FET February 2024

[kirstysmbc]

Hi, just thought I'd see if there was anyone else doing a FET cycle in February that is looking for a cycle buddy?

I'm due to start meds at the end of this month, hopefully with transfer mid Feb. This will be my first donor embryo cycle after final attempts with my own eggs failed last year.

@seekingbabyk So sorry I didn't see your reply until I had the notification from @beachbum85 (welcome back btw!!)

My period started on Monday afternoon, so I'm day 2 of drugs today, with an early scan on Day 10 (week tomorrow!) so lets hope the magic tablets, change in protocol and the sunshine in Rome gets all my blood pumping to my uterus 😅We fly Friday but my consultant said I can have wine - best consultant ever 😂

Oh gosh sorry I didn't know you'd had 3 previously. My bad. Do you mind me asking if you had implantation with any of those, or were all 4 negative tests? Sorry to ask - I know that's a bit personal! And don't be ashamed - when I look back to July when we did stims, If I knew then what I know now, my god I would do so much different. And I think it's only natural - we go into it so naive don't we? I agree on the What If's - you don't want those cropping up. I really hope you get the reward for all the hard work and commitment and sacrifice you're putting in. Have you any idea on timing yet for going again?

@beachbum85 How was USA USA USA!!?? Was it as cold as you thought or was it mild, as I know theirs some unusually warm weather atm over there.

Super exciting that your follow up is tomorrow - please do let us all know how it goes and what the POA is! This is the last one right? I'm so pleased the break has put you in a positive mindset - it SO helps and is so needed I think. I'm hoping Rome will do the trick for me this weekend, to kick off this cycle in style!
If you started your period last week, if you were able to go off this one on a natural, you'd be transferring in like 10 days? Is that right?

Hope everyone is doing okay and looking forward to a Easter of no sugar 😰🙈

Thanks @GCS34. The trip to the US was amazing! It was a mix between super cold and lots of snow, especially at the Grand Canyon, and then some warm days when we were in t-shirts, so that was really white and picturesque some days, and then so much more comfortable to explore other days. We're really happy with how it went (although I better not comment about the food) and I managed to stay away from those gigantic glasses of wine quite easily 😅

You definitely have the best consultant! Sounds like they understand the need to balance the stress of it all with some things that make you feel good and happy 😊
So glad you've started again - it all sounds so positive! We MIGHT be close to transfer buddies... going off my last FET, I'd transfer in about 12-15 days if we can go off this cycle. I'm not holding my breath to get their agreement tomorrow, but it would be great! And, yep, it's our last frostie... I'll definitely keep you posted, and you let us know about your scan next week 🤞🏼

@beachbum85 Oh wow sounds wonderful. It never ceases to amaze me just how big America is that you have so many climates - snow to T-shirts is madness! Sounds amazing though and you got to see all the seasons and everything in different settings. Ooooo divulge on the food so I can get some food inspo for tomorrow 😂Don't listen @seekingbabyk 🙈
What time is your appointment today? I hope it goes okay and you get the green light to go off this cycle, hopefully they're not too busy!

For me, knowing how rubbish my uterus is (sorry uterus I love you really), it will probably be about 17 days of estrogen before I start the progesterone for 5, so my transfer will likely be around the 17th ish April, so we might be out of sync unfortunately. You'll be elbow deep in the second week of the TWW!

@GCS34 awww have a lovely trip! That's amazing you can have a few drinks - I think you'll find you won't have much but it's easier when it's your own choice!

We have only done two transfers - one fresh and the one we just had. This is from notes on my phone -

Round 1
Retrieved - 7
Mature - 4
Fertilised - 3
Blasts - 1 (3BB) transferred BFN

Round 2
Retrieved - 10
Mature - 9
Fertilised - 9
Blasts - 2 (both 4BC) frozen

Round 3
Retrieved - 9
Mature - 7
Fertilised - 4
Blasts - 0

Transferred 2 frozen embryos 4BCs as a double transfer BFN

So 26 eggs retrieved so far, only resulted in 3 average grade blasts.

