TTC 35+ Thread 12

[Misty84]

Hope this works girls, haven’t done this before, we’ve run out of space on the other thread.
@thislittlebird @ElsieG3m @Marvellouslymadmum @KatRee @Anxiouswannabe

Hi Guys,

@thislittlebird - great news!!!!

We had the appointment with the consultant yesterday. I asked him about the disparity between my AMH and FSH. He said that having a high FSH MAY be a sign of low ovarian reserve. And to check, they would do AMH / AFC which are better tests to check ovarian reserve. So just because your FSH is high, don't panic. Which is exactly what I did when I got the results! I just thought I would share on case anyone is in the same boat and panicking!

@thislittlebird great news about the funding! Not the delay in tests!!!!

@Misty84 af was a nightmare, on off pain but she's headed off now luckily! 5 follicles is really good!

@thislittlebird I'm ok thank you just plodding along really, just under two weeks until my appointment now so just waiting really! Great news about your guys appointment and even better news about the funded ivf I'm really pleased for you!!

@ElsieG3m ooh that's interesting about the probiotics may have to give them a try! But now I'm wondering if o should be cautious as @thislittlebird says 🤔😂

@MoonStrike hi and welcome, I'd speak to your doc as soon as you've been trying for 6 months, sooner the better

@KatRee yes she's done her thing abs is on her way at last!

Only good thing about that article is that it says the tests are only delayed for those under 35, so I better get my backside in gear!

bbt measuring not going great as I didn't get a solid 3 hours in last night due to a poorly little one. Fingers crossed for the rest of my cycle.

Hope you're all keeping ok, I've so much to get my head around with all these various tests and levels / what they mean. Just trying to catch up on everyone's posts.

@thislittlebird I can understand the apprehension as well as the excitement, I've everything crossed that it goes well for you.

I'm on cd5 now, trying my best to destress this month which is easier said than done. Just need a lottery win, an adult, and a months holiday

@MoonStrike there's lots of people here who have been through the tests and can help With results. I'm cd5 aswell so we can be cycle buddies this month!

@Mikkelsmum good that they're doing the AFC!

@Marvellouslymadmum yes, I'm very pleased but hesitant to get too carried away, as I'm wont to do. Not long now until the appointment but these things really do drag. What date is it? Ours is Aug 31.

@MoonStrike indeed, sorry to the under 35s but there's a queue here.

I had my second MMR dose yesterday, glad that's done! Another 4 month before we can ttc again. I won't lie, the break has been nice. Not having to worry about trying and symptoms etc. It's going to get worse yet when IVF starts ugh.

In less good news, my weird, rare eczema is trying to come back in full force. Not good timing, go away! I don't want it to get out of control again because I won't be able to take some of the meds and do IVF so I really need to get on top of it now before we start.

Reminded myself while typing this that I haven't rung the docs, I have a brain like a sieve.

TTC is already stressful as it is and I swear those so called fertility providers are simply adding to the stress.

For those who wanna use stork pls reconsider. I booked my meds and paid on Tue stating my expected delivery date on Fri. I called today only to have them said they have not received my payment and after five min of checking they "now received" it. Then asking when I want to book my delivery. This is just bad.

@thislittlebird I just feel like I've been waiting forever and know that as it's just an initial
Appointment I'll be waiting more for whatever they decide to do! It's 23rd august woohoo 🎉 that's not good about your eczema! Hopefully you'll be able to get it sorted, do you think it's worse in heat?

@AnxiousWannabe oh no what a nightmare!! Complain and hopefully they'll get it sorted for you

@Marvellouslymadmum
Thanksss they said they sorted it out for me. But who knows.

I noticed your period length is almost as long as mine - is it always like that ? I took letrozole and it kinda got better. Perhaps you should try that ?

