October FET

[InfertilitySWS]

Hi! I’m starting the process of a FET in September, transferring a 4AB early October. Trying for baby number two. Anyone else? Would be great to have people to talk to amongst the symptom spotting, line eyes and general freak outs ☺️

Hey @InfertilitySWS,

I had been discussing it with the team. I feel that less medication is preferable on the body but I also want to be rational and listen to evidence.

As far as I can see essentially unmedicated FET means you follow your regular cycle and pop in the embryo at the corresponding day of its growth. So have a usual cycle, release an egg and put in your embryo day 5 post egg release. Ie where you would be if eggs and sperm met in the old fashioned way 😉.

Everything else a clinic does in a programmed cycle - stopping periods, creating an artificial process by delivering daily estrogen to develop endometrial lining to required thickness etc is to monitor the woman in line with diaries rather than for better outcomes.

So from what I’m coming to understand - all medicated cycles (unless the woman doesn’t have a cyclical period) are not actually medically preferable (ie outcomes aren’t better) but is clinically preferable (scheduling, outcomes are static, people are given clear timelines of what to expect). I do stand to be corrected - but also feel a bit foolish having had medicated FETs unquestioned before!

@FET2025 i tried for a natural cycle a few months back however I missed ovulation which messed up the timings. I had been a bit irregular so wasn't ideal. Apart from all the scans and blood tests, not having to pay for meds made me feel it was worth a try. It might not be suitable for all for instance if lining thin or progesterone levels low but worth a try as obviously better not to be pumped full of drugs! I hope it works out for you. 🤞

Ahh okay I see what you’re saying. I need increased progesterone, and we don’t actually know what’s stopping me from getting pregnant, so maybe not best for me given I had success with my son with the help of meds.

I think I've caught up now!
@waitingforourmiracle i remember you from another thread, possibly July? I was on it until I had a pesky polyp which led to my cycle being cancelled. I'm so sorry to hear that you've had 2 losses and have everything crossed for you that this is the one. You seem really resilient, I guess you have to be.
@Piapea what an emotional rollercoaster and what an great result with 2 good to go! There's so many big hoops, little hoops, sub hoops and hoops we didn't see coming aren't there? I'm wishing we'd done the testing also it's taking so much to just get to transfer. Again, more hoops cleared!
@sunflower1906 I also had intralipids on the cycle that gave me my son, I used to quite enjoy sitting there getting pumped full of chicken and peanut extract (i googled it once) and told myself that if nothing else, it gave me extra shiny hair! I know what it's like when it's your last embryo. So much emotional investment. Hope you're feeling ok on the down reg, did you start Sept 10th? I had a down reg injection then also and am shattered. Then again work is intense ATM so I think it's all in the mix. Hope you're ok.
@Peonies94 @Georgiaivf I think you both said you're transferring 4AB blastocysts in October and it's the first transfer for both of you? Hope you're both doing ok with all the waiting and emotional rollercoaster that is IVF. Again, everything crossed for you both and I've found in the past that having this group of women who know what you're going through can be a lifeline!
@FET2025 Did you decide on whether to go with natural or medicated? I think how much time and expense you can accommodate is also key to this.
@InfertilitySWS have you started on oestrogen now? I also felt ok on it, better than the down reg part, how are the restless legs doing? I'm seeking baby number 2 also, though there will be a big age gap if it happens for us. Will there be much of a gap for yours? Not that it matters; a dear friend of mine has a 23 yr old and a 7 yr old and they adore each other!
@Waitingforday6 I will also be heading to Portugal hopefully for my transfer! We are with a clinic in Lisbon. Hope you have a fabulous holiday.
Tbh I've had a terrible weekend. Felt beyond shattered yesterday and think the injection was kicking in as had hardly any sleep Friday night. My husband showed zero initiative with my son and I wept when my son didn't want to do a craft project I'd planned! I may book myself into a hotel alone next weekend just for some head space! Here's to another week of waiting, jumping through hoops, hormonal ups and downs and trying not to cry! We've got this.
@FET2025

Day two of oestrogen, it’s almost like I’m down regging, I’ve been sweating so bad today! Seems to have calmed down. I’ve had a bit of nausea too, but it’s not too bad. I haven’t had restless legs in a few days!! Maybe it was the nerves before starting. Now I’m just impatient to get it all done!

