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..

@kerrym87 @Serendipity24 did you both have to get yours done at the clinic? i had to go all the way to the clinic yesterday for a nurse to do it because they don't let patients do this one themselves.

Good to hear re the symptoms. So far I feel fine hopefully it stays that way

@lemons44 My husband is a doctor so I thought he qualified as a "trained professional" to administer the injection. I read on MN people went to their clinic to get it done like you. And those with foreign clinics had to make private GP/nurse appointments.

Hey folks, I have two euploid frosties, I hope to transfer one with my next cycle which will hopefully be mid-April! How is everyone getting on? I find this limbo time so strange!

That is terrific news @AnxiousAndHopeful! I havent tested my embryos (as my euploid didn't implant and I don't have that many (6) to gamble with + my age (41+)!).. so I can only hope for the best..

Is this your first transfer?

I'm waiting to hear back re. ERA results to determine my 'implantation window' - My period arrived 5 days early this cycle so I'm preparing for a transfer hopefully next week; if results aren't ready by this Friday though, I'll have to cancel and do it all again in April... so getting very impatient now!

6 is amazing! @blahblahetc

We only got two blasts and decided to get them tested as we had a natural pregnancy last year which was aneuploid and we lost her at 14 weeks. My husband and I are both 30, (29 when we were pregnant) so just rotten luck that she had trisomy 21. It was a very hard time, but we hope we will have good luck with this FET. We also have MFI, as my husband had to resume hardcore meds for his autoimmune disease just a week after we lost our girl. Again, just bad luck. But finally it seems as if the tides are turning. So yes, this is our first IVF cycle! Are you doing medicated? How are you feeling? I will keep fingers crossed for you!

So sorry to hear that @AnxiousAndHopeful, and thank you. I want to say you are still very young so plenty of time ahead to keep trying 🙂and 2 euploids out of 2 embyros sounds promising!

I was pregnant naturally at 39 but it was a missed miscarriage at 10 weeks (stopped growing at 5). It was devastating, so we went straight to IVF given the cut-off age for NHS. I wish we had started sooner... My husband has motility and morphology issues so we did ICSI. I also found that putting him (and myself) on a strict, healthy diet + traditional herbal chinese meds helped produced better quality embryos.

I'm unfortunately quite experienced in the IVF world now but still am hopeful and excited and impatient to do the transfer! I'm medicated: currently on estrogen x 3 and aspirin and prednisolone.

Whilst 6 is a good number, only 1 in 4 is normal for my age so I'd be happy if 1 works (although I am greedy and am hoping for 2!)..

Hi @AnxiousAndHopeful I recognise your name from your other thread as I had read a few of the posts in there. So sorry for your loss and to hear of the challenges you've encountered. How are you feeling about the FET?

@Serendipity24 gosh I would love it if my husband was a doctor! I would ask him questions all the time as I have a bit of health anxiety. Probably drive him up the wall! Thanks for clarifying, I had thought it might just be my clinic that didn't want patients to do it them self so I feel a bit better that it's everyone.

I'm so sorry for your loss and for the fact you are experienced in IVF @blahblahetc - it sounds like you are doing well to keep the hope though, and I really hope this will be the time that works for you. I bet the last week or so waiting for the transfer date is crawling by! have you got nice plans for the TWW?

Thank you @lemons44 , that's very kind of you. Some days I feel hopeful, others I feel despondent. But I think Im still maybe a month off FET, as my cycle is a bit longer than usual after IVF! Where are you on your journey?

Hi everyone, I am currently 8dp5dt but got a negative this morning so think that’s unfortunately me out for this cycle. This was our first transfer and I naively really thought it would work. We have 5 frozen embryos so are hoping to go straight in with a FET.

Does anyone know do clinics usually make you wait until you have a full cycle in between transfers or after a bleed after failed transfer can you just go straight in with another transfer?

@StillTTC7 we were chatting a lot on the Belfast thread but I had a different username then! How are you getting on?

Welcome @AnxiousAndHopeful! Two euploids from two embryos is great, it shows that the quality is more important the quantity. Best wishes for the upcoming FET 🍀

Welcome @Capybara95! So sorry that the current cycle is not looking great at the moment, but 5 frozen blastocysts are something to look forward to. When is your OTD?

You can do back to back FETs, but I think a break is advised between a fresh transfer and FET to let the system recover from stimulation. All the best 🍀

@Serendipity24 OTD is not until Saturday at 12pd5dt so I do still have a couple of days of being cautiously hopeful but really would have expected at least a faint line this morning. Feeling very thankful for my 5 frozen!

thanks for explaining re the FET!

@lemons44 no they were happy for patients to do, you can have it sub cut like your stims so it's no different. I am a nurse but that didn't make a difference. @AnxiousAndHopeful we have 3 euploid one mosaic frostie and transferring mid mat now due to my cycle being messed up by ivf drugs. Your user name sums up this whole thing for us, issues both sides, 4 egg collections and 2 fresh transfers with 4 frosties out of 59 eggs over 4.5 years. Fingers crossed for you

Welcome @Capybara95 - So sorry to hear, I want to say you might not be 100% out yet so hang in just a bit more; although I know that feeling all too well.. and exactly what @Serendipity24 - You have 5 frosties to look forward to 👶

I chased up my clinic this morning and my results aren't ready yet; so I'm feeling a little anxious/impatient all over the place today.. on the one hand I want to know my transfer date and hurry into the TWW, on the other I am so nervous just thinking about the TWW!