@AnxiousWannabe mine are always a bit all over the place they vary between 24-35 days mostly with some longer ones here and there, but the last two months have been 51 and 43 days. I have my appointment with the gynaecologist in just over a week so I'm hoping they will look into the endo and sort that and offer me letrazole or clomid 🤞🏻 as I think that could really help

Hi ladies I’ve been completely caught up in the whirlwind of my first IVF cycle. It’s been very intense, a rollercoaster already, but I’ve just been to the clinic for my 4th scan of the week, and egg collection is happening on Monday!! Can’t believe this is actually happening..!! I have 4 follicles, which although very low, is to be expected as I have DOR. Just praying one of those is my rainbow baby!!

@Mikkelsmum Yes def a good idea to get your AMH and AFC tested.

@thislittlebird Congratulations on the funding! That’s truly brilliant.

@MoonStrike How are you getting on with bbt measuring?

@Marvellouslymadmum How are you feeling about your initial appointment? Not too long to go now although as we know these things always drag!!

@AnxiousWannabe Glad Stork sorted their shit out!! What’s your next step?

Just as a tip for anyone, Asda pharmacy have been brilliant for meds.

Happy weekend everyone. Even though I have to do 3 injections tonight (including the trigger shot) I’m so relieved that tomorrow is an injection-free day, after jabbing my stomach and thigh for a week!!

@Misty84 understandable! I’m so glad to hear you have 4. I know it’s hard with DOR but at least you know what you’re dealing with. KiteKat is doing mild with fewer stims and got one or two on her first round of banking, so four is a good start for round one. Fingers crossed for those four! How are you feeling, impatient for Monday? Have you been doing the injections yourself?

Glad Asda has been good for you. I’ll definitely use them if/when we start private. I’m very happy about some funding but I am also nervous about what they’ll say when we see them. Two weeks to go!

@Marvellouslymadmum it does seem to have taken ages to come round. Apparently with this type of eczema it likes the sun, so I’ve been wearing shorts the last couple of days to get some UV light on the legs (it starts to flare up on my feet when it’s getting bad). My normal, original form of eczema didn’t like the heat because sweating would irritate it. It’s annoying. Luckily I had a course of antibiotics here from earlier in the year so I started taking them to try to get on top of it.

KiteKat is doing her second egg collection on Monday too, so we’re on the same day! We’ve been keeping in contact as have same issue and going through this at the same time.
DP has been doing the injections. I will say that it’s good to get a nice roll of fat for that, as it’s a lot more painful when it goes into muscle. Suddenly I’m glad that I had a few naughty pizzas and chocolate!!

I’m excited/nervous for Monday. Want to see what my body has managed to produce 🤞

@Misty84 that’s good! Glad you’re keeping in touch, especially with such similar situation. Monday too, wow, weirdly similar.

Even on a diet I have no risk of losing that roll lolol. I’m not looking forward to it but glad DH will be here to help.

Fingers crossed for Monday x

@Misty84 and @kitekat good luck for Monday, hope it all goes well, and we'll done on doing all of the injections and prep x

@Misty84 omg that is quick. Whirlwind indeed. I'm so, so glad you seem to be doing great!!!!!!

I tried my hardest not to let my stress got the better of me. I guess they are used to dealing with this shit and I got my meds today after all! Kinda daunting but reading about Ur IVF story kinda calmed me down a little. I try to occupy my mind with other stuff. I got a big spreadsheet to track my life to date expenses, knitting. Lol

Good luck to both of you on Monday!!! Is your oh allowed to be with you during egg collection?

@Marvellouslymadmum
Some said letrozole is better than clomid but who knows. And there are diff protocols with letrozole too ((day 2-7,3-8,5-9) and there's a post I read once that explained it. Tell me if you do get on it.

Quite a few ladies complained that their estrogen level became lower with letrozole. I didn't notice this issue but I do notice my estrogen got higher whwm I take epo. (I got this fancy opk Mira that when the Bluetooth connection does work spits out an estrogen number based on my urine)

Thank you @thislittlebird and @A1b2c3d4e5f6g7!