Where abouts are you currently in the process? There would be a 2.5 year age gape which terrifies me 🤣 what would yours be? There’s 8 years between me and my sister and we couldn’t be closer 🥰

@Sara237 sorry I’ve just read back and realised! Any sign of AF yet?

@Sara237 tgibgs actually progressed and my period came two days later than expected so was able to get meds in time ready to go with September cycle instead! Currently waiting for my transfer! Wishing you all the best of luck though!

@InfertilitySWS Oh crikey, all that perspiring does not sound fun! Glad it's setting and nausea not too bad. It's a lot to contend with especially when having to function as normal when our systems are going through something absolutely not the norm!
A 2.5 yr age gap seems the ideal to me; close enough to play together and one school drop off in time. But yes, intense if both under 5. My boy was 8 at end of August so if this ever works it'll be a big gap...he does love a baby though and I just really long for him to have a sibling. He's the happiest kid I know though so will be fine as an only, it's more my projecting!

@FET2025 I wish I could trust my body to do what it should naturally without all these meds but in all my time trying to conceive (5yrs before finally having my son) I could never detect a LH surge and even on medicated cycles with clomid I needed a trigger shot to ovulate, even with that my period would come 7 days later 🙈 I would deffo opt for less drugs though if possible!

@Sara237 we must be down reg buddies as yes I had my injection on the 10th! Literally no symptoms here as of yet and feeling totally normal, if I didn’t have the bruise and pin prick injection site I’d be questioning whether I’d even been given it 🤣🤣 but thankful I’ve no symptoms yet (famous last words🤣) so to hear your feeling totally shattered by it all, juggling IVF and work is exhausting without all these meds added medication side effects! That’s interesting u had intralipids on yr successful transfer, were u also on steroids and blood thinners? Are you going to be having a similar protocol this time? It’s strange because I never had any of this with my son he was a fresh transfer with no extras just progesterone and eventually blood thinners due to moderate/ severe OHSS but that’s another story 🤣

@InfertilitySWS sorry to hear you are struggling with side effects of the oestrogen all that sweating does not sound fun at all! I had terrible side effects on my first round really bad insomnia and anxiety but on my second my oestrogen dose was higher and I felt fine it’s so weird!! This will all be worth it though 🤞🏼🤞🏼 my friend has a 2.5 year age gap and she said the baby just slotted right in, like he had always been there if that helps at all. We will have a 3.5 year age gap if this is successful and my heart just hurts so much at the prospect of not being able to give my son a sibling he’s so social and loves his friends but it’s just not the same 🥺

Thanks @Sara237! I am disproportionately upset that IVF shifted my cycle so that I will likely have my period while on holiday. It's always annoying when that happens but I have been looking forward to this all year as a treat once the egg collection part of IVF is done so it just feels like another slap in the face. I saw a sign at Boots for period delay treatment for holidays but no way am I messing my cycle up more than I have to or introducing even more hormones 😂
I'm sorry you're struggling at the moment. Emotions run high don't they? I didn't sleep uninterrupted (love those 3am racing thoughts wake ups) from the moment we started IVF to the day we found out we thankfully had embryos to freeze. Did you get the polyp removed privately? I am trying to decide whether to remove a polyp privately before the first transfer. The clinic says it should be fine but I have read some things online and there were a couple ladies on here whose doctors recommended getting them removed. Just want everything as perfect as possible beforehand. Keeping my fingers crossed for everything!!!
@Peonies94 oh that's great! Hope it goes well!!!
Hang in there @InfertilitySWS!!! Wishing everyone lots of luck!!

@Sara237 yes that’s correct. I had a call with our consultant last week that mentioned about being on norethisterone for timing purposes and then oestrogen tablets before having some tracking scans but I’ve got a call with the nurse next week to actually discuss specific dates.

