Was that an embryo which fell out after my failed IVF cycle ?

The mind plays games after the embryo transfer. Every little cramp or discharge can excite hope - or lead to despair ! This is especially true when the IVF cycle fails and patients get their menstrual period. They often imagine that they can see a little clot of tissue or a little ball of cells in the menstrual flow, and they feel that they have miscarried the embryo.

This actually reinforces their feelings of low self esteem. Not only can’t they get pregnant in their own bedroom, their body could not even hold on to the beautiful embryos which the doctor grew in the lab and transferred to the uterus !

Please remember that an embryo is just a small microscopic ball of cells , which is not visible with the naked eye. If the embryo fails to implant , it gets silently reabsorbed about 2 or 3 days after the embryo transfer. This means that the period which comes after a failed IVF cycle just consists of menstrual blood and the shed uterine lining.

There is no way anyone can see an embryo in the menstrual flow after the IVF cycle has failed . Please don’t let your mind play games with you if your embryo doesn’t implant ! This usually just means that there’s an intrinsic genetic defect within the embryo, which is why nature did not allow implantation to occur . It does not mean that your body rejected the embryo or that you did something wrong. And just because one cycle has failed doesn’t reduce your chances of getting pregnant in the next cycle !