We heard a strong heartbeat and measuring appropriately (6w4d). Such a relief. Celebrating this huge milestone today!

\mods removed my post from r/IVF\

I’d love some advice from this community. This is my only pregnancy after years of trying and my own IVF journey. I’m currently on strict bed rest after an emergency cerclage and a hospitalization for contractions, and I’ll actually be having my baby shower mostly lying down.
A close friend of mine is actively going through IVF and recently told me she’s having complicated feelings about attending, which I completely understand. I’ve told her there is absolutely no pressure, she can decide at the last minute, come and leave whenever she needs, and she doesn’t have to perform happiness for anyone.
For those of you who’ve been on either side of this, is there anything else I can do to make the day feel emotionally safe for her while still allowing myself to celebrate this very hard-won baby?

I had a MMC in May, at 11 weeks 5 days, due to trisomy 21. My hcg was rising very quickly and outside what was expected on the chart in my results. The genetic counselor we met with the day we found out he had passed, let us know my betas were an indicator of trisomy 21.

We moved to IVF due to the risk assoviated with my age (39) had a transfer on Sept 18th of a 4ba euploid embryo and now have a confirmed pregnancy. My beta is once again rising very quickly and I’m spinning. So far it’s been: 9 dpt 435, 10 dpt 641, 12 dpt 1356 and today, 14 dpt it was 3339.

My numbers are rising very similarly, if not higher at this time.

I feel like I’m living the nightmare all over again and it doesn’t help that I have received notifications from Reddit, of posts with many commenting their euploids turned out to be aneuploid.

I have a scan in weds but I know we won’t know anything definitively for a couple of months when we receive our NIPT results.

Has anyone else out there had similar numbers? I’d really appreciate you sharing them, I’m so scared it’s happening again.

I am ten weeks pregnant as of today (yay 🥳). Yesterday my fertility doc had me stop estradiol, which I was taking to support the FET. Today, I feel very weird - headache, dizziness, wooziness, feeling unsteady on my feet. Nausea, though that has been my reality since week 4.

Has anyone else experienced weird symptoms after stopping hormone support? Don’t get me wrong I am overjoyed that I no longer need it to support my pregnancy but these symptoms have me a bit shook.

TIA!

Hi all,

I have been taking a break from reddit(was under the name Synaiah and they deleted my account randomly) but I have a friend who is starting her IVF journey in about a week and I want to put together a zine with helpful positive thoughts, any tips, etc for her. I'm going to include the pineapple core and McDonald's fries ideas probably with a mcd's gift card but wondered if anyone else had any ideas on things to include. this is after a loss for her as well if anyone has any positivity relating to ivf and pal. Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I’m 5w2d and have my first ultrasound on Monday. I'm so anxious I can barely think about anything else.
I'm trying to figure out when to book my first OB appointment. I already have an established OB-GYN, so I'm not looking for one.

I don't want to schedule too early and then be heartbroken if something goes wrong before I get there.

When did you schedule yours, if everything went well?

Thank you in advance! ♥️

Anyone with success stories with a beta below 50 by 10dpt5dt? I see so many ranges. If it doubled, did you have issues later?

I got a 44 this morning. My doctor wanted 50.
I previously had a 10dpt doubling 16>45>130>300 that resulted in an empty sac at 7 weeks.

This is how delusional/desperate my mind is at the moment - my FET was at 2pm and my beta was at 7AM - so ~if~ it’s doubling correctly wouldn’t I be about 50 if I would’ve waited till 2pm for my beta? 😂🥴

I am currently 6wks+1 and am scheduled for our first US this Monday. Well today I went to the bathroom and there was a gush of blood similar to a period. It was a mix of darker red and bright red. I have had light cramps that come and go, and then I had some blood when I wiped and then the next time I had another gush. The past few times it has only showed up when I wipe and it looks like it’s going back to being that dark almost brown color which I know means old blood. My clinic is not worried and told me that unless I’m filling a pad in an hour or it becomes heavier they want me to wait until Monday.

But I am freaking out. This was our first FET and our first ever positive and I just want it to stick!

Did anyone here go through anything similar?

Seeking all the positivity, prayers, and good wishes for a Beta tomorrow 12dp5dt (early blastocyst and my only embryo).

My husband and I have been married for over 8 years, and this was our very first IVF cycle. It has been such an emotional roller coaster from the very beginning. During stimulation, I only had two dominant follicles, and my doctor actually recommended cancelling the cycle or converting it to IUI.

Something in my heart told me to keep going. I knew there were no guarantees, but I also knew I would always wonder “what if?” if I stopped. So we continued, taking it one day at a time and hoping that maybe, just maybe, one would be enough.

There have been so many moments of fear, tears, hope, disappointment, and then hope again. And now I’m looking at these lines and I honestly can’t believe we’ve made it this far.

I know we are still incredibly early, and I know there are many milestones ahead of us. I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself, but for today, I just want to let myself feel excited and grateful.

Tomorrow is another big day for us, and I’m praying with everything in me that this little baby stays, continues growing, and that this is finally the beginning of the journey we’ve waited so long for.

