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 my baby is a donor baby too, it’s so strange shopping online for sperm 😂😂 I agree that the information they give you about the personality and the written notes play a bit part of the decision (apart from their medical history obviously).

Two weeks after I got my positive result I got a call from the IVF clinic to say they had just been informed that the donor had been identified as a carrier of chromosomal abnormality and that if I turned out to also be a carrier then the baby had a 50% chance of having the condition. Had to go for genetic screening but thankfully I am not a carrier!

Hey all

Did ivf

Due in march
Although baby likely to appear in Feb...

Hey @worldwidetravel2017good to see you here! I recognise your name from other threads. Congratulations! X

Thank you

@dubkittenomg that must have been stressful! Good news that you aren’t a carrier though 🥰

@worldwidetravel2017 welcome! And congrats, how many weeks are you now?

so I am 12 weeks 5 days today and have been having a few kinda stabby pains down low in my tummy, has anyone else had this? It’s not helping my anxiety for my scan tomorrow. It’s very central so not left or right at all. I’m hoping it’s just stretching pains or something xx

@pastelheart I did and think others have too so try not to worry. Pretty sure it is ligaments stretching like you say. Best of luck for the scan!

@magpie234 thank you for replying and for the reassurance, the bottom of my mini bump does seem to be getting bigger so I’m hoping it’s just that 🩷 how are you? Xx

Thank you.
Nearly 25w...
24.5 atm

Its most likely part of the process - the pains you mention

@pastelheart Good thanks. Not sleeping well due to hip pain but otherwise holding up alright and a lot better than the first tri. Time seems to be really speeding up now which is freaking me out a bit but trying to go with the flow…

Glad everyone is getting on well. I recognize quite a few names on here now from other threads! @pastelheart That does sound like ligament stretching and not long to wait for scan now. I understand the anxiety we're always on alert with this process aren't we?
@dubkitten I was surprised to read about them discovering that about your donor after the event. Thank goodness all is well but a bit worrying that they didn't screen for it, though i guess there are some very rare cases that are outside of screening. My UK hospital have been asking about screening done as I also used donors and outside of UK. All these things I never really thought to question at the time!
@SarahAndQuack Hello! Did you locate the perfect jean? I realized the other day I have a few bits somewhere in my loft from 8 yrs ago. It's an assault course up there though and accessed via a very precarious set up. I'm the only person that have ever been up there...it's an old house...might brave it tomorrow as even my joggers feel tight. It's not the baby it's the eating to abate the nausea... 😢 Hope you feel more comfy!
Found out today I need iron pills for rest of pregnancy as blood test came back too low. Hoping I might feel less zombified... 🙏

Yea it was a shock to get the call but I don’t think it is something that is routinely screened for - I used the European Sperm Bank. I reckon something happened in the donors life that made it be discovered and then he disclosed it to the sperm bank

@worldwidetravel2017 ah lovely, have you found out the gender? Thank you for the reassurance, it so hard not to worry about everything

@magpie234ahhh rubbish about the sleep ☹️ it’s so funny how it speeds up and the. Slows down and then speeds up again!

@Sara237 thank you for the reassurance 🩷 100% on alert any little thing I’m like hmmm I should worry about this lol
oh we have an issue atm as we converted out loft into our master bedroom so the eaves are our storage now… but I’m the only one who can fit in there… but my partner doesn’t want me in there or lifting anything heavy… so god knows how we are going to get the Xmas tree out 😂

@Backtotheicsi. I hope your scan goes well today, update as after 🩷🩷🩷 xxx

We are having a baby girl

@worldwidetravel2017 Congratulations, that's lovely news. I remember you from a much earlier thread. I love your succinctness!

Hi all, just quick update before we go out for dinner…
scan was perfect, baby was perfect. I can’t believe how big they are now! Xxx

@pastelheart Yay! Lovely news. Enjoy your dinner with a delicious side serving of relief.

Great to hear all the recent scan went well, hopefully it will help ease the nerves a little (unfortunately they never go away)

Unfortunately I have caught my first cold while pregnant… had a wedding on Saturday and now have a scratchy throat and am awake at 2.30am. Pretty sure only paracetamol is safe to take and not my beloved Lemsip but will check with the chemist tomorrow. Sigh!

I had one a few weeks and paracetamol and glycerin, honey and lemon was all the chemist would give me

Morning all!

@pastelheart, what lovely news! You must be feeling so reassured. I've just had my date for my 12-week scan through - 8th December at 9am, that'll be fun alongside getting DD to school!

