I had my first follicle ultrasound today, and I must admit, I was quite nervous about it. But the whole process wasn’t as scary as I had imagined! The technician guided me through everything, and I was able to see the follicles on the screen. It was fascinating to see what’s going on inside my body. Have any of you had a similar experience with your first follicle ultrasound? How did you feel about it? Share your thoughts!
I felt the same way during my early ultrasounds and felt really stressed about it. Maybe my results and how things progressed for me will be helpful. I have PCOS, so I also had a high AFC and AMH levels. I saw 16 follicles on day 5 of stims, with less than 10 on day 9, and varying numbers from then on. By the trigger day on day 12, I had more follicles than expected and my Gonal F dose was increased at every monitoring appointment. Good luck!
The majority of my follicles below 10mm did not catch up, but a follicle must be at least 14mm to potentially produce a mature egg. Generally, follicles above 10mm are more likely to be mature. If the follicle is over 18mm at trigger, there is a high chance of a mature egg.
It’s important to prioritize quality over quantity. In my first retrieval, I only had 5 mature eggs, but they were all aneuploid. In my second retrieval, I had 6 blasts from 7 eggs with 3 euploid. The difference in the number of eggs retrieved was not significant, but the quality of the eggs mattered.
During my retrievals, I noticed that my lead follicles at 15mm and some smaller ones at 8mm or more tend to mature by the time the lead reaches 19mm. However, smaller follicles also caught up and matured by retrieval, making it difficult to predict their growth. This pattern occurred in both of my retrieval cycles, with lead follicles growing slowly while others caught up towards the end.
It is only Day 6, so it is still early in the process. Follicles are expected to grow at a rate of approximately 2 mm per day, which aligns with the usual trigger around Day 10.