The Over 40 Crowd

[margi26]

Good news: Raspberries are still good...growing perfectly on target and strong heartbeats! (Almost becoming "olives" in a few days )

Not so great news: SCH is larger. OB says he usually sees these resolve, but on occasion he has seen it not end well, with the SCH causing too much bleeding that leads to miscarriage. So, after a bit of debate, I am out of work for 4 weeks. Sigh. Not great as far as my job is concerned--and it will drain more than half of my accrued time off that I was saving for maternity, but if I do not take it easy I won't have a maternity, so not much of a choice. I am on bedrest for a month--maybe less. I go to see him in about 3 weeks and we will reevaluate then. He was really nice and said he'd fill out any forms necessary to help me get short-term disability, but at my employer you have to be out 25 days before you can use short-term disability. Kinda useless--unless I end up having to be out longer.

One day at a time I guess. As of today--raspberries are doing good so I should focus on that! Thanks for your support, Ester and mom4sure.

[LYD10]

Margie - i just saw this. oh man i am sorry you have to do this. i also had to do bedrest for 1 week with my pregnancy. your story resonates with me - i am about to apply for a job in a different department and if i have to de bedrest shortly after taking the job - oy its not good. oh well - lets see how it goes. maybe i wont get the job. but i want this job - its more exciting than my current one. well - we'll see.

good luck, good luck and rest up good!

[mom4sure]

Margi Oh I am so relieved. I am happy your babies are fine, on track and with strong heartbeats. Your babies sound like fighters . Some of us don't have it easy hey. I am not sure what SCH is, but I pray that its resolved soon so you can can ENJOY your pg without any stress. I am praying for you Margi, that you WILL pull through this ((HUGS)))

mom4sure

[Catharine]

Margi- a quick note to let you know I'm praying for you and your wee ones.

Catharine

[margi26]

Catharine: Thanks for the prayers!

mom4sure: Yes, I think they are fighters. And I just have to rest to let them beat this stupid SCH (subchorionic hematoma). It is a blood clot that causes bleeding. It will hopefully reabsorb itself. It can bleed and be ok, but sometimes the bleeding could be too much (for example if I continued to be active) and could abort the entire contents of the uterus --a miscarriage. Thus, I am staying planted in my bed. Gonna give my olives (the size of the week ) the best environment I can! Thanks for the well wishes.

Lyd: Did it work out with your job? Yes, bed rest + new job not equal best situation, but we do what we have to do. My boss is definitely not pleased with me, but oh well. We have different priorities. I love my job, but the well-being of these little ones inside of me takes precedent.

All is going well with me so far! One week down...3 to go. Bleeding has practically stopped. Whew! It is tempting to try to do some things around the house, but DH is great and insists that I don't. So in bed I am planted. Next Friday we get to see the olives...I think they will be limes by then! We go for the NT scan and combined blood screening. Hopefully good news because then we will come out of the closet with the pregnancy. Wow...trying to keep up the PMA until then! And not go stir crazy on bed rest...

[margi26]

Things are quiet over her, I hope all is well. I thought I'd give a quick personal update:

Doing fairly well on bed rest. Bleeding is under control. One more week and hopefully I'll be ok. Did leave house yesterday to see Maternal Fetal Specialist for NT scan. Was a nervous wreck...especially when tech took a few seconds (seemed like minutes!) to find Baby B's heartbeat. But all is well!! Nuchal measurements are both well within normal range, so this put us at ease somewhat. I know given my age, there are still concerns, but this was one positive milestone.

I don't think we are going to go for the amnio. I hear the risk is double (or more?) for twins of miscarriage. What do you ladies suggest? Don't get me wrong, DH and I would love to have definitive answers regarding the babies health so we can prepare....but I just couldn't stand to lose them. Please let me know your opinion either way. Perhaps I am over reacting?

Anyway, it was wonderful to see them looking like humans and not just blobs! LOL. They were moving around and put on a wonderful show! Unfortunately the SCH was still very large and visible. I hope that doesn't mean extra bed rest for me. I go see OB middle of next week.

Take care all!

[teachertam]

Margie,

I'm so glad to hear that you and your babies are doing well. I wanted to tell you my thoughts on the amnio. When we were pregnant with our Andrew, we opted for just the 1st trimester screening, as well as the 2nd trimester screening. I was 42 when I was pregnant with Andrew. We did not do the amnio because we did not want to take any chances of a miscarriage and we knew that we would not abort either way, so we didn't do it. It depends on what you would do with the info. If you would not abort if you received bad news from the amnio, I say don't take a chance. Of course that is your decision

AFM, We decided to withdraw from the Chinese adoption process, as we decided our family is already complete:( It was a difficult decision, but at 47 I cannot see myself with an infant. Andrew is fine with the decision. If it would have happened two years ago, we would have gone ahead with it. However, our lives have been so hectic lately as is. My sister developed breast cancer, but luckily is cancer free now! Andrew was recently diagnosed with severe peanut allergies as well as tree nut allergies. My chocolate lab, Max, was recently diagnosed with a Progressive Retinal Atrophy, which means he will go blind. He does not have much vision left, but he does such a good job compensating for it that we did not detect it until 1 month ago. Luckily, we have two other dogs that can help Max get around. He still plays fetch, but he just does not catch the ball.

