Anyone else preparing for FET April 2024

[blahblahetc]

Hello, wondering if anyone is preparing for an FET in April?

This will be my 3rd transfer. 1st one implanted but early loss, second (euploid) and third (untested) did not implant. I'm waiting to do a hysteroscopy next week + an ERA following week prior to transfer in April.

We decided against testing this time, and are wondering whether or not to do a double transfer. Our embryos are AA/ABs so want to feel hopeful but fully aware of the possible failure(s) ahead of us..

@blahblahetc No symptoms. Didn't have any implantation bleeding or such. But it's not very common to have it, and happens only in 30% of pregnancies. So still being hopeful!

Regarding Day 3 and Day 5 transfer together, my guess is one of the embryos would be out of sync with the endometrium.

I just googled and found the following about a two step transfer. Not sure how often it's done-

"Theoretically, sequential (two-step) embryo transfer (ET) extends the availability time of different-stage embryos on the window of implantation. Also, the embryo itself can induce endometrial receptivity [10], so the day 3 embryos may increase the chance of day 5 embryo implantation"

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9762366/#:~:text=Theoretically%2C%20sequential%20(two%2Dstep,of%20day%205%20embryo%20implantation.

@Serendipity24 Thanks, yah thought so. My embryos have been moved from Create to NHS now and the embryologist don’t know what to do with the day-3.. I suspect the doctor will advise they cultivate it to day-5 (when the time comes); which means there is a high chance I lose that embryo.

@lemons44 I'm on x4 2mg progynova a day (plus an Evorel patch....) And that info on day 6s is what I've always been told too. For some reason all 3 blasts I've had are day 6s so they're always frozen and transferred in a medicated cycle. Transferring my final one tomorrow! X

@blahblahetc I'm ok thanks, got a BFN on a cheapie (not wasting another FRER when I'm 99.9% it hasn't worked!). Having a beta tomorrow so I can come off the progesterone a day earlier. Want AF to arrive then I can hopefully prep for the next cycle, was due my period today but of course progesterone is stopping it-just same brown spotting. Hope you are all ok! Regarding a day 3 I'll likely have mine cultured in the next cycle to find out if it turns into a blastocyst or not, and if permitted to do a double will use that with another day 5. Hopefully the NHS can do that for you when it comes to it (if you need it at all)

@lemons44 I’ve had lots of EWCM on progynova, I’m on x3 2mg a day, 1 asprin, and as of last Monday, x1 estrogen patch a day. My scan last Monday wasn’t thick enough so put on patches, checked it again on Friday and still not thick enough, had actually got thinner! So another scan on Monday. @blahblahetc I’ll find out tomorrow if the transfer will go ahead or not, depends on my lining. I’ve been drinking pomegranate juice and eating Brazil nuts, don’t lots of walking and having red meat tonight.

I really really hope it’s thickened, however I feel that the round is going to be abandoned. I think next they will try me on a natural round. My lining was perfect for the fresh transfer, I’m wondering whether my body reacts differently to estrogen, when I was on the pill for years and years I had very light periods, so maybe a natural round would suit me better, just HATE having to wait and start the process over again.

@lemons44 ive had quite a bit of fatigue and also vertigo/dizziness on the meds.

@Lasagne30 @Bnichols89 @MotherOfShihTzus @Sherr33 @waitingforourmiracle how are you all? I think we were all on the ICSI February group together. (Sorry if I have missed anyone!)

@Eljane34 did they tell you how/why it got thinner? I didn't know that was possible for it to shrink.
So sorry you have this stress hanging over you. Keeping everything crossed for you for a positive next scan x

@Sunflower360 sorry it’s a failed round. Hope you have some takeaway pointers for the next one.

Yes, I suspect that’s what the NHS will do.. hopefully we get one more blast from that and hopefully I don’t need it!

Fingers crossed for you @Eljane34 !

@blahblahetc thanks! Will see what is advised in the follow up

I’m feeling a little deflated, I wrote to Prof. Robert Winston few days ago and was pleasantly surprised to get a response today.. but he hasn’t got good news for me. 😢

He’s suggested the meds I stated (Aspirin, prednisolone, Clexane) do not have any proven benefits; and that it’s down to my age and I only have a 5% chance of a live birth..

Im clinging onto the good news stories for now..

