IVF/FET Pregnancies due Oct 2024

[2mumlife]

Hi, thought I'd start of thread for those of us who have been through fertility treatment and are due in October 2024 :-)

I'm 6 weeks today after FET. This was our first try for a sibling (also a FET pregnancy).

Nausea is kicking my butt this time around. How is everyone else feeling?

How is everyone feeling about their early pregnancy scans?

No certain baby movements yet..a few butterfly-like in my womb area and some tugging and pulling. I really can’t wait until I can feel baby move! I’m still not certain whether to find out the sex - on one hand it would be easier to buy certain items, on the other hand would it be the cherry on top after birth 🤔 Glad you’re both doing well. How is everyone else?

@TheYorkshirePudding Ahhh! That's so exciting :D those butterfly-like movements are the first baby movements. With DD it felt more like feeling a heartbeat in my womb is the only way I can describe it.

One thing I was told when expecting DD which I didn't believe (because we have such a small social circle I feel) is that you really don't need to buy much in 0-3 or 3-6 because people will give you so much stuff. I really wasn't expecting anyone to give us anything, and the number of neighbours and things that gave us baby clothes really surprised me. With DD we used a lot of clothes my DS had with my nephew who is only 10 months older, but we have zero issues putting DD in "boys" clothing.

We'll have clothes from my DS again (as she's kept them all from my nephew) as well as clothes I got for DD.

Lots of bits I got to top-up DDs wardrobe I got from Vinted - great for second hand Frugi clothes (love this brand!). Think my DP may ban me from buying any more clothes for this baby, other than first sleepsuit to go in after birth which I'll buy new

Hi everyone! I don't plan on finding out either. A nice surprise I think. Although I did read a post that said it's sometimes obvious at the 20 week scan.

I had flutters last week at 13/14 weeks which seemed very early. It felt like a feather was tickling me from the inside. I haven't really felt it again this week, which is a bit worrying but I know it's early.

@IVF23 congratulations!

Ahh that's lovely @IVF23 , a girl! We are going to find out too. I like being prepared and I just think I'll be able to bond beforehand a bit more if I know if its a boy or a girl and consequently the name we decide.

@2mumlife I've felt a bit more uncomfortable the last couple of days but can't really put my finger on why/what it is.

Thanks all ☺️

@2mumlife that’s great you’ve got lots of things already you can use! I’m definitely going to be making use of Vinted and Fb marketplace!

We’ve started looking at things to buy now and it’s all just suddenly feeling really real! We had an appointment in Mamas & Papas at the weekend to try out prams etc which felt exciting 😂

This is my 6th pregnancy but I have no living children. This is my first ivf pregnancy after my 4th and 5th where ectopics that ruptured and I lost both tubes last year. We feel like we were super lucky that our first FET was successful. I have my scan on Friday and I should be 13+1. I haven't had a scan since Friday and I'm so scared! The closer it gets the more anxious I get. I just hope this is our time 🤞🏼🌈

@LuxeBiscuit With DD after all the extra growth scans and things I did say to partner I'd never seen any evidence at any of the scans that would suggest to me we were having a boy. But then a sonographer once said 'he' when we were having a scan which really got into my head and made me doubt! Its quite fun not knowing. That's really exciting to feel something already! And quite unusual so I wouldn't worry if its a bit inconsistent feeling it at the moment

@Custard7891 My sister found out the sex of her baby and felt it helped with bonding too. We hadn't narrowed down our list of names until the birth, and picked a final name in theatre whilst I was being stitched 😂The general discomfort might just be all your organs shifting about

@IVF23 Did you choose a pram? Our pram should be able to be converted to a double but I need to look into it more and see if we need other attachments. Think we will only have 1 big cost this time. For DD we got a Silvercross 360 motion all size car seat (does birth - 12 years and swivels, which I massively recommend!) but I really fancy getting a Doona car seat / pram cross. They are really cool - so its a car seat but has the wheels attached to it already (not on a separate chassis like a pram system). The car seat only does until 13kg but I think it will make life so much easier when I need to get newborn out the car to drop DD at nursery and back into the car, rather than having to faff about with a pram or having to carry the car seat (car seats get heavy really quickly with babies in them 😂). Its a bit of a luxury as the pram we have does also come with a separate small car seat with the same kind of weight range, just not as convenient. They are expensive though when you buy the isofix base as well. Id really like this one to be able to stay asleep in a car seat though getting in and out the car unlike DD!

