TTC: Pregnancy on Prednisolone or similar part 7

[ChoccyPud]

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!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1419032-TTC-Pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-6

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

Oh and my 2penneth on DE / DS is that i personally couldn't do either. Only because i think if i'm going to deal with non-genetic type questions and issues over the years i'd rather it was an adopted child, and i don't think my relationship with DH would handle very well the unbalancing effect of one of us being genetically related to the child and the other not (given our history), but I admire those who are able and willing to go the donor route.

b

Carebear I had lots of cut-off points - originally it was when I turned 40, then 41, but it never felt like 'the end' so we kept going after 41 - obviously very pleased that we did. People have said you just "know" when it's time to stop, not so sure about that myself.

Now, I have put a couple of photos of the "pred baby" on my profile, obviously don't want anyone feeling they have to look if baby pictures make you sad, as I usually feel the same.

Hi all, jsut a quickie as my lunch hour is up really! Just wanted to say thanks to you all for your lovely messages. It really helps having other people to talk to in the same situation or think I would feel like a bit of a freak! Have been feeling very low but life goes on. Have decided to go back to the super ov before having another shot (probably the last as it is soo expensive) at ivf. Was going to get straight back on it as af arrived today in full force but Louise said I have to wait a cycle becuase of the chemical. Now forgive me if I am wrong but Ari weren't you able to start back on it straight away?? How are you feeling, a bit like me I imagine?

Weclome back Picolina I hope being in Oz was lovely and you feel ready to start again.

Euro sorry it wasn't your month but glad you are feeling more comfortable with the ivf route.

Duggs sorry your results don't seem to have shown anything but wait and see what Dr G says. Hope you are feeling ok. Are you back on super ov?

Sue can imagain how worried you must be and how desperate for that first scan. Will be keeping everything crossed for you.

Hi Ladies sorry not been on for a while.

So sorry to hear your new Ari, London, Pebbles been thinking of you all.

PQ Thanks for asking after me - hope all is well with you and also from Frozen as haven't heard from her for a while.

Pico a big welcome back, hope you had an amazing time!

Duggs cannot believe how much research you have undertaken - just so hope that you find success with Dr G and all the tests you have had done

Kittens hope all goes well and fc for the IVF

Carebear I echo Igggi I also had put a stop at 42 and would have continued trying this year but also was very fortunate to conceive the month I was 43 - so fc - not what I would ideally have wished for but I feel very lucky I have been given this chance.

Free cannot believe your top of the list - amazing. Have you signed up for any ante-natal classes - good opportunity to meet an amazing group of ladies - NCT groups are always very popular. By the way have an 2nd timers done NCT again?

Welcome to any new ladies - this really is an excellent thread and very supportive.

Snoopy If you ever pop in hoping all goes well with the Chemo (I think it may have been this week you were starting)

Igggi just saw the pictue of Thomas - he's a darling - hope all is going well! :-)

Iggi and Mercator thanks for the encouragement. I've heard in lots of places that mums over 40 make fantastic mums so congrats and best of luck with it all. Iggi how do you look at people's profile pictures, i can't find the link?

pebbles Yes I started straight back onto SuperOV - although I have no idea how the chemical will affect things, AF is dragging on (CD7 today and although not red blood, there's still some brown yuck, if you'll excuse the TMI). I have my follicle scan on Friday, although that will only be CD10 and I'm supposed to be scanned CD11 to 13 - but for the second cycle that has landed on a weekend/bank holiday, so Louise said to go in on CD10. My last two chemicals both delayed the next ovulation by about 10 days but I don't know what effect the Letrozole may have had. I'm expecting to be told to go back for a second scan to be honest, nothing much will have happened by Friday, but we'll see.

Louise actually said to me to take the Letrozole in the next cycle as the chemical/early miscarriage was very early. She said "As you know we prefer after a miscarriage to leave two periods before trying again but due to your history I think it is acceptable for you to try next cycle.". And so I am, I figured it was worth a go. What day of your cycle has your AF arrived on pebbles? Mine arrived on CD29, so it was only actually 2 days late, although as I say it's dragging on more than usual.

Well both OH and I have just been told today we're in scope for redundancies at work, so I'm thinking further investigations with Dr G are going to wait until we know whether or not either (or both) of us are going to be hit. It never rains but it pours, eh?

merc If I ever get blessed enough to have a second babe, I will probably do the NCT again, if only because of the fantastic support group you end up with. Quite a few of my original NCT chums moved away from the area and although most of us are still in touch, it would be nice to have more friends in the area with babies at the same stage. I'd just like the chance to have to do it, if you know what I mean!

