Six retrievals and seven embryo transfers were needed before a Day 6 4BB euploid embryo finally led to a healthy baby at age 40, after an early euploid rate of just 1 out of 17 embryos.
⚠️ These stories are personal experiences, not medical advice or scientific evidence. People are much more likely to share success stories than unsuccessful ones, so they should not be interpreted as evidence that any particular test, treatment, protocol, or clinic caused that success. Always discuss treatment decisions with your fertility specialist.
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📊 Story Snapshot
👩 Age: 40📆 Years trying: 3 years
🧬 Embryo: Day 6 4BB euploid
🧪 Retrievals: 6
🐣 Transfers: 7
💊 Diagnosis: Unexplained infertility
📈 Outcome: Healthy baby born after transfer #7
We turned to IVF after I had my tubes removed for cancer risk reduction and we decided we wanted a third child.
I was 38 for my first round and had encouraging numbers (AMH 2.2, FSH 9), so we were hopeful. But our first two retrievals resulted in 10 embryos with no euploids, but 2 mosaics. We transferred both mosaics, and they failed (transfer #1).
Retrieval #3 gave us 7 embryos, but only 1 euploid, which also failed (transfer #2). Retrieval #4 resulted in 2 very low-quality untested embryos that we still have frozen. Retrieval #5 gave us 4 very high-quality untested embryos, but all of them failed across transfers #3, #4, and #5.
At that point, we had gone through five retrievals and still had no success.
For retrieval #6, we decided to test again. We got 4 embryos and, at age 40.5, and thankfully got 2 euploids. Transfer #6 of a 5AB euploid ended in a devastating blighted ovum. We transferred the final euploid, a Day 6 4BB, and on transfer #7, it finally worked.
That embryo is now our 18-month-old.
Our biggest challenge was getting euploid embryos. Across our first three retrievals, our euploid rate was just 1 out of 17. We threw everything at retrievals #5 and #6. Most of our transfers were natural or modified natural, but for transfer #7 I also did extra monitoring of my natural progesterone.
What would you say to someone who’s going through what you went through?
It’s an arduous process and at some point you have to decide whether you are willing to keep going. Every retrieval I told myself was my last but I just didn’t want to give up while I was still making embryos.
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