35+ TTC#1 Thread 4

[BambiOnIce80]

We're very close to maxing-out our previous thread, so time to start afresh 🙂

To borrow the intro from @Blondcat (our old threads founder):

A wonderful bunch of ladies supporting each other through the ttc journey when trying for a first baby after 35.

Good luck all!! 🍀🤞🏻🍀🤞🏻

Exactly @79andnotout! I just want to know that they've received the questionnaire we filled out and we're in the system. But I will attempt patience 😬

There must be something in the air that is giving us a kick in the ass. I also went to my GP today. I have an itchy rash on the inside my leg (by my vaj 😳). I saw a lovely locum lady that gave me an ointment and also the papers for my fertility tests that I have been putting off for ages in the hope that it will all happen au natural. AF due tomorrow and this month I have no symptoms at all, nada. I did an opk last night (didn't have a frer) but it was obviously negative. The plus is that the Kira supplement does seem to have kept my 5 day pre AF spotting under control and I am bloody pleased with it.

Hi @BambiOnIce80
Thank you for the lovely welcome.
I have been TTC since September, so pretty new.
I previously had a mirena coil, had this removed 17th sept, first AF was 7th Oct.
Cycle length has been 31 days for Oct and November, then this month I was 5 days late. I did a test and BFN. I was completely convinced that I’d get a BFP but AF reared her ugly head this morning, making my last cycle 36 days!
I did have slight periods with the mirena, but I obviously didn’t keep track.

I’ve seen a bit of chatter about supplements and was wondering what the coq10 was.
I’m currently taking folic acid and a multi vit with iron.
I am no also thinking of using the OPK. Would you recommend the internet cheapies as a start?

Any news on the AF front this morning @QuantumGirl? It's funny we've both had a symptomless cycle! AF is due for me on Sunday and I've still not felt any of the usual "AF is coming signs"... I bet I'm right and this cycle will be annovulatory for me 🙄

It's mean of our bodies to throw us the odd long cycle and trick us @Emmz84! I've been there a few times too. My cycles stayed at 28 days whilst I had the mirena in, it just made AF a lot lighter and it's taking some time to get back to what's 'normal' for me (had mine out in March and they're starting to get a little heavier like they used to be now 👍). I don't take the coq10, but I think it's the one that might help improve egg quality? Keep me right ladies if I'm wrong! As far as OPK's go, I'm a fan of the IC's and I think they're a good (and, more importantly, inexpensive!) place to start. If you don't get on with them then you haven't lost much 🙂

Well. I had a bit of a rude awakening this morning 😣 Had a lovely festive time and a very late night last night, so was enjoying a lay-in when my phone woke me up. The caller id said it was my ex husband (who I've not spoken to in 5 years) 😳😳😳 When I answer it's a woman (🤨) calling from the hospital... and then my sleepy brain kicked things up a notch and realised that the work number for my ex is the same general number for the hospital where the ACU is 😂🤣 When I'd finished panicking and started listening properly, the ACU have indeed got our questionnaire and our appointment letter will be with us in the next couple of weeks (short staffed, etc, etc), with the appointment expected to be somewhere between the end of January and the middle of February 👍 The system is kicking in, we haven't been forgotten and I'm feeling a bit happier because of it 🙂

Hi @BambiOnIce80 good news about the appointment, that's a great relief to know it's been processed. AF got me last night so this cycle was 27 days for me instead of the usual 28 just as Flo predicted but then I think I ovulated a day earlier. I'm tempted to give all my supplements a break this cycle and only take folic acid and vitamin D spray to see what happens. I was reading the Zita West blog last night and apparently she swears by it.

Sorry AF got you @QuantumGirl 💐 Since I last posted I think I can feel the tell tale niggles coming on myself, so at least it looks like she's going to be on time (glass half full...🍷). Sounds like a plan with the vitamins 👍 When I started reading around all the "these could help" vitamins, the list seemed frickin' endless! Where do you draw the line?! I went along the line that, at the end of the day, all the NHS recommends you take is folic acid so the TTC multivitamin I'm taking is at least enough to give any potential bambino a reasonable start. I'd rattle otherwise! 😂

Hi @Emmz84, it sounds like I am a month behind you and we have a lot in common regarding cycles and getting things back to normal. Good to have someone at the same stage to compare notes. I think I'm going to try OPKs this month too.

Hey all
I’m now 16 days after surgery for MMC
DH and I have started DTD again in last few nights...
my hcg dropped from 33000 pre MC to 194 on Monday so hoping by next week will be low enough to ovulate.
I’m still not showing signs of ovulation and hoping either AF comes in next couple of weeks or maybe I catch again?? Who knows!! X

Hi @Rachyrach83 are you spotting? Sorry to hear about your surgery, I can't even think about what you have gone through 💐

Thank you for the reassurance @BambiOnIce80, and the recommendations re: ICOPK, think I will order a batch this afternoon.
I haven’t read much in regards to the coq10, but will keep researching in the meantime.

Hi @zoomies1
It’s frustrating waiting for things to go back to normal isn’t it. Especially as I was told that my cycles would return to normal straight away!!!!!!
I’m going to have a look on amazon for the OPK and hopefully I will at least know when to time things.
I’m just so impatient and honestly thought I would conceive straight away. But that’s just me all over, impatient and optimistic .

@quantum

Spotting stopped around 4 days ago xx

These are the ones that I go for @Emmz84:

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001G7P62S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_N56eCbDJN9Y71?tag=mumsnetforum-21

If you need any help deciphering them (whichever ones you go for), just shout.x

I use those onestep ones too. There are also cheaper, narrower ones of the same brand but i find them more difficult to interpret. I test morning and when I get home from work starting at cd11 or so, and before i go to bed if it's nearly positive. My positive usually happens between cd13-16.

