Pregnancy after infertility

[bananafish81]

Thought I’d start this thread as I find myself feeling quite out of place on the ‘normal’ antenatal club threads - find it difficult to relate to being upduffed after 'just' having some sex, and thinking ahead to buying maternity clothes, how much maternity leave to take, where I’d like to give birth etc

I realise it’s entirely my own issues and that infertility world has clouded my views, but I want to scream ‘DON’T YOU KNOW EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG!!’.

There’s a thread for pregnancy after previous loss, but thought there might be some kindred spirits who are navigating the world of pregnancy after infertility

This thread is brill! Glad to know other people feel the same as me!

Despite another midwife check going well today and my due date in 3 and a half weeks still doesn't seem real...I keep have nightmares that something will go wrong in the delivery because surely I cant be this lucky after one round of IVF that there will actually be a baby ?!

We tried for a year in vain, we knew it probably wouldn't happen so went for IVF. I have severe endo and one ovary and also discovered a very high number of natural killer cells so our treatment cost an absolute fortune!

I know what you mean about not feeling like just another pregnant woman, there was so much that came before

Good luck to you all.

I have an 18-month old son after 2.5 years of trying and a failed IVF attempt. My son was the result of our frozen cycle working.

I was terrified, even googling things like ‘miscarriage at 19 weeks. It only dawned on me at 25 weeks that we were actually going to have a baby!

Even when he was born, I was so scared something was going to happen to him, but the anxiety does subside and I appreciate him every single day.

Wishing you all the best.

I'm 33, currently 36+6 weeks with DC2 - a surprise natural conception. DD was conceived after almost four years TTC, countless investigations, surgery, hormone therapy, and IVF (thankfully only one cycle). So to find myself pregnant a second time without intervention has been a huge shock and difficult to get my head round.

Both my pregnancies have been quite easy, physically, which is some small recompense for years of heartache. Best of luck to everyone here, and I shall keep my fingers crossed that you are all as lucky as I have been :)

So glad I found this thread! Am 6weeks pg, after trying for about a year!
Can't relax, am not usually an anxious person but my best friend had a mc last year so it's on my mind. We do have a dd who was a surprise after giving up on the fertility treatment so I know I can do it, it just feels like we can't be this lucky again!

Hi there! I see a few familiar faces on here . Can I please join your thread Mrs Banana?

I'm now 6+5 and I just can't relax at all. I am so terrified and don't dare let myself get my hopes up that this could work. I've checked out the thread for the month I'm theoretically due, and I just can't relate to the girls on there. It just all seems so easy for them, and all they have is excitement (the way it should be) and don't seem to be acutely aware, like I am, of all the possible things that can go wrong from here. I just don't understand how they can feel so confident to start making plans and painting nurseries and talking about mat leave etc. I'm also amazed at the number of "It was a surprise" and "We didn't plan this" type comments. Why can't my friends on the infertility thread just have a little bit of their luck for once?!

I really hope everything works out for everyone on this thread, as we have all been through so much and deserve a little bit of happiness x x x

I haven't suffered infertility but I have suffered baby loss so I fully understand the 'not fitting' in the normal antenatal threads.

I just wanted to say I have found the pregnancy after loss antenatal thread massively helpful.

It's a brilliant idea. Not being fully excited and feeling anxious can make for a lonely pregnancy.

Congratulations to you all, I can't imagine the hard times you've been though 💐

waves to everyone esp banana

nearly 22 weeks after IVF. not really enjoying pregnancy very much (at all really) due to been scared something will go wrong. i do have 2 children from a previous marriage (none ivf) and had a stillbirth and miscarriage.

hand holds to everyone. x

Hello all,

I think I my have found 'my' thread now! I joined the September club thread as I'm 13 weeks, but it's extremely busy and difficult to keep up, and like others, I don't really feel like I 'fit in' there.

My story: I came of the pill in November 2014 and it had simply shut everything down, meaning I didn't ovulate and I also didn't have natural periods, so no cycles, no AF, nothing! After all the usual ultrasounds, HyCoSy and blood tests, I was prescribed clomid in June last year.

Neither 50mg nor 100mg made me ovulate, and the dose was upped to 150mg, which made me ovulate the first time, but not the second. The third round of 150mg not only made me ovulate, but it also got me upduffed! I had almost given up hope on the clomid and really wasn't expecting anything to have happened, so it was ages before I actually tested.

