The Over 40 Crowd

[Catharine]

Hey All

How's everyone doing?

Yasmina-sounds like your little peanut is developing right on schedule. ya'll must be thrilled. I forgot to remark on the cute picture you posted of your daughter. A picture to bring out in later years to embarass her infront of her dear friends Thanks for the story from NPR, very interesting. I wonder if they also looked at the endometrial lining as a variable to be considered [or not] in their equation.

My jogging went great I survived and received the coveted T-shirt at the finish. The wednesday preceding the race I had inadvertently gotten in the way of a fast moving soccer ball and my poor leg looks horrible, bruises from thigh to calf, still to this day I was a wee bit nervous of the jogging because of the terrible bruising; worried about casting clots from the bruise. But DH and I took the race easy not trying to prove anything. I did get a PR out of it [for the longest it has taken me to finish the race out of 13 years--lol].

Both PG and PT job are going well. I have a presentation tomorrow. The feedback I've received so far sounds like I've earned my pay [may have even left a few $$ on the table]. Sadly, my computer died over a week ago, I'm on a loaner awaiting the arrival of a new one. If it is not one thing it is another. I have my follow-up appt monday with OB to go over the anatomy survey. I was trying to hold off writing till then, but I couldn't resist anymore.

Need to get back to working.
All the best,
Catharine

[teachertam]

Welcome Calicat and Nicolina!

Yasmina: Eloise is getting so big! She looks so cute sitting on her potty. Andrew uses the potty for pee pee whenever we place him on it. He is really developing a mind of his own these days. I think the "terrible twos" is upon us. He does not like to be told "no". He also seems to get frustrated easily if he cannot do figure something out. He really is a joy though. We took him to the park the other day and he went down the slide all by himself.

Catharine: It is good to hear that your pregnancy and job are both going well.

Hello to everyone else.

Take care all,
Tammy

[children]

Catharine,

Well said, took it easy and were not trying to prove anything. It's funny to me that it took the longest for you to finish in the last 13 yrs! Of course, it is not you had a big bump there in all the 12 previous times! Just to have some fun! Good luck on your presentation.

I have not found that they looked at endometrial lining. The full paper is published in Plos one, if you are interested in reading it:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0002562

Tammy,

Sounds like that little Andrew becomes big Andrew now! I often wish time freezes so babies could stay as cute as they can be...

Calicat and Nicolina,

How are you doing? Hope to hear from you soon.

Hi to everyone else reading here!

Yasmina

[Nicolina]

Hi Yasmina
Thanks for the link to the NPR broadcast. That is really interesting and encouraging too. It would be nice to be analyzed as an individual instead of just going by ones age with regard to infertility you know?! I am amazed that we are all lumped into age categories. Anyway, we have decided to go again one more round with my eggs. Its going to be so expensive as we are paying out of pocket now that the insurance $ is all used up. I hope we get a great round! I have only done it 2 times, and both I got pregnant. The first I went 8 weeks or so and lost it. They did analyze the tissue but said it must have been chromosomal defects. The second was a chemical pregnancy and only went another week after the 2ww and then started bleeding. We are really torn b/c we respond well and our embies look so good but then it turns out that they are apparently chromosomally defective. I dont know if they just say that b/c they dont really know what is happening and that statement is just so generic and broad. The first time we got to the 5 day blast stage with 3 embies and the second time we got to the 3 day 8 cell stage with 3 embies. It looked so promising both times. So I am eating pineapple and going to start accupuncture and stretching excersizes. Have to wait a while to start our next round -- will be a few more weeks till then. I am just trying to keep my mind off it too much for now. I appreciate the responses though, it helps to know there are other ladies out there with happy stories and giving such positive encouragement.

[children]

Hi Nicolina,

We paid all our cycles out of pocket. My way of looking at this is: adoption also costs a lot of money and efforts and sometimes you could wind up paying more than an ivf cycle. I have a friend who paid already $20,000 to her agency but still has not gotten her adopted child after more than 4 years into this route!

As you said, I like the Standford's study because it gives an individualized prediction. Based on this study and your history in ivf so far, I agree with your RE and you - you are a good responder and had been pg twice. It is obvious that you will have hi chance to get pg again in the next round. In your case, my feeling is to get more embryos transferred if you won't do Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), a procedure is costly but not mature enough for me to agree on doing.

I ate pineapple forcefully (1/2 pineapple per day for 2~3 days after 2~3 days post ET, my teeth don't support 1 whole pineapple per day). Other times I eat it as fruit so I don't eat more than 1/4 per month or so. My understanding about increasing our chances to get pg and keep pg is that we need to increase blood circulation in reproductive organs. Yoga, accupuncture, and other forms of exercises, whichever helps this, should only do good or at least no harm. In the mean time, gentle exercises help to calm our nerves and give us positive attitude towards life. Why not?

I typed a lot and on and off the site for the whole morning. All I wanted to say is good luck to you on the coming cycle!

Catharine and Tammy

I will update after the first trimester's ultrascreenning. Still having morning sickness and still hate food right now.

Calicat,

How are you doing?

