Early pregnancy after IVF & recurrent miscarriage

[Hobbes39]

Hi - I guess I'm looking for anyone on the same boat....
We have had our 4th fresh round of IVF, this will be our last as I'm 42 soon.
So I have unexplained secondary infertility - we have a naturally conceived DS age 5 and then spent the last 3.5 almost 4 years trying for a sibling.
I had a PUL about 8 months after we started trying then various investigations (all came back fine) and so we started IVF. 4 rounds later, as well as 3 FETs, I've had a chemical, and 2 MMC. It's been pretty heartbreaking.
I am now 5 weeks pregnant from our last round, which is brilliant, but I'm terrified it's all going to go wrong again.

Signs are good - my HCG at 11dp3dt was a good number (391) and while I had a small bleed the night before my beta, all has been well since AFAIK.

I'm due a scan to check all is well in 2 weeks. We have never had a positive 7 week scan - it's always looked dubious/ bad. This last week has felt like an eternity. I am completely unable to concentrate on anything & I'm scared that this last chance will slip away too.
Anyone else is a similar situation and want to keep me company? Thanks x

[Rememberallball]

Hi @BottomleyPottsSpots2, yes I will be on the increased dose throughout my pregnancy. I take them long term anyway as I have rheumatoid arthritis and it’s all I take (was on methotrexate until DH and I decided to try for a baby and stopped it because of the risk of birth defects) the rheumatologist recommended I increase the dose for the ivf and pregnancy.

[Hobbes39]

Hi everyone - can I ask is everyone on 5mg of folic acid? If so, are we to keep taking it all the way thru pregnancy? I forgot to ask at my last appointment, and wasn't sure if I can stop now I've had low risk results? X

[Catren]

Hi Hobbes, the one i'm taking is 8g for some ridiculous reason. I think I'll keep taking it as it's got lots of other good stuff too but i think the advice is up to 12 weeks. How are you feeling?

[Rememberallball]

HI @Hobbes39, yes my dose is 5mg it it was before pregnancy too (again thanks to the arthritis!!). I asked my midwife earlier this week whether I needed to start taking a multivitamin or just stick with the folic acid and vitamin D and she said I don’t need anything else as my bloods were ok.

[Catren]

Hi everyone, been a little quiet on this thread lately, i hope you're all doing brilliantly.

I'm 12+2 and we had our scan today. Baby is looking great so I'm hugely relieved! He wriggled and wriggled so much we were there for ages trying to get the pictures the technician needed. So cute!

[Jenbot78]

Hey all, been off this thread for a while. Waiting for scan at 12+5 which was yesterday. All looking good! Very relieved. Congrats catren it really is a good feeling to see baby on the screen! Hope everyone else doing well...

[Catren]

Congrats jenbot! Really pleased your scan went well.

We told our dd yesterday and she was so excited! Lots of questions since then ("mummy i hope he hatches soon!" 😂) but so far all of them positive. She's already bagsied her spot in the bath and started thinking about which of her special toys she'll keep away from the baby in case he dribbles on them.

Hope everyone else is doing really well xx

[Hobbes39]

Hi all - how's everyone?
I'm now approx 16w and have v obvious bump that cannot be mistaken as anything else - I can't believe how quickly it's grown..! I'm also feeling the babies move! You can't feel it from outside, but I def feel it inside, it feels amazing! My son was a right wriggler in the womb (still is..!) so I suspect these babies are following in his footsteps..!
Good to hear about good scans from others too - so reassuring to see inside isn't it? We have another private scan on the 24th - it's free due to us having twins as the harmony test couldn't tell us the sex of both babies, so this one is a 'gender scan' technically, but I'm just taking the scan as an opportunity to see them..!

I actually have a rather delicate question to ask you ladies - i hope you don't mind ...
So....have any of you been having sex while pregnant..? For the first few weeks we didn't as tbh I was too scared to do something that might disturb the babies (I know, it's irrational) but since 10w we have a few times I have actually noticed that if I 'enjoy' it (orgasm) then it is actually really uncomfortable..?!🙈 It feels really strong but not in a good way, so it's totally putting me off..! Is this just me?? Should I tell a doc? Or is it normal?? Sorry to be asking, but obviously I'm scared to do anything that might cause problems..! X

[Catren]

Hi Hobbes, so glad everything is going well and you're feeling them move! I'm 14w and I think I'm starting to feel my little guy wriggle around. I have an anterior (at the front) placenta so it'll be harder to feel movement from the outside for a bit. Had a scare on Thursday night when I had some brown spotting. I had to go into a&e in a small district hospital (we were on a short holiday) and everything was ok. I got to see his heartbeat and wriggles again in the scan, and had my anti d shot as I'm rhesus negative. Fun!

In terms of your question though - we haven't had sex since the transfer, which is pretty bad i know but we've had house guests pretty much the whole time since about 7w and before then i was too scared to as it was so early. And with the sickness/fatigue and dh working silly hours there's no chance. How sad is that. But I think orgasms make your uterus contract so if it's already a bit tender with getting bigger etc. it might be that?

How's everyone else doing?