# Thawing Process



## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

We have four frosties in storage - due to be thawed on 16th July 2007

I am really nervous - we have been asked to consider thawing all four so best two can be used, I dont think i can handle that as if all 4 were good we would have to throw 2 away.

I think i am going for the 2 but wondered if anybody knows what the sucess rate of freezing/thawing is - I am worried that they may already be dead and not have survived the freeze - does anybody know if that is common ?

they have only been frozen for 6 months 

ann
x


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## Nickipix (Aug 12, 2005)

Hi ann

We've just thawed our only 3x embies and I know exactly what you are going through. My clinic advised that on average 2 out of 3 survive the thawing. Apparently though it's not the thawing that's causes the damage, any damage will be because of the freezing process rather than the thawing out. All 3x of ours survived the thaw, but only 2x went on to develop.

I guess too, it depends on individual clinics.

Best of luck
x


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Hi Meerkat & Nickipix

Thanks for getting back to me, its all just a huge game of luck isnt it !

Our clinic have already advised us that they will not refreeze any that are thawed, so if we have all four thawed and they all develop we would be discarding two as they will only implant two.

I see both sides to the coin - I really want the best chance at getting pg but not at the cost of two embryos.  On the other hand i could be going through all of this for nothing if i dont have the best ones put back. its such a rotten decision to make isnt it !

The clinic are going to start thawing early morning as we leave the house at 5am - we have opted for two, apparently if one or none of those are any good they will continue to thaw the others until none are left - I just dont know what the right decision is - either way it doesnt take away the fact they might already be no good, i thought FET would be easier !!  how wrong was I !!!

Hope everything goes well for you

xx


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## ellie75 (Jan 21, 2005)

Hi Ann,

I don't usually post much as am more of a lurker, and only just started reading again lately as I am going for FET again soon starting in July.  I just wanted to let you know I understand what you are going through as we have a similar dilemma also, and maybe give you a bit of hope..... We have 4 frozen embryos, and we were exactly the same in that we didn't want to end up in a situation that we may have to dispose of any perfectly good embies - particularly if the treatment then goes on to fail, we would be so upset at having 'wasted' them.  We are so very lucky in that we have a gorgeous 16 month old from FET, he came after 6 years and many failed treatments.  We would love an attempt for a sibling, so these last embies are our last chance as we cant have more IVF.  I know we are so lucky to have our little miracle, these embies are still very important to us as well.  

We have decided to thaw 2, and are prepared to have an abandoned cycle if none survive, at least we get another go (we can't thaw more on the same cycle as ours were frozen on day one so they haven't had time to progress, something like that I think they said!) But, I guess our perspective is slightly different now than before we had our little boy so we feel we can wait, more than we could back then.

I don't know if it helps, but to tell you about my previous FETs I've had, I haven't had many embies that haven't survived.  I had 18 embies in total (I over-responded and ended up with OHSS), we used 14 so far, and out of all those only 2 did not survive at all.  All the others were reasonable/good quality, not brilliant though but still resulted in a pg.

I hope this post doesn't offend you at all (or anyone else), in that I have already been extremely lucky, and its a bonus if I get another miracle, but just wanted to let you know that I understand exactly how you feel about thawing your embies, and also wanted to give you a bit of hope about FET.

I want to wish you lots of luck for your treatment, you are very brave with everything you've been through.

Lisa xxxx


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## ☼♥ Minxy ♥☼ © (Jan 13, 2005)

Hi

With our first IVF, we ended up with 4 frosties, all grade 1 x 4 cells (day 2).  They were in 3 straws...2 in one and 1 in separate straws.  We specifically asked them to only thaw 2 at a time.  With our first FET, both frosties survived and one gained an extra cell between thaw and transfer.  With the 2nd FET, only one survived so we had a SET.  All remained grade 1 with no cell loss.  So our thaw success was 75%...we were told average is about 60%.

This time round we had 6 frosties (3 grade 1 x 7 cell and 3 grade 1-2 x 7 cell - day 3) - not sure how many straws these have been frozen in.  We're going to have another fresh IVF before starting FET again so hopefully we will be able to add to the 6 frosties we currently have.

The reason why we decided to only thaw 2 at a time was because we didn't want to let any perish as I'm under 40 so am only allowed maximum of 2 transferred...we were happy to have a SET (single embryo transfer) rather than risk "throwing away" any surviving embies.

Good luck
Natasha


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Hi Lisa

no of course you havent offended me - its great to hear nice stories, especially where it sounds like you also went to hell n back for that miracle.!!

Thankyou so much for posting - it has given me a bit of encouragement.  Our clinic froze ours on day 2 and so they can apparently keep thawing until we arrive and will take 2 out at first, then further embryos if need be - am so worried though - but it does seem to be quite positive that most embryos do actually survive - i was worried they may already be dead but that doesnt sound too common.

when are you having ET ??  ours will be the 16th if all goes to plan

xxx


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## KayO (Apr 27, 2006)

I had FET yesterday  - at our clinic they asked us if we wanted to thaw 2 first and see if they were ok - if the were not ok they said that they would defrost our last embryo.Luckily the 2 defrosted ok so we still have 1 left.  Our embryos have been frozen since May 2006 and all embryos have defrosted ok each timethis is our 3rd FET.

