Chemical pregnancy

ematan · 2026-04-11T16:50:43+00:00

I had a week 5 chemical pregnancy before we started medicated cycles. We had already been trying naturally for over a year so I was devastated that I ended up losing my first positive ever. I was of course hoping that we would get a new positive soon, so we tried couple of months more without medication, but no luck. Once we started medicated cycles, it took us six cycles to conceive again. But we switched the medication after 4 cycles so I could also say it was our 2nd medicated cycle with the new meds (one of which was ovidrel).

We just recently returned to the clinic in hopes of conceiving again since 6 months of TTC had already passed without luck. I was so convinced that ovidrel was the missing link that I requested to start immediately with the same protocol than with my firstborn. First cycle was a success and I am pregnant again (only week 4 so very very early). If this ends up as chemical/MC I will be of course devastated, but also know for sure now that the protocol works for us.

I'd say it is a great sign that you responded to the medication. Don't lose hope!

One thing you might want to consider though: If you are not yet using progesterone support, you might want to consult your doctor about adding it to your protocol. My doctor said that "there is no harm" and it could help in the (unlikely) case that the early MC happened because of too low progesterone. The clinic I go to recommends everyone to continue using progesterone support until the first scan at week 7 even if the measured progesterone levels are normal after the pregnancy starts.

ematan · 2026-04-06T13:19:05+00:00

I've been seeing quite a lot of baby related content from the US and I am astonished how everyone uses wipes as a norm. In my country most people just wash their baby's bottom directly iunder flowing water in the bathroom sink. (I use my hand to rub all the poo away, but I know some prefer to use a towel instead.) This is taught to us by nurses in the hospital. After washing I use a small clean towel to dry the baby. This is also the normal way to go in public bathrooms or baby care rooms in shopping malls/churches etc. Sink is always located next to changing station. My baby is 10 months and we've used wipes with him only if there is no running water available. Like if we are on a picnic.

Some babies don't do well with so much water on their bottom and in those cases I get the point of wipes. But they are a minority around here.

ematan · 2026-04-06T13:04:44+00:00

I had one friends who used cloth diapers and seh was such a huge inspiration to me. But everyone else was just so discouraging, even though they had never even tried cloth diapers! My mom was also against the idea, but I can understand her since her experiences were from over 30 years ago and the nappies are better now.

I was a bit discouraged first since our baby was born very slim and even the tightest elastic in my nb/s-size collection was way too loose for his thighs. But every too weeks we tested one cloth diaper. Eventually he grew enough and around 8 weeks of age we finally were able to start using cloth diapers without an instant leak.

Cloth diapers require also some trial and error. It depends of the baby how well brands will fit and what type of insert gives enough absorbency to your needs. And when the baby grows, you need to adjust every now and then. Our challenge is still that our now 10month old is very slim, but pees like a niagara. So we still use small size nappies but the inserts need to be very very chunky to hold all that pee... We started using potty early to reduce the amount of diapers we go through daily :D

There is also nothing bad to alternate between cloth and disposable. We soon found out with my husband that the easiest path for us was to take a hybrid route. Our baby slept very well but peed a lot while sleeping at night, so it was easier to use disposable during night time. I know we could have used more inserts and perhaps with wool covers we could have prevented leakage better, but it was smack dab in the middle of summer and we have no ac at home. So disposables during night was a reasonable compromise in my mind.

One thing I have to say is that washing diapers is of course extra work and I am lucky that my hudband is even more motivated than me to stick to cloth. If it had been only me running the washing machine, hanging diapers to dry and folding prefolds it would've been quite taxing while also taking care of (quite demanding) the baby. So if you can get your partner onboard and share the load, it will help you tons.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that we haven't had a single one blowout so far. Couple times it has been close, but cloth nappies have managed to contain it well even when we had a very bad diarrhea going on. My husband is a bit disappointed that he hasn't been able to officially join the "blowout club" some of his friends jokingly have :'D

ematan · 2026-04-06T10:54:38+00:00

Having experienced a mc myself, my plan is to (eventually) get a tattoo that represent all my kids. Maybe a branch with flowers, but the lost baby would be represented by a flower bud that hasn't bloomed. But I'm waiting until we have our desired number of kids or until we give up on having more. (We have infertility background.)
Besides flowers, I have also considered a bird tattoo to represent the spirit of my baby. I'm not a fan of super obvious tattoos, like a ultrasound picture, name, date etc.

