Pregnancy after Long Term TTC #1 - 2009

Hi ladies

Jen: I think pretty much everyday I get some type of cramping low down. Sometimes it almost takes my breath away and other times is just like a bit of a stitch. I ask a g/f of mine who is pg with her 4th if this is normal and she assured me that it is fine and is more than likely all the stretching your uterus is doing. Remember in the first trimester your uterus will grow from about fist size to about the size of a grapefruit (bigger than it needs to be). If you are really concerned give your OB or GP a call, but I'm just taking it as part of the experience and so long as there is no bleeding associated it seems to be all part of what happens.

Murph: Ah, it seems you may be getting some symptoms... Hope the m/s does stay away for you. I think mine has now gone for sure. Still need to eat regularly, but not as much or as often so hopefully can get some of my life back now :lol:. As for the indigestion, I have been suffering since my m/s started and it is still with me (I think this is going to be my constant companion). I didn't expect it so early but it is definitely here. I must say it is really attractive to be walking around burping all day, never mind what comes out the other end :redface:..... but so long as I get it out it makes life easier... Just another joy of being pg I suppose.

To all the other girls, thanks for your reassurance about the weight loss. I'm sure my OB will be fine with it and on the plus side maybe by the end of my journey I won't have put on too much weight and therefore have too much to lose... I can only hope..

Hi :). Hope it is alright for me to drop in here? One or two of you may know me from the TTC after MC or IVF with PGD threads.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate you all on your pregnancies :clap:

Secondly, I would be really grateful if I could run something by you all?

I am currently PG after an (IVF with PGD) cycle. Last Friday at 10 weeks I had a BT done. Great HCG (over 107,000) and my progesterone is still surprisingly over 300 (I have not been taking pessaries, but it got rather high from the Pregnyl during the 2WW). However my estrogen is still way over 5,000. I realise in a naturally conceived PG that estrogen steadily rises (though it never goes that high). But I had thought mine might have come down a little. Just wondering if anyone else has had their estrogen checked during their ART PG?

I guess my concern is that very high estrogen levels have been linked with breast cancer (apparently the increase in estrogen levels caused by alcohol is why alcohol has recently been linked to breast cancer).

I will talk to my OB about this, but would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.

Many thanks and :stickyvibesgirl::stickyvibesboy:
WTH x

Good afternoon girls,

Just popping in to say HI :D

Diamond - wow we are a month apart! My first scan does feel like an eternity away. Im really looking forward to see my bubs heartbeat so I can relax a little. Glad all went well at your appointment.

Murph - yes we are the new kids on the block here! I dont know much about anything as yet and am slowly learning things along the way. Hope your going well :D

Janie - thanks for the advice. Im so new to all this and am worried because I dont have any symptoms but Im sure they'll be forthcoming! Not long to go for you now, how EXCITING! Hope bubs comes soon for you :D

:hello: to everyone else.

Take care,

Tania

WTH - Congrats on your pregnancy - but I'm sorry to say I don't have any record of my estrogen levels. Good luck.

hey everyone

just a quick one from me to let you know that i am still checking in on you all, not long to go now TL, only 6days!!!!

just wondering if anyone knows how 21andttc is going?? i cant remember but i thought she was going for a scan sometime soon and just wanted to check in to see how it went???

hopefully it wont be long and i will be back in here with you all soon

take care

Hey, just popping in to cheer some of you up....errrr...I'm sick! Yep, it has got me. M/S has touched down. DH came home today and found me sprawled out on the back verandah. No chucky, just yucky! All day just a really strange day of being absolutely so hungry I could eat my cattle dog, then so sick I couldn;t think of it, faint dizzy and wanting to go at both end but worse cos I got no movement! Oh great.

Tomorrow I do my uni drive, 2 hours down the coast, then after uni in the arvo drive with DH and my dogs down south for another 4 hours. Next day on a yacht for an ashes spreading ceremony and then wake. I think I'll give new meaning to "all hands on deck"...more like all fours on deck!:redface:

Anyway, thought you might get a laugh KellyD, hope your symptoms are leaving you alone.

Seeya next week.

Ahh Murph, you make me laugh... You spoke too soon and now you really know that you are pg. Gotta love the constant nausea, it makes life sooo wonderful. Hate to have to tell you but yep all m/s symptoms have gone away. It's been almost a week now with no yucky feeling.

All I can recommend is that you try and keep your food levels up. I was having 6 - 7 small meals a day, I didn't have any appetite for anything so it was really hard trying to find things to want to eat but if I didn't eat I felt worse. Oh, also beware of smells.. I couldn't handle any type of food smells (so no dinner cooking for DH) and even now certain things still turn my stomach. Hope your m/s is short lived like me and that before you know it you'll be cruising along nicely.

