The Over 40 Crowd

[jen babes]

chriss

to be honest hun i don't really know if you've ovulated or not only a scan can tell that. With the meds you are on i doubt it it could just be mucus. I sometimes get it even tho am not ovulating at that time of month.

When is your next scan due for follies???? they will tell you then that everything is okay i am sure. x x x grow follies grow x x x

Kim thanks for sorting out the list for catharine...it sure does help me keep up with everything. Is it my age or hormone pills that make me scatty brained please don't answer that onefor me kim lol

much love to evryone

jen
xxxx

[chriss]

jen,
thanks for the response. I actually do have a scan tomorrow so I know I just have to relax about it. I heard from one of my cycle buddies that she was told that it was not unusual. So I feel a little better about it now. But I was kinda shocked when it happened. Thanks again. I am so thankful for this message board. My best to all.-chriss

[teachertam]

Hello Ladies:

Chriss: Good luck on your scan tomorrow! Grow follies grow!!!!

Catharine: Relax and take some time for yourself during this difficult 2ww.

BigJ: Hope all is well with you.

Yasmina: That was a very nice family photo. Eloise is a doll! She is getting so big. WOW, what a lot of hair. Andrew's hair is still very thin.
When will you start your next stimming cycle? I don't think I could handle an infant so close in age to Andrew. He is a very "high maintenance boy". He wants to be entertained.

Jen: Yes, Andrew does not want to miss a thing. Even when i'm breast feeding him at home, I need to be in a room by ourselves. Even the dogs distract him. He is eating sweet potatoes and bananas now, along with the oatmeal cereal.

Amy: DH and I would like to visit Germany. I have technically been there, but only in the Frankfort airport, so that does not count.

Hello to Sonia, Kat, Anna, Bev, Kim and anyone that I may have missed.

Regards,
Tammy

[Catharine]

Hi All
TGIF

Kim thanks for the help. I've never been good with computers let alone message board operators.

Chriss-I had the same thing, I chaulked it up to the stims. lots of hormones pumping into your system ya know.

I had 2 ACU sessions before ER, felt wonderful. DH and I kept going after our failed IVF in the winter. It truely erases the stress of the work week.

I've been chillin lately. Thankfully work has calmed down a bit. Met an important deadline early last week before ER. Been able to leave work early due to lack of tasks at the moment.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.
Cheers!
Catharine

[jen babes]

Catharine-
good to hear your chilling out and managing to get away from work early...sounds like someone up ther is looking after you ...Keep up the acu it deffo helps reduce the stress and increase blood flow to uterus...love to ya on 2ww x x x

CHriss how did follie scan go today? have you a deffo date for EC??? follie fairy here sending yu much follie and baby dust .... good luck for EC x x

much love to evreyone else...

i willlbe off line for he next few days as i have visitors staying until Wednesday..when they leave i will be awaiting AF and start of tmt meds bc pills...kim our time is so near x x x

lots of love to mummys babys and posters x x x

jen xxx

[summerbaby]

Hi everyone!


Catharine, you sound so relaxed and that is so great.
Jen - have a nice time with your company, then it looks like the ball will begin to roll very soon for you and also for Kim - good luck!
Chriss- hope you saw enough good size follies today and can look forward to the next step!
Tammy - if you ever decide to come to Germany for longer than a layover , please get in touch!
Big J - hope all is well. Thinking of you.

Hello and regards to the rest of "the crowd", too!

I recently saw my regular doctor, who took lots of blood. But, will have to wait till the beginning of Sept for the IVF doc (to get back from his holiday) to have a look at the results and decide what course of action to take. So, still on hold...

Speaking of which, waiting and waiting for AF...a week late! The day after I got my negative IVF, AF was there, like normal..now, a month later, no sign and I'm usually quite regular...anyone else experience this?

Wishing you all a very nice weekend. We are actually supposed to have summer-like weather this weekend, can't wait- that would be 2 weekends in a row...

xx Amy

[chriss]

Hi everyone,

Amy, we saw three follicles today and they say it's enough to go ahead with my cycle. Thanks for asking.

