Can you start progesterone before you've even ovulated???

[Fingerscrossed38]

I'm doing my first FET naturally and today is Day 10 lining at 7mm and dominant follicle only 12mm. Two days ago my lining was only 4.5mm and the follicle 10mm. So follicle seems to be a slow grower.

Anyhow I've been booked to do another scan and bloods on Saturday morning day 13. The nurse told me that if an looks well on Saturday they'll start me on progesterone on Sunday and did the fet on Thursday! But what if I've not ovulated by Saturday?? Surely they can't give progesterone (Lubion and cyclogest) before I've even ovulated can they?? I feel like the Dr is rushing me because he's going away on Friday and he wants to do the transfer himself. There is another very competent Dr that can do it whilst he's away

Has anyone done a natural fet and been given progesterone before they've ovulated? I'm not being triggered either...

[Dreamingofbaby]

Heya Tina. That sounds promising that all growing good. Sounds like that good in two days. In terms of the progesterone I guess nurse would know best and maybe she is thinking u would’ve ovulated by Saturday or Sunday so then would b fine to start them. I’ve not had progesterone before ovulated. U being scanned again as worth double checking with it all. I would really hope they wouldn’t advise something based on the fact that he wants to do it before he goes away. Needs to go on ur body and cycle not anything else. 🤔 as said worth checking what they thinking but hopefully they are assuming u will be ovulating by then so be fine.

My progress appears slow and just hope all ok and I don’t miss my ovulation 😁😐. X

[Fingerscrossed38 in reply to Dreamingofbaby]

Hey Cat, gosh this IVF is really confusing. I hope my Dr will make things clearer on Saturday because right now I'm so confused as to what the point in waiting for ovulation is for a fet when we don't use the follicle and we actually supplement progesterone artificially ...we actually don't need to wait for it do we?

Once our lining is a certain thickness we could then be able to do progesterone artificially for 5 days at any stage we like? Natural ovulation seems unimportant in a fet? I'm so confused. Does my body release another important hormone after ovulation (other than progesterone) that's needed? If not then why do we care about ovulation if we don't need the follicle and we can control progesterone ourselves once the lining is thick enough on its own...Argh so confusing

[Hidden]

I did a semi medicated FET so not quite the same but I had a dominant follicle that wasn’t quite ready to ovulate when they added in progesterone. They scanned me regularly to ensure I did not ovulate. At my 7 week scan they saw a flattened follicle so it looks like I did ovulate at some point. Im not sure but I think the important thing is to start progesterone before you ovulate because they need to control the number of days in which you are exposed to progesterone before transfer. Good luck x

[Fingerscrossed38 in reply to Hidden]

Gosh it's just so confusing. Up till today I really thought you shouldn't introduce progesterone until after ovulation.

If they only need 5 days of progesterone before a FET why do they bother monitoring ovulation at all and not just start progesterone as soon as the lining is beyond 8mm or maybe that is what they're doing?

So am I right in thinking that they don't want me to ovulate before they start me on progesterone?

How thick was your lining when they did the fet?

[Hidden in reply to Fingerscrossed38]

I think the difficulty is pinpointing ovulation exactly. My nurse said as long as I hadn’t ovulated before starting the progesterone then it didn’t matter if I ovulated after starting it. Once you ovulate then the lining of your uterus is exposed to progesterone and they like to control how long it is exposed for. If yours is a natural cycle then I’m not sure that yours is the same but I think it sounds right. My lining was 12mm from d8 but they left me a few more days and it stayed at 12mm they said it became more established and the triple layer looked better after 11 days x

[Fingerscrossed38 in reply to Hidden]

Do you mean after 11mm not days? I am beginning to understand your clinic's theory and wonder if that is what my Dr meant however he emailed me my protocol before we started the cycle and he specifically mentioned starting cyclogest the day after ovulation...anyhow ill see how Saturday's scan goes then discuss it with him. Thanks so much for replying it's been really helpful xx

[Hidden in reply to Fingerscrossed38]

It stayed at 12mm from my d8 scan to my d11 scan but the triple layer was more established on day 11 x

[Fingerscrossed38 in reply to Hidden]

Ah I see. Gosh you got to 12mm really quickly. I was only at 4.5mm on day 8! I hope it thickens up to 11/12mm soon! Xx

[Elynn]

This isnt an exact science. Clinics follow protocols but tweak them to suit individual responses. So everyone on here has a slightly different regime so dont get unnerved by that. Trust the process and your team. Dream has given u some great info. All the best.