AFM: OB appt today, I'm a bit nervous to make sure our bubble is doing well as seeing I have no m/s anymore and my BB's have stopped hurting it is almost like I've imagined the whole thing. I think I might also be a little bit scared as some of our fellow LTTC's lost there angels around this time (Possums, Dusty), anyway fingers crossed all is going well and I'm just overreating... I am also a bit scared as today is the last of my progesterone pessaries (2 a day) and from tomorrow we go "cold turkey", so I'm hoping everything is ok on that side of things as well.

Murph - you are too funny! I agree with Kelly, lots of small meals is the best way to go. I found the foods that helped me the most were anything potato (chips, crisps, hash browns etc) - the carbs just seemed to help settle my stomach. Also green apples were a wonder. Apart from that I found that icy poles became my best friend. Fluid and a bit of a sugar hit at the same time. GL!

Kelly - GL today, I am sure that everything will be fine. My MS had started to abate at about 10 weeks also. I had a HRT FET and went cold turkey on the pessaries at 10 weeks. It is a frightening time because they become like your security blanket. Just remember that your placenta has taken over now, so the pessaries are not really going to add any value at this stage. I will be looking forward to hearing about your appointment.

M2C - thanks for checking in on us - hope to see you back here soon.

WTH - Big congratulations to you! And welcome to our busy thread. It is always so wonderful to see someone new joining our group. Unfortunately, I don't have any advice on estrogen levels as I was never told what mine were. There should be someone in here that can help though.

Jen - cramps in the first trimester are pretty normal. Everything is stretching and expanding for the job ahead.

Nicole - I can't believe that you are 30 weeks! Whoo hoo! Not long now.

Kaydee and Diamond - great to hear the scans went well.

Possums - thanks for dropping in and checking up on us. Hope you are well.

Hi to Nixon, Tania, TL, BG, LNB and everyone I have missed.

AFM - I have another OB appointment today to check BP is still okay. Am not sleeping for any longer than 2 hours at a time as I have to get up for the loo. Started drinking RLT yesterday and over night my cramps were pretty strong. So fingers crossed everything is starting to move. Forgot to mention last time that I have a case of carpal tunnel syndrome due to the swelling also. More annoying than anything as the tips of some of my fingers are numb and it is making it difficult to finish of some of my knitting!

Janie xxx

Come on Janie both of us on Tuesday :cheer:

I hear you on the 2 hour sleep pattern I got 2/12 hours last night and celebrated :)

Nixon - thanks for your well wishes and congratulations on making it to the final weeks of your PG. I hope you are comfortable and managing some sleep ;)

Janie - thank you for welcoming me to the thread. I hope the next few days fly by for you and look forward to seeing a post about your little wonder coming into the world really soon.

Tiggerlinda - all the best for the final countdown :goodluck:

Any one else got any thoughts on estrogen levels in an IVF

PG:stickyvibesgirl::stickyvibesboy:?

Hi everyone

Well I'm back from my OB appt and yay :dance: everything is going along nicely. Our bubble had a strong h/b and you could see it's little arms and legs (that was when it stopped moving long enough to have a photo taken). It measured to perfect date so all is good, although DH wanted to know when we will be able to see a "doodle". No pressure for a boy or anything...

Had to then go and drain my body of all it's blood (at least it felt like that) for all of our 1st trimester screen plus a screen for Downs. Am booked in for our 12 week scan on 14/4 to make sure all is good and that hopefully we can rule out a Downs possibility (not that that would change my mind at all).

Hopefully the next 2 weeks will fly by and I'll be in the second trimester before I know it...

hi girls!

kellyD - congrats on the good results at the ob. 12 week scan will be here before you know it!

WTH - yay! congrats to you!! all the best for the next 8 months :clap:

TL and Janie - very exciting, you girls are really on the countdown now!

Murph - hope you're feeling better soon.

hiya Tania, Nixon, Jen, Nicole, Kaydee and everyone else I've missed :hello:

afm, had an obst appointment today. was excited to learn that my uterus now reaches to my belly!! eek! And I guess there's a lot more stretchin' left for it to do yet! Still getting plenty of movement from bubs which is such a blessing. Obst thinks the placenta must be at the back - and also being quite thin, is the reason I can feel a lot of movement. 2 weeks and counting till my half way scan. Yippee!

