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

Lovely to hear from you banana fish. I hope you are holding up as well as can be expected in this tough time. Been thinking of you lots. Really hope to see you back here soon. Take good care of yourself. Xx

Bananafish thank you for popping back. I have been thinking of you too. Hopefully you will re-join us at some point in the near future; until then, wishing you all the luck in the world x x

Hi there, could I join as well please. I'm on another infertility thread with banana and she mentioned this one. I finally got my bfp just over a week ago after countless rounds of IVF! I'm only 4+5 at the moment so feeling nervous as it's such early days. I don't really have any symptoms apart from ocassional bloating and cramping.

I'm so glad this thread is back up and running as it helps me feel sane. 8+1 today and still can't fully accept this is real. Had scan last week so know it is but just so worried every time I go to the toilet that I'll find blood. Haven't so far so know I'm lucky compared to what some of you are going through.

Can I ask is anyone on / still taking crinone gel?

Taking the gel makes me doubt the pregnancy is real or viable which i know is crazy!

Hope you all have a lovely evening and once again so glad this thread is active again. Xx

MrsLen I'm on the crinone. And also on cyclogest (another type of progesterone) and also on progynova (oestrogen). My IVF clinic is a bit hardcore about the meds - I'm fairly certain that it's not necessary for me to have such a high dose of progesterone but hey.

Mostly, it's the bloating that gets to me - I'm pretty sure it's the drugs rather than the pregnancy because in my last pregnancy which was really healthy on my end (just sadly not on the baby's end), I went down a dress size almost overnight when I stopped the meds at 12 weeks!

Can I join please too? I'm a bit scared as it's still early on. I've had loads of support from some of you lovelies (lucie, banana, eskimo) on other threads. After 2 years of trying and one ivf cycle I'm now 6+1. The progesterone pills make me feel bloated and also as MrsLen says, that the pregnancy is over or was false. I have a scan booked for the 11th, I'm unnecessarily terrified.

Now I have a question for anyone I'm due to go skiing next week - woukd you guys ski in my position? I feel like I shouldn't but that realistically there is no risk to the Buba who is well protected at this time.

Hi Lucie I'm not sure that I've congratulated you elsewhere, so massive, huge congratulations! You've waited so long for this and I'm absolutely thrilled for you!

HP07 Not, not on the sunny coast, although it has been sunny here today too, but we had one really heavy, sudden downpour of hail, which hasn't happened again thankfully! Thanks for the advice- I knew I was past the 72 hour mark, but I am almost sure that the blood came from the genital area, rather than deeper inside me. I seem to have bled from the strangest areas- every time I blow my nose, there is blood now! Like I said, the spotting happened when I was quite sore down there, after the antibiotics, so I'm hopeful it was nothing to worry about.

birchygoo congratulations to you too; I bet the news hasn't sunk in yet and you're still sneaking a peek at the pee stick every now and then- I know I couldn't stop looking at mine for weeks!

Vap Lovely, lovely scan pic. And a little girl too! If you remember, we're due date buddies, but I haven't got my 20week scan until 25th April. Seems ages away! x x

Waves to everyone else.

Hp07 I wonder if we are neighbours?!

Oops, Boris X posts and nearly missed you! Lovely to see you here. Don't know anything about skiing I'm afraid, but if you decide against it, there will be lots of other things you can do whilst there won't there? I'm thinking spa treatments and generally relaxing!

Great thread! I so identify with the OP's feelings. I have a 3.5 yr old from IVF (first round successful) after 2 yrs TTC with no luck. We have unexplained infertility as I have ovulatory PCOS. Had a traumatic birth with DC1 and difficulties BFing and was left wondering if I maybe was never meant to conceive.
Then all my mum friends announced pregnancy #2 with the coveted 2 year age gap. None had any Infertilty issues. We tried for a sibling when DC1 was just over 2, a frozen embryo cycle using a frosty from our previous IVF. Conceived and were stunned, only to miscarry at 7 weeks. :( Couldn't face another FET cycle so tried naturally and conceived 6 mths after the miscarriage. Again, stunned, and sadly miscarried at 10 weeks, after we'd seen a healthy heartbeat just 10 days earlier. So added miscarriage to infertility issues. Tried one last time to conceive naturally and conceived two months after the second miscarriage, and a month before we planned another FET cycle. We did use Clomid each time we conceived naturally. Am now 34 weeks and it finally feels real. Have had terrible anxiety this pregnancy after all that went in between.

Eskimo, thanks so much lovely! It's great to see you here too. I'm so pleased for you. Hope all is going well.

Boris, good to see you here too! I can chat to you about your symptoms now. How is your cramping has it stopped now?

Rainbow, so sorry to hear of everything you have been through but very happy that this one has gone smoothly and you're now 34 weeks along.

Waves to everyone else.

What would make you say that Boris?

Rainbow that's quite a story...
Hp07 I'm in hampshire....

Lucie - the cramping stopped thank goodness, it was so painful. I'm pretty symptom free otherwise. How are you?? I've been dreading people on the other threads asking me how I am, it's hard to answer on a tTC thread without risking upsetting someone.