@peardeer Welcome to the group. Sounds like you have been through a lot. Wishing you the best of luck at your scan, hope everything is looking good for you on Friday.

@2mumlife we haven’t decided but we do like the Bugaboo Dragonfly and the iCandy Orange 4. They both seem practical in terms of folding flat, attaching the car seat etc. We were looking at the Cybex I cloud T size for the car seat as it we like the 360 and it fits with those prams. Ohh yes I’ve heard about the Doona one but haven’t looked yet, I’ll take a look though! Yes you definitely need good practicalities with a toddler and new born!

@2mumlife yeah I'm not sure yet if we will end up deciding on one name in advance, or if we won't be able to decide and have a little selection to pick from when they are born. I started buying a couple of bits yesterday. I saw an offer on a MAM newborn bottle set at Asda and also got a set of 12 second hand sleepsuits on eBay for only £9.50 delivered. Obviously I have no clue if our baby will use the bottles/like the bottles but thought I may as well get them at the sale price and put them by.

@IVF23 Ooo both pram choices look nice, they both look quite nice and lightweight. Slightly prefer the look of the icandy personally as the wheels look slightly bigger? But we live rurally so proper sturdy wheels that could handle being on rougher terrain was a must for us. I'm enjoying the pram window shopping :D We got an uppababy vista with DD at first (we later also got a like-new Cosatto Woosh for £50 :D as the uppababy sytem is huge and not airport travel friendly), but I've been looking at the set up for the uppabbay having the bassinet and pram seat on at the same time, and the bassinet has to be on the bottom which looks super awkward. To be honest though, my DD HATED being in the bassinet and only did ok in the pram once she was big enough for the actual seat, and we pretty much just carried her in a sling for the first 6 months, so I'm not sure how much we'd ever have both using the pram at the same time. Its also probably just easier to have newborn in sling with a toddler as well. We'll see, there is a really great baby shop near us that takes in donations and employs staff with learning difficulties and they get some nice prams in super cheap, so I might think about trading in one of ours in for something else.

The Cybex I cloud T size looks nice! Love the 360 function, and nice that it does 360 AND comes out to put on your pram (our 360 seat is a BEAST and can't be removed). Anything that makes it more likely you can remove a sleeping child from the car without waking them is worth it in my opinion 😂

These rock it things are meant to be amazing if you're lucky enough to have a baby who falls asleep in a pram easily https://rockitrocker.com/

@Custard7891 Because I was intending to BF I didn't look into bottle feeding at all with DD, and it made it quite stressful when we did decide it was in her best interest to do top ups. I remember calling my mum and being like 'you need to explain bottle feeding to me' 😂I still think bottle feeding is just such a massive faff compared to BF but I think because I was still primarily BFing and only doing top ups we didn't invest in all the gadgets you would if you properly bottle fed, like 'perfect prep' machines and there are these Nuby rapid-cool flask things for making bottles out the house and the like. We did bottle feeding "wrong" and just made up some formula in the morning and put it in the fridge, and reheated as and when we needed top up milk (not what's recommended). Its always exciting getting the first baby bits :D (just remember where you've stored things!)

@2mumlife yeah the intention is to try BF but I'd like to maybe express so my partner can feed as well, hence the bottles. I think these ones sterilise in the microwave which sounds easy. I've barely done any research but I'd heard of the brand and the price sounded good so I've gone for it so I can have them on standby. I've not even started thinking about prams yet. I think I am keen to try slings and have a very compact and easy folding pram.

@Custard7891 It was MAM bottles we used when we needed to do top ups, because of the microwave function :D makes it to easy and I felt super uncomfortable about sterilising everything in Milton (felt like giving baby bleach to drink). Definitely look up 'pace feeding' with bottles if you're thinking of combi-feeding. There is also lots of advice about not starting bottles too early with combi feeding (but my DD managed just fine to have bottle top ups and still BF). We got an ergobaby 360 (off vinted actually) and still using it now on occasion (particularly in airports). Its worth seeing though if there is a 'sling library' in your local area - they are great places for renting slings if you want to just give it a go, and can be good to wait until baby arrives to see what you find comfortable. I keep meaning to go have an appointment about seeing if there is a good sling for carrying my LO when pregnant (though she is starting to get the idea that she needs to walk a lot more now and that mummy can't always pick her up)

@2mumlife I've read they come with quite a few different parts which can be confusing. Have to just see how we get on, if they get used at all. It was a set of 4 bottles and 2 soothers for £25, I got the neutral colour, seemed a good price. Also signed up to our NCT classes last night for August.

