35+ TTC#1 Thread 7

[PixieN]

It’s time for a new thread for a lovely bunch of ladies supporting each other through our TTC efforts, possible IVF plans, possible alternative life journeys and adventures with or without babies after the age of 35. Think that about sums it up

@BambiOnIce80 @79andnotout @CNizzle @VenusStarr @QuantumGirl @Carley321 @Wannabemum38 @Russkispy @Kescilly @Laney79 @Weathergirl1 @Pinkywoo @birdbybird

I’ve included everyone who has posted on the last four pages of the previous thread. Hope that’s o.k as I know some of you have graduated to another thread, but still like to check in and apologies if i’ve missed anyone.

Lots of luck to everyone at whatever stage we’re at 💕

Thanks @Annabe11 I don’t think he knows what he wants to be honest. I agree he needs some time on his own to figure it out - I said that to him as well, but he didn’t seem to really want that either. I feel ok about being single - I was single for a long time and often prefer it to being in a relationship. If it weren’t for my age and worries about fertility I’d probs just stay single lol.
Interesting to hear about your running journey. I just started running (mostly out of frustration) but I haven’t really developed a love for it just yet - trying to stick with it though!

Maternity leave is great thanks @BambiOnIce80! Although the midwife today said that they might bring the section forward to 38 weeks (because I'm carrying a giant) but I've got my driving test at 38 1/2!

Oh dear @catch22forme I feel for you. I hope you can get some clarity soon. It’s so unfair you are going through this. ❤️

@Annabe11 I would love to get into running but failed on every attempt to start. I need more willpower. On yoga... I would love to but don’t have the confidence to go by myself and no one seems to want to attempt to try that class with me 😕. I do think it would help though. But as a beginner I just feel like a need that support 🙈.

Good to hear off you @pinkywoo. Good luck with your driving test, could you bring it forward?

Thanks @Carley321
You should try and take the plunge with the yoga - I used to go all the time (to pilates mostly, rather than yoga) and it really works wonders. I felt the same need to go with a friend at first because I was intimidated but sometimes I actually preferred just going on my own (anonymously lol) no-one really pays any attention at all to what anyone else is doing and I was always the worst in the class when I first started! I would always fall over then laugh at myself which wasn't very zen. I must get back to it myself, I got out of the way of going now that I don't have a yoga studio/gym nearby.

I'm feeling a little better today - sortof sad but calm if that makes sense. Just all quite disappointing and uncertain I suppose. And now I'm worrying about my dp's mental health as well. I sent off my hormone tests today. Makes me feel better to be doing something at least I guess. Should get my AMH results back tomorrow or Monday I reckon, so that will give me one data point to analyse at least. Not sure what sort of number I should be hoping for / disappointed by?

DEF do it on your own, you'll feel even better for it!!! Push yourself out of your comfort zone 💪🏻 I joined the running club on my own and was terrified!!! But when I got there it was a load of lovely much older women in the group who were so friendly! Nothing scary about it! And I've slowly worked up into the fitter (younger!!) groups and really enjoying it! So good for your self confidence and subsequently good for anxiety!!

I did a yoga class today and felt a million times better.:
...My period is 5 days late, had spotting yesterday, back ache for over a week, negative tests, which I knew it would be but you can't help but wonder can you!! I swear Mother Nature does it on purpose. Anyway yoga got rid of all the pains and hopefully bring on af! 🤞

Got a letter saying I'm on the wait list for a laproscopy but been booked in for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks 🤷🏼‍♀️

Glad your in a calmer mindset @catch22forme ❤️

Thanks ladies I think I may join next week 🤞 and if not get something on YouTube to try at home 🤣.

Oh it’s all sent tontry is @Annabe11. Glad you have investigations on the way. I’ve had an ultrasound to. Not sure what that was about either lol but all was ok.

All 15 are now morulas (day 4)! 😱🤞🏻which is insane! And tomorrow is the last day of their development before going to the freezer! We might have 15 frozen blasts! That’s beyond madness! I’m absolutely speechless and can't thank enough our lovely donor to give us this gift!

We got 12 good quality 5 day blastocysts in the freezer! Absolutely gobsmacked! I never ever predicted this great outcome! First milestone successfully completed. 2 of them biopsied and PGS tested and will get results in a couple of weeks or so.

I asked my coordinator to thank our donor, from the bottom of our hearts. God , wish I could do it in person!

I’ll be heading to our clinic in 3 weeks or so for my first scan so my doc can tailor our preparation for transfer. She thinks it might be natural cycle. And transfer then toward end of October 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

That's brilliant news @russkispy!

@Carley321 they're booked three months in advance so that was the earliest available.

Amazing news @Russkispy it’s so lovely to hear you sounding so happy and positive. You are well on you way now 😬🤞 xxx

Oh no @Pinkywoo that’s so frustrating. What will you do?