CareBear if you hover over my name at the top of this post, it should be something you can click - this goes to profile, and then there's a 'view pictures' link from that.
Have been given a plan at bf clinic to get his weight up. Hard to shake that feeling of 'never doing things right' even after a birth!

Aah, Iggi he looks lovely! He doesn't look underweight to my untrained eye. Yes please, I'd like one of those.

Ari we're cycle buddies this month then, this friday will be cd10 for me too and i think too early as well but you never know.

Ahh yes this Friday is also CD10 for me too. I did take letrozole this month. I am also supposed to have a scan between cd11 and 13 but haven't sorted anything out yet. Is dr s in Epsom? Really can't be arsed to slog all the way down there as I dont think anything will happen anyway. sue where did u say u can get a scan on Saturday was it amersham? Hello other ladies. I am sorry to hear that ari do u and DH work at same place then ?

Ahh, Iggi DS looks gorgeous! Bless him. Hope you're getting on ok. Try not to worry too much about the bf, just do your best and I am sure he will be fine. Worst comes to the worst I am sure formula is just as good in some ways. Don't all babies lose a bit of their birth weight at first? Obv am not quite an expert...

I look nothing like my mum either! Apparently we act a lot alike and have the same mannerisms but that can be nuture rather than nature. One of my friend's sister has had a little girl using donor eggs and she is over the moon.

Hope the procedure goes well Kittens and that there is no serious pain. You are being such a trooper.

Ari what a bloody nightmare about the potential redundancies. Am assuming you both work in the same place, rather than that being a terrible coincidence. When will you know more?

Funny that Pebbles was told to wait one cycle and Ari wasn't. They must have their reasons I guess. I hope it flies by for you Pebbles. Do book that holiday! What CD is it that you have started bleeding on?

Hope the follies look good for you Duggs! It must be frustrating for tests to come back normal when you hope they might be an answer and something that can be addressed.

And good luck to Carebear too. I guess the thing with the OHs is that they don't have to go through it all physically like we do. Obviously it is stressful and upsetting for them too but we have the added physical pain and discomfort

Hi merc - good to hear from you. Yes I have booked in for NCT classes, starting this saturday and going on the following saturday too. I hope it will be a way of meeting people in the area. How are things with you? And yes you are right, haven't heard from Frozen for a while.

Welcome home Pico. Hope you had a damn good time and enjoyed the break from all the TTC business. I think quite a few people have considered going on the Pred at BFP rather than ovulation but it seems to be down to everyone's individual circumstances. Glad your cycles are ok but no wonder you are stressing about getting back on the wagon, as it were, again. It is a stressful time!

Sue how many weeks are you now - I know it is still very early days. When is the scan booked for? I can really relate to The Fear you're going through. I've had it with every scan. When it gets bigger and starts to move it makes it a bit better - but even now I am sitting here thinking, haven't felt the baby move in a while best douse it in cold orange juice to see if that gets it going! Either that or get the Dopplar out. But yes, those first scans are the worst because you want to know a) it's there and in the right place and b) there's a heartbeat. Good luck! We are all thinking of you and please feel free to vent on here as much as you like.

One of the other reasons I am mentalling right now is because I have spent the afternoon doing some bump shots with a local photographer. It's that old tempting fate worry. She wanted some for her portfolio and I agreed to help her out. If it all goes well I guess they will be nice to have. Not sure I will be brave enough to look at them properly until after there's a live baby to take home! My Baby Bothering seems to have only worked a little bit so I might glug more orange and lie on my side for a bit and watch tv. Should hopefully get things moving...

Hello to anyone I've missed! xx

Good luck for tomorrow Kittens and hope it is not painful. Will e checking to see how you got on.

Ari not sure what cd I am actually as confusing with ivf, must work it out..
Strange that they said ok for you to carry on with super ov but not me, they seem to give different advice to everyone! Tbh not sure I have the energy for it this month after ivf and lots of drugs. Anyway good luck with the scan and you Duggs and Carebear.
Sorry about yours and DH's job situation as well Ari hopefully it will all work out.

Free I think you do look like your mum but maybe it is because of the mannerisms.... :)

pebbles so sorry to read of your cp - very best of luck with the next cycle.

and good luck to kittens with your hysteroscopy.

