Unmedicated frozen embryo transfer

Me!! She is 14 months. And I’m hoping for another natural transfer in the next month or 2. As long as your periods are regular there is no reason you can’t have a natural.

@Danielle this is great news! My periods are regular and never had an issue with them so hopefully it’ll be successful for me too! Xx Could you tell me the protocol for a natural? Xx

So you call day 1 of your period, they then schedule you about a week later for a scan to check lining and a follicle is growing (I had a couple more after that a couple of days apart) once they confirm the dominant follicle you do at home ovulation tests until you hit peak. Once you hit peak you let them know and they schedule the transfer for 5 days after. I know some clinics may not do the monitoring and just go to ovulation tests. Essentially you’re just following your natural cycle and when ovulation occurs you transfer the embryo to match when the embryo would usually be in the uterus to implant. I also took progesterone pessaries, but these were optional. It was really easy and very stress free.

I had 2 natural cycles (me tracking ovulation) which ended in 1 chemical & 1 failed. I then asked to do semi-natural - with trigger shot only and this one was successful with my now 8 months old. I think the issue with home ovulation tracking is sometimes I could have several days of peaks and that might not be very accurate. Whereas a trigger shot guarantees ovulation and the right timing of transfer.

The only downside with a trigger is you cannot do pregnancy test too early or have to test it out. But it’s a good option imo.

Hi Wanyu, for your semi natural protocol did you have to go for any scans and blood tests? Do they check the estrogen and progesterone levels and lining before the transfer? Thanks x

Following the post xxx

@Sabrina yes for scans - they needed to make sure the lead follicle is growing & whether lining is thick & decide which day to trigger. There was only a blood test after transfer to check progesterone level but I was given progesterone pessaries anyway.

Thank you, so was it similar to an IVF cycle where you had scans every few days, except you didn't need medication before and just a trigger when it was big enough to ovulate?

@Sabrina I have done all three types, fully medicated, semi-natural and natural cycles. In my memory the number of scans to clinic was not very different (2-3 visits before transfer) between these as they needed to make sure that lining is right anyway. It was also similar to egg collection yes, but obviously with egg collection sometimes the monitoring could be more frequent.

Yes 😊 My clinic told me the odds are same for both but I didn’t respond to the progynova when I attempted medicated, unmedicated worked first time x

Thank you all so much for this information!! It has really helped settle my mind xxxxx

I did a modified natural twice with just estrogen patches and the progesterone suppositories. They both ended in chemical, unfortunately. I have pretty regular cycles so the doctor at this new clinic said that I would be a good candidate for it again especially because all of my levels were on par with the other two cycles. So next month I'm trying my thirdnatural modified cycle. This time they will add the trigger, however and no estrogen.