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🩷

@SarahAndQuack is that the mass June babies WhatsApp group? I’m in it too but every time I look at it there are 1000 new messages! I just go have a wee look sometimes. Something to do with my brain gets overwhelmed trying to scroll back and forth to trace conversations!

This is so stupid but I'm really upset ... don't know if I'm being absolutely daft, but you lot will get it.

So, my clinic were pretty shit. The first round of IVF we did, all the embryos were tested and came out aneuploid; they rang me with the results then almost immediately sent multiple emails insisting we needed to sign consent forms to have them destroyed immediately. At this time I found it really upsetting because I didn't fully understand the results and expected that we'd be able to discuss them. They admitted a bit later that they'd mixed us up with someone else and thought they were leftover embryos from a successful cycle; I'm not sure why. Second cycle, they said two were aneuploid and one was ok, and while I was waiting for transfer I asked how come they hadn't needed me to sign the form this time, and they said the embryologist would talk to me. So I had this tiny hope maybe they thought it was worth re-biopsying or something. Got to my transfer day, and before they told me if the euploid one had survived thawing, they got me into theatre with my legs up, then the embryologist came in and said could I consent to having the embryos destroyed now.

I was pretty upset both times. They've said it was really urgent and necessary to get forms signed fast.

I've just now had an email confirming they've received the consent form ... from back in October!

Isn't that ridiculous?!

I know everyone feels differently about this stuff and I know people who don't engage emotionally at all and just see aneuploid embryos as the 'waste'. But I don't seem to be able to do that and I am really upset all over again.

@SarahAndQuack Ugh this sounds like it was dealt with so badly both times and I also do not understand the rush?! I felt similar when rung to be told that our first frozen embryo collapsed during thawing and could not be used. They could offer no reasons other than bad luck (5% chance so very bad luck) and then swiftly moved onto the next one (the one kicking me right now). I definitely felt empathy and compassion were lacking as for them it may just be a medical ball of cells but for us it represents a hopeful future child after a lot of hardship. Sorry you just received that email out of the blue to trigger all your complicated feelings. Sending a hug!

I'm so sorry about your embryo. That must have been such a blow.

Thanks for the hug x

Had my RSV jab yesterday and feeling quite achey today. More tired and nauseous too (bad first tri memories!). Last one done though so yay for that.

I also had my 28-week growth scan yesterday which thankfully was all fine and we heard our favourite word normal a lot 🙏🏻. It was nice to see her too albeit harder to see much now she is bigger. Then we had a chat with the consultant who asked about my delivery thoughts so I said I wanted a c-section. Tbf she was supportive enough (in that she said she would support my choice) but did need to run me through all the risks which was quite intense. Still… nothing I had not already informed myself about so am going to stick with my gut and hope it all goes as smoothly as possible for us. She asked me what I thought of the risks and the end of her spiel and I was like… I mean obviously not ideal (!) but neither way is exactly a guaranteed delight?! I understand why they have to have that conversation given it is considered major surgery but also find it 🤔 that the vaginal risks are not run through in the same way. Ultimately they have to come out somehow and you have to pick one! So many nuanced personal factors have gone into my choice and that will be the same for everyone. Shame they are not just dropped by storks into their cribs 😅 . She did also say that in any case she would not want me going past 40 weeks due to ivf and age (36) but I think that varies between hospitals.

@SarahAndQuack it’s very odd that your clinic is so pushy about destroying embryos. I wonder if they already discarded them and panicked about it as it seems very odd. Either way it’s very unprofessional and must have been stressful for you.

Personally I haven’t destroyed any of my aneuploids, I don’t see why I would. I’m already paying for storage for my mosaic plus the science on pgta keeps changing. They used to discharged segmental aneuploids and now they don’t and earlier than that they used to discard mosaics. So until you’re fully done having kids I don’t know what the benefit in destroying aneuploids is.

@SarahAndQuack that’s an awful way to go about having those conversations, I don’t get their rush. Thankfully I was so lucky with my clinic and hearing some of the stories about other clinics makes that even more true

Sorry to hear that @SarahAndQuack that’s incredibly badly handled. Sending hugs.

congrats on the scan @zirafica !

