The Over 40 Crowd

[cmg]

Hi

saw you were looking for new recruits to the over 40s club, so I've come to sign up! Haven't read through the whole thread but I'm thrilled to see that there is some good news for us oldies, when it can be quite hard to hold on to the possibility that it might work.

My history briefly is:

got married at 38 (O/H then 42) and stupidly didn't start trying for another year, cos I really assumed everything would be fine. It wasn't. Had an ectopic when I was 40 (though caught very quickly and wasn't too truamatic). Discovered 1 tube blocked and other constricted. Eventually gave in tried IVF last year (age 42). Went fantastically well, loads of follies, until I had a brain seizure just before EC.

I noticed DebraP warning Jill off drinking too much water further back - well I'm the one Deb was referrring to. Clinic told me there was no maximum amount of water, that they'd had some people drinking 10 litres a day, and they were wrong.

Anyhow, after that sorry tale, it's taken a while to feel ok about restarting but today I did my first down regging injection, so we're on our way again. I'm more than a bit anxious about it all, but the clinic we're using this time is being ultra cautious and monitoring me a lot, so that helps.

It's great that there's some good news on here, but Debra I'm so sorry to hear about your ectopic. It must have been such a disappointment after the excitement of the positive result, not to mention the trauma involved. I really hope you're recoverng well.

I haven't got to grips with exactly who's on this thread but look forward to talking to you

Caroline

[Alette]

I remember your story Caroline, it was quite shocking to me.

Good that you are trying again (everything okay with you after your brain thing?)

hope to see you all soon on the other side!

love,

Alette

[cmg]

Alette that really made me laugh - I read your question as "everything all right with your brain?" and thought, well some days, yes, but if you asked DH he'd tell you some days my brain is very weird indeed!

But thanks for asking, I recovered pretty quickly after it all - I had the seizure and then pneumonia to contend with after inhaling vomit while unconscious. I was a bit shocked to learn recently that the pneumonia could have killed me, as well as the seizure, but I haven't had any lasting effects from either of them. The clinic has had me really thoroughly checked out to make sure there was no underlying problem and everything seemed to be fine.

I'm really pleased to see you are another 40+ mum to be - hope it's all going well and look forward to joining you soon. Fingers crossed!

Caroline

[DebraP]

Hi Caroline, yes it was you I was talking about, your ears must have been burning

Thanks for the kind words. You're right it was a terrible shock and the disappointment still burns. I'm doing OK. Some well meaning person told me yesterday I'd better 'get a move on with your next baby' and I managed to smile, nod and simply say 'we're doing our best' without sobbing and making a scene. I even went to Ikea today, which is close to Mothercare in terms of seeing pg women, but it was fine. My stitch sites are now really looking calm and normal again - now the problem stitches have been removed. Well on the road to recovery. My Mum arrives on Friday so I expect I'll have a grizzle then but that's OK.

How's everyone else?

Jill, did EC go ahead today? you had a huge number of embies to be carrying around. Let us know how it went.

Randa, you're close to EC again. I hope everything goes well for you.

Hello to everyone else,
Debra

[geordie jill]

caroline,

poor you what a tale!! you are very brave to be having another go bet dh is worried about you my clinic recomended no more than 4 litres per day but i struggle with that even just drinkinking lots more than usual

Had my ec today all went smoothly will have to ring in the morning to see how may weve ended up with. Got 10 eggs

Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement you were right it wasn't too bad (wouldn't want to do it every day mind lol)

Pleased to have it behind us

going in fot ec on sat which will be the 4th god willing hope eneryone is aok xxx

[Sand]

Well done Jill on your 10 eggs - that's a good number. You make sure you get lots of rest between now and ET, to make sure your body's is the best possible state for your little eggies. I look forward to your news tomorrow.

Good luck !!

Sandra x

[cmg]

Debra

I'm really pleased to hear that you're starting to recover, physically and emotionally. The emotional side of it is bound to take time - I found after my traumas last year that I'd be fine for ages and then something else would trigger it off. In fact, once we decided to go ahead with this cycle I've had to deal with quite a lot of feelings about it, including really strong fear and overwhelming anger towards the previous clinic. I went to see my acupuncturist last week, who I saw last time as well but haven't seen since, and was completely calm and rational talking to her. But when she came near me with a needle I just totally flinched and it was as if my body was saying "get the F*** away from me!". I think I'm having problems trusting medics and I may need to get over this before EC!!

Jill I think it's fantastic you got 10 eggs. How many follies showed up on your scan? I never got as far as EC last time, so I'm curious to know what the ratio of follies to eggs is. And I'll also be really keen to see how many viable embies you get. Are you having 3 put back? BTW, I'm no expert but 4 litres of water sounds like a lot to me. If you find yourself vomiting a lot or your wrists swell up or you get a bit woozy and out of it, ask them to test your electrolyte level (or see your GP about it). It's very very unlikely but if you're sodium level drops too low, that's what triggers a seizure.

Anyway, on the depressing note, I'm off to watch a bit of telly!

night all

Caroline

[DebraP]

Jill, 10 is great, well done. Were there more follies today or still the 22(?) you had last week? As Sandra says, rest up, let your body recover from all those incisions/punctures and get ready for Saturday. Do you have the Zita West book we're always banging on about? Fertility & Conception? she recommends, post EC, lots of rest, positive visualisation of the wound sites repairing and the endometrium thickening, a Q10 co-enzyme supplement - but mostly rest.

