Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) Cycle #2: what it actually involves
This year, my New Year New Me is to be an IVF hormone-addled, wannabe-pregnant woman – and it’s off to an excellent start.
It’s 18 days into 2026 and I’m currently in a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) cycle.
If you’re doing everything in your power not to fall pregnant – or you’re one of those people who seems to sneeze and accidentally conceive – you might have no idea what a frozen embryo transfer actually is. Don’t worry. I’ve got you.
Manifesting with an open heart and a block of chocolate.
What is a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET)?
A Frozen Embryo Transfer cycle is the stage of IVF where an embryo that has already been created, frozen, and stored is thawed and transferred into the uterus. This is my second frozen embryo transfer cycle.
Unlike a Stimulation cycle, this phase isn’t about collecting eggs – it’s about preparing the uterine lining and timing ovulation so the embryo has the best possible chance of implanting. I have done three stim cycles.
What is a round of IVF? (and why it takes so long)
In a nutshell, a full round of IVF includes a stimulation cycle and one or more frozen embryo transfers.
Before I started IVF, I kept hearing the phrase “rounds of IVF.”
I’m not entirely sure what I thought it meant at the time, but I definitely didn’t realise that almost everything in IVF is built around your menstrual cycle, which is one of the reasons the IVF journey stretches on for months.
Need to collect eggs? That’s one "~28-day" menstrual cycle.
Need to put an embryo back in? You have to wait until your next period starts – which is another "~28-day" menstrual cycle.
If you’re doing a frozen embryo transfer with PGT-A testing,
add another ~21 days for genetic testing and waiting for your period to arrive again.
Suddenly, a single “round” of IVF can stretch out to roughly 77 days. (My first round was 75 days in total.)
If the maths doesn’t quite add up, that’s because Decapeptyl (ovulation trigger shot) is notorious for making your period arrive about seven days early. That and a manic high followed by a sharp low.
To put that into perspective for the professional girlies: that’s nearly an entire quarter for “just one round of IVF”.
Now, where it gets even more complicated.
All of this assumes you have at least one viable embryo from the stimulation cycle for the round, which doesn’t always happen.
In the fortunate event you get more than one viable embryo, you effectively get that same number of chances to fall pregnant in that round, provided the embryos survive the thawing process.
Example – 2 viable embryos from stimulation cycle
Let’s say, for example, you end up with two viable embryos.
You'd wait for your period to start.
If you respond well enough to the medications, you'd transfer one embryo that cycle and hope you fall pregnant.
If it doesn’t work, you’d wait for your next period and try again the following cycle – until you either:
a) fall pregnant (ideal), or
b) run out of embryos and are faced with a decision to do another egg collection
or stop, because of the emotional, financial, or physical toll
it takes on you and your relationship.
How does each cycle work?
1. IVF Stimulation (Stim Cycle)
To make a baby, you first need the two main ingredients, eggs and sperm.
This phase is all about collecting eggs and sperm, then mixing them together to make embryos.
You inject high doses of hormones to encourage your ovaries to grow as many plump, juicy follicles as possible. When they’re ready, you inject different hormones to trigger ovulation, then you’re admitted to hospital for day surgery where the IVF doctor collects the eggs.
An embryologist scientist fertilises the eggs and caretakes blastocysts (aka early stage embryos) until they’re ready to be biopsied, frozen, or transferred.
This cycle is emotionally and physically demanding, and the procedure is invasive enough to warrant a general anaesthetic.
Medications I’ve used in a stim cycle
Gonal-F (450 units) – ready-to-go injection pen to grow follicles
Luveris – mix-it-yourself hormone injection to support follicle growth
Orgalutran – ready-to-go syringe to prevent ovulation
Decapeptyl – ready-to-go syringe to trigger ovulation
Progynova – oral tablets to thicken my uterine lining due to Asherman’s Syndrome
At the peak of my third stim cycle, I injected myself with five different needles in one day.
2. Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) Cycle
The end goal of this phase is pregnancy.
A frozen embryo transfer (FET) uses far lower hormone doses to prepare the uterine lining and optimise ovulation, ready for the IVF doctor to insert the embryo into your uterus.
The procedure is far less invasive, and the science is actually rather miraculous – you see your tiny, yet magnificent, cluster of cells on a large screen before they’re transferred into the uterus via a long, thin catheter.
You continue progesterone hormones until a pregnancy test 12 days after transfer.
The first part of this cycle feels pretty business-as-usual, and with the trigger shots, I found Ovidrel noticeably less intense than Decapeptyl.
Medications I’ve used in a frozen embryo transfer cycle
Gonal-F (75 units) – ready-to-go injection pen to support lining growth and a single follicle
Ovidrel (250 units) – ready-to-go injection pen to trigger ovulation
Progesterone pessaries (3× per day) – to keep the uterine lining ready for implantation
I’m currently in the progesterone phase, and it makes me feel sleepy and more vulnerable (hormone addled: tick).
And then there’s the cost
Rounds are expensive.
I was quoted roughly $12,000 for the round.
But once you add:
medications
hospital fees (unless you have the very expensive gold-tier insurance)
anaesthetist fees
parking
embryo storage
PGT-A testing
…it’s very easy to hit $15,000 before you know it. Yes, there’s a Medicare rebate – but you still need to front the money first.
You have to pay upfront to play.
It’s a rort.
And yet another example of how women’s health continues to be poorly supported in medicine.
How many eggs were collected in each IVF cycle?
Throughout this journey, I’ve often wondered: what does “good” actually look like in IVF?
The answer? It varies wildly.
It’s been surprisingly hard to get concrete numbers from the clinic, but hearing other women share their numbers has brought me some comfort.
I’m particularly grateful to Caterina Mete for openly sharing the numbers behind her IVF journey.
Most articles focus on how emotionally hard IVF is (which it is), how much it costs (which is a lot), and the miracle baby at the end (which doesn’t always happen).
What helped me most was the data. Caterina is sharing knowledge – and knowledge is power – especially in a process where you so often feel powerless.
So I thought I’d share just as openly, for you too.
Egg collection (stimulation) cycles
Round 1: 5 eggs collected → 1 embryo
Round 2: 7 eggs collected → 1 embryo
Round 3: 9 eggs collected → 2 embryos
How many embryos were banked?
From a total of 21 eggs collected, we banked 4 viable embryos.
How many frozen embryo transfers so far?
Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) cycles
First transfer: Did not result in pregnancy
(likely influenced by significant work stress and unknowingly being very unwell with Asthma, RSV and Rhinovirus)Second transfer: Currently in progress
(transfer scheduled for Monday, 19 January)
Where am I at now?
I took the trigger shot on Monday and then started Progesterone on Thursday.
Before progesterone, I was relaxing, sleeping well, exercising, eating well, and maintaining an open heart.
After, I’m weepy, vulnerable and sleepy.
All I want to do is bingewatch light hearted comedy in bed.
Only one more sleep until transfer day.
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