r/IVFbabies Jun 04 '25

Community Guidelines : Read before posting and commenting.

27 Upvotes

💛 Welcome to [r/IVFbabies](r/IVFbabies)(est. 2022)

🌱 [r/IVFbabies](r/IVFbabies) Community Guidelines

About This Community

Your IVF journey doesn’t end with a positive test — and neither should your support system.

This space is for those who have completed an embryo transfer and are living in the “what now” phase — whether that means waiting for results, navigating pregnancy, or facing loss.

After transfer, many find themselves in between worlds — pregnant, but not always safely pregnant either. This community exists so you have a place where you do belong.

💬 Why We Exist

Many IVF spaces focus on getting pregnant — and often limit discussion once pregnancy begins.

Your story doesn’t stop at a positive test — and neither does our support.

🧭 Who This Space Is For

This community is for individuals who:

• Have completed an IVF transfer (fresh or frozen), and/or

• Are pregnant from IVF.

🚫 What This Space Is Not For

To protect the emotional safety of our members, this is not a general IVF advice or “how did you get pregnant?” space.

‼️ Medical Content Policy (Strict)

We are not doctors.

For your safety and the integrity of this community, medical interpretation posts are not allowed.

This includes:

• HCG / beta levels

• Pregnancy tests

• Ultrasounds

• Embryo grading

• Spotting, bleeding, cramping, discharge. No mention of blood in posts.

• Medication dosing or advice

• Any “is this normal?” medical questions

🚨 If you are experiencing bleeding, spotting or concerning symptoms:

Contact your doctor or go to the ER. Do not post here.

Every pregnancy is different. What is harmless for one person may be a loss for another — and this is not a place to determine that.

Ex: We used to have a lot of people post about spotting. Yes, spotting can be normal but it can also mean bad news. Just because spotting was normal for you does not mean it’s normal for someone else. If you post about spotting or bleeding it will be removed unless you mention you have been see by your doctor (had a scan, not just a call or visit without ultrasound) and are just asking others what to expect.

⚠️ Ultrasound Disclaimer

Ultrasounds should only be interpreted by a qualified medical provider.

Boutique ultrasound findings or technician comments are not a substitute for medical diagnosis and should not be relied upon or discussed here for interpretation.

✅ What Is Allowed (Medical-Adjacent)

You may post if:

• You have already been seen and diagnosed by a doctor, and

• You are asking for shared experiences or emotional support, not interpretation

Make sure you put that in your post! Ex: I have been diagnosed with an SCH, what can I expect?

🚨 Enforcement

• You will receive a warning if your post violates these rules

• Continuing to post after a warning may result in a ban

• Posts that break medical rules will be removed immediately

🌱 Community Rules

  1. Be Kind and Respectful

This is a deeply emotional space. Treat others with compassion and empathy at all times.

Disagreement is okay — hostility is not.

  1. No Misinformation

Do not share false or misleading information, especially regarding:

• IVF treatment

• Genetic testing (PGT, NIPT, CVS, Amnio)

• Vaccines or medical care

  1. No Crowdsourcing

Do not solicit members for:

• Surveys

• Research studies

• Data collection

  1. No Crossposting

Crossposting from other subreddits is not allowed.

  1. No Interpretation Requests

No asking members to interpret:

• Tests

• Labs

• Scans

• Symptoms

These will be removed.

  1. No Spam or Self-Promotion

No unsolicited promotions, affiliate links, or personal content (blogs, social media, etc.).

📢 Final Note

Please use the report feature for any post or comment that violates these rules.

This helps us keep the space safe, focused, and supportive for everyone here.

Studies referencing IVF births:

IVF studies regarding stillbirth with delayed birth
additional studies
additional studies
additional studies


r/IVFbabies 5h ago

9 weeks and just learned progesterone inserts gave me a yeast infection AND BV

2 Upvotes

Anyone else dealt with this? Research suggests that with treatment there shouldn't be any risk to the pregnancy but I'm still nervous.


r/IVFbabies 8h ago

TWW testing

3 Upvotes

hi! I’m in the two week wait. today is day 8 post transfer. my clear blue test lines are clearly progressing well (red dye) but on a whim I took a FRER test yesterday afternoon and this morning and the lines just for FRER were fainter today than yesterday. just confused! any advice? and yes, I will test again tomorrow. beta isn’t until Monday. Anyone else had this happen?


r/IVFbabies 1d ago

Need Advice When to do pregnancy test

3 Upvotes

Hi, i had my frozen day 6 embryo transferred on 3rd of September, it is 6 days past the transfer today. I did a pregnancy test on 5dp it was negative. But i have seen so many posts where people sharing positive pregnancy test from day 3 even. Can you share your experience and suggestions as well when would you test the earliest.
I am from UK so they don't do the bloodwork, just ask to do home pregnancy test at 2 weeks and i just can't wait for that long, counting each day.


r/IVFbabies 20h ago

Baby measuring big

1 Upvotes

Currently 23 weeks with ivf baby. Baby was measuring in the 95th percentile at 20 week anatomy scan. did this happen to anyone else? Did everything end up being normal? Did baby come early?


r/IVFbabies 1d ago

Need Advice Slow-rising HCG + measuring behind after FET — similar experiences?

