February 2020 Moms
pirateduck
member
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PG after IF
pirateduck
member
Being pregnant after infertility is downright terrifying. Personally I feel if this PG doesn't stick, what next? I may never get another chance. Here are some things I've been thinking of that we can discuss, no real format, just support each other and commiserate. Just some things to get your brain going and get the discussion going...
What is your story?
How long were you trying to get pregnant?
What treatment worked? What didn't work?
What medications does the doctor have you on now?
Are you still working with a specialist?
What's your next step?
Finding out you are pregnant is not quite the same as other women who have missed their period, it often come from a nurse call, a blood test, etc., how did you find out, how did you react, how did you tell your husband?
How did you feel when you found out you were finally pregnant? How did your husband feel?
How do you feel now (emotionally)?
What are you most excited about? What are you most afraid of?
What is your story?
How long were you trying to get pregnant?
What treatment worked? What didn't work?
What medications does the doctor have you on now?
Are you still working with a specialist?
What's your next step?
Finding out you are pregnant is not quite the same as other women who have missed their period, it often come from a nurse call, a blood test, etc., how did you find out, how did you react, how did you tell your husband?
How did you feel when you found out you were finally pregnant? How did your husband feel?
How do you feel now (emotionally)?
What are you most excited about? What are you most afraid of?
Re: PG after IF
My story: We started TTC in early 2015, realized I wasn't ovulating, ended up at the RE by August 2015. We then did testing and found out H also had a low count. We did 1 cycle of Clomid and TI, then another with Clomid and IUI, then we started a Femara/IUI cycle in January 2016 when I then came down with appendicitis and had my appendix removed that March (long story) so we had to take a break until April. Once we were off the bench we did 2 more IUIs and the last one in June 2016 ended up being a CP. We did IVF in July 2016 with a fresh transfer that didn't work, then a frozen transfer in September 2016 which resulted in my DD being born in June 2017. For this one, we went back to the RE in February to repeat any needed testing and did a FET on 6/6 and here we are.
For my first pregnancy, they had me not getting bloodwork done until 14dp5dt and I was not having that so I tested on 10dp5dt because I had no symptoms at all and we were about to go out to dinner and I wanted a drink. I walked downstairs and asked H if he knew how to read a pregnancy test and said "because holy shit I'm pregnant." and we both were crying and just saying "omg" and "holy shit" a lot. For this one, I tested the night before my blood test on 9dp5dt also expecting nothing. There was a definite line there but it was lighter than when I tested with my daughter so I was a bit nervous. We were both in shock about how "easy" it was this time.
I am still with the RE until my next ultrasound on 7/12 at 8w1d. If all is good she'll release me to OB. I am so sad because my OB that I had for my 1st pregnancy and who delivered my daughter is leaving the practice and moving out of state so I have to now find a new OB.
I'm still on Estrace, baby aspirin, and Crinone. Crinone we'll stop at 10 weeks, Estrace may be after my next ultrasound, and I may stay on baby aspirin for the whole pregnancy because of high blood pressure after giving birth but that is something I have to discuss with OB.
Having this be my 2nd time around I am feeling more relaxed. With my 1st pregnancy I would have major spikes in anxiety after any big milestone because "what if something happened?" I was kind of numb during my baby shower because I was afraid to believe it was all going to be okay. The most reassured I was was when I was hooked up to monitors 24/7 in the hospital before delivery and could see her heartbeat constantly. I definitely enjoyed my 1st pregnancy but IF brain was always right there in the background. This time I feel more relaxed but I still get nervous before ultrasounds and such. I think I have less time to mentally focus on it though since I now have a toddler to take care of. I'm not having many symptoms at all and I was by this time with my DD which makes me nervous.
We tried on our own for about 3 years. I was pretty sure that we were going to need medical help because I had very long and irregular cycles (44-60 days), but because of my job, a fertility specialist wasn't an option. About two years ago, I changed jobs, we moved to Japan, and I started seeing an obgyn who put me on Clomid. We spent about 10 months trying ever increasing doses of Clomid (up to 200mg) but I only ovulated sporadically. At the one year point, I switched to seeing a Japanese fertility specialist who put me on Letrazole (Femara). We tried a couple natural cycles and then moved on to IUI. We did 5 IUIs with Letrazole and trigger shots before I pushed to move on to IVF (we only have so long in Japan and I wanted to do IVF with this doctor before we have to move in the fall). We did the low protocol egg retrieval in April, precisely 5 years after I first went off birth control. The doctor had said he was only expecting to get 7-8 eggs, but they retrieved 16! We were so excited at first. Unfortunately, only 5 of the eggs were viable, only 3 fertilized, and only 1 made it to a day 5 blast. The doctor thinks poor egg quality is likely the culprit behind the annovulation and the low survival rate after egg retrieval. He froze the embryo and transferred it in May with assisted hatching because he said FET had better success rates than fresh transfers. Fortunately, one embryo is all it takes. We were on vacation in Osaka and I had a killer cold. I was up early to cough and sneeze, when I tested at 7dp5dt. The line was so faint that I woke my husband up at 5am like, "Hey, I think I'm pregnant but I need to know if you see it too." We had a brief moment of celebration and then both went back to sleep, lol.
