38 and TTC first baby, anyone else?

[Wish2BMom]

gotcha, thanks!! I guess that's how I imagined it - high-rollers in the desert! I wouldn't fit in - the best bag I have is a Coach and that's posh for me! No LV, Gucci, Prada...I'd probably stain them or get food on them or something.

 

[elliecain]

Lol! Firstly, to put you all out of your misery, no AF yet but I'm now too chicken to test! So no news for you.

Secondly, I'm the same, Wish. I've been to a few posh places and events over the years and I find them really intimidating and uncomfortable. I kind of like the idea of it, but the reality is not good. I'm more of a leggings, jumpers and wellies, farmer's daughter, dog walking, mud lover really.

Anyway, I have acupuncture in 2 hours and I can't wait... She'll probably despair at my inability to poas! At the moment, I've developed 2 other addictive habits: checking my temperature (same as this time yesterday) and checking my cervix (ccm and no brown, in case you were wondering!). I'm still expecting blood every time I go to the loo and I have killer backache and cramps right now.

 

[Wish2BMom]

ellie I hear ya! right now you're in that limbo of hope and do not want to ruin that with a stupid blank stick.

yeah - I'm not quite a farmer's daughter - I do enjoy camping and the outdoors (nature is my jam), but at the same time I have certain standards I enjoy from hotels! not the Ritz (i'm thriftier than that), per se, but enjoy my Marriotts over the lower-end hotels. I'm definitely the jeans and t-shirt girl!

enjoy your acu! maybe i'll look into that over the next 2 months. I'm trying to assess if there is anything I can do to help this TTC stuff out. I eat fairly well, I'll get my butt back to the gym and hopefully get that love going AGAIN (my body just loves the lazy times), I take my prenatals. I am going to try to back off of alcohol more - as it is now, i only have it on the weekends. But 3-4 glasses of wine or something between going out to dinner and while watching a movie/playing games/doing our giant puzzle while listening to music is not unheard of... any other ideas?

 

[Left wonderin]

Wish increase your daily water intake . Flushes all toxins away, increases blood flow to uterus and increases and improves quality of cm not bad for h2o !! Have you tried taking cq10 ??? Its supposed to improve egg quality ?

Ellie how are you resisting !!!!! And until when ????
I'm with you welliies , tracky or jeans and sneakers all the way !!!! I'd wouldn't know a designer handbag if it stood in front of me ... Would be totally wasted on me .

I'd take the sun and RNR though

 

[elliecain]

ellie I hear ya! right now you're in that limbo of hope and do not want to ruin that with a stupid blank stick.

That's exactly it!

Acupuncture and general self care have been my things over the past couple of months. I get my nails and hair done regularly, whereas it used to be hair once or twice a year and nails never. I'm rubbish at exercise and I eat too much... 12 years of eating disorders took so much of my life away that I refuse to guilt myself about those things any more. I'm on the top end of healthy weight and I feel fat all the time, but I'm trying to learn body positivity.

Another massive one is stress. I was experiencing such horrible levels of stress and I'm trying really hard to reduce that. Getting my thyroid right and having acupuncture have been a great help, as well as taking control of this ttc by paying for a second opinion and doing all the tests and then getting some answers.

It's never going to be easy, but I'm not such a bag of misery as I was 2 months ago, when the NHS doctor said she couldn't (wouldn't) help me. I actually got pretty horribly depressed for a while and I knew I needed to make big changes.

Sorry this turned into a life story. Hope some of it is helpful xxx

 

[elliecain]

Ellie how are you resisting !!!!! And until when ????
I'm with you welliies , tracky or jeans and sneakers all the way !!!! I'd wouldn't know a designer handbag if it stood in front of me ... Would be totally wasted on me .

I'd take the sun and RNR though

Agreed! Sun would be awesome right now I'm on the verge of booking us a little winter sun break over Easter...

I'm not resisting, I'm chicken!!!!!!!!! If my temp is up tomorrow, I'll poas.

 

[Fi Last]

Ladies, I've been a bit of a lurker in the past week. I'm still playing catch-up at work, and with the inevitable cold that follows a period of stress. But, I have been reading your posts when I can.

Wish - I'm so, so sorry that this was not your month. My heart was all over the place reading your posts; I really, really wanted it to work out. I know that this cannot compensate for your disappointment, but would it help at all to know what a contribution you've made on this forum? You've been such a support (to me and evidently everyone else here too), and have a warmth that has really made a difference to me in my darkest moments. You will make a fantastic mother one day.

Pothole - I read your post with total recognition: you write beautifully, and your sense of totally unconditional love is remarkable. I too spent time staring in the mirror and wondering what the hell just happened to me, and what I'd done to deserve it. We are only a few weeks apart on our experiences, and we will get stronger again, together.