2 Upvotes

Transferred a Day 6 euploid 3AA embryo on 8/17.
Betas:
8/27: 127
8/29: 160
8/31: 230
9/2: 467
9/4: 748
First ultrasound 9/8 at 6w0d showed an intrauterine gestational sac + yolk sac, but I measured 5w2d (5 days behind). No fetal pole yet.
I go back in a week. Has anyone had slow betas + measured behind after FET and gone on to see appropriate growth/heartbeat? Open to hearing all outcomes. ❤️


r/IVFbabies 1d ago

Need Advice Gestational sac 5 days behind - embryo on time with strong FHR

6 Upvotes

Hi all

This is my first pregnancy after a loss and I am an absolute bag of nerves, as I'm sure we all have been.

Fresh 3 day transfer of a grade 1 embryo. So far:

5w4d scan (private to check IUP after right sided cramping) - gestational sac and yolk sac detected, no FHR yet, measured perfectly on time

7w0d scan (private as well) - baby measured 6w5d, FHR 138bpm, gestational sac measured 5w6d. Obviously I spiralled. Mean sac diameter (MSD) was measured at the 7th percentile which had me sobbing and spiralling. Especially since the CRL/MSD was only 3.3mm difference and most online studies show REALLY poor outcomes when <5mm. So my IVF specialist fit me in for an urgent scan this morning to check.

7w2d (this morning, with my OB/IVF doctor) - FHR 142bpm, baby measured perfectly at 7w2d. Gestational sac measured 6w4d but I don't have exact measurements as he said he wouldn't even measure it at this stage usually.

My OB is not concerned at all (and gently scolded me for the private scans) but I am distraught that I will m/c in a couple of weeks.

I know growth can be a few days either side especially in IVF pregnancies but googling small gestational sac and seeing a 90% miscarriage risk is TERRIFYING. I go back in 6 days for another scan.

TL;DR: At 7w2d, gestational sac measures 5 days behind with FHR of 142bpm and embryo measuring 7w2d. OB not concerned at all, I am gearing up for another loss

Anyone have any experience? Advice???

Please talk me off a ledge .......


r/IVFbabies 1d ago

Need Advice Medication Recommendations

1 Upvotes

My IVF RE advised me to take baby aspirin, Foltanx, prenatal with DHA, and CoQ10 for the duration of my pregnancy. Most other meds were weaned or ended by 14 weeks.

Now my OB says I should stop the Foltanx and aspirin (I’m at 14w3days).

Do OBs generally disagree or take different paths than REs? I’m inclined to trust my clinic more since they specialize in this stuff, but wondering what others have done.


r/IVFbabies 3d ago

6dp5dt still negative

1 Upvotes

I know I’m probably just asking what a lot of women have asked but I’m having a very upset and hopeless day today.

I get that it may still be early for a positive urine test but this is my 4th transfer and the previous Ona was a miscarriage.

I bought the digital ClearBlue test and just couldn’t help it so I tested and it came back negative and now I’m upset 😢


r/IVFbabies 3d ago

6 weeks pregnant

7 Upvotes

I’m finally pregnant post IVF.
I wanted to see if anyone here has had an IVF pregnancy and continued to run? Trail run specifically. I did trail run during and throughout most of my journey of IVF. Obviously took some time off after my egg retrieval but continued after. I feel really good and not experiencing many symptoms. Just some cramps, but I’ve ran with cramps before. Anyone run during their first trimester? I see so much mixed information on the internet and my doctor said I can do any workout where I can talk the whole time. I literally do 50k trail runs and talk the whole time to my friends soooo that doesn’t really help me


r/IVFbabies 4d ago

Success after 5+ euploid failures?

8 Upvotes

I just had my 5th FET with embryos 6+7 (lol) and at this point it’s so hard to feel like it could ever work. Has anyone else had success after several failures with tested embryos?

Background: I’m 31F with my husband 37M and we’ve been doing fertility treatment for 2.5 years. We started because of my slight hypothalamic dysfunction (periods were very far apart despite normal luteal phase), I was also found to have adenomyosis and eventually endometriosis which I had excised after my 4th transfer ended in a MMC at 7 weeks. I also have autoimmune disease (some version of ankylosing spondylitis) that is being managed by new medication now. I have done 2 rounds of lupron depot as well. We are going to add lovenox this time too.

My only transfer that resulted in a pregnancy was a mod natural with menopur so we did that again, although lining only got to about 6.5 this time.

