FET March/April

[PT8998]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any dates pencilled in for an FET during March/April? I have been given the dates of 30/03 for baseline scan and transfer the week of 12/04.

It would be great to see if there are many others on similar timelines?!

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Great news @RichmondLady1981 wishing you lots of luck! 🤞🏻
My egg collection was back in December, I have 9 in the freezer so currently taking progynova after down regulating and hoping to transfer my first one ! Last fet was cancelled

Welcome @CLP20 🙋🏼‍♀️

Thanks @elsaesmeralda

@RichmondLady1981 Hi from the Feb thread! Fingers crossed for you getting a good egg this time 🤞🏻

Of course!!! This is FET!! I’ll be keeping an eye on you all for BFP!!! Good luck everyone.

Hi all! Please can I join? I am due my progress scan for medicated FET on 2/04 then transfer 08/04 if lining is ok and if our frostie thaws ok.
I had EC before Xmas, fresh transfer cancelled due to OHSS. FET 04/02/21 with a good quality embryo failed.
We only have the one frostie so if this doesn’t work it’s back to square one.

Hi ladies - does anyone have experience of your cycle length after egg collection? Is it likely I will be the same cycle length or will it be a bit longer?
I'm due to start in about a week if things are similar to before. I usually get ovulation pains and can tell when ovulating but haven't had any of that this month yet.
I also had spotting about a week after my bleed from ec too so wondering if my body was trying to produce a normal period then and if that knocks me back too

@willithappen my period was late after EC and then stayed on that date, it moved from 11th ish of each month to 20th! Now it’s still around 20th and this is from EC in November last year.

Hi all,

Thank you for the welcomes!

@elsaesmeralda yes, I have everything crossed that one is sticky! I know that at my age the odds are only going to get less if I need another fresh round.

@louloulemons so desperate to get on with it! Look forward to hearing more about everyone's experiences...

@BambiOnIce80 I'm really pleased with the number, though I know there's still the question around quality... I didn't set out to embryo bank, before my first cycle last Nov/Dec my fertility was a big unknown as I'd not tried to get pregnant naturally. My clinic viewed the first round as a success in terms of my response so when that fresh transfer failed I thought I could implant the 4BB frozen from my first cycle, but if it failed a few months would have passed and I'd be 42 with no more embryos to try... that's why I decided to do another fresh, I know there's only a few months in it but I have a group of embryos before that 42 deadline...
Probably silly, but there's something about looking at the stats and seeing the stark decline with each extra year that plays on your mind.

When I first tried IVF it was like learning another language, and I feel a bit like that with the FET world, my clinic is very much 'phone up on day 1 of your period and we'll tell you then' whereas I'm a planner by preference....

Is anyone else doing a natural transfer rather than medicated? Do you know how they work out transfer day - is it the same number of days after ovulation as the age of your blast? So a day 5 blast is transferred 5 days post ovulation? Sorry to ask stupid questions!

@CLP20 I also had a freeze-all recently, my EC was 1st March so we may be on similar timings...

@willithappen after my freeze-all EC on 1st March, it took just under a fortnight to get a bleed. Am hoping that I'll go back to my usual cycle length, but don't know yet.

After my fresh cycle last year, I had the withdrawal bleed two days after BFN and my next cycle was a bit shorter than usual, so I think my body makes it up as it goes along!

@lucymills1234 hi, I think we were on the same thread with BrandyM and co before Christmas! It’s nice to see a familiar name
I am just waiting for my acupuncture appt now - so much of IVF seems to be waiting in car parks these days.
I’m not too invested in this FET as the last one failed with a higher quality embryo, but I’m on a package that means that I have to use up all frozens before moving to next fresh cycle. I’ve resigned myself to a second cycle which I plan to start in July.

