Embarking on *hopefully* FET with DE

[minnesota_girl]

Hi everyone 👋,

I'm back for Round 4, this time with donor eggs from my little sis (34, two children).

We've just had egg collection and I've heard today I have 14 embryos 💗 that will now be progressing to day 5 🤞🤞...I'm doing a freeze all so really hopeful that we'll have some blastocysts to freeze!!

I haven't ever done a FET before (of my three cycles the first two never made it to transfer, and my third only had one morula and one blastocyst which were both transferred on day 5 and resulted in a chemical pregnancy).

I'm trying to understand the benefits between a medicated and non medicated cycle, and also the timings etc and how it all works.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! My doctor is suggesting a non medicated cycle but that makes me a little nervous considering my age (42)?? Why do people pick one over the other?

How many hospital trips are usually required for a FET cycle prep?

💞💞

[User20]

Hi Minnesota-girl!

First of all congratulations on 14 embryos!! That's a super starting point!! Fingers crossed for lots to freeze!

I'm currently preparing for my first FET (also with DE) and am doing a programmed /medicated cycle. I'm not entirely sure what the benefits of medicated vs non medicated cycle is, my clinic does usually medicated ones.

I've started taking norethisterone on day 19 of my cycle for 7 days. This should induce a bleed 5-7 days after completion of the course of tablets. This will make lining thin (hopefully). On day 21 I've started buserelin injections - to stop/control my ovaries - I will continue with those until just before transfer. I'll have 2 scans - one about 2 weeks after the start of buserelin and if lining thin and trilaminar I will then start oestrogen tablets and will have another scan 10days later. If lining thick enough they will then schedule my transfer about 5 - 7 days later.

So all in all it'll take about 4-6 weeks to prepare for FET and I had 2 hospital visits scheduled for scans...

Hope this helps?

Good luck 🤞

[Squareark]

Congrats on the blasts! I have my fingers crossed for you for the next steps of the journey! I actually have done both medicated and natural transfers and looked into it a little bit, but I'm not a doctor/researcher so please take everything a grain of salt. 1. Success rates - according to research, success rates for both are about the same (my REs have also confirmed this). In my own personal experience, I've had 2 successes (1st and 3rd) with medicated cycle and 1 failure (2nd) with natural cycle.

2. Pros for medicated cycle - every clinic here (NYC) recommends medicated cycles, but this could be because it's easier for the doctors. With a medicated cycle, you go in for monitoring like 2-3 times before the transfer (they just make sure your lining is above 8mm and your progesterone looks ok).

3. Pros for natural cycle - presumably you don't need to take hormones (although I was still prescribed progesterone suppositories, but only had to do them 1x a day instead of the 3x a day for medicated cycles). This was a huge draw for me; specifically, I requested for natural cycle because taking progesterone shots for 12 weeks (for my first pregnancy) got pretty painful. Although I will note that the 2nd medicated cycle went a lot better with the progesterone shots because I was allowed to stop after 10 weeks.

Timing wise, for the natural cycle, I had to go in 7-9 times for monitoring, and basically had to go in daily when I was near ovulation. Even after all this, they sort of missed ovulation but also sort of caught it after referring back to my bloodworks (they saw the LH surge in my bloodworks and used that as the signal for ovulation). Typically, they should see your dominate follicle grow to >18mm and then tell you to trigger ovulation (using a trigger shot) so they know exactly when you ovulated and place the embryo in 6.5 days (or was it 5.5 days?) afterwards.

I think either way forward will be great but definitely pick the one that you feel more comfortable with. This process is filled with so much anxiety and uncertainty that I think finding comfort where you can helps. Good luck and lots of baby dust to you!

[Hidden]

I have no tips or advice but wanted to say WOW 14!! Amazing! So excited for you and what an amazing family you are! Heaps of luck lovely! Can’t wait to hear more good news from you xx

[Pittapatta]

Congratulations, hope everything goes well. Sorry I haven't done FET so no advice except best wishes. Goodluck!

[HopeOfYou]

Congratulations, Minnesota_girl, to your little sister as well --- that's quite a present! ❤️

I had a non medicated preparation to FET when I was 39 (my 40th birthday was a month ahead), with only a trigger shot to make sure my body was in sync with the transfer, which was abroad. I think medicated cycles can interfere with lining thickness. Also, my period was super regular, so I think the doctor just thought it was better to leave nature doing its course.

But it depends on your health down there. I'm sure the doctors must have checked you out, and believe that a medicated cycle is not going to help. On the other hand, it's not so automatic, I'm afraid...

BTW, my little one is 2yo now, so all went well with that FET. Good luck to you too!

🍀🍀🍀