IVF - Unlimited two year option

[CAA121]

Looking for some advice regarding IVF and different packages. After a year of trying and knowing I have stage 3/4 endometriosis, one blocked tube but good AMH, we have decided to opt for IVF.

Considering a 3 cycle package versus unlimited two year packages.

Has anyone had or is currently doing a two year unlimited package? How many cycles can you fit into two years? Would anyone recommend the unlimited package or recommend a different option?

Thanks to anyone that can help

It probably depends on how many embryos you get per cycle.
I saw my clinic for booking in my EC in late August, due to the date of my next period and stimm time I did egg collection 7/11 with a fresh 5dt on 12/11. This failed, my clinic need a clear bleed before starting the next transfer, so the soonest I could do was start meds on jan period with FET transfer 7/2. This also failed, next period was March with 3rd transfer on 6/4 (this is successful (so far)). My periods are every 24-25 days so I think my timeline is probably quicker than most. If you get 5 embryos, I would say it would take a year to use them all so 2 cycles with that number in 2 years. If you only get 1 blast then you could maybe do 5-6 cycles (prep for EC takes a lot longer) in 2 years. It is hard though, both on your body and emotionally, I’m not sure I could have done another FET in June if this one had failed. Also clinics close over Xmas so if I had been a month later/earlier then instead of having my bleed over Xmas I would have had to delay a transfer.

This is a how long is a piece of string question. Depends primarily on how many embryos you make.

So, hypothetically, you could do a fresh cycle with a fresh transfer, and then frozen transfers after - you have to have a month gap in between for every failure, so assuming 28day cycles potentially you could do one fresh, then maybe 10 or 11 frozen ones. But clearly you need that many embryos! And that's based on short protocol, long protocol is a longer, and if you unfortunately have a miscarriage then it's a 3 month wait.... also clinics close over Christmas so that can delay cycles, we missed a month with our first cycle because of that.

Equally, you could have one fresh cycle, get pregnant and have spent an awful lot of money for the unlimited and not need it.

In reality, I expect you could aim for 4 ish transfers a year. I've done one failed FET and onto next FET now and it's been capital letter Hard Work to get everything together with only a month gap.

And that isn't recognising the emotional headfuck of IVF. You may emotionally not be able to manage back to back cycles for months on end.

I personally would try one fresh cycle as is, and then depending on those results, see what you need to do. If you made 10 embryos, you could just do FETs which are much cheaper. If you made 0 embryos, you might then want to commit to a scheme.

@NorthernDuckling

I feel like I’m a bit of an IVF noob as I thought one cycle was one transfer but thank you for your explanation and for sharing your journey.

I have a good AMH so hopeful they will retrieve at least some eggs to work with, so it does sound like perhaps the unlimited two year isn’t necessarily my best choice if frozen transfers are taken into account. Looking at statistics, I’m thinking a package is useful as unlikely to happen on first couple of attempts. I’m very apprehensive about starting the journey and have read a lot of how it affects body and mind, any tips for maintaining positive mental well-being?

So glad to hear you got your BFP, wishing you health and happiness on your pregnancy journey.

@MaybeBabyTwo
Thank you for taking the time to reply and explain the fresh and frozen embryo process. You really are right when you say how long is a piece of string. Feels like a complete guessing game, trying to look at statistics and research online to make the best guess but really anything could happen. Thank you for the advice. Trying to prepare myself for the emotional rollercoaster I’m about to get on, any tips for positive mental well-being that’s helped you through the process? Wishing you the best luck for your next FET, my fingers are crossed for you.

My advice would be to get really knowledgeable about the numbers game. I had 23 eggs retrieved, 19 were mature, 12 fertilised via ICSI, and of those, 7 got to day 5. It's all a LOT to understand and I wish I'd spent more time learning about it before we got into it.

I would also recommend really good support, ideally counselling. I have weekly therapy and it's been so helpful.

Thank you so much for your advice, really appreciated. I will get reading and learning. I didn’t even think about that but yes that makes a lot of sense that not all eggs will get to day 5. I have a lot to learn