Is anyone active on here that’s in there late 40’s wanting a baby?

[Shelley19777]

Hi, I’m new to this site but I came across it when I googled if there was anyone 47 years old in the UK who was pregnant. I saw several posts here and wanted to reach out to anyone who can help me understand a few things.

I turned 47 in March. Recently, I had a private test to check my fertility, and it showed my AMH level was 4.8, which is above average for my age. I had thyroid cancer when I was 25, but I was never given the opportunity to freeze my eggs or even discuss fertility. It was a taboo subject back then.

I have a cyst on my ovary and fibroids, so carrying a baby myself wouldn’t be safe or viable. I understand that the chromosomes in our eggs at an older age can be disadvantaged. However, I am due to see the fertility clinic at Saint Mary’s in Manchester today for a consultation. I was referred to them by the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester.

I am in a same-sex relationship, and my partner has just undergone her third IUI. It has always been in the back of my mind that I wish I could have frozen my eggs. I know that in Cyprus, they treat women up to 54 years of age and are keen to have my test results sent to them.

My question is, are there any ladies who have been successful in naturally conceiving or through embryo transfer to their partner, resulting in a healthy baby? I’ve been strict with my diet and have given up drinking to support my partner, making it a team effort. I believe my AMH levels might have improved as a result.

If anyone has gone through a similar experience or has any knowledge about this, please advise. My partner, who is 35, is open to having an embryo transfer to her, and we don’t mind paying privately again. This option was never suggested to me during my care at the Christie or any other hospital.

Thanks for any advice. I know it’s an unusual situation, but I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Thanks x

@Shelley19777 Hi, I didn't want to read and run even though my situation is different due to ages. Same sex couple here. I'm just about to turn 35 and pregnant with our second child (we have a DD born Sept 2022). My partner will be 39 later this year.

Fertility checks showed I had an average AMH for age and no suggestion of any fertility issue. We tried IUI with donor sperm, with myself trying to conceive as my partner wasn't interested in being pregnant. We did 4 x medicated IUIs which were all negative. We decided to move onto IVF as the cumulative pregnancy rates for medicated IUIs really start to drop after a couple of tries. My first egg collection I responded shockingly badly for my age. Part of the issue was they couldn't extract eggs from some of my follicles (consultant said it suggests eggs didn't mature properly). We only got 2 mature eggs from that cycle, but were lucky that both made high-grade day 5 blasts. I was transferred fresh, I started bleeding only 5 days after transfer (negative) and the other we did a frozen transfer which ended in a chemical pregnancy. Second egg collection we changed lots of things about the protocol and I got 6 mature eggs. They all made it to day 5, but only 3 were considered good enough to freeze (ironically, after retesting my AMH after first cycle to try to understand why I responded poorly, my second AMH result came back high so they said we had to do a freeze-all due to OHSS risk....). First frozen transfer is my DD, and second frozen transfer is my current pregnancy (1 embryo still frozen).

So, what I would say is AMH is NOT always going to predict how well you respond, and even getting a small number of eggs CAN lead to a successful pregnancy.

After I got pregnant the first time, we actually had a consultation with the fertility clinic to discuss whether it was a good idea for my DP to do an egg collection to freeze embryos to try for a sibling. The reasons we asked were because I felt 2 frozen embryos didn't give us a lot of chance for a sibling, and I felt I responded poorly to stims, so we might have better luck with my partner. It wasn't because my partner was bothered about having a child genetically related to them. The consultant very strongly said that the biggest predictive factor for a successful pregnancy is age. So they said even a few eggs collected from me, would have a better chance of ending in a pregnancy, than potentially more eggs collected from my partner because she is older. We decided not to do an egg collection with my partner.

I think really its up to you to do your own soul searching of how important having a child genetically related to you is to you. If its important to you, then it is worth trying an egg collection (assuming you're purchasing sperm, its so bloody expensive I wouldn't waste it on trying to conceive naturally given your age to be honest, so would go straight to egg collection). Even if you don't respond well / get many eggs, you may at least feel you've given it a try. I would say though that, statistically, you've got better chance using your partners eggs (either yourself or them carrying) assuming they have no major fertility issues.

Wishing you both the best of luck :)