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!! 🍀🐣🍀🐣

@BambiOnIce80 well done on making the most of the morning glory 🤞. You have a way with words 😂.
Well last cycle I think I ovulated on cd24 so still soon if it’s the same. Just hope it’s less than 40 days 🙈.
Thanks for the pic. Puts my mind at ease slightly. I am going to keep my opks to help compare month to month. Although I hope I won’t need to for to many more. 🤞

Hope your ok @Laney79 sending you both love for today xx

I sound daft as a brush here but still getting there with MN lingo. What is FRER and HPT? 😳

So so sad to read this @VenusStarr, take care xx

Turns out all I needed to do was buy a hpt to bring on AF! I've been spotting for almost a week, and got to 13dpo before it progressed to anything more than a drip (sorry!!). Usually I've got an 11 day luteal phase, so it has been a weird old cycle. I'm thinking the magnesium didn't quell the cramps either 🙄.
It's left me feeling really despondent. If I can't even get pregnant with freshly cleared tubes, no endometriosis, or other conditions, what is ACTUALLY wrong with me :-( having a bad week this week just thinking of Dad, he's already been gone almost 2 months 😢 so it's all just built up I suppose.

@CNizzle hugs, sounds like a really tough time xxx

@Carley32 frer is first response early response pregnancy test, you can test several days before AF is due, and it's meant to pick up the pregnancy hormone. Hpt= home pregnancy test. Just to distinguish between opk -ovulation prediction kit!

I think I write like I speak @Weathergirl1 and @Carley32 😬 I feel like I 'know' you all well enough now from chatting for a good while, so have kind of dropped my airs and graces! 😄

Never a daft question on here @Carley32 😘 HPT is home pregnancy test (so, general term for any type of pregnancy test) and a FRER is technically a first response early result test (but it can be generally used for any eary detection test with sensitivity ~10 IU or less, ie. IC FRER like what I get from Amazon 😉).

That's a pain @Laney79! I've never tried to PM before, so didn't realise we can't attach files... wonder if it's the same as when we're new to MN and we have to wait 48 hours before we can upload something 🤔 Wednesday will nearly be here by that time, I guess 😏 I'm sure your GP will go through them thoroughly with you 👍

Oh, I'm so sorry the bitch has arrived @CNizzle! 😢 I absolutely know how you feel - not that it helps, of course 😔 We're supposed to feel relieved that there's nothing obviously wrong with us, but then we're not getting pregnant so something clearly isn't right 😞 I now feel like they won't be able to fix me because they can't find anything wrong... no one wants to find a fertility problem, but at least they've got a shot at fixing it if they actually find something! 😒 Sending virtual hugs.x

Sorry your struggling @CNizzle I’m sure it will happen when you least expect it. Have a day that focuses on you, nice bath, read a book, watch a chick flick and have glass of wine and relax on this miserable rainy day. Sending you lots of love 💐

No airs and graces needed on here @BambiOnIce80 😂 I love the good chuckle that some of your phrases give me lol. I love our little thread 💕.

Thank you @Bambi and @Laney79 it’s good to learn something new 😊.

Any plans today ladies? I am out for the rugby for the last time (so much for cutting down on alcohol) but this is my last binge drinking weekend. On it starting tomorrow! 💪

@BambiOnIce80 I'll find a way! It's just more tech than I can handle on my iPhone! I'll boot the laptop up and then I'll be able to copy and paste the text!

@CNizzle sorry to hear AF, and yeah I felt the same after my tube clean. I was full of optimism. Unfortunately there are a shed load of things that can go wrong with TTC and once the easily identifiable things are ruled out the medical profession hit a brick wall. We are complex creatures, women. Must be really hard with missing your dad too.

Thanks everyone for the virtual emotional lift too. I've been for a run this morning (in a very wild and wet Peak District) and I actually feel miles better just from that. Since all my usual running buddies are pregnant or have small kids and so no longer run with me I've let it slip. I need to be more disciplined.

Hope you're all having good weekends. I'm using the crap weather to batch cook a load of food for the freezer.

@Laney79 I've got a biochem background too although I am rusty. If you take a photo of your tests excluding personal data and attach it we could have a look.

Thanks @79andnotout and @BambiOnIce80
I've attached pics - let me know if there's owt on there that jumps out at you!

I wish I enjoyed running @79andnotout -some friends love it but it's just not me. I prefer swimming but public swims at a weekend are just too busy for me to zone out.

Curry to cook shortly as a friend is coming for tea. Other half is away so trying not to think too much about the anniversary or symptoms. I swear I'm going nuts, just saw two magpies and seriously for a moment thought it was a sign 🙄

And again with the pics!

Hi @Laney79 - you might have mentioned before but is there a particular reason you did all these tests? Do you have a history of blood clots in your family? Or is it because of the miscarriage?

Antithrombin iii deficiency runs in my family - my mothers family clot like nobodies business. So this is something my sister has discussed (and I've mentioned too) to our docs. They say predisposition to clotting is not a big deal when TTC and they may recommend low dose aspirin in pregnancy just to be on the safe side, but said it's very rarely a factor affecting miscarriage.

I think if you eat a lot of leafy greens you get lots of folate naturally. I have a juicer for throwing in spinach etc and getting a boost that way. You've only got a single copy of the defect and it seems it's not worth worrying about at first search of the literature. If you had two copies you would have a slight increase risk of defects but one doesn't seem to do much.

