What if embryo transfer isn't successful?

Learn the answer to this week's user-submitted question about surrogacy in this week's installment of Ask a Surrogacy Expert! Have a question about surrogacy that you'd like answered? Submit it at https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/ask

Emotional Support and Patient Care

• The primary focus is on acknowledging the emotional impact of unsuccessful embryo transfers and supporting all parties through the process.

• Jen emphasized the importance of allowing both intended parents and gestational carriers to grieve after an unsuccessful embryo transfer, recognizing that disappointment is shared on both sides 

• She stressed that grieving can be done individually or together without obligation. 

• This approach aims to respect personal coping styles and mental health needs. 

• Encouraging this emotional space supports long-term engagement and trust in the process.

• The shared disappointment between gestational carriers and intended parents highlights the need for sensitive communication protocols 

• Recognizing mutual feelings helps prevent blame and promotes empathy. 

• This understanding informs training for care teams on managing post-transfer interactions. 

• It sets a foundation for better ongoing support and relationship management.

Embryo Transfer Success Rates and Follow-Up Strategy

• The strategy after a failed embryo transfer is to try again, with statistical optimism for success by the second attempt.

• Statistically, the second embryo transfer tends to succeed if the first does not, with patients typically attempting up to three transfers within 12 to 18 months

• Jen clarified that while no guarantees exist, success rates improve significantly by the second try. 

• This informs counseling protocols to manage expectations realistically while encouraging persistence. 

• The timeline ensures patients have a clear period for repeated attempts without undue delay. 

• This approach balances hope with practical planning for resource allocation and emotional readiness.

• The recommendation to continue attempts up to three times within a year and a half shapes follow-up care and scheduling 

• Clinics can design patient journey maps with checkpoints around these timeframes. 

• This also affects inventory planning for embryos and resource management for gestational carriers. 

• It helps define success metrics for program effectiveness and patient retention. 

• This timeline supports operational planning for capacity and financial forecasting.

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Transcript:Hey, everyone, this is Jennifer White, CEO of Bright Futures Families Surrogacy, with this week's Ask Question, which is:  What if the embryo transfer isn't successful?

And this is such a hard question because we all, of course, this is what we built for. Everybody wants it to be successful. My first thing I would say is always everybody on both sides, intended parents and gestational carriers, allow yourself the time and the space to grieve, because this is not the outcome that anybody wanted and nobody should expect that. You just pick right back up with a chipper, happy face on either side. Right? Gestational carriers are just as disappointed in disappointing intended parents as intended parents are disappointed that this didn't work. And so both sides really need to grieve, whether it's separately or whether you want to support each other.

I think nobody should feel obligated to support each other through that though, and each person should be able to grieve in their own way. Beyond that, the actual logistical nuts and bolts, which I think is what was actually being asked, is that generally people try again, assuming that there are more embryos. Usually people try up to three times, usually within about a year to 18 month period, and they keep going and hopefully there is a success. Generally if the first one isn't successful, generally the second one is. No promises ever. But usually statistically by that second one, things really work. So. So if the first one doesn't, please, please allow yourself the space to grieve. It's normal. But pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and everybody is really excited to sprinkle that fairy dust and try again.