2023 TTC 35+ Part 2

[VixFromThe6ix]

Hi ladies,
This is a new thread as we maxed the other one. I tagged everyone that posted in the last 12 pages. If I'm missing someone, please tag them in the comments.
@Eirlys1986
@Muriel84
@Un7breakable
@vitahelp
@Mirla
@TheFanciestPants
@Mummyme87
@FiddleLeaf
@Anna531
@Poppy708
@Golaz
@LeopardLover
@Floralsandsmiles
@Bumblebee413
@TrudyProud
@13Bastards
@DinkyGT
@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7
@TTCnumberfour
@Cirque1
@39starstartry
@Freya8
@Angelsrose
@TheBirdintheCave
@AgeGapBbe
@BengalMama
@BB2023

@JumbleJo what lovely news! I had AF cramps (my typical 'pre-period cramps) with both my pregnancies and was convinced both times I was out!

Completely get your nerves and there's no easy answer is there other than just keep breathing and take it day by day. If this is your rainbow baby then all will be well. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

It's weird isn't it how our experiences affect us. I had no early scan and my MMC was detected at 11+4 after some very mild spotting. Baby had died at 7+5. I've thought since that I might like the reassurance of a scan at 8wks if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again, as I wouldn't want to carry them round for a month again without knowing .. that said, I wouldn't take seeing a healthy 8wk embryo as a given that all was fine. I will be so nervous at 12wk scan regardless. But I have heard that 8wks is a bit of a milestone week and I think if they see a heartbeat at 8wks the chances of miscarriage are much lower. But who knows really. I think once you've experienced loss there is just no easy breezy ride unfortunately.

I completely get having a bit of a subdued reaction! I feel I won't quite want to get excited just in case... But on the other hand, baby deserves it's moment and right now, it is developing and it is new life! So maybe dare to be a little bit excited and to allow a little nugget of hope... If you can 😊💕🌈

@SnookyPook Yes, you’re right of course about having hope. Plus, there’s no real point in being miserable the whole first trimester - it won’t make it any less painful if I do lose it. Basically I have a hurricane of emotions inside my head!

Sorry for only belatedly realising this, but it’s just registered that you commented on a thread I started when the miscarriage was happening and I needed support! Thank you so much 😊I really, really hope you get your rainbow baby soon - you’ve had such an awful experience.

xxx

@JumbleJo ah bless you - I'm glad to have been there for you! Thanks so much. Hoping to ovulate soon and then who knows... 🤞🏻🌈💕

@SarahShortythank you, I think 2 million per mil but I will check later.
I think we are both in a bit of shock to be honest so I wanted to see what the next steps would look like. Thank you so much for kindly sharing your journey.
We have been trying since August but I have had fertility tests already (which were all fine) so our GP is going to refer straight away.

@TheFanciestPants the reason I ask is because my DH's SA came back with a total of about 36million, but only about 11 million of those were motile, ie the rest were dead and not moving. He has roughly 10% of the amount of healthy, living, motile sperm he should have. Hence we went straight into IVF.

It's not nice information to hear about, so I completely understand the shock. The positive is that you now know and can make plans to reach your goals xx

Congratulations @JumbleJo , I hope you can find some joy in the BFP despite the past horrible experiences. Wishing you all the best xxx

@SarahShorty thanks for clarifying. I appreciate you taking the time. After a truly horrible few months, today has really been the icing on the cake.
I expect we will have to wait for the retest which they will do as part of our fertility referral to understand what is going on. I think at less than 5 million it is probably ICSI but I guess we will wait for an expert opinion.

@JumbleJo congratulations and keeping everything crossed for you.

@SnookyPook I'll be going for am early scan as was told the same as you, lower chances of a mc if a heartbeat is detected at 8 weeks. Although there's no way I'd relax even if that was positive news.

I'm back in the TWW but after a couple of months of disappointment I'm not even thinking about it. Not even bothered working out when AF should be arriving to try and keep things off my mind constantly.

@TheFanciestPants What disappointing news 😔 So sorry! Really hope you get the referral through soon so you can get some help working out the best course of action. Sending love!

@JumbleJo Congratulations!! I hope the first trimester goes well and you get to see your baby on that screen wriggling around ❤️xx

Congratulations @JumbleJo brilliant news!