Waves at pico and merc!

igggi T is so cute!!! Must be very proud! If supply is what might be the cause of slow weight gain i have some tips for upping your supply (which you've probably already comrade across): fenugreek seeds, porridge with cinnamon, feeding as much as possible between 2-4am, babymoon by spending the day doing skin to skin in bed with t (you with top off, t just a nappy), and try to rest as much as possible. Last one might sound tricky but do try to prioritise it for a while in the knowledge that you are helping your body to make more milk.
Of course this is only if you are hoping to continue bf. Otherwise formula is your friend!

thanks for the welcome back everybody!
sue thats such good news !! my nana gave me a picture of a fat grumpy looking baby (looks just like my sister) years ago and told me to keep looking at it when im pregnant and my baby will look just like the picture, i dont know about that, but the babies expression made me laugh and when i was stessing it helped a bit, if not a baby picture maybe anything that will take the stress level down for you.
spent yesterday registering with agencies to start looking for a job, hope i can stay close to home , it feels really weird to be unemployeed

Hi all, just a quickie from me. Reading all the posts with interest. AF turned up early again. Drugs in system until day 10 and for both my last 2 SO's my AF has turned up the very next day so it looks like I am now on a 22 days cycle instead of 27/28. Next time if my AF does not turn up early I will know that it is a good sign.

Sorry to hear all of the bad news especially the IVF guys and the chemicals.

I can see that there are quite a few of us having the SO scans in the next few days. My next SO will be the 4th cycle and my scan is next Wednesday day 13. Duggs I had trouble getting this appointment. Louise said that they were not open this Saturday and that Dr S was on holiday next week so there is a 'stand in' DR. I was a bit worried about it being day 13 when usually I take the injection on day 12. Louise said have SWI over the weekend and use the ovulator sticks. She said if I don't have the scan then I shouldn't have the injection in case of too many eggs. If I don't take the injection I think she said that they would come out on their own anyway so I am not sure what happens if there are too many eggs and they get fertilised without the injection.

Interesting about the DE's. It wouldn't be my first choice. Whenever I think about it my head just won't let me consider it but I would gladly let someone else carry mine and then hand it/them over to me. Hopefully it would be twins and that would be job done. Realistically though I think I am too old to bother. It's my knackered old body or nothing. I really wish there was some more good news on here. Successful SO's, IVF, test results that show what the issues/problems are and most importantly getting pg and staying pg. It is funny that even though I have a DS I made sure that I walked past a pg lady as I did not want to sit next to her on train. I don't think it ever leaves you and even if I was lucky enough to have another one I would still do the same. I think it is because you think that they have had it easy but then again people may have looked at me when I was heavily pg and thought the same. Anyway let's hope that we all get plenty of follies. I personally am dreading turning up for the scan and them telling me no there isn't any this month. This would be a sign that my journey may be coming to an end. I already know that my left ovary isn't really functioning so I just need to keep my fingers crossed. I also guess IVF will be the last resort for me. In regards to age and giving up I think once you are on this treadmill you never want to get off until the bitter end. For me it will be a case of no more eggs. Anyway that's enough of me rambling on. Have a lovely day everyone.

Just one last question. If the first round of IVF is about 8k and it doesn't work but you have frozen embryos then would the second round be about 5K? Also if I decided today OK I am going to have IVF how long would it take for the embryos (if there are any) to be put inside me. I am 45 at the end of the year so I need to work to timescales.

Hello to all of the newbies as well.

Hi abney ivf and drugs is about £4.5 to 5k actually and the CGH but costs £2.5k. It was the intrallipids and other immunology drugs that bumped on another £1k. If I get embryos to freeze these can cost £700 to £1k for a frozen embryo transfer depending on natural or stimulated cycle.

OK. Another set of tests thru yesterday that have thrown us a bit. DH sperm fragmentation test results. It shows 33% of his sperm r fragmented. It says v unlikely to produce a natural pregnancy that will carry to term. ICSI may help but not guaranteed. This test costs £220. Why has it taken almost 3 yrs to get it. Only dr gorgy offered it. It has probably been reasons for my mc ESP trisomy one. The nk cells rose up after last mc in August but now they r within range. It makes us think about CGH testing to ensure we don't get bad sperm or eggs but we've done that. Crikey. Am a bit gob smacked tbh. I think my steroid induced PCOS and nk cells and his sperm DNA issues r telling us something. Will book to see what dr g suggests but talk about issues. At least both of us are at "fault" so to speak. If we adopt I won't feel the responsibility for not giving DH his own biological child is on my shoulders alone. Just got the hidden c and dq alpha match to come back now. Dread to think what they say!! Oh well. What can you do. Rather know now than carry on with SO and immunology Meds thinking all would be ok.

