Bad Eggs?

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mbaumrind
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Bad Eggs?

Post by mbaumrind »

My husband and I have tried surrogacy unsuccessfully twice before, and it looks like this is our third failure. We are a same-sex couple. We purchased 18 eggs from the same egg donor. I fertilized some. My husband fertilized others. We successfully transferred two 5 day blasts back in 2013, and one survived the transfer. Our surrogate miscarried (maybe around the 10th week). We then tried again with a different surrogate and one embryo fertilized by my husband. The transfer was a success. The second surrogate miscarried again--I think also around the 10th week. Earlier this year, we tried a third time with again a different surrogate. (Our third surrogate!) This surrogate has been a gestational carrier in the past (successfully). We transferred one embryo fertilized by me. The transfer was a success. Like each time before, we had great numbers on the blood test. But at the first ultrasound there was no heartbeat. The fetus was a few days underdeveloped. We did a second ultrasound this week. The fetus had grown only 4 days in a 7 day period. Fetal poles were present, but no heartbeat. It looks like we are bracing for another miscarriage.

The only consistent factor in each of our three attempts has been the eggs. (We used different surrogates and different sperm.) But we learned from our clinic that this donor has produced eggs that led to 2 (or maybe 3) successful pregnancies in the past.

Is it possible that the 18 eggs we purchased were "bad?" Maybe they came from a different batch than the others from this donor that were ok?
mbaumrind
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Re: Bad Eggs?

Post by mbaumrind »

We received this update from our clinic:

The donor has had two cycles, and we received eggs from both cycles.

Cycle 1:

Two live births (two different recipients)
Then us

Cycle 2:

One live birth, and the recipient just did another transfer for kid #2 – pending results (per our computer system, she looks pregnant again)

One negative

Then us
Dr. Amin
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Re: Bad Eggs?

Post by Dr. Amin »

Hello. I'm so sorry that you're going through this. It is possible that the egg quality is the issue. In general, approximately 60-65% of the blastocyst embryos created from egg donors will be genetically normal. The remaining 35-40% will be genetically abnormal. If the abnormal embryos create a pregnancy, they most often miscarry. Something you may want to discuss with your reproductive endocrinologist is preimplantation genetic screening of the embryos. Also, if another miscarriage happens, you may want to consider genetic testing on that particular miscarriage. I hope things work out for you and your husband.

Marli Amin, MD
Reproductive Partners Medical Group
Orange County, CA
Marli Amin, MD
Reproductive Partners Medical Group
Orange County, CA
mbaumrind
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Re: Bad Eggs?

Post by mbaumrind »

Thank you so much for your response. We had a third ultrasound this morning and confirmed that this is an abnormal pregnancy. We will discuss with our doctor today the possibility of preimplantation genetic screening and genetic testing of the miscarriage. We really appreciate that you took the time to respond.
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