@dubkitten - goodness, that must have been scary about your donor! It's not a smooth ride, is it?! And YY, picking a donor is so odd. Something I love now, though, is that I have quite a strong sense of DD's donor dad, and I really hope he's up for meeting when she is old enough, because it's been so nice. I feel as if I'd know him if he walked into a room, if that makes sense?

@Sara237 - I hope the iron pills do the trick! Low iron is absolutely horrible. I gave up on the jeans search for now. DD was with her other mum Monday/Tuesday and yesterday I came home and took my coat off and she looked and said 'ooh, mummy, you got big!' I still don't think you would know unless you knew, but it was lovely.

@magpie234 - ouch! I have a cold too, courtesy of DD. I'm sipping honey and lemon. Bleugh. Hope you feel better for the wedding!

I had a lovely day out with a friend yesterday - we might manage to get a grant to fund some work, and my bit would be about pregnancy loss and grief and finding ways to help people feel less alone. I'm really excited about it but it was a full-on day and I was standing on the train all the way home as it was rammed. Was also stupid enough to wear heels on the grounds that I won't be able to soon, and I was late for the train so sprinted through Leeds station ... all in all not what I should have been doing and I am feeling it now! But I came away the proud owner of a soft-toy uterus from Leeds medical museum, so I can accurately show DD where the baby is. (DD 'who would want one of those?!')

Hope everyone has a lovely day and stays as warm and dry as possible.

Only just got on sorry ladies! Scan went brilliant what a relief. Also found out we are having a baby girl! I am so excited to have two girls! My little girls! Aw feel so real now. Anyway big relief after the fall!
@pastelheart so glad to hear yours went well! Isn’t it crazy how much you can see!

also about epidurals honestly get the paperwork signed the minute you get to the hospital I signed mine and he was there before I was even 4cm it was brilliant. I know it’s not always possible when it’s very quick. It was amazing though I slept so much: I had not slept in days for anxiety about getting induced and I reacted so strongly to being induced I was pacing the whole night before doing deep breathing etc. I had an awful nighttime midwife who told me it takes 3 days for people to become dilated and I should be fine on paracetamol but low and behold before her next shift 12 hours after she left she was back and I had my baby girl in arms lol so I needed the sleep. It was very pleasant save the last 8 mins when they woke me up saying her heart rate dropped but she was out in 8 the little dot of a girl with just the kiwi thing. Anyhow gave you my whole birth story there but tn biggest point is know what you want and advocate for yourself there’s no trophies for seeing it through with no pain relief although equally more power to anyone who wants to we should all have the births we hope for.
mum hoping for pain free again 😂 absolute bliss. I need to work on the peeing after though if anyone has any suggestions that was hellish!

Oh, how lovely, @Backtotheicsi! A little girl!

I have no real clue, but people swear by a jug of warm water to pour over your bits if you possibly can (or, whisper it, first wee in the shower if it's not a communal one!).

@Backtotheicsi Congrats! So pleased it went well and how lovely about your little girl. I am so excited to be having my first daughter!

Thanks for generously sharing your first birth story too. I have been having a good old think about what I want - trying to listen to my gut - and have decided against induction. I think I want a maternal request c-section as I have a few friends who seem to have had calm and controlled experiences with that and recommend it. That really appeals after all the uncertainty and invasive procedures of infertility tbh! But shall see. Maybe I will book in for one but go with it if I go into spontaneous labour beforehand (def with pain relief if so!). I know first-time mums are often offered induction though so I think I will start expecting and preparing for a c. Really I just want the least stressful and painful experience that ends in us both as healthy (inc mentally and longer-term) as possible. To me (so personal of course) it seems like a perfect vaginal birth is best but also not experienced enough for me. Is anyone else thinking of an elective?

I am going to play it by ear. When my DD was born, the hospital near us pretty much insisted on c-sections if you were over 40 and had done IVF - there was a mum in my NCT group who was in that situation and she said they really presented it as 'this is what has to happen' (which she was fine with). I know my hospital here is more flexible, but the midwife said because I have quite a lot of red flags they might advise a section.

My feeling is: I'm not averse to it; it'd be nice if I could avoid surgery but the main thing I want to avoid is what happened to my ex, which was a horribly drawn-out induction, then forceps, then a very panicky c-section at the end. The sort where they have to push the baby back up.

@SarahAndQuack Oh gosh poor her! Exactly. I have heard so many stories of inductions ending in emergency cs so given I am leaning toward a c anyway it seems to make the most sense to me to just ask for one! But maybe I will change my mind 🤷‍♀️.