December 2025 FET

[CoolSummer89]

Is anyone going to have a FET in December?

I was expecting to have one in January but when I went to the clinic yesterday they are going to try and squeeze a natural FET cycle in before the Christmas break!

I am 36, had my first egg collection last month but wasn't suitable for a fresh transfer. If my cycle plays ball my transfer will be 15th-17th December.

Hopeful for a lovely Christmas present but also being realistic given age and first transfer etc.

Oh @Klmno I’m so sorry to hear that. I think @AnxiousHopeful gave good advice. Have you done pgt-a testing?

@whysohardtogetusername @zirafica @AnonTTC @blueskywintersun @peonies94 thanks so much for your responses re telling/not telling. It's made me feel better just knowing I'm not alone in that! I suddenly starting regretting telling anyone anything. But as others said, we've told the people who we want to go through the journey with us and know even if things don't go to plan. And I also think people should be more open about pregnancies and ivf so it's more commonplace to know the realities otherwise it seems like it's a simple and easy thing to go through when people only share the positives!

I've been feeling quite bloated and a bit crampy this evening. Hoping its just the progesterone and nothing to worry about :/

Thinking of you this eve @klmno♡ sending lots of strength.

@BellaTink647 I’ve been bloated for days and really crampy in my lower belly yesterday and today as well! Internet says it’s normal and nothing to worry about unless you start getting stabbing pains.
completely agree on regretting every time I’ve told someone. And ivf/non ivf it doesn’t matter this early in the pregnancy, it’s just so risky and I wish people respected they were told in confidence and not to ask about it until they’re given further news. I actually lost it with my dad asking “how is the baby” today. I’m like a) it’s not a baby not anywhere near a baby yet and b) if I have anything to tell you I will let you know, in the meantime you asking is putting pressure on me and I’m stressed enough.
really struggling on how to handle it!!

@AnonTTC when was your transfer again? I think 1-2 is fine for now. I had 1-2 at 11DPt then a 14days post transfer had 2-3 and then 3+ at 19DPT! I’ve heard lots of people not getting 3+ at even 21 DPT though and bloods looking okay!
I have my scan in a couple of days and soo nervous!
I think this jas been the most successful thread I’ve been a part of, hope it stays that way for everyone ✨

@Klmno I so sorry about your negative results. Been there and really understand the frustration…. As you said there is a higher chance of success with every new cycle! So hang on there! And as other said, if you can afford it then yes might be worth doing more tests but equally your odds are still in the « normal IVF range ». Sending you lots of love!

I’m really sorry @Klmno this is really shit, At any time but especially right before Christmas. Do you have some nice silver lining things planned? I have 1) big Christmas Eve pub trip 2) sauna 3) nice sushi.

Also I think this thread has an inordinately high number of positives which might add to the feeling that something is ‘wrong’. Like the chart I shared earlier this week, with untested embryos only about 45% of women 35-37 will have a live birth after two embryo transfers, so you’re not in the minority yet.

absolutely explore more tests with you clinic, if anything it will help to make you feel a bit more purposeful. If you are willing to spend some money on it, I know a low of people like the ‘Fertilysis’ test, or the Daye microbiome test is a cheaper version.

again I’m so sorry. ❤️

@Klmno was this your bloods test? I’m so sorry!
On average it does take 2-3 transfers. I was told it’s like flipping a coin each transfer…it doesn’t mean anything is necessarily wrong with you and I do agree with the above comments that (if you can afford) any testing you have not done is worth looking into!
I am negative this morning on a early first response urine test, so…I’m leaning more towards this second transfer did not implant either, so, you certainly aren’t the only one!

Thanks ladies.
@AnxiousHopeful would you telling me a little more about the testing if you get a moment? I think I want to throw the kitchen sink at things like immune testing, microbiome testing etc and maybe a hysteroscopy...but it's hard to know how long these things/results actually take? Also tempted to go a bit rogue on my own and take aspirin and also just ask my doctor if they'll prescribe treatment even without the results if that makes sense.... Like can you just take blood thinners or steroids 'just in case' it's that or are they always reluctant to prescribe stuff without evidence that's the problem?
I don't give a shit how much this costs now, I just want a baby.

@zirafica no I've not had the pgt-a testing as I'm 35 and all out transfers are included in our package...so initially it felt like no point...but now thinking we might transfer 1 more and test the rest in the meantime. We have 6 left in the freezer.
If the 3rd one works I would want the others tested anyway as for a sibling round we'd have to pay for each transfer.
If 3rd one fails at least we'd know where we stand.

Sorry I'm kind of just thinking out loud here. I always just need a plan to help me feel a bit better!

@CoolSummer89 thank you sooo much that does reassure me somewhat! It's so hard to know if we've just got unlucky with the embryos they've selected being our abnormal ones in a genetic sense, or whether there's something else at play. It's hard to know whether to gamble precious embryos on the fact we could have just got unlucky.

@Bees28 I'm so sorry you are also testing negative and it's your second transfer too.
It's just really really shit isn't it!
No it was just a urine test, not a blood test. I was waiting until this evening as I was away.

@Klmno im so sorry!! It’s so hard to deal with and Christmas makes it so much harder! 😩 sending love!

