FET tips and tricks

I've been scouring the internet trying to research things that have worked for other people have successful FETs. Tips and tricks range from old wives tales to doing nothing different at all. There's no magic bullet.

Here's what I found so far:
- Eat pineapple core. On transfer day, days following transfer day, sometimes for all transfer week.
- Eat Brazilian nuts
- Drink pomegranate juice
- Eat green leafy veg and lots of protein
- Get acupuncture starting 3 months before transfer, with sessions on day of transfer before and after
- Bedrest after transfer, take time off
- Stay active after transfer with light walks, no need for bedrest
- Comedy after transfer
- Keep feet warm after transfer
- Eat warm foods, cooked foods after transfer

- Transfer more than one blast

- Test embryos with PGD testing

Some links:
Embryo Transfer: 10 Essential Tips for Success
Implantation after IVF: 10 Crucial Tips
7 Ways to Prepare for Transfer at Home
5 Steps to prepare for a Frozen Embryo Transfer

The bottom line is that if any of this stuff was necessary, it would be required by my clinic. I am happy to try different things within reason but these lists of preparations border on superstition/obsession. I get that people want to have the best chance possible, but I'm not sure these tricks are what tip the odds. Even so, I'm willing to try some of them. I'm still not sold on acupuncture even though so many places recommend it.  It's not readily offered here and it's more stressful to try and find a licensed therapist to do it so I'll skip it this time.  As of now, here's my plan.

In the weeks leading up to transfer and thereafter:

- Continue with the meds prescribed by the clinic: del estrogen and progesterone. This one seems obvious but it is the only part of the protocol actually required by the clinic and is the most significant of the FET protocol.

- Continue with prenatal vitamin daily. Add separate Vitamin D as suggested by clinic.

- Continue with healthy eating of a balanced diet with high protein and minimum processed food.

- Continue with exercise routine. Add strength training twice a week.


For week of transfer:

- Schedule a massage for day before transfer

- Plan to take the day off work for transfer day. Take it easy the rest of the week, but no need to stay home.

- Plan for some good movies/TV and reading material for transfer day. Always happy for a reason to watch my favorite comics.

- Make big pots of chicken soup and beef broth to keep hydrated before and after transfer day and for the following days after.

- Add pineapple core, pom juice, avocado, and Brazilian nuts to my morning smoothies. I'm drinking them anyway so can't hurt to add a few more ingredients.

- Keep feet warm after transfer. I already have this down - I bought fuzzy slippers back in February when I thought we'd have an April transfer.

- Get the house professionally cleaned week of transfer.

- Stay calm and relaxed throughout the two week wait. Easier said than done. I originally planned to not do any HPTs but even I know that's not a realistic goal to set. Logically I know that testing or not testing won't change anything that's actually happening in there, but I'll have to make a game time decision when it's actually relevant.

I rarely drink wine or coffee so cutting those won't be an issue. I'll have to remember to stop eating deli and sushi starting that week. I did a quick Google search about other foods to avoid during pregnancy and it doesn't look like any of those foods are generally in my regular diet (soft cheeses, sea food, raw egg products).

Will any of this make a difference? I'm not convinced either way, but I'm not adverse to putting in the effort and giving it a try. I'll focus on keeping calm and stress free, and getting through the 2ww with as little anxiety as I can manage. I've starting to accept that it won't work and we'll have to do this again in a few weeks, so it's negative thoughts like that which I need to keep out of my mind. 

Having only a handful of appointments is a big plus.  There's the baseline, halfway check, actual transfer, and beta blood test.  Four visits instead of the very tedious IVF protocol. Hoping and praying this is the right time for it to work. 

Day 10

No-fuss monitoring today!  I made sure to drink plenty of water all day yesterday in addition to 32 oz. this morning as I was getting ready. Yesterday I got an automated e-mail reminder from my clinic reminding me that weekends tend to have longer wait times and to arrive within 15 min of my scheduled appointment.  It's true; in the past when I had to come in on a weekend or a holiday for monitoring, the entire waiting room of 50+ chairs was full and the wait time was over 45 min to be seen.  This morning I arrived at 7:35 AM for a 7:45 AM appointment and was out the door and back in my car by 8:10 AM.  It seems as though they hired extra staff to help move things along.  When I came in the waiting room was reasonable, but as I was leaving it was getting crowded.  I was happy to get out before the rush.


Follicles look good with largest one at 15 mm.  They're aiming for largest ones measuring 18-20 mm before triggering, so I still have a few days of stims. When I got the call with results this afternoon, I was told to start Cetrotide this afternoon, as opposed to starting it the next morning as in previous cycles.  The way it stands now, my nurse guestimated about three more days of stims, though I'm not sure if she was counting today. Following up with bloodwork again on Tuesday, and of course the weather is calling for some snow/ice/rain mix in the morning.  After the Tuesday appointment they'll know more of an accurate timeline so I'll know whether I need to reorder meds. It always gets tricky this time in the cycle because you don't want to run out but you also don't want to unnecessarily order extras.


I was thinking about how embryos from this cycle would be a fresh start for us.  The last two FETs were frozen from IVF #1 and while they were both strong blastocysts that tested normally for PGD, neither stuck even though "everything looked fine" with regard to lining, etc. It got me thinking that maybe IVF #1 was a bust and all embryos from it were somehow tainted so it's good we only had two and are now getting a fresh batch. 


With IVF #2, I had a master plan all laid out: get new embryos to test and store in the freezer for future babies, and do an FET transfer on the second embryo from IVF #1 on day 5 -- basically doing IVF and FET back-to-back without waiting in between, since the embryo had already been genetically tested. This plan failed miserably: not only did we not get any new embryos to transfer from IVF #2, but the FET also didn't stick and we were literally back to square one. Just goes to show that you can plan all you want, but if it's not part of His plan it's all for naught.


I'm hoping and praying we are more successful this time around, not only with the IVF but also with the FET.  I want to believe that we are doing everything we possibly can on our part to make this a successful cycle. I'm even watching my exercise and food intake carefully. Jenna Wolfe's new book, Thinner in 30, has a few tips on how to make small changes that make a big difference.  I read it over the weekend and have decided to adopt 3 of her tips:

1. Drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces over the course of the day. If you weigh 160 lbs, that would be 160/2 = 80 oz. I can drink that much water in a day but only if I'm mindful and keep refilling my cup.
2. Take 10,000 steps a day. It seems simple, but because I work at a desk job I have to remind myself to take breaks to stretch and stand up so this would be a good motivator. I have a pedometer app on my phone which might not be so accurate but it's a good enough estimate. If I don't work out, I average about 5,000 steps, so I have to pay attention to adding the difference.
3. Plan and prepare your meals in the beginning of the week. This is such a no-brainer and the weeks that I've done it in the past have been successful. It takes time and effort which is the last thing I want to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Even so, a little planning can go such a long way in setting us up for success the entire week. Knowing the ingredients are in the house and that we've already agreed on what we're eating makes dinner prep so much easier.

The book has a bunch more tips but if I'm being honest with myself I know I won't commit to more than this at first. I'll give these a try and if I stick to them, I can always add or swap some of her other suggestions.


I believe that willpower is a finite resource that you use up throughout the day, as opposed to what others believe that it's like a muscle and the more you use it the stronger it is.  If I have to spend my willpower being good all day and watching what I eat and do, I have no energy left at the end of the day to make good choices and if there's nothing readily available, we resort to junk food or take out.