IVF Pregnancies (thread 2)

[Holskey]

@LemonyT
@strawberrysummer19
@Etonmess20
@IamnotwhouthinkIam
@strawberrysummer19
@paintfairy
@2mumlife
@Starbeach
@TheSnufflet
@Novavee
@Donimo
@Monday55
@Cakecakecheese
@Porridgeislife
@JAR1981
@Hufflepuff1
@2022babyhope
@becarefuloutthere
@notsofertilemyrtle
@RiverRiot

I've definitely missed people, but hoping I've got everyone who's been active recently. Apologies if not!

How is everyone getting on now the heat is ramping up again ? I'm 30 weeks today and feel so full and heavy. My ankles look awful. We started our antenatal classes at the weekend (with Daisy Foundation) and it was lovely to do something that's very positive and about us having a baby together. I won't lie we still have our wobbles (especially today) but just trying to hold onto the fact that we've made it this far.

@CurbsideProphet Doing well here thanks! I'm sorry to hear you had a wobble yesterday, are you feeling better today? Definitely pleased to be up in Scotland where the weather is just pleasant! I'm on week 36 and feeling lucky I still haven't experienced a swollen ankle yet! Starting to wind down now though - went to my last bodypump class last week, and went to our single antenatal NHS class (was a bit boring to be honest, just same information we already knew). Have growth scan tomorrow after which I'm not sure what appointments etc come next so will be good to find out next steps for the last few weeks. I also can't wait to finish up work on the 26th, feels like a bit of a long slog working now but nearly there! Got to admit though, the worries about something going wrong at the end and still not ending up with a baby have kicked in, so just trying to distract myself from those thoughts as much as possible

I had my baby 28th July. I still can't believe he's actually here. It's mad when you've been trying so long and have been through so much, it still feels unreal.

@Cakecakecheese I can well imagine that feeling 💐 Hope you're enjoying him and your new reality! 💐

@2mumlife DH and I are both feeling better now thank you. We have the same worries as you and like you say, you have to remind yourself they're just thoughts and try to move your mind away from them.

There are no NHS antenatal classes here (the old Covid excuse) and we weren't going to bother, but August is so hard for us (last August at embryo transfer 2 there was no heartbeat at 7 weeks and then 3 weeks of misery with gynae assessment which culminated in surgery). These classes are over 6 Sunday mornings which is a commitment, but it means we spend Sunday in a nice positive "we are having a baby" mood. It's also good as we don't know anyone else who is pregnant. Everyone either has children or doesn't want them, so we've felt left out for a while now.

@Cakecakecheese I was hoping it would feel real once baby is here!

@CurbsideProphet That sounds really positive :) I don't know any local pregnant ladies, but one of my best friends is due her third in October so even though she's down in England I've sort of had her as a pregnant buddy.

Feeling less anxious after growth scan today which showed everything is still perfectly normal. Baby is an estimated 6lbs 7 now, and head is firmly in my pelvis (didn't need a scan to tell me that as I've been feeling it!). Consultant was fine about me declining induction as everything looks good, so its now just a matter of waiting! I have been booked in though for consultant chat at 39 weeks on 1st Sept (NHS due date 5th Sept / IVF dates 8th Sept) as he does want me to get extra scans if I go past 40 weeks. Also will be offered a sweep at that appointment which I'm currently intending to decline if everything seems well - with so much intervention to conceive, I'd like to just give my body the patience to do this part itself

Huge congratulations @Cakecakecheese ! 🎉 I have two now, been a mother for over 2 years. Still can't believe that's me!

My final FET baby arrived on 2nd August via planned c section, I can't believe that after ten years of infertility, three operations, failed treatment, two miscarriages and three gruelling rounds of IVF I am now a mother of 2. For anyone reading this and needing to hear - keep going and keep the faith.

Congratulations @Hufflepuff1! 🎉
Enjoy ❤️

@Hufflepuff1 Congratulations! Hope you're both doing well

@Hufflepuff1 💐❤️ Hope you're all enjoying this special time with your new baby 🙂

Can I ask those of you in 3rd trimester like me if you've had any breathlessness? I woke up on my back in the night and the weight of baby made me feel a bit breathless. Of course at 3am everything feels much worse. DH said I was talking normally and not gasping for breath, so likely I felt panicky from the initial feeling weight on my diaphragm. I was awake until after 5am and baby was happily kicking and nudging away for a lot of it. He's also been moving and nudging this morning as normal.

I've been managing my anxiety well for the past few months now, but last night has given me a knock. I normally can see my midwife every Thurs (due to my anxiety), but she's on leave and they're short staffed with it being holiday season so she couldn't book me into the clinic this week.

I'm working v hard not to Google breathlessness in pregnancy too much as I worry what would come up! No one has spoken to me about it before. From what I briefly read last night it can be normal, especially if you unintentionally sleep on your back. Has anyone been given any info about feeling a bit breathless and how to judge what is normal?

@CurbsideProphet it's very normal to feel breathlessness. It's awful. I felt I couldn't do the most basic activities for becoming out of breath (literally standing was too much sometimes). And sometimes I'd be sat and didn't feel I could get a good breath.

Speak to your midwife. Low iron is a common cause.

@Holskey I'm really sorry you experienced it. I'm grateful you replied. Have been fretting off and on all day tbh, mainly anxious about it happening again in the middle of the night when everything feels more terrifying. At least baby has kept me company all day with lots of reassuring somersaults and kicks.

I'm waiting for a call back from the midwives. I'm 31 weeks now. Had bloods done a few weeks ago and everything was fine apparently.

I'm only working half days next week, 2 full days the week after and then that's me on annual leave until maternity kicks in. My job has been so busy and stressful the past couple of weeks. I wonder if it's a coincidence the breathless started now, or if it's my body just saying it's had enough of taking in everyone else's problems...

