Immune /natural killer cell treatment when ttc or pregnant (aka the 18th pred thread!)

[Hula2]

This is a thread for those diagnosed with high or very high natural killer cells and trying to concieve or are pregnant and taking steroids/intralipids etc

Newcomers very welcome

Hello everyone :)

Started the prednisolone this morning - wahey. It's roughly around ovulation time so I'm hoping I've got the timing right. I can't get the hang of the ovulation sticks but I'm fairly good with the fluid watching and body temperature. Here's hoping!

Hello jen :) I'm a little older than you - will be 39 this June with hypothyroidism (diagnosed by Mr Shehata), no one has mentioned IVF at all to me although that might be because I've had a couple of chemicals and mmc at 8 weeks in quick succession. Can get to first base but not beyond!

Wish you lots of luck on your journey. This board has been brilliant to share experiences - more use in the short time I've been reading it than my GP! :)

X

Got my blood results back.
Down's -1:22,000
The other two less than 1:50,000
So low risk. Although now I'm worrying my Down's isn't 'low enough'! Lol! I do realise I'm being completely ridiculous.

Good luck with your first cycle on Pred Karry

Well done seeking, these are fab results! You must be very relieved :)

And well done Karyk for starting the pred! I hope this will be me if not this month then def the next one

Out of curiosity and as a general question to the group, how much pred did you get from the doctor? Enough for 3 cycles of trying? Reason I am asking is that he's not doing a London clinic for the time being and going to Epsom is a bit of a faff with work and daycare and everything X

Thanks Anna
I got enough for 3 cycles initially, then had to go back. They like to check you're coping ok with the steroids - no nasty side effects etc.
Didn't realise he's not doing the London clinic currently. The Epsom one is sooo lovely though, I can't blame him. Just a pain for those that don't live near. Thankfully Epsom is only 30mins away. Met a lady there the other week who's come from Essex and got stuck in awful traffic - was 2 hours late! That would send my blood pressure through the roof!!

Yeah seeking!!!!

anna I think I got about three months worth. I agree Epsom is a faff but the clinic is so lovely. I'm going to be at the hospital on Monday for about five hours and I keep thinking how horrible it is compared to Epsom, no complimentary hot chocolate haha at my last appointment there they were keeping the clinic open late because there was a lady coming from Belgium and there were delays on the Eurostar!

Yay Seeking!!! Congrats! What a relief to have this milestone done. It does get a little easier as each week goes by :)

Thank you ladies.... Was such a relief!

Great news seeking!!

I hope everyone else is doing well xx

Great news, Seeking :) thanks for your wishes.

I was given only two cycles worth of prednisolone scratches head hmm!

On day 3 now, haven't turned green yet! it's way too early for any positive signs although I was convinced I had slightly tender boobs yesterday...seem to be normal today..boo hiss! :) fingers crossed anyway!

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend x

Forgot to add - I was told that the Harley St clinic is closing for refurbishment :) not sure when it's reopening. Hopefully it won't take long - I don't live within easy travelling distance of Epsom :)

Great news seeking, my result was 1 in 10,000 so your result is very good.

Hi everyone.

36+1 today and had my growth scan this afternoon. They said she's about 6 lbs 13 ozs already please reassure me this is a complete estimate. Does this mean she's going to be absolutely huge? I'm quite worried now.

Hey snoopy, that s sounds fine ! I think they reckon they grow about half a pound a week in the last month so that would be around 8lb at 40weeks so a nice weight. Even tho ds was 9lb (and i m only 5"3 and 8.5 stone) i d still rathered him bigger but a bit stronger than too little so i d say don t worry.

Awww bless Snoopy! So cute imagining your lil girl! I actually was researching some of my Anamaly scan numbers the other day and came across many people saying that measurements in general tend to be a bit inaccurate. Meaning, I wouldn't worry because even if it's a little off- that can make a huge difference. Do you have a birth plan? Not that you can predict these things of course, but is there an idea of how things may go with the hospital?

Would it not be closer to 9lbs hula? And that's if she comes on time. Was your DS on time?

I've been doing some research today and apparently bigger babies do tend to have lower mortality rates and are healthier in later life, so that's good. I was under 6lbs so I must be doomed to ill health haha

No birth plan yet drttc. Supposed to sort it out on Friday, so hopefully they can allay some of my fears now. I was going to try for the midwife led unit (which is in the hospital so not far from doctors in case something goes wrong) as there is the option of water birth there.

Bless him, DH has really stepped up these last couple of weeks. He's arranged a tens machine, bought massage oil, has arranged entertainment in case I'm at the hospital for a while, bought me a nice night shirt for photos, we packed bags. He's so excited, and he's calling the jellyfish 'the hulk' since yesterday haha

Sorry I'm rambling, I guess it's all becoming very real.

How exciting snoopy good luck xxx

I wouldn't worry too much snoopy, I've read loads of stories where the mum has been told to expect a big baby based in growth scans and then had a relatively normal weight baby. I don't think they can be very accurate.
Ahhh bless DH, sounds very organised! And thoughtful!

