Any IVF'ers foregoing "standard" medical care post-conception?

[bunyhuny]

EDITED: The original pregnancy ended in M/C, but I'm pregnant again (now May 2015), so I'm interested in any info that anyone has about natural pregnancy/home birth post-IVF. I'm with a perinatologist and an OB/Gyn until at least 12 weeks as my RE has me on Prednisone, injectable blood thinners, and all HRT FET meds/suppositories, but if all goes well, I really do want to get to a more natural state after the meds have been withdrawn. Any ideas, stories of personal experiences, etc, would be great.



My husband and I are in the IVF process right now and are trying to figure out if it will be possible to avoid ultrasounds once we've conceived. (FX'd!!) We really do not want to have to do any if they're not necessary. We have traveled overseas for IVF and our doctor here in Prague will be sending us back to the US with all the progesterone and estrogen supplements we need for the first trimester, so I'm thinking we do not have to see an RE or OB/Gyn once back in the States. (???)

Does anyone have experience with this? Will we need clearance to stop the supplements? Can we get that from a midwife (CPM or LM, not wanting to go the CPN route)? Can we just do some kind of blood test? We want to avoid both standard u/s and doppler.

If there is another forum that this question would be better suited to, please let me know!

 

[OrthoChick]

Hi!

My husband and I had to do IVF. We are going with the midwife/home birth route we did the Verifi blood test at 10 weeks to determine sex and chromosomal abnormalities...all clear, skipping amnio. We are getting an ultrasound at 20 weeks b/c my hubs wants to see the little guy, nothing to do with the IVF process. My RE said I could stop supplements very early on, as my hcg levels looked good. Really best to get clearance if you want to be on the safe side.

Doppler: even a midwife will check for heartbeat to be sure all is ok...might I ask why you would like to avoid this?

 

[bunyhuny]

Hi OrthoChick! We spoke with our doctor and it looks like there is no may to avoid the 7 week scan at our clinic. I guess we could just not show up, but I don't think they'd take to kindly to that, and I worry if it could have repercussions in the future with coming back in for a FET. I may have to agree to the scan, but ask her to do the scan as quickly as possible to avoid as much ultrasound exposure as possible. I'm not happy with it though.

The reason we are trying to avoid ultrasound is that Yale conducted a large study on the impact of ultrasound use on the neurological development of fetal mice, and the results aren't pretty. There is an article about it HERE, with a link to the FULL STUDY at the bottom of the article. If we come up against a real need for ultrasound, we're not against using it, but we don't want to do scans if we can't help it. Doppler is ultrasound as well, so that rules that out. We'll find a midwife who uses a fetoscope, many do.

The other reason we want to avoid scans, at least in later pregnancy, is because it is so jarring to the baby. Studies show that ultrasound, due to how is hits the amniotic fluid, causes a very loud sound to occur inside the sac at a frequency that babies are able to hear. This is why they often ""run away" from the ultrasound. There have been studies conducted with internal microphones to discern the level of sound, and the dB rating was that of an airplane landing or a subway train coming into the station. (Dependent upon the strength of ultrasound used, I believe.)

 

[OrthoChick]

How interesting! I know the 7 week scan for us was to make sure the embryo "took" and was developing normally, but I totally get where you are coming from strange how hard it can be to find the care we desire! Go for it after that scan they should cut you loose to pursue a more natural experience. We certainly found it refreshing and healing after such a clinical conception

 

[Irish Eyes]

I can see you not wanting the later scans that are offered, I understand that completely. What would most concern me about IVF is the risk of multiples. We will only be doing the 12 week scan more than likely, although I'm not keen on ultrasounds my risk of multiples is high & as I'm planning for a homebirth it's something I need to be prepared for.

They can keep the u/s as short as you like

 

[bunyhuny]

Thanks, lady! We've had complications- very low hCG, bleeding, etc, so we'll be getting a minimum of two scans- one to rule out ectopic, and then another later to rule out a blighted ovum. Not so much worry about the risk of multiples- we only transferred one and my hCG numbers have all been at the lowest end of normal. At this point we're just hoping the pregnancy sticks. It's been an up and down couple of weeks!

 

[Irish Eyes]

I really hope everything works out well for you!!

 

[bunyhuny]

Thanks, Irish.

 

[HopefulEm]

We spoke with our doctor and it looks like there is no may to avoid the 7 week scan at our clinic. I guess we could just not show up, but I don't think they'd take to kindly to that, and I worry if it could have repercussions in the future with coming back in for a FET. I may have to agree to the scan, but ask her to do the scan as quickly as possible to avoid as much ultrasound exposure as possible. I'm not happy with it though.

Hey bunyhuny, is that in the US or Prague? I'm a bit appalled that they are presenting it to you as not an option given it's your body and your baby.

My husband and I have opted out of all ultrasounds for reasons like the ones you found, but we have yet to have any complications so I understand if you want them done. I just hope they're not bullying you into something you're not comfortable with!

 

[bunyhuny]

OrthoChick- I know this is resurrecting a pretty old thread, but I wanted to ask if you ended up having a home birth with your first IVF baby and if you'll be having another one with this next one? The pregnancy I was posting about originally, I miscarried, but I found out yesterday I'm finally pregnant again, and this time with GREAT hCG numbers. (So incredibly thankful.) I'm wondering at what point you were able to switch to a midwife. As soon as you were off meds? They've got me on a ton of medications until 12 weeks, so I'm with both an OB/Gyn and a perinatologist until then, but after that I should be med-free besides Metformin.

I had an ectopic last year, so 6-7 week scans are now mandatory for me (which I'm fine with) but I'm hoping to be able to avoid anything that's unnecessary after that.

