40+ and Trying for 1st? Join in!!

[Vonn]

Jean--that is GREAT news!! The pulling and cramping is a great sign, too. You just have a slow implanter or two. Enjoy this!

Sophie--take it very easy with all that blood loss, you'll probably be pretty weak. I hope you heal quickly.

Terri--yes, I had almost this exact surgery 1 year ago. Apparently it's come back since May, when I had my last ultrasound. Boo. Thanks for the love...right back at ya!

ps57002--welcome back & good luck. A year goes by quickly in the scheme of TTC, unfortunately. I am doing nearly the exact surgery I did almost exactly one year ago. Sigh.

AFM--IVF nurse said it looks like a possible polyp & if so, gotta get it out of there. She wasn't as sure about the "debris," said it could be leftover lining. But the polyp is enough to stop me from moving forward. The donor will still start stimming, though. They aren't going to hold her up anymore. This means DH will either have to ship a sample or fly out there on retrieval day and provide a fresh sample. We will decide this tonight. Estimated retrieval day for the donor is Sept 2. They will fertilize the eggs and freeze any embies that make it. My surgery is August 26. We will have to see about how long we wait to do the FET (provided there are embies to freeze), that hasn't been decided yet. Depends on how the healing goes and if we want to wait for my cycle to come back on its own, or go on bcp to shut everything down. That would allow us to move forward more quickly. I don't want to get ahead of myself, there are A LOT of what ifs in the above scenario.

 

[ps57002]

Vonn

I am sorry the cycle didn't go as planned but its good that the polyp will be taken care of so all goes well with FET. I understand feeling like being in same place a year later. I'm doing IVF again but donor eggs this time so bit different.

Jean Good baby snuggling in closer.

Sophie big hugs and hope you heal really soon. Get some rest.

Terri I remember you from before.

 

[Vonn]

Jean--how's it going? Taken any more tests? Felt any more cramping/pulling? Scheduled an ultrasound yet?

Sophie--how are you feeling?

PS--what's happening for you right now?

Terri--is the new job countdown on?

AFM--DH will go out and provide a fresh sample around Sept 2. We don't want to take any chances on something going wrong with shipping the sample. Coming up first is my surgery, on Friday. I'm assuming it will go as smoothly as the last time...I certainly hope that's the case! I had almost no pain or cramping afterwards when I basically had the same thing done a year ago.

 

[Jean40]

I took another Clear Blue with weeks on Sunday a week after the first one and it upped me to 2-3 weeks. I took a Dollar Tree test last night and it gave me the darkest line I've had yet. Still some little cramps and tugging, starting to feel just yucky all day long, craving meat, don't want sweets. I didn't have time to call OB yesterday, too busy at work, will try today. Nothing new on the portal. I did get my EOB for the ultrasounds and bloodwork done in NY, so I am glad insurance does pay for most of that. I tried a couple of weeks ago to use their online bill pay but couldn't get it to work.

 

[ps57002]

Vonn, I think it's good to have DH go in person to give sample. I don't trust FEDEX as is to ship regular packages lol and would definitely not trust with something so important and time sensitive. Although yes it's a little delay for you right now, focus on that your body will be ready. Practice stress reduction, healthy diet etc and keep on track for that transfer so your body is welcoming to that little snuggly embie.

Jean, how exciting. I've never had any sort of bfp in my whole life so I can only imagine how exciting all this must be. Always reduces stress when insurance can kick in and cover some of this stuff. When is your next appt?

AFM,
I am so damn sleepy and headachy this morning.
Started lupron shots last night. i can never get that needle cap off to begin with and ended up pricking myself with it and wasting a needle. Never fails.... So short one needle but hubby helped me get next one off. I ended up getting a headache right away (is that even possible) and some general itchy over all body but this morning just really sleepy, tired, and have my headache (could be worse). Oh and also instantaneous nausea which is there still a bit...

At work but wish I was home sleeping...I couldn't sleep right away too.
Supposedly the donor starts stimming 9/5 with her ER around 9/16 and embie transfer 5 days later. Still worried as we are couple number 2 on this shared cycle so hope the donor makes enough good eggs to split.

