TTC/ pregnancy on Prednisolone or similar part 2

[Arianrhod]

Starting up part 2 of this thread since the old one closed at 1000 posts!

iggi lots of luck for today, hope it's nothing - I know it doesn't help but I know lots of women have spotting and/or bleeding in pregnancy and it still goes ok. Definitely call the EPU, get scanned - it's worth it, honestly, at least you will know one way or another. Virtual hugs coming your way.

free I also started AF properly this morning, so looks like we may be both importuning a friendly witch for a good fertility spell on Hallowe'en? I know exactly what you mean about the scary stuff ... a small part of me was actually sort of relieved when I didn't get a BFP purely because it means I don't have to go through the whole worrying about miscarrying all over again. Bizarre, but there it is.

Lmfao at Iggi - thanks for sharing!!

Good one Stogan, sod 'em! You've got something way more important to look forward to.

I've always got something bad skin wise, usually there's a few little spots round my jaw line but this month I've had a bit of a breakout on my forehead. And shoulders. Good to know its not likely to improve when pg!

When I was pg before finding out about my NKCs and Pred (all 3 times) I got little patches of dry flaky skin in my eye sockets just under the inner end of my eyebrows. Anyone beat that for weirdness?

Feeling really weird and run down today. Felt quite icky briefly first thing after having a drink of water. Af still here but yesterday morning was the only heavy period (no pun intended!). Paranoid about false negatives so I'm now letting some strength build up before I poas just to set my mind at rest.

Why isn't there a symptom that's definitely one thing or another?! Why is bleeding possible while pg?! I don't mind putting myself through some meds and stress to do all I can to have a baby but the headfuck is a real pain sometimes. :(

Scan went well! Baby kept putting it's hands in front of it's face when the sonographer attempted to check for cleft lip (thanks for the reminder stogan). Another sigh of relief.

Stogan did you get a scan at your 16 week appt with Mr S? I have mine in two weeks - and just wondered if I'd get another peek. Well done on sorting out your ML already.

free The hydroxy sounds like a proper 'diet aid'! Wonder if models and c-list celebs have discovered it yet? A pred thread dinner party sounds like a fab idea: Prune juice for the preggos and man juice for the ttc'ers. Chip butties for those on pred and hydroxy laced brownies for those in between pred cycles trying to lose weight. Bring your own vests.

Hi, slightly disappointing not to be joining the woolly-socked, crop-topped, halloween ttc fun-bus this month....but find myself tentatively checking in to report a BFP.... aaaaaah!

free seems you were right about the symptoms... I was fairly sure by the time I took the test this morning, but there was always the possibility the pred was responsible for feeling so weird, so I didn't believe it til I saw it (and bought a test with WORDS this time so I couldn't argue with the answer!)

I guess I start cyclogest tonight then? Any advice for the very early pg on pred gratefully received, convinced I am going to forget some important part of the plan!

ari I am the worst in the world for symptom-checking so sympathise. I have been in the not-knowing-either-way limbo for two weeks now and its no fun at all. Its weird that the different signs are not ALL good or ALL bad, I have had cramping since the beginning with this one (always previously BAD for me) so I have had to believe its just stuff shifting around and good things going on because otherwise I would feel doomed from the outset. I hope you get your answer soon, I got two false negatives earlier this week, one on day 25 (which is usually the last day of my cycle) so I guess I just jumped the gun.

Anyway, in homage to the happy sunshine outside I have adopted new positive mental mantra.... 'Baby Five will Survive!' its quite catchy and I hope I can stick with it :)

stogan, comedy, coconut, iggi - so pleased to hear that scans have gone well. Great news. I don't know when I'll get my first scan (5 weeks is it?) but I know these early days are going to prove such a sloooow and agonising wait! Couldn't we all just get into a speedy-uppy time machine thing just to move the weeks along a bit?

Hope all out enjoying the sun today :-) and ps digi SO want to eat at your house....impressive skills!

