The Over 40 Crowd

[sunseeker]

Hi everyone
I haven't had chance to post for a while as we have been really busy plus it was my 40th birthday and we had a big party at home (never again - too much work!!). We then went away with a group of friends sailing to Formentera which was lovely and we are just getting back to normal now so I have just popped in to see how everyone is doing.
Congratulations to everyone with BFP's - I have been more than a little low about the hole process recently so it was lovely to read all your good news - good luck over the next few scans/weeks. Special good luck fairy dust to Anna - I am keeping everything crossed for you.

We were supposed to try again in August but the specialist put me on a drug called Yasmin which is supposed to halt your cycle until you stop taking it but lo and behold my AF came bang on time so that scuppered our plans as it was just before we went away. I haven't got around to arranging another appointment with him yet as I said I haven't felt in the right frame of mind plus have had another attack of shingles which always seems to happen when i get low.

I will keep tuning in now and try and get positive again and make the appointment to start the process again.

Take care
Alison xxx

[pauline69]

Hi Anna wanted to say I'm thinking of you & praying that your LFP turns into a huge BFP.

Hi to all the other ladies, you are an inspiration especially those who get pregnant naturally - it gives me the courage to hang onto hope, which can be a mighty hard thing to do!

Take care all,

Pauline x

[JaneR]

Hello Everyone,

Congratualations all you BFP'ers.

I haven't been around in a very long time, as they say after my last BFN and all the emotions that followed it I had to go and get my life back, as i wasn't coping very well at all.

Well i'm not sure if i should be posting here or not but i know you ladies all understand. I have had my name on the list for donor treatment and am doing whats called a cross over someone is donating on my behalf (SIL) and then i will get the next donor. My SIL is going through treatment at the moment and then i will wait until they find me someone.

I didn't think they would find me anyone as things weren't looking too promising. Well they have found me someone and now I am in a flat spin. I have this knot in my chest and all i want to do is cry, I think I am terrified of getting back on the roller coaster and having to cope with everything again. I just don't think I am ready to take that next step yet, this is my dream to have a baby, but at the moment I don't think i can cope with feeling like i did last year. I couldn't get through the day without crying .

And now I'm all worked up again and just want to cry. I really do want to go through with it but feel I'm not ready yet.

Am I being pathetic or realistic.

Thanks for listening.

Jane

[children]

Hi ladies,

Just got back from vacation and caught up with everyone’s posters, overall, I am happy to see so many good news and hopes here!!! Our mini-vacation was done in the last 5 days in San Francisco and California coast instead of Vancouver due to Canadian visa to me was delayed. But we had wonderful time visiting friends, eating see food, and driving in HWY 1, beautiful scenery and beautiful beaches. Pretty relaxed!

Anna, big congratulations! HPT is not always reliable because the variations among different brands. The number of the beta is not a good indication either, you are looking for good doubling in beta numbers and I am looking forward to your second beta! Welcome to the 40+ pregnant team!

Tammy, thanks for the tips for eating healthy! You are also taking prenatal vitamin pills right? The folic acid is essential, as I was told. I hate to take vitamin pills though, they make me sicker, although I have not actually vomited yet, I always feel like doing it, sucks!

I am at 10W3D pregnancy now and we had done a baby scan again this morning, no big difference from last time, except it is getting a bit bigger, it measures 36.2/37.2 mm now and the heartbeat slows to 158/min. The little bug has its own blood flow now (it was there last time also, I just forgot to tell) and a small placenta is visible at this stage. Next scan we will expect to see the baby’s stomach to confirm its normal development. Everything looks promising and my husband pushes me to do the genetic screening knowing that is difficult for me to schedule in between moving our labs and our house! At 40+, we have to be so careful with each little step.

Talk to you later, Yasmina

[teachertam]

Alison:

Happy belated Birthday! Good luck on your next cycle.

Jane:

Sorry to hear that you are feeling down. It is hard to stay positive but I believe it helps on getting the BFP. We had decided to adopt from China and had just turned in our adoption paperwork. We got pregnant naturally.

Yasmina:

Yes, I am on a good prenatal vitamin. I have my next scan next Wed. when I will be 10w 1day. At 11 weeks 2 days, we will do the genetic screening.

Anna:

How are you? When is your next blood test? Hopefully, you will get a BFP, with increasing beta.

Regards,
Tammy

[AMck]

Hello ladies
It's very quiet on our thread at the moment. I have good news, my beta is now 1,295! The dr is very pleased and we have an appointment tomorrow to discuss next steps.... still in shock , it's funny that after all the medication,appointments, disappointments, injections, scans, etc... you get on the treadmill of expecting bad news . Now that we are actually pregnant I really don't know what to do with myself! Am trying to relax and enjoy the feeling.

I still have a worry though... who doesn't! After the negative hpt I stopped taking my medication. Stupid I know. Two days later when the blood test came back positive I started them again. Now I am convinced that stopping the prog and oestrog that I will have harmed the baby's development. My gp and the clinic in Barcelona say not to worry as I have not had any bleeding but a little voice in my head keeps niggling at me for being such a fool. Help..