I've PM'd you @Laney79 👍

Just a FYI around clotting issues and miscarriage risk (nothing to do with Laney's results I hasten to add!) - it depends on which clotting factor is deficient or which gene mutation you have. An old friend of mine had borderline/low protein S and it didn't cause her any problems at all - until she started getting pregnant, sadly. 4 miscarriages and one still birth later, they started giving her aspirin whilst TTC and low molecular weight heparin as soon as she got pregnant. She had 2 healthy pregnancies/DC's after that 👍

I'm not sure what happened but I thought I posted a reply this morning to @BambiOnOce80 and @Laney79 but it isn't here... Maybe I imagined it?! 🤯

Yup I have the 10ui One Step tests which some people don't think are very sensitive. I thought a FRER referred to just the brand?! AF not due until Wednesday according to NC but I do think I'm a day ahead of that.

Thanks @79andnotout and @BambiOnIce80 for your thoughts/advice. The reason I had the test was really to check for anything relatively easily treatable that could've caused my miscarriages. I got a list of standard tests they do at Tommy's in Coventry when you get referred and have been trying to tick them all off. Clotting was a concern as my family has a history of clotting issues, particularly on my moms side (my ma has had thrombosis, gets regular phlebitis, b12 deficiency, my grandad was on wharfrin for the last 10 years of his life, my great grandad died of a dvt...and that's just moms side!) so when my GP/consultant said they couldn't do those on the nhs I decided to get them done privately if only for piece of mind. My consultant has said to try baby aspirin from bfp this time in case I have a low level problem that's undiagnosed, or something that flares in pregnancy as he believes the low dose won't do any harm even if it's not needed, but could help.

As for leafy greens-I'm not great on that front! I try but I do struggle. Like you say from the research my particular gene mutation seems to have fewer issues associated with it. Will ask the gp, see what she says.

@Weathergirl1 frer are more sensitive than the one step 10miu I think...I think they pick hog up from 6miu? I certainly saw a big difference between the one step ICs and the frer last time I fell pregnant. Xxx

Hmm @Laney79 are we related? Your mothers side sounds the same as mine! I didn't realise you've had multiple miscarriages. That makes sense, and sorry to hear it. I also asked if I could have these tests on the nhs (I fly long haul a lot and didn't want dvt from that) but they said no. Do you mind me asking how much the tests were?

@79andnotout sure, I had them done at our local Nuffield hospital. It was £199 for the thrombophilia screen and another £50ish for the anti beta 2 glycoprotein one. The mthfr would've been about £130.

@79andnotout yes, two missed miscarriages. One diagnosed a year ago today and one diagnosed in September. Couldn't handle the "it's just bad luck" bollocks and as both ended within a days growth of each other my research and logic brain says it's the same reason. The nhs won't investigate further unless I have a third loss, but with my age (40 in July) I don't want to waste time. These are my only pregnancies. So hence why I wanted to try and rule out the obvious known causes. Most likely old eggs/dodgy chromosomes but who knows.

Ok so I got up about 2 hours ago and used a One Step test... There seems to be a very very feint line there (have had negatives with those tests the last two cycles so I know what no line looks like) 😲

Morning ladies. Well it's looking like this one isn't going to get very far at all. I did a clear blue digital test today (the one with the weekly indicator) and it says not pregnant (should be 5 weeks today). This is in tune with my instinct. I will be popping along to the docs tomorrow to request blood tests to confirm. Feeling very nonchalant about it really, almost as if knew and had already prepared myself for it.

Ooh @Weathergirl1 sounds promising! If it helps clarify when I had a squintier on one of those I took a pic and inverted the colours-it helped show it more clearly.

I'm desperate to test but know it's pointless at 10dpo. Step away from the tests laney! Want to hold out till Tuesday really as that'll be a deffo yes or no on a frer for me (luteal phase is 12-13 days) x

Sorry to hear that @Amanda81 could it be the digital is wrong? I have heard stories of them being a bit flaky?

Really not sure @Laney79 - i have suffered a MMC in November last year (got to 10+1), so am expecting the worst. Hoping the blood tests will confirm.

Have you repeated on a more sensitive HPT @Amanda81? Those digital tests are sensitive down to 50IU, I think - so not very sensitive for early pregnancy at all! Hoping the BFN is a false alarm🤞🏻🍀

Tentative congratulations @Weathergirl1🤞🏻😊

In the spirit of moral support - step away from the tests @Laney79!! 😂

CD17 here and temp still hasn't dipped despite the BFP OPK on CD15 🤔 Maybe yesterday's DTD wasn't so well timed, after all 🙄 Ah well, spa day today so all thoughts of TTC will hopefully be suspended for a few blissful hours 💆‍♀️ Have a good Sunday ladies, whatever it is you're up to (I hope you're not hanging @Carley32?! 🏉🥂😉).x

Well this thread is very sciency this morning 😊.

Not feeling today on the head from @BambiOnIce80. Oo a spa day, lovely. Have a stress free and lovely day x

Well after all the morning OPK talk I took one yesterday morning (almost positive) and today which was BFP with the good old faithful ewcm (TMI). But not feeling to optimistic because I was daft enough to tell DP (I knew I shouldn’t have) and he got stage fright! So not getting my hopes up for tonight either! If it won’t already be to late 🤔.

@Bambi isn’t semen supposed to last a few days? so you never know!