Kay

XX


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## ellie75 (Jan 21, 2005)

Hi Ann, I won’t be due to have ET until around beginning of August – my first appointment is on 10th July to start downreg as am on medicated cycle.  Are you doing medicated or natural?  Lots of luck for the 16th!!  

Hi Kay, all the best for you 2ww and fingers crossed it ends in a BFP!

Lisa xx


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Thanks for that kay

every positive message helps me to stop worrying !

good luck will be rooting for you.

I am on medicated cycle - even though i am needlephobic i like to know they are controlling me and am not leaving things to chance. fed up with it all at the moment though - end is in sight !!

xxx


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## synky (Jul 11, 2007)

I won't be doing ET until September, I worry about them being frozen so long. I would have thought it would have been better to keep am embry growing and then put it in than stop it?


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## levin (Jan 9, 2006)

Hi everyone,

Ann - I can totally understand how you're feeling hun, we just had a failed cycle of ICSI and we also have 4 frosties - im absolutely worried sick that none of them will survive the thaw. My clinic are going to defrost all 4 at my own request, thats because when they were frozen they told us that 3 of them were good but one was a bit borderline. After much discussion with the nurse we decided we would have a better chance if we defrosted them all and picked the best 2 to go back.
In some ways i also think that this is harder than the ICSI we went through because i know ive got some little babies there waiting for me and i'll be distraught if they dont survive the thawing process. Ive got my fingers crossed for everyone on here that all our frosties survive and we end up with gorgeous babies as a result.

Synky - I'll be doing et in september too - good luck to us both.

Love Leanne x


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Hi Leanne & Synky

I have the embryologist calling today to discuss the thaw, mine were frozen on day 2 and were grade 1 so hoping they havent deteriorated or died during freezing.

I think i worry more this time about doing the cycle for nothing - with a full ivf cycle at least you see them growing, although i suppose you never know if they will fertilise - so all swings and roundabouts isnt it.

Good luck to you both - my wait will be over on monday 

xxx


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## Caterina (Jan 3, 2005)

Hi

We had 3 perfect Day 6 Blastocysts. Sadly all 3 died during the thawing process. Tragically it can, and does happen- but clinics never seem to warn you! I was assured it would never happen and after 7 weeks of down regging, viagra, HRT et al, I was called 3 hours before ET to be told the horrible news.

Hoping you have better luck!

Cat
x


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Cat

really sorry to hear that, I am quite prepared for that i think - have sort of convinced myself that if anyting bad is going to happen it will be to me !

we have 4 on ice and opted for 2 to be thawed first - hoping for a miracle this time and wishing 11.30 would get here quickly so we arent in suspense anymore.

xxx


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## ~*mRsHoPe*~ (Jan 25, 2006)

I want to add a very positive story....I had a FET in May/June and I had four embryos in two straws, all grade 2, 2 day, 4 cells, now out of those, 1 embie lost 1 cell, 1 embie lost 2 cells, and the other 2 didnt lose any cells, I then had ET the following day with the 2 embies that didnt lose any cells and both had devided to 8 cells over night and also lost some fragmantation...making them grade 1, the embryologist was amazed at these embies that emproved quality, however the other 2 were allowed to perish, however if they were the only embies I had they would have been ok to transfer as they were still living its just not good enough quality to refreeze.
Well as you can tell by my ticker the two eight cell frosties both took and i am now pregnant with twins...AMAZING...so it can happen...I hope this gives you hope for your cycle and I hope you all get your dream!
Elaine X


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Elaine

thank you so much for that wonderful story - twins would be my dream come true 

sending you lots of love n hugs and wishing you a wonderful pregnancy - hope the sickness isnt too bad !

xxx


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## Caterina (Jan 3, 2005)

Hoping it went well!!

Cat
xxx


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Hi everyone

just wanted to thank you for your stories, it didnt go as well as hoped, we lost 3 of the 4 and only one was good enough for transfer - apparently one exploded in the straw, 2 didnt survive but the one on board was a grade 1-2, we are fairly devastated as we thought the biggest decision to make this time was how many to thaw - took our time and decided what was right for us but then had it taken out of our hands (as per usual)

trying to stay positive - still have one on board but feel gutted for the ones that were lost.

life is never easy is it 

xxxx


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## Caterina (Jan 3, 2005)

Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss - nobody understands unless they have been through it......and, much as I hate cliches and shy away from using them-.........."it only takes one..........". So, will be keeping everything crossed and saying a little prayer for him to hang on very tightly!

     
Cat
x


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## ACBICCY (Nov 19, 2006)

Thanks Cat

I have kicked myself up the bottom over yesterdays mood !! you are right - it does only take one and hopefully this little fighter is hanging on for me - I was pretty cross with myself and DH, i pointed out to him that we are already lucky in that it was our embryo there are so many others who dont even have that chance, so we should be counting our blessings not giving up on him already !!

xxx


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## levin (Jan 9, 2006)

Hiya hunnie,

Just wanted to say good luck, that embie must be a strong little fighter to survive when the other ones didnt and im sure its geting nice and snuggly in there now. I have 4 frosties waiting for me and im scared stiff that im going to lose them all, im just praying that at least one survives when we have FET in August. Ive got my fingers crossed for you that this little embie gets you the baby that you long for.
Take care lovey,

Love Leanne x


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