IVF pregnancies - Spring 2024

[thislittlebird]

Anyone here in a similar position? I'm feeling a bit of an odd one out on forums now where I don't feel pregnant pregnant and I don't feel infertile infertile, and thought I'd see if others were in the same, tentative situation. I don't feel like I'm ready to join the main May 2024 gang until I'm more confident this will continue.

I'm only 4 weeks 5 days :/

Made it past without any bleeding so that's good. Have lots of gagging/nausea but no cramping which I had lots of with my daughter so I'm worrying about that! I've stopped testing now as it just doesn't help my sanity. Scan is two weeks today so not too long to wait now.

Just adding @ivfalone to this group as she’s at the 5/6 week mark and feeling a bit anxious like the rest of us.

@thislittlebird thanks. And thats a shame the 0% wines don’t taste that nice, I’m not really a fan of beer 🙈 I’ve had a Virgin Mary which I enjoyed but had a virgin pina colada last week and it made me throw up 🤢

Thanks @halsi

@MaybeBabyTwo how are you doing? X

Sorry @MaybeBabyTwo missed your response. As much as it sucks, at least the nausea is a sign of a healthy pregnancy xx

Hi everyone! Thank you for adding me @Doughnut89 - great to see people in the same period as me and it is very reassuring. Just as a breakdown I am now 6w4d and not having a lot of symptoms. If I really think about it, I am eating more than I normally would, I also have random waves of nausea and some gagging a bit like you @MaybeBabyTwo. I also am feeling a little bit more exhausted but struggling to fall asleep at night.

I had a scan at 5W5D and they only saw the Ges Sac and Yolk Sac. No sign of the embryo/fetal pole and it's disheartening as I read about so many people getting to see/hear heartbeats at that time!

Hello you beauties! Here you all are! My god I was wondering where all my ivf mamas are at. So glad I found you!
i’m currently 9weeks 5 days with my first pregnancy. I was so lucky to conceive at 40 on my first go. Who knows how it will all work out. Riding the rollercoaster and keeping fingers and toes crossed. I’m still on my medication which needs to stop soon and I’m absolutely terrified.

@KG1244 im 9wks 5 days and my clinic wanted me to stop bang on 10 weeks. I obviously freaked out. So got enough meds to take me to 11 and a half weeks but I’m thinking I should try tapering after week 10. Have you come off meds now? How’s it going?

@CazzyM1983 I was told to stop at 12 weeks but I didn't feel comfortable going from 3 pessaries a day to nothing overnight so I started going down to 2 a day yesterday, not sure whether to stop at that on Friday when I get to 12 weeks or to do once a day for a few days. I know the science says to just stop but it does feel very scary to do that!

Thank you @Halsi and @Doughnut89!

I think the fact that your sister is being supportive shows that she doesn’t hold any resentment towards you for not being able to be as present as you’d like for her pregnancy. No one would choose this struggle with fertility and hopefully others (particularly those closest to us) understand the huge impact and effect it has.

Speaking of baby names, I already have my exact names (including middle names) picked out for a boy and girl. 🤭 Started as a general list but I’ve had an unexpected 4 years to be able to fine tune it!!

Congrats on making it past 5 weeks @MaybeBabyTwo

Only 1 week to go until my 12 week scan and I am nervously BUZZING with excitement!

@CazzyM1983 Hi lovely, my consultant said that by 7 weeks the placenta is producing enough progesterone. However he said I can take lubion until 9 weeks and the pessaries until 10 weeks. I have enough stuff that after 9 weeks, I will be able to take 1 lubion a day for about 5 days and I have enough pessaries to cover me to 12 weeks. I’m not 100% sure when I will stop the pessaries but will try and do a tapering off approach. I told him I was very nervous to stop but he said not to worry. I’m also quite panicky about miscarriage (not sure why, I think ivf just made me more paranoid) and said I was worried that stopping the progesterone could cause that he but he said it wouldn’t be that which would cause it if it was to happen. Hope that helps.

Anyone else been suffering from acid reflux? Never had it before until last night 🤢

@MaybeBabyTwo stopping testing sounds like a good plan.

@Doughnut89 I should say, the Kylie Minogue 0% rose one was actually quite nice and so far it's the one I'd recommend. It's palatable. I think i was just expecting it to be more like the real thing and it felt softer (which is fair enough!). I'd have that one again. I'll update when I've tried the Belle and Co. 0% sparkling rose! The pina colada sounds a bit rough lol

@IVFAlone welcome! It's still a bit early, when it your next scan? Mine is not until 6w5d next Thursday.

@CazzyM1983 welcome! 40 on first try is lucky! Did you do PGT-A? I started at 38 and it's taken ages.

@Misty84 I'm not that organised, I've been too scared to breach the name topic with dh because then it feels very real and I want to be reassured first. I have a list, of course, and I have 2 favourites of each, but hoping he'll agree if we get that far.

I'm 5w 1d today too, so it's my first time I've reached "clinical pregnancy" stage.

@KG1244 tapering sounds like a good plan. Wrt acid reflux, probably too early for me, but I've had insane hunger and off on nausea constantly so far. Not sure how common that is.