Thanks @Gensola and @lucymills1234
My withdrawal bleed after egg collection came 6 days after. So I'm now 21 days into that cycle so should have ovulated by now. I was planning to do some ovulation tests to try catch it so I could figure out when my next period would come but it's been so long since I gave the opks up that I just forgot to test other than once 🙈

@willithappen could you try temping? Not ideal to start midway through a cycle, but your temperature should be higher post ovulation and then drops back down again when AF is on her way. Might help give you an idea or might just be a terrible idea and forget I ever mentioned it! 😄

I have the same concern @lucymills1234, so I totally get it. Our embies all had/have good morphological grades, but the MMC and CP that I've had suggest that genetically the quality's not that great 😔 Sorry I can't help with the natural cycle query - I'm medicated over here 💊

Welcome to the new ladies 👋 @Gensola, myself and @elsaesmeralda have our lining scans on the 1st, so we might be on very similar time lines to you 😃

@elsaesmeralda how's the oestrogen/progynova/patches going? I feel a lot like my get up and go has gotten up and gone, which I don't remember being like last time! Just keeping everything crossed that it's working for us both 🤞🤞🤞

@BambiOnIce80 no not a bad idea at all! I tried temping back when ttc and just could never get it right. I don't wake at the same time every day and found it hard doing it first thing so gave up on that route. I think I'm just gonna have to wait it out and see when it comes! Preparing myself for it to be late
I have a 'follow up' appointment on Wednesday with the clinic. Both me and my partner have to be present by video call. A little confusing as we are obviously still in the middle of things. Anyone else had this? I'm just not sure what they will go over that we don't already know?

@willithappen the 'patience is a virtue' route definitely sounds like the best plan then 👍 Far easier said than done, of course! 😉 Have you both done your consents for the FET? Could that be what your appointment is for?

@BambiOnIce80 Aw! Are you feeling tired is that what it is ? I actually feel much better than I did on the buserelin alone, I think the progynova has levelled it out abit now and not feeling as shitty! Have horrendous migraines/neck pain though, but that's a separate issue, although I think the extra hormones don't help
Do you feel like these next 10 days is going to absolutely drag ? 😆

@BambiOnIce80 we both had to sign a document right after egg collection, but honestly I was so out of it I have forgotten what that was :/ I haven't had anything to sign since then, or any documents in the post
Our call is via video so not sure we'd be able to sign anything
Will find out in a couple days I guess. I haven't been told any of my embryo grades so I wonder if they will tell me them then

Absolutely knackered @elsaesmeralda! 🥱 I'm still managing to drag myself out for a run every other day (to try and shift the 6kg I put on between Christmas/the last FET and now 😳), but other than that I'm shattered 😴 I thought oestrogen was supposed to put some pep in our steps?! 🤷🏻‍♀️ That sucks about the migraines 😕 Can you take anything for them? These first 5 days have draaaaagggggged, so I dread to think what the next 10 are going to be like! 😂

Oooh yes @willithappen, I bet they'll feed back about your embryo grading 👍 You might have to do consent as well... at least we've had to do ours at each step (fresh cycle Dec 2019, FET#1 Nov 2020 & FET#2 now). I'm in Scotland and they've just started doing online consent, so you don't get given paperwork, etc. Any chance yours could be similar?

@willithappen we had our follow up appointment on Wednesday. It was basically an in depth debrief of each step of the last cycle, then the embryo grading and then a discussion of what will happen next. We have a nurse consultation on Thursday to be told exactly what is happening with meds and book in dates.

@BambiOnIce80 @CLP20 ah that makes so much sense and I guess that's what it will be and why both of us will be present!
I just found it strange as I was told about everything else going forward from nurses other than this appointment lol
I have been given my tablets already that I need to start on day 1 of period and already called when I had my last bleed and had dates booked in so I just thought that was it!

Nervous to hear of the grades now. I kind of like not knowing as I know I'd just have been stressing this whole time if I knew already!
Be nice to hear feedback. There was a brief PCOS mention when I had my day 5 update so I'd like to touch on that more with them as no one has ever even hinted at that before. I think he maybe just said it because of how many follicles I had and less than half produced eggs

Hoping this week is the last of me being 'normal' again before back to being on the meds!

