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Conception

When's the best time to get pregnant? Use our interactive ovulation calculator to work out when you're most fertile and most likely to conceive.

Ongoing and continuing conceptions and follicling ahead of Feisty, Fabulous Forty somethings

1002 replies

randomimposter · 22/06/2010 19:55

Just to start us off.

May this be a happy and lucky thread for all of us.

OP posts:
SassySusan · 03/09/2010 22:03

muchlove I have no idea if it was an FMH or a FSH test... it was based on a scan of my ovaries and a blood test. Does that tell you any more? Team pink seem to have the most votes anyway... I hope we can rummage around for some good eggs for us all....

(wanders off to look at the sperm meets egg method... willing to try anything... but it doesnt' sound that revolutionary Grin )

Hippy So glad to see you and Diege are fighting over me... Bloody hell, I feel loved Smile

BTW, the consultant said, the wait for eggs in the UK is 3 to 5 years... so I'm still confused.. now where is Italian to clear it all up?

SassySusan · 03/09/2010 22:13

Right - have decided to buy an OPK... am looking on ebay - but am bloody confused... does it matter which one I buy - can someone recommend one?

hippychick66 · 03/09/2010 22:15

diege and I just love to squabble. But we're mates really. We'll stop fighting over you and be fighting over the soft furnishings soon Grin

I think doner eggs just vary widely. I'm sure italian said next May. Can't believe anyone would wait 5 bloody years.

I'm defo on team 'healthy embryo' and if it wants to be a pink one then that's fab but I don't mind a blue one - honest.

Having had 2 boys I know how to do boy nappies - if you get my drift and would worry about doing something wrong and hurting a girl if I had to change her nappy.

At least you know where you are with a willy and testicles - in fact my first born had fluid on his testicles and was born with bloody big ones - no chance of missing them!!

.....they are normal now by the way!!!Grin

muchlove · 03/09/2010 22:58

Yep your right there it does involve a lot of shaggin .....infact DH got quite jaded by 4th night [shocked] I was most put out !! I mean I thought they were suppose to be thinking of sex every five mins (or maybe that is a teenage boy er...erm ....)
Mind you I wasn't wearing the vest/knicker combo thingy just taking it for granted that he would worship/want me that many timesConfused so yeah it can get a bit exhausting (but going away to foreign lands will work wonders I'm sure Sassy)
I use the OPKs from internet but save the CB digital (smiley face ones) for when the line is quite dark on the cheapo ones. BUT what I have noticed is that I can get 2 days of positives - and when I had my monitered cycle (scanned at 8 - 14 -21 days) I had actually ovulated the 2nd day of surge (smileyface+) infact the guy doing the scan told me I had ovulated about an hour before HOW COOL IS THAT ?Then he told me to go home promptly and do the deed Blush infact he said do the following 2 evenings aswell just to be sure Shock and BINGO I was up-duffed that very month...... I was also told that I have a good supply of eggs (his words 'the eggs of a 30 yr old') shame they the age of a f*"king 43 yr old thoAngryAngry!!! He he
Oh my what a month it's gonna be !!!! we all gonna be shatered !!!!!
HIPPY You wanna hope you're preggo missus so you can get out of it Wink

hippychick66 · 03/09/2010 23:21

If I'm not up the duff this month I promise to try your plan next month muchlove Smile.

SassySusan · 03/09/2010 23:25

I think we have been doing pretty much that anyway... but will follow it next month..

So any recommendaitons for OPKs?

gumblossom · 04/09/2010 00:27

wow, so much chat going on...Sassy, I'm pleased to hear that your ovaries are in such good nick.I'm sure you'll get your little one soon.

