I was asked to post this for readers who aren’t sure what all the crazy trying to concieve/infertility acronyms are – if I left anything out please feel free to add to my list in the comments section. I’ll edit the post so that the list becomes more comprehensive.
Thanks!
general acronyms:
BCP – Birth Control Pills
HPT – Home Pregnancy Test
LMP – Last Menstrual Period
MC – Miscarriage
OB/GYN – Obstetrician/Gynecologist
PG – Pregnancy or Pregnant
POAS – Pee On A Stick
TTC – Trying To Conceive
in-cycle acronyms:
2WW – time until you take a pregnancy test (typically about two weeks after ovulation)
AF – Aunt Flo/period
BFN/BFFN – home pregnancy test result (i.e. Big Fat Negative or Big Fat Fucking Negative)
BFP – home pregnancy test result (i.e. Big Fat Positive)
BW or B/W – Blood Work
CD – Cycle day
CM – Cervical Mucus
CP – Cervical position
DPO – Days past ovulation
EWCM – Egg White Cervical Mucus or fertile cervical mucus
FP – Follicular Phase
FMU – First morning urine
LP – Luteal phase
LPD – Luteal Phase Defect
O – Ovulation
OPK – Ovulation Predictor Kit, a strip you pee on to tell you if you’re about to ovulate
acronyms for hormone levels:
E2 – Estradiol/estrogen levels
FSH – Follicle Stimulating Hormone
LH – Luteinizing Hormone
P4 – Progesterone
acronyms for tests used to diagnose infertility:
HSG – Hysterosalpingogram
LAP – Laparoscopy
S/A – Sperm/semen analysis
SIS/SHG – Saline Infused Sonogram/Sonohysterogram
infertility acronyms:
3dt/5dt – the day after an embryo retrieval that your embryos are transferred back into your uterus. 3 day transfer; 5 day transfer.
ART – Assisted Reproductive Technology
blasts – blastocysts; embryos that have made it to an advanced stage of maturity.
cryo – cryopreservation of embryos in an IVF cycle
Dx – your diagnosis
endo – Endometriosis
embies – embryos
ER – egg retrieval. Part of an IVF cycle.
ET – embryo transfer. Part of an IVF cycle.
FET – Frozen Embryo Transfer, for a typical IVF cycle an RE will only put back 1-2 embryos, anything else that has matured is frozen using cryopreservation. You can have a FET at a later date to use your remaining embryos.
follies – short for follicles, they reside in your ovaries and produce eggs each menstrual cycle
hCG – Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, this is the trigger shot that forces your body to ovulate when you are on meds.
HOM – High Order Multiples, i.e. pregnancies that result in 3 or more babies
HRT – Hormone Replacement Therapy
ICSI – Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, a procedure done with IVF
IF – infertility
IUI – Intra-uterine Insemination
IVF – In Vitro Fertilization
MFI – Male Factor Infertility
OHSS – Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome
PCOS (POS) – Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
RE – Reproductive Endocrinologist, or a gynecologist that specializes in infertility
US or u/s – Ultrasound
