Fabulous Fecund Over Forties TTC: fertile,prolific,fruitful and productive. Hand over the bfp's and hand them over now!!

[hopefulgum]

Starting the new thread for you wonderful ladies before I fly off into the sunset.

May this thread bring us the happy news we've all been waiting for.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !

Happy Christmas!!!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful day and if not there's always the and to look forward to when it's all over

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas . It is now boxing day and I feel a bit wrecked ( and a bit stuffed!).

The day went exceptionally well. Everyone in the family raved about the set up and the food,and it went very smoothly. I am happy to have that done and dusted though.

It was really good to have all the family together, though I was disappointed as DS1 didn't make it home in time. He did arrive much later (I was in bed and thought I'd see him this morning, but he is not in his bed. I am guessing he's probably partying somewhere!). I am hoping I'll catch up with him today. DH is fast asleep so I can't ask him where DS is until he wakes.

The avocados did not ripen, but it was okay and the pink grapefruit still looked awesome on the salad.Now I have 8 avocados ripening! Looks like we'll be making some guacamole!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day (I hope you found that key, Grizzer)

Everyone in my household can't wait to see the Dr Who Christmas Special tonight, I bet you have already seen it? We love him and will miss him (Matt Smith) .

Incidentally, I was on Fertility Friend this morning, though I haven't taken my temperature for three days I did look at charts of women over 45 and there were quite a few pregnancy charts for 46 and 47 year olds. I have to say that had me feeling a bit more motivated. Maybe I could have another go at it? Maybe I could be one of the lucky ones.

It was very interesting,seeing the dynamic with all the cousins at Christmas yesterday. My DS (5 years old) is by far the youngest, my DD2 is next at 13, then her cousin who is 15, then my DD1 who is 16, after that all the cousins range from 18 - 25 years old. But everyone single one of them played with my DS and genuinely enjoyed it. I know the kids will start having babies of their own soon enough, but I have to say having someone very young around does make Christmas much more fun.I can see that a new little person would be welcomed into the family with a great deal of love and affection. It doesn't really matter (in terms of having time,affection and energy) that the grandparents are very old, frail and unwell as the aunts and uncles are doting and clearly enjoy the littlest member of the family. It would be fantastic for DS to have a playmate closer in age though. How I wish my body wasn't so bloody old and could just get the job done so he could have a younger sibling....Looks like I have to muster up the energy again for SWI ...

Hello Gum! Sounds like you had a lovely Christmas day and that your culinary efforts were well appreciated. I think you are right to keep your dream of number 6 alive - there are indeed lots of women having babies late 40s, and with your fertility track record you're probably in with a stronger chance than many xx

Had a good day here too, though dh very stressed in the kitchen and not accepting the many offers of help . All came good in the end though, sitting down to eat at 4pm My mum and dad today (inlaws yesterday) so hoping for a more relaxed day. Dh went to see to ds2 in the night as screaming blue murder, and must have climbed into ds1's bed as all 3 still fast asleep...Nice to have a bit of peace anyway.
All fine here - sorry I've been away for so long, just really hectic in run up to xmas. Laurie doing well and doing those lovely baby coos that I had forgotten about. Have appointment for tongue tie consultation end of jan but very borderline so may well just end up being reassured with no need for the procedure (here's hoping!).
I really hope everyone is having a lovely festive time xxx

Belated Happy Christmas to everyone!
I meant to log on yesterday but hadn't time.
Gum we watched Dr Who too (the only tv I managed to watch all day) , not sure about the new doctor, it'll be hard to beat Matt Smith!
As Diege said, if anyone is likely to conceive in their late 40s, with your track record it's likely to be you, keep the faith!
Glad you had a good Christmas, it's lovely when the whole extended family can get together .
Diege I can imagine what your house looked like after presents were unwrapped yesterday morning with so many little ones, bet there was wrapping paper everywhere, but great excitement.
Good to hear Laurie is doing well.
We booked a 3D scan to bring the kids to on Christmas Eve so they could see the baby, it was absolutely amazing to see the baby's little face at this early stage(though DS was a bit freaked out by it!). It's very active and I'm feeling more wriggles now which is reassuring (until I go a few hours without noticing anything and start to panic again!). 23 weeks today.
Sorry not to namecheck more people, we're flying to Ireland later today to see family there and I still haven't finished packing!

