FET after termination for medical reasons

[a13169]

I'm 40 and 14 weeks pregnant but have just found out that there are some issues with our baby and so we are looking at probably having a termination in the next week or so. I'm absolutely devastated. We have one child already who is almost 2 and were looking forward to completing our family. Both this baby and our child were natural pregnancies but we do have some frozen embryos from 4 years ago (when I was 36). We do not have any fertility issues as far as we know and did the IVF only really as an insurance plan as we weren't ready to start trying but didn't want to potentially lose the chance to have children (I do realise how privileged we were to be able to do that). We are now thinking to use one of the embryos for a future pregnancy instead of TTC naturally, in order to try to reduce the chances of there being any issues again (down to my age).

Has anyone been in a similar situation of having an FET (frozen embryo transfer) following a termination? If so was there a set period of time you had to wait after the termination?

I'd be grateful for any advice, including anything I should be considering or planning for.

Firstly I am so sorry you are going through this. I know it is absolutely devastating. It will be so tough but you will get through this.

We lost our first child due to a TFMR in December 2021. He was IUI conceived (we are a same sex couple). We were told we could try again after one normal menstrual cycle - e.g. had to wait until I had stopped bleeding, then waited for my next period and then waited until ovulation. That was March 2022 and unsuccessful. We decided to do some IVF cycles due to our ages (late 30s) which we did over Summer 2022. We fell pregnant in September 2022 via a FET and I’m now 28 weeks. I understand your body recovers relatively quickly from a TFMR but the key for a FET is a decent womb lining. You may be able to go ahead in May/June but I think it is subject to everything internally recovering so that your body can make a nice home for the frozen embryo. I think it’s a good idea - your eggs will be younger in your “fridge kids” and the chance of pregnancy is very high compared to a conventional attempt at pregnancy (50% vs about 20% I think).

Wishing you all the very best. Look after yourself. 💐

Thanks so much for sharing your story. I'm so sorry about your TFMR but congratulations on your pregnancy. That's really helpful to know, I don't want to rush into it if my body's not ready but equally I feel like if we don't try soon I will find it too difficult mentally. I wish you the best with your final trimester and the birth Xx