That's funny @BambiOnIce80 - and exactly the kind of thing I'd do. My phone is a work phone so I eye up every unknown number that comes through outside of work hours to see if I want to answer it or not. I've nearly missed some important calls because of it! Glad the wheels are in motion.

Oh gosh Bambi, I'd have freaked out! I'm so glad that they've gotten the questionnaire though. Eight weeks is far too long to find out that they hadn't. Do you know what will happen once you have the appointment?

@79andnotout I'm feeling remarkably well and relaxed. Perhaps a bit in denial. I hope that you get your appointment soon as well!

Welcome @Emmz84! I take vitamin D and a multivitamin year round, so the only thing I added initially was folic acid. I did try adding B6 and CoQ10, but I wasn't on them long enough to make a difference. The CoQ10 is meant to improve egg quality but I don't know how scientifically proven that is. Good luck with TTC!

@QuantumGirl sorry that AF appeared. It sounds like your luteal phase has stayed consistent though. Do you think the supplements are having a negative effect on your cycles, or do you just want a break from all the TTC nonsense?

I've totally neglected to send out Christmas cards this year and it's too late for the US. A few neighbors have put some through the door and I was thinking of dropping off cards and some sort of home baked treats for them. Is this weird? We know them just to say hi to in the street, not much beyond that. I think I can be overly friendly here sometimes and am not sure what the etiquette is.

@Kescilly I would definitely reciprocate your neighbours cards and if you can add a homemade treat I assure you it will be very appreciated. It's so nice to have good neighbours I have horrible ones, I could write a whole book (or a MN thread) about them.
I'm contemplating having a break from supplements this cycle. I spot before AF, had no change with pregnacare but Kira hormonal balance fixed it. When I got pregnant last time I wasn't taking anything and had given up on ttc after 8 months. I couldn't believe when I saw my BFP but then lost it at 5 weeks. It put me off so much that I went back on the pill (stupid, stupid me. Biggest regret of my life 😢) My next FW will be just after Xmas and DH and I will be off work and relaxed. I have so much hope for this next cycle just don't know if leaving the supplements out will help or not 🤷‍♀️

Cheers @79andnotout 😊

Oh, I was very much indeed freaking out when I saw the caller id @Kescilly! 😂 Imagine my confusion when it was the ACU and not a blast from the past!! On the appointment front, my previous experience says they'd usually go through our results and then suggest an HSG and intrauterine ultrasound, but given nothing unusual showed up on the one I had 7 years ago I'm not sure if it's worth them redoing it or not 🤔 Given I had cysts on both ovaries on my last ultrasound, I can understand them wanting to redo that and see how many I've got now... I guess we'll just have to wait and see 🙂

I'm with @QuantumGirl - yes to reciprocation of Christmas cards and baked items are always appreciated, regardless of how well you know someone! 😋

On the supplements thing @QuantumGirl I think you've just got to do whatever you're comfortable with and just maybe keep folic acid as a minimum? Keeping everything crossed that the time off around your FW next cycle will be a winning formula 🤞🏻🍀

Yes to the neighbours! My neighbours are great. We even have a whatsapp group (I'm in a little row of old mill cottages) for our row. Great when you've run out of eggs or need your cats feeding or forgot to put your bins out or something.

I've not sent any cards this year (and most of my family are abroad too), but my family don't really give a toss, and also i'm trying to be green these days and not sure how i feel about cards/mailing things anymore.

@79andnotout I'm a card Scrooge too, only WhatsApp Xmas messages these days. When I moved to the countryside I thought I would end up with lovely neighbours that I would have cup of tea with but I ended up with a bunch of dysfunctional people who had a tantrum days after I moved in because I moved MY shed to the other side of MY garden. It only got worse from there 🙄

@QuantumGirl - ah how annoying! some people are plain weird though. I really don't understand the mentality where you'd actively pick fits with your neighbours. We've really lucked out though. We are probably never going to have better neighbours than the ones we have now.

Wow, I feel lucky with my neighbors now! We have basically no communication with the people attached to us and behind us, but say a friendly hello to some of the others.

I’ve become friends with a group of women on my street so that’s been great. We aren’t super close but it’s something.

I used to be really social, always hosting, and it’s been hard to go from that to zero friends. And then it feels like everyone our age has kids and that’s been difficult as well. Our whole neighborhood is families with young children.

We're so lucky with our neighbours, both sides are retired and deaf, and we have gardening conversations over the fence. The only annoying thing is the elderly husband whistles constantly, I hear it through the walls all the time!

@Kescilly Thank you for the warm welcome and info on supplements.
I think I will just carry on taking the multi vit and folic acid for now. I’m rubbish with remembering to take those every day without over complicating things.

I’ve now ordered my first batch of OPK from amazon, Thankyou @BambiOnIce80 for the link.

On the neighbours topic: I don’t actually have much to do with my neighbors, other than the odd polite hello here and there.
I tend to keep myself to myself the majority of the time, I think it saves a lot of hassle in the long run.
Plus, I do have this one neighbour a few doors down who seems to know everything about everybody and isn’t shy in letting you know about it either. (I’m sure we’ve all got one of those)

AF three days late and just starting to think 'maybe!' Then it arrives with vengeance and has gone through night time pad and wrecked new sheets  feeling very sorry for myself today. Fingers crossed for new year conception!

Mine arrived at 3am too @pattyhoo 💐 Here's to a more fertile New Year! 🥂🤞🏻🍀

@BambiOnIce80 and @pattyhoo sorry to hear about AFs! Yet to find out my "fate" on Monday.