Irish, the 3D scan sounds amazing. I had one done with DS, but he was only 17 weeks, so a bit scrawny. How nice for the children to share that experience. I am so pleased you are 23 (24 now I suppose?) weeks. How wonderful. I am very of you, but also very for you. I hope your trip to Ireland went well.

Deige, it is lovely to hear from you. I'll bet it has been madly busy for you too. I love the baby coos, when you mentioned that my heart melted remembering my babies doing it. I used to love breast-feeding them when they were young and they would make these gorgeous little "ahh" sounds whilst feeding. How I miss it all...

I'm pretty well hopeless when it comes to this ttc caper. I just can't let it go, despite the way I feel every time AF rolls around yet again. Surely I can get one more BFP? Can't I?? Well, I suppose that remains to be seen.

I am wondering if I might ovulate early this month. I am only day 9, but yesterday I noticed some EWCM, and stirrings in my ovaries. So who knows? I am making a big effort (actually it isn't too much of an effort whilst on holidays - I am well rested and relaxed )to get some SWI. Started on CD7 and plan to do it every other day until I am sure ovulation has happened.

I am trying to remember to take my vitex, perhaps that will help somehow?

I have been at the beach every day since Christmas and it has been gorgeous. I've had time for long walks and a swim or surf. Bliss. Today, though, is overcast, so I might get into the garden instead. I love being on holiday at home, it's just so nice to go slow...

I hope everyone is well and recovered from the Silly Season!

Morning Your scan sounds amazing irish, and what a lovely xmas eve treat for everyone. I too can't believe you are 23 weeks - it really does only seem yesterday that you came on and announced your bfp!
Gum your days sound lovely - I do envy you the beach! I lived in a small coastal village as a child but of course didn't really really appreciate it then as I would now. In fact I was only saying yesterday (while complaining how much things like the cinema etc cost for the dcs) how it would be a lot cheaper and easier to live by the beach. Not much where I live now for dcs really, though we am making the effort to take a long walk to a good park where we'll have a 'winter picnic' .
TTc plans sound good too, and so much easier when you're feeling less tired. When does work start again?

Better go and see to Laurie as he's awake now - I dared to abandon the gf routine this morning as I needed a rest and of course he's awake/asleep at the 'wrong' time. Live by the routine die by the routine and all that

Love to all xxx Oh and first af after the birth (well, since jan 11th!!) today!!!

Hello everyone! Quick belated merry christmas to everybody and an early happy new year. Am passing theough home after ski and before flying to Seville for new year to visit friends. i guess i have really overdone the travel arrangements over this period of the year so I will not think about hte sad events and lost hopes of last year. And i really do not, i have to say! Ski was wonderful, we had 4 days of sunshine, only one day of heavy snowfall/no visibility, but event hat was not so bad that we could not have been out on pistes all day long. two days were very windy, had to stay in our own valley, but got to do what I like best the other days - set our from own station and plan a day long round trip, about 6 hours, from start of ski school to the end of it, no lunch brakes, just going up and down. i feel very alive after a week like that, washing and packing for new teip now. Presents thing really easy, we do only books for christmas, it is about 2o year old tradition in my family, since ridicule commercial overdoing hit my country. My kids have always known Christmas is a time for good reading, fire in the fireplace, skiing, making gingerbread and eating well. I do buy them toys pointedly outside of the party season, so that they would not associate christmas time with nothing else than being a family and happy about it.
And, of course, being in Courchevel we had no opulent dinners out, the place still offers good quality reasonable price accommodation, but due to being popular with rich russians the restaurant prices are on the orbit. So, cooked for ourselves, traditional Christmas stuff, but it must be first in a lifetime that i actually lost a couple of kilos over Christmas. We only had lunch out on piste the last day w DS2and hubby, DS3 was still in ski school, and the meal for three, even if delicious and really good quality, beautiful serving etc., but cost 180 EUR for three. the wine list carried champagnes in the price category of 4000 EUR, normal wine price was 150 a bottle (we drank beer ;-). I still like that resort for excellent ski school, and the tracks are not too overcrowded due to lots of people actually spending time in shops and restaurants, but it is getting more and more weird with all the expensive furs, ski valets, porche cayennes etc up in 1850 meters :-)
Anyhow, DS2 graduated from ESF ski school with etoile d'or, so next year we will have him on competition level classes, if he choses to take them. He is not one for speed, but seems to like the feeling of competing on skis. He will be 9 next year and if he wants i will let him try. DS3 graduated from small kids' club to start going out on pistes with next level next year, but he will only be five. I have my doubts about chairlifts and him, but have to get over them i guess. It is just so scary how little people hang on the edge and seem to be falling out of the chair any second....