Mels xx

Mels and Kelly, great news on your appts. It's very exciting to see bubs moving around. mels, you're lucky to feel movement so early.. I'm still waiting!! I thought being twins and my 2nd pregnancy, I would have felt them by now but they're keeping us waiting!

Murph, GL tomorrow... hoping you make it through the day.

Welcome WTH! Congrats on your pg. Hope someone has some estrogen info to help you out. Sorry I can't help, my levels were not measured either.

Hi Jen, Nicole, Nixon, Miss Magpie, TL and Janie.

Bring on Friday!!

Hi Ladies -

I have been reading everyones progress every day but just not enough hours in the day to post.

Welcome WTH - wishing you a h&h 9 months.

Janie and TL - only days to go, how exciting !! Thinking of you and wishing you the best for meeting your bubs.

Sorry for no other personels - big :bellyrubs: to everyone.

AFM - all going well, OB appt on Tuesday but feeling bub move more and more every day. What a magical experience, I still smile everytime I feel bub moving.

Take care,
LNB

Just wanted to drop in and wish TL all the best for Tuesday morning and the long awaited arrival of Miss C. I hope the procedure goes well for you and that you have a happy & health delivery of your precious baby girl.

Thanks Kelly yes only 2 days to go bit scary, exciting and a wait at the same time :)

:bellyrubs: to everyone :)

TL sooooooo close!!!
Rest up if you can and best of luck for Tuesday :dance:

TL - I can't believe that you will be meeting Charlotte so soon!! Wishing you a wonderful birth experience and a safe arrival for your little girl! Can't wait to hear all about it.
Devon
xxxx

Hello,

Just wanted to drop in quickly and say hi to everyone, have not been able to do must posting but am trying to keep up with everyone!

TL - wishing you all the best for tomorrow - cant wait for you to report back on meeting Miss C for the first time - so very exciting. Good luck!

Big week this week - 20 week scan on Friday and we have decided to find out if we are having little girl or boy - we both think it is a boy so figure we had better find out in case it is a girl - we need time to adjust!

So I'm just on countdown now...

Wishing everyone well.
FG

Hi All,

Just a quick one today to wish TL all the best for tomorrow! Hope everything goes really well and can't wait to see pics of Miss Charlotte.

AFM - well it is my due date today... and I'm still pregnant! All is still travelling well so it is just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens. Had an appointment this morning and bubs is still happy where they are. Another appointment on Thursday (unless I labour before then). If not, we then start booking in for induction. But the OB says that I am ready to go, and that only 5% of pregnancies go 10 days or more over. So that means I have a 95% chance of labouring naturally. Fingers crossed everyone!

Janie xxx

Just wanted to pop my head in and wish the very best of good luck to TL and Janie.

You guys must be so excited right now, you are so close to meeting your little precious ones!!! Hoping everything goes smoothly for you both and you have an enjoyable birth.

Good luck tomorrow TL - i'm sure you're more than ready to meet your little girl!

Janie - hope you have a bubba that decides it's wants out soon - going post dates just isn't fair! good luck hun!

to everyone else - a huge hello - i'm not posting much but reading daily...

hi everyone!

TL- good luck for tomorrow...what an exciting and scary time for you!

Janie- hoping your little one decided to arrive soon

thinking of everyone in here....

Good luck TL and Janie. Wow - time certainly has flown by. Looking forward to an update on how it all went.

TL - I'd be particularly intested to hear in detail how your planned C/S goes, if you are ok with writing up all the details. As the days go by it seems more and more likely that bubs is not going to turn and I will need to go down the CS path also. I'm nervous and trying to get all the info/stories I can.

All the best girls. X

Good Luck Janie and TL! :) Can't wait to be reading a couple of BA's very soon!!

TL, I'm with Nixon about looking forward to reading your birth story. c/s is looking very likely here at the moment. Will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Nixon, I contacted my calm birth lady and she invited us down for a chat last night. She went through in detail what happens before, during and after a c/s. We went through a c/s relaxation with her and watched a calmbirth couple chat about their c/s due to breech. It has put me in a much better frame of mind with regards to having a c/s and I'm pretty sure that will be the path we are heading down now. Midwife appt tomorrow and we will be cancelling the ECV we had booked. She said something last night and it just made everything a lot clearer for me. This is the birth our baby has chosen, and he has chosen it for a reason. I really don't feel comfortable forcing him to move.
I can tell he has tried to on a number of occassions, but it just hasn't happened.
You still have a few more weeks, but definitely prepare and inform yourself. I have found my nervousness has calmed down now and I am just going to let things be.
All of a sudden, it seems I am most likley to be having a baby next week sometime. :)

Good afternoon girls,

Hope your all travelling well :D

Just wanted to wish Janie & TL the best of luck! How exciting that you'll be able to meet your bundle of joys soon :D


Take care,

Tania

Megan - sounds very simlar to me.

