The Over 40 Crowd

[Catharine]

Greetings ladies!

Akua-Welcome back. I wish you the best on your journey. How is everything going?

How is everyone else out there lurking?

AFM-I started my stims today. I will go in on Friday for a scan and to receive the remainder of my meds. I'm trying my best to remain relaxed through all this. Lots tugging at me, work, baby, house, DH. The usual life issues, hahaha.

Take Care.
Catharine

[ButterflyKiss]

I hope I can join you lovely ladies

I will be turning 40 in a few days and wanted to chat with other women who are going through IVF who are the same age as me. I have joined other sites but this is one I have been browsing for a while, I also feel more connected as the other sites the ladies are able to have pgs quite quickly. My lurking days are over!

As you can read from my siggy hubbyman and I have been on this journey a long time. We are now just deciding (well I had already been resigned to IVF for the past year or so, I was waiting for hubbyman to come on the same page ) that IVF will be the best option especially since MFI is our main dx, although I am sure the drs would add my age soon enough

I look forward to getting to know you all better.

Blessings.

[children]

Just to let everyone who posts and lurks here know that I am visiting from time to time, only posting when I can think of something. So, chat away and good luck to all of you!

Yasmina

[mrscutter]

good luck catharine. I will be thinking of you as you go through your cycle. i also sent you a private message. Did you get it?

Also, Good luck to all of you on your journey. Just know you are not alone.

take care.
Rhonda

[10bear]

Hi Ladie,

Can I join you all as well?, I am now 41 years old and will have ET tomorrow. I was on the Nov/Dec board as well, but would like to cycle with same age group that I can get more support.

I did retreived 12 eggs on Thuesday, but only 1 got fertilized . We did not do the ICSI since RE told us his sperm is perfect. So I don't know what went wrong since when they analysis my egg quality, they told me 6 of them are good ones and 6 of them are just a little under matured.

Yes, we are paying all of the cost out of our pocket, so it is a big burden to us. My question to all ladies out there are:

1_any of you try DHEA? if yes, for all BFP's, does it really help

2_If you take DHEA, what is the dosage?

3_any of you live in Bay Area? CA? do you know which clinic is good? we are thinking about switching since it results very low fertilization rate and if we want to try another one, we would rather putting all our last resort to clinic with higher sucess rate for aged group 40-42

Best wishes to you all, and baby dust to you all as well

[Akua]

Which can't be good because nervousness causes stress and stress can't be healthy when your trying to get PG right? lol.
Ok, quick update and then Im going to take my meds and lay down.
Yesterday (Friday) was the ER day. I don't know why I assumed they were going to give me anesthesia but.. needless to say they didn't. I took a Valium and they numbed the cervix and next thing you know, Im feeling all fuzzy and nice, watching my eggs being suctioned from my ovaries on a flat screen TV. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. A few minutes of discomfort and pressure maybe. It took all of 15 minutes. I did feel a quick sharp prick when he put the needle into my ovary but other than that I was fine. It wasn't until after the procedure when the cramps came! Oh my goodness I've never felt cramps so bad. I could barely move to get dressed. They passed quickly though and I went home to sleep. Now on Thursday the RE said I had three follicles all over 19 which is very good considering I was not even doing a full cycle IVF but a mini cycle. But on Friday when they checked me I had only two follicles on the right and the one on the left had gone back down to 10 because I had already starting ovulating. Oh well they still had two to work with and they were about 26 each. After the procedure they said they only retrieved two eggs. I was a little disappointed but then dh reminded me that we only need ONE to get PG! He had me cracking up in the car on the way home from the clinic describing how he was locked in the 'specimen' room trying to concentrate but kept getting distracted by the people walking around outside the door so he had to keep starting all over again! HAHAHAHAH. Poor baby. The RE said they would call me after 2pm today (Sat.) to let me know if my eggs fertilized. All day long I could think of nothing else and the suspense was driving me crazy. I kept looking at my cell phone and praying all day. I spent 2 hours in the bathtub this morning praying. So when I walked in the house and saw a message I just stood there like I was paralyzed. Yes it was them and they said that BOTH eggs were fertilized and to return to the office in the morning for the transfer!!!!!
I just keep praying that things continue to go so smoothly. That this pregnancy 'takes' and I get a positive result and a healthy pregnancy. Please continue to pray for me guys as I am praying for all of you!

