Slow rising hCG after IVF transfer, bleeding and ongoing progesterone support

[ByGoldBear]

Hi all, I've had a tough time posting anything on Facebook groups. I don't know if it's because I only started one to post on there, things get deleted the second I post them so have struggled to find any online support. My husband and I have had a really rough time with IVF. My body didn't enjoy the injections and reactions to the process got worse after retrieval (I ended up not going to the toilet for 17 days). I only had 4 eggs mature enough and only one made it to blastocyst. Added a level of stress onto the situation as we can only afford one round (40 and NHS won't fund). That blastocyst was top quality though and we felt hopeful. I caved on day 10 (after id started spotting and wanted to put myself out of my misery) and tested positive. I also however started bleeding. That bleeding felt like a heavy period but I had no cramps or pain and continued to test positive all week. I had bloods done on Tuesday that were 44.8. Did another line test this morning that was darker than Tuesday so started to feel a glimmer that maybe this was hematoma. Bloods again today and they were 47. I actually feel devastated that there has been so much uncertainty, so up and down and I still have no definitive result as clinic have told me to keep taking progesterone and bloods again monday. I have cried all day and pretty much made peace with the fact this is it as everything I have read tells me a rise that small is almost certainly a chemical. I am aware 1% of IVF pregnancies can have very slow or what seems like stagnating HCG resulting in live birth. Does anyone have experience of this? Im not in lala land and have cried all day grieving what I think is the loss of the embryo, but I'm trying to hold out a tiny glimmer of hope for my husband who feels that there's still a chance because the clinic have said so. My body has hated progesterone and made me feel quite awful so dreading the thought this weekend of having to do it knowing it's probably for no reason. Some support or response would be so appreciated. I don't have any friends who have gone through IVF so quite an isolating experience x

I’ve had a chemical pregnancy and experienced a hematoma in a successful pregnancy.

With my chemical I tested positive at 5dp5dt and very weakly positive at 10dp4dt which was my OTD. My clinic did bloods and it was very low (lower than yours, it hi k around 8 or something stupidly low) and same thing - told to keep taking progesterone until repeat bloods where it had dropped to almost nothing and only then told to stop. In my experiences my clinic said anything under ~75 is very likely a chemical. I’m sorry, it’s awful being in limbo land and I found the taking the meds still really difficult going through my CP.

When I had a hematoma it was a bit later (think about 6 weeks pregnant) and it was like a massive sudden gush of blood, and then much lighter bleeding after the initial gush and it stopped within a couple days.

Hoping for you there is a positive outcome but I would assume it’s not viable this time around unfortunately 💐

After my CP the clinic were very positive about to all to be honest - they viewed it as demonstration that I could get pregnant because it implanted, and very much took the view that the embryo just wasn’t viable and now we needed to find a viable embryo. My next embryo transfer worked x

@2mumlife Thank you for responding. Agreed - because they're not agreeing with me taking more progesterone today when I know it's likely for nothing has been really rough. Unfortunately we only had one blastocyst that was transferred fresh and funds to only do one round so it added an extra level of pressure to the whole process. You can start it intending to be as realistic and pragmatic as possible but it's also so unusual to have a front row seat to every single stage. By the time of implantation I was so invested in that embryo it feels like such a palpable loss, despite it being only 4 and a bit weeks x

@ByGoldBear I know you get very invested in little embryos. I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. I always think a simple BFN is easier than things like a CP or PUL etc as at least it doesn’t drag it out

Im so sorry this is happening, going through all of that and then this is the outcome. unfortunately there is no good outcome here. in my opinion, I would stop the meds and let nature take its course. As my ivf clinic says, while your pregnant they have to tell you to take the meds to cover their arses. with next to no increase in hcg id say your hcg hit its peak and then rapidly decreased. Your next bloods should show its decreasing and shouldnt take long to get back to <5. I just went through something similar end of last year. Got a positive test early but the progression was not all that great. My first beta was 101 which to me was low, but 1 week later it was only 398 or there abouts, my next lot of bloods another week later showed it was 369 so had just started dropping. I reached 7 weeks before the bleeding started and I had a mc and it took another just over a week for hcg to go back to negative. Its a hard process and it really is unfortunate you cant go for another round of ivf as it shows you that the uterus is receptive but you just didn't find the right embryo.