 

[Jenny Bean]

Hi Sophie,
I just wanted to send you my well wishes.
My friend conceived after 10 years of trying on her last round of Invitro.
She had booked her meeting to look into adoption and boom she got pregnant when she had almost given up.
I love your resolve and I believe it will happen for you! Good luck!

 

[Jean40]

I finally had to send a message on the portal to ask what to do next, this place isn't very proactive. I am supposed to have blood work and an ultrasound on Monday, but at the last minute and with my work schedule, that isn't going to happen. I am hoping to get an ultrasound sometime next week, having to schedule around coworkers on vacation and my own work schedule.

I finally called the OB office and got a cancellation for new patient appointment for today (Friday) about 1pm, have to get there early for tons of paperwork. It's a bit early for that, but the next available appointment was in October! It's not even the doctor I was referred to, but one of the others in the practice. If this is like anywhere else, you probably rotate with whoever is available anyway. They are all female doctors, they broke off with the men last year and started their own huge practice. I know two people who use this particular doctor for general GYN care, but they are young and not had babies yet. Both say they like this doc I am seeing today even though she is more for adolescent and young adult GYN care, the one friend of mine has a heart issue (nothing near what mine is) and says the doc is well informed of those issues. I also am going to see the high risk MFM doc once I get this OB appointment out of the way, so I will be well followed. I just can't imagine someone thinking I could wait until after 12 weeks to start prenatal care when I'm one of the most high risk patients they will have and my ectopic late last year. I want to know if this baby(ies) are in the right spot.

 

[ps57002]

Hey Jean,

That sounds so frustrating. Sometimes you need to take things in your own hand, which you are doing but it's stressful and tiring. I hope it gets better for you and you get to see the little one(s) in the right spot real soon. Let us know how it went today.

 

[Jean40]

Well, all that happened today was meeting the doctor and getting the blood work RE office wanted Monday done today, Friday. Doc is going to see what my beta is before scheduling ultrasound for sometime next week, then I will go back in a couple weeks for pap and pelvic and all that good stuff. I just had to get established as a patient first.

 

[Jean40]

Beta on Friday was 2515 (OB expected it to be at least 1800) and ultrasound will be this Saturday. Things are moving right along! Even got a 3+ weeks on the Clear Blue with weeks estimator really early Sunday morning. Now we wait and see if baby(ies) are in the right spot.

 

[Vonn]

Jean--ooohh, can't wait for this Saturday for you! Do you have a hunch, one or two??

 

[Jean40]

I feel different things on both sides of my uterus, both tugging and something on left side when I cough. Not sure if that means two or if the uterus is just expanding. I hope for two but one is good, too, as long as I come out with a healthy take home baby.

 

[ps57002]

Jean, Can't wait to hear what you see on your scan.

 

[Jean40]

Home from scan. There is only one, measuring 6w2d (I am supposed to be 6w4d, but we think the embryo implanted late), saw a flickering start of a heartbeat. It is where it is supposed to be, nothing where it's not. I'm happy!

 

[ps57002]

Home from scan. There is only one, measuring 6w2d (I am supposed to be 6w4d, but we think the embryo implanted late), saw a flickering start of a heartbeat. It is where it is supposed to be, nothing where it's not. I'm happy!

I am so happy for you Jean. and u even got to see a little bit of heartbeat flicker. awesome. Hope you can relax a little more now.

AFM getting ready to go for blood work and ultrasound day 2 of period. Lupron delayed it and it is so light that I don't know if today qualifies for day 2. Hope all is on track and then I start estrace today. Donor starts stimms tomorrow. Hope all syncs ok.

 

[ps57002]

Bit disappointed after my ultrasound. No go for estrace yet as lining still too thick. Seems more flow today so hope it really is shedding now. Feel am falling behind though doc not concerned. Plus I have some ovarian cysts growing though again doc not concerned. I worry about cysts as I've had surgery in past to remove two huge cysts both sides same time. Painful
Surgery recover was very long painful so don't ever want those again. Plus wonder if estrace makes it worse?

