Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

This is something I've been wondering about for awhile ... whether IF grads typically have complicated pregnancies or if my body just hates me

I had a VERY short cervix with a cerlage at 17 weeks. By the end of my pregnancy the Drs were calling my cervix unmeasurable b/c it was so short.

I had pre-term labor with contractions 5 minutes apart that I wasn't feeling at all at 24 weeks, landing me in the hospital on bedrest there for a week and super strict bedrest at home afterwards.

And my water broke at 31w6d making my boys preemies born 2 months early.

So ... are pregnancies resulting from IF treatments generally complicated? What have your experiences been?

Message edited 12/20/2011 10:42:17 PM.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

My cervix was down to a 3 by 13 weeks but I quit my full-time job and I have maintained it around a 3. I have seen a doctor almost weekly since I have been pregnant and had more sonograms then I can count. I have been to the hospital 3 times for bleeding or loss of fluid, all of which they said were no big deal. My first few weeks I had some bleeding too but Dr.B blamed it on my cervix. My baby is head down in the birth canal and I am 36 weeks now so I am praying the rest is uneventful. Congrats on your twins!!!

Oh I forgot the most eventful! This has nothing to do with IF but at 20 weeks we had the hurricane. My landlords decided to use a generator which poured carbon monoxide into our apartment. I got sick and our detector went off. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital where they said I had carbon monoxide poisoning. They say it didn't hurt the baby, but I will follow up with my pediatrician on that.

Message edited 12/20/2011 9:27:48 AM.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

For my first PG I had an IUI and used clomid and metformin. I had an uneventful pregnancy until I was in labor. I developed pre-eclampsia while in labor, had no blood pressure problems before I went into labor.

For this pregnancy I only needed the clomid, and 20 weeks in and this one is going great so far. And my doctor said that the chances of that happening again significantly go down with the second child from the same partner. DH was with me in the room when he said that and I just had to look at him and laugh with that statement!

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

My cervix was actually super long. I had a great pregnancy except for swelling starting around 15 weeks. I did get PUUPS at 24 weeks and ended up with preeclampsia, so had to deliver at 35 weeks, but other than that no issues. I also had some clotting issues which can pre-dispose you to pre-e so I think that might have had something to do with it.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

well my pregnancy itself didnt seem complicated until the end. i felt amazing during most of my pregnancy.

at 32w i had a growth sono since i was on lovenox and at that appointment i apparently had gained a lot of weight and there was a lot of protein in my urine. i had to do the 24-hour urine collection (fun times) and ended up on hospital bed rest with pre-eclampsia. they wanted to get me to 36w at least since apparently baby was measuring small and my amniotic fluid was low. 5 days later i developed HELLP syndrome and ended up delivering at 33w1d. when they did my csection my blood levels had gotten so bad that i had to be under general anesthesia. ended up being a good thing because when they went in they found out i had a clot and also had placenta accreta which took about 2 hours to resolve. i lost half my blood volume, had a partially collapsed lung and needed blood transfusions and a morphine pump after the delivery. my DD was born 3lbs 8oz and spend 3.5 weeks in the NICU. for the full details you can read my birth story here.

for me, i believe that my crazy birth story was directly linked to infertility. i have PCOS and we conceived via IVF (heres that story if youre bored!! ) and needed intralipids, lovenox and baby aspirin to counteract blood clotting and immune issues. apparently pre-eclampsia is directly related to thrombophilia. i personally feel that the fact that it escalated to HELLP was due to switching to heparin in the hospital (although i haven't confirmed that yet). i also believe (again, unconfirmed) that the placenta issues had something to do with it being an IVF pregnancy and even possibly something to do with the second sac that we had that never developed. the only reason i think the second sac could be linked is because it was still there at my 20w sono when most of the time vanishing twin vanishes much earlier.

anyway i think there were a ton of risk factors that lead to my crazy experience. i did not see a high risk doctor, because i was told i was borderline needing to, and since my pregnancy was pretty uneventful, i never went. i do think a good peri would've at least been able to d/x the placenta issue earlier since we were unprepared. even after several hospital sonos, including one from their MFM doctor, we didn't know about the accreta and when it was time to deliver they had me prepped for a vaginal birth. the only reason we even moved to csection was because she turned out to be transverse breech (she was head down the day i got admitted). it was a godsend however because if she wasn't breech or sectioned i have no idea what would've happened when they tried to remove the placenta - my guess is i would've lost a ton of blood, been sent to emergency surgery, and likely may have lost my uterus altogether since that would've been an emergency situation and the common cure for accreta is a hysterectomy.