Ellie - I'm so sorry about how much pain you've been through, and keeping my fingers crossed for you for this month. Big handfuls of babydust.

Left - please don't go anywhere, you're a beacon of hope for everyone.

Everyone else: hello, I'm thinking of you, and sorry I don't have time to send you each a message. Love and hugs x

OH and me are going on holiday for a week, to Portugal. It won't be Dubai-hot, but it will be milder than here, and distracting, and we really, really need some time away. No Ritz for us, but a nice-looking Airbnb apartment with lots of good restaurants nearby. Hopefully will help to get me back on track - I'm planning to wean myself off SSRI in the next week or so. In the meantime just waiting for bloods to come back - I had 14 vials taken at the last appointment! - and hoping that all is normal.

Lots of luck to you all while I'm gone x

 

[Chipie]

Guys, obviously I'm totally rocking it out here in Dubai with my Anya Hindmarch handbag I bought in New York a few years back. However, we live on a farm at home and some days I don't even bother to brush my hair! (most days)

Nice to hear from you Fi, glad you're doing ok. Enjoy Portugal!

 

[elliecain]

I'd gladly take Dubai sun and peace right now! The weather is really odd here in South West England... torrential storms one day, freezing the next.

I don't think anyone was criticising you, Chipie. You sound a bit hurt by what we said... Sometimes it's hard to get nuance across in posts xxx

 

[Wish2BMom]

fi - thank you so much, you made me tear up!! enjoy your time in Portugal - definitely on my list of places to go. DH's college roommate who he's still close with is from there (or is 1st generation American, so lots and lots of family there).

chipie - I just had to google 'Anya Hindmarch' hahahaha! Those look funky! I love the 'farm girl with a funky designer bag' vibe!

ellie - I love the changes you've made to feel better about yourself. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!!!

left - good one! I really do need to drink more water. I drink maybe 1L a day, plus coffee and tea. I have some CoQ10 here but I had stopped after my first cycle resulted in one follicle after I started taking it. Maybe I'll start it up again but it seemed directly related - one cycle with 7 follies and then the next with 1. I'm sure it's not related now - I've had 3 and 5, I think, after that. So whatevs. The doc didn't really weigh in on my theory, I'm sure b/c she doesn't promote anything other than prenatals due to no real scientific evidence that supplements help or not.

Hello to everyone else! I hope you're well wherever you are.

 

[Chipie]

Ah bless you Ellie, no not hurt at all!

 

[Star2011]

I also want to go to a warm and nice place right now! It's still snowing and so cold here.

Those are good ideas to relieve stress ladies. I will definitely use them too. I try to meditate when I can. My job is very physical and when I come home I try to do any form of meditation to clear my mind.

Ellie- I like your will power girl. I am keeping the faith.

Fi and Chipie- Enjoy your holidays.

Wish- I was thinking the same thing too, cutting back on alcohol. We can do this girlfriend! I only had one glass of wine during the super bowl and trying not to have another one this coming weekend. If I do, it will be only one glass.

AF started yesterday evening. I Went for my baseline US and lab work today. Got the green light to start meds. I am starting with Gonal F and Menopur for now until the next check up on Monday.

 

[Chipie]

Star, great news you're on your way with the green light. Good luck!!

Wish, I wanted to answer your question from yesterday regarding the things I'm trying to do to help ttc. When I write it all down like this it makes me sound like a crazy lady and to be fair, I've been trying to conceive since December 2014 and it hasn't really worked for me yet so it's probably not even worth it!

Drink 2 litres of water every day
Hardly drink any alcohol and only during af. I've had 2 drinks in 2016
Cut out caffeine completely
Try to drink nettle and raspberry leaf tea with added red clover
Wheatgrass and Macca powder in my morning smoothie
I don't eat gluten and very little added sugar
Take multi vitamin, fish oil, vitex
Did take CoQ 10 for about 6 months but it gave me insomnia so I had to stop
Solid 7-8 hrs sleep every night
Acupuncture every 2 weeks
Tried to meditate but struggle to find time to do this
I've just bought a video on fertility massage and started that this week. Its quite nice to do whether it works or not!

Obviously I don't do all of this 100% of the time but try to as much as poss. The thing I'm really bad at is motivating myself to exercise. I do go horseriding and walk to work when I'm in London, but it's probably not enough - I'm super lazy and I just can't be bothered!

Stress is probably the main thing that effects us but is very difficult to control. I don't have any bright ideas for that unfortunately!

