Fabulous forty + ttc and having success!

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Old thread just about finished. Here is a new one... Fx for lots of well earned BFPs for those ttc over forty. We also welcome stories from those who have successfully had their babies over forty and we love hearing back from our graduates.

Hi to everyone
I'm new to the thread and just wondered if anyone knew about the 3 day hormone blood tests?

Im on the advanced side (to put it mildly!) and don't want to give up hope completely as I would very much love to be able to conceive but fear my results have been less than encouraging

My FSH is 16 and oestrogen 201 and very low testerone levels
Not sure exactly what all the numbers mean so if anyone has got any more info on these it would be much appreciated. Do the numbers mean its very unlikely to able to conceive?

Would other tests prove to be more conclusive like AMH and antral follicle count?

Many thanks for all your help

Urghh abab hope you are wrong but very sorry if that's what it is. You are right - I look at other threads sometimes and can't believe the giddy hope. TTC post 40 has made me a cynic. ..

Hi blueskies I'd love to know about the 4 day test too. I've just had a repeat one- a year after a chemical pregnancy and 6 months after a miscarriage. Was going to get results after I've done the 21 day one.

ababs that's really frustrating! At this point you just want to know one way or the other! Fingers crossed for you. We've had stories before on this thread where this has turned into BFP.

How are you holding up?

blueskies I don't know the answers to your questions, but I've been considering having hormone levels checked too, so hoping someone clever comes around with the answers!!

I was right - AF arrived early for me! Really frustrating - It seems a bit all over the place at the moment.

Chewy, still thinking of you and hope you are doing ok!

Thanks so much for your replies total and twinkly - I've looked up the FSH levels and it seems to say that anything below 10 is good and anything above 10 is starting to look not great :(

If anyone knows anymore about 3 day blood results that would be great

Sorry blueskies19 I don't know much about those tests but there are a few posters who have had them so hopefully they can help.

Thank you totalnamechanger and Twinkly but AF arrived on Thursday night. A relief in the end to get going with a new cycle. I feel quite ridiculous really that I allowed myself to get carried away and believe that I was pg with no real proof. I was feeling exactly as I did when I conceived last year and AF was late and I really got my hopes up. Oh well, I will know better next time.

Twinkly I'm sorry AF arrived early and seems to be all over the place. Frustrating isn't it?

Chewy I hope you're doing ok, thinking of you too xx

Sorry ababs! We're really overdue our BFPs! It's so hard!

And at the moment there are babies being born all around me. Grinning my congratulations is literally tortuous! It makes me feel like such a terrible human being!

Hi ladies.

I joined this thread a good while ago but I've been missing in action since. We'll soon be back to the ttc rollercoaster. I've had 1 ectopic, 1 healthy pregnancy but lost my son at 13 months to septicaemia, then had 2 miscarriages in quick succession. We caught again in May, but I knew very quickly that something wasn't right. After lots of scans (unfortunately at the hospital where our son died just 7 months ago - very difficult) we were eventually diagnosed with a missed miscarriage. I opted for an ERPC as I wanted to avoid the pain of waiting & having it pass naturally, and it was finally done yesterday. We'll take a break for a bit and then off we go again.

Wishing everyone here all the very best for the future xx

Sorry ababs it really is such a bugger sometimes, isn't it. My DH went on a business trip today, he's been really ill and in pain and only recovered enough today to actually go on the trip but not enough to dtd. Strongest ever double line on opk today arghhhhh . The 6 week wait is going to be worse than my usual two week one. Ah well summer seems to be here with park events and festivals to enjoy.

Hello again Amanda I hope the SMM has given you some peace and I'm thinking of you and wish you every success for when you are ready to try again

Sorry ababs and it really is about time we had good news. None from me I'm afraid on my FET. Lining was too thin at 6.7mm. They upped my estrogen, waited a week and.... Lining was 6.5 :-(. Waiting for another scan tomorrow but as consultant was unavailable at my last scan they couldn't change my meds so I've not much hope - and I'm pretty peed off that I'm paying all this money and he wasn't available even on a phone. The nurse had already told me they could start me on patches to give things a boost then had to say they couldn't without his permission. Grrrr. I'm fully expecting a rubbish lining and cancelled cycle tomorrow but keep fingers crossed for me!
blueskies 16 is on the high side but you need to get to 25 to be menopausal so you're a way off that if it's any consolation! People definitely get pregnant with fsh that level but it's likely your ovarian reserve is getting pretty low so you may have an egg quality issue. You didn't say how old you are but if you are in your early 40s I wouldn't be surprised at that being a completely normal number for your age.

