BFP through IVF. Thread to calm the nerves!

[BeHereNowx32]

Hi!
I very recently got my positive result after a FET. (This is my second child. First one conceived through a fresh cycle). Just wondered anyone in a similar position wanted to join, and help keep us calm until scan day!

I am only 4+2 weeks. Still so, so early. Can’t wait for my 7 week scan!

@Fightingtobepositive yes we are!

Clinic just said no point ordering more at this stage ( I was down to last pack) and just finish the pack off.

I had a fresh transfer and am taking progesterone. I think I'm taking it until 12 weeks but I'm going for my scan tomorrow so I'll ask them.
@louloulemons I've tried to eat a little but I'm finding it really hard. Hardly eating anything. I'll ask the clinic tomorrow as well and see what they suggest.

I did a FET and did progesterone injections and pessaries for 12 weeks, I've finished the jab but have been finishing up my pack of pessaries and weaning off them so will be done at 14 weeks. It's so odd to be stopping. Still have mountains of oestrogen pills too but I'll stop at the same time I think. I've heard such a range of stopping dates and it never seems to be an issue

Ahh @lemongrass1 after I had my subchorionic bleed found at 7 weeks it behaved itself and had reabsorbed by 9 weeks. Hope yours does the same

Sorry your scan was so worrying @rosettaR hope you get some follow ups soon and things are looking a bit more reassuring

You're having such a tough time @fightingtobepositive I've every faith you'll jump this new hurdle with ease! You deserve the easiest birth and best sleeping baby after this

Welcome @louloulemons early pregnancy after ivf is such a weird time. After 12 weeks I've started feeling more like a normal pregnant person

Not much to report here, next appointment is 16 weeks with midwife but it's over the phone. Eagerly awaiting a bump and feeling movement. Feeling fine but starving!

@Fightingtobepositive On a FET you don't produce the progesterone to maintain the pregnancy until the placenta takes over. On a fresh you do get a corpus luteum which would normally occur on the ovary the egg was released from. I am unsure exactly how it works on a fresh cycle but you develop one. That should maintain your progesterone levels instead of drugs.
On a fresh I think some clinics stop everything relatively quickly after a BFP as it should not be needed. However some clinics tell people to continue and some of that will be consultant choice. But it also may be because as IVF BFPs we have every reason to be and are more anxious and a couple of weeks of extra progesterone support won't hurt even of it may not be technically necessary.

Thank you ladies.

Thank you @Parkandride I hope your right there 💜 it’s been a crazy time. So glad your feeling good. I’m sure your bump won’t be long.

Thank you @UnicornPuff I wonder if it is the progesterone. It’s got me in a panic now because I’m only 7 weeks. But my bloods are just getting worse so I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong and that’s not even the reason

@Fightingtobepositive sorry to hear you’re still having a tough time. Fingers crossed that it resolves itself soon and you can start to enjoy your pregnancy

How is everyone?

I had a follow up scan with a foetal medicine specialist as my little girl twin still measuring small - well she's still small.....femur length is below the 5th centile. At the moment they think it's nothing to worry about but it can be a soft marker for downs (but i already had a low risk NIPT) or skeletal issues (I really have to stay off google!). Don't have another scan now for a month when I'll be 26 weeks. They've said to prepare for early delivery to get her out earlier which is scary. Just got to hope she carries on growing at her own pace x

@ivfbeenbusy sorry to hear about the worries with your latest scan. I hope your little girl turns out to be little but perfect. X

AFM I had a huge bleed today, went to the EPU and both babies were still there and growing. But I’ve bled a bit on and off since the scan and I think I may have passed one pregnancy. Booked a private scan for tomorrow morning as I just need to know. Although I don’t know where this all ends if scan is ‘ok’ for now. As I will be back to square one of not knowing if I start bleeding heavily again 😞

I think I am done with TTC and IVF if this pregnancy doesn’t work out. I’m just so tired of being constantly stressed and anxious

Oh @lemongrass1 that's scary, how did you get on?

@ivfbeenbusy I hope your little girl is just a petite one and is doing her own thing, good that they're keeping an eye on you but I bet a month feels a long time though

Hi everyone how are you all doing? I hope the ladies that had some worries are ok 💜.

Can I ask yet another question.... when you stopped progesterone how did you do it and did you have any side affects, like spotting/bleeding etc?

My gayne team are still concerned over my bloods and wondering if it is worth me weaning off my progesterone. I’m 8 weeks today x

Hi @Fightingtobepositive I just woke up the next day and didn't take any (I was on 3x per day up to that point). I didn't taper off? I stopped at 12 weeks though

I weaned off as I had a lot of meds, except for the PIO jabs as they were one a day. Still got 2 days of 1 oestrogen pill to take but not noticed anything symptom wise so far. No spotting when stopping progesterone. Hopefully it all goes ok for you @fightingtobepostive have you had any more scans?

The only thing I was advised to wean myself off was the prednisone I was prescribed as part of repeated implantation failure treatment. Everything else was either one a day anyway (aspirin and fragmin - stopped both of those at 10 weeks) or go cold turkey (estrogen and progesterone - stopped those at the weekend at 11+3).

No obvious issues so far - I have my 12 week scan at the clinic tomorrow so hopefully all is still going well in there!

@Fightingtobepositive I'm on 2 a day at the moment and have been told to go down to 1 a day at 11 weeks and then stop when I'm 12 weeks.