After the AP bubs manages to get kind of transverse (? I think that's what you call it - head on the left and bum on the right side of me with the back running across my belly at odd angles) but always gets back to the same old spot. I try and get into a position that will help (down on all fours), but no joy.

I'm not prepared to try the ECV - at the moment my headspace is all taken up with possibly having to let go of the birth I had imagined for so long and accepting the c/s. (Not trying to offend anyone who is going in for c/s - all I mean is that it is not the way I imagined it would be).

I'm hearing your calm birth lady on the the 'type of birth the baby has chosen' - it sounds very much like something my lady would have said.

I just need to own it and let it go and start getting excited again regardless of how the baby will get here.

I have been told I don't really have choice in the day though. It will be Saturday the 2nd of May.

nixon - just a quick q for you - my calmbirth lady suggested all fours to move posterior baby, but also suggested it for babies that were breech. she mentioned that one option to help is to have your knees higher than your arms - so up on couch with hands on floor to help baby move right out of your pelvis and hopefully turn.... maybe it's something to consider... just make sure someonen is there to help you back up!

hi everyone its been a while since ive been here!

Mum2C - thankyou for thinking of me! i cant wait to see you in here again hopefully with me, i havent had a scan yet but have heard the heartbeat.

i see such sad news has happened too im so sorry for chez, i always followed you as i was only 2 and a bit weeks behind you. i feel for you, i shed a tear for you and ryans father aswell, its so awful i really wish there was something I could do for you :(

TL - ive been thinking about u all week! and wondering what it must feel like to have a time and date set in stone to see your bub! oh it must be so great! i hope the birth goes smoothly tomorrow! so exciting!

to the other few ladies due this week - BRING ON THE BABIES!

TO ALL THE 1ST TRIMESTERS~ you will get there, its awful i know! i still vomit every morning but can get through the day, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel! as the other ladies in here can remember i was bedridden in and out of hospital for approx 10 weeks and on 2 different drugs but even I am on the mend now.

AFM- i have the sorest boobies! especially the left one! the nipples are killing me and it wakes me up at night! i also heard the heartbeat on the doppler with GP at 14 weeks 4 days was 150BPM, i have scan booked for 20 weeks as i have a 4 week internship at redlands hospital and if its bad news dont want it to interfere with that, i wouldnt make it through, so ignorance is bliss at the moment. but i am still sick every morning and often at night so i guess thats reassuring, i also have quite a bit of pulling pains, but no movement yet, and still not showing!!! i can still button up all my regular clothes, but i know this isnt unusual so im not stressing. my bp is 150/90 and have a bit of leg swelling so might be pre-eclampsia for me and a possible CS :( but thats worse case scenario and i have a long way to go yet i will think positively!

also im soooo scared of having a stillborn now that im in 2nd trimester, i dont think i could handle it, i keep dreaming about it and it seems at the moment i keep hearing sad stories of this happening, on here and in real life. im still inspecting the toilet paper and getting tension headaches, i love my baby so much now and my DF is slowly getting excited, he didnt get to hear the heartbeat though :( was working. i just dont know how i will get through the next 24 weeks!

Thanks BG - I've been doing the hips higher than arms things too. It's hideous - I already feel like an over ripe melon about to bust apart at the seems, but when i'm head down it's 100 times worse. All the blood goes to my head and my hands and I feel like my eyeballs are going to pop out of my vein-riddled, pulsing forehead. But, yes I am still doing it for short periods - especially when I can feel bubs trying to have a roll over. HAHAHA - the things we do, eh? How are you doing anyway - you have been a bot quiet in here recently....

Thanks BG - I've been doing the hips higher than arms things too. It's hideous - I already feel like an over ripe melon about to bust apart at the seems, but when i'm head down it's 100 times worse. All the blood goes to my head and my hands and I feel like my eyeballs are going to pop out of my vein-riddled, pulsing forehead. But, yes I am still doing it for short periods - especially when I can feel bubs trying to have a roll over. HAHAHA - the things we do, eh? How are you doing anyway - you have been a bit quiet in here recently....

it's so comfy isn't it nic? i've been doing it a little to try to get bubba off my back - don't love it at all.

i'm doing ok-ish - still having nausea 24 hours a day, and started getting headaches a few weeks back that are getting worse as time goes by. i have started getting lots of back and hip pain too so i'm not loving how i feel!

we've been working hard to get baby's room ready to go - so far it's looking exactly how we wanted it to, which is awesome!

