FET Aug 2024

[Gnatalie16]

Hi,
Is anyone else getting ready for FET in August? I've just started oestrogen got my 1st scan booked for next Wednesday.
This is our first transfer so lots of mixed emotions but trying to remain really positive.

@Gnatalie16 so grim isn't it 🤢😂

Good luck for today with the transfer @Kp121 and with the scan @Hoppy1985 !

Thanks @Loute02 feeling very nervous.
good luck for your scan @Hoppy1985

@Kp121 sending you all the good vibes 🥰

@Kp121 best of luck today!

My scan was a real ordeal and I'm now feeling super stressed out.
We went to a local clinic for the scan as London is a 4-5 hour round trip for us and it's the first time the bed hasn't had stirrups. Where I have MD i have some spine scoliosis which isn't really visible in general life but it makes it agony to lie flat on my back without my legs raised (hence why scan with stirrups is ok).

So basically couldn't get in the position to sonographer needed to measure everything, he couldn't located my left ovary (which has always taken them ages to find) so literally just measured the total of the right ovary and my thickness which is at 7.9mm. Contacted my clinic and just waiting on their next instructions but feeling pretty crappy.

Am sorry to hear that rubbish experience @Hoppy1985, on the bright side you should be good for the lining measure, right? Did they need to check for the follicles as well I guess?

@Ginie2024 thanks love. I'm normally a pretty hardy get-on-with-it person but I found that scan experience hard, i could tell the sonographer was getting really impatient and I had a cry when we got back in the car which I feel really bloody stupid about.

Honestly I don't know about the follicles, I guess maybe they use it to help determine where in your cycle you're sitting maybe? No one's ever really explained to me why they're on the local scan request for the pre-FET lining check.

Looking back at previous docs they've sent me it suggests once you get to 7mm they will get me to start taking the progesterone but I guess i'll wait and see what they say. Age is obviously having an impact for me as i was >10mm at the same stage last time I did a FET cycle those many moons ago!

Am so sorry 😔 if it makes you feel any better, I usually cry every other appointment! It's just too hard to manage all these emotions and there's so much pressure on us when it comes to the transfer cycle.

What the doctor explained to me was that he needs to check the thickness of the lining but he also needs to make sure that there won't be any crazy follicles thinking the race has started and that will get too big and in the way for the transfer. The irony for me is that for my 2 EC, they could only see 3 follicles...comes the transfer cycle, when we don't need the follicles anymore, then I had 7 follicles 😡

Re the lining, my clinic says 8mm but some girls here were told 7mm so I think it varies but yours sound good! 💪

@Ginie2024 good to know I'm not just losing it. I'm thinking in that case then they might ask me to go to my clinic for another scan prior to transfer then.

I was trying to find literature about optimum lining for frozen transfer and this one seems to be everywhere https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(21)02318-9/fulltext

Nice one, so 7 to 10 mm really

That's what it seems to suggest so hopefully everything is ok. Fingers crossed.

When do you start your next cycle, did you get all your tests back yet?

So sorry to hear about your experience @Hoppy1985 I also cry regularly after appointments 😀 I think it is all the stress going out somehow! When will your hear back from your clinic?

@Loute02 probably not until later today. They don't usually do calls or email responses until late in the day (like 5-6.30pm from previous experience)

@Hoppy1985 I think clinics probably do check indeed before the transfer - at least I hope so! No results back yet but am finishing my progesterone and then waiting for my periods and then the real deal starts! Have you ever done the NK cells test? I'm a bit worried about that additional step 3 days before the transfer...

@Ginie2024 no I haven't but I thought they no longer recommended them? Has your clinic suggested it?

@Ginie2024 https://www.hfea.gov.uk/treatments/treatment-add-ons/immunological-tests-and-treatments-for-fertility/

Context - I previously spoke to the matron at my clinic about embryo glue and she said they didn't offer it in either an NHS or private cycle because there wasn't any proof it worked and directed my to the HFEA website so i could read up if I wanted. I also then read various studies ref the embryo glue which basically all said it MIGHT improve implantation but they couldn't tell because there were no many other variables which also could have helped - so not very helpful!

The link above looks like it discusses the NK cells.

Thank you, this is precisely where I am at: my doctor told me it's nothing unusual to do and it could improve my chances but of course, there aren't many studies about it and at the same time, they also forwarded me this HFEA link so I can be aware of the risk and have the full picture. Not gonna lie, I had a small break down when I had to make a decision! But I decided to trust him and agreed to do it...

@Ginie2024 yeah I totally get it. It's so financially and emotionally draining you want to make sure you don't regret not throwing absolutely everything at it even if you can't be sure it will help. It might not help at all, but then again it might!

@Hoppy1985 sorry you had a tough time at your scan.
im like you, with a left ovary that likes to hide.
your numbers sound good to me, based on what my clinic have said. So hopefully you’ll get a positive call later. 🤞🏻

@Kp121 thanks, I hope so. How did the transfer go/how are you feeling or are you still waiting?

@Hoppy1985 Transfer went fine. I was most worried about peeing myself on the table but we were all good. Had my lucky pineapple socks
on.
The clinic have been dreadful at communication and appointments but couldn’t fault them today. Talked us through every stage and tried to keep it all calm.
just the dreaded 2ww now!

@Kp121 ah don't I have the same fear haha. I love that you have lucky pineapple socks. What clinic are you with?

@Hoppy1985 Thanks, found the thread. Hi everyone. Currently on cycle day 3 for my 4th FET attempt. I started another thread saying I am at my wits end in doing them and feel like giving up. I keep having issues my my lining, always on the thin side and they have no idea why. Not sure how much heart ache I can take in cycles being abandoned.