Gosh Duggs that is indeed a shock! I always thought that if you were getting pregnant in the first place, which you had been before recently, that it wasn't going to be the sperm that's faulty. Does that mean you are very unlikely to be able to create a baby using his sperm and your eggs even with IVF? At what stage does it go wrong - because surely the IVF created embryos successfully and they checked these before they went in? What options does that leave you with now?

Abney hope the scans go ok. Sorry you are feeling a bit despondent about things, it's bound to happen. But yes you are right, you never know the problems other people have had. People could be walking past me know feeling jealous of the bump, not knowing it's my fifth pregnancy and I am worried about it every minute.

I used to find it comforting in a way that every single person you see around us in the world is a product of a successful pregnancy. It made me feel it was more likely for it to work out for me too. But I guess my TTC journey, even though it has been fraught, has not been as long as others on here.

duggs Sorry to hear the news about DH's sperm but you know, that is exactly why I wanted my OH tested, even though Mr S said wasn't necessary because he was getting me pregnant. You've just completely proved my point that that attitude is totally wrong! That makes me all the more determined to get OH tested.

You do know there is a possibility that his fragmentation levels can be treated, depending on what's causing it, right? www.tdlpathology.com/services-divisions/tdl-andrology/sperm-dna-fragmentation talks a bit about it. There is also this study www.andrologyjournal.org/cgi/content/full/26/3/349 and more info here amy-happilyeverafter.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/sperm-dna-fragmentation.html . I'm sure there's lots more info out there too. All is not necessarily lost, it just depends on what's causing the fragmentation.

Thanks ladies for your job well-wishes - yes, DP and I work at the same company. We're crossing our fingers!

abney I am also 45 at the end of the year (well, very beginning of next). Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit down, I understand the feeling well. hugs to you.

Well I've emailed Louise to ask if I shouldn't postpone my CD10 follicle scan on Friday. The two previous chemicals I've had, ovulation following it has been delayed by 12-13 days, and as I'm still spotting brown gunk (sorry TMI) on CD8 surely that will mean my lining hasn't started building back up yet? I don't want to throw £210 away, unless Letrozole forces ovulation early I just think it will be too early for this cycle.

/waves to everyone, and thinking of snoopy

Louise says I should still go for the scan on Friday, so CD10 scan it is. I'll be astonished if there are any follies of any kind of reasonable size though ...

That's really strange as Mr S did sent my OH for a SA test. I don't see any reason why you can't just go and get a SA test done independently. OH had his done at TDL in Wimpole St, where Mr S sends his patients for blood tests and SA tests.

Good luck with the job situation ari, I missed that bit.

Oh, duggs Mr S has a colleague at a different address in Harley St who will do the mid cycle scans if he's not around. His name is Dr Mahfouz and he's here games-medical.co.uk/ - it costs the same as seeing Mr S and you get invoiced by The Miscarriage Clinic. Better than paying to get a scan somewhere else and then paying the extra £100 to get Mr S to "consult" on the findings.

duggs my DH has fragmentation issues too.

I think that's responsible for two of my trisomy pregnancies. I'll check the actual percentage if I can find his results tonight. Zita West clinic did the test on him (this is the fly sample to new york one I mentioned the other week). As ZW does the whole holistic thing, this is where the supplemetns and minimal alcohol/just red wine advice came in. Can't read aris links but will be interested to see that the conventional approch is.

can't read the links at the moment I meant....

ooh, kittens hope your procedure goes ok.

I had an internal cervical scan and a swab by a (I swear) 12 year old male trainee gynae today at the prem clinic. I thought I was over being shy about that, given the number of things I have had done to me, but I swear he was so young and good looking that I just about died of embarrasment about my hairy legs and, uh, other areas.

duggs I had the local follicle scan at Amersham sonographers in Amersham hospital. They work in the eve and w/e and it costs £60 so less than the trudge to Epsom. They will tell you there and then when you are likely to ovulate so you might not need to see me s that month. He does charge £100 to see the results and send a new SO prescription for next month but it still works out cheaper than doing it all with him. If OV is a long way off you will still need to see mr s but at least if you have the local scan first you don't get 2 lots of mr s fees! I did that on my last SO and as Ov was a long way off I didn't get mr s to look at the results as Louise said to go in 5 days later to see if the follicles had grown.