The Over 40 Crowd

[mrscutter]

happy new year everyone. I hope this new year will bring you happiness and I hope you get what you wish for.

[Catharine]

Greetings! It's hard to believe it's 2010.

Ten years ago at this time we, DH and myself, were at a Y2K party. Whoot Woo! Fortunately, we did not experience any computing difficulties.

Rhonda-Happy belated birthday w/r/t AF and body after birth. I breast fed DD up to seven months and didn't see AF till a month after weaning DD. My cycle has been normal ever since with the exception of the ivf cycle in November. As for body behaving weirdly, I really can not comment too much because I was hevy into sports training and followed by seasonal competition [8 months], so one might say I was behaving weirdly From all my reading, and please anyone else who wants to chime in with experience and knowledge please do, a woman's body can take up to a year to get hormone levels back to pre-pg levels. I do have some experience in that my joints were loose up through this past September [10m after birth], I had incurred several sports injuries due to this fact. Fortunately, I've recovered from them all on this off season Sending you lots of positive vibes for making Isabella a sibling keep us posted.

Butterflykisses-thinking of you. Here's to making your dreams come true in 2010.

A big shout out to Everyone reading the posts: Happy New Year!

ASM, well AF arrived today mixed blessings but we really didn't have the opportunity to work au la naturale this past month. DH and I were hoping to do IUI this month but sadly it dosn't fit into [of all things] his work schedule. DH tried to bank some sperm last week, but it didn't meet the standard criteria for freezing This is not too surprising in that he had a cold with a slight fever; the fever can affect the quality of sperm. Additionally, the past several weeks at his work have been quite stressfull [month and year end reports to complete] and I'm sure this contributed to the substandard grade. We are hoping for bettter results in 2010!

Wishing everyone all the best. Sending out the PMA.

Catharine

[ButterflyKiss]

Catharine thanks for your kind words and love! I truly am sorry that the IUI is not going to happen according to your plans (((hugs))) I hope somehow you will be blessed soon in 2010!

Happy New Year!

Blessings.

[AKMom]

Hi Everyone, Tammy good to see you are still helping out the ladies like you do so well! You are a great confort and wealth of knowledge and have been a trooper and probably the VETERAN Of this BOARD ---thanks again.

Well, here we go again--third and more than likely our last attemp at IVF. Here is my issue/question.

My clinic in Seattle, did a 3dET with 3 Grade AA embies, BFN. I had 13 eggs, 11 fert. At Blast None of my embies were in good enough shape to freeze. They made it to blast but the lab/RE felt that they wouldnt survive a freeze or thaw. That being said. I wonder, with all the info regarding the blast stage being optimum for older women is this really true? Is a blast transfer better than a 3 day. I am not sure how my RE feels about my having more "say" in my transfer date but I would like to be better informed when and if I broach this at my appt on Jan 15. Any words of wisdom out there?

I am sorry I am unable to comment on some of your posts ladies, but from what I did see you all sound like wonderful and deserving women of a little one.

God's speed ya'll. Happy New Year and may 2010 bring all that you wish for. Love,

Kathleen

[ButterflyKiss]

Kathleen hello!

I have no words of wisdom for you as we are about to embark on our very first try at ART with ICSI in the summer or fall depending on finances. I just wanted to wish the very best to you and to commend you for taking charge of your cycle!

Blessings.

[teachertam]

Hello Ladies:

I hope you all had a nice Christmas and holiday celebration!

Catharine: Good to hear that AF came but not at the ideal time for you. Hopefully, your next cycle will have your DH in better health.

Caroline P: I also struggle with the sibling issue for Andrew. My DH has a 17 year old son from his first marriage, but he does not have much time for Andrew. Even if they were close, the age difference is too great as he will be in college soon. Andrew loves babies and always talks about them. We do enjoy doing things as a family of 3, but I struggle with the idea of Andrew not having a sibling close in age to him as he grows up. I have two sisters and we are close. We are still in line to adopt from China, but my DH does not want to adopt now. He wants to focus his time and energy on Andrew.

Rhonda: I'm glad to hear that Isabella is doing well. Don't forget that I became pregnant naturally with Andrew at 42! It took my AF eight months to return after having Andrew, but I was still breastfeeding him.

ButterflyKiss: Good luck on your upcoming consult.

Kathleen: It is good to hear from you. I think there are differing opinions on blast transfer versus a 3 day transfer. My RE does blast transfers. I'm sorry to hear about your BFN and that you did not have any embies to freeze.

Yasmina: How are you doing with your precious little ones?

Well, I'd better sign off.