Jen babes, enjoy your visitors. Get your mind off all of this baby stuff. My EC will most likelybe on Tuesday. I'll now more tomorrow.

Catharine, my doc said the CM is common. They did bloodwork to confirm that I did not ovulate. Things look fine. When was/is your EC?

Thanks for the good wishes Tammy. Are you a teacher also?

Best wishes to everyone else. Have a great day.-chriss

[Sonix]

Hi everyone!

Here I am again at last (have been trying to post this since Friday!). So glad the weekend is here at last. I do have some holiday time coming up beginning September and can’t wait to chill out a bit. I got a bit of a shock this week when I thought my boss was going to load me with a big new project which would have meant lots of extra work as from September. Looks like my colleague has “won” it though. Phew!

Catharine – wow, you’re on your 2ww. Hope you are coping well. Wishing and praying for that BFP for you. We do so need some more success stories here. Hugs xxx

Hi Chriss – glad you found this thread and joined us here. Well done with your follies. Keep the good news coming.

Amy – I’ll try PM’ing you about the meds later. Keep up the good spirits. A good break and some serious relaxing is definitely the best medicine for you. When is your next appointment scheduled? Hope AF turns up soon.
I still haven’t called my acupuncturist although I’ve heard that she’s back from maternity leave. I expect I will try to go 1-2 times a week depending on how often I can get away from work without causing more stress.

Kim, not long now til you get going. Your donor sounds very promising. It’s amazing that you get dates for EC and ET two months in advance! I’m so envious because once I’ve started on the shots I will have to continue until my lining is Ok and a suitable donor is found which means it doesn’t all run to a schedule. So I can’t just go ahead and plan a holiday to coincide with ET. I see you will be on shots too. These E2 patches sound a lot more pleasant than shots, apart from any side effects of course.

Jen – Glad the Barcelona flying visit went well and you got the information you need. I know what you mean about the gynos being thorough. They tell you things you never heard from your docs back home and it does take a load off your mind to know more about what’s going on. Hope you get your results of the biopsy very soon and all is well.
Sorry I don’t know of a reliable source for cheap meds. Whilst on our 1st visit to the clinic in Poland we bought some of the meds which are cheaper there and the rest we’ll probably end up buying in Germany or France. All the meds here are all very expensive though and you can’t shop around.

Jools – do hope things are looking up for all of you now. Any news? Hang on in there.

Tammy and Yasmina – thanks so much for the wonderful family pics. You’re all looking great!
Any news from your RE yet on the best time to start off cycling again, Yasmina? Keep us posted. Hope Eloise is settling down again and that daycare is running smoothly.

Anna – thanks for posting the photos of Mathew – a great little guy.

As for us, the good news is that we’ve finally made it to the starting line! That is, we’ve started the cycle prior to the transfer cycle, down-regging I suppose you call it. I took my last estrogen tablet last week on Monday and then there was the agonising wait for AF to appear. But she was playing hide and seek. This might not be something to joke about but, after discovering that my lining was suddenly not developing last month, I was beginning to wonder whether my body was working against me and had figured out how to take further counteractive measures! But obviously I was just getting a bit paranoid because AF hit me with full force 4 days after coming off the estrogen tablets. On Thursday I got the OK from my local gynaecologist that I’m free of bacteria and my next appointment is Tuesday 28th for a scan to check for cysts. That will be cycle day 19 and then I email the results to the clinic and hopefully get the go-ahead to start meds on day 21. Then AF should arrive again after about 10 days (around 8th September) and I’ll be on my transfer cycle. So it’s all beginning to happen. But I still feel like every little stage of IVF is a BIG milestone and I’ve got a long way to go yet…

Hi to Bev, Kat and everyone else.
Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Sonia xxx

[chriss]

Hi Sonix, nice to meet you.
Everyone- I hope you are all well.

