What if I never make it to FET?

I just need to vent or maybe hear stories of encouragement. I went thru a very tumultuous 3 years to have my son, with many failed pregnancies, ectopics, PCOS, etc. We started IVF and made embryos but ultimately I ended up conceiving and delivering him without intervention. Fast forward another 3 years and we’d like to give him a sibling. We tried naturally for a few months but I found it really stressful (maybe a little ptsd?) so we decided to use our embryos. I foolishly thought a FET would be “easier” - ya know, controlled environment, lots of monitoring, professional help. But after months of tons of meds and waking up at 5 am to drive to early morning monitoring appointments, I’ve had two canceled cycles because my lining won’t respond!! And this month was a no-go because they won’t schedule around the holidays. So now I have to wait til Jan/Feb whenever I get my next period and I’m just worried that it’s going to be the same result. We already tried a different protocol and changing the meds but what if we run out of things to try? Is there anyone who IVF just simply never happened for??? I can’t even wrap my head around something like surrogacy because, for one, we can’t afford it; and, I already carried a baby on my own successfully! WTF??? I’m just so frustrated. Ugh.

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Hey, totally understand the frustration. I was told I’d never carry after freezing embryos. I dwelt with a year of cancelled cycles. I got a second opinion and was able to have 2 girls. Is that an option for you? A fresh set of eyes on your medical record could be helpful. A new Dr could have new ideas.

@Bethany thank you for sharing. Switching doctors is something I’m thinking about. It’s just extra frustrating because I recently moved and paid a lot of money to transport my embryos to my new clinic and don’t want to do it again 😣

I had to do the same, transporting them to a new city and hospital. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. Money comes and goes but the opportunity to conceive can be limited. If you can make it work I’d recommend it. These times will be the hardest emotionally and financially but if you can push forward it will be worth it. 🫶🏼

My lining also didn’t respond, we changed protocol and I ended up at the minimum required and had a successful pregnancy. It was so stressful but I’m glad my clinic was so flexible with my doses and treatment. It took several months but we managed it in the end!

@Emily thanks for sharing. Can I ask what your clinic set as the minimum requirement? Mine will try a transfer with a minimum of 6 but I feel like this is so much lower than most places

@Lisa they really wanted me to get to 7.5mm but did start to consider letting me do it at 6mm as I just couldn’t get above 6. They said there could be plenty of pregnancies with smaller linings and we just don’t know about them, maybe even your successful one! I went up to a very high dose of oestrogen as a final attempt, I did patches instead of tablets as the tablets did nothing. The patches shot my lining up overnight, something about the delivery method really changed how I reacted. So I got to 7.8mm I think in the end. Have you tried patches?

@Emily yes my last two cycles I was using three patches every other day 😔 and during the last cycle we also added viagra suppositories. They definitely helped but I was still hovering around 6 mm

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