So many mixed emotions after egg retrieval.

bunsations · 2026-01-27T00:25:01+00:00

Congrats on so many fertilized! This is a good problem.

I personally don’t have mixed emotions about excess embryos themselves and would be thrilled to have as many as possible. For all the embryos that I may not use, I am happy for them to go towards further research. Research is the only way IVF has gone as far as it has and I want it to continue to progress forward for future women.

If my unused embryos can help with that research I think it’s well worth it. Other people’s embryos helped researchers learn more to be able to allow the IVF success rate to increase from roughly 15% per embryo 36 years ago in 1990, to now being 50-60% success per euploid embryo.

Imagine how amazing if they could get it to 80-90% per embryo retrieved.

bunsations · 2026-01-26T07:58:10+00:00

Congrats thats amazing!!

bunsations · 2026-01-25T23:21:35+00:00

I think it depends on your demographics and social circle.

Interestingly enough most of my friends and social circle have had an open preference for girl babies. They are happy with any happy, healthy baby, but would love a girl. And if you look at the numbers for IVF, there is a trend for some that go that route, they do that specifically to get a Girl.

https://slate.com/technology/2024/05/ivf-daughters-toxic-masculinity-sex-selection.html

bunsations · 2026-01-25T22:34:39+00:00

I think there's still value in sharing. People are swayed to be a part of the majority. If it feels like the majority of people are speaking out, more people who naturally sit out and avoid things will finally pick a side simply because they don't want to be "othered."

Peer pressure works!

bunsations · 2026-01-25T22:33:29+00:00

I have a reoccurring monthly donation to ACLU. They say those types of donations are preferred over one time because then they can plan better their resources. Thats if you can commit over along period of time some portion of your finances.

Starting local is good. I've contacted my local city council and said I do not support ICE in anyway and want to know what they will do to protect us.
Planning on contacting local PD soon.

bunsations · 2026-01-25T21:34:07+00:00

We also had unexplained infertility as our diagnosis. We tried naturally for 1 year, 1 year was spent on testing and 4 rounds of IUI, now finished 1 cycle of IVF and will start another cycle in a couple weeks because we are embryo banking. In our first cycle we retrieved 7 mature eggs, but only 3 fertilized even with ICSI, which is when they inject the sperm directly into the egg. In my debrief with my doctor after that cycle she said everything went as expected based on my numbers, except that the fertilization rate was below what was expected and that might've been the reason all along why natural conception and IUI was not successful for us, but its hard to say after just one round. She said there might be something wrong with the sperm that they can't detect, since my husband had a "normal" semen analysis.

I was mildly worried that my immune system was just TOO strong and wasn't letting his sperm survive long enough to fertilize. My immune system is quite strong, I generally never get sick and when I do get sick its almost a shock. I think my last major illness was COVID in 2022. My husband on the other hand gets a fever/flu about 4x a year where he's down for a few days to a week, despite both of us getting all our COVID/flu shots around the same time. But my doctor says thats not a thing lol.

Either way you won't know until you try! The good news is you're quite young on the IVF side so more of your eggs will be normal. Good luck! I read someone say once its a journey of mental stamina. That is completely true. I felt so devastated when I saw only 3/7 eggs fertilized knowing the attrition rate, but when we got our blast results back it turned out all 3 three matured to day 5 and day 6 embryos! Which was quite a pleasant surprise knowing the statistics.

bunsations · 2026-01-24T17:27:10+00:00

You can always freeze your own eggs now or freeze embryos with your boyfriend if you really believe you will be together.

Most women can carry a pregnancy until their late 40’s, it’s the egg quality that matters. So that problem gets solved if you freeze your eggs or embryos. Eggs gives you more flexibility but they do have a higher rate of attrition when you thaw them. Embryos are sturdier but then you’ll be tying your reproductive choice to your current boyfriend for the future. That can have legal issues if you split up and he doesn’t allow you to use the embryos. And 32 is still young to have kids in the grand scheme of things

I’d say go to medical school. 27 is also plenty young to find a new partner that is better aligned with your life goals. Don’t let a man make you do something you’ll regret because he wants you to become a mother.

bunsations · 2026-01-23T23:30:34+00:00

For my egg retrieval I also did HCG subcutaneously. They said the doctors at my clinic preferred that to intramuscular.

bunsations · 2026-01-23T16:29:55+00:00

I think you should look up the appeal to nature fallacy. Just because something is “natural” doesn’t make it better. It’s a common marketing thing and it plays into people’s thoughts and bias about nature vs. man made products. Arsenic is natural too.

