IVF Pregnancy Club- spring/summer 2026

[pastelheart]

Wanted to start a thread for anyone expecting after IVF and due next spring/summer

I am finding it quite daunting after infertility for 4 years and then a round of IVF to now be FINALLY expecting in June 2026, can hopefully chat with anyone else in the same boat

@backtotheicsi🩷

Thank you! Yes, that was my understanding too - and if we pay enough NI contributions, but they can be voluntary top-ups. I am terrible with admin/paperwork so I might pick your brains about it at some point! It's so nice to know someone else in the same boat.

@CloudyIvy55 ahahaha and that’s what I worry about, lots of these people are people that know my partner well but I don’t know so I feel like I shouldn’t offend them.
if you need any help with your maternity leave or pay and working it out etc or want me to check any calculations let me know, this is the area of work I work in. (And anyone else who would like help, I am happy to help)

I am planning to get as close to my due date as possible, I am hoping for end of May but will see how it goes!

@SamVan I know it’s so strange isn’t it, I just wouldn’t ever think to touch anyone I didn’t really know pregnant or not. I know, I think people would be like wtf are you doing touching my tummy EXACTLY!

@SarahAndQuack hello!!! Feels like we haven’t spoken in ages! How are you? I am just going to have to put my big pants on and say no!

had a bit of an eventful night, end up in triage as was having some tummy pains and tightenings. Everything was fine with the baby, and we saw him punching my cervix 😂🙃 so that could have been the reason why and the fact everything is stretching and getting heavier now. Didn’t get home til 4.30am so I am tired! Xx

Yes, I keep going silent on here - just a bit stressed about it all really. I had a stage when I could feel a lot of flutterings and they've stopped, and I keep having to remind myself it's early (18 weeks) and that there's nothing really I can do except wait for the scan!

I'm so sorry you had such a rough night! That sounds really nasty - you must have been scared although it sounds as if seeing him was very cute! Naughty baby! Hope you can manage to snatch a nap at some point or at least put your feet up before bedtime!

Not now, but I really might take you up on the offer to work out mat pay if you're sure? I am dyslexic and though I'm fairly competent and I manage stuff, my initial response is to want to go away and hide! I was really hoping to stick out my job a bit longer and get ordinary mat leave, but in retrospect it was right to go when I did; I wasn't physically up to it. But it does mean I need (to borrow your phase) to put on my big girl pants and think through what freelancing needs to look like.

@Nosejug a second opinion seems well worth getting. I feel like private tend to err on the side of caution and have a more 'can't hurt, might help' mindset whereas NHS obviously have to follow guidance and look at outcomes for the vast majority and weigh it up with cost etc. When are you due to see the professor?

@pastelheart I would hate that too, thankfully no one has tried that with me. Would be a great move to just touch their stomach back 🤣

@CloudyIvy55 I am finishing just as I turn 36 weeks (only 6 weeks to go!) I will take a couple of weeks leave and then commence mat. I do love my job but I am finding it increasingly tiring (just a desk job!) and especially on my office days which are a long commute. When are you thinking of going?

@SamVan 29 weeks will be amazing!

Had our follow up cardiac scan today, as baby's heart has been found to be in a funny position (central rather than left). We had one a couple of months ago after it was first found but I was a nervous wreck yesterday. Cried loads and barely slept as was just so terrified something worse would be found and spiralled. Luckily, same verdict as before which is no defects or any obvious cause so they suspect a 'benign variation'. Such a relief. Baby will need a scan 1-2 months old but it seemed mostly precautionary.

@pastelheart Sorry to hear you had such a long and stressful night but glad all is well! Those baby pelvic punches can be brutal despite how small they are. I keep feeling like he's literally in my butt and just kicking away at some nerve. They really do have access to all our sensitive bits down there.

@FancyGoose Glad to hear your baby's heart position is benign. I know it's still incredibly stress inducing to hear anything isn't exactly 100% average but when I had abnormal results previously I tried to take comfort in the fact that none of the people in my generation really had those scans while in the womb and I'm sure we must be detecting a lot of uneventful variations now with how good scanning is.

@SarahAndQuack I started feeling movements around 15 weeks but they would come and go and it used to worry me too, it’s only now at 20 weeks where they are regular and I think I would worry if I didn’t feel anything for a while. Like last night when I had the tightenings, I could feel baby moving so I knew he was okay at that point! Lol he is a naughty baby! But he is also very very cute so he is forgiven.
yeah of course, just let me know and I can have a look for you… I have had my maternity schedule all done since I found out I was pregnant!

@FancyGoose I will start touching peoples tummy’s and report back how it goes 😂😂 glad your scan was okay and sorry it was so worrying beforehand.

@SamVan thank you! It’s so hard not to worry isn’t it, the hospital is 10 mins from our house so made sense to just pop in. Had to have an internal scan and I was like I thought we were past these since ivf lol 😂 deffo don’t miss those!