Hippy, I'm reading the book The Fertile Female, written by the same author who wrote Inconceivable. She is great. She is so positive and says that we don't need to be so scared about "aging eggs" etc, that we CAN get pregnant and we shouldn't listen to all the negative talk from health professionals, or listen to statistics either. I really do agree with her. I get so frightened by the stats : only a 5% chance of getting pregnant. But how do they get that statistic? Is it from all births? Is it from women with fertility problems who go to fertility clinics? Is it from Catholic countries? Third world countries?I'm just a bit of a sceptic when it comes to stats.

I'm really glad I got that book, and the one about spirit babies.I'm feeling more relaxed about it all now.That said, I don't know how relaxed I'll feel when I'm in the tww.

I like the SMEP too, but my problem is mustering up the energy to do the three days of shagging in a row! I find it hard to do it every second day! That's not to say I don't like it, it just isn't always convenient! Having a 2 year old who spends half the night in my bed doesn't help!

As for OPK's, I just use the cheap ones from ebay. They seem to work fine. Though I sometimes have two days of positives, and despite the advice to test later in the day, I seem to get my positives in the morning.I suppose I could be catching each end of the surge. Then I have O pain later the second day. What I find hard is to keep up the SWI once I've had the O pain - rationalising that it is probably too late, but I should try a bit harder to make sure all bases are covered....

Or alternatively, I could just relax, get pissed and have one drunken shag in the month and end up with a bun in the oven...Unlikely, but it does happen when you least expect it!

Sassy, I'd like a little girl this time too. I have three boys and two girls. I love them all equally, but it is a bit more fun dressing girls, I'll have to admit. There just isn't the choice for boys. I had a really strong feeling that Charlie would be a girl, last time, but obviously I was wrong. But after reading the "Spirit Babies" book, I think it is because I'm still supposed to have a baby girl - that she has been present all the while, waiting to come in. I'm sure it is just a matter of time.

Beattiebow · 04/09/2010 06:42

Hello all!

I am going to google the sperm meets egg plan too. I am pretty sure I haven't ov'ed this month, despite confusing temperatures, so maybe I'll do it this month! I have never had a positive on a cheapy opk though, and didn't do the digital fertility monitor this month(sassy that is my favourite one, but it is £££, but as I say, i never get a positive on the cheap ones anyway).

Yes, au pair started opening the bedroom door (to tell us she was going out Hmm) as dh and I were dtd. he leapt up and went to the door (rather painful at the stage we were at Blush so I have no idea how much she saw. We are being British about it and not mentioning it though! cringe cringe. She is probably laughing at us with all her mates!

Hippy test test!

Diege · 04/09/2010 09:41

Morning! Right Hippy you need to get a stick and wee on it now lady I think your boobs are starting to seem like they don't belong again,and I noticed on another thread you said you were getting a bit of the old let down reflex...now you know what that means don't you! (NB: I am not stalking, simply browsing the same sort of thread, honest guv Wink)
Gum not sure dh could 'manage' 3 days in a row if I'm honest Blush I think I'd be anxious that we might peak too early so to speak, but I suppose if I can time it so that the ov peak is covered,then added an extra on the end might not be too onerous.I will taunt dh with tales of Muchlove's dhGrin. All the same, I think I will be watching from the sidelines this month, but may take a peek at the plan all the same.

We're getting a good library of books for our abode aren't we? (shall we call it the 'snug'??pleeeease,I've always wanted a snug Grin) Will pass on any nuggets of wisdom from mine when Amazon deems it time to deliver.
Beattie that must have been mortifying Blush. I think I might mention it to her if things seemed 'odd' but otherwise be 'British' Grin.]
Right, better go, ds has grabbed the telephone.

Diege · 04/09/2010 09:43

Oh meant to say sassy that I just buy the cheapy opks off ebay (don't get confused with use of the word 'kit' - they're just pee sticks with a leaflet, just like hcg ones) Smile

SassySusan · 04/09/2010 10:55

(sits down gingerly in the corner nursing a rather sore head)

ok - have bought some cheapie opks - can't hurt, might help - cheaper than seeing Dr T anyway... Have looked back at the sperm meets egg plan again... For the first 4 months, I was trying every day from about day 8 or 9, up to the ovulation pains - no wonder we were knackered! Poor DH. Blush Last month we sort of gave up and did every other day...

