Throughout this FET process, I’ve had some general musings I thought were worth sharing here.
First, I’ve talked before about how weird IVF is, and I’m finding new ways it’s weird now that I’m going through the FET process.
The biggest weirdness is knowing the exact date you might be pregnant. These days, thanks to cycle tracking apps, most women have a general idea of when they get pregnant, but they don’t necessarily know the exact day it happens. And even if they do know the day, it’s highly likely they don’t know what day it will be in advance.
For most couples, when they’re trying to conceive (at least it was this way for us), life continues as normal until you find out you’re pregnant. That’s when you start cutting out all the things you’re not supposed to have (think rare steak, sushi, alcohol, deli meats, runny eggs, etc.).
Since I know when it’s possible I’ll be pregnant, I’ve been trying to enjoy all of those things, as much as I can, before that date. A little bit like a last hurrah before abstaining from all those wonderful things for nine months (hopefully).
It’s actually been kind of nice trying to enjoy all those things. I’ve never been one for drinking all that much, but there have definitely been more cocktails and glasses of wine enjoyed as of late!
Second, another thing I’ve found interesting about this process is the age of the embryo when the FET happens and you get pregnant. While the embryos have only grown to day 5 or day 6 before they cryo-preserve them, dating a pregnancy is based on a woman’s cycle.
It seems a bit odd, but I understand the reasoning for it. As I mentioned above, most women don’t know the exact day they ovulated and/or got pregnant. Because of this, doctors use the first day of the woman’s last period (because that’s a known quantity) to say how far along she is.
It does get a bit confusing, though, because there’s usually about a two-week gap between the period and ovulation where the woman is very likely not pregnant, but that’s how science has chosen to age pregnancies…
Because of that, if our FET takes, I’ll be 4-5 weeks along at the time of conception. At least I think that’s how far along. Dr. C. mentioned this at our regroup, but I can’t remember the exact number of weeks.
One big positive about this is that it does mean there will only be about 7-8 weeks of PIO injections (rather than a full 11-11.5 weeks of injections). More on how those injections are going next week…
My final musing (and IVF pro tip!) is about what to wear during bloodwork and ultrasound appointments. I may have mentioned this when I was going through the egg retrievals, but it remains a useful tip during the FET process as well.
Wear dresses.
It makes for much easier access for both the blood draws and ultrasounds, and you look cute to boot!
IVF That 