35+ TTC#1 Thread 6

[BambiOnIce80]

Spring is in the air and it's time for a new thread!

Basically: a wonderful bunch of ladies supporting each other through the TTC journey when trying for a first baby after 35.

Here's hoping we get some spring BFP luck for all of us!! 🍀🐣🍀🐣

Congratulations @Pinkywoo!

Aw Congratulations @pinkywoo that’s amazing. How nice for @Bambi to be a part of such a special day 💗

@79andnotout I don't know what to say about your dog's behaviour 🙈😳 but I'll keep your alternative 'input' in mind. (@Weathergirl1 I had no idea my question would start this 😂)

Congrats @Pinkywoo (and @BambiOnIce80). This is lovely 💖💖💖

Thanks everyone! ❤

Thanks everyone. As I said trying not to get too ahead of ourselves as there's still a way to go but oh my that heartbeat 🥰🥰🥰

@BambiOnIce80 yep, picking up the progesterone prescription today. However sadly hols is in doubt. My ma had her hysteroscopy a week and a half ago and there appears to be some kind of post op issue. She's bleeding a lot and has been put on antibiotics but as yet they aren't slowing the bleeding. My dad is disabled so if ma is poorly or needs to go into hospital I'll need to be here for them both...so we'll have to see. I'm really worried as she said she didn't have much bleeding to start with but then it's got worse and worse.

@Carley321 sorry lovely, hope you can have a decent weekend.

Ooh congrats @Pinkywoo xxx

Happy Saturday everyone! 🌞

I can confirm that @Pinkywoo looked absolutely beautiful and her DH (😉) was very dashing indeed 💒 Totally agree @Catconfusion - so happy to be able to help out in a small way.x

@Carley32 so sorry for the BFN and for it sounding like AF is about to turn up for your weekend away 💐 Very small consolation I know, but at least you know you can have a guilt free drink whilst you're away (glass half full 🍸).x

Great news about the progesterone @Laney79, but really sorry to hear your mum isn't very well 😔 I hope they get the bleeding under control soon.x

Thanks ladies. Yea and I absolutely know that I’m not because af was due today and the test would have shown something. But that guilt free alcohol isn’t so guilt free knowing af should be her and it’s not.

I’m starting to think my anxiety is putting it on hold as I’ve had it terrible over the last few days. Maybe a drink will help lol.

Sounds amazing @Laney79 😍.

What cd are you now @Bambi?

I'm CD11 @Carley32, so heading into FW (here we go again! 😏). How was your weekend away? Did you manage to have that guilt free drink or is AF still yet to show up?

Am I right in thinking it's your clinic appointment today @QuantumGirl? I hope it goes well, if so 🤞🏻🍀

Good luck @QuantumGirl - hope they give you a plan of action. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Hope fertile week goes to plan @Bambi.

I'm on day 2 of my cycle, so doing my day 3 tests tomorrow. Looking forward to getting a bit more information. I'm feeling thoroughly fed up with other people's cute babies at the moment, and had a cry watching the live camera feeds of the little baby birds on Springwatch yesterday, as there was a little runt in the nest and some of the bigger birds kept clambering over it to get the worms from the parents, so it got none, I hope it doesn't die! I can't cope with this kind of shit around AF time.

I did a test @BambiOnIce80 and it was a bfn so I went and I drank my body weight in alcohol. Then felt completely guilty about it. But Af has arrived today’s thank god really the waiting was just panicking me more!

Yep here we go again indeed 🤦‍♀️🙂 when will the time ever be right 😢.
Oh well 🤞 for another go anyway. Good luck with FW!

How was your weekend??

Hope all went well today @Quantumgirl x

I’m not far behind you this cycle @79andnotout 🤞. Also exactly with you on the emotional side. I don’t think it’s possible to have see more new borns and bumps than me over the last week!

I did it! Got plenty of blood. Had to do three piercings and rope in OH to help (it's impossible to massage your arm to get the blood out and position your finger above the tube on your own). I'm glad that's not £60 down the drain. OH is now considering doing some tests himself (he's not been to the doctor in decades as he's too lazy, so tests at home appeals).

@QuantumGirl how did you get on?