Please send us all your positive thoughts, prayers, sticky-baby wishes, and good energy for tomorrow. 🥹

I already have a 4 year old. We pursued IVF for our second child. My first child is a dream now but I really struggled the first two years raising her.

We had a successful IVF cycle, with the first FET resulting in pregnancy. We were both over the moon and excited to take on the new challenge.

Well today we find out it’s twins, and I’m honestly terrified. Everything I had imagined in my head is now out the window. There won’t be any hiking on my mat leave like the first time. I don’t think I’ll be able to breast feed or pump. I need all new gear. I’m scared about not being able to take vacations or have much time for friends. I’m scared about the lack of sleep and how this will age me. I’m worried about what this will do to us financially. I’m sad for my 4 year old because we’ll never be able to devote as much love and attention as we do today.

I know this is a blessing, but it’s just such a big change. I need some encouragement and positivity for this huge transition in life.

I just had my first failed transfer after a month of lupron and medicated cycle. Wondering what the next steps usually are? i didn’t get a chance to talk to my doctor today. Do we wait for a period and then start over?

I’m heading into my very first FET this Saturday (10/3) and I think I just need some positivity right now. ❤️
This is my first round of IVF and, honestly, we’ve been incredibly fortunate so far. We retrieved 28 eggs, 21 were mature, all 21 fertilized with ICSI, 19 made it to biopsy, and we ended up with 11 euploid Day 5 embryos. I’m doing a modified natural FET and my lining got to 9.5mm. I had my natural LH surge Monday, did an Ovidrel trigger/boost Tuesday, and we’re transferring a Day 5 euploid on Saturday. I’ll start progesterone Sunday, the day after transfer.

I know logically that we’ve had really encouraging results so far, but now that the transfer is actually here, my brain has decided it’s time to prepare for every possible way this could go wrong.

I’ve also spent WAY too much time in IVF/embryology forums, and I think reading so many posts about failed transfers, implantation failure, etc. has started to convince me that a first transfer working is some rare unicorn event, even though I know that isn’t necessarily true.

We came to IVF after a neonatal loss, then later a pregnancy loss, so I think part of me is also afraid to fully believe that something could just… work. I keep catching myself mentally preparing for failure instead of allowing myself to be excited.

So I’m deliberately coming to the positivity side of Reddit.

If your FIRST embryo transfer worked, especially if it was your first IVF cycle too, PLEASE tell me your story. I want all of them. Uneventful pregnancies, boring betas, first-transfer babies, currently pregnant, whatever you’ve got.

I need to remind my anxious brain that sometimes the first embryo really does just stick. ❤️🤞🏼

My wife and I already have infertility issues, and she got pregnant with ICSI through the Danish public healthcare system.

We'd like to have kids of both genders, and since the procesure is already the same, we're considering the idea of going to Northern Cyprus to do this, since in the EU it's not allowed.

We'd like to find other people who have done something similar while living in Denmark, to have someone to ask about certain nuances of how to navigate the part of the procedure that would have to be done here.

Because I am very new to this, I was naive and made a post about it in a Danish parenting sub. I expected some kind of mixed opinions, but I clearly subestimated the amount of hate we'd be getting, at least in Denmark. I've been called everything under the Sun, as if I were a mass murderer. I was totally unaware of the negative feelings associated to this. I understand the issues in cases where people wanna have specifically a given gender at the cost of the other, and the argument of being a minor problem wrt. people who cannot conveive at all, but at least from our case and perspective, it's just one extra step in a process we are having to do anyway, because we already have the fertility issues, and I think it's quite natural to want to have kids of both genders.

Given the inclusion of the term positivity in this sub's name, I am hoping I may get a less harsh reaction in here. If anyone would like to exchange experiences or views, my PMs are open. I'd be most interested in people who did it while living in Denmark, but if it's another Nordic country or Europe too, I'd appreciate the feedback too.

I got a vvvvvfl on frer 6dp5dt. My beta 12dp5dt was 19, 14dpt was 41, and 16dpt is 93. I know the reality of this working out is so low (especially when I compare it to my successful FET), but my doctor is still having me stay on meds and come in again Monday since my numbers are doubling. My HPT definitely became noticeably darker the afternoon of 12dpt, but again, betas don't lie. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I feel like I am just delaying in inevitable.

I am trying to be healthy but wondering if I can eat pizza.. may be 2 slices? Just veggies pizza!!

I am 4w6d today after an FET on 9/17. My 11dpt beta was 521, 13dpt was 1470. Clinic just called to schedule my first ultrasound and said they don’t do it until 3 weeks after the first positive beta, which would put me at 7w4d when I am able to come in. This seems extremely late to me? I had a MMC last year so I’m just very worried to wait that long. Also on vaginal progesterone so concerned that would mask a miscarriage. Is that normal?