The pregnancy so far hasn't exactly been relaxing, and I have had a couple of scares with bleeds, but we had our 12 week scan last Tuesday and everything looks good!

This week has been another rollercoaster, as one of my colleagues went home ill last week and was diagnosed with chickenpox. My parents couldn't remember at all whether or not I'd actually had it, so I had to have a blood test to see if I was immune. Thankfully, I am, so all is well again (for now!)

I recognise some of you from the infertility threads, as I was a long time lurker (and still am!), so it's lovely to finally be on the same threads as you and to 'meet' you as it were.

Is anyone else due around the same time as me? We were given an EDD of 11th September at my 9 week scan and, although the sonographer at my 12 week scan said that she was getting an EDD of 5th September, she didn't change it as it's their policy to stick with the later one, apparently.

Hope everyone is doing ok. Congratulations to us all x x x

Hi eskimo I've seen you about too on the infertility boards. I think we are near enough due date buddies! Edd is 6th sept but was initially 10th sept from my dates and 9th sept from previous scans. I'm 13+4 today and am anxiously waiting for the blood results from my scan on Thursday, still not really allowing myself to believe it's all real and actually happening. I'm annoyed with myself that I can't be overjoyed and happy about this as its all I've wanted for years but I think I used all that up on my 1st pregnancy and have been over cautions since and just waiting to be told it won't work out.

It's lovely to hear from so many others who will understand the need for early and repeated scans without thinking I'm some kind of stressed out lunatic which is what I get from a few people who haven't been tortured with years of infertility.

Thought I'd put up my scan pic from Thursday I'm afraid it's a little disappointing as baby would not cooperate, anyone else want to share theirs? 2nd pic is one from the back and you can see the spine, this is basically all we could see for the majority of the time. Anyone want to have a wild guess and it will be a wild guess due to such a rubbish pic as to whether we are team pink or blue?

Vap0, how exciting! I think we are definitely due date buddies and our dates have been moved about in a really similar way too! I LOVE to see scan pics, in a similar way that I love having a peek when someone puts an 'is or isn't it?' pregnancy test on the Conception boards! Yours isn't disappointing; you can see his or her little head and body and where the bones are developing in the face- lovely! I am going to guess Team Blue, although it's not based on anything at all!

So I've attached mine from Tuesday. Let's see some more!

Speaking of bloods, I was really concerned to get a letter through yesterday, which asked me to go in on Tuesday and get the bloods from the combined test repeated. I called them to enquire about it and they couldn't give me an exact reason as to why; they just said that sometimes the tubes or labels got damaged and they had to repeat them.

Waves to everyone else x x x

Hi everyone!

Now 5+2 weeks clear blue digital still showing 2-3. Have a bad feeling about this. still no symptoms.

Blimey It would be so easy to say 'Try not to worry' and churn out the usual reassuring lines, (as long as there's no heavy blood and clots, you'll be fine, no symptoms doesn't mean anything etc.) but I suspect that you've heard them all before.

What we can say is that we fully understand the worry and the stress and we are keeping everything crossed for you that it will all be ok.

Do you have an early scan booked at all? I had one after spotting at around 6 weeks, and it reassured me for about a day

Please, take care of yourself and keep us updated.

Oooblimey
Thank you
My CB said 3+ and I was 6 weeks I don't believe they are that great

I pray x fingers for you

Thanks guys, early scan on 15th which will be 6+4wks at that point. This bit is worse than the 2ww! X

Totally agree! Considering I didn't have a 2 week wait with this pregnancy as I had honestly given up hope on the Clomid and didn't think we stood a chance!

This might be a consolation though: I remember one of my other long-term TTC friends saying that she never reached 3+ weeks on a clear blue test. Her son is now 6 weeks old

I think that, as long-term TTCers, we are programmed to expect the worst and quite simply, we worry about everything. Will keep everything crossed for you for the 15th x

Thank you so much for starting this thread, and to everyone who has shared their stories so far. It's been amazingly helpful to read through them. Congratulations everyone on your pregnancies!

