# Are the embryo's graded before freezing?



## ali80 (Aug 11, 2009)

Hi ladies.
I have had my egg collection nearly 2 weeks ago and had to have them all frozen due to ohss. I had a call and letter from the embryologist saying how many had fertilised and that they were all frozen. I wanted to know were they 'just fertilised' or left to develop and grow before freezing. I'm very confused   as we had planned to have a fresh cycle only this time round.
Any advice would be great thankyou.   
Ali x


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## CTC (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi Ali,

Another OHSS'er here. If you've had a freeze-all due to OHSS then they would have been frozen immediately. There is not way to grade them at that stage unfortunately. Hopefully they'll have been 'vitrified' (much better way of freezing) in which case they should thaw fine. Where are you having treatment? How many eggs/embryos have you got??


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## tinydancer811 (Jan 25, 2010)

Hi Ali,

OHSS is not pleasant is it?  You must have it very badly if they wouldn't go ahead with the transfer.  I had moderate OHSS last month and can't even imagine what severe must be like. Look after yourself   

One of the girls in my cycle buddy group had OHSS and they froze all the embies on Day 1 as they tend to survive the thaw better the younger they are frozen.  They weren't graded at that point. 

My clinic will only freeze grade 1 embryos but they froze them on Day 3 so that the embryologist had had time to watch them grow and decide on the best 2 for transfer.

When's your FET?

xxx


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## ali80 (Aug 11, 2009)

Hi, thanks for the replies. I was getting all confused with the freezing/grading? Thanks for the good advice.   

Ctc - I'm having my treatment at the shropshire and mid-wales fertility centre. They have been pretty good up until now, but i feel like they not have not been supportive since the ohss started, no advice or support offered? I don't even know what we are to do next, wait for af?? We had 19 eggs and 16 fertlised then frozen.    The embryologist did mention some fancy freezing/defrosting technique??

Expat - Not sure when the fet will be, there are no plans as yet? Dont know if my funding even covers fet? We get 2 fresh cycles, so i'll have to find out? I'm pretty much in the dark aren't I!


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## CTC (Apr 16, 2009)

No worries - I've been hospitalised with severe OHSS twice, so I pretty much know how it all works now lol   Sounds like your embies were vitrified like mine, which is fab. Once AF arrives (OHSS can delay the on-set of it) ring your clinic. 

You should be able to start a medicated FET (frozen embryo transfer) on cycle day 19 (injecting with buserelin) - it's called a Geep cycle - once Down Regulated (normally the next cycle day 4) you basically take HRT for 17 days and then can have the transfer on the 18th day if your lining is thick enough. I would start by thawing 4 embryos (you tend to lose one (25%) as you need to have a good pick moving forward. It's a good idea to go to Blasto if possible, so you know which is the best to put back, but sometimes it's easy to see earlier so a day 3 transfer is fine.

Every clinic works differently though - this is just a guideline of what happens at mine! Good luck with the FET!!


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## MissE (Feb 19, 2010)

Hi ali, i was in the same position. Had ec on 17th Feb and developed ohss so had a freeze all (17 embies). Started a withdrawal bleed on 1st March and was reviewed by clinic on 2nd March. Doc said they wanted at least one bleed out of the way before you can start again. Had to wait for April af (cycle length 49 days) then phoned clinic. Had pretreatment appt to collect meds on 5th May and start Buserelin spray on sunday 9th May. Then take hrt tabs for a period of time and ET scheduled for 15th June, hopefully!!
Mine were frozen immediately but embryologist said they are more likely to survive freezing/thawing process by being frozen immediately.
I'm thawing 6 initially and hope that they get 2 good ones. It will have taken 4 months from my ec to my et but you need to make sure your body has recovered properly from the ohss.

I hope this has been of some use and wish you good luck with your FET.   

Emma xx


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## ali80 (Aug 11, 2009)

Ctc - Twice....  My god once was bad enough! Thabnks for the details, af arrived already this morning, so i am calling the clinic monday morning, hopefully to get started. I was wondering about how many we should defrost? I thought the clinic would decide? But then they are mine (and dh's) i suppose   . My clinic prefer eset, so i think they will go for blasts which is fine by me. Someone i know, recently had her last 2 frozen embies thawed and none survived, so i was worried about mine. But hopefully the vitirfication (sp) will be a good thing for them.
Good luck, thanks for the info.

MissE - Thanks for the info, your dates and timings are useful, i can try and work out what maybe likely to be happening. Af arrived this morning, so that's one down maybe one to go. I'll find out more on monday. Good luck with the rest of your cycle, i'll keep checking on the fet threads for your updates

Ali x


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## CTC (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi lovely,

Yes, being hospitalised with severe OHSS twice was pretty horrific (and SOOOO painful  ) if I'm honest, but I had a BFP from a FET this time last week, so hopefully it was worth it  

So far as the thawing numbers go, it depends how they've been frozen IMO.

My first lot were 'slow frozen' and out of 8, none continued beyond day 3  

This time our embryos were 'vitrified' - we thawed 4 and they all survived without loosing cells...and I'm currently pregnant (possibly with twins).

I would go for 4 to start with if they've been slow frozen and 3 if they've been vitrified, as you don't want to waste them - plus, it only takes an hour to thaw vitrified embryos, so you have time to defrost more if you want to    Hope that helps poppet x

(by the way, I started my medicated my FET immediately after leaving hosptial x)


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## tinydancer811 (Jan 25, 2010)

Congratulations CTC - that's wonderful news!  I like hearing about when people get pregnant from FETs as not too many people seem to.  When's your first scan?


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## CTC (Apr 16, 2009)

Aw, thanks Expat   I'm due a scan this coming week, however it looks like we may get stuck here in Malta due to the Ash cloud - I'll try to book a scan for Friday afternoon now I think - I'm sure we'll be back by then... We're just hoping everything's ok in here...after 5 years of trying and 3 awful cycles, it's an anxious time... xx


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## ali80 (Aug 11, 2009)

Congratulations CTC, fab news that you have a bfp from a fet cycle. I was a bit worried about them being frozen, but your proof it works!    Thanks for letting me know about the defrost time, something to bear in mind, thanks.
Hope you get back to the uk ok and good luck for your scan.   

I have spoken to my clinic again, and they want me to have another af before we start our fet cycle, hope she hurries up!
Ali x


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## tinydancer811 (Jan 25, 2010)

Well I guess if you've got to get stuck somewhere, Malta isn't the worst place in the world!  Let us know how your scan goes...

xxx


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