ivf is a numbers game the more embryos you have the higher your chance of getting pregnant there
is no guarantee with ivf and it's not a 100 success rate which is why there are so many
failures and why percentages vary from person to person based on age medical history and protocol
the reality is the chance of getting a healthy normal embryo decreases with each passing year
so the older we get the harder it is to not only produce healthy embryos but good quality embryos
as well but we do not have to take those statistics as dogma we have a little bit
more control than you think and that's exactly what i'm going to talk about in this episode of
fertility tv we're going to discuss tips to improve your outcomes with ivf and what are
the likelihood of having a normal embryo with the amount of eggs that you produce on any given cycle
so keep watching to learn more before we jump into it i do want to give a quick shout out to the
sponsor of this week's video the fertile mind app you've heard me mention them before and i'm a big
fan and you should be too so if you haven't tried it out i want to encourage you and invite you to
do so using the link in the description below but that's not it only for my viewers that's right
for my viewers if you use the code the fertility expert all one word and all capitals then you get
a free 30-day trial and that's not for everybody but just for all of you watching so check it out
my name is dr mark sklar also known as the fertility expert and i've been working with
couples for over 19 years right here in san diego at my clinics and online through
my coaching programs to help support you on your fertility journey an ivf is a very common subject
that we discuss actually 50 of the couples we help are trying to get pregnant through either
insemination or ivf which is why today's topic is so important for all of you when we start
talking about ivf there's so much information that we can discuss especially if you're not
familiar with the terminology and this is a new experience for you and you're just getting into
the fertility world so i want you all to sit back and try to listen and understand
some of the information that i'm giving you today because it's going to be valuable but it's also
going to be a lot of information so i just want you to take it easy and digest it all the first
thing that we need to discuss is a day 3 transfer versus a day 5 transfer many many years ago day 3
transfers were very common today we don't see them as much but we are starting to see a resurgence of
them and we're seeing that more in couples or women who produce less quantity of eggs and if
there's a question about the quality of the egg so this typically happens with older women we
don't want to let that embryo grow too long and so we tend to want to put that embryo back in
earlier and let nature take over at that point because most embryos are better off inside the
uterus than in the lab now day 5 transfers are very common and the majority of transfers
that happen today are day 5 transfers but we are seeing transfers that might even happen
on day six or day seven now this begs a different question which is fresh versus frozen so i'm just
talking about numbers here because day five versus day three or six or seven that doesn't necessarily
mean that we're going to be transferring that embryo now sometimes they are your doctor is going
to make that decision with you hopefully with you to transfer a fresh embryo meaning they're not
frozen okay and that can happen on day three five six or seven but the majority of transfers
that are done today versus years ago are frozen embryos because the technology has improved and
so with frozen embryos we can make sure that you are ready that you are healthy that your uterus
is ready and this also gives you an opportunity to test your embryos if you're doing a fresh transfer
not frozen then you have less of an ability to actually do genetic testing and so that's
where frozen embryo transfers really started to thrive so the majority of you are doing frozen
embryos but fresh is not a bad thing again like i said previously it just depends on your history
and the amount of embryos they have to work with and the quality right now it begs a different
question which is about genetic testing now i don't have time in this video to dive into that
but that does help to dictate whether it's going to be a fresh transfer or a frozen transfer and it
starts to tell you what options and percentages you have now i know that many of you watching
say well everybody should do genetic testing i'm not such a firm believer on that but i do have
other videos that do talk about that which you can check out on fertility tv but i just wanted
to mention that there is still a choice between doing genetic testing or not doing genetic testing
and the success of your ivf cycle now we have to start to get into the details okay so you're going
to go in for an andro follicle count for them to see how many follicles are there potentially to
grow and mature and that's before you start your medication your stimulation medication
and then you're going to go periodically in for scans to see how those follicles are growing
and typically that happens about five days after you've started your stimulation medication when
you go in they're going to give you a number you have x amount of follicles and we're going to use
10 because it's an easy number to talk about in this example so let's just say you have 10
follicles that does not mean that you're going to get 10 eggs the first question there becomes
are those follicles large enough right or is it too large sometimes you have a lead follicle that
grows too big and sometimes you have follicles that don't mature enough and they're still too
small or immature then when they retrieve those follicles which we talked about last week in last
week's video they're going to try to get an egg from each follicle that doesn't always happen
and or that follicle may be immature so then there's always a drop off a follicle count and
eggs that were retrieved and then the next piece is helmet from eggs is how many are fertilized to
start to grow and mature and there's typically also a drop off there and then you've got to
watch those grow again to either day three five six or seven and there's typically also a drop
off there now there's a lot of reasons for the drop-offs some of it is egg quality some of it
is sperm quality some of it is protocol that you were given at every one of those phases
but the percentages can vary and so i always tell the couples that i'm coaching and working with
