MARCH-CYCLE BUDDIES

[fijibabie]

Hi Girls

I have been MIA over the last week - had to go away for work doing some promotion and stuff - very busy. However that is it until late August when I have to go to Australia for the same thing. Checked with the midwife and she is good with that.
It is very cold here at the moment - as it is winter here. It was -1degree celcius this morning. Brrrrrr.
I am not having a 12 week scan - I get one at 19 weeks however I am having a nucal cord scan so we should see some action there.

Hope everyone is doing well - still no pregnancy signs for me except a bit of constipation, heartburn from time to time and the bloatedness. I even bought some maternity clothes in advance and need to get some bras too!

All the best
Luv Barbs

[kia1973]

barbs,

glad to hear your doing ok, i have stressed like hell over not having any pregnancy symptoms but now i have come to turms with the fact that i dont think i'm going to get any, not that i want M/S mind i'm quite glad that one has missed me!!

as for getting any bigger the answer is NO my boobs have grown but thats about it, i feel bloated towards the end of the day but still now baby bump!!!

if it wasn't for the scans i think i would have gone crazy. roll on next wed i get my 16 week scan, cant wait to see the little bean again.

well keep us posted on how your getting on

take care
sha xx

[Tams]

Hi Guys,
very jealous that neither of you have m/s, mine isn't too bad but enough to feel quite grim. I seem to get afternoon and evening sickness, from 3pm onwards its a constant battle to keep eating to stop the nausea which has had an unfortunate result on my waistline! No baby bump but a very definite podgy tummy! I am trying to snack on healthy things but the baby isn't having a bar of it, chooses crisps over fruit every time!

So exciting that you have a 16 wk scan and that its next week, will you find out the sex? We have to wait until the 14th Aug for our next scan which will be 21 wks. We have decided not to find out what we're having and wait for a surprise. Barbs, when is your nuchal fold going to be? You must be very excited, it is such a change from the 8 wk scan, it actually looks like a baby! We could see the baby sucking its thumb quite amazing. It was actually quite a shock, it all feels a bit theoretical until you see the scan and then a week after I'm back to not quite believing it again.

I'm 14 weeks today, this whole pregnancy thing seems to be taking forever - longest 3 months ever!

XXX T

[kia1973]

hi all,

no we aren't going to find out the sex, we going to wait for the christmas suprise.

i totally agree that this feels like the longest couple of months i have ever spent, i waited so long to become pregnant and now i just want to hold my baby!!!

sorry you have to wait so long for your next scan Tams, i dont think i will get another scan until 30 something weeks!!

barbs let us know how you get on with your scan, like tams said the baby has changed so much in the few weeks, i really could not get over it, it really was out of this world seeing the little bean.

xx

[Tams]

Sha, the 16 week scan must be amazing?! For some reason 16 weeks feels like another big benchmark to me. Somehow 14 wks still feels a bit like 12 wks, but 16, now thats a whole other thing! Imagine, 4 months, that's really and truly pregnant! Have you felt anything yet? I know I will wish I was smaller once I have a really big bump but right now I would love to have a definite baby bump (rather than a fat tummy!) or to feel the baby, it feels a little bit as though I'm in between at the moment.
I had a doctor's appointment this am, and she used the doppler machine, so amazing to hear the heartbeat, it was much louder than 2 weeks ago! I think that should keep me going until the magic (in my mind!) 16 wk mark.

We've decided not to find out the sex either, seems to be a British thing - apparently we like tormenting ourselves and playing guessing games for 6 months!!

LOL Txxxx

[kia1973]

Tams,

i cant wait for wed to come, i dont know why i'm getting a scan at 16 weeks but i suppose it what they do around this area. i know what you mean about wanting a baby bump, i keep on rubbing my tummy wishing it to grow, but like you i will probably wish i was small again once i'm the size of a baby elephant!!

i haven't felt no movement as of yet, nor have i heard the babys heart beat since the 8 week scan, it must be so lovely to hear the heart beat, my doctor wont even listen for it himself let along let me hear it!!

the guessing for the next six months should help the time go quicker, do you have any names yet? we like Ethan for a Boy but can not come up with a girls name that we both like (i'm sure it is going to be a boy).


barbs - how you doing honey??

take care all

sha xxxx

[rae76]

Hi girls,
nice to see you're doing fine and growing your little ones happy and healthy!

Sha, I can't believe it's going to be 16 weeks for you already - that's so great! For us there was a huge difference bw/ the ultrasound images at 12 and 16 weeks, so you just wait

My little one is kicking like mad - unfortunately he's still breach so guess where he's kicking me... Still, I'm so grateful for every movement, even if it's killing my bladder!

Good luck ladies!

