I had my little girl on the 30th of January 2019 whilst still breastfeeding my little boy who was 2.5yrs old at the end of February. I lived in the UK for nearly 8.5 years and my son was born via IVF in August 2016. I moved back home to Australia in June 2017 with my English husband and son and our one remaining frozen embryo was left in the UK. When we had IVF, my eggs had been harvested at one hospital (my local one) and put with sperm at another hospital (as the first hospital could only harvest eggs at the time) and we also transferred at this hospital. We wanted to do a frozen embryo transfer before moving back to Australia, and had been told at the first hospital to stop breastfeeding, but my son was too young at that point anyway. We moved back to Australia and still kept our embryo in storage. We looked at transferring our embryo from the UK hospital to Australia even though is expensive. In the end we got a referral to a local fertility clinic and they told me it was better to do our frozen embryo transfer in the UK due to transfer costs etc. The timings were perfect as we were about to go to the UK in May 2018, so we started our protocol for a medicated frozen embryo transfer so the transfer could be controlled easier due to travelling overseas. I started by taking progynova (estradiol valerate) on the second day of my period. I had a scan to check the lining of my uterus before we travelled, and started the endometrin pesaaries (progesterone) on the flight over (we controlled the timing to make sure the tablets were taken at the correct time due to time zone changes). In the UK, my bloods were taken and consent forms were signed on the 21st May, then the frozen embryo transfer went ahead on the 23rd of May. I did not tell the clinic I was still breastfeeding. My supply dipped a bit but didn't go completely. I had no pain and my little boy still nursed and was nursing after she was born. He went through a period of not wanting to nurse when our little girl was 6 weeks old, but is still going now at 18 weeks. My milk came back 100% but it took awhile as I had a post partum haemarrage at home when she was six days old so had to have another trip to hospital, including going to theatre and staying in hospital. All went well and we came home and had some relaxing days as much as possible; i'm very glad my husband had some leave. Thank you for the support to keep breastfeeding whilst doing the frozen embryo transfer. I have found this page and the people in it very helpful for sure. Written by Sarah Edited by Ali
3 Comments
Kay
17/7/2019 05:39:47 pm
Your story gives me so much hope my husband and I just left the fertility clinic wanting to do a frozen embryo transfer in August. I am currently still nursing my 22 month old and was told I would have to wean before the transfer. I'm doing a natural cycle so I wouldn't have to take any shots, or any other medication other than the estrogen and progesterone. I asked the doctor if that was really necessary and told him my intention West to Tandem nurse. He stated when you get pregnant naturally the body makes those hormones and taking them externally was different. After we left the clinic I immediately got online to see if a large amount of the hormones we're actually transferred through breast milk. Every site that I came across said no. I just could not believe that every mom that has done IVF and was breastfeeding had to stop breastfeeding their child to have another one. And then I found your story. I'm feeling so much better about going forward and not having to wean. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
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Jane Podolsky
8/1/2020 05:38:35 pm
I know this post is several months old, but I'm so curious how your natural cycle went! I am in the same situation (doing a natural cycle and still breastfeeding by 22 month old). The docs originally told me I needed to stop breastfeeding before starting the cycle but when my bloodwork came back, all of my hormones were within normal ranges to start treatment so I just avoided talking about it with them after that. Did yours work? I've had such a hard time finding other women who've done the natural cycle, so I'm very curious to hear about yours!
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Ali
8/1/2020 05:45:15 pm
Hi Jane, Leave a Reply. |
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