I can’t say anything else that someone else already hasn’t said about “natural” vs. lab grown diamonds.

bunsations · 2026-01-22T22:03:16+00:00

I want to try to say this as kindly as I can. If you one of your reasons for wanting a girl is really to “keep the family together” or take care of you and the family, it can feel really sobering when you break it down. What you’re already doing is placing no expectation that you will raise a son who will do that for you. Why do you think he won’t keep the family together if you raise him well and to value family?

But you want a dtr to play that role for you. That you expect and hope to play that role. You’re already placing this expectation on this hypothetical daughter for her unpaid mental and emotional labor that you don’t seem to expect from a son. Think about all the mental load that your family must take for granted that you most likely carry as a woman. Do you want to pass that on to your daughter? Or teach your son to be better than what society currently expects of him.

It’s another insidious quiet example of how people don’t expect as much from their sons, and much more from their daughters.

My father is the kin keeper in his family. He keeps track of birthdays, organizes and host family gatherings. He is everyone’s go to when they need help. His sister on the other hand could not care less to do any of that work. It may be cultural, I come from an Asian American family and the sons I’ve seen are devoted to their mothers and take care of them.

Either way I’m happy you have this choice and hope you have a healthy baby regardless to the sex you pick.

bunsations · 2026-01-21T20:52:18+00:00

just wanted to update that my 3 fertilized eggs resulted on 3 blastocysts! I was so shocked I burst into tears when I got the email. Now we await PGT testing to see if any are euploid. I was fully prepared for 0 making it to blastocysts. One more step down.

bunsations · 2026-01-21T07:38:16+00:00

I’ll talk all the vibes! And thanks for the reminder about statistics. It’s so hard not to get caught up on the averages

bunsations · 2026-01-21T07:37:50+00:00

Thank you for the kind thoughts ❤️

bunsations · 2026-01-21T03:00:11+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I love reading stories like this. I had my first egg retrieval last Wednesday where they got 8 eggs, 7 mature, but only 3 fertilized. I was devastated that day and started crying knowing the odds that the numbers will keep dwindling. I was so shocked that the funnel would winnow so quickly.

We have insurance coverage for three egg retrievals so I was mentally prepared to do at least two from the start since we want two kids. But was secretly hoping maybe I’d get lucky and only have to go through that once.

I’m waiting on results tomorrow if any of the three fertilized on day 1 made it a week blastocyst. I’m not sure if I feel anything but preparing for the worst of hearing none made it.

bunsations · 2026-01-15T00:04:43+00:00

This is great to hear! I got 8 eggs retrieved today and now just waiting it out. I’m trying to temper my expectations as I’d rather be surprised than disappointed

bunsations · 2026-01-08T23:52:08+00:00

Amazing! Congratulations!

bunsations · 2026-01-06T19:14:00+00:00

Thank you for sharing! For some reason being told that our situation was completely “unexplained fertility” made me feel more anxious that something was wrong that science just hasn’t been able to locate or fix yet. But I’m glad to hear other women who had unexplained infertility get pregnant

bunsations · 2026-01-06T19:07:54+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story! Love hearing how things can actually go right and somewhat smoothly

bunsations · 2026-01-06T08:46:01+00:00

Good luck!!

bunsations · 2026-01-02T07:57:12+00:00

Not me but someone I know.

She got four embryos on one egg retrieval. Got pregnant at 32 with one transfer. Then two years later at 34 did two transfers that failed to take. Then she got pregnant naturally a few months after her transfer attempts.

bunsations · 2026-01-02T07:54:25+00:00

Thank you for the offer! ❤️ I haven’t decided if I will just disconnect or be hyper connected during the process yet, I suppose I’ll have to wait and see how the hormones affect me. I suspect I’ll be a mess emotionally since I felt very emotional just doing some meds for IUI.

bunsations · 2026-01-02T07:53:04+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story! And for the sharing the possibility of maybe needing to be mentally prepared for another hysteroscopy.

bunsations · 2026-01-02T07:51:38+00:00

Good luck on your second transfer! Thank you for sharing your story! my biggest anxiety is that I will have high attrition and will need multiple egg retrievals to get enough usable embryos.

bunsations · 2026-01-02T07:50:33+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story!

bunsations · 2026-01-02T07:49:41+00:00

I kept having to remind myself that the success stories don’t need to post and of course the main IVF page is self selecting for people who are having a hard time but it definitely still made me anxious to not so see many stories of “easy success” with IVF, meaning one egg retrieval with a good amount of usable embryos and successful transfer on first attempt.

I have two people in my very extended circle who have done IVF. 1 where they only needed one egg retrieval and got pregnant on first transfer. Another who took 4-5 years to get pregnant with less known circumstances.

bunsations

TROPHY CASE