@blahblahetc Prof R Winston, from my reading, appears very sceptical about any additional meds/tests/procedures and I think puts a lot down to the embryo. The 1 in 4 though is still well evidenced? On what basis did he advise 5%?

@Sunflower360 So sorry you got negative 😢. Wishing you and hoping for the best in your next cycle.

@blahblahetc Please don't be deflated. As @Sunflower360 said Dr Winston is very sceptical of any add ons that haven't been proven effective in a random control trial (RCT) study. That doesn't mean they have zero benefits, there certainly is some anecdotal evidence supporting some of them even if not by RCT. You do whatever you feel is right, there will always be someone who will disagree as IVF is still evolving. There are plenty of women who have successful pregnancies when they are 40, with or without IVF. And who's to say you will not be among the 5% even if this is the right number? Stay positive 🙂

@blahblahetc Not sure 🤣
I've only had one transfer before and I got really sore boobs day 3 and light spotting but then got my period.
I dont know what I'm looking for tbh haha
I've had cramps since I had the transfer, every day actually, they're not severe but almost more like a grumbling feeling. Not sure if it's AF coming or from the progesterone or what!!
No spotting or anything like that so that's not normal for me if it is AF arriving.
Guess I'll have to keep waiting.
Day 5-I'm too scared to test early

Thanks @Sunflower360 @Serendipity24 It’s weird how I think I am prepared for the worst and yet still freeze up a little when I get ‘bad news’..

Hes saying the bottom line is it is down to age; below is his response if you are interested:

“I am sorry - you are not going to like what I write to you.

None of the drugs you mention in your email (paras 1 and 2) are of any proven benefit in the properly conducted trials which have been published. This also applies to the pessaries you are using, including, in particular, prednisolone.

I fear you are going about this in the wrong way - truthfully, and irrespective of your “good AMH for your age” , the most likely factor here by far is indeed your age. The staristics on this give you at best possibly about a 5% chance of successful pregnancy and birth. The AMH is not an adequate measure of egg quality (the manufacturers of the AMH test admit this) and you do not tell me the levels of your FSH repeated several times which might be more revealing.

Come to that - you are being treated without a diagnosis and given the poor chance of pregnancy in anybody of your age, detailed tests to try to clearly establish other causes of infertility and eliminate them are to my mind mostly crucial. These have been described in my little booklet, cheaply available on Amazon - "Essential Guide” which might be helpful.

One thing I must say is that without knowing anything about you - adequate test results, the length of time you’ve been trying, your partner’s tests, what was seen or felt on examination make it very difficult to give you serious advice. What the statistics show is that people like you, when there is generally no obvious cause for infertility beyond age are more likely to get pregnant spontaneously given frequent sex with a normal partner. IVF and lots of visits to doctors have quite an important contraceptive effect.

BTW, I might add that the statists do not show that i in 4 of your embryos may be normal - we just don't know, but the latest research clearly shows that most human embryos after stimultation to produce eggs have many genetic/cellular abnormalities in most of the cells; this is one reason why diagnostic tests have been much less helpful than many clinics tend to claim.

I am sorry for this information, but it does in my view need very careful consideration.”

@blahblahetc he's quite brutal with his advice 😳

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/12/can-mayonnaise-cure-infertility

This article is quite telling about the medical world right now where IVF is concerned... unfortunately it is quite divided (fiercely so) where add ons / extra meds are concerned. Ultimately depends on the Dr and your own beliefs I think

@Sunflower360 sorry about the bfn. Hope you're holding up ok 💗

@blahblahetc wow that was quite a brutal email. I feel out the loop as I don't really know who this man is, however I do think all doctors are different. My consultant has a strong interest in immunology and feels quite passionate that the immune system is one of the most powerful parts of the human body and therefore if there's anything amiss with it, it absolutely will impact things.

@Sunflower360 @lemons44 Very brutal! I brood over it for a bit thinking what is the point?! But then again, if I dont try (with IVF), I won't know...

@Lasagne30 Yeh some people have no symptoms and some lots! So don’t read too much into this it.. easier said than done 😁

I was pregnant naturally at 39 prior to IVF and I remember wondering why my boobs were sore, and had a weird rash down there… I wasn’t aware I was pregnant until a test and it read 2-3 weeks..the whole time I was pregnant my boobs were sore so I assume that’s my symptom. It was sadly a missed miscarriage at 9 weeks (stopped growing at 5) and the symptoms only went away from week 10.

