Are IVF babies always high risk?

[Anonymous]

For those that delivered a baby conceived with IVF did your Dr do any of the following? I'm trying to see how much of this is evidence based and protocol.

1. Early GD testing at 12 weeks, again at 16 and 24 weeks
2. Low dose aspirin 81mg to reduce preeclampsia risk
3. Induction at 37-39 weeks to reduce increased still birth rates going to 40+
4. Echo fetal cardiogram between 20-24 weeks
5. 16 and 20 week anatomy scan

[Anonymous]

How old are you?

[Anonymous]

It can depend on why you did IVF. My first response to your thread title was "no" because I have a close friend who conceived both of her kids via IVF simply because her work covered it and it allowed her to perfectly time her pregnancies. She was under 35, and had no indication of infertility. They only implanted one embryo both times, and both "took."

Her pregnancies were both lower risk than my naturally conceived pregnancy at 37. Of your list, I had to do all but #2 (I actually had to do 3 anatomy scans because of a potential problem detected on the 20 week scan).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that delivered a baby conceived with IVF did your Dr do any of the following? I'm trying to see how much of this is evidence based and protocol.

1. Early GD testing at 12 weeks, again at 16 and 24 weeks
2. Low dose aspirin 81mg to reduce preeclampsia risk
3. Induction at 37-39 weeks to reduce increased still birth rates going to 40+
4. Echo fetal cardiogram between 20-24 weeks
5. 16 and 20 week anatomy scan

The only one of these my clinic had me do was a 20 week scan (I was 36; third baby; PCOS diagnosis) - but if they were encouraging extra screening I think I’d do it, for peace of mind

[Anonymous]

My IVF baby was born when I was 37. I had early screening for GD, but that was due to the fact that I have PCOS, and there's some connection between PCOS and development of GD. No additional screenings or tests solely due to IVF, though.
I have a few friends from an IVF support group who got a fetal echo, but that certainly didn't seem standard across the board (there were 20 of us in the group, and only 4 or 5 were recommended to get the fetal echo.
My IVF pregnancy was NOT considered high risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that delivered a baby conceived with IVF did your Dr do any of the following? I'm trying to see how much of this is evidence based and protocol.

1. Early GD testing at 12 weeks, again at 16 and 24 weeks
2. Low dose aspirin 81mg to reduce preeclampsia risk
3. Induction at 37-39 weeks to reduce increased still birth rates going to 40+
4. Echo fetal cardiogram between 20-24 weeks
5. 16 and 20 week anatomy scan

IVF 10 years ago at age 39 - healthy baby boy

Only had regular scans and I chose genetic testing.

C-section at 39 weeks because he was breach and wouldn't move

[Anonymous]

Are there other health risks? A fetal echo isn't generally done w/o some indicators for it. To my knowledge, IVF does not increase pregnancy risk, but other family medical history could.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that delivered a baby conceived with IVF did your Dr do any of the following? I'm trying to see how much of this is evidence based and protocol.

1. Early GD testing at 12 weeks, again at 16 and 24 weeks
2. Low dose aspirin 81mg to reduce preeclampsia risk
3. Induction at 37-39 weeks to reduce increased still birth rates going to 40+
4. Echo fetal cardiogram between 20-24 weeks
5. 16 and 20 week anatomy scan

I was 35 at my first IVF pregnancy (unexplained infertility). Once I was pregnant, I didn’t get any special treatment except for an offer for a fetal echo cardiogram and an induction at 39 weeks. Since everything looked good, I didn’t get the cardiogram and opted to be induced at 42 weeks but did NSTs for the last two weeks to help with my anxiety of carrying past term. Baby is thriving 18 months later. Based on research, I didn’t feel it necessary for myself to do anything on your list. I also see major problems in the ARRIVE study which a lot of OBGYNs cite when recommending induction at 39 weeks. The 2 extra weeks were really helpful to my baby. Id ask your doctors exactly why the are making the following recommendations and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can depend on why you did IVF. My first response to your thread title was "no" because I have a close friend who conceived both of her kids via IVF simply because her work covered it and it allowed her to perfectly time her pregnancies. She was under 35, and had no indication of infertility. They only implanted one embryo both times, and both "took."

Her pregnancies were both lower risk than my naturally conceived pregnancy at 37. Of your list, I had to do all but #2 (I actually had to do 3 anatomy scans because of a potential problem detected on the 20 week scan).

What? Your friend had ivf with no infertility issues? Wtf?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that delivered a baby conceived with IVF did your Dr do any of the following? I'm trying to see how much of this is evidence based and protocol.

1. Early GD testing at 12 weeks, again at 16 and 24 weeks
2. Low dose aspirin 81mg to reduce preeclampsia risk
3. Induction at 37-39 weeks to reduce increased still birth rates going to 40+
4. Echo fetal cardiogram between 20-24 weeks
5. 16 and 20 week anatomy scan

I had an IVF baby at 39. Did none of the above except 20 week anatomy scan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It can depend on why you did IVF. My first response to your thread title was "no" because I have a close friend who conceived both of her kids via IVF simply because her work covered it and it allowed her to perfectly time her pregnancies. She was under 35, and had no indication of infertility. They only implanted one embryo both times, and both "took."

Her pregnancies were both lower risk than my naturally conceived pregnancy at 37. Of your list, I had to do all but #2 (I actually had to do 3 anatomy scans because of a potential problem detected on the 20 week scan).

What? Your friend had ivf with no infertility issues? Wtf?

+1. Doesn’t sound believable. You can time your pregnancies without IVF. Maybe she did have fertility problems.

[Anonymous]

I delivered with the GW midwives and they are very low intervention- and they told me up front that I would not be allowed to go past 39 weeks. They also said my IVF and my age were 2 strikes for risk and if anything else presented they had to switch me to OB care.

I don’t understand why IVF is automatically a risk once the pregnancy is established, but I appreciated their transparency and honesty about what risks they were willing to take on and which they were not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I delivered with the GW midwives and they are very low intervention- and they told me up front that I would not be allowed to go past 39 weeks. They also said my IVF and my age were 2 strikes for risk and if anything else presented they had to switch me to OB care.

I don’t understand why IVF is automatically a risk once the pregnancy is established, but I appreciated their transparency and honesty about what risks they were willing to take on and which they were not.

40 is full term, why would you not be allowed to go beyond 39?

[Anonymous]

Only #4 fetal echo. We did it, but I have heard from other Drs that newer studies suggest IVF doesn't have an increased risk of heart issues and the rec should be changed.

I was AMA (just turned 35) so had a few other extra appts/tests (none from your list) because of that.

That said, at my OB practice (upper NW), IVF babies are super common so they don't treat it as something that needs an automatic MFM referral etc. They know about the relevant studies and ACOG recs.

[Anonymous]

No, after my first u/s with my RE I transitioned to my OB who didn't have any special treatment for regular IVF pregnancies.