How are you holding up @catch22forme ?

I’m CD 15 and have no idea what’s going on after the hsg. I’ve done a few opks but their not reliable as I’ve been so busy that I know I would have had water or not held urine long enough etc.
But to be honest... knowing that there may be no chance at all on certain months has me feeling a bit blah about it all!

Hi @Carley321, thanks for asking! I'm ok I guess. Trying to keep busy. Think the nights are the worst as I get really upset when I go to bed and lie awake for ages thinking about worst-case scenarios.
I spent today with some good university friends who are all the same age as me but are single and hoping for children one day. So it was good to talk through some of the things we're feeling. Feel like women really have a raw deal, it's so easy to get to mid-30s and to have not found that person to have kids with.
DP has opened up to me a bit. I think he's suffering from anxiety and depression and has just gone into his shell. He's scared of not being a good parent and not feeling ready. But I'm scared of risking not having kids at all. I think we both understand each others' fears but there isn't really a solution. So i don't know what to do. Giving him some time to think things through and hopefully we can talk more.
Interestingly, all my friends love him and think I should stick with him (had expected at least one of them to say the opposite). I do love him but I'm worried about putting heart over head when I'm so sure i want to have children soon, then potentially regretting it later if we never do.
All my friends have frozen their eggs so we talked about that too - but it doesn't seem like a 'solution' to me as last time I researched it in depth it seemed like there's so few statistics on what the actual success rates are and they seem to be a lot lower than the PR around egg freezing suggests. I started to think it was all a money-making scam and not a true 'insurance policy' as it's often described. But maybe I should just do it, I suppose there's no huge downside other than going through the few weeks involved in the process and the massive cost.

My AMH test came back as an error in the sample, so I obviously didn't do my bloods right (I guess that's the pitfall of these home tests!). Was hoping for a result just to give me something to analyse if nothing else. Still waiting on the hormone tests but maybe they'll have an error too and I'll have to wait another month to re-do as they have to be done on day 3.
Sorry that's a lot of info!
Oh and I signed up for a new pilates class - you should do the same @Carley321!
Nice to hear some positive news on here @Russkispy - I haven't followed your whole journey but you sound so happy! Wishing you the best of luck!

You never know your luck @Carley321, the HSG might have dislodged a bit of blockage 🤞🏻 You'd best get at it! 😉 I know what you mean about blah though - I've been like it for months 😏

That's a bugger about the driving test/giving birth clash @Pinkywoo! 😟 Could they keep you posted about cancellations?x

That's quite a haul @Russkispy! I bet you can't wait until the end of October 😊

I'm very glad to hear you've had your friends to lean on @catch22forme ❤️ On the egg freezing insurance policy, you're right to be sceptical, but it's also right to think that it's better than no insurance policy. I came across it when I was reading up on IVF prep and the literature basically says you're much better off freezing embryos than unfertilised eggs because embryos survive the defrosting process at a lot better rate than the latter. There's a thought 🤔 Would your DP consider getting some embryos in the freezer to be used in a couple of years when he's hopefully ready?

So CD5 here 👍🏻 AF turned up 1 day early, so still on schedule for November down-regging 😪 It's also 2 weeks today for our initial IVF consultation, so not long to go now until we find out my AMH/AFC... more than a little bit nervous about that, but what will be will be! 🔮

Hi @BambiOnIce80, that's good you're still on schedule. Not too long til the initial IVF consultation - keeping my fingers crossed for you and wishing you all the best of luck with that! Really hope you get some positive news.
Interesting info about freezing embryos - thanks! My friends who've done the egg freezing are all single so I never really thought about embryo freezing (although my sister did that when she got her IVF so I should have thought about it!!). Will do some research and raise it with my DP.....

Hi everyone, I got my day 3 hormone results today. Everything is apparently normal. FSH was 6.52 (range 3.5-12.5), LH 6.39 (range 2.4-12.6), oestradiol 225 (range 45 - 854) and prolactin 288 (102-496). There were some other tests as well (SHBG, TSH, free thyroxine, testosterone, free androgen index but they were all 'normal' too).
Do you think these numbers seem ok for my age @@BambiOnIce80 ? I have been frantically googling FSH levels by age in particular. I guess these numbers don't let me know one way or the other whether I'd have difficulty TTC but it rules some things out at least if they're normal? I haven't redone the AMH test yet (which I think can be done at any time of the month?) but I'll do so soon. Hugs to you all xx

Hi everyone, I got my day 3 hormone results today. Everything is apparently normal. FSH was 6.52 (range 3.5-12.5), LH 6.39 (range 2.4-12.6), oestradiol 225 (range 45 - 854) and prolactin 288 (102-496). There were some other tests as well (SHBG, TSH, free thyroxine, testosterone, free androgen index but they were all 'normal' too).
Do you think these numbers seem ok for my age @@BambiOnIce80 ? I have been frantically googling FSH levels by age in particular. I guess these numbers don't let me know one way or the other whether I'd have difficulty TTC but it rules some things out at least if they're normal? I haven't redone the AMH test yet (which I think can be done at any time of the month?) but I'll do so soon. Hugs to you all xx

(Sorry that posted twice - not sure why!)

