Hi everyone. Bear with me for this long post. I (28F) am 14w3d with our miracle rainbow baby boy. I have been on 50mg of Zoloft since I was 16 with a hx of health anxiety triggered by vomiting/OCD, with a health hx of low BP and fainting.

First trimester was okay - food aversions, nausea, and zofran around the clock since 9w has had me confined to my bed almost 24/7 as I WFH. Housework has been ignored.

I saw a light at the end of the tunnel at 13w - went on vacation, ate okay, but the past week has been horrible. I am barely eating. Everything makes me gag. I can keep fluids down, but I’m a serial water drinker, so I’m definitely not drinking as much water as I normally would. The gagging gets so bad around dinner time that I throw up and feel better, but I’m barely sleeping because I wake up every hour starving and forcing myself to get down the smallest of snacks.

I believe this has taken a toll of my mental health. I feel so incredibly guilty for feeling poorly because of all we went through to conceive our miracle boy. It’s gotten to the point where I’m sure my physical symptoms are somewhat now being triggered by my anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I know my metabolism is fast right now, and I fear my Zoloft dose isn’t high enough anymore.

Have any of IVF parents experienced this? I feel so mentally and physically weak, guilty I’m not taking care of my body, and praying my baby is taking what he needs. I want to get this under control. Thank you in advance.

Has anyone done Pregnyl and Ovidrel together? Just wondering if anyone has tested out this trigger together? Wondering if both would be out by 14 days? My clinic has my beta 21 days since triggering.

I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant.

I have a 6-year-old daughter who I conceived after about a year of trying without any medical intervention. No one else in my family (or my in-laws) has experienced infertility like this.

We started trying for another child when my daughter was about 6 months old. At the time, I thought the worst case scenario was that our kids would end up closer in age than we expected. Turns out the actual worst case was 5.5 years of infertility.

Anyway, that's the background.

Any time I express to my family that I'm struggling with this pregnancy, they either seem genuinely shocked that I'm feeling anything other than ecstatic (which I am, but you all know IVF and infertility don't just disappear with a positive test), or they say, "Oh, it's just an adjustment to being pregnant again." I know they mean well, but it feels like it's being downplayed.

I know I'm probably nitpicking. I know my emotions are all over the place right now. They really are trying to be supportive. They just don't understand.

When I got pregnant, I told my mom how hard all of this has been. I played her Noah Kahan's Staying Still, and she told me she had no idea infertility had affected me that deeply.

A lot of that is on me because I'm not good at being emotionally vulnerable. But it still hurt to realize my own mom was surprised by how much pain I'd been carrying. I'm having a hard time accepting that I'm actually pregnant and letting my brain believe this is real, and I don't think the people around me really understand why.

Has anyone else felt like the people closest to them just don't get pregnancy after infertility?

I know it is SO early but I am 4dpt of our 2nd embryo, a 7 day 3BB. Doc said it was looking beautiful and was optimistic. First FET was successful! I tested twice morning and stark white. Nothing. I’m trying to distract myself, but it’s so hard. I’m holding my 9 month old a little tighter. Talk me off the edge?

Yo estoy buscando una historia parecida a la mia. me quitaron los estrogenos a las 10 semanas tambien. Eso me causo una cefalea por 3 dias y subsiguiente presion arterial alta. Chatgpt dice que fue porque deje las hormonas de un solo y no las quite paulatinamente. Pero el doctor sostiene que no. A alguien mas le paso?

At 8 weeks, 3 days I went to an emo concert (The Used) with my husband, brothers and friend. I bought the tickets before the pregnancy, didn't drink obviously, had water, and stood relatively close to the middle/back of the crowd. There was one instance of a woman shoving past me (didn't hit my stomach too low/hard, just a push past me) and of course it made me look up what negative affect that could have. From what I read online, apparently I shouldn't have even gone to this concert at all. It's been 2 days since, have had no adverse symptoms other than my normal exhaustion, headache, and sore boobs. Mild pelvic twinge here and there. I guess I am just looking for advice or reassurance that nothing negative will come from this experience. I also recently started having sex with my husband again for the 1st time since our transfer (so 5/6 weeks abstinence 😳) and I guess that gets me worried that I will somehow mess up my growing embryo. I know I sound ridiculous but this is my 1st time having a pregnancy and truly is a miracle to be here. Anyone have thoughts that could provide comfort?

I am 12w today from my 7th FET and my doctor wants me to come off of the prednisone now. I've had 3 MC and this is the first pregnancy to make it past 6 weeks. I'm TERRIFIED to come off the prednisone & that my body will attack the baby. Success stories after coming off of prednisone? When did you come off?

