30 Weeks and counting
I had an OB appt yesterday. Heartbeat is good and strong. They are a tad concerned because I am measuring 32 wks but are going to keep a close eye on it. They may or may not need to move my due date up. Also, they will do a growth ultrasound in 2 wks. One thing that is concerning me is that they are going to do fetal non-stress test (NST) twice a week until I deliver. They said it is precautionary because of my advanced maternal age and that we conceive through IVF. She said there is a higher incidence of infant mortality with IVF babies during 3rd trimester. This TERRIFIES me! Thinking of losing him now, being this far long!!! Ugh. I am sure he will be just fine but as you IF girls know, nothing is easy! Any other mommy's out there have this done because of conceiving with IVF?
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That\'s freaky to hear. My OB told me that she\'s totally unconcerned as to how my baby was conceived and won\'t treat me any differently than any other pregnant patient because of the IVF. Sounds like your little guy isn\'t so little after all!
Yeah. I think he will be a little earlier than expected and a big boy like his daddy... 6\'2 and big cuddle bear. I didn\'t think they would treat me any diffferently .. maybe it\'s a mixture of that and that I\'m OLD. LOL
Good to hear from you, and so good to hear the baby is strong and growing fast! That\'s great news. Couple months more to go :)
It sounds like your Dr is super conservative, which can be a good thing. It must be so hard to hear that, but I wonder where that is coming from? I haven\'t heard anything about IVF babies being any different than naturally conceived babies. My Dr isn\'t concerned at all, and I\'m high risk. Even before the issues, no Dr ever mentioned that.
I\'m sure you and the baby will prove that Dr wrong twice a week. Maybe they will lighten up when they realize everything is going well. Hang in there momma, you are in the home stretch!
I had never heard of infant mortality rates being different for IVFers vs people getting pregnant the normal way... In the past I have seen a few articles suggesting that women that have gotten pregnant via IVF have a higher chance of having a rough pregnancy (I personally had severe preeclampsia with our first successful IVF) But I will say the doctors I have talked to about this say that there is no strong factual evidence in medical patterns that show women doing IVF have a rougher time, or that their baby is in more danger than others... I do personally think that women (including myself) that can only get pregnant using fertility help methods can have more pregnancy issues than a normal woman though because nothing is normal at the start gate you know what I mean? I\'m not an expert by any means and am very ignorant on a lot of this stuff but a lot of sweet women even here in DS world that have shared their birth stories, it seems that quite a few have had some very tough stories to tell (but with a HAPPY ending thank goodness)
I have quite a few friends that have not done fertility help that have had to do NST for various reasons. My 43 yr old friend is getting one done today in fact :0) It\'s notbecasue they are worried about the baby it\'s simply because of her age and they are wanting to track her very closely since she is due in three weeks. I think it\'s a WONDERFUL thing that the Docs are tracking your pregnancy so closely. That is such a blessing friend:) *HUG!! Try not to freak out (easier said than done I know!) I delivered at 34 weeks and my little IVF miracle was perfectly formed and healthy. 30 weeks or 32 weeks are both GREAT weeks to be in if you end up having to deliver early. But I am praying everything stays put for you! I am thinking of you and will be checking in to see how you are holding up. Hang in there!
Great to hear from you! I\'m glad everything is going well and that your little is growing so big and strong :)
The only thing I\'ve heard about IVF versus \"normal\" conception is that heart defects tend to occur more in IVF conceptions than non-IVF conception. Like MRS said, I think your doctor is being super conservative --- which can be a good thing. Try not to worry too much about it; just concentrate on taking care of yourself and your little man. And if you have to deliver early, take comfort in that you\'re pretty far along and know that your baby will be in great hands. My Tags delivered at 28 weeks, and although they\'ll be in NICU for another couple of months, they\'re doing pretty well. Deep breaths, momma. I\'m praying that you make it to your due date and that everything goes smoothly!
I am an OB nurse, so I personally can understand why the mortality is high. (Uteroplacental insuffiency is the best reason to come to mind.)
Soooo. Here\'s my story and why you should be SO happy your doctors are checking you twice a week.
We had twice a week NST\'s scheduled starting at 35 weeks. Ultrasounds every other week starting at 33 weeks to check placental function and fetal size. Everything looked great until the day we delivered.
Our NST discovered that Ben was in a huge amount of distress by having spontaneous prolonged decelerations. (his average heart rate was 125 BPM. He was having decelerations that lasted 4-6 minutes where his heart rate dropped to 60BPM.)
You can imagine how surprised I was because I had NO idea he was in any distress. He was moving fine. But his life, and his brain, were in jeopardy. We have no idea how long the decelerations were happening for. My NST was on Sunday. The previous one (that we passed) was on Wednesday. He could have been stressed the entire time. I had a stat cesarean and he was born less than an hour after the deceleration. (Subsequently he had 3 more before he was born. They were happening with no contractions at all. They were scary as fuck.)
When he was born he needed to be bagged for a few minutes. He is very healthy now and I have been told to not worry about the lack of oxygen in utero.
My placenta was found to be very small, much smaller than it was on the last ultrasound. Between the last ultrasound and his birth, the placenta had decided to stop working and stop profusing the baby like it should. All of the heart rate issues we had that day were due to the uteroplacental insufficiency.
But the important thing to take away from my story is that if we didn\'t have the test done, I could have had a miracle baby with brain death or even been still born. Be SO, SO happy to get your NST\'s. Don\'t think of them as an I convienience. We are high risk due to the IVF. Our pregnancies were created for us.
Also as an OB nurse, I can tell you I\'ve seen tons of IVF patients have their NST\'s and not have any issues at all. Deliver full term, no big deal.
But that\'s why we do them. For the peace of mind. For the unknown. For the risk.
Thanks ladies. You all have made me feel a ton better. I will do whatever they recommend. I guess I was just caught off guard by it and especially the comment about IVF babies, as I had never heard it before. I\'m glad they are being super cautious and could catch a problem early I there is one. You girls are the best!
I completely sympathize with your concern and echo the sentiments of all the ladies above. You\'d think this is something that would be mentioned to mothers having conceived via IVF at the START of our pregnancies... not at 30 weeks. I, too, would be a bit thrown off if I was told about the need for NSTs at this late stage. You are a trooper. Power to 37-year-old mommas!!! Hugs! :)
I can\'t believe he\'s almost here. I remember when you first started posting on DS. So so happy for you :)
I have never heard the IVF thing either, I hope that isn\'t true! I had to get a NST a few weeks before my due date too. They just want to make sure there is no fetal distress. I remember my Dr. telling me it was done late in the 3rd trimester because the baby is almost full grown and is running out of room and they just need to check that the baby is ok. I\'m sure everything is fine, they are most likely checking because you have a big boy in there!! :-)