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!

@RosettaR

Have they stuck to the 34 week c section date or moved you back a few days?

Yes twins are home here so adjusting to feeding every 3 hours (takes an hour each time 😬!) so not a lot of sleep going on but going to start to letting them go longer over night in the next couple of weeks I think

I'm guessing your twins will have a similar period of time in NICU/SCBU - 3 weeks? If there is one good thing about that is that you'll have loads of support off the nurses to get you in a routine or looking after them so hopefully it won't be too terrifying when you do get them home

@ivfbeenbusy you must be glad to be home, hope everything is going well for you and your little ones

@RosettaR when are you booked in for? I hope you're not feeling too anxious. You will be completely fine, your babies are much wanted and will be very loved I'm sure and that's what counts

I was doing fine but last week had a growth scan showing growth had tailed off a bit so they want to induce me which has unsettled me a bit - I woke up after a nightmare at 6am this morning in tears with anxiety thinking 'I can't do this!' But I think I've calmed down now!

@takingthistooseriously

You must be around 38 weeks now? The thing to focus on is that baby is better out than in if there is a growth issue plus at 38 weeks baby is classed as full term. Is your partner allowed to be with you for the whole thing? You were planning a midwife led birth weren't you?

Honestly though the growth measurements they take can be waaaaaay off - I was scanned literally 12 hours before my twins had to come out and the estimated weights and measurements were totally different to what the babies came out as!

@ivfbeenbusy I'm 38+3, yes I completely agree I've heard lots about the lack of accuracy and it's reassuring in a way that yours was so inaccurate! that's why I'm really reluctant to throw my birth plan out of the window based on one scan which could be an error, but then equally I don't want to be the cause of any harm to the baby - nightmare! I've got a call scheduled with the consultant to discuss. I'm hoping to at least put back any induction until shortly after my due date to give me some time to go into spontaneous labour

Hi all!

I've just had my first BFP in a decade. I'm only 6dp5dt and don't have my OTD until next Friday. Love reading your stories and see how far along you all are I'm sure there are lots of anxious times ahead for me but today I'm just excited!

@jonrik yay! Congratulations!! 10 years is a tremendously long time, you must be so pleased :)

@ivfbeenbusy I'm so glad to hear your little ones are home and adjusting to a more "normal" life. That does sound like a tough schedule of feeding though! Did you pump every three hours in the night while they were in special care or did you do it a bit less often then? And how are they to settle, I've read it can be harder because they have got used to such a different environment, does that seem to be the case for you? Sorry I could ask you a huge number of questions!

@takingthistooseriously what ended up happening, are you having an induction? Was the call with the consultant helpful?

@jonrik congratulations! I was far too scared to test early back then! I can remember what a strange time it was, when you know you're pregnant but there are no physical signs to back it up.

We are sticking to my c section date at 34+1, which is a week today! I've got two more scans booked in before then to check on things. I don't know how long they'll be in special care. My consultant said they can't really say because despite all the scans there are so many unknowns and they can't know what state they will be in when they are born. I think she's a brilliant doctor but sometimes she can be maybe a bit too honest! So that is now my biggest worry, I just hope they are born as healthy as possible. I think three weeks would be the very rough expectation though, that would get them to 37 weeks which would have been considered full term.

@RosettaR

Don't worry i love answering questions!

Id usually do 2 pumps before sleep 2-3 hours apart. Then to be honest I'd sleep through the night and pump as soon as I woke up so a gap of 6 hours - trust me you'll need to as the pain/pressure on your boobs is really uncomfortable. I'd then take all the milk in to the hospital and they'd use to that to tube feed the babies. The guide is 8-12 pumps/breastfeeds in a 24 hour period which sounds a lot but you'll want to do it just to ease the pressure once your milk comes in

My 2 are actually pretty easy to settle other than having a lot of wind which means lots of grunting noises - having been on a rigid 3 hourly feeding schedule at the house they don't actually cry when they are hungry (well big twin is just starting to learn that! 🤣) so have to be careful I don't sleep through feeds (I have an alarm set for every 3 hours on my phone 😬) but I've just started to relax that the last couple of nights as once they are back to birth weight you can let them sleep longer and feed on demand (I'm letting big twin set his own schedule but not little twin just yet as she is is still very small). Even through they aren't identical they do seem to have A bit of a "twin thing" going on as they settle much quicker when they are next to each other. In fact at the moment they are sharing the next2me crib but I'll need to put them in the big cot in the next week or so as big twin getting too big to share the smaller crib. The hardest bit is juggling 2 - when one is feeding if the other starts crying

Oh and I'd maybe look at nipple shields - the hospital gave me mine but preemie babies can find it hard to latch on as they are so small but the shields really help them

Oh and also stock up on Milton sterilisation tablets - for the nipple shields mainly and also I have a hand pump to help reduce pressure of one boob if they don't feed equally (you don't want lopsided boobs - took years for mine to even back out after DD!) - I got the Tommy tippee silicone one - thought it was crap at first but now got the hang of it it's really Good! You could invest in a more expensive home pump but they are over £100 and just don't have the funds for that as well as everything else. Although my HV came today and my area had a really good breastfeeding community team who will hire one out to me

Today is my OTD at 11dp5dt and we're now confirmed pregnant. Yay! Even though I already knew it, it was still something entirely different hearing it 'officially'. My HCG levels came back at 190. The clinic said that was good but didn't give an indication on whether that was on the high or low end of the scale and I was too excited to ask. Can I ask, what levels did you see at that stage?

