Pregnant: Now what?

Pregnancies following fertility treatment are not the same as pregnancies following spontaneous conceptions. Women who are pregnant following IVF treatment have slightly increased risks of high blood pressure, small or early babies, antepartum haemorrhage ( bleeding during pregnancy) and caesarean section.
It used to be thought that these events were due to the age of the women or to the increased rates of twins. Recent studies however have controlled for these variables and still these increased risks are seen.
So what can we do about this?
Firstly, consider having a frozen embryo replaced, as fresh IVF pregnancies appear to have slightly worse outcomes when compared to frozen embryos. Secondly, choose to have only 1 embryo transferred at a time as twins have much worse outcomes. Even when 1 baby results after 2 embryos have been replaced, then the outcomes are worse compared to when only a single embryo has been replaced. Thirdly, choose a specialist obstetrician to care for women during pregnancy following IVF treatment.
The reasons for the increased perinatal risks are unknown and are probably due to a combination of the effects of stimulation on the endometrium, possibly the lab environment for the embryos along with the impact of infertility. Women who take a long time to conceive but who eventually become pregnant without treatment also have these same increased risks.
There are some groups of women who have some even higher risks, namely those women over 40 along with those women pregnant following donor egg treatment. These women have higher risk of high blood pressure and small babies.
Having said all of this, the vast of majority of women pregnant following fertility treatment have healthy term babies.
Best wishes
Mary Birdsall