IVF Feb 2026

[Moosey898]

Hi everyone - just thought I'd start a thread for anyone going through IVF in February.

We're not 100% confirmed yet (GP missed off a blood test so we're rushing to the clinic tomorrow to get it done, so frustrating!) but all being well we'll be starting stims at the start of Feb for our first cycle.

We've had a horrid TTC journey to this point and it's definitely hard to imagine it working, but we had to try. We're having PGT-SR as I have not one but 2 translocations (balanced and robertsonian) so at the very least IVF gives us the best chance of reducing our miscarriage risk.

Hope everyone else is doing well, would love to hear any tips from those who have been through it before and particularly those who have done PGT or had FET.

Just seen your at retrieval stage so I’m joining at a much later stage sorry !! I was a bit disheartened by my numbers so stayed off forums in November x

Just had my third tracking scan and they're keeping me on stims for longer - so it'll be at least 14 days of it. I'm gutted. I know it's only a small thing but makes me feel like my body isn't doing as well as it should, especially since we are doing IVF for genetic testing and I've got pregnant ok in the past. This whole process is just so disheartening and draining. I don't know how I'll get through 3 rounds if the first one or two don't work.

@UnderCaffeinated Hope your first days of stims has gone ok? (and happy birthday to your husband! A weird one to remember!)

@Vil Welcome :) Wow, those numbers are crazy. Wishing you all the luck with your little FET.

@Moosey898 Sorry that you are frustrated after your scan today. Will it be a few more days than you expected?

Thanks @HM2024 yes we obviously were overwhelmed with the numbers at the start and then devastated with the attrition. But we had to make our peace with it and fully focus on the FET and try and stay positives

@Moosey898 did they give any particular reason? I wouldn’t think of it as anything not doing well, your clinic will just be ensuring you get the best results possible !!

@Vil I had 3 the right size (1 at 22 and 2 at 17), but 13 smaller all the way from like 4mm to 14! So no uniformity at all with sizes. I'm really worried I won't have a big enough group at the right size and they'll end up cancelling.

@HM2024 I've got another scan tomorrow so guess I'll know more then, but for now just keeping going. If EC were to be Monday, that would be 14 days of stims, with EC on CD17.

Went in for a scan today, hoping to start stims. But no. Because period was delayed, my lining is too thick so back in next week. Frustrated.

Also she scanner my ovaries and the follicle numbers were 'on the low side' so I'm generally not feeling very hopeful.

Did she say how many it was to consider it on the low side?

I've got egg collection Monday, the size range of my follicles is huge and I don't think we'll get a good number of mature eggs but guess we will have to wait and see.

@Moosey898 best of luck for Monday and @HM2024 I hope they continue to grow for you

I had loads but it wasn’t a good thing for me I really think it’s about quality !!!

I just tested 4 days after the transfer (which was also late afternoon) like a psycho and obviously negative I only had one test in the house and wanted to get rid of it 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

I actually couldn’t help it, but I don’t know why I did that to myself, I’m so glad it’s the weekend and I’m going to try and completely ignore it and test maybe Sunday night I got my positive with my daughter seven days after the transfer and it was super clear so I hope I should see at least something by Sunday night otherwise I have to start stimulation all over again

@Moosey898
She said 3 on one side, 2 on the other. I thought that the point of stims was to up thay number, but when I asked about it, she said it was an indication of how many eggs I may get. Sending lots of luck for Monday 🙏🙏

@Vil Hard to resist! Good luck with distracting yourself this weekend and test day 🙏🙏

@HM2024 sorry to hear you’re having more delays to contend with. It’s a constant wait isn’t it that would test anyone’s patience. Hope you get better news next week.
how are you feeling?

@Moosey898 good luck for Monday. You will be a week exactly behind me as mine was Monday. Hope everything goes well. It’s a long weekend waiting. Then the wait continues doesn’t it!!! Hope you’re ok.

@Vil best of luck for your next test date. Hopefully you’ll follow the same positive timeframe as last time.

I am hopefully going in for a transfer tomorrow, unless they ring me in the morning to say otherwise. They said of the 4 that fertilised they still had 4 on day 3 but didn’t sugarcoat it and said it’s an uphill battle from here for them and day 3 to 5 is the biggest drop off (not them exact words but that was the message).
I have had a bit of bloating this week. Nothing painful so I’m hoping it’s just the progesterone and not any sort of mild OHSS as don’t have any other symptoms, but that might be another reason it might not go ahead tomorrow.
but everything is crossed that it does!

best of luck @TTCbaby2xox is this a fresh transfer then?

wishing you positive news in the morning

Thank you! Yes, if all goes ahead it’ll be a fresh one. My first one. Just still at the hoping stage that they can identify a good one to transfer in the morning.