Everyone, I have a big decision to make. I need your input please. Since I only have three follies I must decide if I want to switch to IUI. At first I was like, NO WAY! But my doc reminded me that I did get pregnant with IUI once before. (That's the time I had the miscarriage). I don't know what to do. He is not pressuring me either way. I've been thinking about it all day. This is my first IVF and I was all set to do it, but I thought I'd have more follicles to work with. From what I understand, some don't make it through the whole grueling process. I may not be left with much to put back in. It's true that I did get pregnant with IUI before. We moved on to IVF because we wanted a better chance. Now I don't know if the chances are better due to my small number of follicles or not. ALso, we have male factor issues. HELP. Why always so much drama???? Thanks all.-chriss

[children]

Hi Chriss,

I am sorry that our reply is a bit late since Eloise caught cold in her first daycare life and it was the first time she was sick, we got our hands full!

Anyway, the decision is not easy, I don't quite remember when your egg collection day should be. Your question was hard - in my opinion, you should rely on your RE since he/she was the only one knows what is the sensible decision. Because the success of IUI depends on doctor's skills more than IVF, yet the success of IVF depends on both embryologists and RE. We have heard enough stories about transferring only one embryos resulted good babies - but that applies more to young gals with young eggs. There are cases also transferring 3 embryos resulted with twin babies. In the end of the day, you don't know what to do.

So, since you asked, I say what I would do here, but you don't have to listen to me. I would say to my RE - do whatever you think it is reasonable and sensible - in this case, you show your highest trust to him/her, and he and she would try his/her best to do what's right for you. I am playing with people's mind here. In my experience, the first time around, my RE told me to transfer all 5 embies, I said no more than 4, and I got none. The second time, I said, do whatever you think it is possible to get me a baby. They did 6 and we got one. My point is if you don't trust your RE or your doctors, you cannot work with them.

Hope this helps.

For all other nice people here, thank all for commenting our family photo. Sorry that I don't have much time for personals. Eloise likes her daycare now, she did not cry the third day we dropped her. Babies learn so fast!

All the best!

Yasmina

[teachertam]

Chriss,

With my first IVF, the RE retrieved only 3 eggs. All 3 fertilized and 2 made it to transfer (5 day blast). I did not get pregnant, but it is possible to have embies to transfer with only three follies. I know it is a difficult decision.

Good luck,
Tammy

[babyblue]

Good afternoon ladies,

Chriss, wow what a decision to make. If you do IUI you have a chance with 3 eggs. Is your DH sperm low or motility issues? I would definitely talk to RE, but if any motility issues I would think your chances with IUI would be much smaller. However, IUI has worked for you before. Ask the RE what your chances are with each procedure. Each of us are different. Tammy had 2 out of 3 eggs to put back in, but with my 2nd IVF I only had 1 out of 3 eggs to put back in. You could have really good eggs and have 3 of 3 eggs to put back. Sorry, I have spent an entire paragraph to say not much of anything. Yasmina said it best, talk with your RE and trust his/her decision to help you with yours. You will be in my prayers for THE decision which gets you your BFP.

Love
Kim

[chriss]

Kim, Tammy & Yasmina,

Thanks so much for your responses. You all make good sense. When we went in today, before I even got these messages, I decided to put my faith in the doctors. Our doctor said to go for it. She reminded me of my age and the fact that if we try again, the response may be the same to the stims. (I'm already at the max dosage) We have insurance, IVF has a better chance than IUI and to go for it. She was very confident in what she was saying and really helped us to feel good about this. And yes, my husband does have some sperm issues, so although IUI worked once before, who knows what would happen this time. Also, the good news is that the little follie is catching up and it looks like we will have four. The EC is Wednesday. Tonight...HCG shot. Thanks again. This truly is a rollercoaster ride. One minute I'm crying, the next, I feel ok and even sometimes I feel good. You guys are awesome, thanks so much. Have a great day and I'll check in with you soon. Best wishes to all of you.-chriss

[summerbaby]

Hi chriss,
really sounded like you got some good advice from your RE and from the gals here. Follow your heart, keep an open mind and a positive outlook and I hope the journey will take to you to a BFP. I'll be thinking of you during the next few days of your treatment and wishing you and your DH all the best for success.

Hope everyone else is doing well!
xx Amy

[chriss]

Thanks Amy. Did AF visit yet? Hope you are hanging in there. I'm thinking of you too. September is almost here. -chriss