TTC/Pregnancy on Prednisolone or similar part 6

[Arianrhod]

A positive thread for all those diagnosed with High or Very High NK Cells and looking to start TTC or already pregnant on Prednisolone and/or Intralipid treatment.

Newcomers very much welcome!

Part 5 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1391787-TTC-Pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-5

Part 4 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1366323-TTC-Pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-4

Part 3 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1348773-TTC-pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-3

Part 2 here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1323594-TTC-pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-2

Part 1 here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1236324-TTC-pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar

OMG this is sooooo surreal !!! A big hello from the world of pred baby motherhood !!
Managed to drag myself away from our little princess to say a huge emotional thank u to all of u for ur lovely messages. I am soooooo in love it's untrue.
Ellyson Faith (obvious choice of middle name but I wouldn't be here without it) was born by c section on sun morn at 3.44 weighing 7lb 13.5oz. She has lots of dark hair (thank u mr heartburn!!) and great big dark eyes (they were blue at birth). They decided on a section at 2.30 on sun morn and I was in theatre by 3.15 all very quick and amazing. She is breastfeeding well and sleeping lots and is the cuddliest, cutest little bundle of love ever (although I fear I may be slightly biased)
There were times over the past 4 years and during my pregnancy when I really doubted anything would be worth all of the pain and heartache we had been through, let me reassure each and every one of you ladies it is MORE than worth it. I am a very weak willed person and came close to giving up but look at me, I'm a mummy only due to mr s and his plan, it works girls and if I'm honest the heartache and drugs and agony of scan wait after scan wait makes my princess even more special than ever !

I want to thank you all for ur support and wish u all the very VERY best. I still want to stick around if that's ok and see the success stories rolling in and more importantly digi is due very soon and I can't wait to hear the name of my princesses first pred thread friend !!

Once again massive thanks, love and luck to u all love from a very overwhelmed, over joyed and over proud mummy Stogan xxxxx

Stogan, tears in my eyes reading that. Congratulations, and well done for making it through the long journey to motherhood. How fantastic that breastfeeding's going well!
What a lovely name as well - with a very meaningful middle name. My first pred. baby's middle name is Hope for exactly the same reason

mummy stogan I said it before, but I'll say it again - CONGRATULATIONS!! It's so very good to see you back on here so soon, and please please do stick around, you (and all the other pregnant ladies) give all the rest of us that are still waiting hope that it might, possibly, one day happen for us. I'm so, so pleased at your happy ending, and what a lovely name you've chosen!

Oh bugger that didn't work, I meant,

Does anyone still have the link to the fab spreadsheet that duggs did for us? I was just thinking, it might be good to give us all still waiting for our miracle a bit of inspiration, if we see for those who are well and truly pregnant what they've already gone through to get where they are. Just a thought.

Thanks so much for the message stogan that really means a lot to me and I'm sure everyone else.

Faith is also on my middle name list! Was having a bit of a low day today and you've reminded me that's what we need to have - faith and lots of it.

Had a good scan yesterday with Mr S - still measuring good for dates and good hb. Had more red bleeding over the weekend but it seems to have cleared up and no more patches on the scan. But I can't shake the feeling that it's not going to last and something is going to go wrong; most recently becuase I completely lost my temper with DH late last night and did lots of yelling and stomping around (long boring story) and worried that I managed to kill the poor little embyo with my temper tantrum. totally irrational I know but I am not really in a good state of mind. My blood pressure was through the roof yesterday even after the scan so I need to try and calm down a bit (somehow....)

sue could you talk to Mr S about doing pre conception intralipids? I know from the nurses at newlife that they have ladies coming in and doing that to damp down the nk cells pre conception. Dr Beer's book talks about it too (in terms of chemical pregnancies possibly being the result of the nk cells attacking earlier and earlier). Sorry again about what's happened

great scan news hopeful and frozen

digi hope there's no more glucose lurking in your urine - only 2.5 days to go at work!

Thinking of you kittens.

Oh and picking up on a comment few days ago - duggs i'd love it if you could update us on your ivf/nk journey here too.

Big hello to everyone I've missed.

Oh gosh that is one hell of a post from Stogan. So incredible this day is finally here for you! Such a beautiful name and love Faith and all its connotations. It brought a lump to my throat too. Stogan we are all so very happy for you and yes of course you have to stay around!! Please do try to do so in the midst of feeding, cuddling and changing nappies.