Take care all,
Tammy

[mrscutter]

hey Tammy it is good to hear from you. Glad you are doing well. Well AF finally came 2 days ago. seems to be a normal one. I had blood work last week before AF came to see why it hasn't come. The doctor called today and said Estrogen levels are normal, but other hormones are borderline which mean perimenopausal. however she doesn't believe im am that due to normal Estrogen levels. She thinks blood work was done and wrong time in my cycle. she wants to do blood work again in february. she doens't know im considering trying for another baby. didn't tell her that. I am not preventing, but am just gonna see what happens. I know one thing. I have really bad night sweats!!! I have had them since i got pregant. I am cold natured and very cold in daytime but wake up sweating like crazy wetting my gown at night. Definitely sounds like hormones to me. Anyone else have or had that problem? I dont know what is going on with this ole (old) body. Take care and please keep posting.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hello to all the new people. Sorry Im not more in touch with you all, I kinda got my hands full. Oh I did get off of night shift now and i am working part time days. its wonderful.

Best wishes.

Rhonda

[ButterflyKiss]

Tammy thanks for your kind words! I am sorry that you are feeling like your son is missing out on having a sibling closer to his age. I guess from your post that your hubby is not keen on the idea of ttc again? (((hugs)))

Rhonda hey I work the night shift! Love it and may have to transition hopefully to that p/t day shift, once our baby blessing comes I hope the change in how your body is feeling is hormonal?

Hello to everyone!

Blessings.

[children]

Hi Everyone,

I am still here reading, mostly because the kids and work both are in high demand. I did post something bitching about life with two little ones yesterday but I did not see it posted...no big deal, it's just we had both of our kids under our own care for the last 10 days or so, it was a lot of work, especially when this involved traveling by plane and car...

Tammy,

It's nice to see your post and to know your progress. It's hard to balance everything and I'm struggling between work and mother constantly, so I can understand why your DH is hesitating. My closest friend used to tell me the internet and available toys/games have changed the need for siblings. But my cousin who has two girls close in age told me it was much easier to have 2 since they have playmates constantly. I have not found too many advantages yet except it is easier to put DS in his car seat if he sees his sister is also in the car - DS particularly hates car ride. A friend of us had told us having two increases the work by 4x, not just by 2x. But after he got the third kid (by accident!!!), he said it was not that hard, although he and his wife both work full time, with high demand jobs and without help!!!

I am sorry it took so long for you to wait in line for the adoption. Are you still pursuing iui in the mean time?

Rhonda,

My period came back 6 and 8 m postpartum, respectively, if you need this information. I found my period is much heavier than before and this is a sign of premenopause, I think.

AKMom,

Both of my successful frozen cycles were from 3-day embies. I personally don't believe any RE or embryologist knows for sure by morphology which embryos are good or not good. I was also told that one of my embryos was not good enough to freeze and I was not happy about that either. My RE told us they prefer 3-day because they believe embryos live the best within uterus. Other REs believe if embryos can live up to 5 days, they will have better chance to live to term, so they prefer to observe up to 5-days. The bottom line is: each RE or clinic has its own preference to perform ivf. My strategy is to ask my REs which way they prefer and why. What I do is to fire them with tons of questions (even though you kind of know the answer, but it's always better to hear them to tell you once more to see where they stand) to hint them that they need to work hard and smart to get me a live baby - otherwise, I won't shut up in my next consultation meeting with them.

Catharine and Butterflykiss and many other ladies here,

Happy new year!

Yasmina

[teachertam]

Good morning Ladies:

Butterflykiss: We are not still ttc, but are not using birth control. I think
that ship has already sailed, as I'm having heavy periods and I'm guessing
that I may be premenopausal too.

Yasmina:

I hate to think that the internet and games can take the place of a sibling.
My DH had a 9 year spacing between him and his sister, so it was like he was an only child growing up. He remembers taking family vacations with just his mom and dad. I guess if they never have a sibling close in age, they don't know any difference . We are not pursuing IUI.

Hello to Rhonda, Kat, Catharine and CarolineP.

Take care all,
Tammy

[mrscutter]

hi everyone. i cant remember what day of my cycle should i get my hormone levels checked such as fsh. is it day three of the first day my period starts? even if its spotting first couple days?

thnks

[ButterflyKiss]

FSH is done on CD2-5 I do believe!

All the best!

Blessings.

[mrscutter]

thanks butterflykiss. i wish you much luck in your journey.

[ButterflyKiss]

You're welcome and thanks for the good wishes!

Blessings.

[mrscutter]

catharine, yasmina or tammy, i wanted a little advice. If you read my earlier post, i said i want to try for another baby even though Bella is 4.5 months old. My time is leaving quickly. The night sweats continue and my period has been not normal since i had her in sept. I have only had 2 periods the last one a couple weeks ago and then two days i started spotting just out of the blue. I fear i am starting the change, im only 42, but i think my mom went through it early. It is hard to accept, especially since my dh is 9 years younger than me. I CANNOT afford IVF. Did it one time and had to pay way over 10,000 out of pocket. my question is, do you think taking the meds or shots of follistim could work with out doing ivf.? I really think all the meds kick started my body and thats why even though ivf failed, i was able to get pregnant naturally one month after the failed ivf. Just wondering. Do you know of any herbs are any other meds besides clomid that might work on its own? thanks guys hope you are all doing well.