What happens during an IVF cycle?

Ok - I sorta get the drift of what happens....Hormones, tests, retrieval, embryos..ect...

I guess I would like something a bit more detailed and some information on how much I would have too see the clinic during this time. Are blood tests required everyday??

The reason I ask is we have had our home on the market for about 2 months now, and we are at the stage where we are have ditched our agent and looking at hiring another one or possibly refinancing. If we refinance we may be stuck here for a lot longer than we want to be.

We are currently 20 min away from our FS, once we move we can be well over an hour. I am a little concerned that travelling early every morning for blood tests etc may well and truly suck the life out of me.

Also, there is no guarantee that this will work the first time around so it could be an on going thing.

I suppose.. how does everyone cope, do you stop "normal" life and postpone major changes or keep things as normal as possible??

Hi Krikkit,
I have always just gone on with normal life, though I am very lucky that my workplace knows about IVF and is very supporting of time off to see FS. For me, most of my cycles have been as follows:

AF arrives, call clinic, book in for Day 2 or Day 3 of cycle scan to check no activity (I normally pill down reg). BT same day. Start stims
Day 8 of stims (so about day 11 of cycle), BT and scan to check progress of follies
Day 12 of stims, BT and scan. Normally take the trigger injection that night. EPU 36 hours later
Day 14 EPU
Day 17 - 19 ET depending on whether you are doing Day 3 embies or blastocysts. My first 3 ETs were Day 3, last two were blasties, I would only ever do blasties from here.

I hope this helps, this is a really basic outline and depends on how you are stiming along the way, one cycle I had 2 extra days of stims which meant another BT and scan.

I wish you the best of luck. Hugs x

Hi Kristy,

Ive done 2 down reg stim cycles which involves taking the pill for approx 26 days, while taking the nasal spray syranel during this time. Once I got my period, I then went for a scan to make sure my lining was thin and all was ready to go to start the stimulation injections (gonal F). My imaging place schedules these scans early in the morning so it didnt interrupt my work. I then had to go to see the nurse with my results and from there they gave me a schedule of my injections. After approx 6/7 days of injections, another scan, again early in the morning. See the nurse again to discuss result and then they gave me trigger time and EPU day. The only days off I had was for EPU and I also took off the day of ET as since it was a special day, wanted to spend it with my partner. There is no need to not go to work, its a personal choice as its a simple procedure.

Im now embarking on a flare cycle which cuts out the pill. Syranel starts on Day 2 and injections on day 3. Follicle scan on day 6 with trigger and EPU thereafter.

So all in all, didnt interrupt work. However, I found with my personal life, I wasnt up for much socialising because of my moods and such stringent times for taking medication.

Hope this helps. If you need anymore info, just yell out!

Cheers,

Tania :D

Hi Krikkit,

I have done one Down Regulation Stimulated Cycle and one HRT FET (which lead to our BFP).

On the down reg cycle it went like this:
Day 5 of period - started pill
Day 21 - still on pill and started on Syneral (nasal Spray) in the am/pm
Day 27 - took last pill - still on Syneral
Started bleeding on Day 31 (will call that Day 1 of new cycle).
Day 4 - still on Syneral - went for first scan with FS to check that everything was "switched off"
Day 6 - still on Syneral - started on Puregon 100iu
Day 11 - Still on Syneral and Puregon - went for scan with FS
Day 15 - Last day of Puregon - had last scan with FS
Day 16 - had Syneral in the am and trigger injection in the pm
Day 18 - EPU
Day 20 - Transfer of Embryo and started on Crinone.
Day 34 - went in for BT - unfortunately it was a BFN

So all in all I went to the FS for 3 scans, then had the day off work for the EPU, and went in for transfer (but went to work before and after). Apart from that it was just the BT which I did on the way to work

I won't bore you at the moment with the FET, but if you ever want to know the process for that, just let me know.

I continued with my life as per normal (or as normal as you can when you are so full of hormones). In fact on the night that I did my trigger shot, I was interstate at my BFF wedding!

I wish you all the very best of luck. It is a daunting process, but so worth it when you get that BFP.

Janie xxx

Mine seems a bit more complicated than the others here! I did a down reg cycle, but I don't recall exactly how long I was on the pill before the injections started, but this is my time table.

Day 1-7 - Lucrin injections daily
Day 8 - Lucrin injection & blood test
Day 9-10 - Lucrin injection
Day 11-13 - Lucrin & Puregon injections
Day 14 - Lucrin & Puregon injections & blood test
Day 15 - Lucrin & Puregon injections
Day 16 - Lucrin & Puregon injections, blood test & internal ultrasound
Day 17 - Lucrin & Puregon injections
Day 18 - Lucrin & Puregon injections, blood test & internal ultrasound
Day 19 - Lucrin & Puregon injections
Day 20 - Lucrin & Puregon injections, blood test & internal ultrasound
Day 21 - Lucrin, Puregon & Pregenyl (trigger) injections, blood test & internal ultrasound
Day 22 - Day off!
Day 23 - Egg collection
Day 24 - Day off!
Day 25-27 - Crinone Gel twice daily
Day 28 - Crinone Gel twice daily and embryo transfer
Day 29-38 - Crinone Gel twice daily
Day 39 - Pregnancy blood test BFP!!