I was feeling flutters last week when I was 15 weeks also , I am 16+3 today and not felt anything really since last Wednesday.. I thought they would just get stronger as with my 1st pregnancy once I started feeling them they just got stronger everyday till I was certain it was movement and not gas 🙄🤭, I can’t remember not feeling them for a week .. I have my 16 week midwife appointment this week so I really hope she listens in the with Doppler , if she doesn’t and still feeling nothing I am thinking to book a private scan on Friday when I’ll be 17 weeks exactly just to check she is still ok in there.

@pastelheart glad to hear everything was ok when you went into hospital, what a worry it would have caused , hope you can rest today at some point.

Also a t-shirt with ‘don’t touch the bump’ would be funny !🤣 maybes then people would get the message 🤭

@pastelheartthat sounds like a very stressful night! Glad everything's OK and hope your getting some rest today! Thanks for the offer of Mat leave help, my job is term time only so we are using SPL over the school holidays to try and top up my pay and also get my partner and I some time off together in the first year. I've spent ages researching and completing forms and will be handing this in to work tomorrow, I really hope I've done it right! It's so complicated.

I'll be 35 weeks when my maternity starts but the two weeks before I'll be off work as it's the Easter holidays so 33 weeks really.

Movements stress me out also. I'm now 23 weeks with an anterior placenta and first baby. I can definitely feels movements, sometimes quite strong but haven't figured out a pattern to them yet. If I suddenly realise it's been a while since I've felt anything, it can make me worry. I've found eating something sweet and having a lie down normally gets them moving though.

@pastelheart definitely don't worry about going in to get checked as much as you want. I've already been in three times. It's just better to get reassured than sit at home worrying. Every single time he starts moving once I'm in the waiting room, but no nurse or midwife has ever made me feel bad for being cautious.

It's interesting to read about all this variation in movement as it's been on my mind recently. I'm 18 weeks today and have felt nothing. With my son, I had an anterior placenta so felt nothing then either. I was always getting checked and he'd be raving non stop 😂 it does make you worry though. I went up in loft yesterday to put Xmas stuff away and found a ton of maternity clothes I'd forgotten about as well as bags and bags of baby clothes. Result! And nice bit of nostalgia for my son's baby clothes.
@SarahAndQuack I hear you re time dragging for 29 wk scan. Awful waiting.
@FancyGoose Glad to hear all is well. I can imagine how stressful that just be.
@pastelheart Hope you get some rest. Stressful times but good you are so close to hosp for reassurance.
@worldwidetravel2017 How are you getting on?

Hope you don’t mind, can I ask what symptoms did you have to know that your cervix may need checked for the length ? Or was it routine checking for you in your schedule? Sorry you don’t have to answer if it’s too intrusive, I am just wondering as I have some tender feelings low in my pelvis right in the middle and been having some cramps also, not sure if it’s just normal stretching but even when I am lying down I feel the tender feeling and just wondering should I get it checked for cervix ?! It feels like where my cervix would be ?! 🤔

@pastelheart haha def!! Touch their tummy back or stroke their face or sth! I guess being drunk at least they have an excuse of social boundaries being lower but then, a nice face stroke should remind them of themselves! (Sorry wrote this message days ago and it was sitting unsent)

@AmberRose26 they say it’s usually symptomless actually, some women report feeling a heavy pressure, but it’s not something that pain indicates (this is what the consultant told me, the pressure thing is what I’ve gleaned online).

my reason is having had a lletz, he told me at the time he’d removed 1/3 of my cervix, but I discovered two weeks ago that he basically removed the entire external cervix which is probably why I had such a massive haemorrhage two weeks later. I’m raging but not exploring those feelings until I know the outcome.

so basically, it was medical history that had me scanned. They’ll look at your 20 week scan so you’ll get reassurance then, but unless you’ve had previous late losses/premies or surgery then it wouldn’t be something playing on my mind. I wasn’t at all expecting it to be as bad as it was even with the surgery.

Morning everyone!

May I ask a question? Did anyone else do steroids during IVF?

Long story short, but basically my clinic were awful in various ways and I'm still figuring out what the hell happened. One thing that was fairly crap was that after embryo transfer, the doctor caught me while I was meant to be getting dressed and dying for a wee, and decided it was a great time to talk me through medications. She said she wanted to prescribe steroids, which had never been mentioned. I did ask about pros and cons and she said it might help and couldn't hurt. She then sent me off with prescriptions but no meds, and I spent two hours frantically trying to find a pharmacy with some stock - it was a bit of a shit show. Anyway, because of all that I did less research into steroids than I would usually and just took them.

Just looked at the HFEA website and they're rated red as they can cause damage. I'm not freaking out; I expect it's ok, but I'm upset and would love to know if anyone else had them/had any discussion from medics?