@hopefulmum46 i know what you mean. I’m going to work out a weaning off plan tomorrow I think and start from my week 10. I think I’ll check with midwife because clinic says just stop. I’m having 2 pessaries a day and 3 estrogen tabs a day. I’m thinking I’ll reduce one pessary every other day for about four days and then do one pessary every day. And then one every other? And maybe stop by end of week 12. Estrogen I’ll do something similar I think. I know people will say it’s fine to just stop but I think I want to be in control of it. Or at least feel like I am. Nothing like kidding myself! 🤣

@thislittlebird yeah I did pgta because that’s the only way my husband would agree to ivf 🤦‍♀️🤣 he has disabilities on his side so I can understand. And it’s probably a good idea for me at my age anyway. Was bloody horrendous waiting for the results tho. Had to wait like four weeks and then another week for appointment with consultant. Was way worse than my 2 week wait!

@KG1244 you sound exactly how I feel! Just do what you think feels right.
im think I’m gona taper off over next two weeks. Even tho it feels scary. Eeeek

@thislittlebird sorry I’ve got adhd and just read your reply again and then realised I might have seemed insensitive. Sorry! I don’t read things properly first time.
Sorry you have had bumps in the road getting to where you’re at now. I kept thinking omg can I even do this again so I can’t imagine what you’ve had to go through and the resilience you have needed.
All the way thru this process I have appreciated how lucky I am. Since egg collection day and the girl in the cubicle next to me was told she had no eggs collected and another was super poorly with OHSS. I have stopped at every hurdle and thanked my lucky stars.

@CazzyM1983 no, it's fine, don't worry. I wish I'd done PGT-A at the start. We were with the NHS to begin with and that wasn't an option, then our second cycle wend to hell in a hand basket so we couldn't test (private) and the third was the first time we tested. First tested has worked. It does make me think age played a role and this should be advised to women late 30s plus more often in the UK. We were 'lucky' in the sense we could make good graded embryos, so I'm thankful for that because I know some people struggle at that stage, but we did have a hell of time getting where we are now, is I am very keen not to have to start all over again.

I've felt a bit sick yesterday and this morning. Can't help thinking this is going to escalate quickly into being sick in the next week or so.

@thislittlebird Not necessarily. I've had bad all day nausea for over a week now but it hasn't changed to throwing up just yet.

@TheBirdintheCave yeah, maybe! I get sick easily though, so wouldn't be surprised. Sickness and migraine is basically my only period symptom, so it wouldn't be a shock if sickness was coming my way lol

@thislittlebird ive had awful nausea and dizziness on and off and it’s peaked at nine weeks. Seems to be getting worse but can’t complain I guess 🤣

We had to go private because nhs wouldn’t have us due to my husbands age, my age and my husband has grown up kids already. It’s been eye wateringly expensive and I am not sure how we made it work but we did.

Im really hoping I can carry on all the way to having a live birth but as I’m sure you will all agree, you don’t stop worrying 🫣

Hope everything keeps working out ok for you and baby xxx

@CazzyM1983 it really does but I’m trying to remind myself that the clinic wouldn’t not give me meds if they thought I really needed them.

I got two letters through my NHS app today for my booking appointment and 12 week scan. Very much like fuck this feels real now! Have you had your booking appointment yet?

also feeling you on the nausea, I’m just over 7 weeks and since I hit 7, the nausea, vomitting and indigestion has arrived 🙌🏻 (definitely won’t complain though)

@thislittlebird sorry to hear you’ve had such a hellish time to get to this point. I hope all is well for you here on out xx

@KG1244 yeah I’ve had my booking appointment with midwife and I had a scan at 8 weeks with clinic. Got my nhs 12 week scan appointment letter through yesterday.
we haven’t got the nhs app in Wales, we’re a bit behind 🤣 we get a bulky file to carry around with us and have to wait for letters to arrive or not arrive in the dodgy post 🤣🤦‍♀️
I kept not believing I was pregnant until I had my scan. I felt like I needed someone who knows what they’re doing to check I wasn’t mistaken 🤣 no one checked my bloods or anything so I was like wow imagine I made a mistake 🤣🤣🤣

@CazzyM1983 i completely know what you mean. It really doesn’t feel real. I also thought I would start crying at my scan last week but nope - I really don’t think I’ve processed it yet!

What a pain with the letters. Hopefully they will get an app soon!

What happens at the booking appointment? I feel so clueless right now and have no idea what to expect 😂

@KG1244 awww don’t panic! Booking appointment was just a chat about medical history, family medical history and all that. Previous abusive relationships, family issues, any alcohol or drug dependency. Finding what you need support with in pregnancy really. I got weighed and measured. Oh I did a urine test but I’m not sure what it was for but she said it was fine lol.
I got asked what hospital I wanted because I’ve got a choice of two here. I got asked about what prenatal tests I’d be happy to have done. Ummm I think that was it. She told me what to be eatting and exercise etc. I asked quite a lot of questions that were probably stupid.
It was overwhelming but ok. Fried my brain a bit having to think what to say. I’ve got adhd so my brain malfunctions quite often lol

@KG1244 booking appointment lasted 1.5 hours for me!🥵 LOTS of questions.

I still can't bring myself to register with a midwife :/