Caroline. I've been thinking about starting accupuncture too. I don't expect it to help directly but wonder if it will help in general, if that makes sense. Does your therapist target anything in particular?

Re. your follies:eggs question to Jill. I'll let her confirm how many follies she had today. From my experience, I never have that many follies (once 9, twice 10) but we always have a good number of eggs, never been less than 8 and fertilisation always goes well too. I think we've lost a maximum of 2 through over-fertilisation each time.

hth
Debra

[Kat]

Hi all,

Jill- well done on your 10 eggs! You should get some frosties out of that lot as well as a nice 2 or 3 to go back in on Saturday.

Caroline - I remember reading your story too, glad to hear you're doing fine

Randa - I'm glad it's not just me that has the conversations in my head! sometimes I really do wonder if I am losing it

Debra - glad to hear you're on the road to recovery

Big J - how are you doing?

Where did the sunshine go? - can't believe it's now June & it's rained all day. Had a bad day at work today & wanted to go out in the sunshine when I got home but there wasn't any

Speak tomorrow
Kat xx

[cmg]

Debra

I can't be really specific about the acupuncture as I kind of just lie there and let her get on with it! I know it works in a very holistic way on your whole body (energy flows and that kind of thing - god, I'm vague about this!) but she also targets the womb and I think there are things which help build a good womb lining. I'm also going to go and see her immediately after ET (luckily the clinic and her practice are very close to each other) as there is something she can do to encourage implantation apparently. I'm seeing her again on Monday, so I'll try and find out a bit more and let you know. Last time I also took a Chinese herbal remedy but I'll never know if that contributed to the seizure, so I'm steering clear of that this time.

BTW thanks for your reply about follies to egg ratio - I had a lot of follies last time (about 30) so I was hoping that was a good sign. What does over-fertilisation mean? I've not come across that term.

Kat, nice to meet you on yet another grey June day!

Jill I hope you are nicely tucked up and too busy being cosseted to worry about message boards (even if I am dying to hear your news!).

Caroline

[geordie jill]

Thanks girls,
as posted I had 22 follies and actually the clinicphoned this morning and they took 11 eggs not 10 I was told this was great for a 40 year old,

From the 11 they used 9 and 8 have fertilised so i'm well pleased!!

Now i'm in a dilema though, the clinic have said all the embri's look the same so have offered blastocyst, at no extra cost but this will mean less chance of freezing any embri's

What do you think girls? it would mean a wait till mon for et has a better chance but with dh being away so much wanted some frosties in case we wern't successful first time and i could try even if he wasn't here.

Has anyone had more success with blasto, I don't know what to do. Dh says he doesn't want to say one way or the other as he is scared of making the wrong decision, and it would prob another full cyvle if it doesn't work ( he was upset yesterday after the ec says he doesn't want me to go through it again) wait till he has seen a labour!!!!
Anyway am going to post on the general forum see what everone thinks, any advise would be welcome xxxx

Jillxxx

[dancola]

Hi Jill,

Technically I shouldn’t be on this thread yet as will not be 40 until October! However, thought I’d respond on the blasto question. I’ve had 2 cycles since Nov 04 and each time I get to blasto. My clinic charge an extra £ 500 though to cover the weekend work (they always do EC on a Weds). Like you, I get a pretty good number of eggs for my age (12 last time) and 7 fertilised. They only offer blasto to those who have 6 or more eggs given the risk that none of them could make it. They ring me each day and give me the final decision on the Saturday (day 3) as to whether I want to go in then or wait until the Monday for the Day 5. So far I’ve always gone for blasto as my clinic say it gives you a 50% chance. That said, other than the obvious risk of none making it between the Sat and the Mon, you don’t get any left to freeze, whereas if you go for a Day 3 transfer there’s a good chance of some frosties. I will hopefully start my next cycle in July and it’s something I’ll think carefully about. Assuming I perform as well again, I’d like to have some frozen – especially given my age – yet I know that statistically blasto may give me a better chance of success. Equally, many women on here get pg with day 2 and 3 transfers. It’s a real quanduary isn’t it?

Not sure I’ve helped much here but just to say I understand your dilemma!

Nicola

[dancola]

PS - with my first blasto in Dec it 'worked' in that I got a +ve followed by a good HCG level on Day 15 blood test. Unfortunately I then lost the pg. Next cycle was a -ve. I've had blood tests done and looks like I have a high killer cell level which either kills the implanted embryo or stops it implanting, so will be subscribed steroids for the next cycle. So, technically, you could say the blasto worked at first attempt for me.

[geordie jill]

Thanks for that nicola, my head is in the shed! I asked te embriologist what she would do andshe said go for the blasto especially as i have been prgnt before.

but it is such a traumatic time i don't want to make the wrong decision I would be devastated if they didn't make it to transfer!

God i'm sorry its all me me me this morning hope you are all ok love and cugs

Jillxx

[randa2006]

Jill,
I don't envy you having to make this difficult decision. If it was me, I'd trust the embryologist. Congratulations on all the embryos you have to work with! You are doing very well and it gives me hope as I get closer to my next EC.
Let us know how it goes.