embryos - what to do?

my wife went through ivf and produced 20 eggs of which 13 were usable (10 days of gonal-f). 11 were fertilized. we split into 6 and 5.


first round we cultured 6 but only 1 went to blastocyst. we used the best 3 embryos but failed to get pregnant. very disappointed.


need to think about what to do with the 5 embryos, frozen at day 2. i've been told they are of good quality. they are frozen in 2 batches: 3 and 2.


each time to thaw and re-implant has cost which is an issue. but we also know that the potential result is more important than cost.


we were told we should expect to loose around 20% of the embryo in the thawing process.


the doctor suggest we thaw all 5 and culture for 1 more day only (and transfer at day 3) as there is a risk that none of them reach blastocyst. the doctor will use best 3-4 embryos because triplets at only about 1% possiblity.


just like to hear what others have done or what you were advised on frozen embryos.

I had 4 frozen blasts in batches of 2. We thawed 1 batch and lost 1 blast. Since FETs have a lower success rate, we decided to thaw the 2nd batch and transfer the 3 blasts. I got pregnant with one.


From what I understand, a woman of age 34, on average, will have about 50% of embryos which are abnormal. I'm 36 and did PGD on 5 blasts which found 3 out of 5 were abnormal. So, if your wife is older than 34, I'd go for 3 or 4. And yes, it sounds right to culture for only 1 day more because only 1 out of 6 got to blast last time.


Good luck.