Natural FET experiences?

[Trying6years]

With no scans or meds? I have regular cycles and regular smilies on ovulation tests. Reason for IVF is bad tubes, well one left now.

I just cannot see it working, I had so many meds last time!

We lost our baby almost a year a go now to severe brain abnormalites (no cause genetic or otherwise found) so it is going to be hard mentally whichever way it goes.. I find the effect of the extra hormones plus scheduling pessaries and injections quite tough so trying natural this time. I also had bleeding and spotting until 12 weeks which oddly stopped shortly after the meds.

Please let me know experiences good or bad, thanks

x

[Lolalules]

Sorry to hear of your loss 💛 I’ve had a tube removed and had four losses (early) - my IVF experiences so far are 2 fresh rounds (BFN, BFP with MC). I’ve had one FET (natural) and am currently 23 weeks. I found it so much better - it felt like a natural pregnancy because they’re just monitoring your natural cycle. Only downside at my clinic is that the cycle could be cancelled (mine was initially) because there’s a day where they don’t do transfers and if you ovulate on the wrong day then the cycle is cancelled. That happened for me before this one was rescheduled. But I’d still prefer that to the meds!

[Kt8e21 in reply to Lolalules]

Hi sorry to jump in on your comment. With your Natural FET.. have they prescribed anything for after transfer? Like progesterone pesseries or is it all completely natural?

[Lolalules in reply to Kt8e21]

it was my choice at transfer but due to the losses i wanted to (even tho my progesterone test was ok). So they prescribed 12 weeks but then at the recurrent loss clinic they told me medical advice for recurrent loss was 16 weeks x

[Kt8e21 in reply to Lolalules]

Crazy how different clinics differ.. think I’m going to be bringing this up at my review meeting as they would only give me it until week 8 and didn’t test it… even though I’ve had a previous miscarriage. Then I miscarried as 12 weeks but think it happened a few week before.. I keep wondering would it have gone further if they’d given me it for longer.

[Lolalules in reply to Kt8e21]

oh definitely ask - it’s for sure medical advice for recurrent loss x

[Trying6years in reply to Lolalules]

Congratulations on your pregnancy and sorry for your losses, that must have been so hard to have it happen 4 times. Yes I was warned it could be cancelled due to timings but 'if' it goes to plan it should land mid week. I am happy to wait though to give it a go naturally - the meds got me so down and I couldn't inject myself either! I just hope my body knows what to do! x

[Lolalules in reply to Trying6years]

Yes I was the same - just wanted a smoother hormonal experience! They can trigger you if it looks like you may miss if you ask, i almost did this the second time but wanted to try w/o first time x

[Twiglet2]

I’m so sorry for your loss 💜😢 we’ve tried a couple of fully natural FETs without success (but also had more mediated without success too!) I looked into it quite a bit at the time and of your periods are regular etc then the odds of success seem to be the same. It was so much gentler and kinder that month and I did need that at the time. We’ve went back to medicated though as that’s what worked for us a few years ago for our son so we are a little biased I supoose and also it’s a nightmare to get booked in to our clinic for natural as they only take 2 ladies a week for it! I do hate the prostrap and all the meds though ! There’s no harm in trying it and I don’t think from what my clinic said there’s a right or wrong answer on which one to choose xx

[Trying6years in reply to Twiglet2]

Thanks for your help. I feel like it will be a lot easier on me mentally and that is what I need too - my consultant is keen to reduce the amount of stress scans and meds cause me due to our loss. I do have regular cycles so fingers crossed my body knows what to do. We have been warned about how it may be cancelled but the predicted timings are looking good, although the transfer could be a year to the day we got the awful news at the 20 week scan, so not sure how to feel about that!x

[Twiglet2 in reply to Trying6years]

oh my goodness I can completely understand why you are so worried and why you would want to go down the less meds route. You are amazing and I will be hoping for you guys 💜🤗 xx

[Positivechangeplease]

I had a naturally modified FET. Scans were still required to check the lining was growing as expected on a normal period. But no drugs at that point. I did have to use the otrivelle pen to make ovulation happen (for definite otherwise there is a chance your egg isn’t expelled and not sure if there are any other issues that could happen) And then I did take progesterone to support any pregnancy happening but that was all. This resulted in success and I was able to stop progesterone at 7 weeks as they advised my ovaries were making it.

All in all I felt a lot better about it.

[Trying6years in reply to Positivechangeplease]

We were given the option to have scans and trigger too, but went with no intervention this time just to make things as easy as possible for me mentally as we go back into all of this. I think that will be the way we go if this one doesnt work though. I am a bit worried my lining won't be good enough and we won't know and may waste an embryo, just hoping my body does what it needs to do. It is good to hear you had success with it. I will have progesterone checked before transfer just for peace of mind then take pessaries if needed so hoping we have everything covered..x

[Positivechangeplease in reply to Trying6years]

the pessaries are honestly the least offensive drug - having extra can’t damage the pregnancy as it leaves your body fairly quickly. Hope it all goes well for you. I also went on low carb diet, went for massage and acupuncture and moved to naturally occurring folate

[GSX2019]

I’m so sorry to hear of your loss, that must have been very tough! We are 6 years into this journey and have 4 egg collections, 5 BFNs and 1 chemical behind us. I can’t imagine getting as far as you did and having to go through such a devastating experience.

We are just about to embark on our first completely natural FET, we have had 3 medicated FETs before and I am very anxious about not having any drugs. I have developed a lactose intolerance so I can’t take progynova or other oestrogen tablets like I did on previous cycles so we’ve been advised to try a natural cycle. We used this cycle as a dummy run so I tracked my ovulation, checked my lining on day 25 (it was only 7.3mm but that’s pretty good for me) and had my progesterone checked which was 60 so the doctor is happy for us to do a natural transfer. The clinic want me to track my ovulation next month, let them know when I get my LH surge and they will schedule embryo transfer 6 days later. I can’t get my head around this lack of monitoring though so I will be booking a scan around day 10-12 just to check my lining and also having a blood test on transfer day just to check my progesterone.

I have been on this rollercoaster for so long and I felt like I knew how it all worked but this is all new to me and is making me feel more uncertain. Though I do love the idea of being medication free.

I hope that your cycle goes smoothly and you get the take home baby which we all long for. Best of luck with everything. xx

[Trying6years in reply to GSX2019]

Thank you for your message, it really was the worst thing that’s ever happened to either of us and I’m really terrified to be pregnant again, but also not ready to accept the thought of never bringing a baby home. It’s a tough one. Sorry to hear of your long journey so far, we started investigations in 2018 and tried for at least 2 years before that so I know how it feels to be stuck on this long arse road. I went to the clinic today for bloods as some of the screening and things have expired and even though I knew that’s all it was, just being in the clinic made me jittery. So I think it’s best to do things as natural as possible to reduce anxiety but I’m the same as you, I keep wondering what if my linings not thick enough etc. But then I just keep telling myself go with the flow as I’ve already been through the worst, surely…!

I’m also going to have progesterone tested on the day for peace of mind, if I need pessaries so be it but I’m wary of too much as I had a big bleed at 6 weeks and I always wondered would I have miscarried if I wasn’t on so much - the consultant says no but I can’t help but wonder as our baby girl was so poorly.

I am due to ovulate next week so all being well I will have the transfer 5 (or 6?) days after. Fingers crossed for yours next month, let me know how you get on if you want xx