Also for Frozen and the middle name of Hope. I have a feeling we might have a full Faiths, Hopes and other names (Medication, Moonface...?) on this thread in the future.

Digi I am also pretty moved that you are so close to your due date too and getting everything ready. If you are anything as organised in RL as you come across on here you will be super prepared! I might have to hire you to come round here in around June and give me a good lesson or two :)

PQ you know yourself that having a bit of a flip out is not going to affect the baby so please try not to worry. I am sure we have all (I definitely have!) have had those flip outs more than once during this whole process. Sometimes it is just good to let off a bit of steam! Great news about the bleeding hopefully stopping, and when you do see bits of it just try to remember that is isn't harming the baby. It's hard to feel positive about it all, especially at this early stage, but as we know - realistically - what we feel about the whole thing isn't going to make a blind bit of difference. So don't beat yourself up about it.

Re Sue and pre-conception intralipids, I asked Mr S about those after my mc on treatment and he said I didn't need them. But I think it is worth asking. I too have heard of it being done. I have forgotten whether you were also on Hydroxy? If not, that might be the next step.

Duggs we definitely want you to stick around! You are still a Pred Veteran! You are just trying it a different way. And the title of this thread is TTC /pregnancy on Prednisolone or similar. That definitely includes you.

Pico coming off the 40mg of Pred I had headaches (and I am SO not a headache person usually), limb aches, flu-like shivers, general tiredness and even a nice Parkinson's style shake of the hand occasionally. But it does all go pretty quickly so try to just look forward to that day soon when you will be off them. No tips on the moonface am afraid except it WILL definitely go.

Coconut I agree with everyone re your friend too. Hunches are worth listening to. All she can do is test and see where it takes her. And if it is negative rule it out.

Am not sure where I got with everyone else but just wanted to say hello to all and give Kittens a big virtual hug. Good news too on the nuchal Hopeful. Waves to everyone else - got a lot of work to do xx

Oh, PS Dr Digi you were right about the iron levels. Epsom General have called me back to have a repeat test saying they might be low. Have arranged to go to my GP and do it instead so I don't have to schlep there just for a blood test.

oh another correct diagnosis for Dr Digi - I should have stopped the aspirin when I had the big bleed (aka the "am I dying moment"). Back on it now plus 800mg cyclogest. Just imagine ladies...800mg...ewwwww.

thanks for your kind words and I hope you are not too tired free - I was aneamic with DS and I could never figure out how when I took iron supplements, ate red meat c. 4x week and lots of dark green leafy vege etc.

Dr Digi gets it right again :) Should really set up a clinic.

No red meat here so that probably doesn't help.

Jesus, the thought of 800mg Cyclogest makes me want to vomit. I STILL get phantom whiffs of the stuff. Not sure why I got so sick of the smell - it's not terrible - I think I just associate it with my cold, dark days of early pregnancy, sickness and hibernation of December and January. Is that where you are at the moment PQ? Gosh the time dragged so slowly then. Ugh!

I am going to NLC on Thursday for a quick midwife chat with Louise as I haven't been able to organise any appointments with Mr S' team yet at Epsom. Just a heartbeat listening/measuring bump session I guess.

Hey, talking of aspirin I realised I am now 21 weeks and I haven't yet stopped it. I think I decided to carry on for a few weeks based on a few peoples comments here, but can't remember

Who else is carrying/intends to carry on taking Pregnancy vits etc later than 12 weeks? Am still on them too. On the one hand it would be nice to stop taking lots of tablets (still got to keep Hydroxy for a while and thyroxine for ever of course) but I also think it might be a good idea to keep taking them (plus selenium and vit D).

Was it myself and Ari who both randomly chucked in selenium for good measure?

Stogan - Talk about lump in the throat and misty eyes. Was a joy to read your post. It does indeed remind us why we are doing what we are doing and that there are happy endings to be had.

Freelance I was told by midwife to take Pregnacare until 6 months in order to get enough Vit D. If my 12wk scan goes well on Friday clinic will do a full blood count and re-asses all my meds (clexazne, cyclogest, prontogest, steroids). Fingers crossed I come off them for good not bad reasons.

Frozen and Mercator did you tell your work/other people after your 12 wk scan or are you waiting?

