# Donor Egg Poor Quality Blasts



## gumdrops (Nov 8, 2011)

Hi,

I’m just after a little advice, and wondering if anybody else has been through a similar experience using donor eggs.

We have just had a failed cycle using donor eggs/partners sperm.  There are no issues with my partners sperm (although we haven’t had DNA fragmentation test) and we were told the sample was great on egg collection day.  My lining was looking great too.

We got 12 eggs from our donor and 10 fertilised so it was looking really good.  On day 3 the embryos were slow growing, the best ones were 6 cells, grade 2 which is ok, others were even slower.  By day 5 we had 3 blasts, the best was transferred which was average quality, the others poor and not good enough to freeze.  The embryologists seemed pretty shocked at the outcome too. 

We just do not understand what went wrong from starting off so well.  I know donor egg isn’t a guarantee but we thought we would maybe end up with one good quality blast from 12 eggs.

We have a follow up with the clinic and we are hoping they have some answers but we really think they will just say it’s one of those things which will be very annoying if they do as it’s a lot of money to just be told that and we really need some answers if we decide to do another cycle somewhere else.

Has anybody else had experience like this with donor eggs when everything else seemed perfect? If so did you find out what went wrong in the end?

Thanks,

Gumdrops x


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## Artypants (Jan 6, 2012)

Hi gumdrops

Sorry to hear your outcome, sadly yes we had lots of poor quality donor eggs, its not as uncommon as clinics make out. We had some disastrous donor cycles where we ended up with one poor quality embryo and a bfn, we moved clinics and ended up with a similar outcome, we suspected frozen eggs instead of fresh as hubbies sperm was always very good, we had DNA fragmentation which was always good. we were lucky to get a good cycle that ended up with our daughter but so many disappointments too. I would suggest asking for a full breakdown from the clinic, don't let them fob you off with sperm issues like they did with us, unless they have actual proof this is the cause, as you say, they are telling you the sperm was good at the time of collection
then this cannot be the cause when things don;t go well/ I ended up with two free cycles with different clinics so it is possible.

Lots of luck xx


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## snowdropwood (Jan 24, 2016)

i am also so sorry about the outcome , it must be so disappointing.

I started DD treatment which was cancelled as everything has been recently  - I just wondered what questions do people ask the clinics in terms of the donors results .? AMH ? Even though there will always be uncertainty and no certainty that things will go well.....

Indeed I hope that the clinic are clear and compassionate so that you can move forward in  the best way possible for you , and so much good wishes for your next steps


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## gumdrops (Nov 8, 2011)

Hi Artypants,

Thank you for your reply.

So sorry that you have been through it too, many more times than me!  Lovely that you have your daughter but I understand it must be difficult when future cycles then go on to fail.

We are going to write some notes of what questions we need to ask the clinic at follow up.  We did wonder if we would be entitled to some kind of compensation but I doubt it as who knows what went wrong and it does happen, probably to many people.

It’s so disheartening that I’ve never had a cycle with top quality embryos/blasts.

Snow drop, sorry to hear you cycle was cancelled, others will probably be able to help you who have had more experience but I would ask if your donor is proven, mine had children of her own.  Im not sure what other details (apart from characteristics) you are legally allowed to know.


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## LilyBeau (Oct 29, 2019)

Hi gumdrops, 

I'm so so sorry to hear it didn't work this time. That must feel so crushing. Sending you lots of love and hugs. 
I had a recent DE cycle which resulted in no blasts. Like you, we received updates from the embryologist and each day another embryo failed. So it wasn't a sudden shock realisation that this cycle wasn't going to work, but a gradual let down. Didn't mean I cried any less. In our situation it became apparent that even before the retrieval, our chances of success were low. This was because the donor wasn't responding well to the drugs and only had 4 follicles. This was a huge shock given how young and healthy she is. Anyway, fastforward in the story: I raised a few questions with the clinic such as 'what AMH level do they recommend as a minimum in a donor?' to which they said 2.5.  With the help of our donor agency it became apparent that there had been an oversight during our donor's screening as she only had an AMH of 1. So, with our donor egg agency's help we are going to have another cycle with the same clinic for free. We're pleased the clinic didn't fuss around and accepted their error but still frustrated as now we have to wait out this global pandemic before we can start again. But I suppose we're all in that boat. 

In terms of questions to ask the clinic, I'd ask about what their donor criteria is and once they have screened the donor, ask how she measures up to those points. 

Good luck xxx


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## Eloise242 (Jul 18, 2015)

Hi Gumdrop

I can empathise, as this has also happened to me. We used frozen eggs, and out of 7, one made it to a 6 day blast. The quality was poor, however after the ‘nail biting’ wait for every embryologist call, it only seemed right to transfer it; They would not freeze it due to the quality. 

Well,the follow up after the BFN, was similar to what you and others have said. My lining was good, partners sperm good, the consultant thought it may have been the egg. They were apparently discussing it...
So disappointing, and we are now waiting to be matched with a new donor.


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## gumdrops (Nov 8, 2011)

Hi Lilybeau and Eloise,

Thank you both for your replies and so sorry to hear this has happened to you both.

I’m hoping that in the follow up they maybe say it could be the egg as I’m now thinking has my partner got underlying sperm issues like high DNA fragmentation, I guess that should be our next test. But the fertilisation was 10 out of 12 eggs so I thought that would show that the eggs mustn’t be too bad? I don’t know? We just want answers and hopefully the follow up will give us that.

Eloise, I notice you have had a few DE fails, I’m so sorry, is this at different clinics? Do you know why they have failed?  Did you find out the outcome if it was an issue with the egg or are they still  discussing it?

Gumdrops x


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