[Jnails29]

Hi Ladies: I was presented with a question by my doctor today and I would like to hear what some of you have done/are doing with your FET.

I have 5 blasts frozen rated as follows (I grouped them the way they are frozen):

1-AB -ready to hatch or hatched
1-BC - blastocyst

1-BB -ready to hatch or hatched

2-BB - blastocysts

My RE said they would thaw the 2BB first. If none survive they thaw all the rest. If 1 survives, on the day of transfer we have the following options.

1) just transfer the 1 and save the rest for another FET;

2) Thaw only the 1BB if that survives, transfer 2 and save the other two for another cycle; or

3) Thaw all three of them and see if any survive. I guess if more than 1 survive I would then have to make a decision on how many to transfer.

I know it's a personal decision on what to do but thought if I hear what others have done I would be able to make a more informative decision.

Looking forward to hearing your responses.

[Linz712]

Hi Jnails-
Here's what I did- granted- I had no blasts-all my little embies were frozen the day after fertilization due to my OHSS- so they were all pretty much the same.

Mine were frozen thus thawed in vials of 2 and 3. We thawed a vial of three to start with- but only one looked good. So we decided to thaw two more, and ended up transfering all 3- they all looked good. We could have just transferred the one- but I like the idea of three being a better chance.

If I were you-
I would probably start with just thawing the two, hoping they both made it, and transferring 2. If only one made it- I would just transfer 1, and save the rest for another FET. You may want to have 3 others to try next time. My opinion- its such a tough call- becasue we want always want to optimize our chances, but thoughts of multiples are scary. I guess it also depends on how you feel about having more than 1. I personally am fine with it- so transferring 3 was fine with us, but, repectfully- I know thats not a decision that everyone is comfortable with. Good luck!!!!!We'll be praying for you!

[Kimmyblueiis]

We had 4, 6 day blasts and we absolutely would not discard any, and did not want to wind up transferring 3 or 4. So we decided to thaw 2. The plan was
1.)if both thawed transfer both.
2.) if only one thawed transfer just the one
3.) if neither thawed, thaw/transfer the other 2
Luckily both thawed and we transfered both. They were graded AB, but were graded AA before freezing. I am now 9 wks pregnant with a singleton and everything looks good.
Best of luck with your decision.
Hugs
Kimmy

[futuremom2b]

Jnails ~ I think if I were you and I really tried to put myself in your situation by looking at your signature and the info you provided. With all that you have been through I would do 3. If you would like me to go into detail I will, but that's my opinion.
Good luck!
Blessings!

*Did you already make the decision?

[Jnails29]

Thanks ladies. Your responses are extremely helpful. It's nice to have other views on what people have done. After all we go through, you don't want to think. .... oh no what did I do? Should I have done this or this?

We have a month to decide. Hopefully this decision will come easier than others.

[LV93]

Based on my age and history my RE said that if the blasts looked great at day 5 he would transfer 2. If they looked just ok he would transfer 3. I only ended up with one to transfer.

My first cycle I had 20 eggs retrieved and ended up with only 2 blasts. We transferred both, both implanted but only one ever had a h/b and I M/C at 9 wks. The next cycle we did 2 retrievals and froze them right after fertilization (my RE does this regularly to prepare the uterus for transfer). We had 10 frozen and thawed them all at the same time to see which ones made it to blast (if more than 3 had made it to blast RE said we could re-freeze them).

My RE usually will only transfer 2 blast but said the decision to transfer more is based on age, IVF history and quality of the blast on transfer day.

I wish you all the best! Looks like you have some good embabies.

[hopefulmama]

Ok I'll weigh in here. At first I was going to say to thaw the rest if the one didn't survive but I thought some more and feel that I would prob thaw the one that's alone hoping to be able to transfer two. I changed my mind b/c if you thawed the rest and all survived you would either have to transfer 4 or discard an embie. I was wondering - Is it an option to thaw 3 to start with? If you did that then at most you would transfer 3, if 2 survived you would be good to go, and if only 1 survived you could thaw the other 2 (for a maximum of 3 for transfer). Hope you find a solution you are comfortable with.

[michellep]

Hey Ladies - I'll be doing an FET once my body goes back to normal (OHSS). Someone mentioned that they can thaw and then refreeze embryos if you end up with more than what you want to transfer...I just would like to know if anyone else has had that option from their RE?

Looking forward to getting to know you all!!

[jana]

We had only 3 frozen. My DH and I decided that we would thaw all 3 and transfer all if they made it. They were all great quality and survived the thaw, so we put all 3 back. Only one survived. I think you have to ask yourself what you can handle. Good luck making the decision. It was really hard for us to decide.

[latlasan]

That is a really hard decision. I have 4 embies and would like to thaw them all and use as many as possible. I'll be moving back to MD in March or April of next year so i might as well use them all. I hope GOD bless me with my baby but if not i'm excited because my brother (only brother) just called me today to tell me that his baby will be due on Thanksgivinig and it's a BOY. I am excited about that. At least i'll have a nephew but i guess that still won't take away me wanting my own child. It may fill the void for a little while. I PRAY that that won't be the case though.

[irena_adler]

Originally Posted by michellep

Hey Ladies - I'll be doing an FET once my body goes back to normal (OHSS). Someone mentioned that they can thaw and then refreeze embryos if you end up with more than what you want to transfer...I just would like to know if anyone else has had that option from their RE?

I think that depends a lot on when the embies were first frozen. If they froze them immediately, like they might have done with you because of your OHSS, they might be able to refreeze.

Otherwise, what thaws is what you get. I had four embies frozen in sets of 2, all of the same quality, so I chose to thaw a set and put back what looked good of those two. It turned out to be both. Only if neither had survived thaw would I have unfrozen the other set. Part of this decision - the knowledge that I could have ended up transferring just one - depended a lot on the fact that I was doing a natural FET and doing another cycle wouldn't be nearly as hard on my body or expensive as a fresh cycle.

[Jnails29]

Hopefulmama the only reason they wouldn't thaw all 3 at once is because the 2 that are together are blasts but they aren't near hatching yet. The one by itself is ready to hatch or hatched so they thaw that one a day later to keep them on track. I guess it would make no sense to thaw that one if the other two made it.

michellep I asked my doctor about that and he said the same thing as irena did. If they thaw them immediately they can refreeze them. Two of mine were 5 day blasts and 3 were 6 day so they wouldn't be able to refreeze them.

I wouldn't be adverse to transferring 3. I mean they transferred two "perfect" blast and neither took. Seems to be my luck.

[nething4mybaby]

We just had to make this decision today. We were given the option to thaw all 16 to find the best. We chose to not take the chance of losing anymore than necessary and we will be thawing 3 or 4 again. The last time we lost 2, we transferred 2 and were given the option to refreeze the others but they didn't make it. Just something to think about.

[tamtam]

We had a similar issue
2AA or AB? then 1bb. then 2aa, 2aa and 1 aa frozen. We defrosted 3---2aa and the 1bb. My Re said they could unfreeze one vial at a time and see what survives. if one of a pair did not survive they woudl keep defrosting to get to the # we wanted to transfer. Lucky for us we got all defrosted well and each "tried" to take.

[hopefulmama]

Oh now I understand about why they weren't thawing 3 to start with. Very tough decision. My Dr never presented these choices to me - I had 5 frozen 2 ABs 2 BBs and a CC all blasts. They told me they would transfer at most 2 (the Dr actually suggested 1 but I wanted 2) and that the embryologist would decide which looked best. I guess either the 2 ABs were on one straw or each embie was on it's own straw (possible b/c they are being very conservative with me b/c of my high blood pressure).