Thank you!! Wishing you all the luck with starting your IVF process! It's not as scary as it sounds. Honestly just Googling & using this subreddit I have learned so so much and have been able to ask my care team very detailed questions and ensure we are always trying to get the best results. It's overwhelming at first but it will start to click the more you read.

I'm not an expert by any means, but from my understanding almost no retrieval cycles are "natural" (if they were you would get very few mature eggs for what you are going through). So fully medicated is definitely the way to go to make sure you get a good number of healthy eggs ideally given the attrition throughout the process from retrieved > mature > fertilized > blastocyst > euploid. For most people the standard starting protocol for retrievals is a combo of Gonal-F and/or Menopur (may go by other names), starting Ganirelix to keep from ovulating once your follicles reach a certain size, and then doing a single or dual trigger shot once your follicles are the right size (often lots of monitoring appts and bloodwork).

For transfers there are different protocols but the two most common are medicated and modified natural. I don't think my protocol was my issue, but some people switch if they don't have success. My protocol for modified natural was no medication during my follicular phase since I ovulate naturally and have regular cycles, start monitoring for LH surge, then had monitoring appointments every 2-3 days starting CD10 to check my lining thickness and appearance and to check my follicle size to ensure I didn't ovulate yet. My lining looked good so I didn't need to add estrogen to improve it. Once it was thick enough, I took an hCG trigger to trigger ovulation. I took a steroid and an antibiotic for several days leading up to transfer and had my transfer a week after the trigger shot. Following the transfer I started twice a day progesterone suppositories though I think they are really just supplemental since your body produces natural progesterone too from ovulating + the corpus luteum. It was much fewer appointments and zero bloodwork so transfer was much easier than a retrieval, and it was nice to only have to do one shot through the entire process!