IVF after PPP?

[EquineBeauty]

Hi all! Husband and I are trying for baby#2. However I’m in my 40s & if it doesn’t pan out naturally we might try IVF. I froze my eggs when I was 35, so hopefully one way or another we can have another child and a sibling for my daughter. I already “have the eggs” extracted so it wouldn’t be necessary to pump myself full of hormones to do this however a fertilized embryo still needs to be inserted. When they do the embryo transfer the docs said they will still need to give me some supplemental estrogen (for uterine lining to grow) and progesterone for the first trimester. Apparently the placenta takes over and makes progesterone in the second trimester but in that first trimester - if your pregnancy isn’t natural the body doesn’t know to make enough estrogen and progesterone to keep the pregnancy. She said that the amount of the hormones is small - the same that the body wound naturally produce. So they will be either oral or injections of progesterone and estrogen.

This of course still makes me a little nervous because as we know hormones are likely what causes PPP, at least partially. But may be it’s more the hormone drop postpartum rather than hormones increasing? I don’t know… of course I will be discussing all of this in detail with my psychiatrist, OBGYN as well as the fertility specialists and get the exact amounts of hormones, etc.

But I was just wondering - has anyone gone through this (IVF) after PP? Or did you have a second child naturally but had to be on supplemental progesterone to keep the pregnancy? Or did you ever take birth control after PP? How did those hormone fluctuations affect you if any?

Any insight will be helpful! Thank you ladies. 🙏🏻

[Rachel_at_APP Partner APP]

Good morning EquineBeauty,

Thank you for sharing this question with everyone, it’s certainly a very insightful thing to ask and one that I don’t recall being asked before so thank you for sharing your situation with us.

I’m afraid I don’t specifically know the answer unfortunately. But as you’ve said, the best thing to do is to share your history with your health professionals and ask for their insight and experience. Of course an IVF specialist isn’t necessarily going to know the answer about the hormones and therefore risk of PP or a relapse in pregnancy or early conception, so I would ask if they can consult with another specialist doctor / psychiatrist so they can work together to support you.

Hopefully someone else may have some insight to share based on their own experience. Take care, Rachel

[EquineBeauty in reply to Rachel_at_APP]

Thank you! That’s a good idea - the psychiatrist and the IVF specialist can work together if we have to go this route.