Intended Parents

Frozen Embryo Calendar


Staying on the medication timeline for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is important. The timing and administration of the medications involve directly impact the success of an IVF cycle.

When it comes to freezing embryos, a frozen embryo transfer calendar can help you stay on track.

If surrogacy with frozen embryos could be right for your situation, learn more about the timeline.

We’ll take a look below at the benefits of having a calendar for the frozen embryo transfer, the medications required and what to expect after the transfer.

Your Frozen Embryo Calendar

The FET timeline can be broken down into three parts, pretesting, hormonal preparation and the frozen embryo thawing and transfer all play crucial roles. A frozen embryo transfer calendar can help keep track of medication schedules, appointments and transfer timing.

A frozen embryo transfer cycle takes around six to eight weeks. The frozen embryo transfer calendar using birth control usually starts with three to four weeks of birth control pills on a daily basis to suppress the normal ovarian cycle.

If day one is considered the start of your menstrual cycle, here’s a timeline from egg retrieval to the transfer itself:

Ovarian Stimulation: 8-14 Days

Duration: 8-14 days

Ovarian stimulation uses hormone injections, called gonadotropins or follicle stimulating hormones, which lead to the production of multiple follicles.

Gonadotropins are hormones that regulate the function of the ovaries.

This allows as many eggs as possible to develop to until egg retrieval.

Ovarian Suppression: Time Varies

Medications taken after starting ovarian stimulation help suppress ovulation to ensure premature ovulation doesn’t occur.

Stopping premature ovulation is important for IVF because timing matters and Gonadotropin-releasing hormone’s (GnRH) help ensure the most eggs can be retrieved.

GnRH is naturally produced by your body. GnRH agonists and antagonists are synthetic forms of GnRH.

GnRH agonists stimulate the pituitary gland to release any stored gonadotropins before stopping the production of any new gonadotropins.

GnRH antagonists stop premature ovulation.

Trigger Shot: 36 Hours Before Egg Retrieval

A gonadotropin trigger shot induces final egg maturation only when a proper amount of follicles reach maturity.

Egg Retrieval: 10-30 Minutes

The egg retrieval process is an outpatient procedure that lasts 10-30 minutes performed under sedation or anesthesia where a needle is used to extra the eggs from the ovaries.

Embryo Culture: 5-7 Days

The embryos will continue to develop over the next 5-7 days until they reach the blastocyst stage. At this point, the embryos will be graded to determine which are the most viable for the transfer.

Then, the embryos are frozen until ready for use.

Embryo Freezing and Preimplantation Genetic Testing: 1-2 Weeks

One of the many benefits of using frozen embryos to grow your family is the opportunity for preimplantation genetic testing (PGT).

PGT evaluates the embryo for genetic disorders and the chromosomal health ensuring only the best, highest-quality embryos are chosen for transfer.

Uterine Preparation: 3-4 Weeks

You will undergo three to four weeks of hormone treatments to prepare the uterine lining for implantation.

These hormones help thicken the uterine lining as well as making the uterus receptive to implantation.

Some clinics may allow you to begin FET prep before receiving your PGT results, with the understanding that if there are no euploid embryos, your IVF cycle will be cancelled.

 Frozen Embryo Transfer: 10-15 Minutes

Duration: 10-15 minutes

The embryo transfer is commonly done on the sixth day of hormone treatments, transferred to your or your surrogate’s uterus.

Frozen embryo transfers occur after ovulation because that’s when the uterine lining is primed to support a pregnancy.

Test for Pregnancy: 2 Weeks After FET

After the embryo transfer, you have to wait 10-14 days to take a blood test to determine if you are pregnant.

How Soon Must an Embryo Be Frozen?

Although it depends on the grading system of the professional, embryos that are frozen are also in different developmental stages. Only the best, highest-quality embryos are frozen but those embryos can come three or five days after retrieval.

Embryos are developmentally different and therefore graded different depending on if they are cleavage stage (day three) or blastocyst stage (day five) embryos.

