BFP after IVF - the journey continues (part 2)

[HopefulllHolly]

SENSITIVE CONTENT

Continuation of previous thread for anyone with a BFP following IVF to support with anxieties and other worries that come along with pregnancy after infertility.

@AnnieStar12
@DippyDuck19
@DogMummy87
@Edf
@Fluffyted
@Leaf86
@LouP87
@Natty2
@SETTC87
@ThePeachGoose
@jas1996
@lemonyfox
@oliviagrace2307
@summerchild92

Please tag anyone else I’ve missed accidentally!

Thanks Holly!

Thanks!

I'll reply to everyone here, as we're getting dangerously close to the limit on the other one! I'm sure this won't cause any confusion 😆

@dippyduck19 CONGRATULATIONS on another great scan. Baby looks so good, and I can't believe that you can even make out the spine at this point. Lol on his scratching and somersaults but good thing you can't feel anything! Must be so exciting to be able to tell people now.

@summerchild92 Good luck with the scan tomorrow! Not sure if it helps at all, but I was seriously concerned about having an ectopic as well because all my pains were on the lower left side and I constantly had an ache in my groin on the left. Turned out it was nothing and the baby was in the right place. Maybe it was the ovary reducing in size, who knows, but even now most of my twinges are on the left side, very rarely I get any on the right side. And I can't even say that the baby must be on that side, because they usually leave the embryo at the top of the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies are fairly rare though, but I understand the worry very well. You'll know for sure tomorrow!

@lemonyfox that scan will come round before you know it. Might be a good time to get all sorts of projects out of the way now, before the fatigue and nausea kicks in, if it hasn't already!

@ThePeachGoose yes you're absolutely right! Just got to keep busy busy busy.

A question for NIPT, where did everyone go for this if you had it done?

@ThePeachGoose thank you! The spine is soo clear! Everything was so clear on the scan was showing me all the arm bones and leg bones, feet etc. The sonographer even turned on the blood flow bit to check arteries and veins etc and I could see the blood coming down the back into the kidneys. Soo detailed! I feel excited now but am sure the anxiety will kick in in a few days lol.

@DippyDuck19 having had one scan at the IVF clinic on Sunday and the other scan at the EPU on Wednesday, my god it's like night and day what they do at the EPU. The scan was so much clearer and they could get so much detail and information; the lady even put a heat map on my ovaries to check what they're up to, and obviously the baby's heart rate and all sorts of measurements at this tiny size. I'm amazed at how much we can see inside the uterus, and how much detail and info we can get about the baby's health. My mother in law keeps reminding me that scans weren't a thing when she was pregnant, so they were basically stressed for the whole 9 months lol

@ThePeachGoose The amount of times my mum keeps comparing her pregnancy with me (lol!) with mine is hilarious. I have to keep saying “yeah mum but that was a long time ago now and things have changed so you have scans sooner now” 🤣 She’s amazed they can do them now and that you don’t have to have amniocentesis and things. Bless her.

@lemonyfox I had my NIPT at a Window to the Womb (it’s just down the road from me so made sense). I think they send it to Concepto testing. It’s definitely one of the cheaper places to do it, another place near me was asking £450 for it. Bit crazy the difference for the same thing really. I’d definitely shop around if you can. I had the advanced test so it tests for the 3 main trisomy and then all
the other sex chromosome issues. It was £275 for that including the sex of the baby.

Thank you @HopefulllHolly !

@DippyDuck19 congratulations on your scan today! So lovely to see your scan photo. I think we were originally on the May FET group together so it's nice to see your progression!

@summerchild92 best of luck for tomorrow!

@ThePeachGoose @Natty2 thanks for the well wishes. Much like you, @ThePeachGoose I had all the twinges in the beginning on the left … but now there’s no more twinges. Basically I don’t have any symptoms yet, just the boob ache from time to time. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. 🫣

@HopefulllHolly oh wow that's a much more reasonable price than I was expecting, I'll have a look thanks!

Good luck tomorrow @summerchild92 im
sure it will all be perfect! 😍 Will be thinking of you.

@lemonyfox I have looked up all the possible places in London for nipt, lol! Not sure where you are based, but I went with Concepto which was £300 at their central London clinic. That’s the cheapest I could find. They have places all over the country: https://conceptodiagnostics.co.uk/nipt
I’m booked in for Saturday.

Window to the Womb only do it at some clinics and there weren’t any near me that offered it unfortunately. But I think they use concepto labs as @HopefulllHolly says, so seems that between those two companies it’s the cheapest option.

@AnnieStar12 thanks Annie that's useful to know. I'm in the North West so I'll have a search around 😊

What was people's deciding factors on whether to do NIPT or not?

@lemonyfox Anxiety - my friends had NHS tests and got told their daughter had Down syndrome. Had a stressful week wait and the consultant saw her and immediately said she didn’t. Not worth the added stress to me.
Age - We’d have had a termination if anything was wrong, so finding out earlier to be able to arrange amniocentesis or other tests was important. Slightly higher risk at age 37 (38 in september)
And lastly because we wanted to find out the sex so made sense to do it all at once.
So a mix of reasons really!