Alison, sorry to see you are feeling so down. Hope the shingles has disappeared and you feel strong enough to organise your next appointment. PMA to you x

Jane, the roller coaster doesn't get any easier. If you need someone to listen regarding egg donor treatment I'm here! Hoping you are OK and you can go ahead as planned. Good luck x

Yasmina, your holiday sounded great and a good scan too. Good to hear your news!

Pauline, thank you for your support. What stage of tmt are you at?

Tammy, hi, good luck with your scan tomorrow. Will be watching for your update. What genetic screening are you doing? What does it involve?

Well the sun is shining, I'm off to do a bit of gardening..
hugs to all here, special hi to Kat, Bev, Sonix, Cla, Macca8, Lisa and Caz,
Take care
Anna x

[alisonn]

anna, like everyone on here i am so so pleased for you, i bet u have
to keep pinching yourself, just think everyday your little one is getting
stronger and stronger, as for the meds if the docs are not worried
try and put it out of your head and relax as best you can !!!!
Can i ask was this a fresh cycle you had at IM ? We came back
last night from Barcelona after are appointement with Dr Monica
Redondo, she was very nice and we have decided to start end
of sept when my second period is due as we have a holiday
booked beg sept. Even though i have been thru a donar cycle
back in Uk it seems very surreal having treatement abroad.
Barcelona was not busy at all i suppose they are all on holiday
we had a lovely lunch down by the beach before we flew home.
We both have decided due to our age that this would be our last
go, but i was still tempted at the refund package with 3 attempts
we will see.
once again congradulations anna its always so lovely to ready
"happy news"
alison

[teachertam]

Anna:
That is wonderful news!!!!!!!! Don't worry about your meds. My friend, Tracy, did the exact same thing as you. She took the HPT, it was negative and she quit taking her meds. One week later, she took another HPT and it was a BFP!!! She went back on her meds. She gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl in May. I am so happy for you.

Next week, I am having the "1st Trimester Screening test". It involves a blood test and a scan. It assesses your risk of having a baby with Downs Syndrome or Trisomy 18. It is not diagnostic like the amnio or CVS tests, but is non invasive. With my increased age, my risk for having a baby with downs or some other genetic abnormality increases.

Alison
Good luck with your upcoming cycle.

Regards,
Tammy

[sunseeker]

Anna - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! I had a feeling you would be okay - don't ask me why but I am so happy for you, try and relax and enjoy the feeling and stop worrying!
It really helps hearing of all these success stories, sometimes the odds just seem so high and unachievable so it's great that it does work.
I am planning to ring my clinic to arrange another appointment - there are some more questions I need to ask and then we can make the final decision about when and what to do next. Can I ask what success rate your clinic in Barcelona quoted you?
Alison - good luck with your treatment in September and relax and enjoy your holiday first!
Tammy - good luck with your screening next week - hope all goes well.
Jane - hope you are now feeling a little more at ease with everything - it is so hard all of this isn't it - a rollercoaster is definately the right description. Good luck with everything.
Love Alison xx

[children]

Hi Anna, now, enjoy things finally are moving towards a good direction! No Garden work for you, lady, please. Relax and take time to sit around doing nothing. You will be so tired very soon – all you will want to do is to sleep. How often you will need to go back to your clinics for baby scan? I hope it will be more often than regular pregancies. We need to take Meds until at least 10th weeks of pregnancy. About your Meds, you have nothing to worry at that stage, because all the meds do at that time is to help the implantation, which has happened to you already. After that (which you are back on right now), E2 helps the embryo grow and P4 helps to keep the pregnancy, your pregnancy looks strong and I would not let the little voice in your head to bother you.

My RE tried to stop my P4 (progesterone) during my vacation, I did, but it dropped from 37 to 17 after 2 days. The RE waited for another 3 days and it keeps dropping, now, it is 11. So, he put me back on PIO yesterday. I have not seen any blood and I am still having morning sickness, I guess my baby is ok. The bad thing is that I need to move before my first trimester is over, and I also need to look for new OB right away in a new place to monitor my P4 level and do the first trimester screening right away. Quite stressful!

How many Alisons here on board? At least two? Good luck to both of you!

Tammy, good that you will do the screening before me, so I will have information from you first. Good luck on that also. By the way, I have read a lot about the screening, even the results is positive (risk of having down syndrome), it may not be true. I did not want to do it but my husband is paranoid and I will do it for him. I honestly think no matter what the results will be, I keep my baby anyway, no point to do any test! Again, I am a gambler, I bet our babies are ok, because I believe they are smart enough not to stick to fool us if they are not ok. It took 10 beautiful embryos of mine to make this baby, how I can accept it has genetic abnormalities? Natural selection has done the job, 9 of 10 were gone already, that is enough!

Take good care of yourselves, ladies, best luck to all of you! Yasmina

[BevT]

Hi everyone, sorry for not being around much lately, but will try and catch up on all the news.

