IVF round 1 - Day by Day

Hey everyone! I’m just using this post to track our 1st IVF cycle. This is our protocol so far, I will update as things progress. Feel free to share your protocol in the comments it may help someone with a similar protocol.

Little background: I’m 28, hubby is 32. We have male factor infertility. We will be using ICSI, no PGT, and hopefully will do a fresh transfer should all go well and freeze any additional embryos.

Cycle start day 1 of period was Wed, May 25, 2022

Days 1 - 6: 5/25 - 5/30

Birth control (norethindrone acetate and ethinyl estradiol 1mg/0.02mg)

Days 7: 5/31

Baseline bloodwork and ultrasound

AFC- 19 follicles (right ovary) 16 follicles (left ovary)

Estradiol 19.59 pg/ml

Day 8 - 9: 6/1 - 6/2

No meds

Days 10: 6/3

Start Gonal F (225 IU subcutaneously once daily)

Day 14: 6/7

First monitoring appointment

Estradiol 1200 pg/ml

12 promising follicles on right, 4 on left

Start Ganirelix (250mcg subcutaneously once daily)

Day 17: 6/10

Monitoring appointment

17 promising follicles on right, 9 on left

Estradiol 3500 pg/ml

Continue Ganirelix

Reduce Gonal F to 175 today 125 tomorrow

Fresh transfer is currently off the table due to estrogen levels 😔

Day 19: 6/12

Monitoring appointment

18 promising follicles on the right 12 on the left

Estradiol 6600 pg/ml 😩

Gonal F reduced to 75 today

Will trigger tomorrow. Originally Ovidrel was prescribed, I may have to use Lupron due to my high estrogen. Waiting to hear from my doctor on the morning.

Day 20: 6/13

80 IU Lupron trigger at 10:45pm

Trigger changes from Ovidrel to hopefully avoid OHSS since so many follicles responded and estrogen is high

NO MORE SHOTS! 🤪

20 sticks total… 10 days of Gonal F, 7 days of Ganirelix, and 1 Lupron trigger

Day 21: 6/14

Use opk to ensure trigger is working

Nice clear positions LH surge 🎉

Day 22: 6/15

Egg retrieval 🙌🏽

We got 25 eggs. We will receive fertilization results tomorrow afternoon.

Feeling pretty good after surgery. Doctor said to expect some bloating, cramping, and spotting for the next 2-3 days.

Day 22: 6/16

Got the call from our nurse

21 eggs were mature

18 fertilized successful 🙌🏽

Day 27: 6/21

14 embryos made it to blastocyst and have been frozen ❤️

All 14 are graded a perfect 5AA 🎉