My eating has been bloody atrocious since the failed transfer. Was my birthday last week and I think I've just been comfort eating through the crap weather lately too but after this weekend I'm back on it. Just going to finish off the Easter eggs first 😬

Glad you had an amazing trip @beachbum85 - I love the USA we go at least once a year but I have a whole list of future road trips and destinations I want to visit! We hope to move there one day 🤞🏻

Thanks for checking in @beachbum85 - I am struggling with brutal nausea but otherwise ok. We made the move from London to Nottingham so just trying to sort our lives out now! Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter weekend and enjoying some treats.

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend! I've not checked in for a while so I'm sorry for missing the notifications.

@kaydevo7777 hope all is well with you! I'd not heard of uniquinol but yes I am on CoQ10 (and so is DH!) The different names for everything is so confusing isn't it!

@beachbum85 glad you had a great trio, and you too @GCS34 keeping fingers crossed for you both on your next cycles.

@seekingbabyk may as well make the most of the Easter eggs before getting healthy again!

We went to a clinic open day and got a free chat with a consultant which was super helpful and reassuring. She basically said the biggest factor for quality was age, which is on my side at the moment at 33, and she thinks we should just change up the drugs for the next cycle as sometimes certain drugs can yield poor quality eggs for some women. So I think that's left me feeling more hopeful, although we're still going to carry on with all the other good stuff too. I've had some counselling as well which has really helped (both TTC stresses and some other life stresses) and just feeling in a much better place generally with everything, so hopefully that's another positive change for our next cycle!

Just hoping we can get our next collection squeezed in before a wedding at the end of May, as my poor DH would love to be able to enjoy his friends wedding with a few beers!

@seekingbabyk Sorry for the delayed reply - I was completely immersed in Roman life 😍Hope you had a lovely Easter and managed to avoid too many eggs! My clinic had loads of mini chocolate eggs in reception, with a sign saying help yourself, help egg quality haha! Easily pleased.

Thanks for sharing your numbers - it's mad how round 2 yielded completely different results to 1 and 3. Was their a different protocol in that round / did anything differently?

Happy belated birthday! Did you do anything nice for it? I always think March is a lovey month for a birthday as it's fully of optimism.
And try not to be too hard on yourself on the food front. I was listening to a doctor on a podcast and she said sometimes the stress of sticking to a rigid diet / being BPA free and all that, is actually worse than not worrying as much because of the stress on your mind and body. Easier said than done I know!! Have you set an ETA for when you'll start again and do you mind me asking if you have a cycle left with Access or is it a new round completely?

@beachbum85 I know we have also caught up separately but so pleased you had a lovely holiday and the new round is in progress!! Sending love.

@IWouldRatherBeOnHoliday Sounds like a really productive chat with the clinic and it's great to hear that you're feeling in a good place. It makes a lot of difference I think - taking time away from TTC / IVF etc is never a bad thing I think. It is such a lot, so it's good your'e feeling positive. And yes I have been told the same thing about different drugs getting different quality. My clinic told me that Menopur is good for egg quality, so I Think we'll be on that one next time as I am also [relatively] young at 35, so my issue is egg quality as I got 40 eggs at my last collection!

Exciting on the wedding front! May is a wonderful month

Welcome back @GCS34 ! I hope Rome has treated you fabulously 🤩 Sending love back and lots of luck for your scan today! Keep us posted...
Also, wow 40 eggs!! You can say your uterus is not cooperative, but your ovaries certainly did a good job there 😄

So, yes, after a few days of not knowing what was going to happen (cancelled and reinstated appointment with the consultant on Thurs, then being told that we couldn't get a scan in time because of Easter break but being slotted in on Tuesday, missing consent forms that we couldn't access online), we're going this cycle on a natural cycle again... positive ovulation was yesterday and transfer is booked for Tuesday!