weird how we do differnet things over christmas - from surf to ski - on this forum. We are a great gang and we deserve at least to keep our hope!

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good Christmas. The key turned up in the bin!! Dh had opened a babybel for dd & thrown the wrapper & key away! He is a big one for leaving rubbish on the side instead of actually putting it in the bin so typical he chooses the moment he is holding a key to use the bin!! All ended well. Christmas was lovely with my mum, brother, sister in law & their 2 kids (aged 9 and almost 6) my dd is 3 so excitement levels were high!! Had to share a room with dd though & bed was very squeaky so didn't manage to dtd. I'm worried I've missed my chance this month, got my 2 equal lines on Friday but didn't manage to do it. Persuaded dh to do it twice last night though so might have just caught it. I hate to waste a month but nothing I can do now.
jass your Christmas sounds amazing. What a good idea re the books. Everyone goes crazy in my family & now dd has so many toys I think we'll need to move house! She got some books which we have read a thousand times already so I'm sure she would have been happy without all the toys.
I can't believe people can buy a bottle of champagne for 4000 euros!!!!! I know I'd knock it straight over.....
diege I have a friend who didn't discover ds1 was tongue tied until ds2 was diagnosed. The baby was snipped because it only involved a midwife at the house & was over in seconds. Dd1 would have involved anaesthetic so she hasn't done it. Turns out she has it too & never even knew it! Hope it all works out.
hopeful how lovely all the older children enjoyed Christmas with your ds. I'm sure it brought back all the excitement for them too. I'm sure it will happen when you least expect it, if only we could switch off & not worry about it for a few months but every month feels like such a missed opportunity.
irish 3d scan sounds amazing! Do you know what you're having?

I realised if I get pregnant this month I will still be 41 on due date, I don't know why that would make me feel so much better! Introduced dh to preseed last night - gooey & hilarious! 2nd acupuncture session tomorrow so I'm trying everything. Drank a lot over Christmas though so maybe not quite trying everything, couldn't watch everyone enjoying the wine & not have any ha ha.....

Grizzer, 41 or 42 or 52 does not matter. When you are pregnant, you are pregnant, not "pregnant at 42" or anything. If your body does it, then it is young enough for it, full stop. Whether you were late this month or not depends on how long it takes you to ov after positive OPK. People are different, but i think you are in with a good chance

I believe it doesn't matter Jass but sadly dh feels we should stop ttc soon. I think his worry comes from us previously having a downs baby (we lost her) & I know my age worries him. I really feel I will have another baby though so I'm not worried. It will happen xx

i think my DH thinks we have stopped. i do not bother him with the process too much and try to keep dtd up after the fertile window in order to not give away i still know always when I ov. men need to know less, it will not affect their performance that way :-)))

Jass, I'm with you on the "man" thing. It is much better that DH have no idea of fertile windows etc. It keeps the peace in my house...

Your ski holiday sounds amazing. And what a bonus that you lost weight while on holiday! That is unheard of for me - I tend to let everything slide on holidays and eat all the wrong things, only to have to come home and reverse the damage! I am doing the 5:2 intermittent fasting again hoping to lose a few more kilos, and the more I do it the easier it gets. I don't think it will have a negative impact on my fertility. Quite the opposite I think: when you fast it allows the body to repair itself. Maybe it will help with the quality of my eggs but I know that's a long shot...

Grizzer, you really are still quite young in the scheme of things, and you seem to have the right attitude about ttc - that you do have a baby in your future. And it can take up to 48 hours to ovulate after the positive opk, so you may well be in with a good chance.

