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.

Hello, also joining in if that's ok! Fingers crossed for everyone.
I'm in the process of my 1st FET. 1st lining scan wasn't thick enough, they've increased my oestrogen tablets to 8mg/day and waiting for repeat scan on Friday.. feeling so impatient now 😅How long were you guys on oestrogen before starting progesterone?

@Kfish56 welcome and fingers crossed for you. Still very early days - so hard not to look too much into it though - I am the same.

@Autumnsun20 mine was also too thin first scan - they upped my oestrogen as a result x2 tabs 3 times a day instead of x1 tabs 3 times and was fine by the next scan. Started day 10. Started progesterone day 16 - bloods were low (20) but went ahead and now have supplementary jabs. Testing my progesterone tomorrow for peace of mind to check it’s shot up. Not sure if it may have already affected the transfer that happened on Friday or not 😞

@Autumnsun20 the wait is so frustrating isn’t it. I had my lining scan on day 12 and it wasn’t thick enough so they upped my dose and I started progesterone on day day 20 of oestrogen tablets and had my transfer on day 25. Xx

@Lindyloolou ah thanks! My clinic haven't mentioned about getting any bloods so I'll ask at the next appointment. Hopefully the jabs will help and give a boost

@Kfish56 phew ok I think (if lining is fine on Fri) that our timelines will be similar, I was getting myself worried that a week between scans was too long. The wait is the worst! Best of luck with your TWW, this week will fly by <3

@Autumnsun20 some people just take a little bit longer and my clinic advised me that it was absolutely fine and it makes no difference at all.
the last 4 days feel like the longest of my life haha. I’m pretty sure that it hasn’t worked for us this time so I’m hoping I will think about it a bit less this week. Xxx

@Kfish56 thank you for your reassurance! Stay positive - I saw a diagram on one of these forums somewhere showing that d5 FET embryos don't fully implant until day 5-7 post transfer, and I think some people just don't have any symptoms during the TWW. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you 💫

Welcome @Kfish56 and congrats on being PUPO. I've had a few FETs now and the one with the most symptoms was the only one where I didn't have implantation. With my daughter I had no symptoms at all, so don't rule yourself out yet. Don't forget most people falling pregnant naturally would have no idea until they miss a period. I'm keeping everything crossed for you.

Welcome too @Autumnsun20 I hope the increased oestrogen helps your lining increase for the next scan 🤞

Hey everyone, hope you had a great weekend!

Hi @Lindyloolou so sorry about your previous losses and this difficult journey, and congrats on your daughter and on being PUPO! I hope your progesterone results come back OK.

@IWouldRatherBeOnHoliday what a stressful morning! I'm glad that embryo progressed just in time, and hope there were others to freeze. Congrats on being PUPO, and @beibikeiks too! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for all of you 🤞🏼🤞🏼
14 days sounds awfully long to wait - my clinic said to test 12dp5dt (that was for a fresh transfer) and that already was later than others, I seem to remember.

@Kfish56 hi! the TWW is super hard and symptoms/lack of can be deceiving, hang in there 💪🏼

Hi @Autumnsun20 I hope your lining looks fine on Friday - good luck! I'm having a natural cycle so no experience of oestrogen, sorry.

@muddlingthrou unbelievable how the body plays games when you're relying on it sticking to the plan! What did you end up doing? I hope you managed your night away and the hot tub.

Finally got a positive ovulation test this morning! Last month was really early, and this time was the latest over the past 6 cycles or so, so obviously my mind was playing games... But just waiting for the call from my clinic to schedule transfer, should be the 11th!

@kirstysmbc @beachbum85 thank you for your positive energy!
I do have symptoms but they are all my usual symptoms I get before af.. dull ache in my uterus, white tacky cm, so I know that I’m out. I’ve spent 3 years trying to convince myself every month that they could be symptoms of pregnancy and they never have been! Xxx

Yay great news @beachbum85 fingers crossed for you!

Thank you @Lindyloolou !

@Kfish56 I had the usual period cramps and milky discharge before my BFP, my bestie had absolutely nothing (and even stopped taking progesterone a couple of days before her test!) but is now 15w pregnant... You just never know, progesterone is evil. Everyone is different and I don't want to raise your hopes if it's easier to think negative and then possibly have the best surprise ever. But please don't stop taking the progesterone 😅

@beachbum85 - we threw caution to the wind and I got in that hot tub! I also had a glass of bubbles. I hope I don't regret it, but it felt like we needed the break.

I started taking the estradiol tablets yesterday morning. Ugh, so far, so horrible side effects... Nausea, headaches and all that fun. But, I definitely feel better today than yesterday even though DD had us up at 4:30am, so hopefully it's settling. I feel so keyed up with expectation that it's making it VERY hard to focus on work, however.

@Kfish56 - you know your body best, but I still hope you're wrong!

@muddlingthrou I'm so glad you did! If it helps avoid regret, I had a nice glass of red wine between EC and ET the round that gave us our son, so I don't think a glass will make any difference at all 😊Sorry to hear about the terrible side effects though, and I hope it is settling! Same here, can't focus as I wait for the clinic to call with the plan (as you can tell by my many responses 😅)

@muddlingthrou I think anything that helps you relax is definitely a positive, so glad you just went for it! I was getting some awful headaches in my first few days on Progynova but luckily they've settled a bit now. I'm getting some awful digestive issues now, which I'd normally get when I start progesterone, so not sure what's happening there!!