I’m on day 24 of my current cycle (if you count the withdrawal bleed after a freeze all cycle) so I’m now thinking it might be November time but I don’t fully understand how long I’ll be on medication for before transfer tbh, hoping the nurse call will enlighten me lol. I’ll be on 3x 400mg of cyclogest per day also.

Also randomly our consultant told us our 4AB is now actually a 5AB (which is good news but I low key don’t believe her as we were previously told by 2 embryologists that it was a 4AB!)

Im feeling okay about the wait to be honest, it’s a nice break to be out of the all consuming IVF bubble for me. We’ve got a lot of friends/family/colleagues with newly announced pregnancies around us which is hard so I’ve just been completely ignoring anything to do with pregnancy/IVF tbh and distracting myself to protect my peace lol.

Hope you are ok, I agree the community on here is great! No one fully understands it except the women that have/are going through IVF.

@sunflower1906 thank you! Sorry to hear about your 2 failed transfers, I hope 3 is our lucky number!
@Sara237 I was just about to say I remember you from the July thread! I hope everything goes to plan for this transfer!

I'm waiting for AF still, I really thought I would of started by now, my temp has been risen for 10 days now so hopefully it'll come soon! Hope everyone is okay xx

@Georgiaivf i get what you mean about the wait not being too bad and having a break from it even for a few weeks. I had August as a break and it made me realize how consuming it all is. Great that your embryo has been promoted! That said, my son was from a very poorly rated blast and he's perfection! Enjoy a bit of peace.
@waitingforourmiracle Here we are again! I'm also waiting for AF to arrive, according to the premom app, it'll be Wed. I wouldn't mind being later as otherwise day 17 - when they'd transfer will be a weekend and that's going to be problematic for Lisbon. Yet another stress 😬... Hope your's arrives soon too!
@sunflower1906 sounds like you defo need the drugs to regulate things, it is what it is. My hormones are so up and down that my first IVF cycle, I'd never felt better! The way the meds balanced everything out was great, prob also the feeling of momentum but I honestly felt great. Does sound as though we're on similar timelines, exciting. Apart from ferling shattered at weekend, I've not felt much difference this week but the injection I've had stimulates for first week or so and then puts you into mini menopause... hopefully the oestrogen tabs will kick in before it gets too much... 🤞 I didn't have steroids or blood thinners, I just opted for intralipids as an add on with my first funded cycle.
@Waitingforday6 ah, those metaphorical face slaps...will they ever end?! I'm going to think of all these set backs as face slaps all the time now 😂 I'd be irritated by period on hold too, perfectly reasonable. In fact, we went to France last week of August and AF came on second day and lasted the duration. FFS. My polyp was removed on NHS. Once I finally saw consultant it was fast tracked as rather large. I really didn't want a hysteroscopy without pain relief but got a GA anyway thank God. Polyps can cause an inflammatory environment in uterus so it had to go! But smaller ones they seem less concerned with. Always something!

I didnt know this post was up, I joined the ivf/icsi group but will move over here. So hopefully I can join? I already have 10 children and 1 angel baby and wanting to try for just one more little one before I put this stage of my life behind me. We have been trying for another baby since November last year, we transferred our last embryo from our 2021 cycle in mid November and it ended in a chemical pregnancy. We ummed and ahhed about doing another full cycle of stims and egg collection but the want for another baby is really os something i cant let go of. We had a few cycles cancelled due to all sorts of different things but finally did a cycle in april which ended with a 0 fertilisation rate. Couldn't do another cycle until July as we went on some supplements for sperm and egg quality and in July we ended up with 2 embryos. We transferred 1 which didn't work and have been wanting to transfer the last one but I got very sick, ended up needed 3 rounds of antibiotics then had to rebuild my good bacteria back up and get healthy. Finally we might be able to do a fet in October so here is to hoping. For anyone wondering all my children are older. I have 6 teens ages 15 to 22, I have 2 pre teens 10 and 11 and we started over a couple years ago and we have a 3.5yr old and an 20month old. So bit all spread out and not all young running around our feet driving us nuts hahaha. We only really have the 2 younger ones at home everyone else is at school and the 2 older ones moved out and live with their partners and room mates living their best lives. Anywho im 40 and my husband is 41 so we know having another baby might not happen for us. I have low egg reserve and not the greatest quality of eggs and my husband has a low sperm count so we need icsi . Our 2 youngest children were embryos from our 2021 cycle.