Congrats @DippyDuck19 on your wonderful scan today! I bet you must be absolutely chuffed 😀 Thanks for your advice re omeprazole I mentioned it to GP but he wants me to try Cyclizine first as he thinks it should hopefully lessen the acid as ill be able to tolerate eating food.

Good luck @summerchild92 for your scan tomorrow! I also had really bad pains on left hand side (still notice it a bit more now) so I think it's a lot more common and after going through a fresh transfer it does take a while for things to settle down again. The sonographer on Tuesday said that my ovaries were still reducing in size so I'm attributing to this.

@Leaf86 Thank you so much for your advice, I spoke to my GP and he's prescribed me Cyclizine same as you. How long did it take for you to feel the difference with it?

Thank you @HopefulllHolly for setting up a new thread! Apart from the sickness and the odd twinges, I am not too bad with other symptoms (I'm always tired but I put that down to my DS being a whirlwind lol). How are you doing today? The baby budget spreadsheet sounds super fun, I love doing things like that!

@Fluffyted Sorry for delayed reply to your message yesterday! I pushed for a planned c section with my DS as my anxiety around natural birth was so bad and ironically ended up in labour and had an emergency c section hours before my planned one as my DS was in a bit of distress. But it all went smoothly and I was so pleased they got him out safely! Def speak to your midwives etc about birth anxiety and your options.

I just got done with my scan. She said theres a visible gest. sack in uterus, but she focused more on the hyperstimulation of the ovaries and sent me to the hospital. 😬😬😬

@summerchild92 i hope everything goes ok at the hospital! I had ohss with first and all worked out, glad the scan was positive 💕

@summerchild92 Hope the hospital is ok! What can they actually do for hyper stimulation? I thought it was just plenty of fluids and rest!

@oliviagrace2307 Im all good thanks! ☺️ Just trying to look ahead and be positive. Haha the baby spreadsheet kept me busy and made it feel a bit more manageable having everything written down we need. Be nice when I can start ticking things off but going to wait until 12 weeks for most of it! I bet pregnancy is hard with a toddler! I’m knackered as it is and it’s just us and the dog, but at least I can go for naps when I need them!

@Edf @HopefulllHolly i don’t even know myself. I’m just waiting for them to see me now. I don’t actually have any symptoms (no pain, i’m not febrile) and wouldn’t even know of it if I hadn’t had a scan … 😬 My GP made it seem like a huge deal though 😬 but here no-one is making any fuss really.

we’ll see. I just hope they don’t keep me in. 😭

@summerchild92 Fingers crossed it’s just an overreaction! How come your scan was with your GP? Was it not with your fertility clinic? How weird!!

@summerchild92 oh gosh! Not at all what you'd expected!! I hope you are ok & you don't need to stay in 🤞🏼

@oliviagrace2307 maybe 2-3 days of taking it consistently (I think every 8 hours) and I started to feel it dial down. It’s never gone though - just more manageable- I am starting to have the odd good day now (am 11+4) and I am taking it once a day now so hopefully it’s on its way out! Fingers crossed you start feeling better soon, it’s really horrible. If cyclizine doesn’t touch it, there are other safe ones to try.

@summerchild92 oh no! I’m so so sorry that it didn’t go as expected. I think that there are some positives here - it’s not an ectopic, you have a gestational sac (that’s all you can see so early I think) and you don’t have any gruesome OHSS symptoms. I think that it will be okay and maybe you’ll need to take it easy and drink plenty of water and electrolytes, that’s my prediction! And I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 are you st the A&E or the EPU? Hopefully it’s not too crowded and you can be seen right away. Gah, what a twist in your day but hope that it will all be okay.

Hope you’re ok @summerchild92 sending hugs x

Hey everyone!

@HopefulllHolly the clinic doesn’t do ultrasounds anymore since covid i think. They do the beta test and then tell you to arrange an US with your gp about 14 days after the positive beta test.

@Fluffyted @ThePeachGoose in the end all turned out okay! My gp focused so much on the ovaries (+ there was a little bit of liquid seen on the US) and made a big fuss about it (almost scared me a bit) … but at the clinic they said it doesn’t look too bad. The doctor said they always take into account how the patient is feeling as well, and as I don’t have any symptoms, no pain, etc. it looks like it will all be okay in time. They said usually ovaries stay enlarged longer if the transfer is successful … which it was.
She then checked for the embryo again (as I told her my gp only told me it’s in utero and then focused on the ovaries), did two ultrasounds on two machines and said she could see the sack with something flickering a little bit inside 🫣🫣🫣 so good sign. She said she obviously can’t confirm the heartbeat, but that it is very likely the flickering could be the veeeery beginning of a heartbeat. So all looks well so far 🍀👌🏻 Hoping for a good outcome. They also told me to come back in case I start feeling any pain or serious bloating.

I’m still glad my gp sent me to EPU … as you can have serious complications due to hyperstimulation … but I’m okay and at home now! I wouldn’t even know of it if it wasn’t for the scan. Anyhow, my next scan in on August the 5th when I will be over 8 weeks :)