Till tomorrow....Akua

[Akua]

I almost forgot the information on the meds the RE has been given me. Just in case anyone here wants to inquire about it to their RE.
Clomid every night before bed and Menopur injections 150 IU once every other day. These two I did for less than 2 weeks.
Then I was given the Synarel Nasel Spray and told to take 600 mg of Ibuprofen every 8 hours until the ER.
After the ER and once the oocytes were fertilized I was given 2 mg Estradiol tablet taken 1 X per day and 200 mg Prometrium inserted vaginally 2X per day.

Oh and to Catherine and everyone else who sent out a welcome back greeting from my last posting.. MUAH!

Akua

[Catharine]

Greetings all!

Akua-you sound fabulous. Sending you lots of baby dust!

10bear-Welcome. I take DHEA. I've been taking it for years for other reasons but usually at 25mg/day early morning. During tmt it is upped to 75mg/day. There is lots of controversy as to whether DHEA has an effect on the cycle. Several studies cite positive while others negative and still others no effect. It's a grab bag. I can say I was taking them when I got pg with my daughter, so I decided to replicate as much as possible that tmt protocol this go around, including the DHEA. Like you we are paying for everything out of pocket. I wish you and DH well. Give a big 'Hey' to the SF-BA. I grew up in the East Bay. However, I call the ATL home these days.

AFM-so, been trying to replicate as best as possible the last tmt that resulted in DD, whom turned 1 this past week Back to tmt, unfortunately I'm not responding well. So frustrating I'm trying my hardest not to get upset or stressed. I will go to acu again this week. With each acu tmt I feel so relaxes. In addition I've been doing a little yoga to release tension from day 2 day living. I find that amazingly rejuvenating. I wish I had more time for it. So, I'm on week 2 of tmt and this go around we only see 3 follies developing opposed to the high numbers of the past cycles [17, 24, 19 if I remember correctly]. But as Akua's DH says, we only need one. Fingers crossed. On this news DH is already thinking ahead considering another round after the holidays. I'm thankful he is open inded and on the same page as myself. I go in tomorrow for u/s and blood chemistry. I'm ever hopeful that in the past few days that more follies have appeared/developed to increase our chances.

Wishing everyone lots of PMA! babydust to those cycling at the moment!
Cheers!
Catharine

[10bear]

Hi Catherine,

Thx so much for your information, may I know what is the dosage when you pg?, is 75mg? how long have you been taking it before pg?

I understand that seems 25-75mg is very common and with some sucess story. Because everything is paying out of pocket, we would like to max all the other factors before given it another try which will be our last try

Thx again and hope you have a wonderful day

[Catharine]

10bear-I've been on 75 mg/day since May. I will continue till ER. After ER I will stop DHEA and all other meds. I only will take zinc and the prenatal vits then. The benefit of DHEA is in improving the quality [a much debated topic] and the number of the eggs and there are a few other positive side effects. For more see http://www.centerforhumanreprod.com/pre ... aries.html
Because DHEA is a hormone that can be converted to testosterone, it has the possibility of having a negative impact on pregnancy. Hence, why I discontinue supplementation once the eggs are retrieved.
I totally am on the page with maximizing the chances when paying out of pocket. Have you looked at your diet as well? DH had to up his caffeine to improve his swimmers and of course I had to cut it out. This wasn't hard for me since I pretty much cut caffiene out of my diet back in 2007. Conceive the magazine has come out with a cookbook and they also have published in their mag several recipes to help increase fertility. I wish you and your husband much success.

update-argh! so disheartening is the fact that this cycle I'm responding at 1/3 the rate of the cycle that gave us DD. I go back tomorrow for measuring. My estrodial is much lower. It's hard not to be sad over all this. The RE still is hopefull and I'm trying to latch on to that hope. Retrieval is tentatively set for Saturday. Saturday promises to be a busy day. ER then Santa pics for DD [at her school] then the opera that night. Oh and dealing with my parents that day as well. How much stress can we add in one day. Head up, Chest out, smile. We can do this. Think positive

Sending out the PMA to all.