Frozen embryo transfers allow you to preserve fertility, giving you the opportunity to be a parent. If you need to freeze embryos but can’t complete a pregnancy yourself, you can still grow your family. Get in touch with us today to find out more about surrogacy with frozen embryos

Medications Needed for My Frozen Embryo Transfer Calendar

Throughout that timeline laid out above, there are a variety of medications used when it comes to the IVF frozen embryo transfer calendar. They all serve a specific purpose, from helping stimulate the ovaries to supporting the luteal phase.

Some of the most common IVF medications used during the process include:

Hormones that regulate the function of the ovaries such as Gonal-f, Follistim and Menopur. 

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a medication used to help mature eggs and support the endometrium. Ovidrel is a common name it’s otherwise known as and is used as a trigger shot.

Estrogen helps build up the uterine lining so it will be ready to support the embryo. Clomiphene works similar to estrogen and is prescribed to increase the levels of certain hormones that trigger ovulation. It’s typically taken on or around day five of the cycle.

Lupron is an artificial Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) taken for two weeks, daily, to suppress the pituitary gland. It stimulates the pituitary gland to release any stored gonadotropins before stopping the production of any new gonadotropins. This helps control the development of eggs during IVF while also stopping premature ovulation. Along with Lupron; Synarel, Suprecur and Zoladex are all common forms of GnRH agonists.

Progesterone is a hormone that helps prepare the uterine lining for implantation. Although it’s normally produced by the ovaries, you may be prescribed progesterone supplements to counteract some of the other IVF medications that stop premature ovulation. These supplements can come informs such as endometrin suppositories, crinone gel, prometrium tablets or injectable progesterone in oil. Progesterone is typically administered three to five days before the embryo transfer takes place.

Exactly when these medications are administered ultimately comes down to your circumstances such as your cycle or the time it takes for your uterine lining to develop to an optimal stage.

A frozen embryo transfer timeline comes with more flexibility than a fresh embryo transfer because the process is initiated when you are ready. It only becomes time-sensitive once progesterone is administered.

Natural Frozen Transfer vs. Medicated Frozen Transfer

Other changes to your IVF frozen embryo transfer calendar could come as a result of health or the protocols you choose.

People choose to freeze embryos for various health-related reasons such as:

Depending on your hormones, your fertility specialist could recommend a natural frozen embryo transfer or a medicated frozen embryo transfer.

With natural frozen embryo transfers, the transfer is timed to coincide with when you naturally ovulate and when your uterine lining is best suited to have an embryo implant.

Natural frozen embryo transfers can be supplemented with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), an artifal hormone that can help ensure ovulation occurs, and progesterone which supports the body early on in a pregnancy.

With a medicated frozen embryo transfer, your body may not be producing enough progesterone on its own. Estrogen and progesterone medications help prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy.

How to Keep Track of the Frozen Embryo Transfer Calendar

With the number and variety of different medications that come with IVF and a frozen embryo transfer, you may be wondering how to keep track of it all.

With specific times as to when the medicines need to be taken as well as their dosage,  you don’t want to get them confused .

A few easy ways that can help you keep track of it all include:

There are even apps you can download that allow you to enter and edit all the necessary information about their medications like dosage and frequency.

Apps such as Bonzun IVF, Embie and My Fertility Diary are just a few examples that exist specifically to help track parts of your IVF journey. 

What to Expect After the Frozen Embryo Transfer

You should keep an eye out for symptoms such as:

  • Light bleeding or spotting

  • Cramping and pelvic pain

  • Fatigue and tiredness

  • Tender, sore breasts

  • Nausea

  • Increased need to pee

  • Changes in vaginal discharge

  • Missed periods

  • No symptoms

    Although these are common symptoms, if any turn severe, you should contact your medical professional.

    Once the frozen embryo transfer is complete, it’s a waiting game. Two weeks is the standard waiting period before scheduling a blood test with your doctor to find out if a pregnancy has occurred.

    Fill out our online contact form if you already have frozen embryos. Having embryos means you could be matched with a surrogate quickly and we can help with what comes next.

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