Hello to Yasmina, Catharine, and anyone else that I may have missed.

Take care all,
Tammy

[mrscutter]

tammy its good to hear from you. Better you decided to cancel the adoption than to go through with it and have regrets. Andrew is lucky to get all the attention. We tried for another naturally but it didnt happen. time has flown so quickly now. Bella is 20 months. i will be 44 in november. i cant believe it. It was sad for my husband to only have one child but this one child he worships. my body has changed periods irregular and feeling warmer than i ever used to. i guess im starting peri maybe already kinda early i guess.

Margi,
i was 2 months shy of 42nd b-day when i had my baby. we chose not to do the amnio. The risk was too great. We decided to take what we got because we wanted her so badly. my doctor said the amnio could cause bleeding and other complications and she suggested we not do it. there are other noinvasive things they can do to tell you 95 percent that baby is ok and that was for sure good enough for us. we had many many ultrasounds and blood tests and things like that to check for abnormalities. and she is perfect. take care of yourself and those babies.

[margi26]

Tammy: so very glad to hear the good news about your sister! Sounds like things are otherwise pretty busy around your house. And filled with love.


Tammy & mrs. cutter: thanks for the advice about the amnio. The only reason we would consider termination is if the chromosomal problem is not compatible with life...but I'm not sure if we even could do that with twins. It is reassuring to know that the non-invasive tests can give you near certainty. I think we will rely on those. My level II ultrasound is scheduled in a month. That should give us some more reassurance along with blood tests, right?

Thank you all for your support.

Happy Mother's Day ladies!!!

[teachertam]

Rhonda,

It was good to hear from you. Thanks for your kind words regarding the adoption. I have not started
the menopause yet, but my cycles are starting to be different. I had to have an ultrasound a week ago, as I was having spotting one week after my period was over. My doctor wanted to rule out polyps. Well everything looked fine I guess and I had one mature follicle ready to go. She warned me to be careful and talked about the increased chances of chromosonal abnormalities, etc. I think the chances of me getting pregnant at this point are almost 0%.

Margie: Take care of yourself and your babies.

Take care all,
Tammy

[mrscutter]

ladies you have been there for me for the last 3 years now i need you more than ever. My mom was diagnosed with colon cancer yesterday. Im begging you if you are a believer to please pray for her. Im firmly believe in prayer and the healing powder of God. I will continue to pray for you as well. thank you so much.

[margi26]

I will definitely hold your mother in my prayers.

[CarolineP]

Rhonda

My thoughts and prays are with your Mum and your family.

CarolineP

[Catharine]

Greetings!

Sorry for being MIA. My schedule is eratic these days. Then I have a hard time to remember to get caught up with my friends when I do have a wee bit of free time. So here I am, I remembered

Rhonda-I'm so sorry to read of the news. Definitely will hold your mom and your family in our prayers.

Tammy-I was sad to read your update. But I fully understand your reasoning. Andrew certainly is a lucky little man to have all the devotion of his parents.

Margi-how are you doing? praying for you and your little raspberries. As for the amino I will echo Tammy's words, we had invested so much emotionally at that point we knew we were not going to abort regardless of the results and felt the risk at that point was far to great for our comfort level. So, it really comes down to what is your comfort level with the level of information at each point and it is a very personal answer for each couple.

AFM-nothing much new. Still looking for employment, yeah Still praying for another baby Best of all enjoying my wee little girl. The other day she told me she was not only a big girl, but an adult, hahahaha. Imagine a sweet angelic 2 and half year old telling you that then imagine the warm smile that crossed both my face and heart. I'm still on the health kick trying to keep menopause at bay. Trying to rev-up DH's system as well. In addition we are still saving for the posiblity of DEs. Another funny story about our wee lass; the other day she told me she has a baby brother. Imagine my inquizative face, 'oh' I replied. She then proceeded to tell me yes that he's at school with her. Again she was so sweet in the moment. Perhaps one day she will get that baby brother.

Hi to all I may have missed. Wishing everyone well.

Cheers!
Catharine

[NY4thtry]

hi guys..

i have no right to ask for your support because i just lurk and cant handle being here too much.. but had a retrieval today.. (somewhere north of the 15th time.. i stopped counting) they got 4.. dont have maturity or fert reports yet.. but i am still operating on the theory that i just need one good egg.

Baby dust welcome.. and i do think of all of you ...

xo

NY