The Over 40 Crowd

[jen babes]

Hi Ladies

LISA- sorry to hear what a time you've been having...I remember when your sis had baby ...it's just so hard . My Sis has had all her kids so i don't need to face that anymore...it's alot easier to cope whith when the babes are out cause then you get to hold and feed them. Sending you big hugs x x Hope you and hubbby are fully recovered.

anna good to hear you can 'relax' over Christmas...hope your enjoying the 2nd tri and are blooming! x x

Tammy- glad you got the all clear at your tests...are you feeling good enough in yourself? x x

Yasmina- Sounds like youve had a time of it...but glad you have now been let home . Especially if you havn't got anything for the baby yet!!!
HAPPY SHOPPING

Kat- how's you doing??? x x

bev Kim Luanne and anyone else i have missed Happy Christmas and loving hugs


I have finally managed to sort out most of the Wedding stuff..originally we were going abroad to get married but friends and family were so let down by that ...that we had to have a party. venue booked and invites proofs are in the post! So that leaves space for in the New year we can look at differant clinics. KAt you mentioned Big J went to kiev do you have any info on this clinic??? Or others. if you could Pm me that would be great. Come the New Year we will be able to focus on starting ivf in June-ish!!!

love to ya alllI am off to get ready to watch the 'baby animals in the womb' on channel 4 a tear jerker for sure ...


HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!! catch ya in the new year
jen
xxxx

[LuAnne41]

Hello and Happy Holidays to All!!!

Bev, Tammy, Anna, Yasmina - I love following your pregnancies. I am sorry to hear about the heartburn and scares, but thankful that everything has turned out good. Do you find yourself thinking about what the holiday will be like next year with a little one? God Bless You!

Yasmina, thanks for keeping me posted on your friend being treated at Advanced Fertility of Chicago. I am fairly certain that is where I will go for treatment.

In fact, I have an appointment at Advanced Fertility on Thursday the 28th for a hysteroscopy, mock transfer and check of my endometrial lining. I am hoping to be approved for their Shared Risk Program. They charge $5,350 per cycle, plus the costs of the donors meds, for up to 4 cycles and any associated frozen transfers. I'll also pay for my own meds, of course. They also charge a (hefty) program fee, which is refunded in full if no live birth results. Their most recent live birth rates w/ED is 71%. That is quite impressive. The best live birth rates I have found is a center in Colorado, which is over 80%. However, they have no shared risk or outcome based plan and their costs are almost $40,000 per cycle, not including my travel expenses. I just feel better with a Shared Risk program, since I know they have financial incentive to succeed. Wish me luck on being accepted into their program.

Hopefully, I'll be doing a cycle in February. It sounds as if I will have some company, which will be exciting.

Trisha

[teachertam]

Good morning Ladies:

Anna: Good to hear that you have finished work as well. I have been working on setting up my online classes for next semester. I will have 2 more weeks to finish it though. Have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Jen: Have a wonderful wedding. I'm feeling great, except for being tired at times. Merry Christmas.

LuAnne: As we were taking our family photo in front of the fireplace with our 2 labradors, I told DH that next year we would have a little guy with us. The following year we should have another child with us, as we should also have our adopted daughter from China. The Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago does sound like a good clinic. Good luck on your Feb. cycle. Your next Christmas photo could also have an infant or you with a very big belly. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Bev, Yasmina, Kat, Randa, Lisa, Kim and anyone else that I may have forgotten have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take care all,
Tammy

[Sonix]

Hi everyone,

The days and weeks before Christmas have just been flying by. Hope you have all been enjoying advent and not working too hard.

Here’s just a quick post to wish all here a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. Have a great time everyone!

Catch up with you next week…

Big hugs all round!!!!!!!
Love
Sonia
xxx

[teachertam]

Happy New Year Ladies:

Sonia: It was good to hear from you. I hope that you had a Merry Christmas.

Bev: How are you? We haven't heard from you in a couple of weeks. I hope things are going well for you and the little guy.

Yasmina: I hope that all is well with your little lamb as well. Hopefully, you have not had any more trips to the hospital.

Anna: I hope that you had a nice Christmas with family and friends.

I'm doing well. I can't wait until Thursday, since we are having a scan. I have not seen the little guy for quite awhile now.

Hello to Jen, LuAnne, Lisa, Kat, Kim, Randa.

Regards,
Tammy

[Kat]

Hi all
Just popping in to say I am off on holiday tomorrow so I won't be here for a couple of weeks
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a very happy New Year. Here's hoping we all get our wishes come true
Lots of love
Kat xx

[BevT]

Hi everyone, hope you all have had a nice christmas. We have had a quiet time as I have been trying to rest and keep my feet up (swollen feet and ankles). Also I am not sleeping very well, and have had the odd panic when the baby doesn't move very much, but my midwife has been great and calls in on her way home to check me out when I get worried.

Kat, hope you have a good holiday. Can't recall where you are off to but I am sure it will be a well earned rest. Any news on any further donor tmt?

Hey Tammy, thanks for asking after me. I have been calling in and reading everyon'e posts. Just got a bit "lost" with everyone for a while and had'nt much news this end to post.

