For all 3 FETs, the protocol has been the same -- I'm always on BCP the month before to schedule my cycles (I'm anovulatory PCO). I stop the BCP and get a period about 4 days later. On the first day of my period, I start Estrofem (2mg, orally) three times a day , I have seemingly randomly scheduled monitoring checks (bloodwork/ultrasound) and start progesterone before the transfer (3 days before a 3dt and 5 days before a 5dt).
What's confusing me is why all my FETs take different amounts of time.
FET #1
CD2 - monitoring -- start estrogen
CD15 - monitoring - continue estrogen
CD20 - monitoring - add progesterone
CD25 -- FET (planned for CD24, but pushed off until CD25 to give the embryos an extra day to grow so that for our eSET we could pick the better embryos of the pair that defrosted) (day 6 embryos) (6 days of progesterone)
FET #2
CD2 - monitoring - start estrogen
CD10 - monitoring - continue estrogen
CD18 - monitoring -- continue estrogen -- told to start progesterone on CD21
CD21 - start progesterone
CD24 - FET (day 3 embryos) (but day 4 of progesterone????)
FET # 3
CD2 - monitoring - start estrogen
CD9 - monitoring - (lining is at 11mm -- the only time I remembered to write that down!) - continue estrogen
CD14 - monitor - continue estrogen - told to start progesterone on CD16
CD16 - start progesterone
CD21 - FET (5 day embryos) (day 6 of progesterone???)
----- this third time, I was told on CD14 (a Sunday) that I was ready for the FET, but since my clinic is closed on Fri and Sat, I would have to wait to start the progesterone until Tuesday, so my 5dt would be planned for a Sunday. Otherwise, I could have started progesterone on CD14 (which was a Sunday) and had the transfer on CD19 (a Friday).
(Oddly in FET #1 - I was allowed to start the progesterone after the monitoring on Sunday morning to have the transfer planned for Thursday -- ended up being a special allowance for a Friday transfer).
I'm sooooo confused why my FETs take such different amounts of time. I'm taking the same exact dosage of estrogen -- why does it sometimes take longer to thicken my lining? (I know that without lining measurements and e2 numbers, you can't really understand what is going on. I'll ask my clinic for a copy of my file and check it out.)
Here are my questions (please!):
(1) I'm supposed to go in for monitoring on "the first day of my period". My clinic is open for bloodwork/ultrasound only from 7-9am -- so I have to plan to wake up early to go. So usually, my period starts sometime during the day and I go the next morning -- that's correct, right? I can't figure out any other way to do that!
(2) as for when to start the progesterone --- I go for monitoring in the morning (7-9am) and get the call from the nurses at around 2-4pm. FETs are scheduled for about noon. My clinic has me start the first dose of progesterone the day after the monitoring (or some other day in the next few days -- depending on when the FET is scheduled -- the clinic is closed on Friday and Saturday).
If my embryos are frozen at day 5-- why would we do the transfer on the 6th day of progesterone (or day 3 embryos transferred after 4 days of progesterone)? In my first FET, I started my progesterone on a Sunday afternoon and had the transfer on Friday morning -- so day 6 embryos after 6 days of progesterone. How come on the other 2 FETs, I'm taking an extra day of progesterone? Does it matter?
(3) any reason why the FET cycles have to take so long? Can't we make CD14 the "ovulation day" and start progesterone then? Can I take a higher dose of estrogen to make things go faster? What is the downside to taking higher dosages of estrogen (if it will make the cycle faster)? I'm overweight (about 200lbs and 5'4") -- could my weight be making the dosage too low?
My clinic is notoriously bad for planning ahead -- but all my cycles are completely paid for by the national health insurance - so I can't complain about the service
I'm just trying to plan ahead a little bit. I'm starting my next cycle next week. Things are a bit more complicated this time around, because it'll be a Jewish holiday and my clinic will be closed Thursday/Friday/Saturday for 2 weeks in a row. I'm planning to stop the BCP on Saturday morning, so that my period comes Tuesday afternoon and I can start the estrogen after monitoring on Wednesday morning.
If my clinic tells me to take 2mg of Estrofem orally x 3/day ----- what will happen if I "accidentallly misunderstand" and take 4 x 2mg pills a day? Will that speed things up? (I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad person -- but the emotional stress is killing me and since I'm not too optimistic about this FET, I'd like to 'get it over with' as quickly as possible)
Thanks sooooo much for this and all the other help you give us! Maybe I'll name my next child "Ghost" in your honor