Following our consultation at The Clinic we decided to go ahead with the Endometrial Receptivity Analysis (ERA) test.

The test consists of preparing the uterus the way it’s prepared for a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) – that means using hormones to thicken it up and then get it nice and “sticky” ready for the embryo to implant. The only difference is, once the uterus lining has been prepared, instead of doing an embryo transfer the doctor will take a biopsy of the endometrium which will be analysed looking for the markers that assess whether it is ready for an embryo to implant (i.e. if it’s “receptive”).

So… just about a week after our initial visit at the clinic, when my period showed up, I went in for my baseline scan to get started with our ERA test cycle. The doc sent me away with my prescription for estrogen patches, which I picked up and then headed to the airport for a trip to London to visit the fam.

I did the estrogen patches for 10 days and then it was time to go in for a progress check to see how my lining was growing. I had been tracking my basal body temperature and using OPKs (ovulation predictor kits) since we stopped birth control back in September, and for some reason I decided to carry on since I was in the daily habit. The day before my progres scan I got a positive OPK which worried me a little as I didn’t think that was supposed to happen… it wasn’t!

When I went for the scan it showed that my lining had grown very little (as expected), and the doctor commented that he could see a cyst on my left ovary. That seriously freaked me out (although the doc didn’t seem concerned which was strange); anyway… I commented to him that I think I had ovulated although I thought the estrogen should have suppressed ovualtion. He sent me for a blood test and said they would call later that evening.

That night the nurse called. The blood test confirmed that I had indeed ovulated (yep, the egg had been dropped from my ovary), the estrogen dose (2 x Evopad 75  changed every 2 days) wasn’t high enough so we would have to abandon the cycle and try again when I got my next period. Thinking back to my cycle in 2016, I had been on a higher dose than just patches, back then I’d had patches plus pills so it looks like that is going to have to be the way we ago again when I do attempt 2 in the New Year. In the meantime – it’s (nearly) Christmas! Yay!!