The Over 40 Crowd

[erjumper]

Hi gals,
Only have a moment of time to post...i've crammed my whole work week into 4 days since we leave at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow for Vegas. Would love to address you individually but i've still got to pack and all. The egg donor study hasn't gone so well in Vegas. Our donor had a poor response and ended up with much fewer eggs than estimated beforehand Then they had thawing issues so now they are "less optimistic" that there will be any live embryos to transfer but we're trying to remain optimistic. Nothing we can do but wait. Soon HOPEFULLY the dreaded 2ww! All the best to everyone...Jules...you inspire me...keep it going. Taling the laptop to LV so i'll post more later.
Hugs!
Lisa

[randa2006]

Lisa - I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you! Vegas can be a very lucky place sometimes!!!!

We are having a second suppression check in the morning. I know it will be better than the last as my period has gotten real (I had been bleeding small amounts of old brown blood (sorry if tmi) for the past month and that didn't seem to thin my lining as much as they would have liked). The last day has changed all that. Very real period - finally! I feel confident it will be below the level they wanted to begin stimms on Saturday.

I just don't understand how they expected me to get a thin lining when they were making me take the bc pills straight through - NO placebos, which are the pills that bring on your period. To keep taking the active pills was stifeling a period that kept trying to come. ??? Maybe they will make me understand tomorrow.

[teachertam]

Hello All:

Lisa: Good luck in Vegas! I've had luck in Vegas before

Randa: Good luck on your cycle !

Jane: Thanks for the info. on the Aqua Scan. I'll try to remember not to call us ladies in the future

Take care All,
Tammy

[cmg]

Tam, looks like I'm going to be about a week ahead of you I think. My period is due about the middle of next week, then it should be about 2 weeks to ovulation then 3 days after that for transfer as that's how old the embies are. So somewhere around 9th/10th for ET which is only 3 weeks away!

Kat I hope things are going ok. Must have been a bit of a shock to psyche yourself up for a D&C and then not have one. I had a similar experience when I had my ectopic 4 years ago (god, I can't believe it's that long!). I was told to report to hospital for emergency surgery, sat around all morning feeling nervous waiting for a theatre space to become free, then just before they prep'd me, the consultant came round and decided that they could treat me without surgery and sent me home! Don't know if anyone else has had this but they can treat an ectopic if they catch it early with a shot of chemotherapy. I kept waiting for something to happen but I had no bleeding, no pain, no side effects at all. It just went away on its own (I had had a significant bleed already, though).

Lisa, hope everything's going well in Vegas. Stay away from those slot machines!

Randa, glad to hear you're up and running. Will you actually get to ET this time?!

I can't focus on FET yet, as I'm immersed in inheritance tax forms and probate stuff after my mum's death. I can't really believe I'll be doing it in 3 weeks time. Perhaps I need to set some time aside for visualising.

Hi to everyone else.

Caroline

[lara]

Hi all,

Bev I pm'd you again about your dad, I'm away for a few days but will check my emails on Tue when I get back - I really hope he's managing to stay away from his wife, as that's the really hard part when people are hooked into that cycle of abuse and forgiveness and guilt.

Randa, sounds like things are going reasonably well for you, fingers crossed.

Lisa, think you've gone - good luck!!!

Kat, hope your pills are working okay, funny how different hospitals do things in a different ways, but I guess they all know what they're doing and that the end results are the same. Anyway, I hope you don;t get too bad cramps.

Caroline, hope you get some time out before you do your FET. You'll be ahead of me, and Tam, you will too. I will probably be due to start around 13th/14th Feb (my birthday, 44 agh!). Get some time out - I'm going to a health spa with a girlfriend this weekend. My back is aching from working and working away and I can't wait to do a yoga class!

Hi jules, Anna, Jen, Robyn and all of you - have a great weekend, and those on drugs, take it easy!

Lara xx

[AMck]

Hi ladies

the list is growing

BigJ (Jules) - BFP 9/12/05 praying every day,scan 17/01 (10 weeks)
Randa - Start stims Sat 21st Jan, EC Feb 1st
Anna - appointment 24th Jan to discuss next step
Kat - Going to Spain 2nd March for testicular biopsy & then hope to start DE tmt again soon
Jen - meeting with consultant 27th Jan
Lisa - 20th Jan flight to Vegas to begin IVF cycle
Lara - planning IVF in Feb/March
Tammy- IVF cycle 2 Feb 06
Caroline - natural FET in February (prob around 10th - current best guess)
Robyn - 2nd IVF cycle in March
Bev- waiting for egg donor, considering abroad
Amfy - FET March/April
Jane- visit to Spain 24th Jan to decide next step

Randa, hope all goes well tomorrow and you are able to start stimming. Good luck with appt.

