TTC over 40

[H0peing]

I recently turned 40. I had a surprise pregnancy with my son 5 years ago following drinks abroad on holiday with my husband and had a really easy pregnancy. It was so easy the first time around that, regrettably, we didn't start ttc our second child until last year and I have now had 3 early pregnancy losses in the past year. Over the last few months, we've made quite a few changes to try to improve our chances and are planning to start trying again after my current period. I am feeling positive of success at some point but not sure how long it will take to get there and I definitely feel like time is against me! Does anyone have any tips from anyone else who was / is TTC over 40 or is anyone else TTC over 40 who fancies a chat about it?

Hiya. Just wondering how you got on with this. Currently 41 and Ttc #3.
(Other dc 8+4 and both conceived 1st month of trying)
We are on cycle 4 and no luck!

@Holls81 Hello🙂 I was prescribed progesterone to start taking after ovulation following 4 early miscarriages (they were before around 8 weeks each time) and that seemed to work for me because I am currently almost 37 weeks pregnant and our baby looks very healthy on all scans! I think they mainly prescribe progesterone for women who have experienced miscarriage but I've heard lots of positive stories from women over 40 who've used acupuncture to help them to get pregnant. Xx

Oh that’s amazing news. Huge congratulations! So glad they found out what the problem was for you. I’m hopeful it’s just a waiting game for us. 🤞🏻
Like you, I fell pregnant really easily with the first 2dc and feel incredibly blessed that this was the case . I’d prepped myself for perhaps, more of a problematic pregnancy this time around and higher risk of mc but naïvely didn’t really factor in the time that it may take us to actually conceive, now we’re older. I’m taking supplements, eating a good diet, in a healthy weight range and just started a month without alcohol hoping this might help us a long but I know there are conflicting opinions as to whether alcohol interferes with conception and implantation.
We’ll see! X

@Holls81 Thank you!🙂 It seems like you're doing lots of great things to improve your chances of success. Please keep me updated. I hope you get some good news soon. Xx

@H0peing congratulations- lovely positive story to read. I've been advised to take progesterone but from when I get a bfp. Did you take aspirin too?

@Holls81 the month I gave up alcohol was the month I conceived after 18 months of trying! Unfortunately that resulted in a mmc.

@Ellie5341 I was initially told to take progesterone from bfp after 3 early miscarriages and that sadly didn't work for me as I still miscarried again at just under 6 weeks so following that my gynaecologist recommended progesterone from just after ovulation as well as aspirin throughout the whole time I was ttc. Thankfully, that resulted in my current pregnancy. I know that progesterone from bfp works for a lot of women though, including a close friend of mine who now has a very healthy 6 week old baby after taking progesterone from bfp for the first time. I could be wrong but I often think that progesterone could have been very imbalanced for me because I took the progesterone only pill for about 4 years continuously as soon as I gave birth to my first child so often wonder if that's why progesterone was particularly important for me to take early. Sorry for your loss. It's such a heartbreaking experience to go through. I am extremely hopeful for you that progesterone will help you in the future! I've heard lots of positive stories from several women who've had successful pregnancies with progesterone. Please keep me updated. Xx

@H0peing thank you so much for sharing that's very helpful.

37 weeks, wow so near to meeting your beautiful baby!
Let us know how you get on x

@H0peing any sign of baby making an entrance yet?

42 and sat here cuddling my 15 week old baby! I had my first child age 33 and after 3 years tried to have another. No joy for years and years, didn't appear to be anything 'wrong', we eventually gave up even thinking about it, just assumed it would never happen. Then suddenly it did! Life is odd!!!!

Lovely story @catsnore ❤️

Did you do anything different?

Not really, literally the only thing I can think of is that I stopped taking ibuprofen as a painkiller (causing stomach problems)!!!