Digi crossed posts with you. Fabulous news about the scan :)

Congratulations to both Digi and to you Scooter - great news!
Re meds I don't think there is anything else - I had to go to 40 but assuming you're staying at 25? In which case just the lovely nighttime ritual of cyclogest insertion. I was told Mr Shehata would like to see me every two weeks between six and twelve but not sure what from then on? I tried to cut the cost a bit and went to EPU at seven weeks and then saw him at eight and will go again at ten. It seems from chatting to him last week that this is the biggie and will be a big landmark.
Time does seem to be dragging and I hate wishing my life away but do wish I could travel forward a month or so. I'm feeling sick and having pregnancy symptoms but then I think the cyclogest can cause that too - I need a permanent video link up to bean - a bit of womb CCTV would do the trick!!

Hello, I so want to come to Digi's dinner party!
Congrats and good luck, Scooter!
Spent the afternoon with my MIL so had to stop all the tummy rubbing I seem to do at the mo. Thanks for advice re scans and midwives. When I add in the S visits I more or less have a scan every two weeks, but no thanks to the EPU. I got a load of nhs leaflets in the post today, about screening tests - I suppose I should be happy if I get as far as worrying about tests, rather than early mc!

I think the idea of womb cctv is just what we need, I'm surprised dr S hasn't thought of it himself. If we had something permanently installed we could use it to cut out the 2ww as well.

Yey scooter that's fab news, good luck on the rest of your journey Hun xx

digi Congrats on another lovely scan, isn't it funny when they do little things like that, like they have their own little cheeky personality already, soooooo cute !!
Yeah mr s signed me off at 15+5 and he gave me a scan, he was very excited !

How amazing is mr s guys !!!! We should start an appreciation society just look what he's done for us so far on this thread and won't be long till were all in the up duffed club Yey !!!

We made our first big purchase today, a little swing/bouncy thing it's lush and even has it's own mp3 socket ha ha, promised I wouldn't but know already this baby will be so spoiled ha ha !! X

Congrats Scooter and Digi great news. I'm v impressed too by digi's domestic goddess-ness - way beyond what I tend to produce!

Definitely up for a Pred Thread dinner. I'll bring vino. Lots :)

Family day today. Still feeling very low...hope I don't get asked how it's going, I shall either cry or have to bite my lip to avoid Pred-withdrawal-fired snappiness. I've got this week off work though so hopefully the break will help.

Very quickie from me as supposed to be cooking dinner (def. NOT a domestic goddess a la Digi!) but wanted to say a big Woohoo! to scooter for your brilliant BFP and to digi for another excellent scan!

I def. want to come along to a Pred survivors dinner (I'll bring the cake and the omeprazole for afterwards).

pud hope the family day went as well as poss today, iggi hope you're feeling ok and bleeding settled down and free hope the will to resist food is going strong :) And /waves to everybody else :)

Congratulations to Scooter and Digi!! Really lovely news. (And Digi, your food sounds amazing.)

Free - It'll be really interesting to see which medication wins out on the appetite front.

Also, thanks to Ari for the book recommendation for ds. I will definitely look into it.

Well I've finally got my booking in appointment on Wednesday (will be 12+1) after the cock-up with my referral. I seem to be too late for a nuchal scan but they're offering me a dating scan on 15th November, by which time I will be 15 weeks, followed by a quadruple test the following week (as it will be too late for the nuchal test). I'm thinking of refusing the quadruple test as the odds are likely to be bad given my age and I don't want to have an amnio of anything so it would just cause needless worry. But it does seem like a very long time to wait for the dating scan! I'm just fed up with the hospital. When I had an ERPC earlier this year they promised to refer me to the RMC. When I followed up with them because I hadn't heard, it turned out that they hadn't done the referral. They promised to do it, but the same thing happened again... three times! I eventually made a complaint, but it's just so frustrating having to fight all the time. Arrrgh.

One more thing. I was talking to a RL friend who has a close relative also going through treatment with Mr S and apparently he told her that he has never lost a baby after 12 weeks. This girl is sceptical (she had a very late loss among others, so is naturally terrified). That's quite a claim isn't it. Also, how would he know if everyone goes back to the NHS at 16 weeks? I'm just curious as to whether you've heard the same thing.

