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!

Thanks for replies @BeHereNowx32, @RosettaR, @ivfdreaming
Yeah, walking is ok! Good to hear what others are doing! I think I’ll stick with my walking and maybe go swimming if that opens up, but that depends on how scared I am of catching COVID at a public pool! So many worries!

@RosettaR
You’re a fresh cycle right? Your body will still be settling down from all the drugs! Just keep listening to your body. If it’s really painful, get help! Otherwise, it’s probably ok. I know that’s not hugely reassuring, but it does seem like the odd cramp here, a little bit bleeding there seems to be not a huge concern to the medical professionals.
I had some very light (brown) bleeding over the last few days but that seems to have stopped now thankfully. I phoned up the clinic worried, but they were really not bothered and said it was probably old implantation bleeding. Really? From 3 weeks ago?! Who knows.

@ValidUser
How annoying with the pharmacy stuff! Rant away!

@ivfdreaming
I think partners are now allowed at 12w and 20w scans, although maybe that’s just Scotland. I’m not allowed to take DH to 7w scan next week (I don’t think). August 13th is still a while away. It might change for you hopefully.

@Janefx40
Yeah I’m the same. If something (bad) happened and I’d just been for a run, I would blame myself even if that wasn’t responsible. Not worth it!

@RosettaR
I’ve been trying to eat more fruit and veg. I’m ok with veg, but don’t normally eat much fruit and drink lots of water. Lean protein is good too. All the usual stuff I think..varied diet: nuts, “rainbow” veg and avoid salty, fatty processed foods. No mouldy cheese, raw fish or parma ham! I’ve been trying to have wholewheat pasta too. I’ve been watching caffeine intake too as I’m a bit of a chocolate fiend and drink tea (bought decaf). I’ve got the Zita West The ivf diet book and she recommends leafy greens!

@RosettaR I kept up the high protein for the whole of the first trimester- I was having protein shakes with whole milk as I'm a vegetarian and it was recommended by my acupuncturist and IVF clinic. I also hate the taste of milk so it's the best way to make sure I'm drinking it!

I've eased off now I'm in the second trimester, I have a protein shake two or three times a week.

Really feeling like I need to do better with my diet after reading these 🙈
@RosettaR I didn’t follow a specific diet last time. But I craved milk, so drank a lot of that.
The other day I didn’t eat a single peice of fruit or veg! But I will start now. I just ate a bowl of raspberries and grapes and drank a smoothie before bed! That’s got to help?!? 😂 xx

@BeHereNowx32! 😂 I’m still eating choc, crisps, cakes...just trying to balance it out with healthy stuff too! For the first few days after transfer, I was trying to be really good, but actually for me that ended up (Not deliberately) being a bit of a sudden, strict diet! And you’re not meant to diet!
So I think I’m in a good place now, where I eat basically what I normally eat (Apart from banned foods!), but try to consciously make healthier choices too. (Eg. Had some blueberries with breakfast today and extra spinach with dinner! But had chocolate cake and a biscuit this afternoon too)

For anyone worried about what they are eating, I prepared lovely fresh veg and chicken stir fry last night - couldn't bring myself to eat any of it and so had a crisp sandwich on cheap white bread instead

The thought of eating any vegetables turns my stomach at the moment. I usually eat really well so I'm hoping this few weeks of unhealthy eating won't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

@elleceedee no, it doesn’t matter. Baby takes what they need. Once the placenta takes over, hopefully you will feel better anyway.
Midwife will keep an eye on your iron levels too.
I’m feeling better today, compared with yesterday, and have a day out planned. So, hopefully that helps too
Have a nice Sunday! X

How is everyone feeling today? Hope you all had a nice weekend x

I had a nice but rather lazy weekend, just don't seem to have much energy. Still a bit anxious, and struggling to think of this pregnancy as real, I guess because I've had no external confirmation. A beta HCG would be good for that I think, wish my clinic did one now.

