Pregnancy following "fertility treatment"

Are you pregnant following an "fertility treatment"? If so, you must, naturally, be ecstatic! Regardless of whether a pregnancy has occurred after an IVF treatment, after ICSI or even after insemination – for the patients of our fertility clinic, the hope and the wait following the fertility treatment turned out to have been worthwhile. Now you can concentrate fully on your pregnancy. Maybe you can even feel the first signs of pregnancy already?

The pregnancy begins

In the hours and days following the positive news about the pregnancy, many couples wanting to have children are simply full of joy (and anticipation). Although, of course, they know that many things can happen before the birth.

That's why it is now all the more important for women to look after themselves and their bodies. After successful embryo transfer and subsequent pregnancy, you should therefore avoid stress and other physical strain so as not to impair the success of the artificial insemination. Many couples wanting children, for example, report that in the first weeks of the long-awaited pregnancy, they are always accompanied by the fear that a miscarriage could occur.

After all, couples wanting children and, of course, the woman and the unborn child, especially, still have a lot ahead of them. Before pregnancy is fully confirmed:

• the hCG value must be stable when taking blood.

• one (or two) amniotic sac(s) should be able to be detected at the start of week 5.

• the embryo must have a recognisable heart beat at the end ofweek 6 or at the start of week 7.

Once pregnancy is confirmed: from the Fertility Clinic to the Gynecologist.

As soon as the blood values are stable, for patients of our fertility clinic, it is back to their registered gynaecologist. The pregnancy is now confirmed and can be further monitored by the attending gynaecologist.

Ultrasound examinations in the first weeks of pregnancy

If fertility treatment using IVF or ICSI is successful, many women subsequently take care to undergo very close ultrasound monitoring at their gynaecologist.  After the first ultrasound examination performed to determine the pregnancy (in the fertility clinic or at the woman's gynaecologist), many fertility patients also take advantage of the so-called first trimester screening examination at a prenatal physician.

Miscarriage following fertility treatment

About 20% of all IVF and ICSI pregnancies end up in an early miscarriage. The reason for this, time and again, is that in this phase of pregnancy, the embryo does not fully implant in the uterus and/or cannot develop a heart beat.

This means, of course, that for an embryo with a detectable heart beat, the risk of a possible miscarriage decreases significantly. But, understandably, many couples desiring to have children still fear that something could happen. This feeling often persists after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Nutrition in pregnancy

Particular emphasis should be placed on a healthy diet throughout pregnancy. The need for some vitamins, minerals and trace elements changes during pregnancy. Many habits can be continued as before, however (possibly with minor changes); for example, sport is not a problem if you do not overtax yourself and switch to gentler sporting activities. You can find even more tips on this topic under Healthy Lifestyle.