Kkmuppet good luck today!!

Lost a post yesterday, will write properly later x

Hi everyone - new on here so thought would say & introduce myself.

I'm 43 (44 in Oct) - currently bf'ing my 16 month old lb (conceived when I was 42 ;) ) and we've decided to start ttc'ing no. 2

I've starting temping this month - difficult when wake up time can be a bit erratic and I don't always have the luxury of lying for a minute to temp before doing anything else - and also using the advanced fertility monitor plus as I'm CD10 will also poa(opk)s this afternoon.. I'm leaving nothing to chance!

My periods came back in Jan but we got married last month hence not starting for our 2nd before now. All systems go now as far as I am concerned although our non-existent sex life could be a slight hindrance!

Good luck to everyone x

Hi cat and thanks ababs but as expected there was zero movement in my lining. Consultant started to say he would go ahead anyway but with a lining less than 7mm, while pregnancy is possible, rates certainly aren't nearly as high as with a thicker lining so I'm not going to risk my precious lone embryo just yet. On to estrogen patches which he doesn't think will work but can't hurt. Then a cancelled cycle and try again :-(

Hi Cat that's a nice story. Good luck with ttc - I'm pretty impressed with your motivation, I could have done with that a couple of years ago.

Sorry the news isn't better kkmuppet but it really sounds like you know what you are doing. Keeping everything crossed.

Now I'm just thinking of Ronnie Wood and wondering how he can be in peak fertility nearly 30 years older than us?! When I was old enough to appreciate who he was (ie 13/14?) he was older than I am now.

How different it is to be a man

Twinkly you're not an awful person, this is really hard. Don't be too tough on yourself, just nod and smile. I'm hoping this month is your month, it's about bloomin' time.

Welcome back Amanda. I'm sorry for your recent loss, I hope you're recovering well. I had a mmc last year, it's really tough. Sorry again for the loss of your son, I just can't imagine the pain you must be going through. Wishing you all the best for when you ttc again

Total your poor dh what a pain in the backside! I hope you can take the time to relax and treat yourself well over the coming weeks. I agree, it's so unfair that men can just go on producing children. Especially when we are the ones doing all the hard work for it.

Kkmuppet any improvement in your lining? I do hope so, it must be awful to have to cancel a cycle. Not to mention expensive. Fingers crossed for you.

Cat welcome and good luck to you. May your stay on the board be short!

I'm on cd6 I think, gearing up for fertile week. Joy!

ababsurdum Thanks for your message. The SMM was virtually painless and definitely the right decision for me. The post-op bleeding was nothing more than a bit of spotting. I took an hpt this morning and it's still giving me a faint bfp. Hoping for it to be down to zero soon. We're impatient to get going again!

Just want to say thanks to Cat for your injection of positivity. I read your post to hubby earlier. He's struggling to remain hopeful after everything we've been through, and stories like yours are just what we need to keep moving forward

Good luck to everyone

amanda I am also technically a success story as I had my first daughter at 42 and my second at nearly 44 both natural pregnancies (although my second daughter was lost at 35 weeks due to medical negligence).

Oh and I'm still trying for a living sibling for dd1 although I'll be a really old 45 in a week or so :-)

Kkmuppet you certainly are a success story. I'm so sorry that you lost your precious daughter. Ttc is so stressful at the best of times, and I'm finding trying since our loss to be so much more emotional and complicated than before. Still, I am hopeful and determined! I'll be 42 in August, so I reckon there's still life in this old dog yet! I do love to hear success stories. They help to offset the doom and gloom from the media, Internet, midwives, etc etc I wish you all the very best xxx

I'm sorry to have disappeared for two months! Moving house totally sucked up all my time (especially when it coincided with the Fatty Fishwife challenge - sex every day for a month.) But then I got really discouraged and down and couldn't face thinking about ttc. So I just came back on here for the first time in a long time. I'm still not feeling very positive, and I have the headache that signals AF is arriving, so that's me out for this month, too.

