Ivf/ Icsi success rate

Jake5991

Hi my Fiance and i are starting an ICSI cycle with SIMS , we have never done this before and dont know what to expext , We are doing our research online and we have been talking to the clinic . We understand thats it a very long journey we are about to undertake and are not guaranteed success . We are just wondering what are peoples experiences who have done this before and what are the success rates. It kinda of seems like the odds are still stacked against us as i read that 1 in 3 couples succeed and there is a high risk of miscarriage in the first trimester , so if anyone could let me know what their experiences are and what our expectations should be we would be grateful

CCCHIA

Jake5991 wrote: »

Hi my Fiance and i are starting an ICSI cycle with SIMS , we have never done this before and dont know what to expext , We are doing our research online and we have been talking to the clinic . We understand thats it a very long journey we are about to undertake and are not guaranteed success . We are just wondering what are peoples experiences who have done this before and what are the success rates. It kinda of seems like the odds are still stacked against us as i read that 1 in 3 couples succeed and there is a high risk of miscarriage in the first trimester , so if anyone could let me know what their experiences are and what our expectations should be we would be grateful

Hi there, I’m currently feeding my 22 day old ICSI baby! He is here from a second cycle that resulted in a freeze all due to getting OHSS (over stimulation from the drugs). We put back two frozen embryos and our one miracle is here with us now.

Of course you are looking at odds but there are so so many factors and a huge degree of luck. Quite often the first cycle is a trial to see how you react to meds etc (a very expensive trial run) however I have often seen it work first time too!

I wish you and your fiancé the very best on this rollercoaster. You both need to take care of yourselves.

If you have any questions let me know!

Jake5991

CCCHIA wrote: »

Hi there, I’m currently feeding my 22 day old ICSI baby! He is here from a second cycle that resulted in a freeze all due to getting OHSS (over stimulation from the drugs). We put back two frozen embryos and our one miracle is here with us now.

Of course you are looking at odds but there are so so many factors and a huge degree of luck. Quite often the first cycle is a trial to see how you react to meds etc (a very expensive trial run) however I have often seen it work first time too!

I wish you and your fiancé the very best on this rollercoaster. You both need to take care of yourselves.

If you have any questions let me know!

Hi thanks so much for you reply today is our first day at the clinic we are doing bloods and getting all these meds. This is all new to me and i dont really know what im getting myself in for . Im just hoping the meds doesnt make my fiance go crazy lol. Iv no real questions i just hope that this works out because we really want a baby

PhoenixParker

There’s calculators that estimate an odds of success:

https://w3.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/opis/tool/ivf1
(Recommended by the NHS)


http://www.ivfpredict.com/index-1.html

There are more if you google.
At the end of the day you can have a 70% chance and it’ll fail or a 5% chance and it’ll work. There’s a lot of unknown factors and luck involved unfortunately.

skallywag

Hi Jake5991,

It is certainly a long and windy road.

We have had seven rounds of ICSI resulting in six failures at various stages, but one success, with that one success making it worth it.

Feel free to ask anything you want, in my opinion it really helps to talk about it. Not everyone is the same though, the other participant in my case was the opposite, and has still actually never even told any of her friends or family that our kid was created via ICSI.

Edit : On a re-read of my post I think it sounds a lot more negative that it really was. The success was on attempt #2. I had a very naive understanding of the whole thing until we got down to business, I had actually assumed that this process was 100% and that it was a given it would work. There are some bizarre/funny moments along the way too though, e.g. my girlfriend was very curious about the room where the nurse would lead me too to do my business! The content of the material in said room took a dramatic change during the different attempts too which was very interesting to say the least (-:

Jake5991

skallywag wrote: »

Hi Jake5991,

It is certainly a long and windy road.

We have had seven rounds of ICSI resulting in six failures at various stages, but one success, with that one success making it worth it.

Feel free to ask anything you want, in my opinion it really helps to talk about it. Not everyone is the same though, the other participant in my case was the opposite, and has still actually never even told any of her friends or family that our kid was created via ICSI.

Edit : On a re-read of my post I think it sounds a lot more negative that it really was. The success was on attempt #2. I had a very naive understanding of the whole thing until we got down to business, I had actually assumed that this process was 100% and that it was a given it would work. There are some bizarre/funny moments along the way too though, e.g. my girlfriend was very curious about the room where the nurse would lead me too to do my business! The content of the material in said room took a dramatic change during the different attempts too which was very interesting to say the least (-:

Thanks for the reply all going well so far we are in the process of doing the injections (well when i say we i mean herself lol) . To be honest i know the odds of this being a success first time are against us so im not gonna get my hopes built up.

I dont really know what to ask but il ask one question what should be the average amount of eggs when they do the scan . We had 12 possibly 14 i dont know.is this average poor or bad .

skallywag

No problem at all. I am more than willing to tell you about my own experiences. And these are just that, my own personal experiences, before a mod jumps in and cuts heads off for cyber-diagnosis, etc.