Thanks so much @IWouldRatherBeOnHoliday ! I'm really glad you had a positive chat with the consultant and the counsellor and you're feeling good about the next round 😊I think mindset can make a big difference, and the lifestyle changes can only help as well, so hopefully this is your round 🤞🏼 and hopefully timing works and you can get to enjoy that wedding too!

Happy belated birthday @seekingbabyk ! Hope you had a nice time and don't stress too much about some comfort food... nobody can be perfect all the time and at least you had a good reason with your birthday and Easter 😄
This was our first proper trip to the US (ignoring work trips and a family visit to Disney) and it really surprised me with its beauty and variety! I'll definitely get in touch for tips if we go back. Where's the next one you're eyeing?

@muddlingthrou sorry to hear about your nausea - it really sucks the life out of you! Congrats on your move and happy settling in😍

Hope everyone else is doing well too xxx

@GCS34 glad you had a lovely break! When is your next appointment/baseline? I bet it was nice being somewhere warmer! Yes I know the results on round two were much better although still not amazing. I have menopur so round 1 was 150/day, round two was 225 and round 3 was 300. They're dropping me back down to 225 now. Also one extra day before collection that round and was taking COQ10 so who knows what helped 🤷🏼‍♀️ there were actually more blasts too but they didn't keep them as the quality wasn't great. the last round we had none whatsoever. Could be a number of things - big Paris trip the week before, I was taking DHEA too and also my follicles were lots of smaller ones on the higher dose so maybe that? Who knows really! Yes I'm trying not to stress about diet but because it's an egg quality issue with us it's probably really important to prioritise that!

@beachbum85 awww I'm glad you enjoyed it. So we did the PCH road trip in California for our honeymoon which was amazing- went from san Fran to LA via Lake Tahoe and Yosemite then over to Monterey. Highly recommend that one! New York is amazing too. And we go to Florida every year - 4 weeks last year- road tripping, fishing, scuba diving, kayaking, some parks, etc. hoping to partly live there one day! Next in my list is Wyoming. Think cowboy ranches, Yellowstone, mountains, deserts, etc. if you search TikTok for Wyoming itineraries you'll see it looks amazing! Also fancy an east coast road trip, Texas and hopefully the rockies one day. Was your transfer today? Or is it next Tuesday?

@seekingbabyk oh that sounds amazing! I was actually looking at Yosemite and Yellowstone first, but they seemed a bit too cold for March... Next time 😄We did stop in NY for a couple of days before flying home as we have friends there, and we really enjoyed it. 4 weeks in Florida sounds lovely too! We always end up going to our homes (both Mediterranean countries) in summer, so have rarely been to any other locations where it's summer at the same time... maybe we're missing out!

Transfer was yesterday! It went super smoothly - embryo thawed fine and I drank less this time and didn't experience the discomfort I did in Feb. It was quite funny as the consultant was the same person who told me it would be absolutely impossible to go ahead this month due to the timing and Easter break, so when she saw me, she looked really surprised and said 'Oh, it's YOU, you managed to squeeze yourself in!' I then had to spend approx. 5min with my legs open in front of her whilst the nurse went to pick up some missing thing they needed 😅 she was really nice though, they showed us what was going on this time and we could see the moment the embryo was transferred. Not feeling anything at all atm (had quite a few cramps last time round) and still very calm, but let's see in a few days.

How are you doing?

I hope everyone else is well xxx

@beachbum85 awwww congratulations on being PUPO. Keeping everything crossed for you!

Isn't it the most awkward conversation laying there! My consultant is a guy too (absolutely lovely man) and we were just chatting away about something random ignoring the elephant in the room that I'm laying legs up in front of him. And my husband was next to me lol! God the things we do! They must be used to it though I guess.

Sorry for the late response but thanks so much @seekingbabyk !