Hi all, had my 16 week midwife appointment today and I had high ketones +++ in my urine. Blood pressure was fine but midwife was worried about starvation due to my vomiting and having to eat small meals often. Heard baby’s heartbeat using Doppler and was told I have a very active and healthy baby. I’ve felt it moving a lot more too as this week progressed. Looking at comments above, I’m totally overwhelmed with breast pumps and equipment. The thing with pumps is you can’t try them on in the shop.. I fancied a hands free. Has anyone else thought this/tried them? Hope you are all doing well

After 5 miscarriages and enduring IVF, this is officially the furthest we have ever gotten. I know we have a long way to go but to get this far feels huge! Baby is measuring 4 days ahead 🥹🌈🤞🏼🤍

@peardeer Amazing! Congratulations! Take your time with all the emotions!

@peardeer congratulations!

@peardeer Congratulations! What a cute little pout!

@Custard7891 Main thing really is different teat size. Ideally you want size 0 for newborn and then if you a breastfeeding / combi feeding general advice is to keep flow slower so not going past size 1. We purposefully avoided using dummies with DD - I can see why people use them, but also it’s really nice not having a toddler stuck with one in its mouth (my sister swore she’d never use a dummy and still can’t get it off her son at 2.5 yrs)

@TheYorkshirePudding Not sure what the ketones mean in urine, what did midwife advise? Hearing heartbeat is lovely! I’ve got my 16 week appointment on Monday and still not felt movements which I was really hoping I’d have felt something by now. Pumps are a minefield. Whether you buy one I think depends on what you’re planning feeding wise. I’ve you’re intending to exclusively pump from day 1 then obviously will need to get one but if you’re just thinking you might want to combi feed in a few weeks / months I’d probably advise just to hold off getting an electric pump until you see how breastfeeding goes for you. Also what no one tells you is some people just can’t really pump. I used a pump in the hospital (a big hospital grade one) and borrowed my sisters MAM pump when we got home (this was when I was trying to pump from the side DD wouldn’t feed on) and pumping just didn’t work for me - you need to trigger a let down and I just couldn’t really with a pump, and it didn’t fit well (the flanges for breast pumps come in quite standard sizes and if they don’t fit you well there isn’t many options). I like the haaka mini pump and milk collector as a starting point personally.

but yes don’t know how people buy a pump really, as as you say you can’t try before you buy!

@TheYorkshirePudding @2mumlife iv read that if you measure your nipple it tells you what size you need. It has to be around 36 + weeks as it may change in size. If you measure just the nipple, then that corresponds with the size of the flange that you need for the breast pump xx

@peardeer big congratulations to you, that's wonderful 😊

@2mumlife I'm keeping a completely open mind at this stage about everything really.

@peardeer I think that half works, but as I had semi inverted nipples it just makes the whole thing more complicated, though my DD has corrected the side she feeds on. My nipples were just generally too big for a standard breastpump. It was one of the issues I had with trying to use a nipple shield on the more inverted side my DD wouldn’t feed on, they were all too small really to cover my nipple and it left the teat bit being HUGE and it just all didn’t really work with a tiny newborn. Best thing I ever did was just embrace being lopsided 😂 pregnancy has been great as now my
non-feeding side has got bigger so I’m looking symmetrical again 😂 I really need to start getting on the regime to try to help pull my other nipple out as I’d really like to be able to feed on both side this time, though it will feel so weird trying to hold a baby to feed the “other” way round

Congratulations @peardeer !

The breast pump conversations are helpful. I haven’t actually looked at them yet. I am hoping to be able to breastfeed, but I realise for lots of factors sometimes that isn’t possible, so I thought I would wait to birth and see where I am then.

I bought my first baby item, a little sleep suit! It has me very excited now!

@IVF23 thank you!
@2mumlife ahh bless you I see, yes I imagine that is a lot harder for you. I'm glad you found some thing that worked with your daughter.

I would love to breast feed, I think it will be quite healing, after 5 losses I have been hard on my body and I think seeing my body being able to sustain a pregnancy and then provide nutrients for the baby will be really healing. I'm trying not to get my hopes up incase it isn't possible as Iv heard you really have to push through the first few weeks / months and there is so many factors to consider. But so far I'm enjoying spending my time doing research and finding out as much as I can. Feels like I'm preparing for the baby but I'm too scared to physically buy anything so this feels helpful!

Also my belly has suddenly popped this weekend at 18 weeks! Not sure I can hide it any longer now haha