Sorry snoopy read 6lb 3 not 13 ! So yes closer to 9 but still as the others said it really is only an estimate. Ds was 4days overdue. I still preferred having him bigger and he was so much stronger (still is at equivalent age) to my nephew who was only 6lb. Also big doesn t necessarily mean harder birth as i think head size is more critical and thats more hereditary (all the males in my dhs family have big heads so i was always doomed !).

Midwife led often leads to less intervention if all going normally. Main thing with the birth plan is to have it as an outline but not get too stressed if it doesn t pan out that way (often the case). I think i managed to get everything i didn t want and nothing i did but as long as you get them home safely you don t care in the long run.

Exciting, can t wait to hear when she arrives.

Thanks everyone.

hula I looked at the report again and none of the measurements are above the 75th centile, femur length is actually bang on 50th centile, so maybe she's just a little chubster?

I was scanned by a student but the senior sonographer kept saying 'she's a healthy average baby' and it wasn't until I looked at the report that I thought 'that weight is not bloody average!'

Oops pressed post too soon.

I definitely don't have any preconceived ideas about the birth. I'll give the tens machine a go and see how that works and, if they let me, I might try water but I'm not sure I'd be 100% comfortable in there and I definitely would not let DH get in with me haha

hi billy, how are you doing this month hon? Are you on a 2ww after trying this month?

I have been going through some previous email and saw the convo on the supplements and NAC.

Just wanted to tell you that I've started taking it, as well as coQ10 and myo-inositol, all of which are listed as good supplements to take if wanting to boost egg quality (it's all on the It starts with the Egg book)

I did ask Dr S about DHEA and he was slightly disinterested and didn't really suggest it made any difference. The ISWTE book suggests that DHEA is proven to have better results on women doing IVF but NAC and myo-inositol (as well as coQ10) are all good things to take when trying to boost your eggs and ttc naturally. It was suggested to take them daily on appropriate doses for 3 months before ttc (yeah sure if one has all the time in the world)

Just thought I'd mention in as we kind of left that discussion a bit unfinished.

Hope everyone is well- we've decided to start ttc this month after our last mmc in Nov' 15
So I am bingeing on loads of supplements, trying to be good with eating well and moderating alcohol, exercising and keeping stress levels at bay. And will also start taking steroids this month too, which is freaking my DH out majorly but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

hugs to all

Wow snoopy can't believe how near you are now! So exciting!

I was told the estimates are about +- 10% either way but wouldn't get too hung up on it - I was told at the scan before DS was born he was at least 9 1/2 lb but he was actually born 8lb 11. He didn't look masive when he was born but as hula says nice to have something a bit more robust. He was actually the smallest baby on my ward!

As for birth plan, I put at the top that due to my recurrent mc history my top priority was for him to arrive safely, however that was to be. I also said that I didn't want to be tied to the bed and to be able to stand and use the gram ball as much as possible, funny thing was I couldn't get comfortable doing either and spent most of the labour until the epidural / c-section laying on my side on the bed!

I just realised that my reply hasn't appeared.

anna I think you're doing the right thing. Obviously I don't know exactly what worked this time but if I were to do it again I would definitely take NAC and I was actually taking inositol with choline because I had some from Holland and Barrett I was using up. I can't offer any any insight on dhea. I think hula might have used it. With regards to your DH would it be possible to just not tell him what days you're taking the pred? If he doesn't know and (fingers crossed) you experience no side effects then maybe he will relax a bit more?

sunny quite a few people told me that when it came to it they just didn't want to move around that much despite planning to keep active.

Hello all :)

So exciting to hear about the scans!

I'm well into the 2ww now - day ten of the steroids will be this Sunday, so I'll need to do the preggo test then :P

Anna - this was my first month of taking the steroids and my husband was a little freaked out (hence my jokes about turning into the incredible hulk)...I haven't had any strange side effects. I'm feeling majorly bloated today and having strange period-like cramps (without the period bit) but that's about it.

Hopefully you'll be fine too! Best of luck with ttc x

Hi anna I'm fine thanks for asking. I'm on day 10dpo so did a test this morning which looks like a negative - I'll test again on fri. I didn't do the SO this cycle but had a scan on day 7 to check I didn't have a cyst and all was clear apart from 2 maturing follis so I went for the intralipids on cd18. Am gona do the ibtralips every cycle now if I can get off work.
I've been taking ubiquinol (enhanced bioactivity CoQ10) but not bought any dhea yet. My acupuncturist leant me that book but I've not got round to reading it yet! But I keep meaning to get some dhea. I find it confusing as when I look online I can't see dhea and the cq10 is confusing too!! Maybe it's just me! What type/brand did you buy?
I wouldn't worry too much about the steroids - I found them ok apart from they made me moody but o think that was mainly the situation! Dr s did take me off them because of that and put me on hydroxy instead but you have to take that for 6 weeks before ttc and have to take it every day. At least with the pred you're drug free for most of the month.
There's a great book called The Baby Making Bible which I've been following for a few years which focuses on Chinese medicines view of food and the right combination of rest etc depending on your type. It's great if you're into acupuncture and all that and want to do as much naturally as you can.
Good luck to you lady - must feel very scary after everything. I'm sure you'll get back in the swing of things xx
I hope everyone else is ok xxx