February IVF Buddies!! 2nd Cycle. FET

[barbikins]

Hi girls!
My first IVF failed. I am just waiting for AF to show & then starting a FET cycle. Who's with me?!

How many cycles are you on?

 

[BabyDancing13]

So sorry your cycle failed- my first did too and I know it's heart wrenching. I'm nearly coming to the end of my first medicated FET as transfer is on Wednesday. I hope you get some answers at your follow up appointment and wish you all the best with your FET cycle xx

 

[barbikins]

Thanks! Good luck to you
What's been your FET protocol, may I ask? I'm curious what goes on. Are you medicated? I can see in your siggy it seems as such.
Also I'm curious when the thaw the embryo, do they try and grow it some more first?

 

[BabyDancing13]

Thanks! Good luck to you
What's been your FET protocol, may I ask? I'm curious what goes on. Are you medicated? I can see in your siggy it seems as such.
Also I'm curious when the thaw the embryo, do they try and grow it some more first?

Yep medicated as my ovulation is not reliable and I have low progesterone levels. It has been one long ass cycle though I started on Norethisterone, had a bleed once it stopped and scan to ensure lining was thin, then started buserelin and estrogen to build lining back up. As it was 14mm at scan I stopped the buserelin and triggered that night. 2 days later I started the progesterone and continue the estrogen and transfer was scheduled for 1 week after trigger.

As far as i'm aware, at my clinic they thaw the embryos the morning of transfer and I have them put back in at 1.30pm that day. x

 

[barbikins]

How long of a process is that for you to get your lining up to a good measurement?
Ah OK thanks for letting me know. So I see you also had 4 frosties? I have 4 and thought they'd probably take out two. What were your given options? Can they do one at a time?

 

[BabyDancing13]

How long of a process is that for you to get your lining up to a good measurement?
Ah OK thanks for letting me know. So I see you also had 4 frosties? I have 4 and thought they'd probably take out two. What were your given options? Can they do one at a time?

I was lucky as it only took 1 week for my lining to thicken on the Progynova- I know others have taken longer. They freeze embryos in vials of 2. So they thaw the first two, see how they are, and if their's a problem then they thaw the next two. My clinic does not re-freeze embryo's, so we have to be prepared to loose one or two. We are hoping to transfer two tomorrow.x

 

[barbikins]

Do you know the twin rates to transfer two frozen?
I can't risk twins but doubling my odds is favorable.

 

[Allie2009]

This is my 1st FET cycle. I'm in my 1st week and am doing patches. Ill have my scan next Tuesday to check my lining. Then transfer will be on the 21st!!! I could have done it the 17th, but because of work we wanted to do it on a Friday so I only have to take one day off from work. Good luck hoping this one will work for you!!!

 

[barbikins]

Thanks for the replies! I came back from my CD3 & meeting with our RE.
He didn't have an explanation why my IVF failed except for the matter of the numbers. 50/50%. Anyhow, we can defrost one embryo at a time & hope they only have to defrost ONE!
I will go back on the 14th for ultrasound & transfer on the 17th FAMILY DAY!
It's Family Day here in Ontario, Canada on the 17th.
I'm really excited!

So I am taking, Estrogen twice a day until the 14th. And Baby Asprin.
Then I'll start Progesterone on the 14th, onward.
xo

 

[pisces78]

Hi Girls,

Looks like I will be joining you, AF showed up today, right on time, so just waiting for the OTD on Monday to get my BFN result so I can move onto FET. Onwards and upwards...

 

[barbikins]

pisces, I'm curious were you on Progesterone? How come your AF showed?
Sorry to hear she showed her ugly face You have frosties?

I tried to make a correction, I am actually on two Estrogen pills, three times a day to build up my lining. Wow, thats a LOT! Hope I dont go nutters.

 

[pisces78]

Hi Barbikins,

Yes, I was on progesterone suppositories, Crinone gel, once a day. I did ask the nurses if progesterone can stop or delay AF but they said it can in some ladies but others can get their AF before OTD or the day of OTD. So, I guess everyone is different.

Yes, I have 5 frosties, so that is good news, apparently I don't even need to see the FE and can go straight to FET for my next cycle, which I think I will after hearing your experience it doesn't seem that the FE can really say much to you after one IVF failure, and one less bill I have to pay!

Barbikins how come you have to have a medicated cycle, do you not ovulate on your own or is your cycle irregular?

I will have a non-medicated FET as my clinic only recommends medicated cycles only to ladies that don't ovulate on their own or have irregular cycles. I have to ring up on CD1 but since this will before OTD I will have to ring the clinic and ask what is the procedure in this circumstance.

 

[barbikins]

Hi Barbikins,

Yes, I was on progesterone suppositories, Crinone gel, once a day. I did ask the nurses if progesterone can stop or delay AF but they said it can in some ladies but others can get their AF before OTD or the day of OTD. So, I guess everyone is different.

Yes, I have 5 frosties, so that is good news, apparently I don't even need to see the FE and can go straight to FET for my next cycle, which I think I will after hearing your experience it doesn't seem that the FE can really say much to you after one IVF failure, and one less bill I have to pay!

Barbikins how come you have to have a medicated cycle, do you not ovulate on your own or is your cycle irregular?

I will have a non-medicated FET as my clinic only recommends medicated cycles only to ladies that don't ovulate on their own or have irregular cycles. I have to ring up on CD1 but since this will before OTD I will have to ring the clinic and ask what is the procedure in this circumstance.

That's great you have 5 left. I have 4 & hoping we only need to defrost one & it'll survive!
We had to see our RE for a low down & to talk about next protocols but we just jumped into the next cycle as well.