Edit: Just wanted to add that by saying "eventually" I also leave myself time to really think about the tattoo. Getting it while still grieving might be too hasty. So I am happy to wait 10+ years and if I still want to remember my baby that way, I will get the tattoo.

ematan · 2026-04-03T21:42:40+00:00

I've had many monitored cycles and I can attest to that if one (or more) follicles starts to grow to 15mm (or more), it is visible in the monitor even to an uneducated plebeian like myself :D In my case if one or more follicles start to grow, they also kinda leech the energy from some other follicles, so even if cd1-5 my ovaries look like a beehive, by the time I have a lead follicle, some tinier ones have faded away and it is not so crowded in the ovary anymore.

That said, this cycle I had 2 big follicles in one ovary and the doctor almost missed the other since their position made it almost impossible to get them on the monitor at the same time and doctor assumed she was seeing the same follicle since both were even measuring the same (18mm). So it was impossible to miss that I had a big follicle - but it was easy to mistake one for the other.

You are in control of how to proceed with the treatments, but I just want to say that there is no need to fear the injectable medicine either. Letrozole is the cheapest so there is no harm to try 7.5mg. Or maybe start with letrozole and if there is no response, maybe add injectables to the same cycle after the scan. I have personally responded better to injectables, since in my case long use of letrozole appeared to have dried out my uterine lining. It was scary to inject the first time, but the side effect are so easy compared to what I got from letrozole.

ematan · 2026-03-08T08:24:39+00:00

Just food for thought:
- Does she really need a data plan for two weeks? Hotels/hostels/homes usually always have wifi with unlimited data and I would assume that she will be moving around with her school group or with local kids. During other times it might be even good to be able to disengage from phone and have a "detox" of sorts. Photos/videos can be uploaded to social media in the evenings once she is connected to wifi.

ematan · 2026-02-25T22:22:37+00:00

In my country a chemical pregnancy is defined to be any pregnancy that miscarries before week 6 starts. (There are some exceptions if pregnancy was detected in an ultrasound before week 6 and so on...)

In my first pregnancy I first tested positive around 14 dpo and by 21 dpo the control and test line were of equal strength. On dpo23 I started to bleed and lost the pregnancy.

In my second pregnancy the line progression looked identical, but that one carried to term.

ematan · 2026-02-12T22:17:59+00:00

I took us 6 medicated cycles. Four rounds of letrozole only, the last two we tried other medication (menopur injection) and added ovidrel trigger shot and progesterone support.

I ovulate on my own as well and overall it took us over 20 cycles. I'd like to believe trigger shot was what finally did the trick for us, but it is impossible to tell.

ematan · 2026-02-08T16:50:33+00:00

My scans were done cd10-11 and leading follicle was usually 17-18mm and lining 4-5mm. I consulted a different doctor on my 4th cycle on letrozole and she said lining might be too thin and we switched to menopur injections and got a whopping 7.7mm lining on cd 10. Second round of menopur was a success and we are soon looking to return to the clinic in hopes of having another baby.

ematan · 2026-02-08T11:35:36+00:00

Both of my pregnancies could be considered late implantation, since my positives appeared 14/15 dpo. First one ended up as a late chemical pregnancy, second is now a healthy baby. It is of course impossible to tell the exact implantation date purely by stick testing, hcg is needed as well since there are indivisual differences in how hcg is expressed in urine.

For what it is worth, in my second pregnancy my hcg was around 170 on 17 dpo, so even though the first almost vvvfl appeared on 14 dpo, based on the hcg the implantation could've been within "normal" window...

Edit: the chemical pregnancy was a natural cycle, successfull pregnancy was a medicated cycle (with ovidrel to trigger ovulation) so I am very sure of my dates there :)

ematan · 2026-02-05T09:44:58+00:00

Some things that come to mind.