As for me, I think the EWCM was a bit of a weird thing as I now have sticky mucus and haven't ovulated yet. I still have low temperatures. I will keep up the SWI...not throwing in the towel yet

I am off to town this morning - meeting my sister for a cuppa and exchanging gifts. I think I might take a leisurely look around the shops, not planning on buying anything (really need to pay off credit cards after Christmas) but you never know what bargains might be found...

Have a wonderful new year everyone and thank you so much for your support last 18 months!!!
Hope 2014 brings a big positive to everyone one here!
Xxx

jass you are sooo right! Unfortunately the only time I tend to grab DP atm is for SWI and he kinda guesses by the state of the fluids (sorry, TMI haha!) what time of the month it is.

My temps dropped so ov must be on its way and we had successful SWI last night. (I say that as with DH's issues we often have unsuccessful SWI! - so, yippee!) I decided to test for ov again as I hadn't for a while and had been guessing by the basal temp and going on several past months. Yesterday's was a pale line/negative - it got darker, but only ages after and today's was even paler and doesn't seem to be getting any darker. Looks like I'll be in the middle of things for New Years, so no boozing for me!!

I think I need to re-change my spur-of-the-moment NC as being on this thread has made me feel alot less old and a lot less upset! Thankyou to ALL!!

Would it be possible for someone in-the-know to give me a bit of info on Vitex? I have totally regular cycles and had read that it might not be so good for me in that respect.

I tried Pregnacare Conception a few months ago and it played havoc with my basal temps and I got terrible cramping so stopped them immediately.

I was looking for something to give me a little 'boost', any ideas for the New Year most welcomed .

Enjoy the shopping, hopeful! Tell us what bargains you found

Sounds like everyone has had a fun and festive time over Christmas and
really glad all the bumps/little ones are growing nicely! Morien how are
you feeling now? I didn’t really feel like celebrating over Christmas
much but I forced myself to be jolly (fake it till you make it ) as
being a misery guts doesn’t help and makes me feel even worse. My SK’s
really had a lovely time and I had my and DP family over so I was so busy I
didn’t have much time for brooding. I did however make sure that I had
plenty of ….

That said, I have officially had enough of 2013 – frankly it can feck off!
I am now ready for 2014. I have an appointment with my GP this afternoon to see if she will refer me to the recurrent miscarriage clinic on the advice of the hospital gynaecologist - "you don't have time to have another miscarriage". You are supposed to have three in a row to qualify but she seemed to think that it would not be unreasonable given I had two miscarriages in quick succession to ask for a referral because it shouldn't be assumed it is my age. If it isn't and they can fix an issue then it's worth a go. If I can't get a nhs referral I will ask for a private one and we will pay to have the tests done. We will keep trying in the meantime because very month feels like an opportunity that we simply can't waste - after all it only takes one healthy egg/sperm combo! I think we need to be realistic that given my low AMH, our age and my miscarriages are likely to have been chromosomal issues - we might have to give up at some point but not just yet.....

So we are back on the horse (again). I have started taking Q10 and have some DHEA on order. Evening primrose oil till O’ along with Raspberry leaf tea (but I can’t remember why ) and a seven seas conception vitamin. DP is back on conception for men, oysters, walnuts, conceive plus, lots of shagging and no hot baths .

I have been taking my temps consistently throughout and it looks
like I ovulated on CD20 (an improvement on CD67 after MC1) and we did
manage to DTD on all the right days leading up to/including and following O so can’t do anymore than that – am now 7DPO. It was a bit confusing though because I had nearly 4 days of +ve OPKs after my temp went up. Very odd and Dr Google wasn’t much help – any ideas what this might have been about? To be fair I had quite a lot of twinging going on over ovulation time so maybe it was. my body just resetting itself? My chart is here

What’s everyone got planned for NYE? My DP and I are going in London for NYE/NYD and have treated ourselves to a nice hotel so we can “do” London without having to stress about trains and all that. He is taking me to my favourite posh vegetarian restaurant of all time on NYE – it’s where we went on our first date all those years ago (proving that he CAN be romantic ).

Our first EDD was 2nd January so we will light a candle for our still
missed baby that wasn’t meant to be.

I hope that 2014 is the year all of our dreams become reality….

xxx

Just a quick visit to tell you amnio results for cmv where negative: no infection passed to the baby.. I feel really grateful for that!