Lovely to hear that everything is going well Stogan it's great to have the update.
It is dds birthday this weekend and this time four years ago I was pregnant for the first time following ds's death. I am glad I didn't know then what it was going to take to get to this point but I'm sure that when baby arrives it will be worth the wait and the pain of the last four years. I am thirty weeks this week and still finding it hard to believe I will have a baby. I have had so little to do with babies for five years now that I wonder if I will remember anything!

My heart goes out to all of you at the beginning of the journey as there have been some dark days indeed and I just hope that over the months to come everyone has the chance to be where stogan is now xx

Amen to that sentiment comedy!

free I took pregnancy vitamins (including separate Omega 3 supplements) right throughout my pregnancy with DD as I figured my growing baby still needed all the right balance of vitamins and minerals that I probably wasn't getting in my diet, healthy though it was.

I did a reckoning of all the supplements I'm taking for various aspects of TTC etc last week, and I have to say I'm thoroughly sick of taking it all. Obviously it will all be worth it if I'm lucky enough to end up in stogan's blissful state, but right now I'm really beginning to resent it all as it feels a bit like I'm taking all this stuff for nothing. Quick, positive mantra needed .. :)

stogan That is a lovely post, I can't wait until if and when I get to cuddle my little one too xxx
pq I had a row with my dp a few weeks ago, which ended up with me sobbing and sobbing. Emotions can't cause damage to your Lo but agree you must get your blood pressure down ...... try not to worry though, these little ones can be quite resiliant. xx
kittens Poor you , you are having a rough old time just now :( I thnk of you often and hope and wish that is is your time soon xx
frozen Merc and hopeful good news on the 12 wwwk scans and nuchal xx
free I had 800mg of cyclogest, it was vile. I shoved them both up (sorry) at the same time! It was grim though xx

Faith is also on our list too :) Its a lovely name.
All ok here - 2nd go at the amnio tomorrow, if that doesn't work I am going to sack it, and leave everything to fate.

I hope everyone is ok, and big waves and love to those I missed xx

choccy when are you due to test? Coming up for OV here myself in the next 2 days and trying not to automatically calculate when that means I will be testing. Anyone else find this impossible? My brain seems to keep mental track of DPO without my even having to consciously think of it, and prompts me on a daily basis as to where I am. Pain in the nether regions when you're trying to be ultra-relaxed about it all and ignore the fact that testing day is looming!

PQ and Free I will ask Dr S about preconception intrallipids but worried about the cost factor!

I also took pregnacare all the way through my pregnancy with DD.

Ari I feel like you too as I have a whole cabinet just for me and all the tablets/info. Cant wait to eventually get rid of it all (so long as a baby replaces it).

Comedy it will all come back to you - really excited for you after everything you went through with your first born.

I have a plastic bag full of all the meds boxes, a tupperware box full of the ones I need to access quickly (ie half boxes that still have some in) and a pill box that has Monday to Sunday and 4 boxes for each day: AM, Noon, PM, night. And yes they feel like horse pills. Positive thoughts though Ari, it will be worth it in the end. And I guess the pain about taking loads of meds is all psychological really, as they are not too hideous to swallow if we really think about it. I took a whole load of gym bunny supplements back in the fit days pre mc and didn't mind those! Looking forward to getting back on those at one stage too.

Must have been fun with the one up the bum and one up the front Cyclogest action Battery :) Hope it goes well with the second amnio tomorrow, but yes good idea to just go with the flow if it can't be done again.

Sue cost is definitely an issue with pre-conception intralipids but I think Mr S is always quite fair with that sort of thing. Like when I mentioned it he said there was no need to throw money at it and not to bother. So I imagine if he feels you really need it he will recommend it. And vice versa.

Nice words indeed Comedy and I echo that sentiment for everyone too. Happy birthday to DD as well!

Awww Stogan that has to be the best post I have ever read on this thread! Congratulations you clever woman! I look forward to hearing more updates on your little darling.

PQ Did they use the words subchorionic hematoma when they mentioned your bleed? If you read Dr Beer's book they are mentioned in there as being associated with NK cells. In most cases they just bleed themselves out and although can look pretty traumatic with all that blood actually can have no consequences. I actually had one in my first pregnancy.

Battery good luck for tomorrow's amnio.