Cheers!
Catharine

[10bear]

HI Caterine

Thanks alot for your reply, it certainly help.

Please keep up the good spirit, everything will work out, I will keep you in my prayer. and keep my finger cross for you.

[Akua]

Greetings to everyone!!

ok here goes... on Sunday morning they did the ET and surprisingly enough I felt more cramping and pain than I did with the ER! I was watching the RE doing his thing on the monitor and every time he touched my cervix I felt sharp searing pain! He said my cervix was very sensitive but I know that my cervix was probably still sore from having the ER just 2 days before. He showed me a lovely u/s pic of my 2 fertilized eggs and they looked so nice. He said he was transferring 1 egg and the other was to freeze. Great. After 10 minutes they were done and I went home to relax. Today they gave me an intramuscular ( in my BUTT!! OWW!) injection of HCG to 'fool' my body into thinking Im already pregnant and to make implantation more successful and Im supposed to return for my pregnancy test on Nov. 20th. This is my first cycle and the waiting is killing me. Im doing everything under the sun to keep busy so I wont lose it, lol. This morning a co-worker of mine came in and said she had a gift for me and when I opened the plastic bag it was a pg test. lol. I thought that was so sweet of her, she knows Ive been waiting for this for a long time. Of course I can't use the test because it wont read accurate after the injection I got today but for some reason it's comforting just knowing i have it, lol. I hope i can hold out and wait until the 20th.
I have to continue the Estradiol and Prometrium for abt 30 days. hmmm.. did I leave anything out? Guess not. Ill keep you posted and you guys will definately here from me again before the 20th!!

Light and Love
Be blessed
Akua

[Catharine]

Akua-fingers crossed. Love the updates. You sound so upbeat. You are officially PUPO! sending you lots of baby dust in conjunction with some extra PMA.

I had a scan today and nothing has changed since yesterday which is a bad sign waiting to hear about the blood chemistry. I wish I knew why I'm responding so poorly. the phone just rang and it's the RE, they are still hopeful. Any glimmer of hope is worth latching onto They still view sat as ER but may push back to sun. What a pain in the belly, hahahaha.

Okay everyone take care.
Akua-take care of your nestling embies

Cheers!
Catharine

[Catharine]

Greetings Ladies!

Just wanted to give an update. Had ER this morning: retrieved 11 eggs [more than expected]. Find out fertilazation rate tomorrow. The number of embryos will dictate whether we do day 2 or day 3 transfer. Fingers crossed that many of the eggs are mature and that there is a high fert rate. Uterine lining at 9 as of Friday. I'm eating lots of pineapple to aid in creating a 'sticky' lining, so the story on pineapple goes. I'm feeling very bloated. Although the RE assured me I have a very low probability of hyperstiming. I still have in the back of my mind summer 07 hyperstimming. This feeling of bloating is very reminiscent of that summer.

Akua-how are you faring? Thinking positive thoughts and sending lots of baby dust.

10bear- any news?

Hey to everyone else.

Wishing ya'll the best.
Catharine

[10bear]

Hi Caterine,

Love hearing from you and know that everything went well. 11 eggs is excellent #. Take lots of rest. It will certainly help the recovery. Wish you have a very high fertilization rate as

Did you do the ICSI?,

Well, for me, my beta is tomorrow. But to be honest, I don't feel any of the sign of either before AF or cramping or backpain, my body feels so normal. No matter what, my DH and I already expect we are going to do another IVF in either Jan/Feb because of the low fertilization rate.