It does seem sort of pot luck... was chatting to another bereaved mum the other day, who had also been especially keen to conceive - tried for a year and got pg at 40 - and then tried again at 42 and got pg first go... I mean how do you make sense of that!

Ho hum... keep going I suppose....

Diege · 04/09/2010 13:13

Sassy, I totally agree on it being pot-luck. I think we assume fertility is a sliding scale, that we can predict it from our age/former fertility or lack of fertility etc but I don't belive it's that simple.I'm not sure if that's good or bad?? (good I think Grin). FWIW I sort of assumed it would be easy for me this time, it taking 1 mth for dds 1, 2 and ds, and 5 mths for dd3, but obviously not so predictable!.
Oh and I have baked some really yummy scones for us all.I used the Paul Hollywood recipe from the Great GB bake-off programme and for the first time ever my scones have risen and are as light as a feather (the details are on the BBC website if anyone's interested) Eat them quick everyone while they're still warm!

LunaticFringe · 04/09/2010 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

galwaygal · 05/09/2010 08:41

Good morning! How our our heads this morning?

Have noticed several of you say you stop the swi when you get ov pains, but there is evidence that you can get pain well before ov (5 days quoted by some!). To quote this unscientific website "Mittelschmerz is German for "middle" and "pain." It is also known as ?ovulation pain? or 'midycle pain?. Some women with endometriosis can also experience pain well before ovulation. Mittelschmerz is too nonspecific to be a reliable enough indicator of ovulation which can better be assessed with the bbt curve, ultrasound, OPKs, or an elevated postovulatory blood progesterone level." Would not want some of you to be stopping swi too soon and missing out on chances. ov pain can occur before, during or after ovulation. The SMEPlan is very good, and worked for some folks I know. It does involve a lot of swi though. Grin

good to read that at least two of us have nice young ovaries/eggs to be working with!

I have looked at djinnie's website and was wondering if these cushions would fit in with the rest of our snug decor?!

Lunatic - great to see you here, will be thinking of you on Tuesday, especially as another friend of mine has a scan that day too.

galwaygal · 05/09/2010 08:42

forgot to add - hippy when are you testing? Feeling diege's boobs is a good indicator that you should be testing!

SassySusan · 05/09/2010 08:56

Morning GG

I do worry that we stop too soon. Anyway, my opks are on their way apparently...

I am also confused about the stats... one of the EMS descriptions says that it raises your chances from an average 20% chance per cycle to 40%. Figures for a young woman, i presume... This kind of makes sense to me, as presumably shagging a lot must raise your chance... So does that mean, if an over 40 has a 12 chance - doing EMS gives you a 25% chance?

Oh - those cushions are perfect! Maybe some one could get us a rug next - shag pile I think Grin

galwaygal · 05/09/2010 10:01

AngryAngryAngry arrggggg. The stress continues. OK you know I got a bleed at cd19, light bleeding lasted two days, as is usual for me with AF, normally followed by about 3 days spotting. Well got up this morning to no spotting. So I did a test...... negative, but now half an hour later an evap line. So what do I do? Do I take the asprin just in case? Having had the bleed is would it be too late anyway? Is this just a dodgy test (other ones are stark white)? Why can't things be straight forward?

Sorry I am being very me-ish. I had a bad day yesterday, was at a patchwork group, we are doing patchwork through the bible quilt, and the story yesterday was all about how God is with us even when we think he is not and about Jacob's vision of a ladder to heaven. The quilt block contains 10 small squares, and this reminded me of the 10 miscarriages I have had, and I started crying. Sad I couldn't stop it, the emotion from the whole thing just took over. Everyone was wondering what was wrong, fortunately some people there know my situation and were very caring and let me cry on their sholders. I decided to dedicate my quilt block to the babies I don't have with me anymore, and I am going to emborder their initial (we have named them all), one on each small square in the quilt block.

