One of the things I wanted todo with the blog, is educate and inform about the information of things that are happening and what someone going through IVF will go through. A lot of people understand a little bit about the science but so many people comment on how much more that they’ve learnt so far.
A chemical pregnancy (sometimes called biochemical pregnancy) is a very early pregnancy loss which usually happens just after the embryo implants (before or around 5 weeks). It is believed that chemical pregnancies happen because of chromosomal problems with the developing baby.
I heard a lot about chemical pregnancies in the IVF groups from people commenting that they had a chemical. So I roughly knew about them, but I’ve obviously learnt from my own.
During the TWW I had a whole host of symptoms. Nausea was knocking me off my feet, I was sleeping during the day, every day, and my boobs were so sore. I could smell cucumber a mile off and my normal cheese tasted too cheesy. Someone joked with me that if I wasn’t pregnant I was obviously just a drama queen.
I held out for test day purely because I have really bad line eyes. I tested with four different tests and as soon as the digital one said not pregnant I kind of dismissed the others within the timeframe. It was only when I came back to take my “it’s negative photo” that I actually realised there was a really faint line. I got some of the girls in the IVF chat group I’m in to look and they were like this definitely a line. It wasn’t a strong one and I would have thought by then it would have been. After all I already thought it was negative.
Different tests have a different sensitivity summer 10 ui some are 20 ui of hCG the test of the hospital gave me is a 10ui. The digital “not pregnant” is a 20 ui.
I called the clinic and I spoke to a nurse I told her that I’ve got a really faint positive on two but also a negative on another. She suggested it could be a chemical pregnancy to continue the progesterone and to retest in 3 days which is standard protocol if it’s a potential negative or not strong positive.
I ordered more tests same day delivery off Amazon and then I tested the next with a little faint line but fainter than OTD. Next day again and even fainter line and by retest day it was completely negative.
I know that my symptoms were not all in my head and not because I’m a drama queen. I did have hCG in my system which means I was pregnant. I was the most pregnant I’ve ever been.
People keep asking me how I feel and I’m not sure how I should feel. I’ve not felt that IVF has been is massive roller coaster of emotions that I was expecting I’ve just got on with it and I’m not sure how I should feel about this chemical pregnancy.
Everyone keeps telling me there’s no right or wrong way to feel. I’m just not sure how I should feel I shouldn’t feel and it’s a bit weird.
Some people process a chemical pregnancy as what it is, a very early miscarraige. Some people don’t as they don’t see it as a miscarraige. Everyone keeps telling me there’s no right or wrong way to feel. I felt guilty for not treating it as a “loss” when other people would. But I think its due to working with the baby loss community that I see different losses, so I didn’t see my loss the “same” as theres. And I know that sounds silly cos the baby loss community treats every loss as a loss.
My bleed was the same as a normal period in length, I had some clots but overall it was a lot lighter than usual, which really surprised me – but it was about 3 times more painful than it is normally! It was definately a weekend spent with a hotwater bottle, on the sofa, eating and watching crap!
A Chemical pregnancy bleed can be heavier, or lighter, than normal, and most people will have some stomach cramps, or even some clots.
Because the loss happens so “early” a lot of people may have a Chemical Pregnancy and not actually know that they’ve had one.
In fact, experts actually believe this very early pregnancy loss may account for up to 70 percent of all conceptions – elsewhere i’ve seen the figure of 30-50% of people will have a chemical pregnancy.
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