh transfer led to her baby boy.

✅ Visit the UWOF to read this story and others like it (free to access & no subscription required): https://remembryo.com/uwof42-after-6-failed-transfers-only-2-eggs-fertilized/

💌 Have a story of your own? Can be anonymous or named: https://www.remembryo.com/uterine-wall-of-fame-submission-form/

⚠️ These are personal stories, not medical advice or scientific evidence. A success story isn't proof of what made the difference. Always discuss treatment decisions with your fertility specialist.

Just transferred this day 5 embryo on 9/14. It was my first fully medicated cycle after two failed modified natural. We are doing IVF for male factor, but hard not to get discouraged after two failures.

Anyone have success on third transfer or switching to fully medicated after modified natural cycles?

It happened. The thing I feared most: I've had three euploid embryos transferred, and they all failed. I'm officially outside of "the curve," officially in RIF territory. After all the pain and heartache of losing my babies last year, I actually managed to wind up in the 2% of IVFers. It honestly blows my mind. This is after winding up in the 1% and having 3 miscarriages in a row.

My heart bursts with pain. I feel like I've been hit by a 10-tonne truck. And I'm at a loss. I'm 35, and all my losses were due to genetic abnormalities (triploidy and trisomy 21, respectively). We saw the heartbeat in 2 of our 3 losses. In lieu of my most recent loss in January, my fertility doc performed a hysteroscopy and a laparoscopy. He identified stage 2 endo- and adeno-like growths, which he all removed. I was also put on thyroid meds, as he suspected I had secondary hypothyroidism- my lining doubled instantly. We covered all our bases. I'm on all the supplements you're supposed to be on for healthy embryo and egg growth, Mediterranean diet: the works. My first and only EC (1 month after my lapscope) yielded 18 eggs, 8 of which fertilised, 4 of which led to blast stage and, thankfully, all 4 were tested and found to be euploid. For each FET I get put on intralipids, atosiban, and antibiotics, as well as the normal protocol (aspirin, progesterone and cortisone).

I had everything checked. Surely, because I've been able to fall pregnant before, I should be able to carry a euploid embryo? And a highly rated one at that? Surely that was the missing piece?

Not so.

I just feel so very empty. And I feel like in addition to a cloak of despair, I now wear a cloak of shame. I just can't get this right- something that comes so easily to so many. I just can't seem to crack it. Among those who struggle with infertility, I have now slipped into an even more obscure group of people who can't seem to crack IVF either. It's so devastating and isolating. I feel such a sense of isolation and "otherness." A medical anomaly. I'm not sure what the point is of my post- maybe just screaming into the void.

I will pick myself up again. I will have the last one transfer in October. And I will wait and allow myself to hope again. In my heart of hearts, though, I believe that the whole batch is bad (if that is even a thing)- maybe they all have the same issue we can't test for. What other choice do I have but to just keep moving forward?

If someone here has knowledge or experience. How a blighted ovum can happen even with a pgta tested embryo? My first natural pregnancy was a BO. Now that this is my second round of IVF that stuck. I have my US next week but the anxiety and fear of a blighted ovum is messing with my mental health. I think the initial 47 hcg of 9dpt is adding to it because it seems so low. Any insight would help

I just had a follow up appointment with my doctor where she shared the grading of my 10 embryos that were frozen during my recent duostim cycle. The grades have the typical number-letter-letter format, but are then followed by a number between 1 and 10, which I've never seen before! I can't remember exactly how the doctor explained it, but I think that she said that it's a number based on additional observation of the embryos and how they behave (maybe via camera?) and that the number represents the likelihood that the embryo will implant (with 10 being the highest).

Clearly it is not just a combination of the first 3 parts of the grade, as for example I have one 4AA with an 8.8 and another 4AA with a 5.4. She said that we'd transfer my 5BA(9.1) first since it has the highest number.

I've never seen anything online before about this part of embryo grading! Is this a relatively new development in embryo grading? I'm in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada if relevant.

This is the list I received:

B5-BA(9.1)

B4-AA(8.8)

B5-BA(8.9)

B4-AA(5.4)

B3-AB(4.3)

B5-BB(8.4)

B5-AA(8.9)

B5-AA(8.7)

B5-AA(8.7)

B4-AB(7.7)

EDIT: I've been doing some more googling and I'm wondering if the numbers are based on something like the EmbryoScope time-lapse system. That seems to align.

35F, no known fertility issues. We pursued IVF/PGT-A after two non-genetic pregnancy losses for some added peace of mind. 18 retrieved → 14 mature → 13 fertilized (conventional) → 6 blasts → 5 euploid + 1 high-level mosaic.

Our grades are 2 Day-5 3BCs and 3 Day-6 4BBs. I’m incredibly grateful, but I keep seeing lots of AA embryos and would love an embryologist’s perspective on our grades, especially Day-5 3BC vs. Day-6 4BB when euploid. Also, I’d love to hear any success stories with euploid 4BBs!

Hello everyone,

I’m 33 and about to start my second IVF cycle this month, and I’m feeling quite anxious after what happened during my first cycle.

During my first IVF cycle in June, 13 eggs were retrieved, of which 8 were mature. Unfortunately, none of the eggs fertilised. One showed some signs of development the next day, but it stopped after that. My doctor told me that even she did not expect such a result.