SassySusan · 05/09/2010 11:19

GG I'm not sure of the answer... I just wanted to come in and give you a big hug xx

In cases where I'm not sure, I usually go with my gut feeling. I don't think it woudl hurt to take the aspirin if that would make you feel easier? Hoepfully someone will be by with a better idea of what's going on xx

Diege · 05/09/2010 12:30

Aww GG that must have been hard with the quilt. What a lovely idea to embroider the initials on though. Re: evap lines/asprin, not much help here I'm afraid. I'd be tempted to think the evap line was just that,coming up as it did outside the time (is that right?) but having said that the only evaplines I've ever got have been when I've been pregnant but too early to get a pos.
Agree Sassy the cushion is perfect for our snug (so have we decided that the 'snug' it is?) Thanks for shopping GG! I think a shag pile would be eminently suited to out abode- a cream/caramel colour I think.
Oh and Hippy yes I have noticed some tingling sensations and grabbing, so yes it's time for you to test Grin

hippychick66 · 05/09/2010 19:24

GG How awful for you to be over come with all that sadness. But of course totally understandable. You are such a strong woman to keep going and I sincerely hope you get your reward. Lovely idea about the quilt.And naming your losses.

We did name the one we lost in Feb (MMC) but I never did name the early loss in June (mainly because at the scan they could only see a sac and I found it easier to think of it as a failed pregnancy rather than a lost baby). Am I mean to name one and not the other??? Thinking of you GG.

Love the name 'the snug' - wasn't there one of those years ago in Coronation Street.

I'm on day 23 today. No spotting yet but am only about 11 days post ov.

I am not gonna test yet. I can't decide whether to be a bit excited or just plain scared to death of another loss.

hippychick66 · 05/09/2010 19:26

PS. diege the restraining order is on it's way - quit stalking me Mrs - Grin.

hippychick66 · 05/09/2010 19:30

pps. Bit late with the advise but i would say take the asprin GG just incase and test again asap. xxx

Italiangreyhound · 06/09/2010 01:31

GG so sorry to hear about the quilting cry, but what a good way of releasing some of those feelings, in company with people who know your situation. I think naming the babies and making the quilt is a lovely idea and a good way to remember them.

Sassy you asked so here is my long-winded answer. I know it is not really info for you at the moment but maybe someone will be interested. Do ask me more if you like. The wait at clinics for donor eggs varies considerably. If you want no wait at all (or virtually none) you can go to a clinic in Spain such as Ceram and also MAYBE Ginefiv or Institute Bernabeu in Alacante which you may be able to contact direct or via Wessex Fertility Limited www.wessexfertility.com but the prices vary a lot. The one I have had most email contact
with is Ceram which does not seem to have a wait and which had a nice person who spoke good English (is English) and was most helpful, some details may be at www.ceram.es/ingles/treatments_2.html

PLEASE just note I am NOT recommending these clinics, I have not been to them. I have just found out the details on this here Inter-web-thingy and the Ceram clinic was able to give me lots of info by email. We decided to stick with Care Fertility in the UK which has about 11 clinics in (alphabetically) Bolton, Boston, Derby, Leister, Mansfield, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Nottingham, Peterborough and Sheffield. I CAN'T recommend them all but we have been to one clinic and they were very nice, professional etc. I am pretty sure the list varies at each so you join the waiting list at one clinic but they should be able to tell you roughly how long the list would be. So if you were fairly close to two clinics that could influence you. There is also the Lister in London, which does donor eggs too (actually several in London do donor eggs) but they may actually send you abroad for the treatment so may use Spanish clinics or elsewhere. It is good to check all the details about where you would have the actual treatment. There is also Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridge www.bourn-hall-clinic.co.uk and I have no idea where you are so hope that some of these leads are usual. It sounds like you have a very good chance with your own eggs so I hope that you just want to find out but will never need to use the info. I got my original info from the HFEA website. I am still hoping for a miracle so we don't need to spend masses more on treatment!

