Over 40 TTC - lots of baby dust for us...3!

[SparrowSG]

New thread for us 40+'s

@turquoiseturtle thank you. And I don't mind if you post it here. When we found IVF worked I posted on here and didn't join other threads. Then suffered a MMC, and I'm still here

Hope everyone is having a good week.

I am reporting a VERY cautious BFP. I had a miscarriage at 9 weeks last July and have been tracking my cycles ever since. Each month I got a bbt rise and positive opk as well as having a regular 27-28 day cycle so I assumed everything was working fine. However, a scan in March on what I though was around 5dpo showed no sign of ovulation, with both of my ovaries ‘quiet’ as the consultant put it. He gave me 50mg of Clomid which I took on days 2-5 and a scan on day 11 of this cycle showed it had worked insofar as there was a dominant follicle and a much thicker lining than was seen at the previous scan.

So really I just wanted to say it is worth getting a scan to confirm ovulation is actually happening, as I would have had no clue that I was having anovulatory cycles if I hadn’t had a scan!

I've also been having reflexology for the past couple of months too which I highly recommend :)

Hi ladies, just popping in with an update.
My twins were delivered at 5.30 on Tuesday morning by emergency c section at 34 weeks - it was touch and go there for a while and all 3 of us almost didn't make it, but 4.5 litres of blood loss and 4 hrs off emergency surgery with a team of 18 specialists later we made it through and we're all recovering in hospital now. By sheer luck I had been kept in hospital that night because I had has a serious injection late the night before, otherwise i'd have been at home when everything went wrong, and the outcome would have been very different.

Anyway, its all worth it - the babies are absolutely perfect - Erin Paige 4lb 14oz, and Finley Lloyd 5oz, still in incubators but doing well ❤️

Sorry that should have said steroid injection, not serious injection!

Congratulations @CritterTamer!
Sounds very traumatic and scary - but those are quite good weights for 36 weeks I think? My friends twins were born at 37 wks and were not quite 5lb.
Hope you recover well and your babies thrive.

What an ordeal though! Crikey.

@CritterTamer massive congratulations!!

@CritterTamer what a scary ordeal but so worth it in the end! Massive congratulations!!

@Constance1234 very cautious congratulations!! Hope it progresses well all the way to the end! Everything crossed for you!

@Constance...a huge congrats to u...just to ask how do you have a scan to check if you are ovulating ? Is it through the gp

Critter! Congratulations! What wonderful news I'm so pleased for you :) must have been so scary but worth it I'm sure. We're going to need pictures when you're ready :)

@Kimm123 I didn’t go to my GP as because of my age and the fact I already have a child I knew I wouldn’t be eligible for any kind of NHS fertility treatment. I saw a private consultant who carried out the scans himself x

Congrats critter! So pleased all worked out well in the end and your dreams have come true

Constance - cautious congrats, hopefully this it for you. Interesting what you said about the non ovulation, but still getting + opk & temp rise, I wonder how? Did they find cysts or anything instead?

@CritterTamer I was thinking about you just the other day. I'm so relieved you are all fine. Congratulations on your pair of little bundles, such lovely news. Rest now and let the hospital take care of you all. Fantastic news!

Tentative congratulations to @turquoiseturtle and @Constance1234. Fingers crossed for you.

Wow congrats @CritterTamer! That's so frightening! You will have to tell us all and send pics when you are all recovered!

@Constance1234 how do you find a private fertility specialist and how much did it cost if you don't mind me asking? Nothing happening here but as you say I'm temping and getting positive opks so wouldn't suspect anything was wrong!

Thank you mellongoose!
I’m coming up on 5 weeks, feeling anxious because the symptoms I’m having are very similar to when I miscarried at 5.5 weeks last time - cramps in the lower abdomen in the first few days, now moving to soreness in the small of my back, and feeling breathless (?!) Plus lots of watery discharge which makes me constantly panic and think I am bleeding. No nausea or sore breasts at all. Does any of this sound normal? I guess only time will tell. I am booked with a midwife on the 29th May for an early check and just have to wait until then.

Also, I have just found out that my assistant at work is pregnant too! Resulted in a rather hilarious conversation with my boss when she announced this to both of us, then left the room and I said sheepishly ‘um - me too?’ We haven’t had a pregnancy in our office in the decade I’ve been here, what are the chances! I didn’t want to tell my boss so early, but this forced my hand - there is heavy lifting etc. that she does that would otherwise have been passed to me. To be honest I am stressing about this development. Both because we are chronically understaffed and because I think it’s quite likely that I will miscarry and then have to manage her through her pregnancy, maternity leave etc.