@Carley321 sorry about AF but at least you didn't hold off on enjoying yourself.

Thank you for thinking of me girls 🥰. My first appointment went well, the lovely,smiley doctor explained our options and went through the procedure but not in much detail. He then did a scan of my uterus and I'm pleased (and massively relieved) to know my lining is what it should be and that at the moment I have 3 eggs in the queue but this number might drop. He also said I have already ovulated this cycle which confirms my prediction and shows how wrong the app is (im CD 14 today).

As we chose to go for 3 cycles and he recommended we go for modified ivf (less drugs than normal ivf). They will collect my eggs first for the next 3 cycles and freeze them. Due to my low AMH we don't expect more than 2 at a time but of course the more, the merrier. Only after (or on 🤔) the 3rd cycle they will transfer the embryos back in. The next step is to see a nurse in St Paul’s this Thursday and go through the nitty-gritty with her. The issue is that according to the app my next AF is on the 19th and we have holiday booked for the 29th 😬 and we might not have enough time in between as the drugs start on CD1. It's touch and go but I have a feeling my cycle won't be 28 days this time as I have ovulated before CD 14 but of course, nothing is guaranteed.

@Carley321 don't feel guilty about the drinking, we all need a good night out to relax and I hope you had a great one 😉

@BambiOnIce80 best of luck with FW 🍀

@79andnotout Good luck with your results, and stay away from Springwatch, it messes up with your head, and yes I must admit I have cried watching it several times before. 😭 Despite my numerous complaints, ofcom is doing nothing about it 😝🤣

Well done @79andnotout! Who needs nurses? 🤷‍♀️🏆

@QuantumGirl hooray to have a plan in place! That three cycle of harvesting is what they recommend in my local (supposedly very good) clinic too. It's going to be a bit of a marathon of hormones but it's great to be getting on with something productive!

I had a lovely weekend thanks @Carley32 😊 Did the same as you with the alcohol (🍸😬) and am absolutely fine, but DP is still in a very sorry state! 🙄 He doesn't drink much and he's on day 2 of his hangover! 😕 CD12 here and was hoping to DTD tonight, but looking very doubtful at the moment 😒 And there'll be a right time for you ❤️ It might turn out that some of us (definitely me! 😏) needs a little help from medical science, but the time will come 🤞🏻 Remind me what you're game plan is at the moment? Were you going to try naturally for a few more cycles and then think about a fertility consultation? Remember - if you do go down that road you've got age on your side and the stats are good for your chances of success.x

Glad you managed to successfully take your bloods @79andnotout 👍 When's your AMH/follicular scan appointment again?

That is a very exciting update @QuantumGirl 🤩 Do you feel better for having a nice and clear plan?

@BambiOnIce80 I definitely feel better by having a plan however I'm worried that I wasn't having a proper period 3 months ago when today's eggs were getting ready due to that stupid 'corpus luteum'. No point proceeding with it if it's a given I will end up with rubbish eggs. Dr Google isn't able to answer this question either 😫.

It shouldn't be a given that you've got rubbish eggs, should it @QuantumGirl? I don't know if there's any way to check the quality before they harvest them? 🤔 I think they check them once they're 'out' 🔬 Might be a good question for the nurse when you see her on Thursday.x

Well, I'm off to acupuncture now and DP says he's recovered from the 2 day hangover... so we'll see how it goes when I get home! 🤞🏻😉

Hi everyone, just stopping by to say hi 👋 feel like I'm massively out of the loop. Sounds like a lot is happening. I'm having a month off ttc as I have my hsg on Thursday, so we're not allowed but I'm liking not knowing where I am in my cycle. Undecided whether to stop until we've had our follow up appointment in September. The desperate urge has died down and I'm feeling less anxious so thinking it might be good to have a break.

I'll try better to keep up :)

Thanks ladies. I did have a good night at least lol.

Sounds like your plan is up and running @Quantumgirl 🤞👍 good luck x

Well done with the blood @79andnotout.

Glad you had a fab weekend @BambiOnIce80 I feel for DP 😕 I am only now recovering myself!
Just give it your best effort, you never know 😉 lol.