Oh to have a stork delivery..

we went to a Hypnobirthing workshop at the weekend. Watched a video of a birthing pool birth (having never watched any before!) and it was pretty amazing. Of course who knows whether we’ll be able to secure that preference when it comes to it, but our hospital has a birthing centre one floor from the labour ward so leaning towards that if it’s an option.

picked up a bugaboo pram from a colleague yesterday, first big item! Haven’t bought anything yet. Realised on commute home that neither of our local tube stops have lifts which is a bit of a pain..

thanks so much @pastelheart - my due date is 14th May and we’re having a girl

Everyone who has given me their due dates so far I have written down in my notes ready for the new thread, I will carry on collecting them over the next couple of days so anyone who hasn’t sent them yet just drop me a note. Also if anyone wants me to include baby boy/baby girl just let me know and I can update!

and you are all welcome, I have loved chatting to you all along the way and I’m glad the group has taken off as much as it has! 🩷

I know someone mentioned pregnancy insomnia… same same same. It’s killing me. I didn’t have a good night last night and I have been emotional all day ☹️ the baby is going to find he has a member of the walking dead for a mother by the time he gets here xx

Same here with the walking dead! 💀

@SarahAndQuackthat sounds really stressful! No wonder your upset! You would definitely expect those kind of conversations to be handled much more sensitively- sending a hug!

@magpie234lovely to hear your 28 week scan went well and all is normal!

@MintOwlwe are also booked onto a hypnobirthing course next month...I'm really excited! Would love a water birth too!

@pastelheartmy due date is the 15th May.

The pregnancy insomnia is bad! I do sleep in shifts at work and am hardly getting any sleep when I'm there. I've asked to come off sleep in shifts but they haven't exactly been supportive - I've got a GP appointment next week to see if they can write a note to my employer.

Thank you everyone for your kind words after the spotting. I haven't had any more since and can feel baby moving around so after the initial heart sinking feeling, I'm not too worried. Been checked multiple times for spotting before and been told not to worry if it remains so light. Guess I'm just unlucky and may spot throughout the pregnancy. Not ideal as it's something I find particularly triggering and difficult after a previous loss.

Thanks all for really kind comments. I appreciate it so much.

@Nosejug - yes, I'm on the big 'June' group but it is so busy! I dip in and out.

@magpie234 I hope you're feeling better after your jab now.

@SamVan - oh, that's a horrible thought that maybe they'd destroyed them anyway. I don't think so though, I think they just were really crap (this is actually the tip of the iceberg). But YY, I had the same thoughts - I've read a lot about PGT-A and I think I would get rid of full aneuploids but it's not clear cut by any means (weirdly, I read that chaotic abnormals are actually more likely to re-biopsy as euploid than standard aneuploids with just one chromsome missing/extra .... it's very fast-moving science and not much certainty!). I definitely think mosaics and segmentals are worth keeping!

@pastelheart, I think it was me with pregnancy insomnia - hope you had a better night last night! I don't think the grey weather helps - my body doesn't know if it's had daytime.

@CloudyIvy55 - that's really hard with the spotting. I absolutely get why it'd be triggering. I hope it stops!

I have two different pairs of H&M maternity jeans arriving today and I am excited out of all proportion to it! Really hope one of them actually fits.

Ugh had my first horrible baby dream last night 🙄. Hope this is not going to start recurring now I am feeling more anxious about movements and stuff. Hopefully 10 weeks today there or thereabouts she will be safely arriving 🙏🏻

@SarahAndQuack that’s so wrong to be asked to sign such consents while on the table about to have a transfer, and with the vagueness that led to having hope that it might be a positive conversation. My clinic were adamant that I should be relaxed and positive in the tww never mind right before transfer procedure. I never learned much about euploidity as I never had any to test (interesting reading what you guys know!) but when they convinced me to sign up for it I was already iffy about the idea of destroying any, plus the 5% risk of the freeze thaw and the additional risk of biopsy. But then my low reserve informs that stance. That must have been heartbreaking when your embryo didn’t survive the thaw, so sorry @magpie234 An ivf clinic should absolutely understand that it’s not “just” a collection of cells but cells on a trajectory towards independent conscious life (that’s very much wanted).