@AnxiousWannabe I was on Letrozole day 2-7.
I read my book when I’m trying to take my mind off things. It’s hard though…my mind always wanders back!!

I’m not sure that my OH will be with me for collection, I’ll be sedated anyway so I don’t think so! He will be for transfer though (if there is anything to transfer!🙏)

@AnxiousWannabe @Marvellouslymadmum
there’s an episode of the Fertility Podcast on PCOS where a doctor talks about Letrozole and why it’s recommended over clomid these days, might be worth a listen.

Here’s a link:
podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYWNhc3QuY29tL3RoZS1mZXJ0aWxpdHktcG9kY2FzdA/episode/MzFjZGJiYjctNzlkOC00ODhmLWE4NzYtZGM1YjQxMTA3OWM0?hl=en-GB&ved=2ahUKEwiRy7vItrHyAhWn_rsIHaa6CogQjrkEegQIHRAK&ep=6

@Misty84 oooh good luck for Monday! Sounds like you've been kept busy. Really hope your good little egg is in there 🍀
I'm really looking forward to the appointment, I'm sure they've got to do something to help me rather than nothing at all and I'm prepared to cry stamp and scream if they don't 😂

@thislittlebird when I had my itchy rash heat made it so bad it was a nightmare all through the summer! Hopefully the antibiotics and sun will do the trick 🤞🏻
Thank you I'll definitely have a listen to that

@AnxiousWannabe oh that's good to know! Thank you I will. That's very posh even telling you estrogen, I've looked at those but didn't know if they were worth the cost

@Marvellouslymadmum
I personally won't recommend it. It requires Bluetooth to work and it only works half the time. I got it coz I was depressed. But yeah it spits out something.

@AnxiousWannabe that's definitely good to know! I've looked at many crazy expensive gadgets that tell me they're likely to help conceive when I've been feeling low!

Hi ladies thank you so much for the good luck messages. I was so nervous this morning, getting up at 5am with DP and travelling to the Lister. Luckily all the nurses and doctors were absolutely lovely and we had a lovely private room with en suite. I was very well taken care of.

I was so scared going down to theatre (felt like an episode of ER!) but being sedated is THE BEST! One minute the ceiling started to go fuzzy, the next minute I was waking up and it was all over! Best nap ever 😛

As soon as I could speak I asked “How many eggs were there?” and the doctor said “We got all 4; each follicle had an egg” and I cried with relief! I was so happy.

Wheeled back up to the room to recover and another doctor came in and explained that they are converting to ICSI because DP’s sample has a high percentage of “anti-sperm antibodies”. Basically his sperm were too busy in a cluster fighting each other that they weren’t interested in my eggs! So that’s another £1500 spent (it feels like Monopoly money at this point!) injecting the best sperm directly into the eggs.

I just couldn’t believe it really; all this bloody time, over 2 years of trying, and me blaming myself and feeling responsible and hating my body…and it wasn’t even solely down to me that things weren’t happening…
When we did sperm analysis over a year ago everything came back normal. There was never any suggestion of further testing for anything, so I didn’t even know that “anti-sperm antibodies” was a thing?! And DP being so young, and us finding out about my poor reserve, everyone just seemed to assume it was all down to that. So that was a shock to both of us. I suddenly felt a lot less guilty about us going halves on everything!!! But at the same time feels like a lot of wasted time, energy, and weight on my shoulders that shouldn’t have been there.

To wrap this up, they are going to call in the morning to let us know if any/how many fertilised. I know it’s still a very long way to go and things could fall apart at any minute for my 4 little eggs! Many more hurdles ahead.

But for now I’ve done all I can and am going to rest up and enjoy a lovely glass of red wine, finally!!

Thanks for reading 🙂

@Misty84 OOOOOOHHHHJ I’m going to be crossing everything for your eggs!!!! Xxx