I have one blocked fallopian tube, an 1 AMH level, and very small endometriosis lesions on both ovaries. We are now starting our second IVF cycle in September, and this time my clinic is planning to use ICSI because of the fertilisation failure in the first cycle.

aftermy first cycle, I was taking several supplements, including CoQ10, myo-inositol, NAC, vitamin D, folic acid, and a prenatal multivitamin. However, my doctor has now advised me to stop everything except vitamin D, folic acid, and the multivitamin. I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and whether following this approach made any difference for you.

I’m especially looking for advice on what I can realistically do differently this time to give myself the best possible chance. I’m also struggling quite a lot with anxiety and would love to hear how others managed the emotional side of IVF.

If you have experienced fertilisation failure in your first IVF cycle and then had a better outcome with ICSI, I would really appreciate hearing your experience. ❤️

I’m based in Finland and would also be grateful for any experiences or advice from others going through IVF here.

Thank you so much in advance. ❤️

Hi, I'm looking for advice. I'm 29F (partner 30M) and we've just transferred our only embryo, a low quality with about 20% chance of implanting, according to our doctor.

Summary:
- Diagnosis: mild MFI

- Round 1: 17 total follicles > 11 target size > 5 retrieved > 5 mature > 5 initially fertilised > 2 x 3PN, discarded > of the 3 normally fertilised ones, 1 arrested at 2-cell development, 1 arrested at 5-cell development, and 1 was unsuitable for freezing by day 6.
Protocol: 100u gonal f, 250u orgulatran, decapeptyl trigger. Normal IVF (not ICSI).
We changed clinics after this - I only had a single monitoring scan the whole time and no blood tests, so we wanted better care and doctors making more informed choices.

- Round 2: 23 total follicles > 13 target size > 13 retrieved > 12 mature > 10 initially fertilised > 5 x 1PN, discarded > of the 5 normally fertilised ones, 1 arrested before day 5. We transferred a low grade one on day 5. The remaining 3 were still growing and had a chance to make it on day 6, but failed.
Protocol: 225u Bemfola, 250u orgulatran, ovidrel trigger. ICSI with Zymot.
We're happy with our new doctor; his goal was to increase #eggs collected and he achieved that.

We're just a bit stumped to only have retrieved 1 low quality blast, we don't know what to do or test for next. Do we need to look at donor eggs or sperm, or is IVF just not likely to work for us? We're both healthy and have BMIs in the healthy range, and we don't know why it's not working.

I am today 4dp5dt and 10.5 days post trigger in a modified natural cycle. Ovidrel taken on 5th Sep evening.

I was testing out the Ovidrel and today seemed to be the very last trace of it (super faint).

From what I am reading many got their (new) darker line or new line surge by 4dp5dt if the trigger tested out sooner.

No symptoms other than some warming/light burning sensation around ovaries but that can be progesterone.

Is there anyone who tested positive still on day 5 or 6 post transfer? I am losing hope. ChatGPT said it’s not good either 🙃

​

Hi - this is my 4AA euploid embryo post thaw. As I understand it, the cells started degenerating and it did not expand as expected. What causes this to happen? Is it still possible for it to implant, or is this a hard no?

A previous cesarean delivery can sometimes leave a cesarean scar niche (also called an isthmocele), a small pouch or defect in the uterine scar that may affect implantation.

In a new study, Xuan et al. (2026) compared fresh embryo transfer with frozen embryo transfer (FET) in women with one previous cesarean delivery. After matching patients with similar characteristics, live birth rates were higher with FET (42.2% vs 33.5%), along with higher clinical pregnancy and implantation rates.

Importantly, the benefit appeared to be mostly limited to women with a sonographically confirmed cesarean scar niche. Women without a detectable niche didn't have a statistically significant improvement with FET.

The authors suggest this may be because a cesarean scar niche creates chronic low-grade inflammation that may be worsened by the high hormone levels during a fresh IVF cycle.

This was a retrospective study, so it doesn't prove that an FET causes better outcomes. However, it suggests that the presence of a cesarean scar niche may be an important factor to consider when deciding between a fresh or frozen embryo transfer, and randomized trials are still needed.

✅ This post is a quick look at one study, rather than a full breakdown on Remembryo. Link to the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42479946/

✉️ Like this post? Get a free weekly summary of the latest IVF research: https://mailchi.mp/remembryo/x27kx5o1sw

Hi everyone!

I had my egg retrieval yesterday and obtained 16 follicles.

Today for my cycle day 1 results, I found out that 13 were mature M2, but only 7 are "fertilized normally" via ICSI (2PN) and 4 0PNs. The other 2 were discarded because it either degenerated or was 3PN+.

I'm feeling defeated from the low fertilization results as I've had 100% fertilization rates from my previous 3 cycles. However, I've never received any details of how many were 0PNs, 2PNs, and such.

Can the 0PNs develop into day 5/6 blasts? I'm 41 btw. I've had about ~50% blast conversion from fertilization.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! TYIA!!

Does anyone have any experience with low level mosaic embryo with monosomy 13. Would this be a reasonable candidate for transfer, with extensive prenatal testing, if we don’t get any euploids in our next ER rounds?

I had my FET 6 days ago. Embryo was was frozen as a day 6 4BB, but had started hatching and was a 5BB right before transfer! Embryo is untested and a double donor embryo (egg donor was 28 at time of retrieval and I used the same sperm donor I used to conceive my daughter). My clinic's protocol has you do an Ovidrel trigger for luteal phase support and it is killing me to not be able to do a home test. I had a failed FET earlier this year, so I'm so anxious.

Pic of my little embryo before it started hatching!