Sending lots of love and support @TheFanciestPants ❤️

Sending love @TheFanciestPants I hope you get your referral quickly and get some answers, that’s so stressful. Congratulations @JumbleJo i hope you have a healthy 9 months.

@JumbleJo congratulations!!! Hope you're feeling okay.

@TheFanciestPants I'm sorry, that's not nice news. At least now you have been properly referred, and can get some help.

@TheFanciestPants I remember the shock of being told similar regarding my husband's sperm. We had 13% motility. It's a horrible thing to go through so I'm sorry you've been put in the same boat :( I'm glad they've fast tracked you to a fertility appointment though.

If it helps at all to hear, things can change a lot over time in the sperm department. We conceived our miracle son just before we were due to have our first IVF round in 2020. Then this year we had my husband's sperm tested again when going through IVF for a different reason (recurrent miscarriage) and his motility is now normal at 60% (!). We were utterly blown away.

@TheFanciestPants I just wanted to add more clarity as I wasn't sure about the context in which I conveyed those numbers.

This is where I got the numbers 36 and 11. As you can see, motility is above average with decent quality all round. The trouble is the concentration, 11 million is way too low.

We went for IVF ICSI.

Thanks for all the kind words xxx

@TheBirdintheCave thanks so much for sharing. I am sorry for your painful journey. How is the IVF going? That is great to hear of the massive improvement, was there anything in particular he did? We are so confused as we got pregnant (within a couple of cycles) and from what I can read, that would be extremely unlikely/basically impossible given DH's results.
@SarahShorty thank you for sharing, that is so kind of you. I am sorry you are in the same boat, but it's great that ICSI worked for you.
One slightly bizarre thing we have noticed is the ml of his sample are significantly higher than we have ever seen when we had to resort to the 'spaff cup' method. As in more than double. We are going to speak to a private GP today to understand more as the GP yesterday didn't give much information.

@TheFanciestPants you're most welcome. Also, ICSI hasn't worked for us yet, the first FET we had back in March failed 😭our second FET is taking place next month. Hopefully that one succeeds.

@TheFanciestPants I’m so sorry you’ve had a shock and bad news about your partner’s SA. I hope the private GP today is helpful. Sending ❤️

@JumbleJo wonderful news! I’m still a bit crampy too I recall I was till 10 weeks previously. Tho it’s not as bad as last weekend. And I haven’t spotted since Monday 🤞xx

@SarahShorty I am so sorry, that was incredibly insensitive phrasing of me 🫂. I obviously completely relate to desperately wanting a baby and all the other emotions you have alluded to. And I am really sorry for being insensitive, my head is all over the place.
I more meant you got some viable embryos, as right now that feels impossible to me.
I have everything crossed for your FET.

@TheFanciestPants This will probably sound strange but we think it was because we finally went to a private dentist and had my husband's gum disease properly treated a few years ago. I've since read that gum disease can have a significant impact on sperm motility (not sure how) so I think that has played a massive role for us.

We've also had him on Proceive Max since January which can't have hurt.

@TheFanciestPants no no no it's okay! You weren't insensitive at all. Sorry, i should have been clearer. We got 5 embryos from a total of 14 eggs, so ICSI has worked very well in that regard. We just haven't had a successful transfer yet.

@TheFanciestPants sorry to hear your recent stressful results and not getting much helpful information from the GP. Hopefully your private GP today will be much more helpful 👍🏻 xx

@TheBirdintheCave I got curious and did some Googling. In order to treat gum disease, steroids can be prescribed to reduce inflammation and antibiotics are used to fight the initial infection causing the disease. Steroids inhibit the secretion of both FSH and LH (both used to tell the testes to make sperm) and antibiotics reduce sperm production and reduce motility.

@TheBirdintheCave interesting about gum disease! We both are very into dental hygiene and floss at least one a day, so probably not one for us. My husband has been taking vitamins but have ordered the proceive and proxeed to see what is different and he will try them out.
@SarahShorty thank you for being so kind and I am so glad I didn't offend you. That is great egg and embryo numbers. So you have some good chances ❤️
And nice research on the gum disease.