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!

@ivfbeenbusy yes that makes sense.

I didn’t know nipple shields were a thing! Have so much to learn.

My job in education means I’m fairly confident with children babies on the other hand aside from one 5 week placement age 16 I have very limited knowledge and experience!

Tooth is better but mouth sore if you see what I mean.

Have growth scan Thursday which I’m a tiny bit excited for he is growing fine. Seeing my little man is amazing.

@thefishthatcouldwish

I didn't know about nipple shields either until the twins - didn't use them with DD 🤣

I'm still mainly bottle feeding with expressed breast milk and also some formula. They just seem to want to eat so much and I couldn't keep up on breast alone! I'm trying to gradually increase what I pump but I'm still behind! It's so time consuming pumping and feeding for two babies! I'm trying to gradually increase the time they spend on the breast. They appear to be feeding well but I always still give them the expressed milk as a top up. They don't settle without it even if they breast feed for half an hour, so I think it will be a little while before we can do a breastfeed alone for one feed.

@thefishthatcouldwish how was the scan? Hopefully your little one is growing well.

@ivfbeenbusy i feel for you doing night feeds alone! We have been doing them together and then after the feed around 2am my dh goes to the spare room and I do the next feed alone. My mum has been coming in the day and helping with those feeds. The worst thing about twins so far is when you are feeding one and the other is crying for his feed! And mine have started to reallybsuffer with reflux so it's so important I don't rush them but that's so hard when the other one is crying pitifully for a feed!

@RosettaR

Good to hear from you! Sounds like you are all home which is brilliant!

I've just ordered a tommee tippee prep machine on eBay now I am weaning off breastfeeding - like you it's a nightmare when they both want feeding at the same time and with DH either at work or sleeping in the spare room I'm doing It all on my own - apparently the machine makes bottles up to the right temp in 3 mins rather than waiting 30 mins for boiled water from the kettle to cool

I've done 8 weeks of exclusive breastfeeding and also Noticing they breast alone doesn't seem enough for 2 babies. They are much more settled and sleeping longer now they are transitioning to formulae

I can’t imagine breastfeeding two babies. Or feeding two at a time in general. Must be hard going at night.

Scan went fine but baby had jumped to 97th percentile for tummy measurement so questioning gestational diabetes. Have had the fasting bloodtest and was negative for it.

@thefishthatcouldwish

I can’t imagine breastfeeding two babies. Or feeding two at a time in general. Must be hard going at night.

Scan went fine but baby had jumped to 97th percentile for tummy measurement so questioning gestational diabetes. Have had the fasting bloodtest and was negative for it.

Oh that's reassuring as I've had similar this week, bump a bit small so sent for a scan. Baby nicely tracking 90th centile but apparently that means a diabetes test which they should have sent me for 2 growth scans ago... got it next week and in my head it's a cert and did upset me, but I'll keep fingers crossed I'm negative too. Glad yours was OK.

Hats off to you two feeding twins, what a marathon! There was some bits in the news yesterday about worldwide increases in "twinage" (not heard that term before!) which were interesting. Didn't realise rates vary amongst different ethnic groups then obviously age and fertility treatments have an impact

@Parkandride

Glad baby growing nicely in there!

When I had my twins the hospital was having a run on twins and triplets - seems we all decided to give birth around the same time. Mine being IVF I thought the majority of the others would be too but actually I was the only one. The girl/lady in the bed next to me was age 20 and having naturally conceived triplets! 😬

@Parkandride great news on the growth scan, 🤞 for the diabetes test. I have mine on Tues x

@RosettaR glad you are all home, breast feeding and pumping sounds like such hard work. Hope things settle into more of a routine soon.

@ivfbeenbusy I had supply issues with BF my first. One boob I had mastitis, then a blocked duct and a cyst and then it was pretty much useless for milk supply thereafter.. Baby would be ok the boob for well over an hour each feed and still hungry when I eventually took off. So was pumping to try increase supply and giving formula. After struggling through this for 5 months I gave up in a heap of exhaustion. This time I’m going straight to formula. BTW the Tommee Tippee perfect prep is a total life saver! Still have the old one and and getting another one for our bedroom 🤣

Am 28 weeks today and am now bigger than when I was term with a singleton. Feel so uncomfortable, and a bit 😱 at how they still have 2 months more to grow! Have bought nothing so far to prepare....

@Lemongrass1

Ooh 28 weeks! On count down now! Are you having a c section or going to try for a vaginal birth 🥴

I bought things when I saw them in the sale to double up on things I already had when I had DD. Just bear in mind mine came at 34 weeks so you might not have many weeks left to get stuff delivered!

This time I've gone for a cot on my room abs they've been sharing that quite happily at night.
My Chico next to me is down stairs and they share that for naps during the day but big twin will be too big for that soon

Clothes have been a nightmare for little twin as she was so small nothing fitted so I relied on premature baby charities for 4lb baby clothes as impossible to get in the shops

Just had an email to say my prep machine is ready for collection (got a second hand digital one on eBay for £30 🥳 as didn't want to pay full price in case didnt use it)

Yes we came home two weeks ago now after 10 nights in hospital, 3 in special care and then 7 in transitional care.

Thanks for the stories about breastfeeding! I can't believe how many challenges there are, as a first time mum the parenting books all make it sound like a no brainer. I'm not sure i will ever make it to actual breastfeeding, currently I'm trying to let them feed for longer, basically as long as the productively breast feed for, which is now up to half an hour. But they still will take 60ml expressed breast milk before they will settle.