I ovulate on my own but I need to take Estrogen right now to build up a good lining. It's to improve my chances with IVF. And then Progesterone starts on the 14th to Aide in the lining as well but Progesterone supports a healthy pregnancy so these things need to be in place to improve my odds. It's a lot of money being spent right so make sure it's the best conditions. YOu don't need to have Progesterone or Estrogen?
It's just to support a pregnancy, should it occur. Like extra insurance

 

[pisces78]

Ahhh, I see, my clinic gives progesterone just before and after ET and each day in the 2ww as per the fresh IVF cycle.

What is the procedure for your FET?,

for me I will have the usual ultrasound to see how my follicles are developing around day 10-12 and when a dominant follicle is identified, I will be using morning urine OPK with blood tests to check for presence of LH and when surge detected, ET will be arranged for next day. My clinic also only does one embryo transfer per FET.

 

[barbikins]

Well, I went in for my CD3 blood/ultrasound. I go back on the 14th for another ultrasound/blood & make sure all is good. I could have chosen any day the following week & chose the 17th since it's a Provincial Holiday here so no time needed to take off work. And it's the earliest too! I've read lots where woman had to give themselves Ovidrel right before FET but my doctor didn't mention this. Mind you I'll see if they mention it on the 14th. That's when I'll start Progesterone again.
And then, TWW. Good times!

 

[Hatethewait85]

Hi Ladies, Mind if I join? Looks like I'll be going in tomorrow for CD2 monitoring for my FET..

Here's my story in short
- Did antagonist protocol IVF in Nov but had to freeze all of my embryos because of a premature rise in my progesterone during the stim phase- Had 3 blastocysts to freeze
- Proceeded with FET #1 right away in Dec (although did get delayed as my hormones were still off so took bcp for about a week - 2 AF 1 week apart was no fun!) but it didn't work despite transferring 2 great looking embryos - 1 left
- Took January off and went on vacation to Mexico!!

This time around we are doing things a little differently, so I'm hoping for the best from 'Lonely Larry' - our affectionate name for the last remaining embaby!

Looking forward to sharing the journey with you!

 

[pisces78]

Welcome Hatethewait!

Will be good to hear your journey through this process are you undergoing a medicated or non-medicated cycle? Will keep my fx for you! Hope your 1st scan goes well. What will your protocol be for FET?

Love the name for your frostie, I named my last failed ivf cycle embryo "emma rose" (emb-ryo)! Maybe this one will be emma rose jr!!

Barbikins: That's interesting, so you get to choose ET date? wow! I think I just have to keep monitoring for the LH surge and then ET will happen next day. So, you don't have to do any OPK at all? Did your FE suggest any issues with having FET straight after failed stim IVF cycle? Or if waiting or not waiting for FET affects the success rates of successful pregnancy?

AFM: I rang the clinic yesterday as it was my CD1 which is before OTD, and the nurses said its up to to the discretion of the individual FE if I'm allowed to do FET straight after failed stimm cycle (apparently some do & some don't). As apparently a small number of cycles may be cancelled due to no ovulation occurring after a stim cycle, as your cycle may be all over the place. Also, I asked about the progesterone at ET and 2ww apparently some RE will prescribed it others will not.

So, I guess I will have to wait and see on both accounts. I'm sure my FE will have my best interests at heart!

 

[barbikins]

Nope I don't need to use opk. I don't think they care about ovulation from me since we are doing a FET. Every RE & clinic will have their own protocol depending on each woman's case. So I assume there in lies the difference.
Yeah it's weird I could have picked any day between Monday the 17 through to that Friday. So I picked ASAP! I was surprised. I thought I'd have to so monitoring for the best day. But nope.

 

[Hatethewait85]

I spent a lot of time reading about FETs (or what little I could find) when my first FET failed. From what I read there are 3 ways to approach it:
(1) Natural, like what you're doing pisces. It's nice because there are no extra hormones or anything but you are at the mercy of your cycle as far as timing things.
(2) Medicated with stim drugs (like letrozole, follistim, etc) - this I think can help with lining issues.
(3) Medicated with estradiol, like barbikins. This gives you the most flexibility to do the ET when most convenient, which is nice.

My protocol for my first FET was similar to barbikins. I took estradiol 2mg 4x/day and a daily aspirin. After 10 days I went in to check my lining and started the progesterone (vag tabs) the next day. Transfer was after 5 days of the progesterone (I had 2 5-day blastocysts transferred).

When my FET failed I asked what we could do to get a lil better lining (it was 7.77mm for the first one), my fs added estradiol patches every 3 days. I'm sure I'll be a crazy, hormonal mess! I'm also going in after 12 days for the lining check but mostly because I happened to have that day off work so it was convenient. She offered to try using letrozole instead but I have such a time with the opk's that I didn't want to stress about interpreting if it was time. So let the fun begin! Next check for me on the 21st!

How are you tolerating the meds barbikins? V-day lining check will be here so soon!!

Pisces, you mentioned it will depend on your fs if you get to start an FET right away? Will your doc call you tomorrow after your results are in? I hope you don't have to wait! Emma Rose is a beautiful name for an embryo! One of our last embryos we referred to as Emma!

 

[pisces78]

Thanks so much Hatethewait for explaining the different approaches for FET this all makes sense now and why you girls can choose a day!! and also why the FE may want me to wait a month till my cycle is back to normal after stimms if relying on my ovulation for replacement of embryos.

This estradiol cycle sounds so much more practical than the natural approach at the mercy of your cycle! Also, girls do you know why you have to take baby aspirin each day? Just wondering if it something that I should be doing to help implantation?

Hatethewait, I go into the nurses appt today for my OTD for my failed stimms cycle today and then they will discuss with my FE and then let me know if I can do a FET this cycle I'm currently on CD3 so hopefully I should know by today, what are the next steps.

Barbikins: did you have any pet names for your little embie?