Chewy, if you're still around, I am so sad for you. That is so hard. Huge hugs.

Amanda, I'm so sorry for your losses. I'm a success story, too, if it helps to hear them. I had DS at 42 after one m/c. It was an easy, uneventful pregnancy. Conceiving his sibling is proving harder.

kk hoping the lining improves soon.

Cat I'm still bfing my 22 month old, too. Slightly worried that I might be torpedoing my already small chance of getting pregnant.

Ababs, Twinkly, total, I hope this is your month!

Sending good conception thoughts to us all.

Hello ladies 😀

Welcome CAT and welcome back PIES.

Quick catch up. I've not been on for a while as been feeling pretty negative about all the ttc etc but decided I am certainly not ready to throw in the towel just yet!

Currently on cd 28 of what has been 25/26 cycle for best part of 2 years. I had a slightly longer cycle couple of month back so don't know what is happening? Maybe my age is finally making an impact on my cycle? I don't know. Always used to be 28 days pretty much until ttc dc3. I have done a lot of. Frer and all negative sadly but still no sign of af. Also been crampy for a week on and off so keep thinking af arriving but not yet. So cruel - as although all tests negative can't help hoping beyond hope I am one of the women who I have googled about obsessively today ie, slow rising hcg, a late implanter etc etc etc! Will I never learn ! Ffs

Chewy - I do hope your ok. Think of you often and wonder how you are doing. Love and strength to you and to all of us - including lurkers (!) xxxx

Good luck everyone x

Amanda hopefully you've got your negative test by now. I got a negative test 3 days after a faint positive 3 weeks after my mc. I'm a success story too, conceived my ds at 41 after 14 months of trying (and the cycle after a failed Ivf). I'm on cycle 8 now (I think) of ttc post mc after conceiving straight away last year. It's very frustrating. Best of luck to you next time.

Pies welcome back! Sorry you've been feeling down about it all and that you think AF is on its way. We all seem to experience that roller coaster of ups and downs so you're in good company, though it's little consolation when all you want is a bfp. I hope the move went well.

MattsMamma sounds similar to me last month - overdue period but bfn. It really screws with your mind doesn't it. You know the negative tests must be right but you cling onto the hope that those stories of late bfp's give. I think those experiences must be very rare, especially if you're using a sensitive test and know roughly when you ovulated.

I am on cd14 and no positive opk yet though I can see the line now so should be today or tomorrow. Dh and I have only dtd on day 11 so far so need to get on it tonight and tomorrow. Dh has a man cold so perhaps won't feel up to it but tough.

Good luck to everyone!

Arghh, can I join the late period but bfn club? I haven't tested for a couple days, because I used up my last test on Monday, when AF was due. I keep expecting it to arrive, so haven't bothered to get any more tests but now I'm starting to get that awful glimmer of probably false hope! Matts I hope you have an answer, either way, though obvs bfp would be the right one.

Ababs hope you were able to seduce your DH out of his cold! Thanks for the good wishes on the move. If you define 'went well' as stuff is still in boxes two months on, then yes. We all are loving having a garden though. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to use it here soon.

Thanks for letting me back into the club. It's horrendous when I get really down about it all, and I can't bear to even open the thread. Good luck this month to all!

Ha, we had stuff in boxes two years on . I hope you get that bfp pies, you never know.

I got a +ve OPK before bed last night and it was still +ve this morning. We dtd last night and will tonight too, must get to bed a bit earlier. It looks like I'll ovulate today, cd15, which was my usual day before I conceived ds.

PIES - sadly AF arrived yesterday. Totally gutted and annoyed with myself for getting hopeful. But feel more positive today and really gonna give it my best shot this month. So once again onwards and upwards!!

Like ABABS says those it does screw with your head and I have no clues as to why this cycle was longer ? Does anyone else have any ideas?

PIES - wishing you a BFP - fingers well and truly crossed for you - do keep us posted - hope is not a bad thing at all - it is that which keeps us all going xx