I just wanted to come back and update: we got our BFP this morning!!! Hoping this gives some hope to anyone who was worried about having a Day 6 embryo, or that their better grades embryos failed, or feeling the pressure of the last embryo/s.. Of course it's early days and anything can happen, but this one implanted when the other didn't, so for today we're celebrating 😊

@beachbum85 - massive congratulations!!! So happy for you. Wishing you a smooth pregnancy xx

Congratulations @beachbum85 - wishing you a lovely health pregnancy..

@beachbum85 congratulations!!! so happy for you <3

Thank you so, so much! And thanks for the support throughout - this thread really felt like a handhold throughout the failed attempt and preparing for this one xxx

Big shout out @beachbum85 - amazing news and really pleased for you to complete your puzzle. That trip away and mindset shift did its job and I’m pleased for your next step. Here’s so a healthy 8 months ahead.

Awwww @beachbum85 that's amazing news! Congratulations xx

Congratulations @beachbum85 wonderful news 😊

How is everyone else getting on? I hope those who got their BFPs are doing well and enjoying pregnancy. And good luck to those of you going into your next attempts.

After taking some time to process the chemical with the donor embryo, I've made the decision to move to double donor IVF instead and should be going a transfer in May. I'm just waiting for a day 5 update tomorrow to confirm if I've got any embryos to transfer.

@kirstysmbc - that is very exciting. I hope you get great news on the embryos. So sorry about what you went through with the chemical xx

@kirstysmbc that's great that your time away has enabled you to reach a decision! And a double ET is super exciting, and joining me in the DET club! is this going to be in the UK or in Portugal again?

All okay here - I had my last round cancelled AGAIN as my body started retreating to the treatment, which I've since found out was cuz they upped my drugs and caused my body to freak. So I am back on the OG protocol, with the addition of the Pentoxyfilline tablets to help blood flow, and on day 3 with a scan next week. Hopefully we make it to transfer this time! Feels novel having an actual shot at this. Been a rough 2 months! Hope you're doing okay x

I have everything crossed for you.. @kirstysmbc and @GCS34 and hope things go smoothly for you both.

I am 13 weeks today, had quite a few scares but being well looked after with lots of scans and midwife appointments.

Hope everyone else is doing well 😊

@GCS34 It will just be a single for me. The egg donor is only 20 so fingers crossed egg quality will be great. The clinic really don't recommend double as the chance of twins is high, and with a toddler in tow, I def don't want to risk it!! When are you expecting transfer to be? I'm about a month off I think.

Thanks @muddlingthrou. And @Staryskylark, and I'm sorry to hear it's been a bit of a difficult journey so far. I'm glad your midwife has been so helpful and fingers crossed it's a smoother ride from here.

Thank you so much @kirstysmbc!
I'm glad to hear you've got a plan to try again soon! very best of luck with your Day 5 update today 🤞🏼🤞🏼
Excuse my ignorance, but does double donor mean you have separate egg and sperm donors then?

Thank you for those kind words @GCS34
I'll be keeping everything crossed for good news at your scan next week! It must have been such a rollercoaster (and not the good type!) Big hugs xxx

@Staryskylark I'm sorry it's been a rocky road so far and glad to hear you've been well taken care of... congrats on getting to 13w and I hope all will get easier from here.

Thank you, thank you @seekingbabyk !

Did a digital test this morning and it says 2-3w which is what I would expect, so that's a bit reassuring while I wait for the early scan on 9 May.

@beachbum85 Yep, that's exactly it. I chose egg and sperm donors and they basically create embryos specifically for me. Had my day 5 update and they have frozen 4 good quality embryos. A little disappointing from 14 eggs and 8 still going on day 3, but hopefully one of them will do the trick. I guess with such young donors I was hoping for a better number, (my first own egg round I had 6 embryos from 9 eggs) but just have to hope the quality is better than my old eggs.

Good luck for the wait to scan, I found that so much harder than the initial 2ww! I hope you can distract yourself.