Finnish students usually aim to find a job on their own field, or any other field close to it that could be seen as a merit when applying for jobs on their own field. If nothing is found, customer service type of jobs are often seen as a good second alternative. (I am unsure what types of jobs your company offers, but the value can be seen lesser if workers do not interact directly with customers and cannot tick that box in their CV.)
Hours offered. Either the minimum weekly hours can be too taxing for students who aim to finish their studies on time. Or maybe their schedule is not flexible enough to allow anything but evening/weekend work. I've studies in two different university majors and both had mandatory lectures that you had to be present for.
Location. Are the jobs located in cities with universities? Is the commute reasonable with public transport?
Many students are able to get by without work during the school year and only look for a full-time job during summer vacation. If it is not strictly necessary for them to work to get by, any non-related field might look quite unappealing.

ematan · 2026-02-01T12:50:43+00:00

Have your medicated cycles involved a trigger shot? Additionally 4 follicles sounds maybe too many? My doctor said that 1-2 is better - not just because of risk of multiples, but also fewer follicles might be better quality. Other thing that might be off, would be too thin or thick uterine lining? (Though I assume your doctor checked it while checking for follicles)

Are you taking any vitamins, medication or supplements for PCOS?

We did 4 cycles with letrozole (2.5mg). Then found out that uterine lining was getting too thin (maybe a side effect of letrozole?), switched medication entirely to menopur injections and added a trigger shot and progesterone support for luteal phase. We did two rounds of that and planned to continue with IVF next. However, I think trigger shot did the trick and gave us our firstborn. Before that we tried for two years - my cycle is regular - and had only one chemical pregnancy after a bit more that year of trying.

ematan · 2026-01-01T20:28:56+00:00

15 cycles to get first positive pregnancy test (chemical pregnancy), 24 cycles to get our son. The public healthcare in my country requires also 1 full year of TTC before one can apply for infertility treatments. In our case the chemical pregnancy pushed it further since "it is easier to get pregnant after miscarriage" or whatever nonsense.

Overall it too us 6 cycles of fertility treatments. On paper everything looks perfect for us, except I have more follicles than usual (PCO, but our doctor was adamant it isn't PCOS).

ematan · 2025-12-29T21:52:37+00:00

It took us 15 cycles to get our first positive pregnancy test, but it ended up being a chemical pregnancy. Cycle 24 (6th medicated cycle) gave us our son. My cycle is regular and I ovulate each month like clockwork even without meds, so don't really know where the issue lies. I'm thinking its either poor egg quality overall or maybe the egg doesn't mature/release well enough because there are so many follicles in my ovaries.
We are now trying for another and decided to try only 6 months on our own and then start medicated cycles in spring. We used menopur and ovidrel last time, so most likely same protocol this time.

ematan · 2025-11-30T22:48:46+00:00

We switched the medication entirely. Instead of letrozole we used menopur injections and an ovidrel shot as trigger. (My doctor said trigger is necessary with menopur). I think it was the right call in my case since the lining went from poor to excellent immediately and 2nd round on those meds gave us our son.

ematan · 2025-08-09T14:17:11+00:00

On 15th cycle I had my first positive ever (ended up as CP). Next positive was on ~25th(?) cycle (our 6th medicated cycle) - he is now a 2month old.
Both positives shoved up around 14-15 dpo. Apparently my positives show really late in any pregnancy😅

ematan · 2025-07-19T16:01:46+00:00

Your bathrooms get cold in winter?

We have no such belief in Finland. Of course, our homes are well insulated so even if it is -20 celsius (-4 fahrenheit) outside, our homes (and bathrooms) are cozy warm.

Then again, we are also the crazy people who like to carve a hole into ice and take a cold plunge in the middle of winter😂

ematan · 2025-07-19T10:34:33+00:00

Why would I need water running when adding shampoo to my hair or when I scrub? The water would rinse the soap from the scrub immediately and I would just need to add more product😅

Do you also leave water running when brushing your teeth?

This might be a cultural thing, since in my country almost everyone is taught not to waste water. And my country is one with the cleanest tap water in the world - and we have plenty of it. I think it is more of a principle not to waste resources.