@CurbsideProphet Super normal to be feeling a bit breathless at this stage - all your organs have been squished up into your diaphragm by baby (there are some great diagrams here to show you what's happening to all your internal organs: www.whattoexpect.com/wom/pregnancy/this-is-how-your-organs-move-to-make-room-for-baby-every-week-of-pregnancy).

Try sleeping on your side if you can as this will help (shoving a pillow behind your back can help prevent you rolling back onto your back if you're a natural back sleeper). Also, you're just at the point of having to listen to your body a bit more now about physical limitations

Thank you @2mumlife 🙂 I didn't get a call back from the midwives in the end. It was definitely rolling onto my back that did it. I've tried to wedge myself so I can't roll over. Quite tricky!

I think I'm struggling seeing other pregnant women bounding around, still working and jogging and walking for miles, while I feel so tired and everything aches already at just under 32 weeks.

My mum was here recently and commenting on how the house could do with dusting (helpful). DH is working v long hours and once I've done 7 hours sat at my desk I just can't manage to hoover everywhere etc. The kitchen and bathroom are clean and the rest isn't awful, but yes there is some dust in places. Makes me feel a bit pathetic really for not being some sort of pregnant superwoman!

Give yourself a break @CurbsideProphet. Other pregnant women doing x, y and z probably don't have the same struggles you do. And then there are some women who have to have lots of sick leave, some who spend the latter stages wheelchair bound. Pregnancies are all different. The dusting isn't important.

@CurbsideProphet Just as @Vecna says, try not to compare to others. The vast majority of women on my Facebook due date group are knackered, fed up and begging for inductions. I've found pregnancy physically really easy (no swollen feet, very little pelvic pain etc etc) which I'm finding out is super rare and even then by 32 weeks, I was shattered. From 32 weeks I found I had to really start slowing down. I'm still working, but only because I work from home (finally finish on Friday!) but I'm, definitely not jogging!

Thank you @Vecna and @2mumlife
The only pregnant women I see are at my antenatal classes and they're in glowy pregnant women mode. Meanwhile I've got really unsightly puffy feet, still got heartburn, and am awake half the night. I feel a bit on my own if that makes sense?

I think I'll feel better when I've finished work and can sit with my puffy feet up and destress!

@CurbsideProphet I finally got some Esomeprazole tablets for heartburn. Work a miracle so can strongly recommend!

@2mumlife I've been on omeprazole since 7 weeks 🤦🏻‍♀️ I think my insides are just really sensitive to the hormones and being knocked around by baby!

I had a growth scan yesterday and he's quite high up the percentiles which has freaked me out as I'm only 5ft. I've got to go back tomorrow for the glucose diabetes test. I've read mixed things about this. Worried about feeling sick from no breakfast and then the issue of my terrible veins for the blood tests 😔 And of course being a bit concerned I do have gestational diabetes.
Ah to have the easy breezy type of pregnancy where you have 2 scans and barely even see a midwife!

@CurbsideProphet Not sure if perhaps you've developed a tolerance to the omeprazole? In some ways I'm glad I've only started the Esomeprazole the last few weeks as at least I'm getting the relief (and managed to control it ok before with watching diet and times of meals etc).

The GTT is absolutely fine - I did it at 20 weeks(? I think) and whilst I felt a bit bleurgh from the drink when the sugar hit, I wasn't close to being sick or anything like that. I can be a bit of a fainter so I just got them to take the blood from the same good vein for the before and after and it was absolutely fine. Hopefully you wont have any issues - I got the result within 24 hours as well.

The percentiles vary depending on your demographics - so your 90th centile line won't be the same as mine for instance. There are loads of 'big baby' myths, I really wouldn't be concerned unless its looking like baby would be over 10lbs at birth. Have a look at the article below:

improvingbirth.org/2017/05/big-baby-myth-what-you-need-to-know-2/#:~:text=MYTH%3A%20It%20is%20possible%20to,wrong%2050%25%20of%20the%20time.&text=MYTH%3A%20Big%20babies%20are%20at%20higher%20risk%20for%20complications.

Before you start thinking about induction / csection due to babies size, read this article which has a lot of the real data on "big" babies:

evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-for-induction-or-c-section-for-big-baby/

I keep wondering if they'd suggest doing all these extra scans etc if we had a second IVF pregnancy, as everything's been totally fine.

I don't have gestational diabetes 🙏🏻
We use an app here and the result shows at 5.30pm.

The hospital midwife said it's all an estimate and if this was my 2nd or 3rd baby is would be more accurate. But I don't really understand how they calculate it anyway. He looks like he's 96th percentile on the chart. I'm 5ft and DH is approx 5ft 7. We're not tall / well built. My weight and bmi was only recorded when I was 12 weeks and had already put a bit of weight on. Would it be more accurate if it was based on pre pregnancy weight? Luckily I'm seeing my community midwife next week so I think she will be more helpful at explaining than the ones in the hospital!

Curbside I also seem to be growing a bit of a whopper! We were sent for a growth scan and although she’s still in the ‘normal’ range she’s weighing about two weeks bigger than average. I’ve put on soo much weight but mostly on my bump. Saw the midwife last week and she said I’m petite (not sure about that!) so even an 8lb baby would be big for me. Yikes.

They did a blood test on me to check for gestational diabetes, but I didn’t have to drink anything or fast so not sure why it was different to how they seem to usually check.

Getting a bit worried so will have a look at the links you’ve posted later 2mumlife

@GodspeedJune I know I will have put weight on too, but I'm pretty much all bump and boobs - apart from my puffy ankles! I have another scan at 35 weeks. I'm hoping that it reassures me....