We seem to be increasingly having problems with reflux, with them bringing up lots of milk and then taking ages to settle. It's hard as they really seem to be in pain and nothing seems to help that much. Also my anxiety is super high as I have a cold sore which can be really dangerous to babies so I'm taking all kinds of precautions and washing my hands until they are raw ... this is hard!

@RosettaR

How long between feeds are you doing? Did the hospital give any advice when they were discharged ? When my little twin was bringing up loads of milk between feeds (when she was tube fed) they reduced the time between feeds and also the amount?

At 37 weeks when mine were discharged for example - little twin was on 3 hourly feeds - 35ml at a time? There was some calculation they did based on weight and divided by 8 feeds in 24 hours? Yours weren't much heavier than my little twin so maybe try reducing the amount but feeding more often?

@ivfbeenbusy we were discharged feeding on demand, max every four hours, and the theory was they should be on enough to last four hours. But the nurses encouraged us to give more if they would take it so that's what we've been doing. Our larger twin often cries and does loads of rooting and won't settle without lots more than his standard amount. So I just don't know what to do. That could well be making the problem worse. I will discuss with the health visitor on Tuesday.

@RosettaR

It's strange how different the advice is between hospitals?! Mine said 3 hourly max between feeds and wouldn't go to 4 hours for a few weeks (they are only just going to 4 hours for the odd feed and not regularly and they are 8 weeks old now). They were really strict with bottle feeding mums in the SCBU not to give more than the feeding schedule allowance when they were in the unit

Mine are on 150 ml formula 3-4 hourly - they'll generally have 70-100ml then I'll wind them - which can take ages - when it was only breastmilk little twin took sometimes over 30mins to get the wind out enough for her to settle then they'll generally have the rest but sometimes they wont.

I would also say my little twin has reflux and was the one who wouldn't settle and she is much better now she's on formulae - it's hard to tell how much they are having when they are breastfeeding but I don't think she was getting as much as she wanted but now she's more in control that she's gone on the bottle

Happy first Mother's Day to the new mamas on the thread and those with babies in bumps xxxxx

Happy mothers day!

Feeling a bit down today to be honest. I dunno why I get scared that baby isn’t moving as much as normal but he is.

I get scared of loosing him which I know is silly.

Hope you’re all doing ok.

@thefishthatcouldwish

Oh no, it's normal to have bad days hun so don't worry. I had days like that where I'd stress I couldn't feel the babies (I do have a Doppler which i know is naughty but that helped put my mind at rest) - it felt like pregnancy was one long stress - stress about IVF working, stress about viability and then stress about something awful happening at full term. Be reassured though the chances of something bad happening are very very very small

Sending you hugs - keep going - not long to go now xx

So not silly @thefishthatcouldwish it's such a nerve racking time. I'm sure it is for all pregnant women but after what we've been through I think it does make it worse. Are you seeing the midwife soon? Mine doesn't use the doppler as standard but is always happy to listen in for me which is nice and reassuring.

GTT was negative which is great news. Consultants appointment went well and next one is past 39 weeks, scary! Going back and forth on delivery options, would love a spontaneous natural birth but they won't want me going much overdue and I'm unsure about induction due to some unrelated health issues so thinking about electives too.

Hi all how are we? I ended up being monitored for movement as he just didn’t move by lunch time the next morning. My midwife always uses Doppler with me as it reassured me.

All was fine with him and am 32 weeks today but being booked in for another growth scan this time he appears to be growing big.

How are you @Parkandride?

@thefishthatcouldwish

Hi! Glad the little man is ok but very naughty not moving around! I found sometimes mine would have a quiet day and then active the next

32 weeks! Not long to go!

Am I crazy to be already thinking about my last 2 embryos? Maybe it's the hormones! I wouldn't risk twins again but I feel like I could do one more! 🤣🤦‍♀️

Oh wow @ivfbeenbusy you sure you're not sleep deprived and delirious having frosties left is always a tricky one though, quite glad I don't have to make that call as this was our last embryo.

Glad all was well @thefishthatcouldwish it such a scary time, my brain goes to some dark places sometimes. When do you finish work?

I'm good thanks, over 37 weeks now so could be anytime- but I'm definitely going overdue in my mind so I'd be very suprised if anything happened soon. At the perennial massage (hate it!) and colostrum harvesting (going well!) stage now. Just trying to sort the nursery, how can small things have so much stuff!

@Parkandride

It's hard as we went through so much to get them - 5 miscarriages 2 ectopics 5 rounds IVF not to mention £35k!! I'd be happy to transfer them and get a BFN at least then ive given them a chance? They are actually graded higher than my twins were - I find myself staring at the twins wondering what their frosty siblings might look like

32 weeks! Bet you glad it's nearly over now? Don't talk to me about baby stuff! I have stuff everywhere 🤣🤣

How is everyone doing? Any more new arrivals??? Xx

Hi everyone, I’m 33+1 today. The twins are currently on the 45th centile and the hospital seem rather impressed that they are almost exact the same size! on the other hand I feel huge and fed up. And just to make the pregnancy a little more miserable I’ve now got gestational diabetes so having to use insulin and watch my diet too ☹️ Have a section date for 1 month though just after 37 weeks.

How is everyone else? How are the twins @RosettaR @ivfbeenbusy

@Parkandride have you delivered yet?

@thefishthatcouldwish how was the last growth scan?