anyway sorry this is so long but i wont lie, the thought has crossed my mind that between infertility and PCOS and such a crazy birth story, that science beat nature and my body was never created to carry and birth a child. 7m later i have the most amazing daughter and despite the trauma i will do it all again. although it will def take some time to get DH on board since he is thoroughly traumatized as well. but regardless of what we went through she is the best thing that ever happened to us

Message edited 12/20/2011 11:56:37 AM.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

Mine was not complicated with , other than the fact that he started as a twin and lost one a 9 weeks. I carried him until 5 days before my due date and worked until 3 days before that.

This pregnancy has had nothing but complications, but it's also It started with a fairly low beta, then SCH causing bleeding for 10 weeks, then short cervix/pre-term labor scare which has resulted on me being on bedrest with a cerclage since 22 weeks.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

Posted by maybeamommy

Mine was not complicated with , other than the fact that he started as a twin and lost one a 9 weeks. I carried him until 5 days before my due date and worked until 3 days before that.

This pregnancy has had nothing but complications, but it's also It started with a fairly low beta, then SCH causing bleeding for 10 weeks, then short cervix/pre-term labor scare which has resulted on me being on bedrest with a cerclage since 22 weeks.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

Mine became complicated.

While I did go through IF treatments we actually got PG on our own.

at 28 weeks I developed 3 blood clots in my leg and was hospitalized for 4 days put on Heparin in the hospital and then switched to Lovenox. I am switching back to Heparin at 36 weeks (thursday) in prep for delivery and then after delivery will go back on Lovenox for 6 weeks.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

Mine was somewhat complicated...

I had an SCH, so I bled from 5wks until 16wks and was on modified bed rest.

We had a sono scare with DD, that turned out to be ok.

DD was very tiny and dipped below the 10th percentile, so she was monitored very closely at the end of the pregnancy.

And, I had GD.

But, I think most of these were issues from being pg with multiples...which I guess was, sort of, a result of IF treatments

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. No issues for being pregnant with twins except I developed PUPPS at 32 weeks and literally wanted to rip my skin off. I am still scratching and have scars all over my legs from the scratching.

Other than that, no problems. I delivered at 37w3d .

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

I really did not have many complications with this pregnancy. I had some spotting early on but I did start having contractions around 26 weeks. I went to L&D where they monitored me and gave me IV fluids and my FFN came back negative. I have been getting the FFN test every 2 weeks (all of which were negative!!) and have been on Procardia since 26w and have had no problems at all. I am now 34w 5d and going to the doctor today to discuss coming off procardia.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

After multiple iui's, got pg on my first ivf cycle. Currently of with . I'm 38w3d, scheduled for a section on 12/27 if I make it that far. My fluid has been low since 36 weeks, currently it's at a 6.5, so I'm told if I don't stick to my bedrest and drink tons and tons of water when I go tomorrow that the section will be either tomorrow or fri and I will be in the hospital for Christmas ( so not fun.. I have a 5 yr old DD).
I have GD and am on insulin 4 X a day , which makes it strange that I have low fluid since it's generally the opposite with GD. And at 11 weeks I had a SCH that caused me to bleed for about 4-5 weeks.

I am hoping for good news at the dr tomorrow!!

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

I had no issues w my pregnancy w DS. But every pregnancy is different. You can have preclampsia w one and not w another.

Sorry you had a tough time!

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

Posted by Dolphinsbaby

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. No issues for being pregnant with twins except I developed PUPPS at 32 weeks and literally wanted to rip my skin off. I am still scratching and have scars all over my legs from the scratching.

Other than that, no problems. I delivered at 37w3d .

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

I am currently 33 weeks pregnant. I did ivf and so far i have not had any complications with this pregnancy.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

well... this is ivf baby boy 21 weeks tomorrow..

i was on metanx and baby aspirin bc of mthfr mutation.

when i went to the perinatologist just to make sure all was well he found MANY more clotting issues...so i now am on lovenox once a day.
also had some bleeding from placenta previa that just recently went away and had to be on bed rest for a week or so.
my thyroid has gone hypo. so on meds for that.
oh yeah and i have gestational diabetes already.
but i am an old fart so who knows haha!

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

my pregnancy was pretty complicated, but I am not sure if it was due to my IF issues or it being a triplet pregnancy.