@AnxiousAndHopeful If all goes to plan and transfer can take place end next week, I'm thinking I want to really really take it easy this time. By that, I mean maybe a mini vacation to take my mind off things. The clinic I'm with is in Prague, and I have been there too many times during stims/collection so maybe a train journey nearby😊

This will be my second FET (4th transfer overall - 2 ET / 1 FET previously), and I'm clinging onto all the positives about an FET as compared to an ET. Also, stocking up on beetroot juice as that is meant to help implantation... maybe?😅

@Capybara95 I think they suggest withdrawal bleed from transfer plus one natural cycle just for the hormones and body to recover. Thinking if you, I could never test early as I preferred the lack of negative for as long as possible 😂

@kerrym87 I just counted mine - 54 eggs over 6 collections (one was a duoStim)!

@Capybara95 sorry about your results. I'm in the same boat I think. First cycle, fresh transfer failed and 5 in freezer. I was told im on a waiting list to discuss how to proceed next. I obviously didn't want to wait in limbo so I asked them when they can book me in and now I have an appointment on April the 10th over the phone to discuss next steps. Unsure when exactly I will start the FET. I really hope it isnt too long of a wait.

I sometimes wish I had started all this much earlier and banked more embryos or frozen a lot more 🥚

Thanks @blahblahetc I will still keep taking my progesterone and testing for a few days yet but would have really loved to see at least a faint line this morning. Fingers crossed for you being able to transfer next week 🤞🏼

thanks @kerrym87 i hadn’t planned on testing early at all. Wish I hadn’t now!

@Sherr33 all the waiting is the hardest when you just want it done right now isn’t it. Hopefully it won’t be too long for you after your appointment. We are NHS and the guidelines currently say 2 months for a FET so I’m hoping we will get started pretty quickly if needed.

Hi @Capybara95! I haven’t posted since my failed cycle so it’s lovely to hear from you. I’m so sorry about your test this morning, but I’m hoping it will change by Saturday for you! Also fab news on the 5 freezies!

As you might remember I’m with TFP and they said I could do FET straight away, but by the time I got my planning appointment my period was due in a few days so never would have gotten the meds in time! We’re starting with my April cycle though so looking forward to that. I think with our NHS you can still choose to go straight away if they have space for you.

@StillTTC7 thanks! I am feeling a little more hopeful than I was this morning after seeing some success stories but still trying to manage my expectations. But yes really happy with my 5 frozen so have those to be thankful for 😊

that’s annoying you ended up having to wait but hopefully not too much longer to go for you now. I would really love to just transfer again straight away and the hospital don’t seem to have any wait times at the minute so hopefully won’t have to wait if needed.

@Capybara95 That’s good, it’s such a hard process so any boost is a bonus. How have you found your whole treatment so far?

Yeah I got my hopes up until we realised it was totally unfeasible! We still haven’t received our meds yet from the outside company, they’re BEYOND slow.

Well hopefully you won’t need FET for a while yet, but if you do I hope you get it as soon as! We had our initial consultation there with RFC and they said ‘aw we’ll see you back in 3-5 months for the next appointment’. I was not expecting the waits between stages to be so long!

@Capybara95 I spent alot of time worrying about stuff and being all doom and gloom/ worst case scenario etc. It made no difference to my outcomes and its taken me ages to think more positive and stop torturing myself but it's hard . For me taking it one day and step at a time has really helped through this to rein my brain back in, still hard though! @Sherr33 I'm sure we all wish we'd done other things myself included. We couldn't get to it sooner as it was my second marriage, also my sister had similar problems and did ivf in her 20s with no success. I think it's pick of the bag sometimes x

@StillTTC7 I found the rest of the treatment completely fine compared to my expectations. I had very little symptoms during stims, could feel that my ovaries were bigger towards the end but no pain or anything. I was very sore after egg collection but recovered in a couple of days and had 19 collected which I was delighted with, 17 were mature and 14 fertilised with ICSI. We still had 14 on day 3 and then our 6 on day 5 so overall it went smoothly.

thats very annoying about your meds! Do they get delivered to your house?

omg that’s awful about RFC! we had our initial consultation with RFC on 18th December where they added us to the treatment waitlist and got our letter to say we were top of the waiting list less than a month later and started our first injection on 23rd February. Did they not add you to the treatment waitlist? If not I’d be querying why as you’ve had all your tests!

@kerrym87 yes that’s definitely a better approach to take just hard to get into that mind frame. Have you had many cycles? I just feel like life is on hold atm it’s so hard.

@Capybara95 aw well as stats go you had a really good first round then, that’s excellent! Will you consider a double transfer at all do you think? If we had got any more than 1 frozen we’d ask for it if they’d consider it.

Yeah just got the dispatch notification and I ordered and paid for them last week! Very slow company. Though if this round is successful I have to stay on progesterone pessaries up to 12 weeks so we can shop around and use a different company if we wish. All a bit odd setup wise!

Yeah I was a bit bummed by that, especially considering the consultant we saw was our private consultant who had all our info and test results on his laptop in front of him! Though our initial tests were done in May ‘23 so I suppose they could have changed quite a bit. But yeah we’ve to wait on bloods and semen analysis again. Sigh.

Didn’t you get your tests done in was it Craigavon or Dundonald or somewhere? Wonder was it because that’s part of NHS too?

@StillTTC7 yeah overall we are really happy with how it went. I would love a double transfer but I think the NHS are pretty strict on only allowing them over a certain age. I haven’t asked though so may do in future.

aw that does seem like a really long time! Hopefully you get them soon.

I had my internal scan and AMH done privately at a clinic in dundonald but my husband had his semen analysis done on NHS. RFC did another internal scan for me at our initial consultation and just added us to the treatment waitlist. Our latest SA at that time was September and that was in December so might have been accepted as it was more recent than yours. How frustrating you probably don’t want to have to go through another egg collection anyway. Nice to know it’s progressing in the background but hopefully you won’t need it.