Have a good day everyone.

Morning everyone, happy new week!

Coconut he said the same thing to me. I think the context is that if you can get to 12 weeks you've beaten the NK cells as the placenta has taken over. In the awful event that there's a loss after that point, it won't be because of your NK cells. I guess Mr S would say that as such, a late mc wouldn't be "him" losing a baby.

Isn't the NHS wonderful - I don't blame you for complaining, it just adds to your stress having to fight the system doesn't it. At least you've got your appointments now :)

Did anyone hear Prof Quenby on R4 Woman's Hour just now? She's done some research on NKCs as well but as far as I can work out she tests uterine levels rather than blood. She was talking about an enzyme in the lining of the uterus that they think can be switched on or off, or levels increased to prevent mc - or in future be used as a contraceptive. She didn't mention NKCs, so it didn't seem quite on our topic but will presumably be available on the BBC website later if anyone's interested.

That makes sense Choccypud. I was just confused because this person had a late loss that has more recently been attributed to killer cells, but maybe the process starts off early in the pregnancy if you don?t have any treatment.

I heard that programme too. I'm sure I read something about that research on the miscarriage boards, as a few people were putting themselves forward for it. Its exciting news but what a shame they?re still 5 years away from any treatment. I wonder if that ties in with the NKC theory at all. I think Quenby is another one who supports the treatment of killer cells with pred etc.

Now, I must get off MN and get some work done. Are you feeling any brighter today Choccy?

Much better thank you coconut. More human definitely. I think last month's mc was catching up with me as well as pmt, Pred withdrawal, and desperately needing a break from work. Fab combo!

Have fun at work...not to rub it in but I'm on hols all week

comedy yes the cyclogest is fun isn't it, not! I don't know what kind of scan schedule I am going to get, I am NHS so probably the budget pack! I might ask to have the scans at my local EPU (Redhill) but I am a little worried that introducing another hospital into the mix might confuse matters and they might query the frequency of them, whereas I imagine at Epsom or St Helier they are used to Dr S patients and probably know a bit better what to do with us! I am really tired of having to explain things all the time. Yes CCTV is exactly what we need, we could be hooked up to our own mini 4D scan machine all the time - surely the technology is not that far off!

coconut wow sounds like you've been messed around - grrr! I had tests re-done three times because no-one knew what they were doing and I went mad for worry in the months it took to finally get things right! NHS is so brilliant on one hand but they can't half cock things up sometimes, its usually lapses in communication that does it, leaving us stressed out and on the phone the whole time trying to take charge. Already this morning been to the hospital for a new NK count and just off the phone with Dr S's office, its all quite full on isn't it.

I hadn't heard about the no losses past 12 weeks thing, but it sounds quite an encouraging statistic and I'm all about the hope at the moment :)

stogan well done for committing and buying some stuff, woohoo go positive moments like that. Everyone else gets to be excited like that so why shouldn't we. I have to admit acquiring (in a freecyle type way) one of those glider rocking chairs, actually during the 2ww, that's quite impressive optimism for me.

choccypud glad to hear you are feeling more human. All these meds and hormones are havoc aren't they and family days can be tough sometimes. I spent yesterday with a very low and quiet DH on a very long bike ride and had way too much time in my own head. I'm not planning on telling anyone for a long while so when DH isn't in a good place, I start to feel quite lonely about the whole thing (thank goodness for MN!). Hope you have a relaxing break this week.

Wishing nice half terms to all the teachers out there, quite a few of us I think and everyone else on hols this week.

I'm not on hols but hope all who are are having fun !!! Only 60 days till I finish work tho woo hoooooooo!!!!!?????? way too excited already !

Scooter in Scotland the holidays have just finished
I think I will be the most pessimistic person the midwife will have seen at my booking-in appt on Wed. For me, the negative thinking makes me feel I'm not 'jinxing' myself, I think. Though obviously how I feel about the pg will not change the outcome.
I remember the newspaper article about the woman who'd had 18 mc before seeing S. Her first pg after seeing him was a late mc, then she had a baby. So think he is remembering his success rate with some licence.
(I clearly do think there's some group of Greek-god-like figures watching us and ready to strike down our babies if we get too happy!)