LuAnne, in answer to your question, yes I find myself thinking about what life will be like next year with a llittle one, not only next xmas but for everything. Come February my life will totally change and I can't wait! Good luck with your appointment on the 28th. Is that tomorrow? or next month?

Hi Jen, Sonia, Kim, Yasmina, Anna, and anyone else I have missed.

Bev xxx

[teachertam]

Hello Ladies:

Bev: It is so good to hear from you. I too have had swollen ankles just recently. I am having a very difficult time sleeping through the night and am normally exhausted by midday.

I had a doctor's appt. today and got to see my little boy, since we had a scan. He is ahead of schedule. He is 4 lbs 4 ounces now (about 1.5 - 2 weeks ahead of schedule). I will post a photo of him on photobucket. You can logon by typing in: ivfgroup / password: ivfgroup.

Kat: I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Hopefully, when you get back you will have good news on your donor.

Happy New Year to all.

Regards,
Tammy

[children]

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our Christmas vacation and it turned out that it was not possible to go shopping for the baby around that time. I know we are very late for the baby, but my hubby wanted to remodel our bedroom first before we set up a room for the baby. My belly suddenly grown a lot in the last two weeks and I am 142 lbs (15 lbs heavier than before pregnant), the nurse said I had a spur of growth. I guess the medicine (Prolisec) helped a lot for my food intake (thanks Tammy). I finally know that my sugar level is higher than normal (167) and I will need to do the three hour glucose tolerance test tomorrow and will report after I know what is going on – sorry, Tammy, I should have listened to you to call them earlier, now, I regretted very much, because I ate a lot of sugar-rich food in the last weeks which may be very harmful for the baby.

LuAnne and Kim,

My friend who went to Advanced Fertility Center in Chicago is pregnant now and her Dr. is Sherbahn, in case you are interested.

Lastly, I wish everyone a happy new year!

Yasmina

[teachertam]

Good morning Ladies:

Yasmina: I'm glad to hear that the Prilosec helped. How did the three day glucose tolerance test go?

It is very difficult for me to sleep at night. My ankles are also starting to swell. I guess that is just normal. Andrew is so active at night and early morning.

Hello to everyone else.

Happy New Year,
Tammy

[BevT]

Happy New Year to all our over 40's crowd.

We had a very quiet one, as we were at a friends for dinner on the 30th (our 11th wedding anniversary) and had a very late night. Can't cope with late nights now so most of yesterday was spend lolling on the sofa all day. Had a bath and went to bed before midnight. Hey ho, there will always be other New Years to celebrate, I just want to get my little man here safely for this one!

Tammy, I think swollen ankles etc is par for the course in late pregnancy, unless you are extremely lucky. The disrupted sleep is also normal I think. Nature's way of getting you used to the frequent feeds and nappy (diaper) changes to come. When will you finish work on maternity leave? I guess you will be starting back to school soon, after the christmas break. Do you get statutory leave packages from work in the States or are you planning to give up work for a few years?

I am already at home full-time so I don't have those issues to consider. I gave up work 9 years ago to look after our horses. Over the last few years the horses have dwindled in number and what with trying to have a family, we have not replaced them. So now I am a lady of leisure (for the time being). I feel quite lucky that I will be able to devote all my time to our son - although I do sometimes miss the stimulation of work and company of colleagues. Oh, I managed to look at your pics of Andrew. Thank you - no chance I can figure out how to do the same with my pics. I will ask DH to assist me when he has a quiet moment.

Yasmina I hope that your sugar levels are settling down. Although you have now put on 15lbs in total, that is still not a huge amount. I have put on closer to 28lbs. Gosh, I am going to have ajob to shift it after the baby is born. Thank goodness summer is on it's way, I will be more inclined to eat salads etc when it is not so cold and gloomy. Is your consultant concerned that you may be developing gestational diabetes? If that is the case, although you may end up having a bigger baby, I don't think there will be any long term harm done to her. Fingers crossed that they will be able to control things for you.

As I said earlier, I am sending my New Year wishes to all of you, and wishing that we all have a great 2007.

More later,
Bev xxx

[Sonix]

Hi there,

Happy New Year everyone here!

LuAnne, how did you get on at your appointment on 28th December? Hope all is well. Any news yet about approval for the program in Chicago? Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Hope there will be some of us ready to cycle along with you very soon.

Kat: hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday and come back feeling relaxed. Looking forward to news from you about your donor treatment soon.

Anna, Yasmina, Tammy, Bev: It’s great to be able to follow your pregnancies on this thread. So glad you’ve all been keeping us posted. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly for you over the next months with no more unforeseen trips to the hospital or need for any worrying. It must be amazing to feel your bumps responding!

We’ve had a good Christmas and New Year with lots of socializing. I was all high spirits before Christmas but haven’t been feeling on top of the world just recently. Maybe Christmas just has that effect sometimes and the fact that I’m fighting off a cold again hasn’t helped.

Since our consultant unexpectedly brought up the possibility of treatment with DHEA supplements, we have been trying to get more information from the clinic. 2 days before Christmas we finally received a letter. Instead of DHEA supplement, for which the pre-treatment time would be 4 months, our consultant proposed trying with testosterone.