Yasmina

[Catharine]

Good afternoon ladies:D

Nicolina-we also payed out of pocket for all our infertility treatments, bad insurance in GA, not required to cover any infertility treatments nor birth control methods. One is considered lucky if their health policy covers tmt related to our reproductive systems. Our clinic partnered up with CapitalOne as an option for financing tmts see website: http://www.capitalonehealthcarefinance. ... 103984A2F6
This maybe a resource option for consideration.

Yasmina-will be thinking of you and your peanut, lots of PMA.

We had our monthly Ob appt yesterday. Got the official seal of 'normal' on the anatomy survey. Regardless of the outcome it would not have changed how much we already love the lil' princess. On the report, the perinatologist reported placental previa we could see the placenta low in the uterus, common for women over age 35. It's not complete, just the tip of the placental lobe is lying extra close to the opening of the cervix. Something that will be monitored from here on out. Also, my Ob brought up the touchy topic of possible hysterectomy once the baby arrives. I had a very large fibroid removed back in Fall 2005 [the size a 5 month pg]. There is a possibility that the placenta may grow into the scar [placenta accreta], making it difficult to detach upon the birth of our baby. Tmt of this situation is hysterectomy Here's to hoping for low probabilty on hitting this jackpot. On a more brighter note. DH had his hand resting on my belly last night and felt the baby's movement for the first time. His expression was priceless.

Hello to everyone else. Sending PMA to all.

Catharine

[children]

Hi Catharine,

My first thought about your PP is "no more running for you", but this may not be the case since it is not a complete PP. I read a lot about PP before b/c one of my favorite blog writers had it when she was pg with her first baby. As you said, the best way to deal with it is to monitor it carefully and understand how it evolves.

About the hysterectomy, doctors tend to scare (warn) us, don't they? I would not worry about it until the baby arrives. I hope with you that the placenta will not grow into the scar.

Yes, baby moves, priceless! Do you have a birth plan now? Going nature or C?

Yasmina

[Catharine]

Yasmina-
How are you feeling? has the ms subsided at all? perhaps soon you feel have some relief as you progress into the second trimester.
Our birth plan is a C-section. Would have liked the opportunity to go natural. However, the removal of that large fibroid a few years back required going through many layers of the uterine wall, increasing the risk of uterine rupture during labor; some stats reporting as high as 30% risk. So, C-section it is. I really like my Ob, she's really easy to work with. She listens to me and vice versa. As I respect her for her knowledge and expertise, she reciprocates. My RE was the same, by the way, my RE took a directorship in Hawaii so sad she has left, I really liked her.

Hello to everyone else. Best Wishes.
Catharne

[children]

Hi Catharine,

I had C also when gave birth to DD. I have a very small hip and my DD never dropped to the bottom at the end of my pg. I suspect that no child can come out of me naturally anyway. So, I may have a C again but will wait for the natural contractions to start, I just don't like "scheduled" Cs. My ob agreed to this plan.

You are lucky that you like your ob. I am mostly intimidated by these medical professionals. I also liked my RE in SA a lot but I left him since I moved to TN.

No my MS does not seem to go away and I started to doubt that it will ever do. I stopped E2 dots and going to stop PIO at 12 weeks, few more days to go!

Where are the other lovely ladies over 40? Don't they like to be in the game anymore?

[LuAnne41]

YASMINA - FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK ABOUT US OTHER "OVER 40'S" B'CUZ TODAY IS THE 1ST DAY I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COME BACK TO THIS SITE. I AM SO EXCITED TO HEAR YOU DECIDED TO GO FOR IT & SUCCEEDED TOO. THE ONLY THINGS I COULD TOLERATE FOR MY M/S WERE THINGS W/LOTS OF CARBS &/OR SODIUM. REALLY HEALTHY FOR PREGNANCY, HUH? SOMEHOW THOSE THINGS SETTLED MY TUMMY. ANYWAY, BIG CONGRATS!!! WOW! ELOISE WILL BE A BIG SISTER NOW.

CATHERINE - I'M GLAD ALL IS WELL W/YOUR PREGNANCY. I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT YOU & WONDERED HOW YOU WERE DOING. I WOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF HYSTERECTOMY. IT MAY NOT BE NECESSARY ANYWAY, BUT I'M SURE THE DOCTOR FELT IT NECESSARY TO DISCUSS W/YOU JUST IN CASE. THE MAIN THING IS THAT PRECIOUS LITTLE GIRL YOU ARE CARRYING.

TAMMY - WOW!!! YOU ARE LUCKY HE IS COOPERATING RE THE POTTY. HE ISN'T EVEN 2 Y/O UNTIL FEB. HE MUST BE A SMART ONE. WE ALREADY KNOW HE'S A CUTIE.

I AM BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!! MY 2 LITTLE ONES ARE A HANDFUL, BUT I'M IMMENSELY GRATEFUL FOR MODERN TECHNOLOGY!!! I MANAGED TO GO ALMOST TO TERM & THESE 2 LITTLE MIRACLES CAME HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL W/ME. I'M ALSO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE PRAYERS SENT UP FOR THESE BABIES.

