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 :/

Just had my 12 week scan and measuring 5 days ahead! Starting to feel less nauseous the last few days so I'm hoping I might actually be able to start enjoying pregnancy soon. It's a tough road isn't it!

My right ovary is smaller than 2 weeks ago but still pretty huge following the stimulation. I don't have any other symptoms of hyperstimulation fortunately. I'm going to stop my progesterone pessaries now so baby's on their own!

@hopefulmum46 That's great! :)

@Misty84 i keep saying get to such and such a milestone and I’ll stop stressing. And then I get to it and I don’t stop stressing lol.

Hopefully after my 12 week scan if I get that far, I can try and chill and enjoy the pregnancy. But I’m pretty sure I’m going to be stressy until I’ve got my baby in my arms!

Positive energy to everyone and their babies!!!

@Misty84 yep, I think I'm going to be the same! 🤷 trying my best to be cautiously positive, want to let some excitement in to enjoy the journey 🤞 it's reassuring to hear so many having success after troubles.

I agree @CazzyM1983 and @Jpos, I’m cautiously positive too and really excited for my 12 week scan and hopefully trusting that this will really happen a bit more! 🌈

Hello everyone. I haven’t messaged anything on here but have lurked for a good few weeks on the conception and pregnancy boards. I hope you’re all doing well.

This isn’t an IVF pregnancy but I hope you don’t mind me asking for advice as you might understand.

After my miscarriage I was prescribed Cyclogest 400mg from ovulation to 12 weeks due to thyroid and progesterone related issues.

I am 7 weeks 4 days now, still filled with huge anxiety on a daily basis but trying to
cope. Very annoyingly the pharmacy have cocked up the Cyclogest order. I am down to my last 5 pessaries now and they say “hopefully” it will come on the order tomorrow. I cannot take the prescription elsewhere as it is partially filled by them (that is the 4 pessaries I have).

Does anyone recommend what I should do here? The doctors are now closed - should I reduce my progesterone down to try and eke it out? I’m so worried. Thank you in advance.

@Strawberrylolly88 hi! Try not to panic.
Does your hospital have an early pregnancy unit or do you have number for maternity services at ur hospital? I would contact them for advice?
Or do you have nhs 111? Sorry that’s what we have in wales so I don’t know if everyone in Uk has it. I would ring them and ask. They should be able to make you an appointment with oncall gp at hospital who should be able to help?
Does your gp number not give an out of hours number to call when you ring it? Ours has an answerphone message that gives an emergency number.

@Strawberrylolly88 how many pessaries are you on a day?

@Strawberrylolly88 Are you on two per day? If so, plus the one for evening, is that enough to get you to Monday?

@Jpos oh you're exactly a week after me!

@Misty84 are you 40 next year? If this goes well, I might scrape in with a LB before I'm 41. But that feels like a pipe dream still!

@hopefulmum46 great news! Do they adjust your due date in line with the measurements? Glad the OHSS is easing off.

@Strawberrylolly88 I think @CazzyM1983's tip about the EPU is good, they might be able to help.

Thank you everyone - I don’t know how to quote you all in my reply.

I am seeing a private consultant which I think makes it more complicated and my EPU don’t take self referrals in this area.

I have 4 pessaries left exactly which takes me to Monday morning (where I won’t have one to insert). I guess worst case I can chase up consultant and my GP then for urgent prescription and just take it a little bit later than normal.

Thank you again x

@Strawberrylolly88 Yeah that should be ok. I was two hours late taking mine on Thursday as I was waiting for a new prescription and it didn't seem to change anything :)

Hi all, having a bit of a panicked day.

For those of you that have passed the 8 week mark and have had nausea and vomiting, was it consistent every day? I’ve not being sick today and only feeling a little bit of nausea. Should I be concerned?

@KG1244 Not consistent at all! Mine suddenly got better at 9 weeks, then reappeared! The same happened at 12 weeks. Bastard nausea. Please don't worry ❤️

@countrypunk thank you, that’s very reassuring ❤️ I’m suddenly desperate to feel like shit - never thought I would feel that!!!

Don't panic.
The pessaries will not be doing much.
I was on 1200mg a day, from ovulation until 12 weeks, but the dco who did my transfer said not to worry if I miss them, as there is no cientific proof they actually do anything.

And I skipped quite a few, when I was going to the beach or the pool, as I couldn't be leaking that white grease without a liner.

So don't stress about it. It makes no difference if you skip one or two. So even if you don't have one on Monday, whenever you get your prescription you can just resume it.

I never took mine at the same time.
Morning ones were whenever I was about to get up, which varied from 6am to 2pm,
Afternoon ones varied from 4pm to 8pm
And evening ones from 11pm to 3am

This is not the birth control pill! There's no need to worry about what time you take them.

Absolutely not consistent. It comes and goes.
I had a great week this week, thought maybe I was over the nausea, and then last night I got hit over the head with it with full force, to the point of being nauseated by a smell, which has never happened before!!!

Symptoms don't mean anything at all!

Hey ladies I’ve had covid this week and been largely bed bound so quite behind on messages. Sorry some of the things I’m responding to are quite old 😂

@Summerishere83 congrats on the twins. That’s so exciting!