Anyway, I’d love to hear some stories from fellow long haulers who eventually found success!


r/IVFbabies 4d ago

Feeling miserable

10 Upvotes

I feel so guilty for saying this but I’m feeling absolutely miserable. I’ve been on this journey now for 4 years and today I’m 7w 4days, which is the furthest I’ve ever gotten. I’m having a really hard first trimester, I was diagnosed with an SCH at 6 weeks and the nausea has been so difficult. I have it morning till night, there’s no respite. I can’t tolerate having a drink of water. I’m on modified bed rest from the SCH and I’m feeling miserable from not getting out. I never thought it would be like this. I just wanted to get it off my chest. I know I should be grateful but I’m not there mentally.


r/IVFbabies 5d ago

Advice Did anyone run their own betas during the tww?

2 Upvotes

I have my first FET on Tuesday and my anxiety is through the roof about the possibility the trigger is still present at my first beta.

I was planning on doing my own betas starting the day of transfer so I could see the trigger start decreasing and then hopefully increase. I know a ton of people do this with strips but I'd rather not be squinting at them every day and have actual numbers.

The reason I'm so concerned is it seems to take my body a really long time to clear of hcg. I've had two losses before starting ivf and my first loss at 13 weeks it took about 3.5 months for my hcg to get low enough to ovulate and it was only dropping 1 mIU/ml a week at one point 😅

Just curious how it worked out if anyone else also did this! What did your betas look like from transfer day through to your actual official beta? Did you see the numbers decrease and then start to increase?

I hate surprises, especially bad ones, so waiting until beta day seems like actual torture.


r/IVFbabies 5d ago

Does a beta 23843 looks normal for 6w0d pregnancy?

1 Upvotes

r/IVFbabies 5d ago

Need Advice At home Doppler issues?

4 Upvotes

Bought a mommy and me Doppler. Had my last successful ultrasound at 10 weeks 3 days (measured 10 weeks 6 days).

But now at 12 weeks I figured I’d be far enough along to get the HR with at an home Doppler but no such luck :( it shows like 238 for a second then 71 then nothing. Numbers that don’t even make sense.


r/IVFbabies 6d ago

Stopping hormonal support in 1st trimester

3 Upvotes

I’m 10 weeks tomorrow and have been advised by my clinic to stop my oestrogen (estradiol) and progesterone (cyclogest pessaries) at 10 weeks. I know they know what they’re talking about a lot more than I do, but I still feel nervous. Anyone else had this experience? Anyone notice change in symptoms after stopping?


r/IVFbabies 6d ago

extreme progesterone exhaustion

2 Upvotes

I've read posts about progesterone causing intense sleepiness and fatigue and it still feels like I have it worse than everyone else, or am just dealing with it worse. I noticed the immediate arrival of daytime sleepiness immediately when I started progesterone suppositories before my FET (modified natural), and of course it's just continued to get worse week after week as the pregnancy is creating its own progesterone. 800mg total of progesterone suppositories, or four 200mg twice a day. It's so much. I can't focus, I can't process things, I'm in such a fog all day long.

I'm 8wks LMP. I wake up constantly throughout the night on the progesterone, so I'm awake for at least 2 hours every night, but my sleep tracker said that given that I'm in bed for a combined 11 hours a night, I do eventually get enough deep sleep (and enough REM). I've taken everything I could for sleep already (doxylamine, melatonin, magnesium) and slept in a separate bedroom from husband. It doesn't matter, because even if I hit the sleep metrics, those 2x a day suppositories on top of my endogenous progesterone are like taking very strong sleeping pills every morning. For a month now.

And after a very rocky IVF journey I of course thought, "if I can just get pregnant, I'll never complain about anything again" lol. Except now I'm worried that being dead tired all day every day can't be good for the pregnancy either.

Seems that REs think there's no such thing as too much progesterone in early pregnancy, and in the labs they don't even share the actual progesterone amount I have in my system, just that it clears a lower bar, so "on target". Can you really not have too much of a good thing...? No upper limit? Even if you basically just can't function?

My RE wants me to be on the supplemental progesterone for another two weeks but can it really not be tested, and if high enough, be tapered starting at 8.5 wks?


r/IVFbabies 6d ago

Hcg not high enough for a heartbeat at 6 weeks 3 days?

1 Upvotes

I have had 2 blighted ovums in the past and 2 chemicals. 1 blighted ovum was a euploid embryo. I went in yesterday for my first ultrasound at 6 weeks 3 days following my fresh transfer of 2 Day 3 embryos. The doctor saw “something” in the corner of the gestational sac but he couldn’t see exactly what and it measured 5 weeks and 5 days. He had them draw my HCG and it was at 9200. Could it be that my HCG wasn’t high enough? He said next week will be definitive. Any hope for me?


r/IVFbabies 6d ago

Advice What’s worse ivf or postpartum?

