Anyone having preterm labor with singleton after IVF

[JAHoping]

Hi all,

Just curious if any of you have ended up with preterm labor or delivering preterm (before 37 weeks) after becoming pregnant with a singleton through IVF? If so, could you tell me the circumstances? Have you have serial cervical measurements done via transvaginal ultrasound that showed cervical shortening and/or funneling? If so, how short was your cervix and how many weeks were you? Were you contracting as well? What did your provider do to try and stop your labor? How successful were these measures?

I'm currently 30 weeks with a short cervix with funneling and have been having contractions - my OB is concerned i'll end up delivering early. I read online that research has shown that an IVF pregnancy with a singleton has been found to be more at risk for preterm delivery than a spontaneously conceived one- they think due to the super-ovulation associated with IVF. I hadn't heard of this before now and my RE never mentioned it to me- so I'm just wondering how common this really is.

Thanks for any stories/responses!

[LYD10]

Sorry, I don't know the stats. But has you re thought about putting a cervical stitch in?

[JAHoping]

Sorry, I don't know the stats. But has you re thought about putting a cervical stitch in?

Thanks for your reply. No, my OB said it was too late for a cerclage at this point. I'm not looking for stats per se- just people's personal experiences.

The American Pregnancy Association and March of Dimes both list "Being Pregnant with a single fetus after in vitro fertilization (IVF)" as a medical risk factor for preterm birth and various studies have shown up to twice the risk of having a preterm birth than with a spontaneous pregnancy:

"Increased risk of preterm birth in singleton pregnancies resulting from in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer or gamete intrafallopian transfer: A meta-analysis"
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 820402326X

Just in case anyone was interested in the reading some of the research...

[klinger13]

Hi JAHoping - I had preterm labor at 33w5d and spent a couple of days in L&D before they sent me home. I don't think it had much to do with the fact that it was an IVF pregnancy but more so because I barely have any cervix due to a number of surgeries on it over the year. I had a transabdominal cerclage (TAC) placed at 12w4d so there was no risk of dilating when I had the preterm labor but they did want to stop the contractions so they wouldn't have to deliver my daughter early. They started me on Procardia every 6 hours (which I took for 5 weeks until I had my c-section at 38w5d) and that did seem to help lessen the contractions. And they also gave me 2 steroid injections, 24 hours apart, during that hospital stay to help mature the baby's lungs in case she did have to be delivered early. When I left the hospital, I didn't require bed rest I took it easy anyways, just in case. As for measuring my cervical length, prior to my TAC it was between 1.5 and 1.85cm so it was ridiculously short to begin with. Once I had my TAC placed they no longer needed to measure it.

Good luck and take it easy!

[JAHoping]

Hi JAHoping - I had preterm labor at 33w5d and spent a couple of days in L&D before they sent me home. I don't think it had much to do with the fact that it was an IVF pregnancy but more so because I barely have any cervix due to a number of surgeries on it over the year. I had a transabdominal cerclage (TAC) placed at 12w4d so there was no risk of dilating when I had the preterm labor but they did want to stop the contractions so they wouldn't have to deliver my daughter early. They started me on Procardia every 6 hours (which I took for 5 weeks until I had my c-section at 38w5d) and that did seem to help lessen the contractions. And they also gave me 2 steroid injections, 24 hours apart, during that hospital stay to help mature the baby's lungs in case she did have to be delivered early. When I left the hospital, I didn't require bed rest I took it easy anyways, just in case. As for measuring my cervical length, prior to my TAC it was between 1.5 and 1.85cm so it was ridiculously short to begin with. Once I had my TAC placed they no longer needed to measure it.

Good luck and take it easy!

Thanks for your reply! I'm definitely taking it easy at this point!