I know what you mean iggi about negative thinking. I know I won't get excited about a BFP any more as its just the first step along up to 8 weeks of stress til the magic 12 week point. It's so cruel that we shall never have the excitement that many women have when they first find they're pg. Being able to see Stogan properly excited is great, something to look forward to.

I don't plan on telling anyone outside a very limited group of people who know our situation until its "safe" ie past 12 weeks but saying that, with having to go for Intralipids I'll have to tell my boss and HR really so I can get time off. Don't see why I should use holiday or call in sick for it! I'm sure they'd keep it confidential not least because I'd make clear how upset and angry I'd be if they didn't - last thing I'd want is anyone else knowing at such an early stage...

Anyway, what I was going to say Scooter was firstly I'm so happy and relieved I found the Pred Thread, and such a lovely group of ladies who are all in the same place as me. It's great to get support and chat (and vent!) here about what we are each going through, whatever stage we are at. But I've found it's also good for both me and DH to have (a select group of) friends in RL who know where you're at. DH is brilliant, this has brought us closer together in fact, but he's a guy (fortunately ) and won't ever really know what things feel like. All the stress also gets to him sometimes I know and he finds it helpful to talk to some of his friends too and to vent a bit with them I'm sure.

You say your DH was v low and quiet yesterday... I'm sure he's thinking with some trepidation to the next few weeks now you've had a BFP and it's all hands to the pump/drip. I'm not going to be flippant and suggest you concentrate on yourself and try not to worry about him (obv) but equally you need him there for you in the next weeks while you deal with The Fear (as someone described it the other day). You don't indicate whether he has other stuff going on that's causing him to feel low, so I'm kind of making assumptions here. If he doesn't want to talk to you, does he talk to anyone else about all this? Can you suggest he does? Problem shared and all that...

Btw I don't know what E Surrey hospital is like, but I've always been able to get into Epsom EPU for early scans without too much hassle. They have appointments in the afternoons so you don't have to go through the St Helier experience of turning up and queuing down the corridor waiting to be seen, along with happy excited women who are waiting for their 12 week scans (or so I've heard). Just call the EPU office and explain your history and they'll book you in. Advantage of using Mr S's name if you do need to press for an appointment is he's their boss! Go with DH though as although the mw is lovely, the sonographers are let's say clinical at best... Being TOLD OFF for not being sure of my lmp when I'd just been told there was no hb and it measured less than it should've done on the day of the scan is an experience not easily forgotten. Of course it was smaller it had died some days before FFS!!!!

I can dig out the number for you if you can't find it on the website.

iggi absolutely understand where you're at, its so hard when our history paints such a bleak outlook. It does feel as if you allow yourself to be happy and life will only seem crueller when it goes wrong. Carrying my son was a touch and go pregnancy as well in many ways (at its worst, he had a heartrate of 500 bpm) but I watch him now with all his stubbornness and determination (terrible threes!) and think wow, he was made of strong stuff and I think to myself I've got to give this one the same credit, its the same genes combo after all! I have nothing scientific to base this on obviously, as the only thing that is different this time is I am under treatment but I just have to turn around the idea that I am ALWAYS the bad statistic, the exception that allows everybody else's pregnancies to sail along beautifully. I have done enough of that.... so definitely feel OUR TURN NOW GUYS! I hope I can pass some of this (probably short-lived) positivity on, but I also totally understand that to expect the worst is like a comfort blanket for most of us now and its so hard to let go of it. Ask me again in a week and I will probably be deep in 'The Fear' again!

choccy I did tell a group of RL friends in the last pregnancy right from the start because on the previous occasions I had told them about the pregnancies and the miscarriages in the same breath and it was all a bit of a shock to take in. I did get support from them last time but I just want things to be so different this time and I would love to have properly good news instead of just a tentative pregnancy test result. I will wait and see what the six week scan holds and then see....