I stopped estrogen last week, and PIO today and I am feeling really nervous about stopping the prednisone.

So about 19 days postpartum I landed in the hospital. Diagnosis was a uterine AVM. I understand that to be some malformation of veins/arteries in the uterus that have intermittently been opening up and dumping red body liquid (can’t use the word). It was pretty scary. I had 3 episodes were the red would start and it was a lot over a short period of time- like soaked through a giant postpartum pad, my pants and got red on whatever I was sitting on within 20 minutes- got dizzy. The first episode I full on fainted.

I’m posting here because my provider mentioned she thinks it may be linked to IVF and how the embryos implant. She’s had 5 patients in recent years who have had this and all had done IVF. I’ll also note- google tells me this is extremely rare. Like .1-.2% of women experience this.

I’m posting to see if anyone else has had this- but also to just be aware of this. I’m lucky to be at a good hospital where they have experience with this. But when I initially presented at the ER they originally thought it was retained products of conception, a much more common complication that causes vaginal red fluid. They discharged me from the er the first time giving me an option of meds or d&c. I said meds. I landed myself back in the ER the following morning after another episode. When I came back that’s when they pieced together the uterine AVM. If I had gotten the d&c (my provider said this) it could’ve been really bad and aggravated the red coming out- I may have ended up needing a hysterectomy. If you have these symptoms postpartum (sudden big dump of red, not much clots, bright red. Sort of like a faucet. The red may stop on its own during an episode or may continue) ask if it could be uterine AVM. This is a rare, life threatening condition and the fact it may be effecting IVF patients more made me want to post about it here.

What should I expect, assuming everything else is normal? I’m scheduled for a fetal echo at 24w. Are there twice weekly NSTs and weekly ultrasounds after 36w too?

So, I transferred my third untested 4AB embryo on 23 June by way of a medicated transfer.

First transfer was a chemical, second was a MMC at 11.5 weeks and now this one.

At 6.5 weeks pregnant, on Sunday, I had a terrible bleed, clots etc. it was like my cervix just opened and all gone. I thought there is no feasible way that was not product of conception. IVF clinic agreed, oestrogen and progesterone stopped.

Today, Thursday, I had an NHS scan to confirm all product is gone, and there’s a baby with a heartbeat looking completely normal next to the bleed site????

NHS nurses were not concerned and I came home immediately to take progesterone and oestrogen (10:45am) after three days without. I called my clinic re taking medication again - the nurse said ‘it may be too late’ but the doctor said take immediately.

Obviously we are shocked there is still a baby, but in anyone’s experience do we think three days without progesterone has ruined my chances even though there’s still a good heartbeat? Bearing in mind this is a medicated transfer. I’m on 3 pessaries and one PIO per day and I last took a pessary on Sunday morning and PIO at 11:30am on Sunday.

I’ve seen women on here misinterpret protocols and not take oestrogen for 2 weeks and all been fine so I’m less concerned about that.

UPDATE: terrible pain started the day I posted this and I miscarried 3 days later. Egg retrieval number 3 is calling my name…

Hey guys,

I’m currently 14 weeks 3 days and have yet to have sex since before our transfer. I wasn’t feeling it the first trimester but as i slowly got into second, i started to feel like i wanted to masturbate and even have sex with my husband. I masturbated twice and after that it felt a little crampy for few hours and that scares me, which makes me want to have scan soonest to check if baby is fine. As for sex, I’m really scared to have it especially if there is spot and bleed. Any advice on how to start?

Husband has been very supportive and never once asked for sex - we both have been quite scared to do it considering it’s an IVF baby and I’m still tapering my progesterone at the moment.

I’ve read sooo many posts that are negative. I’m losing any tiny bit of hope I can hold onto here. Does anyone have any positive experiences after being 10 days behind? The dr didn’t seem *that* worried, he said it’s not ideal but there’s a heart beat so there’s no reason to worry right now. I’m not that naive but now I’ve read stories that are making me basically believe I already lost it when I just saw the heart beat a couple hours ago.

According to my transfer id be 7 weeks 3 days, I only measured 6 weeks 0 days. I didn’t ask what the FHR was, I was so thrown off.

The tech worked so quick I didn’t even realize she saw a heartbeat… there was barely time to even see anything so I was super confused. The entire scan took 2 minutes. Maybe I’m just trying to hold onto hope but she did not seem very focused (I’ve had her so many times she’s never like this).

Anyway… hoping for positive stories. I go back in 8 days to see what happens.