I remember the injections very well. Not sure what type of medication you guys had, but we had two types. One which was a short needle into the fatty area of the stomach, and another a much longer needle which needed to be stuck into the ass area. My girlfriend was just about able to do the 'easy' ones, but there was no way she could do the ones in the ass. So I had a daily task to stick a huge needle into her butt and carefully discharge it. You needed to be careful not to pull it out too fast either, or the contents would flow out of the hole that you had just created, and not stay put.

I would not get too negative and assume it is going to fail. It is good all the same to mentally prepare yourself for a another take.

Coming to your question about the number of eggs, I honestly do not recall the exact details now. That said, I am pretty sure it was in single figures, so your numbers may actually be quite good. The real metric though is when they fertilize them, and see how the cell multiplication rate and quality is after 3-5 days.

Jake5991

skallywag wrote: »

No problem at all. I am more than willing to tell you about my own experiences. And these are just that, my own personal experiences, before a mod jumps in and cuts heads off for cyber-diagnosis, etc.

I remember the injections very well. Not sure what type of medication you guys had, but we had two types. One which was a short needle into the fatty area of the stomach, and another a much longer needle which needed to be stuck into the ass area. My girlfriend was just about able to do the 'easy' ones, but there was no way she could do the ones in the ass. So I had a daily task to stick a huge needle into her butt and carefully discharge it. You needed to be careful not to pull it out too fast either, or the contents would flow out of the hole that you had just created, and not stay put.

I would not get too negative and assume it is going to fail. It is good all the same to mentally prepare yourself for a another take.

Coming to your question about the number of eggs, I honestly do not recall the exact details now. That said, I am pretty sure it was in single figures, so your numbers may actually be quite good. The real metric though is when they fertilize them, and see how the cell multiplication rate and quality is after 3-5 days.

She is doing three injections one called luveris and another called gonal f 90 she injects them into her belly . She takes another one in the morning not sure what that is. I would help her with the injections but i dont think she trusts me with a needle haha.

skallywag

Jake5991 wrote: »

She is doing three injections one called luveris and another called gonal f 90 she injects them into her belly . She takes another one in the morning not sure what that is. I would help her with the injections but i dont think she trusts me with a needle haha.

The belly fat ones are fairly easy in comparison.

Perhaps things have moved on medicallywise, and the long needle in the ass is no longer required! My own experiences are 10 years old now, so could well be.

CCCHIA

skallywag wrote: »

The belly fat ones are fairly easy in comparison.

Perhaps things have moved on medicallywise, and the long needle in the ass is no longer required! My own experiences are 10 years old now, so could well be.

Meds differ from clinic to clinic (the ones in the bottom sound like the frozen cycle ones) and differ from person to person and also determined by what type of cycle or extra supports they require.

As the last poster rightly said the number of eggs collected, while a great number, it all depends on whether they fertilise (better chance with ICSI) and how they progress over the next 3 to 5 days. For example, I got 15 eggs, 14 mature, 12 fertilised, and 5 made it to day 5 (and actually some were frozen on day 6) again all mine were frozen due to OHSS. So that meant that I used 2 embryos on my first frozen cycle and 1 survived - my miracle baby was born. I still have 3 embryos in the freezer which may or may not work in the future. (Our first cycle got 5 eggs and only 1 made it to day 3).

The number of eggs that were collected on your cycle was on the high side but not crazy high however I would say keep an eye on your partner over the next couple of days, get her to drink lots of water and even some milk so that you can reduce the risk of OHSS!

kastasia

I went to Merrion Fertility. First time on the meds it was cancelled as they could only see 2 on the scan. I took a few month's break, started again on a much higher dosage. They still only saw 5 on scan but was enough to go ahead. If i remember correctly they got 8,6 were ok for fertilisation. 4 started to grow. On day 5 one was implanted, one was frozen and 2 were left to grow. On day 6 a second was frozen. My 21 month old is snoring beside me and I'm 19 weeks pregnant with number 2 (frozen transfer). There is the one day 6 left in storage but all going well we'll probably stick with two. I know I'm very lucky though. I have other friends who've had success with ivf/icsi too but I'm sure others i know have not but I wouldn't know. Best of luck!

Jake5991

kastasia wrote: »

I went to Merrion Fertility. First time on the meds it was cancelled as they could only see 2 on the scan. I took a few month's break, started again on a much higher dosage. They still only saw 5 on scan but was enough to go ahead. If i remember correctly they got 8,6 were ok for fertilisation. 4 started to grow. On day 5 one was implanted, one was frozen and 2 were left to grow. On day 6 a second was frozen. My 21 month old is snoring beside me and I'm 19 weeks pregnant with number 2 (frozen transfer). There is the one day 6 left in storage but all going well we'll probably stick with two. I know I'm very lucky though. I have other friends who've had success with ivf/icsi too but I'm sure others i know have not but I wouldn't know. Best of luck!

And how old were you when you started the ivf
Was the issue or your partner?

kastasia

Jake5991 wrote: »

And how old were you when you started the ivf
Was the issue or your partner?

I was 37 when we started. Everything seemed OK with me, and if anything, an issue with my husband, but not very clear. But then based on how things went I think there was an undetected problem with me. I don't seem to have any problem staying pregnant, just getting there.