 

[redneckhippy]

We did IVF too. I understand the feeling of wanting as natural as possible after IVF as I felt the same way. The conception has to be so clinical that you just want some part of it to be natural. I switched from an RE to an Ob at 12 weeks and then was able to switch to a midwife after 16 weeks. I had a bleed at the beginning, which is why I first switched to an Ob, but once that cleared I switched to the midwife. I did have a TON of ultrasounds due to the bleeding and then at the end I had several when my fundal height didn't change for 3 weeks and then the ultrasound for that showed a distended bladder, but fortunately it all ended up being fine. I delivered in the hospital but had a natural birth with my midwife. Oh and I was on all the IVF meds (progesterone, estrogen, etc) for 12 weeks.

 

[bunyhuny]

redneckhippy- That's great that even with complications you were still able to have a midwife and a natural birth. I've been having bleeding in this pregnancy already, but no one seems concerned. I'm on blood thinner injections every night, and the bleeding is always in the morning, so I guess it's due to the injections. (I'll be on those until 12 weeks.) Did they ever figure out what was causing your bleeding? I had bleeding in my m/c pregnancy and they never could figure out where it was even coming form. I go to the OB/Gyn on Thursday to talk about how this pregnancy is going to go, so I guess she'll tell me then what she thinks of the bleeding.

Also, were you wanting to have a home birth but then needed to do hospital instead? Or was hospital the plan all along? Did you get the whole "you're high risk because you did IVF" or did they not really mind that bit? My only risk factors besides IVF are that I'm heavy and have insulin resistant PCOS so I'm on Metformin- but I've heard of plenty of midwives working with larger, insulin resistant mamas.

 

[redneckhippy]

My bleeding was subchorianc hemorrhage (SCH). Its very common in IVF pregnancy. I had been on baby aspirin by my RE took me off it due to the bleeding. I also have PCOS but no insulin issues. They may want to monitor you for GD? I was planning to deliver in a birth center but my blood pressure spiked at 40 weeks so I had to switch to the hospital and was induced with Cirvidil and a membrane sweep.

 

[redneckhippy]

Also how many embryos did you transfer? If you have twins you prob will have to see an ob.

 

[bunyhuny]

I had two transferred. In CO, twins means an OB, but other states allow midwives to take care of twin pregnancies/births. If it's twins and everything is proceeding normally after 16 weeks, I'll likely be finding a midwife out of state and we'll move to wherever she is. (DH works from home and home is currently our awesome RV, so moving is super easy.)

At this point, I'm monitoring my own blood sugar just to make sure that everything stays where it needs to be. My half sisters both had GD and I don't want to go there, so I'm monitoring everything I eat. I take my sugar level in the morning when I get up and after meals, and I feel like as long as that all looks good, it's enough for me- I'm not drinking that weird sugar concoction even if they ask me to. I never eat that much sugar at once in my day to day life, so I don't see a good reason to drink something so vile while pregnant. First off, it can't be good for the baby, and secondly, YUCK.

I probably ought to get a blood pressure monitor so I can just keep tabs on that myself as well.

 

[bunyhuny]

I'm sorry you didn't get to have your Birth Center birth. How was the induction? I worry about induction being too painful, but if it ends up being 100% necessary, so be it, ya know?

 

[redneckhippy]

Just fyi, if it's twins, from what I've read it's also more likely to get GD (something about the two placentas?), so just make sure to be really on top of that. I have a home glucose monitor so I checked that frequently (since I do have the history of PCOS) and I also monitored my BP at home. My MW had told me if it was twins I'd have to go with the Ob also (we transfered 2 as well but just one took).

The induciton wans't bad. Fortunately I went into labor before I needed pitocin. The cirvidil basically just softens the cervix. As soon as I started having contractions they were 2 minutes apart and stayed that way throughout my entire labor. I don't know if this was related to the cirvidil or was just how my body labored. The biggest help to me was spending a lot of time in the shower (seriously I never thought I would like it but it helped SOOO much with the pain). Even at the hospital, my MW allowed me to move around as I pleased, so I spent most of the time in the shower and then she would just have me come out every so often to check baby's heartrate. In the end it was a blessing in my case that I ended up at the hospital because my son was unresponsive at birth and needed resusitation and then had blood sugar issues and had to be on an IV for 2 days, so a hospital was where we needed to be. However, I have no reason to believe that any of those issues had anything to do with the IVF, it was just a freak thing that happened. The upside of an IVF pregnancy, once I got past the first part and actually felt free to let myself believe he was stickign around, I really just loved being pregnant, even the uncomfortable things becuase it just took so much to get there that I loved the experience.

 

[redneckhippy]

Also I'd add, just make sure you find a MW you're really comfortable with. I really trusted my MW, so when she told me I needed to be induced, I was sad, but I felt confident that if she was saying it was necessary, then it really was necessary. Plus at that point I was already overdue (and with IVF unlike most people, you actually know your EXACT due date) so I was anxious to meet my little man.

 

[bunyhuny]

That's great that you didn't need pitocin. Pitocin is my biggest worry. I don't want that stuff anywhere near me if I can help it. Yuck.

It sounds like you had a great MW and everything really did turn out exactly like it needed to. I'm not against a hospital birth if there's a real need. Like you said, I'll just need to find a MW I really trust.

So far my sugar levels have been doing great. My fasting sugar is all over the place (as it normally is), ranging from 82-107, but my 2-hr post-meal blood sugar is always in the 80's, so that's great. Will just need to keep an eye on it and adjust my diet accordingly.