Also DH had announced he was too old to have any more kids 😂

@Ellie5341 I had a sweep at 38 weeks + 3 days yesterday but the Midwife said that my cervix was too high for her to reach to do anything! She checked her heartbeat etc and she seemed happy in there, wiggling her bum around lol. I have two more sweeps booked for next week Wednesday and them Friday then the next thing they plan to do is induce me with a 24 hour pessary on my due date of May 10th if she hasn't arrived by then. My consultant told me that when you are 40 plus there is a higher risk that my placenta will fail if I go too far over my due date and combined with other risks from me having gestational diabetes my DH and I decided to hold ahead with following her advice to have sweeps etc. I do have a friend who had her first child at 40 after years of TTC who refused to be induced at 40 weeks and she managed to go into labour with just a sweep. She had no other risk factors and has a beautiful 2 year old now. She should definitely be here soon anyway. Xx

@catsnore thanks so much for sharing your lovely, encouraging story! So funny that your DH had just announced that he was too old for kids lol. How was the labour? Were you encouraged to be induced at 40 weeks at all? Xx

Yea they wanted to induce me at 39 weeks - I wasn't so keen as wanted to go into labour naturally (first baby was 10 days late). They booked me for induction the day after my due date but I planned to resist this as long as everything was ok. However, in the end I developed pre-eclampsia so went with the induction. Labour was incredibly fast and painful - hardly any break between contractions. I'm glad it's over!!!!!

My beautiful Rainbow baby arrived yesterday! Really great positive labour experience and I'm so truly thankful for her. Xx

I couldn’t be happier for you. That’s absolutely amazing news. Glad it all went well for you. Posts like this give me so much hope.
Huge congratulations xxx

Fantastic news! Huge congratulations to you xx

so please to hear some positive stories here. Any other success stories to keep my spirits up?

I’m so confused about progesterone. Can someone try to explain to me please! So my gp said he thinks I should be ovulating as my periods are so regular but he also did a day 21 progesterone test to check He said if I was low in progesterone then I wouldn’t be ovulating at all. I was under the impression however that it was possible to ovulate but then have issues with implantation due to low progesterone in the luteal phase.
im sure there were some of you who had this issue (ie regular periods but just not getting pregnant) and were given progesterone to take after ovulation to assist with implantation.
have I got this all wrong?!

@Holls81 Yes, I was told that the progesterone can be too low to support your pregnancy, even when you're ovulating and that progesterone pessaries can help implantation. This is why I was given 400mg progesterone pessaries twice per day and this seemed to work for me. Xx

@Holls81 This is the guidance I was given because I kept miscarrying and progesterone seems to be the only medication that helped:

www.midirs.org/latest-news/news/2021/updated-nice-guidance-on-miscarriage-using-progesterone-to-help-prevent-pregnancy-loss/

Hi All, I'd like to join if I can. I am 41 (42 on Friday), and we have finally decided to try for our first. It may be a long road for us as over the past 1-2 years, my cycles have been all over the place. I have had a few tests and an ultrasound, which confirmed i have a fibroid. I may also have suspected pcos and/or in peri-menopause. It's been 10 months since they referred me to the fertility clinic and I am still waiting to hear from them about an appointment.

I started taking pregnacare conception about 5 days ago, and it seemed to have brought my period on 9 days early!! Which I am happy with, to be honest, as hopefully it means I might ovulate sooner so here's to CD2 😁

Anyway, enough about me. Good luck to everyone else and big sprinkles of baby dust to all ✨️

Hello @BeckyPfromLeeds and welcome😊 I was taking pregnaplan when I got pregnant whilst TTC over 40. It was recommended to me by a nutritionist, so you could consider trying that after you finish your current pack of pregnacare. She recommended that my husband take it too, so he did, as she said that it was better than what's on offer specifically for men, but I know that not all men will be willing to take it and it can all seem quite expensive. They currently have a sale on pregnaplan:
https://www.cytoplan.co.uk/pregna-plan?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhc-sBhCEARIsAOVwHuSpRlq_gwCabHlsJP2TiYvehng89BURi1z6xsJNdNGlVhwJWIRLWCEaAp__EALw_wcB
I had a fibroid with both of my children and it didn't cause any problems.
I hope you have fun whilst TTC :)

@H0peing Thank you for the welcome. I notice that the pregnaplan doesn't have inositol and CoQ10 whereas the pregnacare does. I will see how I get on x x

@BeckyPfromLeeds the nutritionist said that the pregnaplan is easier for the body to digest. You reminded me that I took coQ10 separately for a while, but it got too expensive, so I just stuck with the pregnaplan on it's own. I used pregnacare with my son who is now a very healthy 7 year old. As it was difficult for me to stay pregnant when I was older, I asked a nutritionist for advice and she recommended pregnaplan. I know someone who got pregnant by accident in her 40's. She didn't take any pregnancy vitamins and has a very healthy boy, so they are not always necessary! Xx