@Miraclemuma03 Wow, I can't get over the fact that you have 10 children. At first I thought this post wasn't real. You must be quite an anomaly on IVF/infertility threads with such a brood when most of the posters are struggling to have one child, have had years of repeated losses or are desperately trying to have a sibling. I'm sorry to hear of the struggles and losses that you have also had. IVF is a great leveller and at the end of the day, the heart wants what the heart wants. So I wish you every success with your journey.

Yes sometimes I dont like to tell people how many children I already have because I understand some woman are struggling for their firsts but on the other hand I dont like to lie or pretend to be in that category and like to be upfront. I have also in my journey had 9 miscarriages ranging from 6 to 12 weeks and we had to have a tfmr at 16 weeks with our little boy who is now our angel baby. My pregnancies are very hard, with lots of complications and so with my births. I definitely didnt have a cruisy journey creating my large family but I know I am very blessed to have what I have and I defintiely do not take it for granted. I love giving my support through other woman's ivf journeys as I also know the ups and downs of the ivf journey and any help or info I can provide along the way I dont mind sharing. Sorry to anyone else if my comment upset anyone, that was not my intention.

Hope all getting on ok, I had splitting headache all day yesterday which is a common side effect of the decapeptyl injection I've had but I think its due to not sleeping well too. Still waiting on AF, so much of IVF is just waiting around isn't it? I'm so tired I could use a day off but need to push on through as will have to take time off if I ever actually get to transfer...happy Thursday that's my moan over!

Welcome to the group @Miraclemuma03 and thank you for your honestly and I’m also sorry to hear of all your losses it sounds incredibly painful. Wishing you all the best on this crazy rollercoaster that is IVF. Is your embryo a tested one?

@Sara237 did you have your injection on day 21 of your cycle? Sorry to hear about the headache and lack of sleep it’s so tough isn’t it, I’m not sleeping great either atm so can empathise and it’s pretty rubbish!! Hope AF comes soon for you the waiting really is a killer!

I’ve been feeling like AF was coming since Tuesday with all the usual period pain symptoms and a craving for chocolate (ate a whole Terrys chocolate orange bar all to myself and don’t even feel guilty 🤣) and AF arrived today so all booked in for my scan on Friday the 26th to confirm down regulation then I can start oestrogen, aspirin and prednisone in preparation for transfer so hoping this next week goes by quickly 🤞🏼🤞🏼

hope everyone else is doing ok? Xx

@sunflower1906 no not tested. Something we might have to look into if we decide to go further if the transfer doesnt work, its just alot of money here in Australia. I suppose anywhere would be a lot of money.

Nothing wrong with the once off block of chocolate binge, iv definitely done that before lol.

@sunflower1906 Chocolate orange is essentially a fruit portion so sounds perfect... 😜 Hope your AF arrives soon, mine came along today, at work, sweating hot and hormonal what a perfect combo!
I start the drugs tomorrow then scan day 10 and IF all ok, transfer day 17. Not to be negative, but I don't expect to even get to transfer...there is always an issue. Urgh! Hopefully sleep will be much better once on the oestrogen also. 🤞

May I join? I was on the September group, but I think it'll end up being October really. I started on oestrogen a few days ago, first scan for the lining next Thursday.

@SarahAndQuack Hi! How are you feeling on the oestrogen? I've just started them today. Hope your lining scan goes well Thursday. We're all on a fairly similar timelines I think... 🤞

Hello! I am feeling so much better on oestrogen than progesterone/stims earlier! Such a relief. How are you doing? Have you done this before, or is it your first time?

I've never got this far before so it's all new to me.

Hiya, just got confirmation we have an euploid ready so will go with FET in October (depending on my cycle of course). I’m so excited!! What’s the usual procedure for FET, can someone please walk me through? The prep and the meds and the advice etc!

Yaaaaay @zirafica I was standing in my kitchen yesterday wondering about your test results 😆