Slow Freezing vs Vitrification

Still here, still popping three progynova pills a day & waiting for the next week to hurry up and pass by.

As I mentioned in my previous post, our new clinic only just discovered that our old clinic used slow-freeze methods on our Day 1 embryos, and as such, needed to push back the transfer to ensure that a) they had the correct mediums in place to thaw them and b) the personnel skilled in the older methods of thawing.

I researched the methods of freezing embryos online, and found this:

The process used to freeze the embryo dictates the process that must be used to thaw the embryo. That is why when frozen embryos are shipped between labs, thawing or warming instructions must accompany the embryo so that the receiving lab can recover the embryos successfully. -Fertility Lab Insider

It seems that vitrification is used in nearly all clinics now - so not only were our embryos frozen at Day 1 against our wishes, they were frozen in a way that will likely affect their thaw. It might explain why our last batch of Day 1's all did so poorly with thawing/growing, and is making me very realistic about any good coming from these ones.

It also appears that our old clinic didn't pass on any/enough information about the methods of freezing to the new clinic - and/or the new clinic didn't pay enough attention when they were received, so it's just little mistakes all round at the moment.

Anyway, I'm trying not to dwell on that - apart from being paranoid that these embryos have already been ruined from the start - and focus on the week ahead. They are being thawed on Wednesday, so all my energy is going towards at least having that part go right. The goal is not to get any refrozen; the goal is just to get a beautiful, healthy, 5-day blastocyst this time. Surely just 1 of those 8 embryos can make it that far.