Yesterday I had my graduation appointment from the Japanese doctor at 8 weeks precisely, so now it's back to the obgyn. Prior to graduation, I was taking progesterone suppositories daily, estrogen patches every other day, and PIO shots every Wed & Sat.
Kind of like @jvk2012 mentioned, this is my first pregnancy and I have a lot of anxiety. IVF was a big drain financially (nothing with the Japanese fertility specialist was covered by our insurance) and it was incredibly stressful. Once again, I am changing jobs and in September we are moving back to the U.S. for another high tempo-high stress job where fertility treatments aren't really an option. So both financially and physically, this pregnancy is our one shot at this, at least for the next several years. I just keep reassuring myself that we saw the heartbeat, I still feel pregnant, the odds are in our favor. I was thinking that next weekend I might go and buy a baby thing (just one!) because maybe it will help me relax a little, lol.
@pirateduck I am so sorry. Crossing everything for you!
Diagnosed with PCOS & Hashimoto's
What is your story?
My husband and I got married in October 2016. He is 8 years older than me so wanted to start our family right away. I was iffy since I wanted to enjoy our first year of marriage, travel, etc. We decided that we would “not not try” and just throw caution to the wind. On our one year anniversary, and still no pregnancy, we decided to start monitoring with OPKs. We knew our timing was “right” but after a few more months we still weren’t successful. It was at this time that I had my annual appointment with my OBGYN. I explained our timeline and my concerns, and he basically told me that our first year didn’t count because we weren’t “actively trying.” He told us to come back in a year if we still weren’t pregnant and they would start fertility testing. Fast forward a year, still not pregnant and feeling defeated. After getting the runaround and taking an additional 4 months to complete our testing, all of our results came back normal. We were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Since we weren’t receiving the care we felt we needed, we decided to go to a fertility specialist (my OBGYN made this difficult as well by refusing to send them my records when requested, leaving out important documents when they finally sent things over, etc. Turns out they are associated with a fertility clinic and assumed we would just stay with them. When they found out we were moving on, they made it a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE). It was also around this time we found out that our insurance covered no type of fertility treatment.
How long were you trying?
Our RE has been incredible. We explained our history with him and he told us we were treated unfairly. He also told us that statistics show most women fall pregnant naturally within one year by just stopping all contraception methods — no monitoring necessary. He then told us that we were actually trying for almost two and a half years, not the one year my OBGYN insisted on.
What treatment worked?
We started out with 2 cycles of Femara and self-monitoring due to costs. Both were unsuccessful. It was at this time our RE told us about an IVF study that would allow us to receive two rounds for a fraction of the cost. He said that we would be perfect candidates, and that he wanted to get us in because he knew we could not afford IVF out of pocket. It was a lot to take in, and I hesitated briefly (they can’t find anything wrong with me so why can’t we do this on our own?!). It was then that he asked what we have to lose. He was right. We entered the study and were the last couple to be admitted for our age group. We ended up with 5 frozen blastocysts (27 eggs retrieved, 19 mature, 14 fertilized, 5 able to be frozen). FET on May 21, BFP on May 30 ❤️
What medications does the doctor have you on now?
PIO injection once daily, 2mg Estrace twice daily. Last day of medication on 7/6!
Are you still working with a specialist?
We were just released yesterday!
What's your next step?
I have an appointment with a new OB on 7/8.
How did you find out, how did you react?
We had our blood test on 5/30. I asked them to leave the result in a voicemail because I was preparing for the worst and didn’t want to get bad news at work. My husband was texting me all day asking if the call came yet. It finally did at 1pm. I got home from work at 3pm, called my husband when he was on his way home, and told him I couldn’t do it. He walked in the door at 3:30 and I basically threw my phone at him and asked him to listen to it for me. About ten seconds in he got a big grin on his face. He put the rest of the message on speaker phone so we could listen to it together. All I heard was a bunch of numbers and then congratulations. I screamed, cried, jumped up and down. It was one of the happiest moments of our lives.
How do you feel now (emotionally)?
I still can’t believe it’s real and feel like I’m constantly waiting for something to go wrong.
What are you most excited about?
We are excited for every milestone. Yesterday we were 8w4d and had our last ultrasound with our RE. I always get nervous before each appointment because I have constant anxiety that something will be wrong. But each time we have seen progress — heartbeat, growth, and for the first time yesterday movement! It’s like everything goes away in that moment and we know how truly blessed we are, even though we have had such a long and difficult road to get here.
What are you most afraid of?
Right now, I would have to say switching to a regular OB. We had such a bad experience previously and were treated with such kindness and compassion with our RE that I am terrified to leave. Especially since we know the comfort of weekly monitoring is coming to an end as well.
I just intro’d today, but a little about me... I have a 2 year old from IVF. We considered ourselves extremely lucky that the IVF took the first round. I was told after a surgery that I had severe endometriosis with 2 blocked tubes. I sort of thought we would be done having kids after that, but we did talk about maybe having another one after the summer was over (we have 2 embryos in the “freezer”). But then I found out that I was pregnant! Totally shocked but very excited. I never thought I would be the person to just casually take a pregnancy test and find it positive.
if this baby makes it to birth, we will probably donate our embryos. Since the journey to baby number 1 started, I’ve known that I wanted to give anyone going through infertility the chance to have a child if I could. So that is my (in)fertility story.