Lisa, Viva Las Vegas!! Good luck!

PMA to all lovely over 40 ladies. Have a great weekend.
Anna x

[randa2006]

Hello All,
I was FINALLY diving in to read up on the day's posts (it was 9:15 p.m.) and it dawned on me while reading that I had forgotten this evening's injection! I was supposed to give it to myself tonight after work because dh would be away. My whole day has been rush, rush, rush. I can't believe I nearly blew it. Well, only 15 minutes past the window of time I was supposed to give it in (7-9 p.m.). Hopefully, no harm done.

The suppression check today went fine. Lining measured on the thinner side now and docs are happy. Start stimms tomorrow as planned. whew! Oh, I don't want to forget to tell you all that I'm still going to acupuncture. I rechecked with my clinic and they said "absolutely" do it.

Caroline - so excited you will going again! 3 weeks isn't long. Yes, you'd better start getting your head around it soon. Still sorry about your Mum. I hope your heart is healing a little by now.

PMA to everyone. Fingers crossed we have a good year in the over-40-crowd!!!

[robyn]

Hi
I am still reading the posts but I can't stand this waiting. How will DH and I ever get to March. I guess I will look forward to a trip back home to NY for a week. Then I have another trip to the states first w/e in March then hopefully AF will arrive as planned unless I fall pg. I know it will be a good year for many of us if not then for all of us! I can feel the baby dust in the air. I am hopeing for mid March. In the meantime I will check in to see how everyone else is doing!
Keep up the PMA.

Robyn

[randa2006]

Hi Robyn,
I know how you feel. Each round for us seemed like AGES away. Try not to get caught in the trap of only living for the IVF stuff. Each day we have is precious and should be enjoyed to the fullest, so keep busy. There's a great book titled "The Power of Now" it really helps with gaining patience.
Happy Saturday! Enjoy!
Love,
Randa

[BevT]

Hello everyone,

I've been away for a few days as Dad wanted to go back home. Fortunately his wife is staying with her daughter for a while, so at the moment things are quiet. We have got a meeting scheduled for later this week though, to try and find a solution with both families and the social workers. If I had my way, Dad wouldn't have her back, however, I have to respect his wishes and allow him to try to continue to look after her. We need to get as much help in for him as possible.

When Mum was alive (she died 20 yrs ago) both mum and dad never interferred with anything their children did, never in their marriages etc etc but always were there to support and pick up the pieces when we inevitably made mistakes. So now it's my turn to return the support! Fingers crossed that we can find a resolution that he is happy with.

Have just spent the last couple of hours going through the last few pages to catch up.

Jules: hope the scan was ok on 17/1 and that things are progressing well.

Caroline: didn't manage to say before, but I am sorry for the loss of your mum. Having been through it (although a long time ago) I know how difficult it is to cope with. Even now, when things go wrong for me, I still say to myself I wish mum was here to give me a hug and tell me everything will be ok - like mums always do! Am thinking of you and wish you all the luck in the world for your two frosties. The M & S cream sounds good, I might try that for my bikini line! I always feel quite self-consious when I have all this intimate treatment etc as my bikini line waxing gives me spots and dark bits. Most unattractive, but marginally better than a great hairy bush. Will try the cream. Sounds like you have a sweet tooth, so instead of all that sugar, have you seen the Innocent fruit smoothies. 100% fruit and very tasty. Might be better for you.

Jane: Yes we did name our precious little girl. She is Trinity Elise. We call her Trini. We chose the name because she will always be a part of "we three". I'm amazed to see that you are already going to Spain on Tuesday. Good for you girl. Wish I could be so dynamic. Good luck and let us know what you think when you get back.

Jen: hope your dad is still improving.

Lisa: looking forward to hearing from you when you get back from Vegas. Keeping everything crossed for you.

Lara: thanks for the help re: dad. I have pm'd you with my e-mail.

Robyn: March may seem a long way away, but it aint. Only 6 weeks away. Where does all the time go - it's true what they say, the older you get, the quicker time flys. Hang on in there.