Ah yes, I remember you @Gensola ! How are you finding the acupuncture? I wanted to try it but don't have the funds. Do you think it's helping? I can understand why you feel a lower quality transfer won't succeed if a higher quality failed, but remember that high quality doesn't mean 'normal' in chromosome terms. In that sense, this transfer could have every chance of success.

@willithappen if you both have to be present, I'd guess it's a consent call as well... not that I've had one but I can't see what else they'd insist on both of you for.

@BambiOnIce80 sorry to hear about the MMC and CP... I really hope you have success this time round. Sorry if you've already shared on this board but where do things stand now - do you have a number of embryos frozen?

@CLP20 it's really interesting to see how different clinics operate. I find my clinic really light touch. When I was doing my fresh cycles I had scans at the clinic followed by a really quick chat with a nurse (definitely felt they were trying to get through it quickly). My follow-up call when my first cycle failed was very much 'do you have any questions?' more than a proactive debrief. And now in this cycle, I had to have an unexpected freeze-all but went home with little clue about next steps and only spoke to the clinic because I called up with OHSS symptoms and asked about FET. Otherwise I'd have heard nothing!

Everyone has been pleasant to deal with (embryologists in particular were lovely this time round) but I don't get the feeling that anyone is specifically looking at my case and making sure things are all working as well as they could. Maybe because I've been a fairly straightforward case so far? I don't want to move as things are going well - thanks, body! - but it does feel very much like I'm on the production line rather than an individual patient. It's a bit galling when I've handed over so so much money!

@lucymills1234 oh gosh, I don’t think I would cope well with that. My clinic feels very hands on and it feels like every person there knows exactly where you are up to. Feels like a very personal service and they were great when I had OHSS symptoms. We did move clinics just before starting as our previous clinic was making me so stressed with feeling like we kept falling through the cracks and in the end I just didn’t trust them. It was a pain changing clinics but pleased we did in the end, although we are NHS so different situation.

@willithappen, I'm with you on being happier not knowing about what the grades are! 🙈 It's just another flipping thing to obsess over! 😵 I just have to keep reminding myself that I know lots of people with average to lowish grade embies that turned into babies, so the morphological grading isn't the be all and end all 🙂

@lucymills1234 we started out with 6 embies from our fresh cycle. Transferred a 4AA at the time and that was the MMC at 11 weeks. Transferred another in November, but that hadn't fully re-expanded and was a CP. So, we're moving onto number 3 with another 3 remaining now 🤞 I've stopped obsessing about the gradings after what happened with the 4AA, but our remaining frosties are all combinations of A &/or B's I think 🤔 I think my clinic are very 'one size fits all' as well, even though they're all very pleasant to deal with. I think I'll have more to ask about if this one doesn't work out though, but I'm trying to not get ahead of myself... 🔮

Do you feel any better today ? at least you're still doing some exercise ! Can't say the same for myself 😆 @BambiOnIce80
Just normal otc stuff but it doesn't touch them when it's really bad, a hot water bottle helps though ! I'm reluctant to approach the gp as I can't take much/don't want to atm due to the ivf ! I start upping the dose of progynova tomoz so wonder if some side effects will kick back in !

@BambiOnIce80 yeah, I kind of feel like asking them not to tell me to be honest. I don't know if that's something they would do?
I will over think every single aspect of it and just work myself up and I'd rather just try and be as relaxed as possible with it rather than googling and worrying constantly!

@lucymills1234 the acupuncture is odd, I don’t know if it is helping tbh and it is really expensive so if this transfer fails I’ll probably have it less often or not at all. There do seem to be some good studies on it plus my clinic actually offer it in house which I think gives me some hope it might actually help?!
I have very short periods which makes me worry that’s why the last FET failed - my lining was triple layer and 8mm though so maybe I’m worrying unnecessarily. I’ll be interested to see if lining improves this time on supplements.
Tbh I can’t wait for the whole process to be over either way, I’ll get a break from IVF for three months as I’ll be on DHEA to improve egg quality so I’d be looking at a mid July stims, it would be nice to forget about it all for a bit.
My injections are really hurting this time. Not sure if DH has just lost the knack or if I have more muscle and less fat than before ahaha. Only a few more days to go of those.