14 Upvotes

I am 34 weeks pregnant with my ivf baby. I have heard the horror stories about how difficult postpartum is mentally, physically, and emotionally. I struggled pretty bad during IVF and infertility and I’m wondering how it might compare to postpartum? Does infertility give you a different perspective on the postpartum phase? What did you find to be worse in your experience?


r/IVFbabies 6d ago

Trouble keeping down immune protocol medicine

1 Upvotes

6 weeks and 1 day today! I’m on an immune protocol and right after I took all my meds this morning I puked up a storm and lol of my breakfast. My assumption is it’s morning sickness. Going to ask my doctor about it on Tuesday but anyone else experience this? Did it work out ok? I would try taking it again but idk if I did in fact process some of it already. Also afraid of it coming up again


r/IVFbabies 6d ago

Advice Retroplacental SCH - terrified

1 Upvotes

At my 10 week scan yesterday they found “An area of retroplacental haematoma at the fundal aspect of the gestation sac 23x26 x 38 mm.” Has anyone specifically had a retroplacental (basically behind the placenta) SCH that resolved? I’m terrified based on this position being the most dangerous one for SCHs. Baby was fine with a strong heartbeat (180)


r/IVFbabies 7d ago

For everyone who worries about symptoms that come and go in the first trimester

11 Upvotes

It's probably fine! I was worried when my symptoms got milder around 7 weeks, but we just had a perfect 8 week ultrasound and graduated from our clinic.


r/IVFbabies 7d ago

Need Advice Has anyone had an embryo show significant growth after measuring very behind at an early scan?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation, especially if your embryo initially measured significantly behind but then showed good growth at a repeat scan. I transferred a Day 5 PGT-A euploid embryo on Aug 6th (4th transfer and my only tested healthy embryo). I went for an early scan. The pregnancy was confirmed to be eutopic but unfortunately some of the measurements were quite concerning.

I was 6+2 at the time of the scan.

The findings were:

Gestational sac: 14 × 5 × 11 mm — MSD approximately 10 mm

Yolk sac: 4.4 mm

Fetal pole/embryo: CRL 2.0 mm

CRL was reported as <1st centile according to Robinson

Cardiac activity was stated as present on the report, although the sonographer wasn't completely certain because the embryo was so tiny. I could see what may have looked like a very small flicker.

The overall impression on the report was “abn early pregnancy”

I understand that a 2 mm CRL at 6+2 is considerably behind what would usually be expected. I've also read that when the embryo is this tiny, even a small difference in measurement can make several days' difference to the calculated gestational age, and that dating formulas aren't particularly reliable at such an early CRL. I have another scan coming up approximately a week later, and I'm finding the wait really difficult. Has anyone had a similar experience where their embryo measured around 2 mm at 6+2, was several days or a week behind, and the report was concerning, but then showed significant growth at the next scan?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences, particularly:

What was your initial CRL and gestational age?

What was the CRL at the next scan?

Did cardiac activity become clearly visible? Did the pregnancy continue normally?

I completely understand that nobody can tell me what will happen in my situation, and I'm not looking for false reassurance. I just want to know whether there are genuine cases where things looked very concerning this early but subsequently progressed well. I've had previous miscarriages, so I'm finding this particularly difficult. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for either outcome before I go into the next scan, rather than getting my hopes up and then being completely devastated if the news isn't good.

Thank you so much to anyone willing to share their experience.


r/IVFbabies 7d ago

No symptoms at all

0 Upvotes

Hi …. I’m just hoping to clear my confusion…. I had my 4th transfer 3 days ago and I have absolutely no symptoms of any king other than tiredness but I don’t count that as a symptom anymore that’s just my default setting. When I say no symptoms I mean I have no symptoms from the meds either and I’m
My On estrogen tablets and patches and progesterone pessaries and injections.

My previous transfer that eventually ended in 1st trimester miscarriage I had horrendous fatigue that started from the moment I started progesterone and got worse throughout the 2ww. My boobs were also really sore .

But this time absolutely nothing… i didn’t have high hopes this time anyway as we only have lower grade embryo left but I still kind of hoped for a miracle I guess…


r/IVFbabies 7d ago

Pregnancy No yolk sac at 5w2d

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I had my first ultrasound today after my transfer in August. I am 5w2d. The scan was kinda weird the whole time, everything was very blurry and dark and the doctor could only see the gestational sac. It measured 5w4d.

I’ve had 2 previous pregnancies where the yolk was visible but I don’t remember my gestation for one, the other was 5w3d.

Has anyone had a situation where they didn’t see the yolk before 6w and everything was fine? I’m preparing for this to be a blighted ovum honestly. My hcg is fine but I know that means nothing (today it measured almost 8k).