IVF - why does it make a riskier pregnancy?

[IIVFF]

My midwife said I was low risk except for the fact I’m pregnant through IVF.

I didn’t think to ask at the time… but why does it make a difference to pregnancy?

It’s just stats - I’ve been told the same. More IVF mums have complications, but I don’t think they always know why; they just label everyone the same. Part of it is that women who have IVF tend to be older, tend to have more issues with their bodies which caused them to have to have IVF in the first place e.g. endometriosis, fibroids… But these things don’t apply to every woman. For some women they’re fine and the fertility problems were all down to the baby’s father. And other times they can make conception difficult but the pregnancy’s fine. But they’re the stats, so that’s what doctors go on.

Increased risk of pre-eclampsia has been observed, i don't know what aspect of it causes that

A family member who was pregnant via IVF was not allowed to go overdue and ended up being induced on the dot of 40 weeks. Apparently because (unlike regular pregnancies) the exact date of conception is known, they are not willing to take the slightest risk when it comes to going post-dates and all the complications that can arise because of that.

I would suggest that on a whole population level it is likely that women who needed IVF may have issues which make a pregnancy more risky. For example they may be older or have gynaecology issue etc

I was induced on my due date with it being an IVF pregnancy.
As pp, I was told they don't like them to go over.

Name pretty much any pregnancy complication you can think of and it's more likely in IVF pregnancies, though of course most go fine. Wish you all the best.

I wondered this during my own ivf pregnancy, we had to have ivf because of dp's issues, I had no fertility issues (or any other risk factors) so it made no sense to me. As pp said I assume they are just looking at population level, not individualised risk.

My midwife suggested people with IVF pregnancies might prefer to be consultant-led, and I allowed her to refer me to the consultant. When I saw the consultant, the consultant asked why I was there and said it's not considered to increase risk practically speaking, once you exclude twins/multiples etc.

im in my last few weeks. I’ve also been told I won’t go over. Apparently there is a higher risk for the placenta to stop working so that’s the reason I’ve been given that they won’t let me go over. there can be other risks depending on your history.

Although I’m consultant led she met me once and said that she was happy and aside from some implantation bleeding I’ve had a pretty uneventful pregnancy. With everything it took for them to get here I’m happy for them to be cautious.

Ivf babies are more commonly small, too. My ivf dd was 5lb 8oz, small for gestational age and born on 2nd centile. No idea why, but maybe to do with placenta?

I wonder it's because it's not natural, lots of drugs and interventions are used to kick start the pregnancy, so maybe the body doesn't quite react the way it would if you became spontaneously pregnant.

It could also be from donor egg pregnancies which have a significantly high risk of preeclampsia.

I'm on my second IVF pregnancy and while it's listed as a risk in my notes there's never been any mention of inducing at or before 40 weeks.

If they do suggest induction and you don't want it then you can opt for daily monitoring from 40 weeks onwards instead.