@jonrik
Congratulations!

Mine was 159 at 8dp5dt but I had twins. My clinic likes to see 100+ on 9dp5dt so If hcg doubles every 2 days then you'd be around 100 9dp5dt so you've got a good number there x

@jonrik congratulations 🥳

@RosettaR how are you doing ? Getting close now to you seeing your little bundles.

Am 25 weeks Sunday with 25 week appointment Monday.

Thanks ladies. So far so good, I've had no symptoms really apart from a bit of dizziness.

That's useful, thank you @ivfbeenbusy. I had a single embryo transferred so That sounds like I'm bang on so that's good congratulations on the twins! How's pregnancy treating you?

@RosettaR

On count down now until Wednesday!! Hope everything goes well 💙💙🤞🤞

Good luck @RosettaR ! You'll be meeting your lovely little ones soon

@ivfbeenbusy how is everything going now you have the babies home?

I'm booked in to be induced on Saturday but feeling really scared about it so very much hoping little one comes before then! Had a failed sweep last week and have a second booked in for the end of this week 🤞

Thanks for the messages everyone! I'm so nervous now about my c section on Wednesday, mainly about the condition the babies will be in! I had my very last scan today and the consultant underlined again that with this kind of pregnancy, until they are born we can't know if there have been some other undiagnosed conditions (e.g. TTTS) that will have harmed them. I know she is just trying to prepare me but it's really terrifying to keep hearing that! On the other hand I know we are lucky to have got this far, 34 weeks is a really good gestation for twins that share a placenta, and so many are born much earlier.

@ivfdreaming thanks for your answers, it's really good to have a bit of a picture of what things might be like once they come home. It's so difficult to imagine for me!

@jonrik congratulations! I'm glad ivfbeenbusy was able to help you with the HCG, my clinic didn't test that, they just relied on the home pregnancy test and booked in a scan at 8 weeks.

@takingthistooseriously best of luck with the induction (or getting the baby to come before then). On our NCT course we got told that exercise helps, as do sex and spicy food. No idea how much evidence there is for any of those or whether they are just old wives tales ...

Just remembered this thread and it's @RosettaR big day! Hope everything is going wonderfully and look forward to an update

And sounds like another baby will be along soon for @takingthistooseriously! Hope the second sweep does the job this week

Welcome @jonrik nice to have fresh meat here! Such an exciting and terrifying time but sounds like you're doing really well, when is your scan booked for?

@thefishthatcouldwish you're at the bit where appointments start ramping up now! How are you feeling?

Nearly 31 weeks here, had an unexplained bleed last week which was nerve racking especially as we'd just learnt about bloody shows at NCT so DH was terrified this was it! But all looked fine after monitoring so just hope it's a one off.

Ended up with a couple of growth scans too after fundal measurements but again all is fine on the scans so I've stopped worrying about that, lot of user error I think! Today the midwife basically remeasured until she got it to fit where she wanted on the curve

@RosettaR hope today has gone/going well.

@parkandride bleeds are scary! Glad it was ok. Not sure I'd be impressed with the midwife making the measurement fit! Hope you're ok now?

I am ok thanks so pleased I'm feeling baby kicking now.

I still can't believe I am pregnant though! I feel so lucky.

@Parkandride

Glad your bleeding turned out to be nothing. I had that from 28 weeks so just keep an eye on it - the cause for mine wasn't found until the twins had to come out and it was little twins placenta abrupting

@RosettaR

Can't wait for your update! Hope you and the twins are ok x

Dr

Ahh thanks @ivfbeenbusy I've just had a read up on them as I didn't actually know what that means! Definitely will be keeping a close eye on it

Kicks are amazing aren't they @thefishthatcouldwish I'm still mesmerised by every one

@RosettaR

Hope you and the twins are doing ok x

Hope all ok @RosettaR with you and twins.

Had a bit of scare today little one decided moving wasn’t for him this morning. I normally have a noticeably wriggly boy around 3am 5 am and 7 am.

Got checked at midwife unit heard heartbeat for first ever time.

All fine but was .5 off what bump size should be so have growth scan next week.

@thefishthatcouldwish sorry to hear you had a scare but glad all is ok. Bump measurements are really inaccurate, my chart is all over the place every time I have a different midwife so good chance that nothing is amiss. I hope your growth scan gives you some reassurance though

@RosettaR thinking of you, hope you're doing well

I had my last sweep today which midwife said was a good one but I'm still booked in for induction tomorrow eek!

Hi ladies,
Hope you don't mind me checking in.
I was on the ivf group last summer.
Was kind of in denial about being pregnant after long road, ivf and previous early miscarriage a year ago. But now 36weeks, so looks like it's really happening this time.

So exciting and relieved to see how many of the roup are on here now welcoming little ones.
Hope this message finds you all well.

@RosettaR I hope all is going especially well for you having just briefly caught up on the thread. Big week for you xx

@takingthistooseriously

Good luck for today!!!!

@Bestofyou1982

36 weeks! On count down now!

@thefishthatcouldwish

Hope your growth scan goes ok! I wouldn't worry too much - the twins growth scans were totally inaccurate - big twin was 1.5 lb heavier than they said he would be and little twin 1.5 lb smaller (and they measured them less than 12 hours before they ended up coming out!)