that it's normal to see somewhere between a 10 to 15 drop off that drop-off can be higher the older
you are but i still like to see it less than 25 so then you know that if you've got 10 follicles
growing you're not going to end up with that amount of embryos to transfer later there's always
going to be a drop off at any one of those stages or all of those stages and so those are things for
us to consider as well when we're making this decision because we have to also understand
how many follicles or eggs or embryos do we really want to work with to give us chances for one
successful embryo transfer and healthy baby or if you want multiple children how many do you need
i just alluded to it as well and i talked about it last week but the medications you're given
the dosages of those medications and the overall protocol will absolutely influence the amount of
follicles you can get the amount of eggs that mature and the quality of those embryos that
is absolutely guaranteed but ivf is a bit of an experiment we just don't know so there's a lot of
ifs when we do ivf there's an if in terms of the amount of eggs that you can get the amount
of embryos you can get the quality of those embryos and the success of the cycle but also
the protocol itself will influence that so all of these variables have an impact on your success
of that cycle in the end the total number of embryos that you have to work with whether fresh
or frozen is pretty much going to dictate the likelihood of a success because the more embryos
that you have the higher likelihood of a success in that given cycle or future cycles the other
variable that really needs to be considered is going to be how many children do you want and
in what time frame right these are all going to influence how many ivf retrieval cycles you do
how many eggs you're comfortable with how many embryos you're comfortable with so that you know
how to move forward when to do transfers or when to keep going and banking more embryos two other
variables are going to influence all of this as well your age and your medical history because the
older you are the more embryos you need to work with to have a success and your medical history
is also potentially a complicating factor so you have to take all of this into consideration and
that's a lot of what i do when i work with those couples that i work with in the coaching process
is to really discuss those questions allow you to contemplate some of those questions
so that you can come up with the right answer for what is best for you so these are all very
important topics and i know that i gave you a lot of information so if it was a little too much you
can just re-watch it but now let's get into some of the tips that i think are going to be
beneficial for you so number one is preparation i you've heard me talk about this many times
i still can't talk about this topic without talking about preparation because you would never
show up for a marathon without preparing and so this is no different you've got to prepare
and that takes time preparation doesn't happen in a few weeks it typically happens in a few
months and so if we want to influence that you need to give yourself some time to prepare
to have a successful ivf cycle so i say typically a minimum of three months that's
not always possible for everyone but for those of you that it is i want you to start preparing now
so that you can be successful when you decide to move forward with it number two as part of that
preparation phase is get the right support in this case i mean get the right coaching that you need
we all need coaches you all need coaches to help you get through the things you just don't know
right that you just don't understand and you want to work with someone who has experience
and knowledge and understanding of the process to guide you the best way that they can we all need
that guidance and more specifically you need the guidance that is specific for your needs not for
everybody else it should be based on your age your medical history your hormones it should be based
on you and your partner so that you get the right coaching the right guidance and the right support
so that you're using those three months of preparation the right way and last but not least
start with the basics start with the foundational things that i talk about all the time
make sure your diet is on point now is the time to clean that up make sure that you are exercising
regularly not too much not too little make sure that you are managing your stress remember i gave
you a free 30-day trial to the fertile mind app to help you in that department make sure that you're
getting enough sleep because that's when your body rests recovers and rejuvenates and everything
starts to balance and make sure you are getting the foundational support that you need based on
your specific needs when it comes to supplements or anything else these things take time to work
which means you need to start those things now now if you want more information on all those
different details that i just talked about i have videos on each one of those things
right here at fertility tv so i want to invite you to check those out if you haven't already
because they're going to help you go in the right direction and use these three plus months of
preparation in the right way but if you've been trying for too long if you feel like you need a
little bit more guidance and if you feel like hey you know what i've changed my diet i've done some
of these things and it's still not working then i want to invite you to work with me and my team
in my hope fertility coaching program this is where we are your personal coaches evaluating
your health your case you as an individual to give you the plan that is right for you so that
you can use this preparation phase in the right way so that you can have a successful ivf cycle or
even hopefully get pregnant naturally if you want to join me in that program you do need to apply
but all you have to do is use the link in the description below to apply now i hope you liked
this video if you did give me a thumbs up but more importantly i want to hear from all of you
what did you like about this video what did you find useful what did you find new what questions
do you have post them below in the comment section and let me know additionally if you're not already
a subscriber to my youtube channel then you need to be so hit that bell to subscribe and
get notified when i put out a new video for all of you and until the next video stay fertile