Saturday, November 6, 2010

3 or 5 day transfer??????

Please help me. I don't really get the difference between having a 3 or 5 day transfer but I know people are passionate about it. I have had 3 people in the last week tell me I have to do a 5 day transfer but my clinic generally does 3 day transfers. My fear is that if I wait until 5 days they will all have expired (if I have any embryos that is). My other fear is that they will transfer embryos at 3 days that aren't viable. A friend of a friend was telling me she did 3 rounds of unsuccessful IVF that were 3 day transfers and then when she waited for a 5 day transfer she had success. I am so easily swayed, now I am obsessed with a 5 day transfer. In my head I have decided if I have more than 6 good looking embryos I want to wait until day 5. Am I crazy?????
Any input would be great!!!

11 comments:

  1. Hey there. I did IVF twice. The first one was with 3 embryos on a 3 day transfer. That was a BFN. The second round was also a 3 day transfer of 3 8-cell embryos. I am now pregnant with twins. I wanted a 5-day to, but the doctor said the best place for the embryos is my womb. I also have 4 embryos frozen that made it past day 5. The doctor really knows best. Trust him!

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  2. We had 3 day transfers with both ivf cycles. I got pregnant both times, just didn't stick the first time. I agree that the best place for them is our uterus! Outcome depends on the quality too. We didn't have many embryos, so it was a no brainer for a 3 day. But this is a very personal decision you have to be comfy with. Talk wit your Dr and good luck!

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  3. I have no helpful input on this, however I did want to thank you for the sweet comment! I wish you lots of luck with your decision!

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  4. wish I had more insight. All I know is that I circled the five day transfer in my treatment calender, so I'm guessing that is what my doctor recommends! I'm interested to hear more about your IVF journey! :) Lots of luck! :)

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  5. Honestly, most 5dt are more successful for implantation than 3dt... the embryos are not naturally in the uterus until about 5days after fertilization, and the embryologists can determine the best quality egg to transfer because of the radical changes between day 3 and day 5. The only danger is if you do not have many eggs, they may arrest before day 5 and you will have a failed cycle. This is a serious matter to be discussed with your RE and the embryologist, depending on the quality and quantity of your embryos. My clinic has their patients on 'alert' for a day 3 transfer, but always, always prefer to do a 5 day transfer. Do you research and go into the conversation armed with your own information and educated opinion... like you are doing. There are TONS of bfps with 3dt - every person and embryo is different. Try to trust your clinic, but don't think everything they say or do is written in stone and always the best for you as an individual.

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  6. Hey!!! Just wanted to add my two cents, and of course say hello cuz it's been way too long since I've commented.

    So I had a 5dt that did in fact stick. And like the above commenter, my clinic always prefers the 5day, but has everyone on watch for a 3 day if embryo's aren't looking as promising, just to give it a chance. But I had 11 good looking embryos at 3 days and then by 5 days I only had 2...and they didn't look great. It turned out I had an egg quality problem, but they wouldn't have known that at all if they had done a 3 day- and there's no way they would have been able to determine which of the 11 were the best on day 3. Because we waited for day 5, we could see that the two we transferred were our best hopes. Not to say that's a very common story...but I thought I'd share. Definitely go in well equipped with your own research, but you should really talk to your doctor about his experience as the lab quality and protocol make a big difference for this as well.

    Good luck! :)

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  7. And of course, for full disclosure...that embryo that stuck...didn't stick for very long unfortunatley. But at least it stuck for a little while!!! :) Staying positive!

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  8. I usually do day 3 tranfers for the "better back inside" reason as well. I am wondering though why your RE only does day 3. Usually this is a choice made on a case by case basis. I would want the option personally and let the RE and embriologist make this choice based on embryo number and appearance while they are in the lab. Hope this helps.

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  9. I wish I had a good answer for you!! I had a 5 day transfer. Some would say that the embryos are better off inside the uterus so a 3 day transfer would be better. I guess the benefit of the 5 day transfer would be to see the quality of the embryos after 2 more days. I didn't have a choice though, so I never really had the chance to research and decide which would be better for me. My RE decided for me and in my case I believe he made the best choice. My egg quality was very low and out of 40 fertilized eggs only 7 made it to transfer/freeze. I think letting your RE make the choice based on your embryos would probably be best.

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  10. I have only had day 3 transfers,

    My problem is that because of issues with my ovaries I don't produce a lot of eggs, so in my first IVF I ended up with 2 eggs and this time around I got 3. Both times we put hem all back on the day 3.

    If I had more eggs, I would love to go to a day 5 transfer, but because I didn't have that many eggs, I am glad both times we put them back when we did, I feel so much better when I have them "on board" rather then in a lab.

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  11. Sonya explained it best. I've had both 3 and 5-day transfers. The 3-day was bcs I had crappy embryos for my second IVF.

    Do trust your RE. Ask for more explanation, if you need it. They should be able to explain why they do it the way they do.

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