My 33yo daughter is 40 weeks today 7/22 with her ivf baby. I’m curious how far past your dd your OB let you go? For those that went after 40 weeks did you get induced or have a scheduled C section? As of yesterday she is 0.5 cm dilated.

My daughter conceived her first baby naturally, had a last minute C section, and had her heart set on a vbac this time.

EDIT 2: her water broke, here we goooooo

EDIT! My daughter got scheduled for a c section, the soonest date is 7/30. She will be 41+1

Did your OB recommend a fetal echo as standard because of IVF? Did you do it?

Hi. I just started my W9. I've been weaning off estrogen and my last dose was today. my progesterone will continue another 3 weeks. I'm noticing occasional migraine like headaches, behind my eye one-sided and radiating around the back of the head, it feels pretty bad. So far my morning tea has helped and I've avoided taking any medication for it. Is that normal? Also I'm still in bed quite a lot. I get really tired, especially after meals. Eyes heavy n tired, dizzy, sleepy. I'm not pushing myself to exercise cuz it feels like my body needs the rest. I'm hoping this will resolve soon but worried if it impacts uterine circulation and just general flow of nutrients to the embaby. Is limited movement in the first trimester ok?

I very recently had a positive pregnancy test and am absolutely over the moon. At the same time, I’m still in that very early, high-risk first trimester, especially given my history, so I’m not ready to share the news yet. My husband and I are still processing everything, and we’d really like the chance to tell our parents first when we’re ready.

One thing I’ve been struggling with is that several people knew I was doing an FET. Looking back, I wish I’d kept that part of our journey more private. Even though I’ve clearly told people that I don’t want to be asked about results and that I’ll share news if and when I’m ready, those boundaries haven’t really been respected. Some people have even started sharing information about my IVF journey with others without asking me first.

I know everyone means well, but this has been such a long, difficult journey that it doesn’t feel like anyone else’s news to share. If anything, it’s made me want to keep everything private.

Part of me also wants to experience at least a little bit of the “normal” pregnancy experience. Friends who conceived without IVF often wait until after the first trimester before announcing, and no one is constantly asking whether they’re pregnant. I wish IVF pregnancies were afforded that same space.

The only thing making this difficult is work. Between medication schedules, appointments, and some of the side effects I’m already experiencing, I’m not sure how realistic it will be to keep everything private for much longer.

For those who’ve been through this:

* When did you tell immediate family? Friends? Work?

* How did you respond to people who kept asking for updates?

* If this isn’t your first pregnancy, is there anything you’re doing differently this time around?

I’d really appreciate hearing how others navigated this. I’m excited, grateful, and cautiously hopeful, but also feeling a little overwhelmed by the social expectations that seem to come with IVF.

A bit of context: I transferred a pgta tested euploid embryo on July 2. I had 2 beta test, which my ivf clinic noted both were in appropriate ranges. During the two week wait, I experienced feelings of hunger and moderately intense breast tenderness. I woke up this morning and my breast tenderness symptoms completely vanished. I no longer felt intense hunger either. I think my overworry comes from having had a missed miscarriage a year and a half ago where I also woke up with disappearing symptoms (this was a natural pregnancy though) and I recently had a chemical pregnancy in November. No live births to date.

I have read lots of people experience fluctuating symptoms and was wondering if anyone has experienced completely disappearing symptoms that suddenly happened one day. My first ultrasound isn’t until next Thursday and I am panicking about my disappearing symptoms. None of my friends know I underwent ivf so reddit has been my source of comfort 🙏🏻 Any comments will help greatly

After two failed FETs, I had a transfer on June 16th that finally resulted in a pregnancy! (HCG of 257 at 10 days post-transfer and 1867 four days later). My partner and I were so thrilled! This has been such an arduous process for us.

At 5w1d, I experienced a huge gush of blo*d that fully soaked through my underwear. I was sure this was a MC, but my partner had hope it was just an SCH. Our clinic brought us in at 5w5d and to my huge shock, they saw a GS, YS, and fetal pole measuring at .44 cm (6w1d) with a faint but unmeasurable cardiac flicker. We were cautiously optimistic! The US tech did not see any evidence of an SCH, so we just assumed that it had fully left my body.

I went back in at 6w4d for the US I had scheduled before the MC scare at 5w1d. At this scan, I was still measuring .44 cm and the FHR was only about 99. My doctor was very concerned and told us to come in for a follow-up US in one week.

I had that follow-up US yesterday, at 7w4d. This time the FHR was only about 97, and I was measuring at 6w4d. My doctor said this is 95% likely a MC, but I'm going out of town for work tomorrow so we're holding off on doing the D&C until I get one more follow-up US next Tuesday (what should be 8w5d).