Thanks for all your support with the period type pains, it's made me feel so much better. I didn't have them much over the weekend so that was nice!

My main other pregnancy symptom so far seems to be that I've lost the ability to swallow vitamin tablets easily! I keep getting them stuck and retching which isnt very nice. Now i know why they sell them as liquid...

@RosettaR yeah, they are strong pregnancy symptoms. Good you could rest too.
Last night I had a really really sore stomach. Hopefully just things growing 🙈 x

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good weekend. We went on a bit of a mammoth shopping trip on Sat which triggered my chronic pain, so was a very lazy day yesterday - been catching up on the thread with a cuppa this morning :) (so sorry for my bumper reply!)

@RosettaR, massive congrats and welcome. I was also shocked about just how worried I have been about everything, but speaking to other people it is completely normal! I have to say I am feeling a lot better after my scan on Fri, and looking forward to my "official" 12 week scan, so I would recommend a private scan if you're thinking that might be an option as well as the IVF scan. Hope your OHSS is improving still

@BeHereNowx32 bleeding sounds so scary, but glad the clinic were able to give you some reassurance. I have heard of others having bleeding after inserting the pessaries too - maybe try the back door for a while to give everything time to recover a little!

@ivfdreaming hope you had a lovely break away. Keep checking the guidance for your hospital as there is still time for it so change - on Friday mine announced that partners can come to scans - so seems like things are being updated in line with the gov guidance etc.

@ivfdreaming @ValidUser I also look like I have eaten all the pies! Super bloated - I think it is just the progesterone - and struggling to find things that are comfy to wear. Lots of floaty tops in the office to try and hide it, but I am sure people have noticed (plus my constant eating!)

@RosettaR the main thing is to try and keep a healthy and varied diet - although I would advise just eating what you can stomach in the first trimester, and not getting too stressed about it - I have been a carb monster and really gone off fruit, but my midwife said that is normal and being hungry for things like that is a good sign as it's your body needing lots of energy for all the growing its doing. Not just the baby but things like your blood volume increases by 2-3pints in the early days, which is all hard work!

@LemonRabbit FTM here too - such a minefield of advice out there! I'm sticking with the NHS guidance - I know a lot of US advice is different. There is a well recommended book on here about what to eat and the various research behind it if you are interested in reading more. Re sleeping, its mainly after 28 weeks I understand that back sleeping is not recommended, as it can slightly increase the risk of still birth, but imagine a lot of people get uncomfy before that!

@RosettaR oh yes sorry. Hope your OHSS is getting better!!

@MorgenMuffel sorry that you are in pain. Hope you can rest until better.
The instructions of my pesseries says it can only be done vaginally. But it I get more bleeding ( had a little this morning), I will phone hospital to ask. Thank you! Xx

I'm feeling kind of concerned as my hcg hasn't increased that much over past 48 hours. I'm getting a lot of close monitoring which is great but it also means I'm hyper aware. All my previous results were more than doubled but this time has barely risen by a third. Clinic says not to worry but it's hard not to.

I can't believe it's only been 8 days since my Test Day. It feels like months.

Finding it impossible to concentrate on work but getting so behind as a result!

@Janefx40 I know what you mean. They are keeping an eye on things, but then giving you even more details to overthink. When will you get another blood test?

I don’t know much about numbers with hcg. I didn’t even get told the number with my last pregnancy.
And this time round I was only told that it was 66, and that was positive. I found it easier the first time round, so I didn’t have a number to think about and google!

I’m not feeling anything today. Slightly heavy in tummy area. 🤔 I think being through ivf makes this even harder. Hope all ok @Janefx40 x

Thanks @BeHereNowx32 my next test is Wednesday so I should know then if this is carrying on or heading for miscarriage. Going to be a nervous couple of days.

Heavy feeling in tummy sounds about right. Not sure there are many definite symptoms at this point. When is your 7 week scan?

X

@Janefx40 it's good that they are checking your HCG, hopefully your test on Wednesday will be a good number and bring you some reassurance.