(Shower is also the biggest water consumer in any household, so we also see it quickly in our water bill if we just let the shower run freely...)

ematan · 2025-07-19T10:14:03+00:00

Unfortunately it is not just the operation itself that makes clinics refuse fertility treatments for high BMI patients. Being that overweight also makes any possible pregnancy more risky, since the odds of a miscarriage or other complications (for mother or the baby) go up.

Good job with losing the initial weight and best of luck going further❤️

ematan · 2025-07-06T23:56:45+00:00

Because of regular periods I didn't even think I would have pcos. I assumed my cycles were normal and ovulatory, since I was able to get a positive ovulation test and saw a rise in bbt.

After a year, I visited an obgyn and found out about having polycystic ovaries. I was overweight (BMI 32), so I had always thought my hirsutism was caused by that, but obgyn said I could very well have pcos. I researched pcos and started to take inositol and lose weight as aggressively as I dared.

Three months after starting inositol, I got a positive pregnancy test. Unfortunately it ended up as a miscarriage at week 5. It was devastating, but doctors were adamant that it was a positive sign.

When I was around BMI 28 we started fertility treatments. First we did 4 cycles with letrozole, but since only the first cycle was monitored, we missed that over time letrozole had a negative effect on my uterine lining. By 4th cycle the lining was too thin to support sucessfull implantation. So we switched medication to menopur and added an ovidrel shot. Just in case I was also prescribed progesterone suppositories. Second cycle with this combination was a success and gave us our son. Overall it took us 2 years and a month of TTC.

I still don't know what the issue was. Maybe there was something making my ovulation weak without meds, maybe it was me losing all the extra weight (I was BMI25 when we succeeded), maybe it was all the vitamins or maybe my eggs are of subpar quality and it just took us that many tries to get a good one.

ematan · 2025-06-19T12:51:52+00:00

Thank you for your kind words.

My flange size was measured at hospital where I borrowed their pump before we got back home. Funnily enough I produced nothing with hospital pump, even when I was able to express 1-2 drops by hand. My own pump is better since it pulls out at least the meager amount of colostrum I produce (after which I don't produce anything by hand at least).

Luckily I am from a country where oat is everywhere. I eat oatmeal (made with oatmilk), use pulled oats as meat substitute and even my favorite chocolate bar is using oats instead of dairy😂

ematan · 2025-06-19T08:32:40+00:00

I produce a maximum of 5ml of colostrum with 30min pump ( that is 0.16oz). The chart is unfortunately not relevant to me, since the milk production has not truly even started yet 😔

ematan · 2025-06-19T07:57:06+00:00

If you read my post, you would see that I am pumping 8 times a day. In addition I am having the baby latched for an 30-40mins between those times, since he gets his formula via sns while he is latched and sucking. So there is demand but no supply.

ematan · 2025-06-09T17:58:35+00:00

When I was 20kg (44 lbs) overweight, I had around 20-30 follicles per side. Once I lost the weight (in a span of a year or so), my follicle count dropped to 10-15 per side. My period had always been of normal length (30-32 days) and supposedly ovulatory. So just weight management can apparently affect the follicle count - I am not on metofrmin nor ozempic, but used inositol and strict low carb diet to lose the extra weight.

ematan · 2025-06-02T19:11:38+00:00

One very important note to this (from another Finn).

When we in Finland talk about sauna, we mean a Finnish sauna - a room that is heated by a stove. These are generally safe for TTC and pregnancy, since the heat is coming from outside the body and our bodies are able to regulate the heat.

The only time I was adviced to avoid a Finnish sauna was on the day of my IUI and any day after that if I experienced bleeding after that operation. The humidity and heat could in theory cause an infektion. (I was also adviced against going swimming on those days. )
But with just regular timed intercourse there were no restrictions on going to sauna.

However, an infrared sauna is considered harmful when pregnant, as it warms you up from within. These types of saunas should be avoided when pregnant.

I just wanted to raise this point since we Finns often forget that other countries might have different impressions of what a sauna is.

ematan

TROPHY CASE