What on earth is going on?

[Cetarari]

Hi there, I'm posting here to see if anyone can shed some light on what the heck is going on, I've had a heck of a day!

We had our first try at IVF last year after 4 years of failure to conceive, I have PCOS and my hubby's little swimmers are lazy so we had ICSI and I had an embryo implanted in August. We had our BFP and were over the moon. The 12 week scan was fine, but at 13 weeks I started bleeding.

The bleeding was unexplained but baby was fine. The bleeding didn't stop and although I was worried my midwife and consultant (not the IVF one) weren't worried. At 23 weeks I went into premature labour, I was in labour 4 days and they deemed me too early for medical intervention so I gave birth to her knowing she would die. We had 30 minutes with her before she passed.

I had mid cycle bleeding for two months but an ultrasound came back clear so we made plans to go back for a frozen cycle since we have 5 blasts frozen from the first cycle. This month I had no mid cycle bleed so we went to our IVF Dr. and made plans to try again, the first step being a baseline scan that I had to ring for on the first day of my AF.

Today is when my AF would be due and because I've been having odd symptoms, tiredness
, craving meat and a tight feeling across my womb after we have sex (all the same as after the IVF) I decided to test just in case.

This is where it gets confusing...

Tesco Digital x 2 - BFP
Superdrug Digital - BFP
First Response - Faint BFP, the line is faint, but it's pink and it's there within the 5 mins.
Superdrug non-digital - same as the First Response, faint but there.
Clear Blue Didital - BFN
Boots own brand non-digital - BFN

What on earth is going on? I can't get a Dr's appointment until next week and I'm going crazy wondering whether we've had a miracle or just dodgy tests.

 

[Donna210369]

Firstly, i'm so sorry for your loss, must have been heartbreaking

Secondly have you done pg tests since to check your HCG levels went back down to normal? If so I'd say this is a definite BFP. And even if you haven't checked your levels I'd think it is still likely you are. I think the clear blue digi dont detect HCG levels until they're a little higher so that would fit.

Is there any way you can get a blood test today and another one in 48hrs to see if they're rising. At this stage its the only real way to tell.

I wish you so much luck and i'll keep my fingers crossed. Please let me know how you get on? xx

 

[Cetarari]

I did do pregnancy tests about a month after the miscarriage (I miscarried at the beginning of January), they were negative and the ultrasound was a month ago and there was definitely no retained placenta or anything. The Dr. can't see me until next week (I'll be a nervous wreck by then). I've left a message with my bereavement midwife, but she only works 2 days a week (she's a regular midwife the rest of the time) so who knows when I'll get to speak to her.

Thankfully the IVF consultant insisted I keep taking my vitamins and also put me on baby aspirin since it was a clot behind the placenta that caused the premature labour. Our daughter would have been due on May 10th, so I'm emotional as it is, this is driving me loopy!

 

[Donna210369]

well i'd say you are definitely pregnant then sweetie. why dont you go and get some more tests and do fmu tomorrow. I know only too well how loopy you will be, as i've been there myself several times. keep taking the aspririn and folic acid and let me know how you get on. xx

 

[jrowenj]

Did you take all of the tests the same day with same urine??

 

[lovewithin]

honey ONE BFP is enough to tell you are pregnant!! false positives are EXTREMELY rare, while false negatives are totally common and vary between different tests. the detection limits they report on the box are often based upon laboratory diluted HCG solutions, not real urine from real women... and especially, those tests who claim they can get you a BFP at 9-10dpo... they ALL lack a line that says "in 10-25% of women"...!

so CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

 

[Cetarari]

jrowenj -the 2 tesco digis were with fmu, the others were later on. I honestly wasn't expecting a bfp, we tried for 4 years and nothing.

lovewithin - Oh God I hope so, it's been a horrific year so far, not helped by the fact that my step sister (who I get on fantastically with) was due 2 days after we would've been. She's still waiting to pop (hopefully any day now) and it's been hard knowing we'd have to deal with a new baby in the family when we were mourning the loss of our daughter.

My step sister has been really understanding and I'm over the moon everything has gone so well for her (God knows the family couldn't take anymore bad news) but having a bfp would certainly help me cope with the impending arrival a lot better.

I've managed to get hold of my hubby, he's working away at the moment, and we've decided to hold off testing again until fmu on Sunday. If I'm still getting odd results I'm camping on the Dr's doorstep on Monday morning and will see if I can convince them to give me an emergency appointment rather than make me wait another week. If the results are good I'll wait for the bereavement midwife to phone back and she will organise an early scan for me. If af shows up then we'll put it down to chemical pregnancy and go back to the IVF clinic to go ahead with our frozen cycle.

That's what's keeping me sane, I know we have 5 good quality blastocysts if this is a false alarm or a chem pregnancy. We were told having so many to freeze was unusual so I guess we did something right

 

[lovewithin]

trust me on this, 1 BFP is enough to know you got HCG in your system, and if your post-mc HCG was down to zero and your previous tests turned negative then this is your bfp!

the only thing that could make them positive is if you had a HCG shot prior to the IVF, i don't know if that's a common part of the procedure but still... i think you're preggers!