Mozzarella.. Wonderful news,!! Does it mean that together with the other tests that everything is going well???

Happy new year to everyone here!! Xx

Happy New Year everyone. We actually managed to stay up and watch the fireworks! Took dd to watch The Snowman at the theatre in the afternoon followed by pizza dinner. She went to bed and dh and I drank a bottle of bubbly and played The Cube board game. All very old and civilised!
Mozzarella that's brilliant news. I hope you can start to enjoy your pregnancy now. How has dp been throughout? Any better?
Green how did you get on at drs? I can't help with the chart I'm afraid - I haven't got a clue about temps etc which might explain my lack of success.... Thinking of you tomorrow xx

Oh Mozza, that is good news!

Happy New Year everyone!

May all our desires come to fruition.
May 2014 bring BFP's, happy pregnancies and healthy babies.
But if it doesn't, may it bring us happiness,peace and acceptance.

gum xxxx

A very Happy New Year, everyone!

That was one of the best mornings. Reading up on all the news since Christmas! Its sounds like we all survived and enjoyed (!) it and are ready for a very positive 2014. Honestly, I don't think I could stomach another year like 2013.

jass, thank you for saying that about ages. I feel like turning 42 in four weeks isn't shutting any windows any more. And I've decided that if I'm not pregnant this month, I'm going to my gynea to ask for some help.

So happy that 'our' pregnancies are going well. That is my new 'big picture' - it can happen and it can be good.

On that note, lose the panties, ladies! Another month has arrived!

Happy New Year everyone!
mozza, brilliant news about your results - what a wonderful way to start the new year. I really hope you can relax a little now and enjoy your pregnancy xx
Gum a good new year message there. I really really hope with all my heart that you get a bfp this year and that it's a sticky one xx
Not sure who asked about the vitex and regular cycles (apologies, very sleep deprived) but I think I would be very careful if my cyckle was regular as I have heard stories of vitex lengthening cycles when previously they were fine. The reason I took it (with good effect) was that my luteal phase was on the short side (10/11 days) - iirc is lengthened it to about 12/13 days and did result in a sticky bfp (not that I can say it was the causal factor of course, but I feel it did help).
Pile of ironing now to deal with...dh back at work tomorrow so have all 6 at home, arghh!!!!

mozza super news, I am so glad for you! What a super start to 2014.
green I took a quick look at your chart - could it possibly be two eggs released within a day or two of each other? only a thought, as I do my own charting but am not an expert. It looks like a good post-O temp increase though, so fingers crossed.
Grizzer you could try the charting? it's actually quite fun (ahem!). And even if it's not fun there are other upsides of - if you're totally knackered, knowing that post-O temp rise means you don't have to SWI; and when you're awaiting BFP the temp drop tends to arrive before AF appears so you have a few extra hours not to get your hopes up! And of course knowing when to SWI which is the whole point in the first place
diege that was me - I think I will stay away from it as you've reinforced the message that it's not so good for regular cycles. Thankyou!
Happy New Year to all!

Happy New Year to everyone! I for one am glad that 2013 is over, onwards and upwards now... Wishing everyone gets their wish.

No resolutions for me, other than keeping up what I had been doing anyway - and that includes trying for that elusive sticky BFP!
I was in a horrible mood yesterday, probably to do with the fact that everyone was posting on Facebook how they are looking forward to meeting their new baby in the New Year etc. (OK, not everyone, but it felt like it). This time last year I had my first mc, to be followed by two more - for me, there were far more downs that ups in 2013!

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and enjoyable holidays - Christmas was knackering with all my family and the PILs here, it was so wonderful when they all left . Didn't do anything for NYE, bit tricky with a 2.5-year-old. But I'm not a fan anyway. We were in bed by 11pm.

Mozza That is brilliant news, you must be so relieved! I really hope that you can start to enjoy your pregnancy now and relax a bit.

Diege Thanks for the info about vitex - I have been thinking about taking it, as my luteal phase is 10/11 days on average, but my cycles are vrey regular like clockwork, and after my bad experience with Vit B6, I am a bit wary of supplements... I might leave it for now, since I will be getting progesterone anyway, as soon as I get pg again.

Here's something that might give some of us a spark of hope:a lovely story