I went through IVF twice in Guangzhou. Before my second transfer, my doctor told me my lining was only 5.8mm — and that’s when I finally got serious about researching overseas IVF and surrogacy. Now that I’ve walked the entire pipeline end to end, I can see that many of the questions I agonized over back then actually have a natural order. Here’s the sequence, written for anyone still in that confused early stage.
Getting Tested in Guangzhou: The 6 Reports I Prepared in Advance
Don’t rush to book flights. Doing your preliminary tests at home is by far the least stressful option. At my Guangzhou fertility clinic, the basic panel cost around 2, RMB and covered six reports: AMH, the six-item hormone panel, hysteroscopy, HSG (fallopian tube imaging), plus a semen analysis with DNA fragmentation for my husband. English translations of these reports are accepted at overseas clinics, and they’re generally valid for six months to a year.
Honestly, if you fly abroad first and test there, just waiting on lab results can cost you an extra two weeks. My advice: finish all testing three months before departure. That buffer lets you address abnormal markers before you go — in my case, it’s exactly how I caught my thin lining problem in time. Had I skipped the Guangzhou tests, I’d have discovered it mid-cycle in a foreign country with no time to fix it.
Stimulation to Egg Retrieval: It Actually Took Me 18 Days
Many people assume the IVF process moves fast. A full cycle is longer than you’d think. After landing in Georgia, from down-regulation through stimulation to egg retrieval, I stayed 18 days total. I did 11 days of stimulation injections, with a follicle ultrasound on day 8. We retrieved 13 eggs, 9 were mature, and 5 made it to blastocyst.
Here’s a detail that saved us money: the male partner does not need to be there the whole time. Sperm can be frozen in advance and shipped, so my husband only took 5 days off. If taking a long leave isn’t realistic for your job, put this on your checklist when communicating with the clinic — it can save you a pile of flight rebooking fees.
My Lining Was Only 5.8mm — Here’s How I Saved the Cycle
Thin endometrium was my biggest hurdle. Before my first transfer, my lining measured 5.8mm and the doctor cancelled the cycle outright. What I learned afterward: a thin lining doesn’t mean you’re out of options. I spent two months on a growth hormone plus low-dose aspirin protocol, and by the second attempt my lining reached 7.6mm — just barely qualifying.
Some overseas clinics are actually more flexible about lining requirements. A few will attempt a transfer at 6.5mm and above, and they offer treatments like endometrial scratching that often aren’t available at home. My practical tip: if your lining stays under 7mm across three attempts, get a hysteroscopy FIRST to rule out adhesions, and only then adjust your protocol. If you reverse that order, you can waste three months of preparation on the wrong treatment.
If You’re Considering Surrogacy, These Are the Steps That Stall Most Often
I ultimately didn’t go the surrogacy route, but during my research I mapped out the entire surrogacy process step by step. The bottlenecks cluster in three places. First, matching intended parents with a surrogate: expect 2 to 4 months, and don’t believe anyone promising “same-day matching.” Second, legal paperwork — the contract signing and parental rights confirmation must be completed before embryo transfer. Georgia requires a heterosexual married couple; single or same-sex intended parents should look at certain US states or Colombia instead. Third, fund management: paying in 4 to 5 installments is the industry norm. If an agency demands full payment upfront, treat that as a red flag.
Build a 6-to-8-week buffer into every step, and plan on a total timeline of 14 to 18 months. Mentally, that expectation alone makes the whole process far easier to handle.
Looking back, my advice is very concrete: complete your 6 baseline tests in Guangzhou first, get the reports in hand, and only then decide between continuing locally or going abroad. If you have a thin lining, give yourself at least a 3-month preparation window. If surrogacy is on the table, confirm which country’s legal requirements you actually meet before discussing cost. Get the order right, and no step — and no dollar — goes to waste.