I am allegedly 9 weeks pregnant after nearly 2 years of ttc. I had surgery last year to check my tubes and to clear away a large amount of endometriosis from around my ovaries and uterus. The consultant was really happy with the outcome of the surgery, and told us to 'do our homework' - and it would have been this month that our referral to the fertility clinic would have happened, presumably to start exploring the possibility of ivf.

My response when I found I was pregnant was not of joy exactly, but calmness and relief that I didn't have to try to get pregnant anymore, and that being pregnant is possible. I hadn't realised how much stress ttc had been causing me. I almost literally felt a weight being lifted from my shoulders. I'm now waiting for my 12 week scan and hoping everything will be ok, but knowing there's not much I can do if things aren't ok. I've had minimal nausea, but lots of tiredness, no spotting, and sore boobs.

Responses from the few people (close family and friends) I've told have been quite mixed - some very cautious, and some overjoyed. I wonder how people's responses differ to the news of a pregnancy when the journey to that pregnancy has been longer and more fraught than we might hope.

hp your full name is showing on your pics, just thought I'd let you know incase you want to get them removed and repost them.
blimey I'm sorry you're having a tough time of it, I hope time flies to your scan date. I have been trying to keep myself more relaxed this time practically impossible by telling myself I'm either still pregnant or I'm not and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it and nothing the dr's can do. It kind of helped. Everything crossed for you.

It's so lovely to see scan pics, I also love to look at is it/isn't it pregnancy tests and any scan going, i even like a good opk pic too. Bit weird like that. Keep the scan pics coming ladies

Thanks Vap0. I'm rubbish at these things and didn't even think of it. I will have it deleted and repost I guess. Unless there is a way to edit?

Hi, I just reported your post and asked them to remove your pics

Thank you so so much for joining this thread ladies, it is fabulous to find so many likeminded women who just GET it

Reading your words just reminds me what a load of bloody warrior women we are, and just how much our future children will know how deeply loved and wanted they were, because of how hard we had to fight to have them.

Back from this afternoon's scan and saw a beautiful little jellybean, measuring bang on for 8+5 and with an absolutely stonking little heart rate. Even got some little videos of the scan - just breathtaking. Could see a discernible head, and limb stumps, and where the umbilical cord was (just). We called it our little duracell because it was a 4AA blastocyst - hope it has, ooh, about 9 months battery life?!

It really has blown our minds as we never thought we would be in this position. In July 2015 I was diagnosed as being in borderline premature ovarian failure, with horrendous FSH (17.6) and almost undetectable AMH (1.5). The NHS would have written me off as a lost cause, as I wouldn’t have met the ovarian reserve criteria for funding. Several private clinics wouldn’t have accepted me with such high FSH, and would have given me the donor egg speech.

My Dr said he treats patients not numbers, and I thank my lucky stars he did. Because frankly, fuck the numbers

Yet 'borderline POF high FSH low AMH' me got a whopping 17 eggs on my second cycle. The embryologists all asked if my AMH could have been a lab error. I said it had been tested three times in three different months. My consultant said he's been a fertility Dr since 1992 and I'm one of the most surprising cases he's ever had - not least because when I was 28 I was diagnosed with PCOS, then 5 years later it had gone, along with (apparently) all my eggs. He said of me 'I'm stumped, and I'm not usually stumped'

From this haul we got 5 great blasts, of which 1 is inside me and 4 are on ice

Not bad for a supposedly lost cause!

Let's try that again then! First scan is 6w 5d and second is 10w 5d. Thanks for letting me know Vap0. I'm such a wally. I have my nuchal fold scan on 15th March so I'm hoping to have a nice little collection of photos! :)

Oh and blimey I've had pretty much zero symptoms. Or at least nothing really to speak of. I was crapping it that there was nothing in there - but at least for now, there very much is. Symptoms don't really mean anything

Wow that's an incredible story Bananafish! You've certainly been through the hoops!

Reassuring that you didn't have many symptoms too! My head says "Stop testing! You have no control - wait for the scan!" But then this naughty voice says "buy another test!" I'm going to try and step away from the tests for at least a few days! X

Bloody hell, banana, what a time you've had. So pleased you appear to be a medical anomaly!

I don't think I mentioned before that I have stage IV endometriosis and only one fallopian tube - even more astonishing to be pregnant naturally this time. I had a scan this morning (37 weeks now), and it seems the baby is no longer breech, hurrah! The only half-decent picture they could get is a view right up her nose