I was on prednisone for the first 14weeks of the pregnancy, along with intralipids once a week. I developed hypertension within the first trimester of my pregnancy (the drs. seem to think it was related to the prednisone), so I was closely monitored for that and protein in my urine. They were trying to be pro-active with pre-eclamsia. Luckily I never developed full on pre-eclamsia.

I went to the doctors every 2 weeks, and at about 16 weeks, my DD's growth started to fall behind her brothers. By 24 weeks she was only gaining an ounce in 2 weeks, while her brothers would gain a pound. At 26 weeks she stopped growing completely (IUGR). At 28 weeks, they noticed her blood flow through her umbilical line was compromised, so I began receiving sonograms every other day. Once the blood flow became reverse, they were delivering. At 29weeks 6days, her blood flow became reverse. My C-second was done at exactly 30weeks. My DD was born weighing only 1lb 14oz. My boys were 3lb1oz and 3lb0oz. After 9 long weeks in the NICU, everyone came home!

So who really knows the reasons for my complications. However, Dr. B did tell me, even before getting pregnant, that with my issues I should anticipate issues and he wanted me seeing a high risk doctor regardless.

in the end if was ALL worth in, and I would do it again in a second!

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

I had 3 IUIs. First was a bust, 2nd ended in miscarriage at 10 weeks and the 3rd resulted in my son. I started swelling around 22 weeks. My blood pressure went up and was high for me, but not too high for them to be very concerned. I developed PUPPS at around 31 weeks (though I had a bout with it for about a week or two earlier in the pregnancy but it went away). At 32 weeks and 6 days my water broke and 3 1/2 hours later (natural delivery) my son was born. Personally whether it was paranoia or mother's intution, I thought that I was going to go into pre-term labor, so much so that I was scheduled for a regular OB appt at 33 weeks and 2 days and I was going to ask about getting steroid shots for the baby's lungs. Those shots would have been very helpful. They gave me the 1st steroid shot when I first arrived at L & D but the baby came so fast that it never had time to work. He stayed in NICU for 1 month. We talked about a possible cerclage for the next pregnancy and I am sure I will be very closely monitored. I dilated so fast and so easily that they seemed to be concerned for the next baby.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

my first pregnancy was uneventful. my second pregnancy i had a large subchronic hematoma that bled until i was 10 weeks or so.

my first was metformin clomid iui asprin and lovenox

my second was clomid iui asprin and lovenox

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

In a nut shell yes!

Let's see....stared with shortened cervix at 13 weeks. Then we graduated to placenta previa. That resolved just in time for pregnancy induced hypertension followed by pre-term labor, steroid shots that sent my blood sugars out of whack and it all ended with a failed 40 hour induction (due to developing pre-eclampsia) and a c-section. Not fun, but I'd do it all a million times over for HER!!

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

For my DS who was conceived through IVF, I had a pretty quiet pregnancy with exception to a lot of water gain, swelling & pregnancy induced carpal tunnel but otherwise it was textbook

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

My pregnancy was pretty rough...I was so thankful to be pregnant though I tried not to complain.

I threw up from week 7 till at least week 20. Sometimes 5 or 6 times a day!

I went on bedrest at 10 weeks for a short cervix. Had a cerclage put in at 13 weeks. On and off partial and full bedrest the rest of my pregnancy.

Had INSANE swelling. Toward the end I was gaining about 5 lbs every day or so.

I developed pre eclampsia and delivered at 33w6days and had to be put under for my c section and missed the birth of my babies.

So grateful for my 2 babies so I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

With my first son (IVF), I had no morning sickness and felt pretty good for most of it. I had a 2 vessel umbilical cord that just required some extra monitoring. I developed preeclampsia but baby was full term and my BP went to normal within a week or so of giving birth.

WIth my second (no IF treatments), my pregnancy was almost identical except that I did not have a 2 vessel cord. I felt the same. But unfortunately, I also developed preeclampsia again and had blood pressure problems for about a month after I delivered.

Re: Is/was your pregnancy complicated?

With my dd who was concieved with after 3 cycles of iui and clomid. I had an easy begining of the pregnancy untill my cervix started shortening. I was on bedrest for 7 weeks untill I delievered via c-sec at 38 weeks. This pregnacy my first iui clomid cycle. I have low magenesium and had low blood sugar which caused my to pass out. I am continuing to be monitored for both of those issues as well as a potential for a shortening cervix.