IVF Pending

[MomaJoni]

Morning Everyone,

I was on here a lot last year when I was going through my 3 IUI tries. Sadly my last one ended in ectopic pregnancy which was pretty traumatizing as had to have quite hefty treatment to remove it. The drug we were given meant we are not allowed to conceive for 6 months as it can cause physical defects in the baby so we are now scheduled to start the IVF process in May.

The appointment in May is my information day where I will receive all of my drugs for the course and instructions on how to do what and when, but I wondered if anyone could tell me how long between collecting drugs, to egg retrieval is it? Weeks? Months? I've tried to research it but its very unclear.

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely, so sorry to hear about your experiences - they sound horribly traumatic. Great that you're about to start again though. It depends what protocol you are on, but for my egg collection cycles it's been about 11 days of injections, then the trigger shot - 36 hours later it's egg collection & fertilisation. Then you have the dreaded 5 day wait to see how many embryos make it to day 5 blastocysts (or day 3 if that's what your clinic does) then transfer..... then the 2 week wait. Hope this helps xx

[MomaJoni in reply to Millbanks]

That's so so helpful, thank you. It sounds a lot quicker than i thought then. I think the clinic will want to control my cycle as I am not regular (I have a period every month but it can sometimes be 31 days, 40 days or 28 days) so that might take up some time before that so at least I have an idea. June sounds like the most likely time for transfer So exciting.

[Millbanks in reply to MomaJoni]

You're very welcome! I think some clinics like to down regulate you first, so if you have unpredictable cycles they will likely put you on the pill for 2 - 3 weeks first, then you'll start your injections with your next bleed. Best of luck to you! xx

[LuxFleur]

Hi lovely, I'm so sorry about your traumatic experiences! Your doctor may start you on oral estrogen tablets the month before you begin injections for IVF. If so, those hormone pills could start weeks before your first jab. Then it depends on how long of a protocol your doctor decides to put you on. With one doctor I got 14 days of injections before I was supposed to schedule egg collection a few days later. With another doctor, we only did 7 days of injections. So it depends, but 1-3 weeks max of injections is usually what people do. Then you may have 3-5 days before egg collection (I guess more sometimes, it depends), and then you will either have a 3-5 day wait for a fresh transfer, or a month or more for a frozen embryo transfer (FET).

My drug routine was like this (drugs are French):

- Several weeks of Provames (estrogen) tablets (originally planned for fresh transfer)

- 1-2 weeks of Menopur injections

- A few days of Fyremadel along with Menopur, to stop natural ovulation

- A trigger shot to "trigger" ovulation

- Anesthesia for egg collection

-Two weeks of Utrogestan (progesterone) pessaries in case of pregnancy

(break before medicated FET)

- Provames beginning on first day of period, increasing dosage throughout month

- Nightly Progiron (progesterone) shots and twice a day progesterone pessaries beginning from the "ovulation day" decided by the doctor, once my lining was ready (a woman does not really ovulate during a medicated cycle, but you prepare for your frozen transfer so that you will have the hormonal reaction of an ovulation three days before a three-day transfer, five days before a five-day transfer, etc.)

Continue all three drugs until test day, or until end of first trimester if pregnant

[MomaJoni in reply to LuxFleur]

Oh wow, that sounds like so much but I am definitely ready! Its such a long process, its amazing that most women can do it all naturally. Thank you so much for all of this information, it is really helpful for me.xx