# No fertilisation



## Jaq (Sep 23, 2003)

Dear Peter
We have recently had a devastating time with our first donor egg ivf. We were told we had 5 eggs (from egg share) but by the following day none had fertilised. They said the sperm looked fine (plenty of them and very motile) but there was nothing they could do, except add more sperm and leave them another 24hrs. I was told the sperm had penetrated through the cumulus cells but could not get through the zona. On our previous 2 ivf cycles with my eggs we had 3/5 and 2/2 fertilise, although my eggs were from very small follicles and the resulting embryos were poor. Will we need to use ICSI if we try again (with a different donor)?
Could it have been a temporary problem with the sperm?
Could it just have been an incompatability between those eggs and my partners sperm?
Or could it have been an egg problem (we were told our donor had used a different technique - I presume they meant ICSI - and so they couldn't say if her eggs could be fertilised naturally)?
Finally if my eggs were from small follicles, would that have made them easier to fertilise? 
I hope you can help us out with some answers - we really don't know where to go from here.
Many thanks
Jaq


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## peter (Oct 2, 2002)

Jaq said:


> Dear Peter
> We have recently had a devastating time with our first donor egg ivf.
> 
> I am very sorry to hear that
> ...


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## Jaq (Sep 23, 2003)

Hi Peter
Thanks very much for your reply. We have now spoken to our consultant. He said we were just really unlucky and was quite optimistic that we would be OK with IVF next time if we could get a proven donor (we would not normally be able to specify that but he said we could next time!). Our donor did get fertilisation with ICSI. 
Trouble is we cannot really afford (in terms of expense, emotion and time - we are back on the waiting list but will probably not be able to try again until next spring/summer) to take the chance that we will get no embryos so, despite my reservations, we will have ICSI next time.
And to think I originally thought I could not get pregnant because of a poor endometrium!
Thanks again

Jaq


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