 

[Mdc]

Wish, sorry your appt got moved out. I also am really enjoying acu. It took me a couple sessions, but I do really look forward to them now. The only thing I would add is moderate exercise, but you already know that. I believe coQ10 is not my friend either. My cancelled IUI cycle was the first after starting it. Maybe just a coincidence, but I still stopped it.

Ellie, dying over here.

Fi, have fun in Portugal! 14 vials is normal. I think when they did my work up it was 17. Getting over my needle phobia quickly

Chipie, sounds like you are having a great time and soak up the sun.

Star, yeah for getting the show on the road! Cannot wait to hear how it goes.

Hi to everyone else!

Afm, I am waiting to get in the plane to head home. Just hoping to make my connection so I can get to my reconsult appt at 4. So far so good. I am interested to see what my doc says. Other than than just POAS looking for O and we will follow up with an IUI, but still pretty early for me. Last month O was on cd 17/18.

 

[Nikki5555]

Hi everyone I am new to the thread. I am 35 TTC #1. 3rd cycle so far so I am trying to be patient. My sis just found out she is pregnant so I am excited about that. She told me to hurry so we can be pregnant together. Lol well AF due Saturday so we shall see.

 

[Wish2BMom]

mdc - safe travels home again!! please keep us posted on your convo with the doc. Good luck!

ellie - anything or did today's drop scare you away? you're still well above coverline!

star - Happy Stim Day! You'll do great! I can't wait to hear how you respond. I have a good feeling about this!

chipie - have you given any thought to rolling in a prenatal vitamin into the mix? You need at least folic acid - that greatly helps egg quality. This is the ONLY thing my doc stands behind, prenatals. I use Garden of Life Raw Prenatals - they were rated as #2 on this list I saw last year as far as quality and true-to-advertised ingredients.

welcome, nikki - good luck to you and DH! I hope you're able to get pregnant soon and be bump buddies with your sister.

I'm trying to get in for a phone consult instead of having to come into the doc's office. If she can spare 5-10 mins with me between her other appts, that would be awesome. They are working on this, so that's nice of them. AND - apparently phone consults aren't usually covered by insurance. UNLESS you have a failed cycle. I go, 'well, I have lots of those...' and she goes 'yeah, I see your last negative beta was 2/5 so you qualify for this and it's free of charge.' Say what now? So I've been coming into the office - not that it's a huge inconvenience - for appointments that cost money? Sheesh. I wonder how much the tissues have cost that I use there!

Thank you for ALL of the tips ladies - this is really helpful.
I've dropped my caffeine intake greatly - in my morning pot of coffee, I use one scoop of caffeinated and 4 scoops of decaf. I don't have caffeine any other time.

I'm going to drink more water, start CoQ10 again (for now - let's see how it affects this next cycle), ease up on alcohol (but maybe one drink/day on the weekends - one per weekend is just crazy ) and get back to kickboxing AGAIN.
I'm also going to look into acu. It's funny about stress - I don't FEEL stressed and I don't feel like I have anything to really be stressed about, but I could be holding it all in. My job can be stressful, but I'd like to think I let things go pretty well. I'm definitely the most optimistic person on my team and people don't really ask too, too much of me. So I don't really know if stress is a factor or not, for me.

 

[Dandi]

You might want to try using the Ubiquinol form of CoQ10. I was using it for probably 9 months right up until I started the fertility meds. I went off of them then so that nothing would throw off the cycle, but I like to think that I was helping to preserve the few eggs that I had left until then. =) I used the Ubiquinol QH Absorb brand.

Welcome Nikki, best of luck!

Ellie, I've been analyzing your chart. Have you tested today? Do you think you could have O'd on day 17 instead? I'm just wondering if the clomid could have pushed it back this cycle based on the spike on 18.

 

[elliecain]

BFN this morning. Just now, fed up with no AF, I pushed cervix really hard and got some brown clumps out (sorry). So looks like she's finally coming. Hope it flows today so I can start Clomid tomorrow.

Welcome Nikki. This thread is very lovely and supporting. I hope your stay is short and you get pregnant really soon.

 

[Chipie]

Welcome Nikki!

Maybe I was using the wrong CoQ10, did anyone else who took it have insomnia? Will try and find your brand Dandi.
I think my multivit I take is a pre- natal Wish, I'll double check. When they run out tho I'll get the garden of life brand if I can.
Can't believe they've been making you go into the office and paying! Ridic!

Hope you're ok Ellie!!

MDC, get home safely and swiftly .

 

[Chipie]

We just posted at the same time I think Ellie. Really sorry it's not the news you wanted. I was so sure it was your turn!! Hope you're ok. Don't loose faith, you are one step closer for sure!!