Pregnant after IVF/ICSI, do you ever stop worrying?

[ellangirl]

Reposted from conception boards- forgot there even was a pregnancy board we've been trying for so long!

As the title says I am now all of 5 weeks pregnant after our second icsi attempt. I have had a DS before naturally, and of course you always worry when you are pregnant, but this is something else! I cannot relax at all for worrying that something is wrong, or going to go wrong. I am not sleeping well either. How do I learn to relax a bit?

Congratulations! Relax and enjoy xx

First, congratulations!! Wishing you an easy pregnancy and a beautiful healthy baby.

My daughter is an ICSI baby. Of course I worried - before and during and after and now - it's inevitable. I refused to go on any business trips and would not do anything that, in my deranged mind, could jeopardise the pregnancy. At the same time I had a very strong inner conviction that this baby was meant to be and nothing would go wrong. Mentally I prepared myself for a super-difficult pregnancy and labour, in fact, I expected things to be difficult as in some twisted way I saw it as a price I had to pay to have the baby (as it happened, I was very fortunate in that everything went smoothly).

Hope everything will be fine with you and the baby.

i am preg with icis baby. i didnt stop worrying to begining the third timester. nothing anyone can say will stop that in you, just something that time will solve.

Congratulations on your successful ICSI!

I am pregnant with my second IVF baby (13 wks now), and to be honest, I'm not sure you do stop worrying, but it does get less the further on you get.

The first time I was pregnant, despite being unable to get pregnant, the pregnancy was fairly easy and straightforward. No scares, or difficulties. This time, so far (touch wood), it has been similar.

It's early days for you at the moment, and I think it's only natural that after ICSI, getting a positive test is only the next step on the difficult road to pregnancy. I just felt that there were a series of hurdles to overcome (follicle count, follicle size, eggs retrieved, eggs fertilised, embryos number and quality, hcg levels, scan results....on and on). It's hard just to accept that it's worked and go with the flow. But it does happen eventually.

Good luck with everything.

To an extent. I am 21+6 after ICSI having had 2 losses (natural/ clomid pgs)- a mc at 7w and a tfmr at 13w.
The first tri was awful especially as I had bleeding and also was terrified of the nuchal scan. Had a 16w one as well and relaxed a lot after that. Have my proper 20w next week 21+6 and once that is hopefully ok I'm going to start preparing, shopping and believing.
Good luck

ellan congratulations - that's lovely news!

I'm now 17 weeks and for me the worry comes and goes. In the days leading up to a scan or seeing the midwife I worry a lot, then when the scan goes well or when the midwife finds the heartbeats straight away etc. I'm very happy and I'm really positive for a few days/a week. Then I realise how much I now love my two little wrigglers (it's twins!) and I start to panic about how on earth I'll cope if anything goes wrong. And so the cycle seems to go on!

Someone wisely said to me that going through ivf/icsi means you're almost conditioned to keep your expectations very low and so it's difficult to adjust to things going well. That makes a lot of sense to me.

No real advice but try to enjoy the good days and try not to get too down on the bad days xx.

Oh and blacktreacle lovely to hear that you're now 21+6 and congrats to everyone else on their LOs.

Have you tried hypnotherapy? That was my saviour whilst I was doing IVF and I plan to continue with it now that I'm preggers. I saw Kristin Hayward on Harley Street in London, but if you don't want to commit the time/expense to individual sessions, she has mp3 downloads available for purchase on her website which you can listen to on your iPod. They help you drift off to sleep or are good to listen to on the tube etc. Perhaps call her to see which one(s) she recommends (you can google her). Just a tip - I much preferred her voice to her colleague's (who also has mp3s on the site)

Thank you all so much for your advice. I guess I will concentrate on taking each day as it comes. I will have a scan next week at 6+1 and bother at 8 ish weeks, which I suppose is reassuring. Had some bad pains earlier which had me worried but I think it might actually have been gas pains
I will definitely look into hypnotherapy- would love to try hypnobirthing second time around too.

Ellangirl- congrats on your pregnancy hun! I know exactly how you feel, and although i would love to write that the worry goes and you will be able to enjoy it in a few weeks- fo me that hasnt really happened and every day is terryfying!!although i do echo what one lady said that when you approach an appointment or scan its incredibly nervewracking but getting a great result and having a good scan for me gives me a couple of " good days!" Im now 28+1 with my little IVF-ling and feel so blessed but i still worry and panic!
Good luck and wishing you all the very best xxxx