Twins or just really strong symptoms? Visiting the land of worried mama-to-be...

Hi All, happily our third attempt at IVF has resulted in our second pregnancy (3 attempts in total, many lost embryos, one gorgeous 2 and a half year old DD) :D

But oh, how I'd forgotten that my last pregnancy was like a 9-month trip to the land of uncertainty and worry with each new complication! I'm 8.5 weeks now and had a dating scan at 7.5 weeks. We had two embryos put in, but only 1 sac and 1 baby showed clearly on u/s. The sonographer was pretty certain there was only one although said it's possible, but unlikely, that a second can show up on a later scan.

So, the good news, 1 definite baby with a strong heartbeat. The not so good news is that the embryo has implanted in the top right corner of the uterus, apparently close to where the tube meets the uterus which 'could be of concern'. The fertility specialist said try not to stress but I'll need a follow up u/s in another week or two. We would have loved twins, but we will still be very grateful for one healthy bubba that's in the right place. I can't find much information on the web about implantation in that spot... I just find lots of info on ectopics and cornual pregnancies, and I haven't been diagnosed with either of those so far. Can anyone shed some light on this?

So that's one issue. The other is whether the 7 week scan was right in confirming only one foetus and not two..? Since 4 weeks on, I've felt and looked big, and had to start wearing maternity pants right away. At first I put this down to having enlarged ovaries from the IVF stimulation but I feel constant pelvic pressure which I didn't get until mid to late 2nd trimester with my first pregnancy (which was also IVF... so ovaries were enlarged then too). Lots of people have commented on how I'm showing already. In addition, I've had bad constipation, frequent episodes of breathlessness (pretty strong, and often when resting) and blocked hearing since week 4. I read somewhere that this can be due to very high levels of progesterone which I think can be suggestive of twins amongst other things (?) but when I research breathlessness in pregnancy, most sources say it should be mild and improve fairly quickly. Mine has gotten worse in the past month. My beta-hcg was high when tested at 4 weeks but it hasn't been checked since. Also (and I know this probably sounds crazy), I dreamed at 5 weeks that the ultrasound showed two distinct bubs. I maybe wouldn't have taken that as a sign except in my first pregnancy at about 5 or 6 weeks, I dreamed that I gave birth to a girl, and met her, and when our DD was actually born, she looked just like the baby from my dream. So I guess when I had this twin dream, I kind of believed it, iykwim?

I don't know what to think. For the most part I suppose I'm trying not to... but sometimes I get worried. I've had light spotting on and off since 5 weeks... my worst case scenario I guess at this point would be to find out we do have two babies, with one ectopic in the tube which was why it wasn't seen on u/s, and the other in the top corner. That, or finding out that the one we do have isn't viable where it is. I'm seeing the OB tomorrow after asking for an earlier first appointment... I'm really hoping he can help to alleviate my worried mind :pray:

Thanks for reading my ramble.. would love anyone's thoughts if you're able to share....

xxx

Oh Amber,
I have no answers I will leave that up to the other very knowlegable people on here. I couldnt read this and not post.
Firstly Congrats on the pregnancy. I hope it all goes well for you and they put your mind at rest.
Secondly I would have thought if that scaner thought there was a problem with where the embyo had implanted they would have done further looking.

I hope it goes well, good luck tomorrow

Hi Amber

Congrats on your pregnancy :)

I also had 2 embryo's but back (at all but 1 of my transfers - one resulted in DD) and with the last one at my 7 week scan you could clearly see 2 little ones in there.

It is really hard to tell by the symptoms though, I thought I would get more symptoms than with DD as I was carrying 2, but with DD my ms lasted for 6 weeks but with the twins I only felt c r a p p y for about 1 a week to 2 max.

I also didn't start to show with the twins until around 12 weeks and then I really popped, but this was earlier than with DD but I think it is pretty common to show a lot sooner with a second and subsequent pregnancy as everything is a bit looser IYKWIM.

As for the HCG/Progesterone readings, I have read that they say a high progesterone could indicate twins but in my case with DD my HCG was 305 and Prog 80 and the twins HCG was 351 and Prog 90 and my BT's were both 14days post transfer (so not a huge difference). Maybe with DD's pregnancy we may have actually had 2 take but them one 'vanish - ie the vanishing twin" or maybe not.

I hope your OB case ease your mind when you see him.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Foreva Mummy, I thought that too about the scanner doing the u/s. I know her pretty well having had nearly all of my IVF scans with her over the years plus a few other things. She's normally super good at telling me everything she finds, and explaining it as best she can, but this time after she found the embryo she was strangely quiet. I actually didn't realise the position was a problem until my fs rang me the next day with the report findings.

Tarhli I know what you mean about each pregnancy being different and I'm trying hard not to compare. Like you, with my DD I had hellish ms from weeks 4 - 12 but this time around, just a mild-moderate nausea that showed up about a week ago. I guess this time I might just have high progesterone without it necessarily meaning anything. (How I would have loved for it to mean twins though :) ) That's lovely that your last transfer resulted in twins.

I'll let you know how I go tomorrow.

Hi Amber

Firstly big congratulations on your pregnancy.

I was in this predicament just a week ago.

I had 2 5AA embryos put back and had + HPT's since 4dp5dt. SO what did I do??? Google of course. Got my hopes going a bit for twins.

I'd been throwing up since EPU and developed mild OHSS (again).

I had nausea since EPU as well.

We had our viability scan on the 24th may at 7 weeks and we saw 1 sac with a heartbeat. I was a little disapointed there wasn't 2 as my levels both HCG and progesterone were high.

I had my first BETA at 12dp5dt HCG 701 and progesterone 162
I had my 2nd BETA BT at 19dp5dt (or 7 days later) HCG 7580 and progesterone 223.1.

My FS said there is only 1 in there so I believe him. This pregnancy so far is NOTHING like any of my others. I've only had all day nausea with a few dry retching & OMG I need to thow up moments. But as of 2 days ago all nausea seems to have gone.

Moral is levels mean diddly quat. Google all you like (like I did) and it still means nothing until the scan.

Good Luck for today.

Hope all goes/went well with your Ob appt today :)