Firstly, Anna, I am so so SO delighted that your levels have climbed, the thought of another failed cycle for you had had quite an affect on me. I so wanted this to work for you, and now that it has, I am over the moon for you both! Don't worry about dropping your meds for a couple of days, I am sure that you had built up enough of a reserve anyway, then when you started them again, you would have just topped the levels back up. You go girl, and good luck with your scan. Wouldn't it be funny if you find you are expecting twins, LOL, to go from thinking it hadn't worked, to finding out you have two in there, all in a fortnight. Rollercoaster, or what? Make sure you keep us all up to date won't you? How was the weekend, with your camping adventures? Did you manage to find a plausible excuse for not drinking?

Yasmina, glad things are still on track for you, and I hope you manage to move smoothly and find a new "OB". Try not to get too stressed about it, but I know that is easier said than done.

Tammy, everything still going well for you too! Good luck with your screening test next week.

Alison and Alison, wishing you loads of luck for your forthcoming treatment cycles. I agree with you Alison about the whole treatment abroad thing being surreal - I felt exactly the same with my treatment in Kiev recently. It just seems so bizarre that you go off on a plane, stay somewhere unfamiliar, see a load of people that you don't really know, and low and behold come away pregnant! I am not complaining though, I am very grateful that we have the opportunity to go abroad for DE tmt, otherwise we would all be waiting and waiting back here in the UK, to get to the top of the never ending waiting lists!

Jane, hi there. Sorry that you feel so down at the moment, but try and be positive. Is this the first DE cycle you will have, if so, the chances of success are so much better than that with your own eggs. It's great that your SIL is able to help you and that they have now found you a donor, try and go with it, don't think about it not working (easy to say I know) and try and think positive thoughts, visualise a good outcome. I am so sure that it helps, it seemed to for me recently. It is a scarey process because we all place so much on it, but unfortunately you cannot get to your goal and hold your baby in your arms without going through these initial stages. We will all be here rooting for you every step of the way. Good luck and keep strong - but in the meantime it's ok to cry if you need to. Crying releases tensions, get it all out before you start your treatment, then once you are on the road, remember - positivity positivity.

Well, for me, my news is that we had our nuchal translucency scan today (I think this might be the same screening you are having Tammy), and all is well. We have a 1 in 5,000 chance of chromosonal abnormalities. They used the age of our donor (23) for the number crunching excercise, and with the actual measurements of the nuchal fold, the result is a pretty good one. Ok, it is only guide, but at this stage I don't think we will go for any more diagnostic tests - I had a CVS a few years ago with another pg and I can tell you it is not a pleasant procedure, never mind the risks of miscarriage associated with such invasive tests. So for the moment, we will just enjoy things as they are. The scan at 20 weeks will show any "pointers" up, and if so, we can decide whether or not to go for an amnio at that stage. I am banking on my angel donor having supplied me with good eggs, and that this little beanie will be fine.

My consultant was great, and has said that he will want to re-scan me every four weeks, to check on things - as I have a poor history. He also discussed with me the possibility of intervention at 38 weeks, if I am finding the whole process too much. I am so worried that I will get to 30-something weeks and that the baby will die in my womb again, hence my enthusiasm for either inducement or c-section as soon as they will allow it, which seems to be not before 38 weeks, providing there are no other problems coming to light in the meantime. I won't be happy until I have my little bundle in my arms and I know that he/she is safe.

There is me preaching positivity to everyone else, and I am prattling on about things going wrong. Okay, I will take a leaf out of my own book, and try and stay positivie. We have got this far (nearly 12 wks now) so I will keep praying hard that this little person gets to meet us in another 26/28 weeks.

I have gone on long enough now, so will leave you all in peace. Hi to everyone else on this thread, take care all.
Bev xxx

[pauline69]

Hi Anna, I'm so happy that you are BFP Not sure if you remember but I was in the New Year Buddies thread and had my 3rd ICSI in March which was a BFN. I've finally got round to booking my follow up appt with QMH and I go next week to see a Miss Bevan whom I never met before. Don't know if she will be able to give me any possible answers as to why treatment never worked for me but I'm hoping to persuade her to let me try clomid for 6 months. DH doesn't want to do anymore IVF but is ok with me trying clomid - who knows it may work - I can't seem to give up and would quite happily get on the roller-coaster again given half a chance. Anyway enough about me. I look forward to reading your updates and wish you a happy, healthy pregnancy.

Hi to everyone else.

Pauline x

[Kat]

Hi everyone
Just a quickie - Pauline - Rowena Bevan is v nice, we saw her what seems a very long time ago at QMH when we went for our very first appt. Hope you get some answers
can't type much right now as my cat is trying to type too, sorry

Kat xx

[Alette]

Congratulations for BFP's!

Can anybody update me?

Where dit Randa go, Ogr? Debra? Our old 40 group?

As for me: I did a FET and you are the first to know: it is a positive!
We go step by step, I feel rather spoiled for only 9 months ago I got my best present ever: a babyboy named Koen.

love to be updated!

[AMck]

Hi ladies
A quick update from me. I had a scan today which showed one clever little beanie! We are thrilled. The yolk sac was clearly visible and the dr was pleased with everything! Back next Thurs for second scan...maybe we will see a heartbeat?

Hugs to all here, hope all is well with everyone. Must go , feeling tired today.

Take care
Anna x