Am I going to fall so behind in this cycle?

 

[Vonn]

Jean-- This is just wonderful news!!!! Congratulations on seeing your little bean, and a flickering heartbeat, too. Amazing! So happy for you.

PS--I think it will work out for you! I wrote more in the "Inconceivable and Beyond" thread.

AFM--just heard from the clinic lab about fertilization. They collected 7 eggs and 6 successfully fertilized. YAY! (They recently changed from offering 5-7 eggs to now offering a flat 6 eggs, but I think they grandfathered us in and gave us all 7. At least that's what I am assuming.) We are beyond thrilled! Starting with what could be a small number, I was nervous about how many would get past the first hurdle. I know we still have the torturous wait until day 3 (Tuesday) and then day 5 (Thursday), but we can at least breathe easy about fertilization. I actually haven't been as anxious and nervous as I thought I would be, so that's good.

DH just kept saying "Wow" when I told him over the phone. He was in shock, in a good way. Of course, he hasn't done as much research and doesn't have a support resource like BnB, so he said he was hoping for 1 to make it. Silly boy, if we only had 1 fertilize using a 24 yr old's eggs, that would be a very bad sign. I've talked with him about fertilization & growth rates, but some of it goes in one ear & out the other. Poor guy is hanging out in NYC with a pounding migraine. We just got off the phone because he said he was going to look for someplace to throw up. He only gets 1 or 2 migraines a year, so he's refused to go to the Dr about it to try meds. Maybe now he will if it ruins a vacation day in a city he loves.

One other thing...DH saw the donor. I don't know if she showed up late or what, but he said she was in line behind him checking in and when she checked in, they took her right back. I would hope the clinic would actively try to avoid that from happening. I will ask our nurse about it. He thought she didn't seem to recognize who he might be, but that the woman with her who waited in the waiting room after she went in was eyeing him up. I was very curious about her, but he didn't want to share much aside from she was "normal looking." He felt super uncomfortable on the ethics front and wished he hadn't seen her.

Sorry for the long post! Writing about all this is apparently therapeutic for me. . . I hope everyone's having a great weekend! And to those in the US, happy Labor Day. Hope you don't have to labor on it.

 

[Jean40]

Yay Vonn! I hope a bunch of them make it to day 5! I had 5 of 6 fertilize, 5 make it to day 3, transferred the 2 best looking on day 3, then let the other 3 go to day 5, which only one made it. I am waiting to see what happens in the next 6 weeks to decide whether to buy the remaining 7 frozen eggs that were left (which might even be gone by that time, who knows). I am going to do one of those genetic tests early to find out if things look ok & gender (I am advanced maternal age, should be ok with insurance, coworker had it done last year) before I make that $$ commitment. I also want to try to pay down a little on the credit card first.

Yeah, when I was in the waiting room there a couple times, I would wonder who was there for what, they seemed to keep everyone together in the same waiting room. I tried to just keep to myself and try to not let my eyes wander.

 

[terripeachy]

Jean-congrats!!! So excited for you. In the early stages it's difficult to get an accurate assessment of weeks. Woohoo!!

Vonn-my days are off. I thought today was Sunday and that's why in checking in now. So exciting!! Your trip to NY is next!!

 

[ps57002]

I am on pins and needles today. Yesterday being a holiday here in US, my regular nurse wasn't there to ask questions. I sent an email yesterday and so far no response. Hubby just went along and took the antibiotics yesterday cause it was on schedule though no one could confirm the donor did start yesterday. Had my 3 day bloodwork/u.s. today and it's 4 pm and no call back yet. The ultrasound looked good to go but had to wait for instructions and was hoping all set to start estrace. Usually they call by this time already so my brain is in panic mode such as, well what if donor backed out or her baseline was not good or something like that.

Why have they not called so far? Left message and still waiting.. Hate all this waiting for each step and each day and each milestone in this journey.