@TTCbaby2xox Good luck for tomorrow 🙏🙏 Hope those numbers stay where they are.

Hello! Wishing you ladies all the best of luck.

I’m 4 days into my first FET (and first ever transfer), fully medicated cycle. I did an egg retrieval and embryo banking in November, straight off the back of endometriosis surgery (stage 3) in October. Our embryos are PGT-A tested which we were advised to do. I’m 35 and going this route because of endometriosis. No other children.

In theory we could try naturally after the surgery, but the consultant said transferring a euploid embryo is the best way to “optimise outcomes”. It’s been brutal to get to this point and I just want to try to minimise risk where we can. Last month was 3 months post surgery which would have been the soonest we could have done the transfer post surgery, but I felt I still needed a month more to recover from the egg retrieval. That was a rough ride!

My protocol includes clexane and aspirin - because of endometriosis, the consultant tested me for thrombosis type genes and I carry PAI-1 which in theory can create microclotting issues. So the clexane and aspirin are prophylactic. Apparently it doesn’t always create issues, it’s just extra precautions.

I felt really anxious and fearful last week ie the week before starting the medication. I got quite overwhelmed by the really restrictive advice from my clinic and then my thyroid had shot up again. For the surgery and egg retrieval I “coped” by keeping my expectations so low, but for this imagining the worst case outcome just devastates me. My therapist (who has had IVF herself) said there is no way to stop hope, even subconsciously - all that does it make you feel like you’ve suffered the loss now, and there have been studies done that show anticipating a loss doesn’t prepare you for it. That comment somehow gave me permission to feel hopeful and I’ve felt better since then (despite the stinking cold I’ve just caught from my DH)

xxx

@Moosey898 wishing you the best of luck for Monday and thank you for setting up this thread. I hear you entirely on multiple rounds feeling unfathomable - but that feeling for me passed about 3 weeks post egg retrieval, it’s so hard to see forwards when you’re in the thick of it and your hormones are all over the place. You’ve done amazingly to get this far xx

Just an update and a bit of good news for me today. Had a transfer of a good grade embryo so a tiny sigh of relief - as much as my body would allow - now absolutely everything crossed and especially my legs 😂, for the next two weeks and beyond.

Best of luck for your FET @SlightlyTerrifiedButPolite

and to everyone else too.

keep us posted

@TTCbaby2xox ahh great news and best of luck for the 2ww 💗💗

@TTCbaby2xox wishing you all the best for your TWW 💕💫

Thank you. It's such a difficult process. I knew it would be and yet still somehow underestimated it! Egg collection tomorrow, got to leave home at 5:45am to head to the clinic. At least by the end of tomorrow we'll have some more information and by the end of Tuesday even more. The waiting and not knowing I think is the worst part.

@Moosey898 I have everything crossed for you tomorrow and hope it goes really well 💫. And enjoy your sedative, it was the highlight of the experience for me! I came around telling the staff “you’re all so nice, so nice” on repeat. Also the physical improvement after the retrieval was a big relief, I was finding it hard to walk from the pressure that morning.

And yes the waiting and not knowing is so hard… already trying to figure out how I’m going to manage the TWW

All the very best for tomorrow @Moosey898 🙏🏻

Pleased to hear the comforting stories for egg retrieval! I wasn’t worried but I am now!

I feel like I am fully into stims now, felt very very emotional and I had some sort of heavy feeling deep inside today but who’s know if that means anything. Anyone else taking Fyremadel? I took my first this morning and found it so much harder to do than the Ovaleap, like the needle was much harder to break the skin with and it was way more painful. Ovaleap is so easy compared!

I had both of those too. I found alternating sides of the lower tummy for the ovaleap (I was told to do mine in the morning), then did the fyremadel in alternate thighs each evening, made it somewhat manageable. My partner did them though thankfully and I didn’t like to look. Just a deep breath out when he said it was going in. The nurse at the clinic did say that the fyremadel would be harder as it’s a thicker needle but just to do go in a bit harder - easier said than done!!
I’m not sure why I seemed to be on opposing times of day for each jab than everyone else seems to be - and what one of the instruction leaflets suggested - but I just followed what I was told.
hope you find it gets slightly easier 🙏🏻

Got 7 eggs, feeling pretty disappointed. Our issues lie with genetics so was hoping for 10+ to give us a fighting chance of having a euploid embryo. Will have to wait and see if they fertilize and then how many grow.

I’m so sorry you are disappointed, not sure if this will help and I’m sure you know that the big numbers often don’t mean anything. I understand your genetic testing so it’s the numbers game, but you can really easily get great embryos from smaller numbers and there is some evidence to say that actually that’s better (in my case the big numbers have not been good for final results so I am an example of this.)

wishing you positive news over the next couple of days