I am having great fun buying stuff for my little one and having it delivered over here. But am also having a bit of a worry that by about now my last intralipids will have worn off. What if those NK cells start attacking the baby / placenta now? It feels weird not having any more treatment for it. Does anyone have any reassurance on this? I suppose all the later staged pregnant ones on the list must have felt this too?

Interesting advice from my acupuncturist today - avoid oranges if you want a calm, good sleeping and non naughty baby!!

On the vitamins - i am still taking everything I was at the start other than the cyclogest. I have also added 600mg of calcium because i saw preg ladies should have 1000mg a day and even with the 170mg in my sanatogen multi and my diet I really didn't think i was getting anywhere near 1000mg.

Not sure what to do about the aspirin. Dr S says 24 wks, my doc here is adamant i should stay on til 34 (or was it 36) wks. I might go for somewhere in the middle, really don't know.

Ooh I hadnt thought about the intralipids having worn off either Charlie! Must add that to the mentalling list... BUT isn't the whole thing that the placenta is big, strong and ugly enough to fight off the blighters? And the baby too.

Am guessing you are on the aspirin for longer as you have some clotting issues dont you? But it just shows there is no one size fits all approach. Louise said I could stop mine at 20 weeks but I am now 21 and think I might go until 24 too. Early viability seems an ok time to stop. Pregacare plus omega, vit d and selenium I might carry on with until what is hopefully a happy ending!

Wow what a day on here! stogan I cried my eyes out reading your post, it was so beautiful. I hope you stick around, you're the beacon of hope (or Faith!) around here.

Ari I'll test on Saturday, which will be 11dpo. Might do Friday though depending on how the rest of my week goes... My dad checked into hospital yesterday with some fairly nasty digestive problems that have been coming on for a while. They seem to have diagnosed and have a treatment plan, but he's feeling really low as he can't keep anything down/in, even water. PQ I'm with you on the blood pressure thing, not that I know yet if there's anything there for me to try to take care of... Still I guess the worry about my dad and trying to help keep my stepmum's spirits up all from 100 miles away gives me something else to occupy my mind during the last few days of the 2ww. Sheesh!

Sorry this is a bit me focused, I've had a rather exhausting despondent "when the clucking bell are we going to get some good news" day. Thinking that some day I might be in the incredible unimaginably joyous position that stogan is in, and that some others of you are getting ever closer to, keeps me able to think positive thoughts.

Sorry for lack of other personals, good scan news from all which is great to see.

Hey mummy stogan How ya doing? it's fab isn't it. Such a special time, and such a blur too! Take lots of pics and absorb it all it goes so quick.xx

good luck choccy for testing. hope your Dad improves quickly.

ari it's like some nightmare groundhog day isn't it. Feel like were stuck in this bloody loop of which we can't escape. Just want to get friggin pregnant properly to see if this bloody works for me. Getting mighty fed up with all the spots (Letrozole), weight gain/insomnia aarrgghh!! and nothing to show for it apart from chemicals. Perhaps I'm just past it.

Oh Stogan, what a lovely post. It?s such a magical time isn?t it. It?s great to hear that the breastfeeding is going well. How are you doing physically after the cs? Hope you?re not too uncomfortable.

Free ? I?ve just found out I?m anaemic too. Dried apricots apparently a very good source of iron and of course they counteract the unpleasant blocking up-effects of those bloody iron tablets. I?m still on pregnancy vits C,D and folic acid that they gave me free at the hospital. They?ve told me to take them all the way through.

Comedy ? Nice post. Also, I know exactly what you mean about not remembering anything about babies. I feel like I?ve completely forgotten what it?s like and ds is only three.

Hope it all goes well tomorrow Battery.

Charlie ? I had the same worry about intralipids wearing off too, and I panic occasionally about starting the treatment too late, but I think the placenta takes over and the NK bit isn?t an issue as long as you have had the treatment early on.

Hope your dad is on the mend soon Choccy.

Waves to everyone else I?ve missed.

Hope all goes well today Battery will be thinking of you.

Not sure when to tell work, trying to wait for results but may have to call my boss this week. Have told my brothers only so far dunnit.

May I ask those ahead of me how long you waited for your nuchal results?

Lovely post from stogan

coconut hope your father gets well soon.

strogan you made me teary! im so happy for you.