IVF – Fertilization Report

Just got a call from the embryologist with results from the ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). They collected 8 oocytes yesterday. Of those, 6 were mature, and 3 fertilized. The remaining 3 are what they call “questionable” which means they may still develop into embryos, but perhaps not. This is overall a very good result, given that we only started with 8 total! Women in their early thirties tend to start off with more like 15-20 oocytes, so the attrition is less grim. But for being 38, this is quite promising. We’re off to the races.

I’m not sure if it makes sense to just start another IVF cycle right away, to see if we can get better numbers. We could very easily end up with only 1 embryo at blastocyst phase, and would have to get pretty lucky for that one to be chromosomally normal. But then we could be done, and it’s temping to imagine just being ready to implant and not go through another two month long IVF cycle!

I’ll hold out hope until Monday, when we get the call to see how many embryos made it to day 6 blastocyst stage (at which point they freeze and send off for genetic testing). Then I’ll make an appointment with the RE to talk about the best course of action. Waiting any amount of time seems unwise, but at the same time, maybe waiting just another month for the results of genetic testing to come back wouldn’t be a disaster. I can at least start priming for IVF maybe, since that’s relatively unexpensive, and then if it turns out we don’t need another cycle, I can just jump in and get ready for implantation. I’m not sure if that plan makes sense at all, so I’ll have to get more information.

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