 

[wamommy]

Wow!! I SO hope congrats are in order!

My story might help give you hope.

I had IVF treatment for blocked tubes in 2008 which gave me my beautiful daughter! I thought I couldn't conceive naturally, and couldn't afford another IVF, so assumed one child would be it for me. 10 months later my period was 2 weeks late, i took a test, and POSITIVE! Apparently the first pregnancy stretching had unblocked my tubes! Naybe this is the case for you too?

I'll be checking back, and crossing fingers for your miracle!

 

[Cetarari]

the only thing that could make them positive is if you had a HCG shot prior to the IVF, i don't know if that's a common part of the procedure but still... i think you're preggers!

We haven't actually started the second cycle yet, so no meds. I was waiting on af to go in for a scan and get the frozen cycle meds so definitely no hcg medication in my system.

Wow!! I SO hope congrats are in order!

My story might help give you hope.

I had IVF treatment for blocked tubes in 2008 which gave me my beautiful daughter! I thought I couldn't conceive naturally, and couldn't afford another IVF, so assumed one child would be it for me. 10 months later my period was 2 weeks late, i took a test, and POSITIVE! Apparently the first pregnancy stretching had unblocked my tubes! Naybe this is the case for you too?

I'll be checking back, and crossing fingers for your miracle!

I was warned that I might not be quite so infertile (if there is such a thing) after the pregnancy. My infertility is hormonal and there's a chance that the pregnancy has sorted out the imbalance. Since we were dealing with hubby's lazy swimmers too I didn't think it could happen on it's own, but we decided to forego contraception and see what happened. I guess it only takes one though, even if the rest are napping!

I'll definitely post when I know for sure (Sunday seems an age away!).

 

[lovewithin]

wooohoooooo!!!!! awwww these are thousand-fold congrats then!!! keep us posted on sunday, but from what i know as a biochemist, you are preggers!

 

[lch28]

congrats, i am sure it is a bfp. so sorry for your loss hun. i also lost my daughter at 23 weeks. she would be due june 24th and i am desperate for a bfp before then. it was so heart breaking to lose her =[

 

[Cetarari]

I've managed to speak to a doctor today (over the phone) and he thinks it's likely a chemical pregnancy based on the differing test results. If I haven't started my period by late next week I have to go in for tests. I'm pretty gutted tbh, after all the awfulness it seemed like something was going right. I'm still testing on Sunday, just incase, but my heart is breaking right now.

 

[Donna210369]

If i'm right cb digi and boots own brand are sensitive to 25iu of HCG. I'm going to have a look now and see what the others are. I know some of them are 15 so they'd come up positive if it was over 15 but the cb and boots wouldn't if it were under 25 when you tested. Dont give up hope yet xx

 

[Donna210369]

there is conflicting evidence of what the sensitivity is for some of them so I really wouldn't count yourself out at all yet. You could do them again with fmu tomorrow and it should show up as that would be two days wouldn't it. I've got my fingers crossed for you xx

 

[lovewithin]

please cetarari don't count yourself out, the sensitivity of the HPTs varies, the one reported on the package is NOT tested on real women, just on laboratory-made solutions of HCG. human urine is way more complex than that, and those test NEVER SAY how many women they are actually able to detect at a given detection limit. there is a good webpage where you can see the REAL facts, posted by real women:

https://www.countdowntopregnancy.com/pregnancy-test/brands.php

don't count yourself out, and i'd give a good biochemistry lesson to your doc for being so easy with those words when he is absolutely NOT able to claim sth like that for sure!!!

 

[Cetarari]

Time is dragging until tomorrow morning... But I did have a thought after reading your reply Lovewithin. Last time I didn't test until 5 weeks. Our beanie was 5 days old when they put her back and then we had to wait 16 days before I was allowed to test. So I was 3 weeks (5 including the 2 weeks they add on) and this time I tested at 4 weeks ( with the 2 added on).

I'm so tired at the moment, I slept 8 hours last night and had to go and nap this afternoon even though all I've done is light cleaning and play a little Diablo III with my hubby. I also have awful achy lower back, which I had for the first 8 weeks last time (tmi. but pregnancy dies a number on my digestion).

I'm trying to remain hopeful, not easy given all the awful stuff that's happened, but reading some of the stories on this site has put it in perspective for me. Other people have had it much worse than us and are still smiling. I'll post back tomorrow, but we've decided that if the tests are still arguing we'll test again Thursday (5 weeks) before I go to the docs.

Thank you all so much for your posts, you're keeping me sane

 

[lovewithin]

good luck! keeping my fingers crossed tonight for you!

keep us posted please! i think everything is gonna be great this time

 

[Apple111]

Didn't want to read and run , hope u get good news xx

 

[Donna210369]

How did you get on hunni xx