Monday, November 24, 2008

How normal is my IVF pregnancy?

So, how 'normal' is my IVF pregnancy? Or how normal do I want it to be? On one hand, I want it to be as normal as possible, not different from any other, naturally conceived, pregnancy. But, on the other hand, I want it to be different... this might be difficult to explain, and I don't mean that I want complications or anything like that. But the other day, when I thought about the upcoming pregnancy & birth preparation sessions that the hospital is organizing for expectant couples, I suddenly had the feeling that I didn't want to be there surrounded by couples who got pregnant 'the easy way', I'd prefer to be in a group with people who'd had infertility treatments before being able to get pregnant. Because those people have been there themselves... and you don't have to be afraid of someone blurting out a remark on how she got pregnant unexpectantly because she forgot to take the pill, or something like that.

Last week I received a letter from the RE lab, asking to let them know the name of my OB and the results of the first u/s (which, btw, I had informed the RE's office about, but apparently the office and the lab don't communicate very well with each other...) and also informing me that they would send me a form, to be filled out by my OB after the delivery, about my pregnancy, so they would have that info for their statistics. A normal procedure and a sign that my IVF pregnancy will never be completely 'normal' - which is fine by me, because that's how I experience it anyway.

But... they also mentioned I would be contacted by an organization they work with, "which will propose to monitor your child for a longer period of time". WTF? When I read that, a sudden vision came to me of my child wearing a t-shirt saying "I'm an IVF baby". Everywhere you read that 'children born as a result of IVF are no different that other children', so why this follow-up and how long is a 'longer period of time'? A few months, a few years? I tried to find some information about this organization online, but of course there's nothing - welcome to France, this country is so offline, it's unbelievable (more on that in a future post). So I'll have to wait until I get the call/letter to find out what it is all about...

No comments: