I'm pretty upset and need advice. I have been struggling with thin lining. I was thinking about doing a FET with Dr. T with some frozen embryos that I have banked throughout the years. My dilemma is this - Dr. T measured my lining to be around 7mm. He is thinking I should go ahead and start progesterone and do a transfer. I still had doubt so I went to Cooper this morning, and they measured it to be a 5mm. I saw the picture and I do think Cooper is correct. How do I let Dr. T know that I don't think he measured my lining correctly? Also, I am supposed to start progesterone- should I just cancel the cycle?

I don't want to offend him, but in my situation I don't want to waste my embryos. I cried all morning - and now am just numb. And so tired of this ....

Alima...I'm so sorry that you have this dilemmma. Who did the u/s at Cooper? Was it a Dr. or a nurse? Whomever it was...do you trust that they were accurate? Do you trust that they were correct over Dr. T? In any case..I would not go forward with doubt....your embies are too precious.

I would not waste embryos if you are not comfortable. I'm not sure how accurate measurements are but each clinic uses their own standards for measuring probably. Just like different labs gets different results with the same sample. I think I would just tell Dr. T what happened and asked to be measured again. Or don't tell him but ask for another measurement because you are really worried about your lining thickness.

Are your embroys stored with Dr. T? Have you had better lining measurements in the past?

I wish you luck.

Without knowing anything else about it, I'd trust a properly trained ultrasound technican's call over a doctor's when intepreting u/s results. Not all technicians are good, but doctors don't do it day in and day out and don't have the same training. Can you get a third opinion somewhere maybe?

Good luck to you.

That's true of most Dr.'s...but not Dr. T. He does each and every ultrasound himself of all of his patients..so he does MANY each and every day. I also think Alima that because of this...he knows your lining. Still...you need to be comfortable. I have one more thought...would it be possible to go to Cooper again tomorrow and have someone else measure your lining? Sort of a check on both measurements? If not, have Dr. T measure it again..just say that you are nervous and would like it measured again.

and whenever Dr. T measured my lining, I always felt he had the probe measurements higher than where the lining started (so that he was measuring uterine muscle over the actual "lining" part). I do know the Cooper techs do thousands of these lining measurements in the course of a year. Not sure where I can get a third opinion, and I guess even if I start the progesterone, I can cancel up to the last moment, right?

I did a natural FET so I did not take progesterone until after the transfer. What exactly is your protocol? How much in advance of your FET do you start progesterone? I guess my thinking is Dr. T would have to measure your lining again before transfer I assume...right? If so...that gives you and your lining some more time and it also maybe gives you some time to get a third person to look at your lining. In any case Alima...you've worked sooo hard for your embies...you need to be comfortable and not worry about offending anyone.

starts 5 days before transfer. I have blasts, which are so hard to come by at our age, and that is the reason for my discomfort with going forward. I can start the progesterone and ask him to check again. He seemed to feel that his measurement were good enough and that is why I feel he might get offended if I keep questioning him.

IMHO..it's quite okay to question and I would hope that Dr. T knows this. You are a respectful person and he is a decent and good man. If his feelings get hurt..he will get over it. These Dr.'s are fallible and make mistakes. Like you said...5 day blasts are far too hard to come by at this age. I am really a believer in following your intuition. If you think something is not quite right...it probably isn't...even if it is...YOU must be satisfied. It's okay to just tell him that you would like to wait. Period. End of story. No second guessing yourself or him. It's also okay to ask him to measure again and do whatever it takes to make yourself feel confident. I'm sorry that you have to go through this and I can only imagine that you are ready to do your transfer.

For what it's worth, I agree with Dee. I haven't spent as much time with him as some of the other ladies here but my impression is that Dr. T seems like he would take that in stride in his usual calm manner and then just measure the lining for you again or say it was okay if you wanted to get a second opinion or whatever. Also, it's better to do everything you can to feel confident going into your transfer, because I think we all have a tendency to second guess ourselves forever about what we could or should have done differently, so if you have any serious reservations it's important to make peace with that before going forward.

and I am already second guessing if there was something else I could have tried this cycle. I will send him an email and ask for another measurement.

Based on my experiences with a couple of other clinics, I'd tend to trust Cooper's u/s techs. How much time elapsed between your u/s with Dr. T and the one at Cooper? Was it just a day apart? Are you doing a natural cycle or taking estrogen to prime your lining?

I don't blame you for not wanting to risk your precious embryos. If you don't want to offend him, I'd say you decided to wait another month or something if you don't want to let him know you were questioning his u/s skills.

I was on estrogen to prime the lining. As I mentioned in the above post - Dr. T tends to put the probe higher (so it appears to me that he is measuring the darker areas which usually is the uterine muscle). Cooper only measures the bright white areas which they claim is the uterine "lining". I am really torn. I am supposed to start progesterone, but I feel really uncomfortable with what I saw today at Cooper. I even have the US picture (I got a copy so that I could study it more at home).

I'm not familiar with your clinics or doctors but after reading the above, if Dr. T does all his own measurements I would think he is consistent in the way he/she measures. I would ask Dr. T for another measurement letting the doctor know you are really nervous to transfer with your measurement.

and request another measurement before I thaw any embryos. Thx for the input.

I'm sorry you're struggling with this decision. I would tend to favor Cooper's techs over Dr. T only because it seems to me that Cooper center pays soo much attention to linings with regard to thickness and pattern, etc. Did the Cooper tech know you were there for a double check? Did you share with them that the other measurement came back at 7mm?

You and I traded thoughts awhile ago on lining prep. I believe you were going to do IM estrogen with Dr. T. I mentioned that vaginal estrace helped me. Have you tried vaginal estrace yet? If not, would there be any harm in asking Dr. T if you could try it now and then have another measurement b/4 starting the P4?

I agree with all the other ladies - do what you think is best for you!

Best wishes!

I have been doing this - for some reason I must not have much estrogen receptors in my uterine lining. My lining doesn't grow with increasing estrogen as most women. In fact, my lining is usually the same thickness whether it is a natural cycle or a medicated cycle. I am thinking this cycle is just a bust and to move on. Although I really want to transfer, last thing I would want is to waste any embryos on a poor lining.

If you feel so badly about it, and it's a FET, can u wait until next month and see what your lining brings? I sure understand how you feel, but having frosties is great! Big hugs. XoxoBD

In reading through the other posts....I'm leaning toward the advice of doing a few more days of estrace to see if you can bring it up a bit more. If it doesn't come up this month, I'd wait until another cycle. They are already frozen, so you aren't under any time pressure to have to transfer this month, although I know we all want to be pg. sooner rather than later. I just think if you don't feel comfortable with the lining, you will be second guessing yourself all cycle. Let us know what you decide.

xoxo, Tracy

Been through a bunch of FETs. Never had a "great" lining until I was with a clinic that did a mock cycle (2 mocks because I failed the first). They did NOT simply throw more estrogen at me, that never worked for my lining to have sky high E2.

That is my problem - high E2 doesn't mean anything for my lining. I don't get it - with most women, high E2 correlates to thicker lining. In my case, it doesn't correlate at all. What kind of protocol did you have that gave you a better lining? My protocol was injectible E2V, viagra, and vaginal estrace.

my lining would increase by 1mm per day on red raspberry leaf.

Did you notice a big difference when you took RRL and when you did not take it? I have been taking it (3 teas a day), but maybe I need to have way more than I am taking. I am going to start doing the capsules and the tea for the next 2 days and go back to Cooper on Monday, just to see what is going on.

There was a big difference . . . I think I took one capsule three times a day. I remember feeling pretty crampy which meant it was working. Good luck!