We researched on the internet but have managed to find only one short article about a study which indicates that pre-treatment with testosterone could improve chances for low responders during IVF. It’s available in the UK (usually for men!) in the form of patches but the clinic has had the neighbouring pharmacy prepare a special testosterone gel to use on the skin (for 5 days) which I picked up last week. I was supposed to start 2 days before arrival of AF which I estimated for today. But AF surprised me 2 days early and I had to start yesterday evening before going out to a New Year’s Eve Party.

Anyway it seems we’re the first at our clinic to use the gel and haven’t had the opportunity to speak to the consultant personally, so I’m rather confused about what to expect. I know he does a lot of research so I’m not overly worried about side-effects etc. However, I had assumed that it would be a pre-treatment for IVF WITH stimulation, but I am to go for a first scan on cycle day 8(!) I should be thinking positive about still having some options open to us, but I can’t help feeling like I’m just clutching at straws. If anyone has any wise words about the use of testosterone, I’m all ears.

Don’t want to start the New Year off on a bad note so must pull myself together and concentrate on some New Year’s resolutions…

Love to all here, Jen, Kim, Lisa (hope you are feeling better), Caz and anyone I have forgotten.
Wishing you all the very best for 2007!
Sonia
xxx

[teachertam]

Happy New Year!

Sonia: Good luck on your upcoming cycle.

Bev: I am off of school 1 more week and then Spring semester starts. I will be teaching two online classes, which I can teach from home. If your are a full time employee (with benefits) you get some paid maternity leave here in the states. Unfortunately, I am not a full time teacher with benefits, as I teach part time at two colleges. I am very glad that I will be at home though and will not have to drive 1 hour drive twice a week to a neighboring college. I will start back teaching face-to-face mid June. DH and I are going to work out our schedules so that he will come home early to watch Andrew and then I will go to school twice a week. Since he is also a teacher, he has a flexible schedule. This will keep us from having to use daycare for the little guy. My friend, Tracy, takes her baby to daycare and she gets sick a lot. Kids seem to pass all of the germs around from one to the other.

We had some family over last night for New year's eve. It was nice. My parents and two nieces spent the night, as they live 1-2 hours from me and I did not want them driving on the roads late at night with all of the drunks.

Hello to everyone else.

Take care,
Tammy

[children]

Hi,

Thanks Bev and Tammy, I called and the nurse told me that I had passed all three points of the GTT last Friday and I don't have gestatioal diabetes - thank God, I was sooooo worried!

Sonix, I do not remember that you are not responding well to FSH? I also read an article about treatment of low responders with testosterone (20mcg/kg body weight/day) for 5 days before FSH stimulation could improve egg production and pg rate (source: Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on March 3, 2006
Human Reproduction 2006 21(7):1884-1893). Hope 2007 brings you good luck!

Tammy, I could not sleep well during 24 to 30 weeks, but I am getting better now, except my expanding belly makes me hard to find a good sleeping position. But I have slight headache every morning and I have hard time to keep being awake during the day - the tiredness and sleepiness are very similar to the 1st trimester!

On the new year's eve my DH sanded our floor after an early retreat from a party and he is now coating it (do any of you know that the smell of wood coating hurt baby in the warm?), this is the last thing he does in terms of remodeling our 75-yr house. Grandparent and sister-in-law and her boyfriend will come from France soon to welcome our daughter, yet I don't speak a word of French - that will be fun since I will be home alone with them for a month after the childbirth! Any tricks of learning French rapidly?

I better go to open my French text book now, if I don't post often, you should know that I am studying!

Yasmina

[jen babes]

Happy New year everyone....

Kat enjoy your 2wks holiday...hope it's sunny and warm where your going???

Yasmina- Glad the tests came out A okay!!!!Good luck learning French . i took it at school but even after various trips to france a=can only speak school girl French. you will probably learn more when everone comes to saty than you will learn in the next few lessons!!!

Sonia good luck with your new tmt cycle

I have been busy with visiitors the last 2 wks and finally have some time on my own with DF and I . He has only had 3 dauys off in the last month so we are heading off skking in the scottish Mountain this weekend ( friday -monday)Looking forward to it. I have a question for all you ladies tho...My AF has always been a 28 day occurance all my life ( am now 39). but since my 3rd ivf in May it has been a bit off (more like every 2 or 3 wks). Now itAF was due Christmas day and i have had the usual 3 days before cramps but nothing arrived . have now had cramps for 10days and still nothing!!! Do you think this is early menopause setting in.? is it due to all the stimming meds??? Will it effect the ED tmt i would like to do in MAY?

Have gone through the usual questions i would ask myself if anyone else would have been late>...I don't feel stressed, I am not preg ( no tubes ladies so no chance), i have not lost excess ammount of weight....A bit puzzled by it though? can anyone shine any light on this?

Hi to Randa Lu anne Tammy Bev and Anna Kim Lisa and Caz andf anyoner i have missed. Hope we all haev a Happy healthy and productive 2007!!!

love jen
xxx