@catch22forme aw it’s good you have friends to talk about it all with. I imagine that’s a weight off in itself. It’s good your making the most of this time to really think about what you want and need, exploring and discussing all avenues will help I’m sure. I hope you agree on an outcome that makes you both happy 💜.
Good news about your results... I guess that’s one step closer to all being well 🤞.

@BambiOnIce80 yes the doctor did say a lot of couples get pregnant in the 3 months after a hsg... but I Imaging those couples are the ones with 2 tubes in working order. Having said this a work friend had 2 hsg to find out she had a blocked tube and is now pregnant. But her first test was painful (which makes me think that something probably was wrong and the hsg helped) mine didn’t really hurt. So I’m probably out. But I’d daren't think it’s help anyway lol.
Sorry you are feeling blah too. It’s shite isn’t it. But better than sad or stressed... just blah 😕 lol.
I can’t believe how close you are with beginning the ivf journey. I’m so excited for you 🙏. I bet you are counting down the days?

I am Cd20 but don’t think I ovulated. I had the HR rise and bloats pains I have (left/blocked side) but no ewcm and a few other things I usually experience. I haven’t been religious with opks either. So I’m a little in limbo this cycle.

It sounds like we're cycle sisters this time round @Carley321! 😄 Definitely feeling m'eh about it all, have worked out I'm away for a work thing next week (FW 🙄), so not going to bother with OPK's either because I'll be out anyway 😏 Will continue with the temping though, just so I know when to expect AF. You never know about your post-HSG luck 🍀 You might be in the % that gets upduffed in the 3 months afterwards🤞🏻

@catch22forme I don't think the ref ranges for FSH, etc are age related - just related to stage of cycle or menopause, so your results sound good 👌Your prolactin is awesome for the amount of stress you have at the moment too (glass half full and all that 🍷).x

10dpo been busy up until today so not thought about it now logging every symptom. Don't feel like it's happened for me again this month though but AF due Saturday so we will see

Hey cycle Sister @BambiOnIce80 lol. Lovely to get away... anywhere nice? I don't blame you about the opks. its a welcome break isn't it? Although by not getting my peak I don't really know when af is due. I wondered if hsg would have delayed it.

you are not alone with m'eh. that seems my mood now lol.

you never know @wannabemum38. I'm trying so hard to get away from symptom spotting (especially now there's no chance as often as there is) but its so hard!

AF played a cruel game with me. Normally CD day 1 I wake up with that uncomfortable wet feeling we all know and have to rush to loo to make sure no leakage and AF is there full flow. But no spotting yesterday no tender boobs and nothing this morning. Went to loo nothing. Did a PG test BFN and then finally at around 230pm she came. Nowhere near as heavy as usual which concerns me as this is third cycle since coming off pill and they are getting lighter rather than heavier. Thought me and DP had DTD at right time this month so bit gutted. On to next month I guess.
How we all getting on ladies been quiet on here lately

Ill join up
Ttc since January
Chemical in may
Starting acupuncture this week
Ttc3

Age 39

@wannabemum38 oh noooo that's the worst!! I've had exactly the same last two months, both times I've been on holiday, first one early, second one late, with no warning signs! It's so cruel!!!

No updates from me, have managed to book in a laparoscopy privately which I feel better about, very lucky to avoid the 6 month wait. It's FW for me but both me and DP been struck with a virus so I've got a feeling this won't be our month! Staying positive but equally a bit 'meh'!!!! Also feeling massive pressure to tell my family as I'm having the lap. Haven't told them anything and it all feels a bit odd! Don't really know why!

Agh, sorry AF messed with you @wannabemum38 💐 That is particularly mean of her 😔 It might just be your cycles still settling down post coming off BC, so hopefully next month will be better 🤞🏻

Welcome @teachermam 👋 Sorry to hear about your CP 💐

Any word about your results appointment yet @Carley321?x

Hope you're doing OK @catch22forme?x

Not much to update at my end 😏 It's FW and I'm roughly 250 miles away from DP for it's entirety (get back on CD14 which is likely ov day 🙄), so my chances are even closer to non existent than normal this month! However, it's our first consultation with the IVF clinic next Monday, so we at least feel like we're getting closer to sorting out this situation we're in... one way or another 🔮