Hi to everyone else.

LOL Bev xxx

[BevT]

Caroline,

Just a quicky, as I was thinking about your mum. I don't know if you believe that we all go on in spirit but I thought I would share this with you. I have always had an open mind about things, but my oldest sister lost her son in a canooing accident 4 yrs ago. She became a very strong believer after his death, so it sort of got me a bit more interested.

Well after we lost our darling Trini, on the odd occasion my bedside lamp (which is a "touch sensitive" lamp) started to switch itself on. I thought at the time it might be Trini, then I wondered if it was my mum. It happened every few months or so and I started to take some comfort from it.

The plot thickens, in so far as when I collected my old dad before Christmas, and bought him to mine for R & R (to ease the situation with his sick wife) no sooner than I had deposited him in the armchair in my sitting room, my bedroom light was found to be on. Over night it came on 3 more times. Each time I would wake, see the light on and switch it off. This continued to happen each day for the 4 days he was staying with me. When I took him back to his home, it miraculously stopped coming on.

The next 4 - 6 weeks, it only came on once again one night. Then, last Saturday I collected Dad again and bought him to my house for respite. Things had got v.bad at home with my stepmother becoming more and more abusive and violent. Again, the light started to come on. This time, it would come on 3 times or so through the day, and then up to 4 times at night, until after 3 nights or so, I said through blearey eyes "mum you keep waking me up". Went back to sleep, and after that it only came on through the day, early morning and again in the evening. I took Dad back home again on Thurs, and it hasn't been on again since.

Too much coincidence for me I'm afraid and now I firmly believe that my mum has been keeping a very close eye on things down here.

As I say, I don't know if you believe Caroline, but if you do you can take some comfort in knowing that your mum is not gone, she is just in another place.

Then again, you might all think I'm barking mad!!!

LOL Bev xxx

[erjumper]

Well ladies,
After a long but uneventful flight to Vegas we had an equally uneventful but considerably shorter embryo transfer of 2 completely chromosomally normal 6 day blasts already erupting from their shells. I have great pics that I wish I could post. And now the 2ww! But in our case, it's the 8 day wait. Doc says we have a 70 to 80% chance of twins!! hehehehehe
Randa,
Am I reading right? You're having an embryo transfer?? woo hoo. Best of Luck! I could have used that book :The Power of Now" between each of my other 4 cycles.
Robyn,
I bought some arts n crafts things to fill my free time while waiting for long weeks to pass.
Bev,
That's horrible about your dad. Will he accept help from you or does he feel ashamed? It's just that much harder if he won't allow assistance. I amy be able to tell you where to turn but I believe you're in the UK?
Has anyone heard from Jules? She's my inspiration!

Hopefully already pregnant!
Love,
Lisa

[randa2006]

Lisa!!!! Oh my goodness! What wonderful news. Your odds sound so good. And you'll know in only 8 days? That's just fabulous!!!
Saying a prayer for you, Sweetie! Come on twins!

[BevT]

Lisa,

That's such GREAT news. I will be keeping everything crossed for you, but it sounds like you've got off to a great start. Can you tell me, why you only have to wait 8 days? Is it because the embies are already 4 days older than with a normal ET? Here's praying for a BFP at the end of your "8 DW".

Thanks for your offer of directional help for Dad, but yes we are in the UK. I'm not really sure if he is ashamed or just feeling so helpless. He cannot see a way out of it because he married her, so he feels he is stuck with the responisibility. My elder sister has hinted to him that he may be able to get a divorce! At 82, it seems such a huge shame, but as my friend said, at his time of life, he should be able to sit back and reflect on his life, instead it's being punctuated with violence! We will just have to wait and see what develops.

Anyway, back to you Lisa. Will you be testing on 31st Jan? I'm sure we will all be praying for you to have the best early Valentine pressie you could ever wish for.

LOL Bev xxx

[erjumper]

Our first test is on Jan 30th. That is because the embies were already six days old. They were first on the previous Monday (2 weeks prior to Jan 30) That would make our due date Oct. 9th. I heep waking up with little sharp pain in my ntereu. I'm sisualizing them with their hard hats, picks, shovels, jackhammers, tent spikes.....whatever it takes to dig in for 8.5 months. I'm so ecstatic.....but still must be cautious.

Lisa