Jake5991

kastasia wrote: »

I was 37 when we started. Everything seemed OK with me, and if anything, an issue with my husband, but not very clear. But then based on how things went I think there was an undetected problem with me. I don't seem to have any problem staying pregnant, just getting there.

Ok thank you very much for sharing .

Jake5991

Doing implantation on Monday we have 15 good size eggs . Hopefully all goes well

skallywag

You should already be able to get a feeling for the quality of the fertilized egg (zygote) before they implant it, in our case they would give us a rating from 1 to 5 to indicate how promising or not it looks. We were also then asked how many we wanted to transfer, so that could also be something to think about in advance.

All the best!

Jake5991

skallywag wrote: »

You should already be able to get a feeling for the quality of the fertilized egg (zygote) before they implant it, in our case they would give us a rating from 1 to 5 to indicate how promising or not it looks. We were also then asked how many we wanted to transfer, so that could also be something to think about in advance.

All the best!

Is safe to implant more than one embryo . What are the risks ?

skallywag

Jake5991 wrote: »

Is safe to implant more than one embryo . What are the risks ?

Well if you implanted two, and they both worked out, you would have two babies, not one, so twins (-: Multiple births are very common within ICSI/IVF for that reason.

It depends on how good the fertilized versions work out though. For example, the first time round we had '5s' so the advice was transfer just one. When we tried the second time though we had only '3s', so the advice was to put two in. To increase the odds one sticks.

Jake5991

Quick update we did the retrieval this morning and got 16 eggs . Hopefully the fertilization will go good

skallywag

Good news.

I guess that ye will do the transfer this cycle itself, so in 5 days or so?

Jake5991

skallywag wrote: »

Good news.

I guess that ye will do the transfer this cycle itself, so in 5 days or so?

Yes on Saturday all going well . I think the eggs need to grow now and then its the transfer . How many eggs should we freeze ? Do we have to pay for each egg they freeze . The nurse didnt seem to explain it very well she just told her what meds to take .

skallywag

In our case at least the next step was seeing how any of them were successfully fertilized, so of your 16 you could lose a few normally. We were called up the next day by someone at the clinic who told us how many were good.

Then it is a waiting game to see how well the fertizlied ones do over the next 3-5 days. After 5 days (well, it was 5 days for us at least) they then tell you how many have grown well over that 5 day period. So at this time you have your first real indicator of how your chances are looking. At this point you decide on how many you want to transfer (at least we were given the choice, not sure how your clinic operates. etc).

Concerning the freezing, I am not really sure, as we never actually had the luxury of having anything left over worth freezing. It certainly cost more money to do so, but I cannot recall if it was a cost per egg or per IVF cycle, etc. I do recall that we were given a long price last at the start of the process outlining all costs though, perhaps you have also been given something at some stage!

kastasia

In MFC there wasn't a price per egg, i think you would just freeze all the ones that have survived that long. There was a higher cost the first year, then a lower cost each year after that.

CCCHIA

Jake5991 wrote: »

Quick update we did the retrieval this morning and got 16 eggs . Hopefully the fertilization will go good

Great results, fingers crossed for the next 5 days, you should get a phone call today to tell you how many were mature, tomorrow to tell you how many fertilised and the a call each day to tell you how they are going until day 5. You can then decide how many embryos to put back. For freezing it’s a set price regardless of how many are being frozen. And your clinic how long this is for (you extend the time then for another cost at a later time).

Take care of your fiancée now and make sure she drinks plenty of water and milk to counteract possible OHSS.

Best of luck, sending you positive thoughts!!

Jake5991

Would 16 be considered a good bad or average number guys ?

CCCHIA

Jake5991 wrote: »

Would 16 be considered a good bad or average number guys ?

It’s a great number but it’s the next few days that you’ll know what the quality is like, I hope they are of great quality and survive and you have lots of day 5/6 embryos to transfer and freeze!

skallywag

Jake5991 wrote: »

Would 16 be considered a good bad or average number guys ?

I can only repeat what others have said, the most important metric is how well they start to grow and mature once fertilized.

So fingers crossed over the next few days ...

By the way, do not be too disheartened if you lose quite a few, during our successful attempt we ended up with just one 'really good one' to transfer, and it worked out for us.

Jake5991

Ok so out of the 16 , 2 eggs didnt mature. Out the remaining eggs only 8 have fertilised so we have lost half of the eggs allready. Getting nervous now what if none of them grow . I just hope we get a few for this transfer guys fingers crossed !!

skallywag

Keep the head up, of that 8 your chances of getting a few good ones in 5 days is good I would say!

Jake5991

skallywag wrote: »

Keep the head up, of that 8 your chances of getting a few good ones in 5 days is good I would say!

Ye hopefully we get good news !

CCCHIA

Jake5991 wrote: »

Ok so out of the 16 , 2 eggs didnt mature. Out the remaining eggs only 8 have fertilised so we have lost half of the eggs allready. Getting nervous now what if none of them grow . I just hope we get a few for this transfer guys fingers crossed !!

Hope things are going well for you both!

Yes unfortunately numbers dwindle quite fast but remember it only takes one, best of luck!