@SarahAndQuack Not me. Sorry this caused stress! I also expect is OK but sounds like it was dealt with poorly.

@SarahAndQuack I've not had steroids but recall on various threads I've been on over the years, people being diagnosed them quite often.i remember at the time you expressing how poorly that clinic treated you. Such stress. Especially leaving you to get the meds like that. It's something I guess you can raise when see consultant at 20 weeks scan but I completely get how it'd play on your mind. What about asking midwives?

Just got back from being 'dopplered' is that even a word?! Have felt zero movement so rang midwives and they agreed to listen in for me. She found heartbeat straight away. So relieved! Lovely sound 💕 xxx

Ah ok, thanks for the reply, i have had 5 biopsies (just wee chunks) from my cervix which she then cauterized to heal it, not the lletz as such, as I had a smear that came bk abnormal cells, but not sure if this effects things, just with the pain I wondered as when I google it says it could be cervix related, but Google is prob the worse thing to ask 🙄 I am keeping everything crossed that the progesterone will help with things for you, ✨💛

like Sara - I also have heard of previous woman on post I have been on getting prescribed steroids for NK cells , I am sure - but could be wrong, that some have tapered off around 12 weeks ?! Were you advised how long you should be on them all? Hope you can disscus with someone for advice, does it say on the leaflet that comes with them at all about guidlines for pregnancy ? 💛

@SarahAndQuack i haven’t had them myself nor heard much about them in ivf context, sorry : / like you say, most likely fine and im assuming short lived, but annoying and poor practice that the clinic didnt discuss pros and cons.

@Sara237 in both my ‘dopplerings’ the poor midwife tried for a long time, even roped in help but it was only found the first time. Luckily my scans are so regular that I’ve seen the heart (so developed now!!) weekly. Lovely you got to hear it ❤️

@AmberRose26 if I could go back in time and choose the other treatment I 100% would. From haemorrhage to pregnancy complications it was so not worth it… they didn’t even find cancer! (I’m being flippant there, obvs I was relieved, but I nearly lost my life in exchange for something not immediately life threatening). If it’s actually playing on your mind why not tell your consultant and maybe they’ll scan you to rule it out?

had my second cervix scan today and it’s the same size as last week which is good for now.

@Nosejug yeh I have heard a few people getting these procedures when it’s not even really needed, it’s very annoying and I can understand you would be feeling frustrated from this, I am glad you were in the clear for cancer which is the main thing as you say , but yeh .. if I ever have the abnormal cells again I will just ask for a repeated smear before any procedure as usually the cells clear up on their own after a year. And that’s what they did for me so there was no need for the biopsies in the end .. I have my midwife appointment on Thursday so I’ll mention to her then and ask about getting checked early due to tenderness/pain, thanks for the advise

and that’s the best news that your cervix hasn’t shortened any ! Woop ! Hoping it stays that way !! ✨🙏 xxx

@Nosejug and that’s the best news that your cervix hasn’t shortened any ! Woop ! Hoping it stays that way !! ✨🙏 xxx

@SarahAndQuack I was on it and got multiple opinions before deciding whether to proceed. I did both steroids and intralipids as a result of elevated NK cells and multiple failed transfers. It is red on HFEA and the evidence for use of steriods is mixed which is why I was initially very hesitant to try it. But by the time I got to my 5th transfer i figured I should just give it a go and it worked on the 6th go (no idea if the steroids had anything to do with it - i think it's more likely to be the embryo!). I took it from the week before transfer to week 10. I think it's pretty poor form for your doctor to spring it on you though.. it's definitely something that merits further discussion before proceeding. I don't agree that it doesn't have any downsides but for some people it's just worth trying once you've had a lot of failures.

Thanks all!

YY, @SamVan, absolutely get why you'd try it! Thanks for sharing; that's really reassuring.

I read the HFEA site saying that there's no evidence at all that killer cells affect the foetus or get anywhere near it, and there was nothing to suggest I had elevated levels of them anyway - no one had mentioned anything about it, ever. So I'm really confused.

I stopped it in week 12 but will definitely take advice to discuss at the 20 week scan.

@AmberRose26, it was the HFEA red rating that gave me pause, not the leaflet - stupidly, I've thrown those away now as I stopped at 12 weeks (no advice about tapering off, but that may be normal, who knows).

@Nosejug - so glad to hear that! Whew.

@Sara237 - yay for the heartbeat! It's so reassuring, isn't it?! And thanks for the sympathy re. the clinic!

I had my first midwife appointment where they measure the bump with an actual tape measure this morning. Made me laugh. Cool how - if all is going well - it correlates with how many weeks you are though! Next month I start having growth scans at the hospital - on account of having done ivf apparently. Not sure why needed but happy to take the extra hopeful reassurance 🤷‍♀️