[Stayinghopeful]

Hi Rae76. I posted on here a few months ago and I believe you responded to me a few times. I had IVF/ICSI in January and got a BFP. I unfortunately lost the baby at 3.5 months in April.

We are about ready to do our second IVF and I was doing some research tonight and came upon your posts. I was wondering if you might answer a few questions for me.

My DH has severe sperm Morphology 0-1%. We were told ICSI would be our only option. I pulled my sciatic nerve and have been seeing an acupuncturist who has cured me in a week . She is a reproductive acupuncturist as well.

Well upon talking to herabout DH's Sperm and my slightly elevated FSH level she wants very badly for us, as a couple, to continue with acupuncture and she believes she can change DH's morphology to the level where we could possibly get pregnant naturally.

I noticed that you too had acupuncture, as well as your DH having low morphology. YOU also conceived naturally, I believe from your posts.

Do you mind letting me know what your DH's Morphology was?? Do you believe you conceived naturally due to acupuncture?

My RE has said that we should continue with our IVF plan for AUGUST and that acupuncture can't really help with DH's morphology issue. The more time I wait, the less chance of having good quality eggs.

I'm seriously considering doing the acupuncture and waiting to see if they can change the morphology but have not been able to find convincing evidence of this, so am obviously on the fence. I'm skeptical of this though too and don't want to waste time due to my egg reserve and FSH level.

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

BTW CONGRATULATIONS ON THE PREGNANCY, it's a beautiful feeling-- How I long to feel that way again soon!

[Stayinghopeful]

Hi Rae76-

I should have read my old blogs before I had written up above :/. You had actually chatted with me once about your DH's sperm, 2.7%. And I remember now that you got pregnant twice naturally.

Did you end up doing Acup. or did you get pregnant b4 you started it all? What about herbs??

Thanks again

[Stayinghopeful]

Hi Rae76-

I should have read my old blogs before I had written up above :/. You had actually chatted with me once about your DH's sperm, 2.7%. And I remember now that you got pregnant twice naturally.

Did you end up doing Acup. or did you get pregnant b4 you started it all? What about herbs??

Thanks again

[rae76]

Hi Stayinghopeful,

and first let me say how sorry I am for your miscarriage - I've been through that myself and it is the most difficult thing that ever happened to me. I'm so glad that you feel able and willing to try again - I firmly believe it will happen for you!

We did indeed have issues with DH's morphology and I see you already found the numbers we were quoted. Because of the poor morphology, he also had slightly decreased motility but the count was very good. I only visited my reproductive acupuncturist once (and DH didn't have time to visit at all) before I got pregnant, so I don't believe it played any role (unless it helped with the implantation which, I know now, occurred around the time of my session) - but visiting there gave me a good feeling and if we ever end up doing this again, I think this is something I will consider. I appreciate what your RE says about being in a hurry and if you trust him otherwise, that's a big consideration. However, I also believe that Western medicine does not have all the answers and my acupuncturist was quite convinging in explaining how the herbs he sent my husband and the planned acupuncture could definitely up his motility. With such low motility I felt that any improvement would be worth trying and so did DH - the regimen also included a lot of green tea for him (and cutting back on that for me! only one cup a day for the woman, I was told). However, as we got the natural BFP we both only ended up taking the herbs for a week, so this time they definitely didn't play a role. Having just taken a holiday might have - both times I got pregnant we had just been skiing. Maybe being happy and relaxed had something to do with it (although I hate the old "you just relax and it will happen" explanation that basically blames us for not getting pregnant), but interestingly enough the dr's are always saying how exercise that is too vigorous is not very good for conceiving. Well, putting in 6-hour skiing days with constant sweating and burning thighs seems to have worked for me... So it's hard to know what to believe in the end.

Sometimes the whole getting pregnant thing feels like such a huge mystery that it's hard to know what we did right or whether we just got lucky. I guess it's a sum of so many things for us who have possibly lowered fertility with both the female and the male.

I'm sorry I couldn't really help you more. Best of luck to you and your DH!

[kia1973]

Rae

hi there honey, so nice to hear from you, i can't believe that i'm 16 weeks i neaver thought i would ever get this far after so long trying, and to have no symptoms at all, i don't know if i'm lucky or not! i can't wait for the scan on wed, its so exciting.

i couldn't believe your nearly 26 weeks, your over half way there. hows the ump coming along? has anything been said about your septum yet? my midwife is convinced that minw isn't going to effect my pregnancy at all, but thats not what i have been reading!! any info on this would be openly excepted.

so do you know what your having yet? any names? my Dh wants to wait to find out!! (gutted)

well keep us posted on how your getting on honey, been thinking of you.

sha xxx

[Stayinghopeful]

Hi Rae- Thank you for your response . I think (after doing research on the net last night til 4:00am-- it's crazy isn't it?) I am going to go with acupuncture the next 10 weeks and do our IVF in September. The dr. wants August and the Acupuncturist wants October-- so I'm compromising . Actually in all September works the best for me-- so I'm justifying the compromise.