Talking of scans I am considering going to Epsom, just because at ESH EPU I have had some horrible moments (not least sitting with my third mc in a box for four hours on a weekend). That is AWFUL that you were told off by the sonographers at Epsom (MC CARE CODE alert!) but in my experience they never have the best bedside manner and I think it depends on who you get on the day/whether they are hungover/have PMT or not etc etc and I think its a lottery wherever you go. Dr S's midwife is meant to call me tomorrow I guess to schedule my next appointment so they might insist on Epsom anyway and admit its quite appealing to try and start with a clean slate somewhere new.

DH can be absolutely brilliant but I know that he would honestly prefer the weeks to race by and suddenly find ourselves with a baby as if by magic. This year has been very stressful with mcs happening while he is abroad and all the scans and appointments meaning time off work he can't afford and sometimes suddenly having to let people down/duck out of important things to be at my side. His work will only sympathise so long. I think the best thing I can do is not to draw to much attention to it this time, after all I know the drill and feel strong enough to take on a lot of it by myself. Sounds ill-advised I know, but my family and friends have really been through hell watching me fall apart again and again, and I just feel like protecting them a bit this time.

Hi Scooter, Iggy and Choccy - empathising with everything being said - I'm on a weeks holiday which, whilst lovely in some ways is giving me too much thinking time and too much time to feel ill! Feeling quite low and can't get my head around it being possible that this will work and wish I could focus on doing other things but I feel awful and look awful which I don't mind if it bloody works. Sorry!
I saw a quite well know dr on the NHS and when I started crying whilst answering questions about how my son had died was told that I needed to sort myself out or let her see other patients whilst I pull myself together ... and then we are told that tlc is an important factor in supporting pregnancy! I think the NHS can be truly amazing in an emergency situation but it seems like some of the more everyday routines could do with some fine tuning.
Take care all of you x

Scooter - it must have been so hard for you miscarrying while your dh was away. It sounds ;ike a fresh start at a different hospital could be just what you need. When I had the last mc, I remember walking into the ward for the ERPC and my heart sinking when I had to sit in the cubicle and stare at the same bloody curtains all over again. Dp was exactly the same.

I really hope it is our turn now. I think we all share that fear of relaxing and letting our guard down and, god forbid, actually enjoying our pregnancies. I know that I'm worried in case it all comes crashing down around me and I'll feel really stupid for believing that it might have been alright this time. I burst into tears when I got my BFP as I was just thinking, oh sh*t here we go again.

So, are there a few of us who are teachers on this thread then? Choccy - you mentioned being on half term. Comedy - I'm sure you said you teach too. Scooter too? I teach primary. (Choccy the work I was talking about having to do was an assignment for my MA that I misguidedly thought would take my mind off all the crap of the last couple of years. Now I just whinge because I feel too sick to sit down and get on with it in the evenings!)

Me too Coconut
Comedy I cannot believe anyone was so insensitive to you. What an arse. A couple of words of sympathy could have achieved much more.

Bloody hell comedy - that is truly appalling. Despite my moans I'm actually a big fan of the NHS but there are some dreadful doctors out there aren't there.

Coconut I'm not a teacher, just happen to have taken this week off work.

It's hardly surprising we don't let go in the early weeks. Too jaded by experience. Too much of the regimented pill taking, ov sticks, pg tests, etc so no sitting around waiting for the 12 week scan for us. You read some of the ttc threads on MN and on the one hand it's nice to know some people are all excited by a BFP, but on the other you know some of them (25% or so) will have mcs and have it all come crashing down. And not enough of them will realise mc is so common until it happens to them, I think that makes it even more of a shock.

Comedy it sounds like you're having a hard day. How far along are you now? You're obv not feeling wonderful (cf M25 vomming...), but try to keep thinking non-negative thoughts. [Hypothetical non-alcoholic ]

Most are great but there are some drs who have perhaps being doing it for too long and their sympathy has maybe dried up.
There do seem to be alot of teachers on this thread - is there a link between high NKC and working with children?!!

Eight weeks and three days ... not that I'm counting too carefully!! Thanks Choccy will have that hypothetical drink - might have to make it a prune juice unfortunately!!