First baby IVF, next baby without assistance

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had their first baby through IVF and the next ones without assistance? First baby (now 18 mo) was IVF and ICSI for unexplained infertility. I'm 40 Should I just see my RE again or what?

[Anonymous]

I have 3 friends who all had their first babies with IVF at 38-40 and were pregnant less than 1 year later because they didn't think they needed contraception. 2 of them are physicians...whoopsie.

[Anonymous]

I would just do IVF again, maybe try natural cycle if you ovulate and don't have leftover eggs.

I do have a friend who had three kids via ivf in her 20s and just had a surprise 4th naturally at 40.

[Anonymous]

If I were you, I would have stopped preventing pregnancy after baby was 9 months or so. And just let things go and see if I got pregnant again. Then when we were REALLY ready to move forward with another round of IVF, we would have already had 9 months or so of trying "naturally" to help justify spending all that money again.

At 40, I'd maybe give it a few cycles to see if it happens naturally. But not too many. Do you have eggs/embryos banked? Obviously if you need a full cycle again time is important here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 friends who all had their first babies with IVF at 38-40 and were pregnant less than 1 year later because they didn't think they needed contraception. 2 of them are physicians...whoopsie.

I would assume that many people in this circumstance would be thrilled not to have to go through IVF again, even if the spacing is a little closer than they'd like. So, not really a "whoopsie".

I have a friend with 1 via adoption, and 1 via IVF who was debating whether to restart one or the other process when she found out she was pregnant with her third. Third was a surprise, but certainly not a "whoops".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 friends who all had their first babies with IVF at 38-40 and were pregnant less than 1 year later because they didn't think they needed contraception. 2 of them are physicians...whoopsie.

Yes, me, too, but only two friends and neither is a physician.

[Anonymous]

I know several women who got pregnant without help after conceiving their first through IVF due to unexplained infertility. Seems to happen more often when the diagnosis is unexplained, as opposed to a diagnosis of DOR, MF, PCOS, endometriosis, etc.

At 40, I think I'd try for 3 months, then go back to the RE. You don't want to waste a lot of time, and it may take you a month or two to complete any required testing before cycling again.

FWIW, my DD is an IVF baby. I have PCOS and was anovulatory prior to pregnancy. I've been ovulating regularly (for the first time in my life) in the year since I weaned her. I sometimes wonder if pregnancy doesn't sort of reboot the system, so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Well I didn't do IVF, but I did several rounds of IUI because of unexplained infertility and suspected PCOS. I got pregnant with #2 after 5 months of just not using protection. They will be 20 months apart. Prior to getting pregnant I had ran my hormone levels and they had shifted after my first pregnancy.

We had planned on returning to the RE when DD #1 was 2 years old.

[Anonymous]

I would go into it planning to do IVF again, but in the meantime don't do anything to prevent pregnancy.

After my IVF baby I did miraculously get pregnant (first time in 6 years TTC!) but it ended in a traumatic late miscarriage. We moved forward with treatment after a brief hiatus and are now pregnant again.

[Anonymous]

I have PCOS. We tried for five years naturally- I was in my 20’s and my cycles seemed to be regular. When we had the money to pay for fertility treatments we did 4 cycles of iui- no luck. On our very first cycle of IVF - we successfully transferred one embryo- it split. Our identical girls are 2.5. When those twins were three months - my DH and I had sex once and I ended up pregnant. That baby, also a girl is almost 18 months. It happens more than you think, and my OB warned me to consider birth control. I wrote it off because I literally never saw a bfp until I had IVF. The moral to my story is my body can’t be trusted. I am on birth control now.

[Anonymous]

Nooe. Severr DOR. Three years and 3 ivf’s to get DD. We’ve been trying for 13 cycles and nada again. Goijg back to ivf for number 2

[Anonymous]

Happened to me with same stats for baby 1 but I’m 32. Time is not on your side.

[Anonymous]

Yes, happened to me. I was 37 when I conceived #2 without assistance after IVF for #1.

[Anonymous]

I thought for sure it would happen to me but it never did.

I was 31 for IVF #1, unexplained (clockwork cycles, sperm normal, all testing normal).
Tried for a year for number 2, ended up doing IVF again.
Never used birth control again and basically "tried" naturally for the next 7 years and never got pregnant once despite regular cycles this entire time.

I would give yourself a set time to try naturally--6 months? a year? and then do IVF again if you want another child.
I'm so glad we did IVF for #2 when we did.. because in retrospect a natural pregnancy was never going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with the person that said pregnancy seems to reboot the system (for some people). I know numerous people who did IVF for the first or second time and ended up pregnant naturally the second or third time. Too many too count. Usually happened within a year or two of the last birth. I used ovulation drugs for my first and was pregnant naturally with my second within a month after I stopped breastfeeding.