@Klmno I’m glad you’re throwing ideas out there and people can share what they’ve done! On our end pgt-a was absolutely the right thing to do, I was 39 though when we did the egg collection so my doctor HIGHLY recommended it. I always tell people out of our 14 blastos (all good quality), we tested the best 7 ones and only 1 came back as genetically ok. So in theory I could’ve saved myself 6 failed attempts/miscarriages. I think with something so insecure as ivf where there are no guarantees, any little thing that can move you towards the desired end result is worth it. It’s extremely expensive though 😭

@Klmno i found it so hard deciding what to test and what not to, due to our symptoms and my consultant loving tests he recommended all sorts (aqua scan, hysterectomy, all sorts of autoimmune stuff etc) and if we’d done them all it would have been such ab extra chunk on top of what we
were paying! We googled each thing and decided what was best based on our circumstances!
we asked my consultant about Asparin and he said he was going to suggest it always as it can’t do any harm so we’ve taken that each time
he also increased our estrogen to get our lining a little thicker the second time as he said sometimes what lining works for some (ours was 8-9) isn’t always optimal for others. He also said it could be nothing but the second time got my lining to 10mm. I think it just helped knowing different things were being tried
sending love though and rally hopr you get your positive soon!

My back story: I have one amazing kiddo who I conceived naturally when I was 23 years old (easy and not necessarily planned, but very welcome) …fast forward I am now 33 years old & thought it would be just as easy starting about 4 years ago & of course so wrong!
I did the PGA testing, got 11 eggs fertilized, 9 made it to blast stage & only 5 were pga normal …we were shooting for a girl and it’s looking like our second is gone for whatever reason (although won’t know until blood test)

I second that a plan is something that always makes me feel better as well! If it’s confirmed I’m not pregnant I’m going to spend the whole of January eating clean and likely will get on a drug called metformin for insulin resistance (not diagnosed with anything but I’m about 30 pounds over weight) …likely will try that next transfer in February …

throwing out experiences and ideas …@Klmno 6 embryos on ice is great!

Are you in the states @Bees28 , do you know the sexes of your embryos?

Thanks again to you all, that's given me some ideas. I will stop turning this thread into a failed implantation thread now, and let you get back to what it was intended for! I'll probably check out for a bit while we pause our transfers and do some considering/investigations, but will pop by occasionally to see how you're all getting on xx

@CoolSummer89 yes!! I was telling my husband that I thought a few of you all had to be from the other side of the map.
I had two normal euploid girls, currently have 3 normal boys left…one high quality grade A…
(still haven’t confirmed second girl is gone…)

Before you go @Klmno i just wanted to also add that I’m so sorry you didn’t get your positive. I know that others have said but feel like we’ve been through two waves of this together with the September & December thread so was really invested in your journey ❤️

I’m glad you’re feeling like you have a plan with some options for additional tests, but also totally appreciate how shit this whole journey is and particularly magnified around the festive period. Understand you might want to step away from this thread but goes without saying we’re all here either on this thread or my inbox is always open if you do want to talk/vent/ask questions xxx

Ah thanks @Peonies94 .. that makes me feel better! In all honestly I’ve never even been tempted to buy the “weeks” ones before and I can’t really remember why I even chose them 😂 like I said, in hindsight I’d probably have stuck to pregnant/not pregnant if I had my time again. Good to know yours was the same around a similar time though. I’m going to do another first response line one tomorrow just to see, then the other weeks one I have (was a pack of 2) on Tuesday/Wednesday. I think at that point I will stop testing and wait for my scan (should be around 13th Jan). I can now see why my clinic specifically say “don’t test before your OTD and only use a line test” 😂

Good luck with your scan, I hope everything goes well (I’m sure it will as sounds like your pregnancy is progressing amazingly!! ✨)

Thanks @AnonTTC, it feels like both an age and hardly any time since I started that September thread! I'm genuinely so chuffed for your positive as feel like we've been chatting for a while. I will definitely check how you're doing and I am wishing you a very happy and healthy pregnancy 🙂

@Klmno You probably won't see this but I'm so sorry, I hope you can take some time out to grieve and it sounds like you have really sensible plans for next steps 💔

Also edited to say: others have mentioned but, painful as it is, you may be on the wrong side of the statistics. I was 36 at first retrieval, just turned 37 second... we PGT-A tested, had 12 embryos total but only 5 were euploid. We had 8 day 5s on our second round and TWO were euploid. They were also higher graded than the euploid embryo from our first round. If we'd transfered our embryos by grade it may have been a long time before we managed to get one.

Having said that, if I were you I would be inclined to investigate options for further testing before another transfer. Thinking of you and really wishing you all the best on this painful journey.

@Klmno im so so sorry to read your news. Sending lots of love your way. Reading through the posts it looks like there's some great advice regarding testing. It's pretty remarkable the various tests there seems to be and 6 embryos in the freezer is incredible and I have no doubt your future baby is there.

Yes @Bees28 we’re mostly from the UK here (I believe) sometimes people in Ireland too.

it’s illegal to know the sex of embryos in the UK, the only exception is if your doing DNA testing for inherited diseases where there might be a carrier. So for example my friend knows she transferred a female embryo which is a carrier for the disease, but won’t be affected!

It’s so fascinating. The embryo I have transferred is a day 5 5AA and I have read an internet rumour that these are 70% boys. Although apparently this is not true but it’s all I have to go on!

@Bees28 I'm so sorry you tested negative today. It sounds like you have a really good plan for what you can do in the New Year, what shit news though!

As @Peonies94 said the rate of positives on this thread is very statistically unlikely, even with some of us doing PGT-A testing. My understanding was that even with PGT-A tested embryos of high grades, you're looking at a max 60% chance.

Oh thats super interesting! Incredible they can tell the gender at embryo stage. The science is so fascinating! Mine was a 5 day 5AB, wonder if that means girl 😂.

UK here too, im in Scotland.

Doesn’t it just!? Thank you so much ❤️ and you too. Please keep us updated with your next steps. Xx