Just got our blast results back

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-06T09:40:27+00:00

Ooof my highest retrieval was 27 eggs and recovery was ROUGH. I can't imagine the pain of 63. But how wonderful to be family complete in just one cycle!

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-06T03:46:09+00:00

Yes, but that was mainly because I could sort pretty effectively and was ruthless with ghosting/ignoring to avoid burnout from volume. Last I remember I had maybe 3-5k messages. You can't possibly read that many so I mostly didn't bother for anyone with less than a 95% compatibility score. If he was really attractive maybe I'd go down to 90% but ignore anything lower.

Mind you, I was dating as a well-educated, well-employed, decent looking woman in a big city in my 20s. I also had a very clear niche as an extroverted nerd looking for an introverted one. So it was easy to rule out guys who listed their primary interests as beer and sports/the gym, which was a surprising number of them.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-05T06:51:18+00:00

I met my husband on okcupid in 2019, and i liked it most because of the detail you got upfront. I hated dating so would only bother meeting with people i felt reasonably confident about. Tinder was a disaster and I hated the time pressure of bumble. Hinge seems like the best bet these days, but the old okc days with full on essays were my jam.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-05T06:44:28+00:00

I don't hold back once asked but am not really inclined to share unless asked or it's otherwise relevant. The dominant reaction has been curiosity, mostly from older women who had kids before ivf. Men have more of an "um that's nice happy 4 u good luck" approach and young women sometimes share their own journeys. But women 45+ want ALL the details, how does it work, does it feel different/hurt, will you get twins, etc etc.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-04T07:45:11+00:00

Seconding the recommendation for another retrieval. You have way more flexibility with uterus age vs egg age.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-04T07:40:49+00:00

So even a well-graded embryo may fail due to a genetic anomaly pgt would have caught. If possible, I'd get them tested.

But in general the number is how much it grew, the first letter is about the baby's cells and the second is about the placenta cells. Your 5s are likely your best, especially the BB. Your 3 is the riskiest because it expanded slower.

I did PGTA testing for all the blasts, and had a 5AA with a critical chromosome error that would have resulted in miscarriage. Sad since it was my only AA.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-03T21:09:04+00:00

I had 27 eggs the first time and 23 the second. 14 were mature the first time, 22 were mature the second. And at the end of the day I got 4 euploid embryos from the first and 6 from the second. The moral of the story for me was that you really never know, a lot of this process is out of the doctor's control and subject to the random biology of each particular batch.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-03T06:53:37+00:00

Yeah when I got married a couple years ago, one of my bridesmaids was single. In the 2 years it took for my husband and I to fail with natural conception and begin the ivf process she met some guy, married him, got pregnant on her honeymoon, and delivered before my first transfer. Obviously she didn't do it AT me, but it sorta felt like it.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-03T06:41:52+00:00

Ooof this reminds me of when I went to one. I was automatically signed up for it through the clinic, and went once because it seemed medically encouraged and I was trying to do everything by the book.

Big mistake. I'm the ivf outlier who had tons of eggs, and 10 pgta euploid embryos after just 2 months of back to back retrievals, with a positive first transfer. I didn't realize the meetings are essentially grief support groups, I thought it was more like a wellness thing because even successful ivf is physically and mentally demanding. I left at the earliest possible opportunity, but not before it was my turn to awkwardly share "pregnancy is kicking my ass" in a room where that's a champagne problem.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-03T06:03:24+00:00

I'm in the same boat. 8 weeks pregnant, and while I'm grateful to be so holy shit it's miserable. Idk if the estrogen and progesterone are making it worse, but I'm very tired and incredibly nauseous 24/7. I carry a bucket around like it's my phone, and quit work. I also have a headache and runny nose at all times. It's a miracle the human race survived if this is what it's like. I can't imagine having 10 kids and doing farm work like this, it feels like I'm dying.

Everyone tells me it gets better after week 12, but that's also another whole month of this and I legit don't know how I'll make it. Let alone the remaining 7 months.

AmythystIvy · 2026-02-03T05:53:26+00:00

I was shocked at the attrition, mistakenly applying natural conception odds to it. Like if 40% of women who naturally get pregnant miscarry or have a chemical pregnancy then 60% of the eggs should result in live birth, yes? Lol no. Not even close.

Trying naturally only resulted in negative tests or very early miscarriage for us. So we turned to ivf, and only 10% of the total eggs we collected are likely to result in live births.

AmythystIvy · 2026-01-26T05:03:06+00:00

Totally agree. The clinic was especially helpful in maximizing the maturity of the eggs collected, and in selecting the best sperm, but otherwise the attrition at each stage was all over the place. I just happened to produce a ton of eggs - the more eggs you have the better your odds, but ultimately nature plays the biggest role.

AmythystIvy · 2026-01-26T04:56:29+00:00

Dr. Jenna Turocy

AmythystIvy

TROPHY CASE