Day 3 vs. Day 5?

So I was all gung ho on a day 5 transfer, and seem to be getting my way.
But just out of curiousity- how many embryos should I expect to lose b/t now and day 5? I'm reading 50-60% of them- is that accurate?
Obviously my goal is to get pg- but I was hoping to have some left over to freeze for either when it comes time to have more kids, or keep trying for this one if the transfer doesn't work. Does anyone know? I know it's diff for everyone- but is there a general rule of thumb?
TIA!

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

I'm not sure of the general rule of thumb... but here's what mine was like:

20 eggs retreived
19 mature
12 fertilized with ICSI
All 12 made it to Day 5
2 transferred
7 frozen on day 5 - were watching other 3 because they were slower developing
3 frozen on day 6 (although they were basically day 5 embies if that makes sense.. since they were behind)

So for us, all of the fertilized embies made it to day 5 & met the criteria for freezing

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Here's my breakdown (don't know how many were there at day 3 though):

36 eggs retrieved
30 Mature
20 fertilized
2 transferred on day 5
11 frozen on day 6

So 13 out of 20 made it =65%

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

I am a fan of day 3.. It doesnt make it right or wrong.. I have my feelings about the eggs doing better in me than outside me.. But I do believe to freeze they have to go a certain amount of days 5 or maybe 6 so you might as well wait to get the best ones.. are you doing emet?

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

I had 27 at ER

by day 5 , we transferred 1
and had 3 to freeze

( can't remember off the top of my head how many we still had at day 3, I'm thinking 13 maybe)

My thought on it was, if the remainder weren't strong enough to get to a day 5, maybe they would not have survived a thaw, should they have been frozen...Thats how I rationalized it anyhow

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

I had 23 eggs retrieved.
17 mature
16 fertilized with ICSI
2 put back after 5 days
8 frozen.

I guess I lost 6 in the process. Never thought about it!! Good Luck. I'll be praying for you!!

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

I wouldn't worry too much about this because they will freeze some on Day 3 even if you go for a Day 5 tranfer. For my IVF cycle, I had 20 retrieved, 11 fertilized and 7 made it to freeze (5 on day 3 and 2 on day 5). I got pg from one of the 5 day embies. Best of luck!

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Here was my breakdown
17 eggs retrieved
16 eggs matured
7 eggs fertilized with ICSI
2 blastocysts transferred on Day 5
4 blastocysts made to freeze
1 egg didn't fully mature even at Day 6

So out of the 7 fertilized, 6 of them made it to freeze or to transfer.

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Just curious
why are you doing a 5 day transfer? was this your idea or the dr?
I did not know li-ivf did 5 day transfers
best of luck to you. Saturday will be here before you know it.

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

I really don't think they would freeze any on day 3 if you are doing a 5 day transfer. I know a pp mentioned that they did it for her but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of going to a day 5?? If an embryo makes it to day 5, they assume it's the best of the group since they made it that far. If they freeze some on day 3, how do they know how they compared to the ones they didn't freeze??? KWIM?

As for survival rate....I had 11 embryos on day 3 and we put back 3. So I had 8 left. Of those 8, only 3 met SIRM's standards for freezing. So, less than 50% made it to freeze for me.

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Posted by SJSM

Just curious
why are you doing a 5 day transfer? was this your idea or the dr?
I did not know li-ivf did 5 day transfers
best of luck to you. Saturday will be here before you know it.

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

LI IVF definitely does 5dt, particulary if you request it and are a good candidate. I am 28 wks. pg from a 5dt at LI IVF. Best of luck to all!!!

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Just so you know something...

A day 3 embryo technically isn't even supposed to be in your uterus yet. It would still be traveling down your fallopian tube. So there are many schools of thought on what's better. On day 3 your uterus isn't really "ready" for a growing embryo. But there is also the thought that on day 3 if the embryo is in you, it might have a better chance of surviving. There is no real answer, but truly if your embryo lasts until day 5, its going to be a better quality, case closed.

Good luck to you

Re: Day 3 vs. Day 5?

Posted by LaurenExp

Just so you know something...

A day 3 embryo technically isn't even supposed to be in your uterus yet. It would still be traveling down your fallopian tube. So there are many schools of thought on what's better. On day 3 your uterus isn't really "ready" for a growing embryo. But there is also the thought that on day 3 if the embryo is in you, it might have a better chance of surviving. There is no real answer, but truly if your embryo lasts until day 5, its going to be a better quality, case closed.

Good luck to you