I see, yes me too :)

I'm glad the cramping has stopped Boris. I had a little bit more watery pink spotting yesterday after nothing for 5 days so that was a bit of a worry. The nurse at the clinic said its normal but I hate it and don't want anymore! I'm probably going to do a digi test this weekend and see if the 2-3 weeks come up. I will be 5 weeks tomorrow so it should definitely show by now. Did another frer this morning just to check things and it's still a nice strong line.

I just wanted to put up a pic of my scan. It was a few weeks ago when I was 13w. Hope you don't mind :)

hi everyone, I'm so glad we're all here to keep each other company. Thanks Banana for being cool with us carrying on, sending you lots of love. Very best of luck for your next go.

HP07 your bleeding must be stressful, but being at 15 weeks must be a bit reassuring. Glad it was OK when the MW checked you out.

There's a few of us at the same sort of stage I think - eskimoflo at 16 weeks, Vap0 at 17 and HP07 at 15. Is that right? I'm 18w now and definitely looking it. And I am starting to think I can feel it move about a bit but it's still very faint (apparently the placenta is at the front and this can cushion the movements for a while)

good luck for your scan notinagreatplace and I hope you are in a better place after it. I gave in to my personal crazy last week and had a scan at 17w as it was just such a long wait between 12 and 20 week NHS scans. All looked good for me, I really really hope yours is fine too. Termination at 31w last time must have been so awful for you, that is a terrible thing to go through.

Big hello to all the people who are in the early days and CONGRATULATIONS, you all deserve so many congrats! Boris I don't know about the skiing. I think I wouldn't but that's because if it did miscarry I would just blame it on myself (although to be fair I'd find a way to do that even if I'd stayed in bed for the whole time). Could you compromise and go x-country or something with a lower risk of falling over? But it's a very personal decision so you have to do what is right for you, obv.

rainbow - you've had a lot to deal with, it's crap ... I'm glad to hear that it starts to actually feel real at some point, still not sure that I quite believe it for myself! Very best of luck for the last few weeks of your pregnancy and I hope you can let yourself enjoy it.

Hello to everyone else that I might have missed and let's all hang out here for lots of support and understanding xxx

PS HP07 that baby has a lovely profile!! I think yours is going to be cuter than mine!!

Thank you Tabby :) baby has been very co-operative so far for the scans, although it was fast asleep! I had to roll onto my side to wake it up but it just rolled over and went back to sleep with its back to us instead like a stroppy teenager! Did you find out the sex Tabby? We're keeping our a surprise.

Hey HP07, no we didn't find out sex at the private 17w scan last week but we will ask at the NHS 20 week one. I'd quite like a surprise, but my husband wants to find out, and I don't feel that strongly about having a surprise, so we will ask if they can tell us then. Mine's a sleepy one as well and both times we've seen it on the scan it has had a little arm up over the face in a 'leave me alone I'm snoozing' kind of pose. Maybe this means it'll sleep well once it's born? (a ha ha ha ha ha)

More likely it will sleep all day and party all night! ;)

Hi everyone, can I join too? Firstly, banana, im so sorry for your loss. This journey is so sh1t :(
I'm 9 weeks after 6 years of trying and several miscarriages. I'm convinced the baby has stopped growing. I've another scan on Tuesday. If this hasn't worked we're gonna have one more ivf and then I'm done. Anyone use a doppler at home?

Tabitha thank you. Yes, last time was particularly awful. I think I still have a bit of PTSD, which I should probably have sought some treatment for but didn't. Anyway.

Beelzebubble I was thinking about getting a doppler too but I remember watching the midwife use it in my last pregnancy and it didn't seem that straightforward to figure out what was what and I think, on balance, I might find it too stressful.

I think because of the issues with my last pregnancy, I should be getting extra scans anyway so I am hoping that that will be enough. Hate living in London though at these times as it would be so easy to book a scan, put £100 on credit card... but I do think that I might get a bit addicted to doing that.

I am not sure about the whole Doppler business, I think that unless you know what you are doing you can make yourself even more worried without any need to. And Beezle you are still early and I doubt there would be much to hear yet. I asked my midwife when I saw her at 16 weeks if she could have a listen then, and she said she could give it a go but often it didn't pick much up even at that stage depending on where the baby and placenta are, and that it just made women stressed out when no hb was found. So I decided best not to try, as I knew I'd be straight down the hospital / private scan provider if she didn't find the heartbeat.

not everyone is different, for me I'd been saving up £1000s in case I needed it for another IVF go, so paying for the odd private scan comes out of that theoretical 'budget', in my head anyway! You don't have long to go though until your next NHS one though and I hope they take extra good care of you. I had a m/c with a chromosomal abnormality in the summer and due to that, this time I had a very detailed 12wk scan with one of the more senior sonographers. I felt very reassured by that. I hope they can offer you something similar.

Hp- lovely scan pic

Sorry for all thoes who have had bleeding or spotting.

Lucie I peed on clear blue digis every week to make sure the numbers went up. I still occasionally pee on an IC too, not sure why!

Dopplers I've read that they can be hard to use and unreliable so I don't think I'd try myself, as much as I would love the reassurance.

Having spent 1000 on ivf and suppliments etc I'm paying to have an additional scan or two. What an extra £100 after a drugs bill of £1100?