Thank you ladies. My doctors have told me to start weaning off because they are wondering weather it’s those that affect my liver bloods and making me feel so poorly. I’m only 8 weeks and petrified of stopping now 🙁 but don’t see a choice.

I had a scan last week and another yesterday. It looks ok 🤞🤞🤞🙏🙏🙏 but the thought of stopping is scarring me.

I just don’t see many people who stop before 12 weeks xx

@Fightingtobepositive sorry to hear you're having a rough time. I had a fresh cycle and stopped progesterone at 8 +6. I have no idea why my clinic were so insistent on that precise date but I'm currently 23weeks so it hasn't done any harm! Best of luck x

Thank you @takingthistooseriously that’s reassuring to hear. So did you have bloods or anything to check your progesterone?

@Fightingtobepositive nope, I just had a scan at about 7w and then stopped progesterone about a week and a bit later. They told me that the guidelines had changed for fresh cycles. I did go home and do some googling for studies on progesterone in ivf cycles and remember being reassured!

Thank you. I’m really hopeful that all will be ok, including the liver after stopping the progesterone

@RosettaR

How are you getting on? Do you have a date for your next scan? X

@ivfbeenbusy I am stressed basically. Scan on Tuesday was as good as it could have been, our little twin does have growth restriction but all the blood flows look OK and the little twin is growing, just slower than the big one. I'm meant to have weekly scans though from now on as it could easily get worse

Then on Wednesday my husband was complaining of a headache and yesterday he got a high fever and could barely get out of bed. We've had covid tests and hoping for the results soon, and he's staying in one room but I've not been able to keep as much distance as I'd have liked because there were times he wasn't very responsive and I felt I had to make sure he was ok. He's a lot better today so the next question will be how long do I insist he stays in that one room?

I'm quite shocked this has happened as we've not really seen anyone apart from our many trips to the hospital and once a week to the supermarket, and I live in a tier 1 area. It could be flu I guess but I'd still be worried about that as I've not had the vaccine yet, I've got an appointment in November for it alongside whooping cough, I didn't really think there would be much of a risk of catching flu in October!

Sorry for the rant but I really needed to vent.

How are things with you, how is your little twin doing?

@RosettaR

Oh no what a nightmare week! Is your husband working from Home too? It would be such bad luck to have caught covid either at the shops or the hospital?!

So they'll monitor the little twin to ensure they have steady growth? Did they say what percentile they were on? My little one is on or less than the lowest line.

Hopefully it's just doing its own thing like mine is? Weekly scans are good though as least you won't have to wait long to check on them? (Did you find out what you are having?) I don't have a scan now for 3 more weeks but feeling lots of kicks and movements and was brave and ordered the double pram last night from John Lewis as they have 10% off silver cross at the moment and delivery is up to 4 weeks. I'm getting things prepared now as pretty certain we'll have an early delivery

I got my whooping cough and flu done at the 16 week midwife appointment (which was closer to 18 weeks by the time they had a slot)

I'm in Tier 3 and probably go to the shops once a week but DH still goes out to work and DD to school so can't really shield that well even at home

@ivfbeenbusy thanks for being so nice! Our tests came back negative which is a relief, and my DH is a lot better today. It really has brought home how much I don't want covid while I'm pregnant! I think I'd relax a bit once they are born but for now I am going to be really careful - although going to the hospital twice a week there will be risks still.

Yes the little twin is being monitored to make sure it keeps growing but I think the main thing is the blood flow, if that starts looking dodgy it's really bad news, and the little twin has a velamentous cord attachment which makes it more of a risk. And they will monitor for TTTS which is terrifying but at the moment no signs of it thankfully.

That's lovely you're getting movements now! I'm still not but I've got an anterior placenta so I think that means I might have a few weeks still to wait.

Which pram did you get? I've been researching prams, there is somewhere near us you can go to try them out and I was thinking we might do that after the 20 week scan. The out n about one looks to be well thought of but I think I want to push one before I decide.

I thought they would do the vaccines at the 16 week appointment, that's why I've not had them yet! Instead they just told me to go to the GP to get it, and it was over a month to wait for the next whooping cough slot... I could have got flu sooner but I thought it would be best to have them together. Don't know why they couldn't have told me that at the booking in appointment.

Both my twins placentas are anterior - I started to feel movements around 21 weeks and a lot more 22 weeks onwards but they say sometimes with a second pregnancy you feel them earlier as your body recognises them. I'm 24 weeks tomorrow and the kicks - especially from the bigger boy twin - are really noticeable and DH can feel them and see them now. I can feel little madam but she's much more subtle

I've ordered the silver cross wave - I had a silver cross with DD and loved it (it's now an expensive ornament in my loft which I've got to try and sell/get rid of now as it can't be used for twins). It seems for twins there are only really 2 options - the Bugaboo Donkey and the Silver Cross Wave. The Bugaboo has them side by side but the Silver Cross is more like a double decker? My spatial awareness is terrible and we have narrow doorways in our house so I'd be deadly with the side by side one so Silver Cross is our only option. Expensive though - no where sells them as a complete twins package so you have to buy an extra toddler seat and carry cot seat - so £1500 yesterday! 😢 I already had a silver cross car seat which I can re use otherwise that would have been more money on top plus this time I've gone for isofix bases which I've ordered from boots - if you sign up to the Boots parenting club you get 8x times as many points and then if you buy things on bonus points day you get loads of £££ on your Boots card. When I had DD I think over a year I ended up with about £400+ in Boots cards so used that for xmas presents

Good news on the covid tests too! What a relief! You don't need that added stress at the moment!