A double day 3 embryo transfer brought success for a patient with PCOS—after 7 IVF cycles and repeated setbacks, one embryo implanted and became her healthy son.
⚠️ These stories are personal experiences, not medical advice or scientific evidence. Success stories are more likely to be shared than unsuccessful ones, so they should not be interpreted as proof that a treatment works. Always discuss treatment decisions with your doctor.
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📊 Story Snapshot
👩 Age: 34📆 Years trying: 2
🧬 Embryo: Two day 3 embryos
🧪 Retrievals: 7
🐣 Transfers: 5
💊 Diagnosis: PCOS / Hormonal imbalance
📈 Outcome: Live birth (singleton, twin loss)
We started our IVF journey after 1.5 years of trying naturally and then 6 months of Clomiphene. My primary diagnosis was PCOS and I was 34 when we started IVF (36 by the time our little miracle arrived). My husband is around my age (4 years older) and no issues have been identified with him.
Our IVF success story starts on round 7. Of our first 6 rounds, 2 of them were cancelled cycles, we had a missed miscarriage following our very first embryo transfer in round 2, we tried a day 3 transfer which was unsuccessful, we had a FET cycle where the one frozen embryo we had ever had (to that point) didn’t survive the thaw, and we had a chemical pregnancy. Other than the one FET cycle, every other cycle (and also our successful one) had been a full stim cycle and despite getting reasonable amounts of eggs each time (the lowest number ever being 7, highest being 24) our fertilisation rates weren’t spectacular, around 1/3-1/2 the eggs fertilised each round. By the time we got to embryo transfer we usually just had that embryo and that was it.
We went very hard, completing all of our cycles in around 12 months. So by the time we got to round 7 we were feeling pretty worn down and like this just wasn’t going to happen for us. We got to egg collection and this was the round we got 24 eggs which was amazing, we thought maybe our luck had finally changed. We did half ICSI & half ICSI-HA (PICSI) for fertilisation. But, of the 21 eggs that were deemed suitable for insemination, only 5 fertilised which was another crushing blow. After that, we began to worry we wouldn’t even have an embryo to transfer at all this time, so we decided to do a day 3 transfer. Having tried unsuccessfully with a day 3 embryo transfer before, and feeling utterly defeated with all we had gone through to that point, we decided, after much deliberation, to try transferring 2 embryos. It wasn’t a decision we took lightly, a multiple pregnancy was a possibility and whilst we would be happy to have multiple babies (challenging as it might be), we were definitely concerned about possible negative outcomes for any babies that resulted. We did some reading up on the outcomes of double embryo transfers on day 3 and decided to take the chance.
Following the transfer we received the wonderful news that yes, I was pregnant! From then, it was the waiting game until ultrasound – are there one or two in there? Maybe even more! Mostly though, we had the fear that however many there were, they might not survive. Would we get to ultrasound and find no heartbeat(s) like the first time we got to ultrasound? We got to ultrasound and were delighted to hear two little heartbeats!
Unfortunately, by the time of my first obstetrician appointment at 9 weeks, one of our little miracles hadn’t made it. Today though, we are blessed to have one happy and healthy 17 month old boy as a result of this pregnancy.
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Want to learn more about day 3 embryos? Check out my guide on embryo grading and success rates.
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