Did anyone have to have weekly "monitoring" during their third trimester due to having conceived your baby through IVF? I just had my 30-week appointment yesterday and my OB told me I will need to start having this at about 32 weeks. Just curious if anyone else did and if there were any problems or anything else noteworthy.
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Only IVF related thing was seeing a pediatric heart doctor to make sure our babies hearts were developing normally since they said IVF babies have a slight risk of heart abnormalities/defects. Luckily, my babies were fine.
If I wasn't in the hospital on bed rest, I would have had weekly monitoring after 30 weeks because I was having twins.
@agold: Yay on getting to the 3rd trimester!
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I didn't use IVF (we did IUI) but I started my weekly monitoring at 34 weeks because my blood pressure was starting to get a little high.
I've never heard of extra monitoring just because of IVF though.
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@agold: My MFM dr considered all IVF pregnancies high(er) risk, but I was already seeing MFM and my OB weekly because I was pregnant with twins. I'm not sure how much monitoring I would have had if it was a singleton IVF pregnancy. (Personally I felt like calling all IVF pregnancies high risk was a side effect of my hospital being Catholic and extremely conservative. Very few people do IVF here because our main hospital and associated Drs are Catholic. Obviously not everyone who works there is Catholic! But it's a very Catholic environment and my IVF pregnancy was foreign to a lot of the medical staff I saw at my OB practice and MFM practice).
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@bluestriped bee: Thank you! Can't believe I'm actually in the 3rd trimester - or even pregnant at all!
@KT326: My OB told me that the weekly monitoring I will be doing is the same that people with diabetes or other issues have. Blood pressure is probably one of the "other" she was referencing.
@twodoghouse: isn't it crazy how IVF is still a foreign thing to some? My OB said that this weekly monitoring is standard for IVF, and she also said she doesn't really think its necessary. I'm just curious what the monitoring would be checking for.
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@agold: I had some additional monitoring with my IVF pregnancy although it was not weekly. My OB is a MFM and he treats IVF pregnancy as high risk. I had extra ultrasounds to check heart development as well as placenta function.
I was not allowed to go past due with my DD because there has been some research done to suggest that there is a higher than normal level of placenta failure in IVF pregnancy's...
I will admit I was not a fan of this OB and will not be seeing him for future pregnancies because I felt like he was too conservative and caused me additional anxiety even though I had a fairly textbook pregnancy.
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Nope, the only thing extra was an echocardiogram at 23 weeks.
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@MrsKRB: Ah, yes, that is what the test was. I couldn't remember the name.
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Not with my daughter and my OB this time didn't mention it either. I just had extra monitoring last time due to high blood pressure and some umbilical cord issues, but not because of IVF.
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If it's just weekly from 32 weeks, it's really only 2 extra appointments. Sorry you have to deal with it though!
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@skipra: The monitoring is done at a totally separate place from my OB. Its done at the hospital so even though the monitoring is only 30 minutes approximately, the whole ordeal takes a couple hours due to driving, checking in and waiting. No biggie though. I don't mind sitting around listening to baby's heart beat!
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@agold: Yeah that's annoying! I have to get extra monitoring later on because my first LO was born small - no other reason! With him I had to go to different offices for ultrasounds 2-3 times a week from 32 weeks on! They are just very cautious at the end of pregnancies. Which is good, but all the time that it takes can get very difficult to manage. It does seem weird that it is extra just because of IVF but I guess the doctors know better than us!
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Nope, the last thing IVF related I did was an ultrasound at 9 weeks, from then on I was treated like any other pregnancy.
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No weekly monitoring after IVF here. Hard time remembering but I think it was every two weeks after 34 weeks or something like that? I just know it was "normal" schedule.
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@agold: definitely. My hospital OB practice considered IVF pregnancies automatically high risk. I was treated as high risk the whole way through even though my only issue was DS measured large. I was induced at 39 weeks due to the IVF. I was told there was a risk of placenta issues.
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@twodoghouse: Wow, that's kind of crazy to me but it makes sense some medical professionals might steer clear of -- or try to avoid it -- IVF if they are opposed to it. Most of you have heard my rant about my Catholic, anti-IVF in-laws so I'll stop there!
@agold: So it sounds like you are going to do the scans and enjoy the time with your baby girl? Sorry about the imconvenient drive, though. Just talked with my OB about this today at my appointment. His practice (and the one I initially went to until 20 weeks) doesn't/didn't treat IVF pregnancies as inherently high-risk. However, the peri and my OB "mentioned" that they would "sorta, kinda recommend if I wanted" (my paraphrase) scans from 32w+ due to my ancient age of 40. Basically I have no other risk factors in their mind, but there's just a slightly higher risk of stillbirths at 32+w due to age and not related to IVF. The strange thing is that neither doctor was adamant and is leaving it up to me. However, they will be considered "medically necessary" for insurance reasons which confuses me. If they are necessary, why am I given a choice? But I will do them because my friend lost her baby (not an IVF pregnancy) at around 32w and she was my age at the time and healthier than healthy.... so the slightly higher risk is more than a statistic to me.
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Nope. I did have weekly appointments towards the end and some additional monitoring but that was because it was twins, had high blood pressure and another issue they were closely monitoring. Other than the echocardiogram I don't think I was treated any different than any other twin pregnancy. Other than the initial discussion with the dr that it was an IVF pregnancy (and making sure I had the heart test) IVF didn't seem to affect anything.
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Not an IVF momma but my Dr routinely wanted to see me every week for the last two months of pregnancy as well. With LO2 it was from 30w on because of a shortened cervix. So nothing to worry about I'd say and I kinda liked hearing their little heart beating
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Nope, not with G anyway. Unless an issue pops up that requires monitoring, that is.
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Nothing at all extra after the early scan with my RE. I personally loved feeling "normal" with the other preggo ladies at my OB office. It helped with my anxiety and helped me enjoy the pregnancy. I'm a little offended for you that your doc considers it high risk! Can't help but wonder what medically is different?
Enjoy the last trimester!
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@macintosh: interesting that you heard higher risk of placenta issues. And crazy they induced you at 39 weeks because of IVF. Was there a more specific reason for being induced?
@Amorini: oh, God. They really said stillbirth? And like you, I think it's my insurance that is dictating these third trimesters monitorings, and not my OB since she, herself, said not necessary. But she didn't give me an option to not do it. I suppose I could just not go. But I love the hospital and appreciate the break in my day. And listen to my baby? Any day, all day, I'll do it. I'm so sorry about your friend. I really hope the monitoring you do will be reassuring for you and not cause you any stress.
@YogiRunner: ha! I love that you're offended!!
I will probably ask her more specific questions at my next OB appointment. Like you, I've grown to appreciate being treated as a normal pregnancy so this threw me for a loop!
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@agold: it was only because of IVF. If I do have another chance to have a baby, I'll be looking for an OB group with a differ by policy. It was nice to have the extra assurance, but there were a few things they picked up on my MFM scans that turned out to be nothing, but they had us worried at the time.
I will probably ask her more specific questions at my next OB appointment. Like you, I've grown to appreciate being treated as a normal pregnancy so this threw me for a loop!
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