Well when we seen the private consultant he said he wasn’t concerned and would definitely wait another 6 months. So will go back for our follow up appointment there around August/September. But in the mean time continue to bug my doctor and see what other tests I can get done. If all is ok we are going to get to the 18month mark and press for intervention if possible. I don’t want to hold it off any longer than necessary.

I just wish I could switch my brain off. Because I can’t help thinking that is what’s at fault! I know you said about acupuncture but I’m not great with needles so don’t really know if it is something that would help lol.

As for needing help just Luck at SIL tried for years had ivf 9 months later caught naturally. Maybe we really are in our own heads to much?

So glad to hear you're starting to feel better @VenusStarr ❤️ How's DH now? I hope he's on the mend 💐 I'm seriously thinking of joining you on the TTC break until September (when we've got our initial IVF consultation) - TTC naturally is all feeling a bit futile in my case at the moment.x

@Carley321 switching our brains off is easier said than done, isn't it?! 🧠 😣 If you can't face acupuncture, did you look into fertility massage (it's a thing, apparently 🤷‍♀️)? My IRL friend who has the low AMH and got upduffed on her 3rd and final cycle had been having it done. She said it definitely helped her cope with the anxiety of it all... even if it had bugger all to do with her actually getting pregnant! 😂 That was definitely down to good old medical science (🤓), but keeping anxiety to a bare minimum certainly helped 💆

@Carley321 if acupuncture isn't for you, don't do it as it will make you more anxious. I've heard reflexology is also good 🦶

@VenusStarr I'm glad you are feeling better and a break will do you both good especially when the weather is nice. Sunlight always helps putting things into perspective ☀️

@BambiOnIce80 thanks for being an optimistic, and yes I will remind myself it's not all lost when it comes to egg quality. 🍳. I was reading the t's and c's of the procedure last night and there is a bunch of scary stuff to go through but what I didn't realise is that I'm getting 3 consecutive egg collections but only 1 transfer and I thought it was 3 and 3 😠. Any extra transfer is £1k and the embryos are only kept in the freezer for 12 months, and a further 12 months is......£1k! 😖 💸💸💸

I feel your pain @QuantumGirl 💸😰 Whilst I'm frustrated that our appointment isn't until the end of September, realistically the time to save up a bigger 'cushion' so that our savings aren't completely decimated by IVF is a bonus 😏 The embryo transfers through the self-funded NHS are just under £1k a pop and embryo storage is free for the first year, then £500 for the next 5 years (if you need it, of course). The private clinic we looked at is the same as yours by the sound of things - £1k per year thereafter! 😱 Not bloody likely!

I asked my acupuncturist about the egg quality thing last night (she works in a specialist natural fertility clinic, so she's up on all the IVF procedural stuff) and she said they don't assess egg 'quality' per se - once they're collected they keep the most mature ones for fertilisation, but that's no indication of the quality of the egg, if you see what I mean? The quality of the resulting embryos kind of give a retrospective indicator of the quality of the egg/sperm, ie. if the embryo isn't graded as excellent, then it's inferred that the egg and/or sperm may not have been of a good quality. Hope this helps 🤓

Did they explain how it works, @QuantumGirl? Are they assuming they will only get one or two freezable grade embryos from three rounds? My local clinic has the same procedure and I was wondering how it worked. What if you have a decent response to the first go?

Thank you for the support and ideas ladies.

I did look into fertility massages (also noticed there’s a few on you tube 🤣) but couldn’t seem to get any sort of pricing for it. As I was looking I also came across all the highly recommended reviews for acupuncture. I’m not sure what to do about it really. Does anyone know an around about price for either?

I haven’t looked in to that @Quantumgirl. But I most definitely will. Thank you

Thanks for asking about the egg quality @BambiOnIce80.

@79andnotout as I don't have many eggs I was told by the Dr he expects 2 eggs in each collection but of course the more the better. They then fertilise each egg with fresh sperm at each collection and freeze them, no transfer happens until the 3rd collection is done and that's because they are on a race against time due to my low AMH so the rationale is to bank as many eggs as possible as soon as possible ⏱⏱⏱. I will see the nurse tomorrow and go through everything in more detail including the drugs. I'm happy to throw in any of your questions if you have any, just let me know 😊