Started the cyclgest on Saturday, they give me itchy nipples! At random hours in the night! It happened last time too, and now I know for sure it is the progesterone!

@Serendipity24 @lemons44 thanks both, I'm ok. Stopping Progesterone today so hopefully AF will arrive soon and I get the green light to go straight into another natural FET. Everything appears ok with that protocol (bar from the spotting this time but in all honesty its like pre AF spotting, just started slightly earlier), so I'm hoping it'll just be the same. Not sure what else can be suggested, but will see what is advised in the follow up

If this next FET does not work will likely have another EC to embryo bank and then revisit FETs

@Sunflower360 Fingers crossed you dont need another EC.. but if you do, will you stay with Create or look at alternatives?

@blahblahetc I'll stick with Create. In all honesty my Create experience has been quite good clinically, and logistically it works. I had a not so great experience with an NHS clinic with my first EC before and then a consultation with Care Fertility which was disastrous too. I'm not entirely sure what another clinic could offer and the more I read the more I think the medical advice is subjective to the Dr advising. The main thing for me that I'm concerned about is my egg reserve and Create are generally the leaders in dealing with women with low AMH so on that basis going elsewhere is pointless, but that's just for me, I know everyone has different experiences and thoughts. From 14 eggs we got 8 embryos with Create-questionable if any are good but time will tell! Not much Create can do about that, as data for implantation failure is so far off from being conclusive. With the NHS cycle I had 4 eggs and zero fertilisation, so in comparison Create have been better in that respect. But I'm starting to believe the Drs have such limited conclusive data on what happens when the embryo is put back in, feels a bit like a game of roulette, just put it in and hope for the best! Approach I'm going to take now I think, and whilst I can perhaps bank more embryos as perhaps it is just a numbers game!

@blahblahetc that prof. Robert Winston response! 😧 I mean, just the number of ppl who have achieved live births through having ivf is surely evidence that treatment works? And that stimulation doesn't always lead to genetic abnormalities?! I'd be forgetting about this!

Any of the 9th April (or close to) transfer buddies testing yet? Back at work today and it's all I can think about!

Hi all, I have been following to get an insight. I remember some of you from
other threads. I am doing my final cycle (3rd one) and due for EC tomorrow. I have not had a transfer yet as we have been doing embryo batching. I am happy that this is the last time I will ever do it, even though the process has been OK.

The Prof Winston response is very blunt and jarring. He comes across as blunt in all his responses from what I have seen. However, I do think there comes a time where trying naturally has the same statistical outcome as IVF, you just have to know when that time is for you.

@Lozzy000 thinking of you today - hope all goes smoothly with your transfer! Ours is a Day 6 too (first and last).

@Sunflower360 I'm so sorry about your BFN - always crushing even if you're expecting it 😓keep us posted about your follow up - I hope you can go into the next transfer right away. Best of luck for the next one xxx

@Eljane34 I hope you get good news at your scan today xx

@blahblahetc wow, that email 😲he said himself he's responding 'knowing nothing about you' so it's impossible to say whether that 5% counts for your case or not though.
Re the emrbyos, as you and @Sunflower360 say, my understanding is that you would have to let the Day 3 embryo go for 2 days before transferring it with a Day 5 embryo. Hopefully that won't be needed though.

@MotherOfShihTzus Thank you xxx I'm sorry about the chemical in Feb, that must have been so tought to watch on the tests 😥Not testing yet but the thought started crossing my mind this morning... Luckily I have no tests at home so that's a good deterrent!

@Lasagne30 I'm the same... symptom spotting but not sure for what! The only thing I have is slightly sore boobs and sometimes a heavy sentation in the belly for a few minutes. But who knows, could all be the progesterone 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hi @Bnichols89 and good luck for your scan next week!

Thanks @beachbum85 the round has unfortunately been cancelled and now have been put on provera for 5 days, along with progynova and waiting for period to come. Then I can start a natural FET round as soon as period starts.

I know this is best, but it’s just frustrating having to wait again. I wouldn’t want an embryo being risked because of thin lining.

Fingers crossed for everyone else x