@Misty84 that’s exciting you have names already planned.
I decided to test early to find out the sex if the baby and it’s stressing me out because I have no boys names planned 🙈🙈🙈 If it was a girl I was going to name it after my grandmother. I guess at least I have just over 6 months to think about it 😂

@kg1244 that’s good the NHS already contacted you about your 12 week scan. I’m 10 weeks today and I’ve heard nothing. I wonder if I should chase them?
I wouldn’t worry about the inconsistent symptoms, mine haven’t been. Some days I’ve felt nothing, other days nothing seems to go the nausea. I’m with you on the feeling like utter shit that you were experiencing earlier in the week lol. Not only did the covid cough make me throw up this week, I swear the pregnancy nausea has really decide to lick it up a notch this week. I’ve been struggling to eat. I just spent all of yesterday afternoon and most of today in bed. I’m looking forward to not feeling nauseous again so make the most of not feeling sick today - it will likely come back.
Also so with you on wanting to show off the bump in a tight dress after I’ve announced it. I can’t wait!

@ASGIRC when you say donor embryo, can I ask does that mean you used a donor egg as well as donor sperm? Sorry for my ignorance but congrats on getting past the 12 week stage 🙌
Also I’m not catholic but Easter’s always a big deal in my family too - my dads Italian so he is catholic but my my is Protestant and she’s the one who’s more into it lol

@Halsi I’m going to miss mulled wine so much this Christmas 😩 (sorry that’s a throwback to a chat quite a few days ago) I’m pleased your scan went well and they saw the heartbeat. When I had mine they told me sometimes it measures smaller because the position the babies in and it doesn’t really mean anything at this stage xx

@thislittlebird that’s a tough one on the jobs. Obviously it’s not great that you’re unhappy there and not full remote working but if all goes well with this pregnancy at least you know you’ll have a year off from it plus 5 months full pay is amazing and so rare. Maybe wait until you return from mat leave to start the job hunt again? Have you thought any more about it? Good luck for your scan this week.

@TheBirdintheCave great news on your scan

@hopefulmum46 great news on your scan and getting past 12 weeks 😊

@Strawberrylolly88 i was in Italy the other week and due to time difference and being out and about doing touristy things it really messed up my Cyclogest schedule but I don’t think it really made a difference

@Doughnut89 in a way, yes, but a donor embryo is already "made" and frozen. It is a spare embryo that was discarded by whomever.
For instance, imagine you have 7 frozen embryos, and decide you are done having babies. But you still have those 7 frosties in the freezer.
You have to decide what you will do with them. Option 1 is destroy them, option 2 is donate to science, option 3 is donate the embryos to other people.
My embryo was donated. Luckily, it was an embryo from 2 donors, and not, for instance, a couple, but that is a possibility when you go this route.

No one in my family is particularly catholic 😂 it's just a cultural thing. And anything is an excuse to get everyone together!!
So when people go "oh but what a great gift, to have an easter baby" I kinda want to kill them, cause its not a gift to anyone, and definitely not to me, particularly if I have to spend it in hospital (3 days for natural birth, 5 foe c section where I am! 🤯) while the whole family is having a lovely time together 😂😂😂😂

@Doughnut89 yeah, I think I'm going to go for the external one if my scan goes badly, but if the scan goes well I will probably sack them all off. I worked out our savings potential and we're going to get a joint account so we know what's what if all goes well. Long term IVF drained our finances. The internal one is a good opportunity but I just don't think I'll get it, and I really don't fancy the stress of a presentation in front of colleagues and then rejection. It will likely mean a man in my team gets it who I don't like, but I guess I have different priorities right now.

What week did you get your gender scan done? It sounds like it was a boy! I want to do the same, I like to be prepared. I always envisioned I'd have a girl and might have used my grandmother's name for a girl, but it's become really popular in the 5 years we've been trying so I've changed my mind a bit. My sister was also trying to convince her 30 year old son to use the name on his kid due any day now, I don't think they will though. I have two or three girl names in play, and I recently realised I really love dh's grandad's somewhat uncommon name. So I've gone from hating every boy name (or knowing dh won't go for them) to having my heart set on this one particular name and desperately wanting to use this name lol. It makes me sad we will likely only have one kid, but it took so much time and too much money to get this far, one will have to do.

I also have a name I like for an Easter baby, but a) we aren't having one, and b) I think people would read it as a surname even though it was a first name at some stage in my family. A name that people think of as a surname, plus a double barrel surname is just too many surnames lol

@thislittlebird Yes 40 next year, should have this baby shortly beforehand if all goes well!!

@Doughnut89 Do you already know the sex?! Sorry to hear about your Covid!
My middle name for a boy will be after my grandad who passed away recently and I prayed to him “Please keep my baby safe” (I’m not religious, but he was very much so ❤️)
Middle name for a girl will be after my sister who tragically passed away 8 years ago.
Luckily my partner likes all my choices and as I’ve told him, we’re all getting his surname so he’s getting a big enough part in this already!😛

@ASGIRC Do you receive much information about the donors?

@Misty84 no. Just age of egg donor, their blood types, and that they matched my characteristics (eye and hair colour).
Otherwise, only that they passed all the tests, and were tested for genetic compatilibity (about 500 markers). This means they had no family history of mental health issues, cancer or cardiac problems, plus the genetic tests.

@Doughnut89 forgot to say hope you’re feeling better after covid. I’ve still not had it, but my immune system is a bit overreactive so I wonder if that’s why. I’m on pred until 3 months so that might increase my chance of getting it.

@Misty84 that’s really nice you’re using your sister’s name if you have a girl. Yeah, if this works out for us, I will be due a few days after my birthday, but with my age + ivf they won’t let me go full term anyway so it could be my own birthday or earlier and I’ll sneak in at 40!

@Misty84 I forgot to say, we sort of have to incorporate regional names into our choices too, which really does complicate it. I’ve had a lot of time to do research though, and the DH’s grandad name counts as sufficiently Celtic imo.