[stayingpositive]

Hi ladies,

I've seen many posts about women who bleed in the first trimester or even throughout their entire pregnancy)...I'm just curious to see how many of you have had spotting/bleeding while pregnant. Is it definitely more common to have spotting after going through IVF?

I have had some spotting throughout my first trimester...even after checking my uterus via u/s, my doctor said it appears that the blood is all flowing through and absorbing itself on screen--yet I sometimes have brownish blood when I wipe. Despite the "normalcy" of this, it's disconcerting every single itme and it makes me want to have another u/s. For those who continue to have some spotting, how do stay calm and not worry? I would love to know so I can start practicing your techniques!

[kblythe]

During my marathon internet searches, I came across the following blog on another IVF site, which is comforting. Here goes:

Okay IVF girls, here's the scoop as I learned it today from the doc himself. Forget the googling, forget the note-taking, forget the comparing. Just read...you'll feel better. Promise.

Many of the following tidbits may apply to "regular" pregnancies as well, but the focus is for IVFers.

1) symptoms waning/fading:

Contrary to several sources on the internet citing that a pregnant woman who suddenly loses symptoms during the first trimester should be very concerned about an impending miscarriage, none of us in fact need be concerned. At the onset of pregnancy when the initial hormone levels begin rising, the body reacts a certain way. As it settles down, feeling better is just that- your body adjusting appropriately and becoming used to the hormones. Throughout a normal pregnancy symptoms will come and go without warning. A healthy body will strive toward homeostasis and it's best that your body feel good - you'll eat and rest more and the fetus reaps the benefits. Symptoms may be reassuring, but they are overrated and pretty much serve just to make a pregnant woman miserable. Your symptoms can be non-existent while your beta is tripling. There is no correlation between the hcg and symptoms. Having symptoms does not make one woman "more pregnant" than another.

2) IVFer symptoms waning: At the onset of your pregnancy, your body was still coping with supernatural amounts of follistim, lupron, fading hcg, rising hcg and copious amounts of progesterone. Many IVF women become sick upon a positive beta, especially if they have some mild hyperstim going on along with it. I was bedridden for 4 days because my body's chemicals were raging. These weren't symptoms of pregnancy; these were symptoms of my body coping with an incredible hormone surge. My hyperstim was too mild to cause the sickness...that was all about ODing on hormones. This, I found out today, is very COMMON. Many women will overreact to the hormones initially, feeling very pregnant at the onset - bloated, nauseous, crampy, etc. When that goes away you're just feeling better. That's it. It doesn't mean you're no longer as pregnant as you were in the beginning.

3) but this isn't like my last pregnancy:

No two are the same, stop comparing, it's fruitless.

4) the hubbub about hcg:

HCG is only important at the first and second beta. The first level should be high enough to suggest viability (my clinic uses over 50) and the second should demonstrate a good increase. There is no magic number which ensures viability and conversely, a 51 should not cause alarm. After that, beta numbers mean little, if anything. Because the range of "normal" is so huge and individual pregnancies create hcg at varying rates throughout the first trimester, they can't (and aren't) relied on for anything but additional data to help assess situations. They serve as a benchmark. Interesting: a dropping beta does not always mean a miscarriage. My RE says he's seen all sorts of crazy hcg levels come in and lots of successful pregnancies come out of levels that other, less experienced reproductive people write off as doomed.

4) Ultrasound benchmarks are just benchmarks. Mother Nature will do things in her own way, in her own good time. Yes, there are limitations and at some point you have to make a determination as to the viability of a pregnancy. But just because someone sees a heartbeat at 5w5d and you don't, that doesn't mean your embie won't show the week after with a solid heartbeat and great measurements. It doesn't mean your embie growth is lagging or "behind." It means it's doing things in its own time and can be just as viable and healthy as the super-embie whose teeth came in at 7w. And, oh yeah - hard as it is, as freaked out as you may be, don't encourage an early ultrasound unless something is really wrong. You'll just do what I did today: push the issue for clarity and instead raise more questions.

5) Spotting:

IVFers SPOT. You should probably expect to spot. A normal IVF pregnancy will spot. This is because the endometrium is so plump and cushy now and then bits of blood and tissue will squeeze out. It's actually, ironically, a good sign - means your endo is one darn happy place for baby. Of course spotting is not always good and should be monitored. But normal pregnancies secret all sorts of colors of fluids at given times and that doesn't mean it's time to call the fat lady from her dressing room. Generally, pink/brown/beige, watery or mucousy - it's all okay, in moderation of course.

There may be more, but my brain is fried. I'll update as I remember. If anyone else has any IVF pregnancy myth-busters to share, please post.

I hope this can help some of you out there.

[evita]

I bled during my 13th week due to low lying placenta...wish i could have read something like what kblythe has posted above (quite informative and assuring) but at the time when you are bleeding it is difficult to believe your own doc and staying calm is really far fetched!! When i bled my doc told me that she had a case (IVF of course) in which the lady bled like a tap at 24 weeks and continued for quite sometime but delivered a healthy baby at term. These cases do give some hope but from my experience a women becomes confident of her pregnancy only after the kicks set in...At least i became more confident...so much so that i went ahead and had a cerclage too!! Though that was another story altogether.

Keeping the faith was the only thing that could sail me through the ordeal. I believe in the higher power and trust him/her!!

[jenedens6102]

I had spotting even as recently as like a month ago. It can be caused by the smallest thing - even a sneeze. I just had to remind myself that spotting is common and as my doctor told me if it isn't red blood that soaks through a pad or accompanied with horrendous cramping I should be good. Transvaginal ultrasounds can cause spotting, sex can cause spotting, coughing and sneezing can cause spotting. I won't say my fears were ever come seeing that brown and old blood or pink tints or even some red blood - but each time I made it through. My OB is wonderful to me and has an open door policy so if I need some reassurance I could go in and listen to the heartbeat. Since about week 16 I have been able to feel the baby move and that definitely helps to calm my nerves knowing that he's ok.

[hannah01]

how to stay calm ... ehh, i have yet to master that one. i had intermittant spotting between weeks 5-8 and know how disconcerting it is. no matter how 'normal' anyone tells you it is, you're going to think the worst. for me, reading about other girls on here who had bleeding and went on to have healthy preganncies, really put me at ease. i would try to take it easy in terms of physical exertion, no bd'ing, that kind of thing. from your description, i think you are going to be just great.

[dream2bmommy]

To be honest i just got physically tired of being worried, so weak from all of this, this days i just sleep through my worries. I start spotting 5days after we found out i was pregnant. I'm 6+ weeks now, and I'm spotting almost every day. Some time its little, most of the times its enough to think its over for me,some times its red, most of the times its dark brown sometimes blackish. I don't have cramps and the fact that most of the time its brown giving me hope that its OK and my baby is fine. Some times i get strong pain in my tummy. But i just can't deal with stress no more. So what i do? I go to ER every time i feel scared for my baby, my clinic is very helpful to me. At my last U/S i saw my baby's heart beat, but because I'm spotting my Dr himself suggested that i could come back in one week for my piece of mind.