BTW, WOULD SOMEONE UPDATE ME ON EVERYONE ELSE? I AM UNABLE TO GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS PAGES & READ UP. (WONDER WHY? ) DS IS SOUND ASLEEP IN MY LAP AS I TYPE, BUT HIS SIS IS STIRRING SO I MUST GO.

LUANNE

[children]

Hi LuAnne,

Welcome back and congrats on your safe delivery of two babies! - I must have missed your update at the time when they were born. Did you post any pictures of them online? There is a place where people put baby pictures on photobucket.com, I believe the name and password is: ivfgroup. You can also post here if you want.

I went back three months to check everyone since many of them have not posted for a while. Snoia decided to retire from ivf, I think, but don't know why Kim, Amy, Andrea, Summerbaby, and Sunseaker, and some others have not posted their progresses since they seem to continue ivf cycles. Chriss has been having fun with bunch of younger gals in "Awaiting for Treatment" group which I also read from time to time, they are bunch of funny gals.

We also have few newbies, like Calicat, Nicolina, and ceriberi, who are undergoing ivf cycles, but we also have not heard from them for few days.

I guess many of us have our hands full for various reasons. My nausea and tiredness reduced my ability to focus on work so I keep coming back to check online for things. However, I really should get some work done - trying to have three papers published by the end of this year and submitting another million dollar grant before the baby is here. If this pg is like last time, I doubt that I can finish all these on schedule. Thinking about retirement constantly but DH does not think this can be an option for us....

I am so jealous of people who either work from home or stay at home to be with their kids. Getting out of bed every morning is really a challenge for me.

Recently, I am dealing with depression also - I will probably write about this in detail in my blog site which I had created few months ago but I have not updated ever since. Once it's been updated, I will let you all know where to find me. Since this is a ivf site for us I won't blah blah about something else in life anymore here.

[teachertam]

LuAnne: Congrats on the delivery of your two babies. I would love to have a sibling to grow up with Andrew, but I don't know if it will happen or not. Thanks for your compliments on my little guy. He is smart, but very strong willed! He definitely has a mind of his own and has recently been head butting when he is mad or frustrated. He really is a funny guy and loves to make us laugh.

Catharine: I wanted to have a C section, because I'm such a baby when it comes to pain and did not want to go through all of the labor. However, my OB doctor said that unless there was a reason to do so, they would not do a C section. I'm really glad that I went with vaginal delivery, as it was only 6 hours of labor. I went in at 8:00am to be induced and had Andrew at 2:05 pm. As soon as I got to the hospital, I started early labor. I would highly recommend an epidural if you go for a vaginal delivery. I was into hard labor, but within 15 minutes after my IV was hooked up, I was feeling only a minor sensation. The only drawback of the epidural was that it was more difficult to push.

Yasmina: Yes, Andrew is getting big. When we are out in public, people always think he is older than he is. I hope that your morning sickness has subsided.

Hello to everyone else.

Take care,
Tammy

[MommaKK]

Hi all,

I see this has been quiet for some time - but I'd really like to hear form others.

I'm 41, just completed my first unsuccessful IVF - and am very discouraged about trying again with my own eggs.

We had 6 at retreival, 4 fertilized and 1 transfered resulting in a BFN at my first beta.

I'm not sure whether to try again - or not, with my own eggs. Of course that's my first choice, but.....

any advice?

thanks

[teachertam]

Welcome MommaKK,

Sorry to hear about your unsuccessful IVF. May I ask why you only transferred 1 embie instead of all 4? Did all 4 make it to transfer?
I transferred 5 during my second IVF with a BFN. However, while waiting to have a frozen cycle, I became pregnant naturally and my Andrew was born 2/28/07. This was after I had an HSG x-ray procedure to check for blockage in my tubes. There was no blockage. My RE said that for whatever reason, this procedure increases the pregnancy rates for 1 - 2 cycles following it. It must have helped me.

Hello to everyone else.

Regards,
Tammy

[children]

MommaKK,

Welcome.

I am sorry for your first ivf result and I feel the pain of your being at the crossroads. I posted a link to the recent studies on infertility and they gave 4 factors (number of folicles produced, number of embryos grow to 8 cell stage, number of embryos stopped growing after reaching 8 cells, FSH levels) affecting ivf outcomes. With that knowledge one can decide next steps more sensably. My suggestion is to consult as many REs as possible. Using DE definitely will give you a better chance of having a live baby, but in our case, that never was a consideration since my husband was very much into a free life without any kids. When he understood that I could not live without children, he strongly suggested adoption. Based on the facts that I was pg before (at age of 24) and that I had a low FSH level (6~7) at 43, I pushed REALLY PUSHED the idea to give ivf a try before pursuing adoption.

Good luck in making next moves. The bottom line is that every decision is a good decision to you and your family. I just don't like the fact that not knowing what to do next.

Tammy and Chathrine,

Thanks but my MS seems to be more severe ever since I decreased progesterone use (stopped suppositories few days back and inject on 0.5 ml/day at the moment). I plan to have my progesterone level checked after 2~3 days of stopping it completely. I sure hope the ending of first trimester, one and half weeks to go!

Hello to everyone else here!

Yasmina