@BeHereNowx32 hope you enjoyed your day out. I definitely felt that heavy feeling around week 6/7 so hopefully quite normal and nothing to worry about.

@MorgenMuffel sorry you've been in pain, hopefully it's eased off a bit now?

Well all my symptoms have completely stopped so of course I'm feeling extremely nervous. I never ever thought I would be sat here hoping that my awful nausea would return! I don't really know what to do, I just feel really disheartened and sad.

@Janefx40 gosh, what a stressful couple of days for you. Really hoping for good news for you xxx

@elleceedee how many weeks are you? Symptoms start to ease when the placenta takes over. You’ll feel amazing until the 3rd trimester! Xx

@Janefx40 7 week scan is 5th of august x

@BeHereNowx32 my 6 week scan is the same day!

@Janefx40 what's your raw hCG? Doubling time slows after it reaches a certain threshold.

@elleceedee I think it's pretty normal for symptoms to come and go isn't it ... but still enough to make you worry I know. Such a worrying time in general.

@Janefx40 sorry you're going through a stressful time. Wednesday must feel like a long way away. It is good you're being monitored so much though, I kind of wish I had a bit more of that but then there's always the risk it will throw up things to worry about, which may well turn out to be fine anyway.

@MorgenMuffel with my OHSS I'm so glad I'm working from home, there's no hiding that so I'm sure there would be gossip! I also have carb cravings, had a random craving for pasta with olive oil and pine nuts so that's what I had for lunch and it was tasty!

Argh I am pretty sure I'm developing thrush. Google suggests this is pretty common on the pessaries but I could really do without it, such a horrible feeling. I'm still hoping it's just irritation ... My experience (only had it once but it was pretty memorable) says if it's thrush it will get worse very quickly, so I will soon find out.

@Janefx40
Try not to worry. I thought hcg was supposed to (roughly) double every 2-3 days? So if you had a test today and getting a test on Wed it might not quite double. Also I think the “doubling” isn’t totally accurate. I would worry if it hadn’t gone up at all or had gone down.
If it’s still increasing then that’s good I know you’ll still worry, but it is still increasing.

@elleceedee
My symptoms come and go. I had really sore boobs and then no soreness for the last week. Except today they’re really not even sore - just quite tight feeling (hard to explain!)
Try to enjoy not having symptoms! If in doubt do another HPT. It makes me feel better! I’ve even started buying cheap ones as it doesn’t need to be so sensitive anymore. Trying to limit myself to 2pw. I think I’ve done so many where no line appears, I love the thrill of seeing a +ve result!

Thanks everyone for reassuring words. Yes the doubling should have slowed by now but not this much. The clinic are experts so if they are happy I have to trust them and hope it's ok.

@elleceedee definitely normal for symptoms to come and go or be totally absent. Hard not to worry tho!

@RosettaR ouch. Hope it's not thrush. I had it recently for the first time in years and it was a bit sore but cleared up really fast with cream so is very easily resolved. Hopefully it will just sort itself out anyway tho

Hi @RosettaR
I didn’t mention this on here as weirdly I wasn’t very worried about it but I have also been treating thrush. I think it’s probably the pessaries but I’m a little prone to it anyway (before all the ivf).
Actually I spoke to clinic and they said I should contact GP incase it wasn’t thrush so went to GP. He took a look. it’s thrush and now got cream.
You’re not the only one!

I ended up on antibiotics for a cat scratch (and got my tetanus updated). What a strange few days!

That's what I get for trying to stop one of the cats stealing my husband's dinner.

2 of the cats are super affectionate but the third guy is really off since I got pregnant.

@ValidUser

One of my cats turns into a sex pest whenever I'm pregnant - it's like having a furry early detection pregnancy test running around - every time I sit down he humps me and gets cross if I shove him off 😂 (yes he is neutered - my vet thought it was hilarious when I took him in to check it hadnt reversed itself or something!)