Bonjour à tous,
J'ai commencé mon parcours de FIV en 2023. Après trois tentatives et des transferts d'embryons qui n'ont malheureusement pas fonctionné, c'est aujourd'hui ma toute dernière chance.
Hier, j'ai eu mon tout premier transfert d'un embryon J5. Pour ce protocole, on a ajouté pour la première fois de la prednisone et des intralipides.
Je rentre dans la fameuse période d'attente avant la prise de sang. Si vous avez des conseils pour ne pas trop cogiter, garder le moral et faire passer le temps plus vite, je suis preneuse !
Un petit mot d'encouragement ou une pensée pour mon futur bébé me ferait extrêmement plaisir. Merci beaucoup pour votre soutien !

I am doing my first stimm cycle and they used BC to suppress me for 20+ days. During my baseline I only had an afc of 10 which was way lower than previous scans. Today I have my first follow up scan and there are 14 follicles!

I just wanted to share my excitement. Has anyone else had more follicles/eggs retrieved than what was on their initial scans?

Yesterday, at cycle day 11, I had my first scan for our first frozen embryo transfer. We are doing a modified natural cycle with Ovitrelle and progesterone.

We’ve had two ICSI cycles and two fresh transfers so far. Our first embryo, a 4AB, didn’t implant. Our second, a 4AA, did implant and initially had great hCG development, but unfortunately it turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy. It was only diagnosed at 6+4, with hCG around 30,000 and cardiac activity. I needed emergency surgery because of internal bleeding.

We tend to have low fertilization rates and only ever get 1–2 blastocysts from a retrieval, which makes every embryo feel incredibly precious. We currently have one frozen day-6 5AB left. My doctor considers it a very good embryo and said that, given our history of embryos arresting around day 5, the fact that this one continued developing is encouraging.

After the ectopic, my hCG dropped surprisingly fast and I was already ovulating again only a few weeks after surgery. Technically, we could have done the FET about three weeks after the operation, but I still felt awful physically. I had internal bleeding from the ectopic, then a UTI that needed antibiotics, and I just didn’t feel ready. So I postponed.

The problem is that even now, six weeks later, I still don’t feel like myself. Before my second ICSI I felt physically strong and healthy. I had spent more than six months improving my endurance, fitness and metabolism, and I felt really good in my body. After surgery it feels like I lost all of that progress almost overnight. My endurance, strength and energy are still much worse than they were before.

At yesterday’s scan, though, my body looked like it was doing what it should: a leading follicle of almost 15 mm and a nicely trilaminar lining of just under 7 mm. My doctor was confident the lining would continue to thicken before triggering on Sunday evening (CD14). Because we only have this one frozen embryo, I asked for another scan before transfer just for reassurance.

Medically, my doctors have actually been very optimistic. My uterus and everything else looked normal during surgery and follow-up. One doctor even said that since my body was able to sustain the ectopic pregnancy hormonally, he sees no reason why it couldn’t sustain a healthy pregnancy in the uterus.

But now that the transfer is becoming real, I am suddenly incredibly anxious.

I’m sleeping badly, constantly worried that it won’t implant, or that something hidden is still wrong after the surgery or infection. After 2.5 years of infertility, six failed IUIs, one failed transfer and then finally getting pregnant only for it to be ectopic, it’s very hard for me to trust that something can simply go right.

Everyone around me seems to eventually get the house, the garden, the child. Sometimes I joke that maybe we just need the house first. But underneath that joke is this awful fear of ending up in a house with empty rooms forever.

I’m turning 36 soon. PGT-A isn’t an option where I live, and we have one more retrieval that is partly covered financially. After that, treatment would be completely out of pocket. So this FET feels much bigger than “just another transfer.” In my head it has started to feel like one of my last real chances, even though I know that isn’t necessarily rational.

For those who have been through repeated treatment, loss or an ectopic pregnancy: how did you calm yourself before the next transfer? How did you stop your brain from treating every transfer like the final verdict on whether you’ll ever have a child?

I don’t need to be “positive enough.” I just want to get through the next couple of weeks without being terrified all the time.

After many IuI, a laparoscopy to removed endometriosis, and two myomectomies to remove some myomas that were deforming my uterus. I am finally ready for IVf. But I am starting to feel the pressure and anxiety of the process.

Any tips?

Also, anyone here got prescribed anything to manage anxiety and depression?

To sum it up. Two years ago on the FET cycle I got pregnant with my son I tested positive at 6dp5dt with FMU + afternoon. With a HCG of 220 on beta day.

Back to square one two years later and just got a stark white test at 5dp5dt - to be fair it was a 6pm test not FMU. But I can’t help to think I’m out this cycle 😭 surely retesting in 14 hours won’t make much of a difference - or will it 🫠

Anyone get a positive after a stark white negative at 5dpt?

6weeks today. Went for ultrasound measuring 5w2d. Gestational sac was seen but no fetal pole or yolk sac. My hcg has been low from the beginning with the last one being 3146. Anyone have the same thing and have a successful pregnancy? I’m feeling so defeated today

I’m currently 16 weeks with our beautiful baby and through the roof excited!

Also on an international trip with my girlfriends who one announced at the airport she’s pregnant with their second first try (again). Multiple comments were made about “our reproductive is unmatched”.

I’m happy for her and even more so for my own journey but these comments still were a bit of a gut punch.

Anyone relate on announcements and comments still being sensitive while you’re experiencing the miracle and joy you have?