9 weeks to go and starting to feel so completely over being pg. have had some stressful issues with DH's work lately, which is probably why i've been a little quiet. it's lead to a lot of stress for me. i tend to just withdraw into myself a little.

sitting here now with a rather uncomfy BH hitting me - am starting to worry about going post dates, but more worried about going early and DH not being home with me when baby is born! so much going on in my head and it's just not a good thing so i guess i have withdrawn a little...

just wanted to wish TL good luck for tomorrow!
Janie - also thinking of you and hoping your little one arrives very soon.
mels xx

Thinking of you Janie and am sure your little one will make their entrance when they are ready.

Best of luck TL for tomorrow....soo exciting :dance:

Bellyrubs to all :bellyrubs::bellyrubs:

Janie all the best sweetie, its only a matter of time and you will be holding your little one, wooooohoooo cant wait!!!

TL just think this time tomorrow, you will be holding your little girl in your arms. its so amazing this time tomorrow your life will be changed, you will be a MUMMY!!! woooohooooooooo :)

all the best girls

and to everyone else, hope you are all growing nice big bellies & feeling well

all the very best tomorrow linda
IM SOO THINKING OF YOU HUNNY OMG YOUR GOING TO BE A MUMMY TOMORROW
try and get some sleep tonight hun if the nerves dont take over
good luk linda and clive
love the smiths xxoo
cant wait to hear your ba

Oh GL TL.... I am so excited for you.

Janie... any moment now.... though you must be very impatient at present..... hope they come out soon...

Hope everyone is well....

AFM, bub is doing very well... as for mummy...gained so much weight... but some of it is related to water retention... I have carpal tunnel syndrome to my left hand and it is killing me... so can't even type very well at present. Good thing blood pressure is o.k. No stretch marks as yet....

Hi girls

Just a really quick one to say Goodluck tomorrow TL I will be thinking of you getting to meet your little girl at long last!!

Janie can't be long now i hope everything goes well and your suprise is here before the end of the week!

AFM- I have a C/S booked for 6th May so interested in any stories!

Love Bee

Nixon...noticed you were interested to hear about people's C/S stories. I had an elective C/S 10 weeks ago and couldn't be happier. I had no complications, was off pain relief and standing upright 48 hrs later. My husband was allowed to take photos of my little girl being pulled out (very bizarre!!) so we didn't miss out on the actual birthing experience. I was driving after 2 and half weeks and lifting bub in her capsule after 3 without any pain. I obviously didn't overdo things but all in all I had a speedy recovery. If I had to do it all again I would in a heartbeat. Mind you my bub was 10 pound so I have absolutely nooo interest in birthing naturally after that! You will have so many people tell you their negative C/S stories, and you never seem to hear the good ones. I had so many people tell me that I was taking the easy way out, but whats so easy about having major abdominal surgery??? Whenever someone questioned my decision to have a C/S my response was why did you elect to give birth naturally. Mind you most of them opted for pain relief and in my opinion there isn't anything natural about that!!! I hope this helps ease your mind, and if you want the more detailed info (IYKWIM) PM me and I'll be glad to let you know :D

Belinda

BG - You have done the calmbirth course, haven't you? Maybe you can channel those worries and fears through some of the relaxation techniques and give yourself some peace. Whenever I feel my worries starting to overtake me I have to cut them off otherwise I am a useless mess - I tend to snowball when I worry. At first it will be little things and then those little things trigger more worries about bigger things and it then seems to take on a life of it's own until I have a meltdown. Some things are out of our control and I find the best way to control that fact is to acknowledge it, make peace with it and then let it go. I hope things get better with your DH work and I'm sure baby will wait for her daddy to be there - you just need to talk to her and explain your worries and ask her to wait. It sounds to me hat she loves her daddy very much already and wouldn't want him to miss out on the fun :-)

BB73 - Thanks for posting. I think a lot of the not so good C/S stories that I have heard come out of emergency situations where the mum has got to the point of exhaustion and then gets rushed thru to theatre etc. I am worried about infection - I've heard a very guresome storry about a staf infection resulting after a c/s and I myself have had a staf infection after keyhole surgery several years ago. I also had a very strong picture in my mind of holding my baby immediately after the birth and having that time to just be and that still really upsets me that I won't get to have that moment. That's probably what upsets me the most and I don't think there is anyway to arrange to get that moment if I have a c/s. I just feel like I'm losing something that I can never get back. Thanks for the positive story - it always helps to hear some one elses experience.