I saw my belly move with the kicks last night, I’m embarrassed to say it does freak me out a tad hah. It only seems to be when I’m reclined that I feel much.

lol the walking dead, while I was in the tense first 8 weeks and bleeding etc I watched a lottt of the walking dead in order to not think or research obsessively. Now when I think about it it gives me 1st tri nausea. I had terrible insomnia then but so far have been sleeping fine except very early waking, but I like the wee hours. But then, you guys are all a week or more ahead… dun dun dun…wishing you all better sleep imminently.

glad to read the spotting stopped @CloudyIvy55 , def reassuring that it was isolateD

@Nosejug , yes, I don't understand how they didn't see it would be a really upsetting time to do it. I was absolutely gutted and they just seemed surprised. I'm really unsure about PGT-A. The first round we did, they just presented it as this very obvious thing you'd do (and I was 39 and he was 55, so the chances of aneuploidy were quite high). While we were doing that round I read up on it and I felt really, really uneasy - as you say, there's the risk of embryos not surviving freezing, and the horrible case in Australia where they'd destroyed hundreds of viable embryos had hit the news, and I found it all really hard. You can't change the past but if it'd been just my decision I would have tried transferring our 5AA embryo to see rather than testing. It does still really upset me thinking it might have been viable and we never really got to talk through the context at all. I do try to keep putting it behind me but I wish they wouldn't keep bringing it back up with stuff like this!

I haven't had any visible kicking yet but I am so enjoying feeling the baby move more - it feels real! Quite freaky, as you say, but real!

@magpie234, oh, that sounds horrible. Bad dreams really shake you, don't they, and I think they genuinely are a pregnancy thing. I hope you have something nice to do today to take your mind off it!

Is anyone else having a gloriously sunny day? Can I get three months of vitamin d in the time it takes to drink a few coffees outside?

@pastelheart thanks for collating my c section is booked for 7 April and I’m having a boy.

im also having awful insomnia. I don’t sleep till 2.30am most nights due to Braxton hicks, kicks and a blocked nose keeping me up then I wake up a gazillion times to pee during the night. 😭 I’m exhausted!

Oh, that sounds lovely @Nosejug! So jealous. It's grey here but tomorrow is meant to be sunny. My little brother and his wife are coming up with their adorable toddler, and I am so looking forward to it.

@SamVan - ugh, blocked nose here too! Do not like!

I finally got maternity jeans today (H&M) and I am so pleased because they 1) fit and 2) do not make me look like a whale. They are pretty long but I knew they would be from the reviews.

Well if you all want a lol… we are going out for a meal tonight for Valentine’s Day, I got some new underbump jeans to wear with a bodysuit, all looks 10/10 and fits. But I’m looking and I think yanno… I need a belt with this to tie it together.

so I CONFIDENTLY get one of my belts out and I am in absolute SHOCK that it’s about 6 inches too short and I just can’t get my head round how it doesn’t fit 😂😂😂😭😭😭

so no belt… unless I steal one of my partners but I’m too traumatised to try incase that doesn’t fit either 🥴

lol 😂 hope ye have a great night

@pastelheart Love this! Bet it still looks great though. You could try threading a silk scarf through the belt loops next time if you have one? I think that can look cool. Though would maybe also be too small 😂

@SarahAndQuack thats absolutely terrible , I can’t believe the way you were treated, have you looked up reviews for the clinic , I wouldn’t be surprised if others have had bad experiences also. I would be considering complaining that they only received the consent forms now but they were harassing you to sign them so rapid, where were the consent forms that they only received them now ? I would defo be phoning up and asking why were they only received now ? That’s crazy !! Hope you are ok and hope you can focus on your we baba that’s growing nice and healthy sung in your tummy 🥰

@Nosejug yes we have had sun here also, i actually woke up and said to my partner .. wow .. it’s not raining .. !! lol we actually had snow yesterday, even though the ground was wet it didn’t lay, but the lovely sun and the snow on the mountains was nice to see today (I live in Scotland)

@pastelheart i think I gave you my due date but I didn’t say it’s a girl we are expecting 🩷thanks so much for managing all this, your a superstar ✨ and enjoy your Valentine’s meal !

Ah yeah @AmberRose26 scotland too! No snow as next to the sea, but snow on the mountains across the water yesterday, so beautiful! Enjoy your valentines dinner @pastelheart … you could do a Jimbo from Simpsons and use an extension cord? Enjoy your visiting family and sun @SarahAndQuack !

(lol I considered clicking ‘sensitive image’ but everyone’s due some sun today)

@pastelheartthat's funny! I hope you had a lovely meal out!

I've woken up and the sun is out here also!! Going to try and get out in the garden while it lasts...I'm sure there were some gardeners on here somewhere also! We are forecast snow tomorrow 🤦‍♀️😂

Happy Valentine’s Day 💕