For what it is worth, re gender, I sort of imagine me having a girl again, I think I just picture it as I am from a family with two girls and also for a long time I thought I would adopt a Chinese baby girl. Sadly, we never had the money to do it and now we do the waiting list is too long! I mean I would be too old by the time I got to the top of the list! Having said this, a boy would be lovely. I almost can't imagine another one. In some ways a boy would be nice, to say 'my son' which I have never said before. I think Diege and Beattie said boys at one time so there will be a few around. Sometimes when I go out there are a group of boys and just my one dd. Last week there were 4 boys and just one girl. I guess I am just used to girls but I would be delighted with any baby, thanks.

Muchlove I think that is teenage boys who think of sex every 5 minutes, my old man thinks of bills that need to be paid not of sex!

Hippy what could possibly have got so heated on the charter thread, were they also discussing big brother or something!

djinnie thinking of you. The cushion company looks fab.

Diege read your profile for the first time. What do you lecture in? I am also a big fan of the Apprentice and I am a control freak by the way! Plus my husband says I love to delegate (boss) but I just know it will get done right if I am in charge!

Jolly thanks for your positive post. Have just had a row with hubby about money and this was on top of reading about women in Burma being gang raped and thinking about people who have children who have terminal illnesses and so sometimes just want to count my lucky stars and feel positive. Sometimes life can be so pressurised and you can feel you must get more etc. I bought 19p Morrison's conditioner this week and I am going to get my more by buying own brand! Anyway, I loved your positive post. Why have you moved or have I missed something??

Who is watching the X Factor, did anyone see the girl hit her own friend on stage having insulted the audience and asked Danni Minogue who she was! It was so weird, but the singer Cher was great. I am a saddo, I am hooked, 6 years ago I watched X Factor in hospital when I had DD or possibly just when I went in early when they thought I was going into labour early so it always reminds me of that. I still have a paid for swipe card for the hospital telly in my purse, been waiting five years to use it again! Yes, saddo alert!

djinnie · 06/09/2010 09:03

Italiangreyhound LOL at the swipe card!! They've probably changed the system by now Grin

GG Sorry you were sad. Hope it was cathartic to get it out a bit.

Morning ladies... just thought I'd update. Took pregnancy test no. 3 on Saturday. Whiter than a shade of pale. So frustrating. NO AF and I'm losing count now. CD46 (?)

I don't feel pregnant at all either so now I'm wondering what the hell is going on!

Glad you liked the website :-) Sorry no shagpile rugs...cost a fortune to post! ... we'll have to get one from the opposition... Hmm

Hippy got my fingers and toes crossed for you.

Beattiebow · 06/09/2010 09:31

Hi all, gg bit late from me too, but I would probably continue with the aspirin. Your af sounds like mine was - came on day 21 and was only 2 days long and not at all normal. i did wonder about me (especially as temps went back up again too), but decided to leave it all to fate and not test or anything. Don't feel pg anyway.

djinnie hope you get some answers soon. Have you had testing with the drs yet?

hippy have you tested yet?

jollster how are things? I am going to see your acupuncturist this morning!

I am still obsessing about my cycle. can't work out whether I oved on day 9 or not. No signs of it happening now thats for sure, but still swi just in case. I have the day 19 tests this week (on day 20 - is that ok do you think?) which may give some answers I suppose.
Oh an have to face a woman at school who was 40 this summer. during a night out she told me she mc'ed in march and it was nice to chat to her about our experiences. anyway I am convinced she is pg again - not drinking on nights out, weight on, chewing on carbs at all times etc. I am trying to feel charitable about it, but it is difficult.

sassy i can't remember - do you do temping?

Did anyone see Toni Weschler in the paper at the weekend?

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