I think I've determined that it would be pretty hard for acupuncture alone to change Dh's sperm to the point where we got pregnant naturally, so we'll just do acupuncture to get us ready for IVF/ICSI! I hear it can't hurt!

Thanks again for your response and GREAT LUCK with the baby!

[rae76]

Stayinghopeful, I think that's a great solution, doing those things together. That's what we were going to do - I also thought of acupuncture and the herbs as more of a supporting factor to the reproductive technology than as a solution on its own. I'm so happy that the timing seems to work for you - and two to three months can really make a difference I think, as that's what I was suggested as the ideal solution (3 months or preparatory "treatment" the Chinese way, then IVF/ICSI). Good luck sweetie!!!

Sha, so have you decided to go DH's way and wait to find out or are you still hesitant? At 16 weeks they can often tell with a reasonable certainty (although my OB wanted to double check the sex at 20 weeks and it turned out her first impression was absolutely correct). We're having a boy and have decided on a name as well, I really like knowing Not because of colours or anything like that, I just felt like I wanted to know for some reason, to maybe start orientating myself or something. But many people prefer the surprise.

We haven't really talked about the septum thing, because the only way it presents an issue now is that after two uterine surgeries I have a slightly elevated risk to deliver early. Nothing significant though. The septum itself is gone after the operations so it won't cause complications. I think it's good to listen to your midwife and if she's not worried that's good news, but it's also wise to be educated on the issue as septums are quite rare and many health care professionals are really not up to date on what is known about them. And I'm sure you know, after all that reading, that a septum puts you at risk for early delivery, there's no way around that one. That definitely does not mean that anything bad will happen, but statistically it's a fact that a septum can play a role. Luckily it's so much about the size of the septum etc. that many women never experience any problems at all. Mine was pretty extensive, hence the recommendation to operate before getting pregnant. I hope yours will never affect you at all or at most cause you to deliver a week or two early which is OK!

Don't worry about not having symptoms, it's great! I'm so happy I never had my head in the toilet or got super tired or uncomfortable - I'm sure there'll be more than enough of that during the last weeks... My "bump" was tiny (said even the nurses) until week 23, then at 22w1day it POPPED overnight, I swear. I'd heard stories like that but didn't really believe it could happen. Well, it did, and now everyone finally notices I'm pregnant unless I have a really loose shirt. I'm loving this phase - my tummy's cute but not too heavy yet, the baby's kicking but not too hard and I have a lot of energy and feel more secure as the weeks keep adding up. I don't think I'll ever be able to completely relax and trust the process though - having been through so much heartache has left its marks. But otherwise I'm happy and feeling well - and finally feel pregnant because of the bump and the kicking

Good luck for your scan, I hope you have a wonderful moment with your little one! And soon enough s/he will be kicking and turning and making you smile at the oddest moments

[Tams]

Sha and Rae,
I was so interested to hear that you both have/have septums? I have an arcuate utereus which I think is different in that it has a convex top but similar in that I believe there is an increased chance of an early delivery. I was also told that there is a slightly increased chance of late miscarriage. I think the two are morphologically quite different (I seem to remember reading about them and getting quite confused) but I wondered whether either of you happened to have picked up any info on arcuate uteruses along the way? I got so side tracked by the sperm results (totally disasterous as a result of two ops on undescended testicles when my DH was very young) that the uterus thing paled into insignificance. Having now managed to get pregnant though I mentioned it to the hospital and they said they would check at the 20 wk scan and send me to see the consultant then.

Stayinghopeful, as you can see from my info at the bottom and also the message above, we had very bad sperm results, really low count and terrible morphology. The doctor told us we had a 5% chance of conceiving naturally (ie 95% of not!) but that up to 3 rounds of ICSI would increase this to 80%. I also followed Zita West to a T (her book Fertlity and Conception was my absolute bible through our rounds of IVF), she makes you feel as though ou are in some control of the outcome and the acupuncture, especially around transfer increases the chances of success. I would also recommend it for sperm morhology although we didn't because I found out too late that its good for men too(next time he's going along!) Mr Dooley who was my fertility consultant and Zita West both believe in the combination of modern medicine and supportive traditional medicine. If you google both of them but Zita West in particular there's quite a lot of research on her website.

I hope this is some help to you and that you are successful in your next round, I am sure you will be!

XXX Tams