I have my lining scan on Friday and I'm really nervous this time. Just want this week to whiz on past...

@beachbum85 Great news, I hope the clinic are in touch soon to confirm transfer!

@beachbum85 i would never stop taking the progesterone don’t worry :)
@muddlingthrou thank you, that’s so kind of you.
xxx

@muddlingthrou oh I'm with you with the side effect but mine is just dizziness. Only really with the morning dose - assume I sleep through the evening one. It seems to be better if I have breakfast and I have heard it eases off. Don't blame you for a glass of bubbles in the hot tub!

Congratulations everyone who is PUPO - fingers crossed for you all 🤞🏻

@kirstysmbc - I feel you about the scanxiety! Mine is on Monday so I've got a whole week to get through, eek... I'll be crossing my fingers that you get good news on Friday.

The clinic have told me that my DH - or someone else - can be there for the transfer (last time he couldn't due to COVID guidelines). Where do people stand on company for the transfer? My immediate thought was it'd be nice for the moral support, but DH is a teacher so it's a pain for him to get time off. Also, a tiny superstitious part of me wants to recreate everything about the transfer that worked... I'm overthinking this, aren't I?!

@muddlmuddlingthrou I had my DH with me in our 2021 transfer (which was successful) but now we've moved out of the country and he stayed back home with ours sons.

But I took my mother in law with me now and it was such a beautiful moment, we both cried 😂😅 and she hasn't stopped talking about how grateful she is that I took her with me 😀

It's such a surreal moment, I loved spending it with someone, even though it wasn't DH 😊

@beibikeiks - what a special relationship you have with your mother-in-law! It sounds like a beautiful experience. Thank you for sharing; you've definitely given me some food for thought.

Thanks everyone for sharing advice re testing dates.
We have decided to test 11dp5dt with an early response test, so will test on 14th. This makes sense for us as we won't be together on the morning of the official test day so that would be a shame not to either be happy or sad together. Either way, I'll stay on meds and do another test on 14dpt to report to the hospital.

Very sadly, none of our embryos were good enough to freeze. I took this very badly yesterday, I think hearing we had 6 or 7 good quality ones on day 3 got my hopes up so to only have one bottom of average grade to put in and then none to freeze felt like we'd had quite a poor outcome from 10 fertilised eggs. This was our NHS funded round, thankfully we do have savings to cover private IVF if needed, but also don't want to write off our transferred embryo yet (that horrible middle ground of trying to keep some hope but also prepare yourself when the odds aren't in your favour.

@Kfish56 hope the 11th comes round soon and brings good news for you!

@Autumnsun20 I also had to have an increased dose as lining wasn't thick enough on first scan, I think it's really common, but still very upsetting to have the timelines pushed back.

@muddlingthrou I appreciated having DH with me for the transfer, we went for breakfast together beforehand and it was just nice to have the moral support. But I don't think it's a must if you feel comfortable going alone, or even taking someone else, my DH would never say this but I expect he found it a bit of an anticlimax! Maybe plan something nice together the evening after (or before) to mark the occasion?

@IWouldRatherBeOnHoliday i have my fingers crossed for you. Valentine’s Day would be a lovely day to find out you have been successful.
thank you 😊 xxx

Oh @IWouldRatherBeOnHoliday I'm really sorry about your other embryos. We had similar results with grading and after 3 rounds only have two graded 4BC to transfer - last round we got none from 10 fertilised! That feeling when they tell you none have made it is awful. But it might be that the one you are carrying right now is all you need so keeping everything crossed for you that it sticks 🤞🏻

@seekingbabyk I'm so sorry you've had this situation multiple times over 😔 if you don't mind me asking, did you have any further tests to try and figure out why this is happening?

We are only aware that I have PCOS (the lean type) and we had ICSI as my husband had slightly low concentration (but not overall count) on his second SA (no issue previously). So now I'm worried there are DNA quality issues.

I do want to try and stay positive for the little one who made it far enough to be transferred in, I feel awful thinking about the 'next steps' but it's just my coping mechanism at the moment to have a plan 💔

@Kfish56 yes it would be a nice day to find out something good, it is nice that your test day is on a weekend 😊

@IWouldRatherBeOnHoliday it's ok I'm happy chatting about it. So the second round was our best one with the two Frosties. The third one they upped my dose and I had lots of follicles but all smaller so I think that had a bit to do with it. We have had tests since then and been told to follow "it starts with the egg". Hub's sperm was fine after taking supplements, etc.

I think with us it's a lifestyle issue. We run a stressful business, both drank fairly regularly, food wasn't great, no supplements at all for those rounds either. Our plan was to do another round after implementing lifestyle changes but we have decided to transfer now instead. If these don't work we will likely go in for another round once we have three months of the supplements etc behind us again.

Reading that book we ended up changing a lot in our lives like pots and pans indoors, washing powder, cosmetics, no perfume, taking supplements, eating better, I barely drink now, etc. definitely worth a read