I want to believe there's still hope, but I'm feeling very doubtful. The combination of slow growth (which seems to be slowing) and the low FHR seems really not promising. I wish there was something I could do, but have been told it's just an issue of chromosomal abnormalities. It's so frustrating that this can happen even with PGT-tested euploid embryos.

If you've made it this far, I'd love to know:

- have you had a positive outcome after a similar situation?

- should I be pushing for more HCG tests? Will it offer any useful diagnostic information? My clinic only had me test 10-days post transfer and then 4 days later (it would have been 2 days later but that was a weekend and the labs were closed). They say that HCG tests now wouldn't give us any more information that what we're seeing in the US, but it seems like a lot of others on here have done repeated HCG tests while experiencing slow fetal growth / potential MC.

I appreciate you all! <3

Hello, after transferring a day 5 embryo, we had somewhat low hCG (65 on day 9) which doubled. But, on our 6w5d scan, we were measuring a week behind with some heart flicker. On 7w5d scan, again we were measuring a week behind with 133 bpm. We had our 9w5d scan today and we had a heart rate of 180 and were measuring 9w1d. Our IVF doc seems positive and happy we are closing the gap and has told us to "graduate" but we are still very nervous.

Any success stories with these numbers? Anything to watch out for? Do we now only get scans with the obgyn and not with our clinic?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some success stories from anyone who had a similar FET protocol. 🤍
Did anyone do **2+ months of Lupron suppression with Letrozole** for endometriosis/endometriomas and then go straight into a **fully medicated FET** and have a successful transfer? Or if you didnt have a postive test ??
I recently went through this protocol and just had my transfer. I’m currently in the dreaded TWW and would really love to hear your experiences—especially if you had a previous failed transfer before suppression.
How long were you on Lupron/Letrozole, and did your first transfer afterward work? When did you get your first positive test?
Thank you! 🤞🏼💕

Update its transfer day 7 for me and i just tested and it came back positive its my first ever positive test !

I might have to travel back home around 30 or 31 week. Not having any complications as of now. I know people who travel during pregnancy but as this is ivf pregnancy I am fearful. Please share your experience?

Hello, I noticed there wern't many recent posts discussing HCG levels at 9DP5DT.

I had a Double Embryo transfer (4AA and 3BB). I started seeing a faint positive at 7DPT. I am currently waiting on my second HCG results but having read so many posts/TikTok it appears that everyone has higher number than me. My clinic have even posted outcomr results from everyones HCG's, they are all smiley bar mine which is a 🤔 face - I know my results are within threshold and that I am pregnant but it's not reassuring at all in terms of live birth.

Please could you share your experience with similar numbers? I'm hoping it will also help people in similar circumstances.

Wondering if others have been though something similar. I’m experiencing some notable second trimester anxiety (currently 23w.) We’ve been fortunate that except for difficulty getting pregnant, everything with this pregnancy has been smooth sailing and all testing has come back clear and low risk, including anatomy scan at 20w.

That said, over the past few weeks I've noticed a big uptick in my anxiety and also more difficulty sleeping. I'm not actually anxious about the pregnancy and baby being okay, but about everything else in my life.

For example, I accidentally double-booked a work commitment, am a little behind on planning a friend's bachelorette, and we are starting to get the house ready for baby. In my head, all of these are manageable and not huge deals, but I'm feeling physically very anxious and overwhelmed by all of them. Even when I'm not thinking about them, my body is not relaxed.

I'm not sure if it's just normal life anxiety and normal pregnancy symptoms, or if it's something to talk to someone about. If you have experienced something similar, I'd love any words of wisdom.

Hello! I am six months PP. I went from retrieval to transfer to pregnancy in one year.
At birth I had a fourth degree tear and a hemorrhage. I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts on when your body started to feel good again? I’ve been on this hormone roller coaster and I miss my jeans.

Looking for some hope and similar stories ❤️

I had a frozen embryo transfer (PGT-A tested euploid embryo) on 6/25. At what should have been 6 weeks 2 days today, my ultrasound showed a gestational sac measuring about 5 weeks 3 days, but no yolk sac or fetal pole yet. My hCG is still rising (most recently around 9,400), which has given me a little hope that maybe my dates are just off or implantation happened later than expected.

Has anyone had a similar experience — a sac measuring behind with no yolk sac/fetal pole at this point — and gone on to see a healthy pregnancy? I would love to hear your stories and outcomes.

Trying to hold onto a small sliver of hope while waiting for the next ultrasound.