However I have to keep telling myself that this hasn’t actually happened yet and I don’t know what will happen! I was willing to go through IVF, and may yet do so, so conceiving naturally is just a bonus extra chance...

Best wishes and good luck to you all

Eek! @CritterTamer - I was just thinking of you yesterday and wondering if your babies were on their way! I'm slightly terrified by your story, but SO so delighted you are all ok - huge congratulations and hope you are all being looked after really really well! as someone said below - they are good weights for twins at 34w!
Oh and they are beautiful names - Erin is on my shortlist for our girl, and if we didn't already have a family member called Finn then that would be top of the boy list for us too!!
Rest up and update us when you have a chance xxx

Congratulations Critter, delighted your little ones have arrived, boy didnt they make a dramatic entrance to this world! Hope you are well yourself.

@cleozeta no cysts found on that initial scan just a small follicle and no corpus luteum.

@hmmm123 The chap I am seeing was recommended to me by a friend. I can message you his details if you are near London? It cost £400 for the initial appointment and scan, and £150 for follow up appointments. So it’s not cheap, but I’m 41 so running out of time and just put it all on a credit card! He told me that you can get positive opks and not ovulate because your body is gearing up to ovulate so you get the surge but then for whatever reason it doesn’t actually happen. And the bbt rise could be because you are producing more progesterone than in the first half of your cycle but not enough to cause ovulation. Like I said if I hadn’t had the scan I really would have had no idea that things weren’t quite right! x

Gosh sorry I don’t know why that posted again! Is there a way to remove a double post?

@CritterTamer, many congratulations and thank goodness you were in hospital when that happened. What a wild ride! Wishing you all the best.

@CritterTamer congratulations and blimey that was quite an entrance into the world for you little ones.. but rest up and try to take it easy... sending lots of love lovely lady 💕 beautiful names and pics soon
@Constance1234congratulations xxx

Critter - congratulations! Glad to hear everything is fine despite a very dramatic birth. Lovely names too.

Constance - tentative congratulations to you. I know how worrying it is but those symptoms you describe were all normal pregnancy symptoms for me so I wouldn’t presume that they signal a miscarriage.

Cleo- I’ve not got any results yet. I’m going for a scan next week so I’m going to make an appointment with my gp after that to get the results of both. How are you? How are things after clomid? I’ve been looking at ovulation induction drugs online, have you heard of Letrozole(aka Femara)? Apparently it’s similar to clomid but has less side effects and works better. I’ve been wondering if I need something like this. I know you’d talked about ‘weak ovulation’ and I wonder about this too. What exactly IS weak ovulation? Don’t you either ovulate or not?

Huge congratulations Critter, I hope you are all getting lots of rest after your very scary birth and that all of you are doing well.

littlemimosa I took Femara for my IVF last June, no side effects, took two tablets a day. I bought myself some more when I was in Cyprus on holiday later last year, but have not started taking it yet (wanted to get a few months of supplements and diet/lifestyle changes in first).

Mimosa - I've not heard of famara, is it prescribed or can we just buy it online (you know me, I'd try anything🤣)

The clomid cycle was a bit crap for me, ovulation was delayed and a bit odd (temp rise came ages after peak opk) I suspect the prepared follicle turned into a cyst, which apparently can happen with clomid.
This current cycle has been good so far. Ovulation looks to have possibly happened yesterday, cd14 and 3 days after 2 strong days of +opk's, so thats better than my recent cycles.
I think ovulation can be weak, I've been reading up on it recently, it usually means you are releasing crap eggs so the corpus luteum can't be arsed to support it properly, resulting in short LP. My opk's have also been weak. So even though I have been ovulating, my overies are struggling and the eggs are crap.
I wonder if famara could help? Will look into it!
How is your current cycle going?

Wow..so much has happened lately! Congratulations@karryk and @turquoiseturtle
@sheshootssheimplores.. welcome and so sorry to hear of your experiences..wishing you the success you deserve x
@Constance1234..tentative congrats ..fingers crossed for this! x
@CritterTamer.. I was going to leave this thread once for all for about the 3rd or 4th time but something made me hang around and I'm glad I did as I have now got the chance to hear about your twins' birth! Wow, what an entrance! So glad you and your beautiful twins are ok now after your ordeal. Gorgeous names! Huge congratulations and a big hug xx