over 35 TTC #1. anyone? beuller?

[Cornfieldland]

Well depends on the urine and time of day too right? Here's one I took in the middle of day at 11dpo on a dollar store test...it took a while to show up too.

 

[Cornfieldland]

And here's a frer, the old kind, at 13dpo middle of day.

 

[Spyrals]

thanks! those are super helpful. My line is so faint its embarassing, and its probably not even there. I can definitely see your line on a dollar store test and definitely on the FRER test! ugh, more waiting, my favorite! I think, since wondfos detected nothing its probably a BFN. I suspect wondfos are the same as the dollar tree test.

 

[gbeans15]

Cornfieldland, I haven't had any issues with Clomid other than what seems to be pretty intense ovulation pains. But I think I'd rather have the cramps and know it's coming than to have no sign at all and miss it. And actually it is very very affordable I pay $10 a month.

Spyrals, no my husband hasn't been tested yet, but he knows it's going to have to be done in the next few months if no BFP soon.


I'm currently 7DPO and well I am dying to test like right now, I'll probably give it a couple of days, but I won't last until 14DPO, just ain't no way.
Cornfieldland, congrats on your BFP!

 

[Spyrals]

beans, I tested this morning of course (dh relented heh) and it was nothing...like blankety blank. on to another month!

 

[gbeans15]

I know the feeling, we lead a fairly active lifestyle. From dinners/parties during the week to jet ski filled weekends at the lake, so I just convince myself "I need to know before we go do this or that" and break down and test.
Do any of you chart , use opk's, monitors or anything of the such?

 

[Cornfieldland]

Spyrals I'm sorry! I thought for sure this was ur month
Gbeans I used OPKs and found them very helpful, of course the one month I didn't use them I got BFP, and it was a weird ovulation so I'm not sure on O date and I'm hoping there's only one in there

 

[Spyrals]

Your life sounds fab beans! We moved to deep deep country from Sydney Australia.. talk about a change in lifestyle. Went from super busy city to total nature and no people! I was struggling a bit but it's definitely better for concentrating on other things like business or art. Where are you located?
Anyway to answer your question, for the first few months we didn't chart or do anything like that, only use OPK's, then after no luck I started hardcore doing everything - temping, charting, opk - what else is there? I record all the possible signs now. Have you read the book 'taking charge of your fertility'? If not, I highly highly recommend it, so much useful information in there. I wish I read it earlier. I really can't say enough about how good that book is! Too bad they don't have it on kindle though.

 

[Libbystepof4]

I'm late to say it but hello and welcome, Beans!! I'm so glad we made you laugh! We make me laugh all the time!
Spyrals, I'm so sorry. I really thought you had it this time.
I am on CD11 and no sign of impending ovulation on my OPKs. Line is still barely visible. I'm thinking my doctor is going to get a real talking to this time.
Beans, it seems I had an anovulatory cycle last month and might be going that way again. So I'm pushing my doctor to test hormone levels and consider Clomid or something. What did you have to do before you got on the Clomid?
Corn, I'm glad your MIL has you guys to help her. You guys are very sweet. Many people would have thrown their mother in a nursing home. My grandmother had a new pacemaker put in day before yesterday. She called me the day before to give me lowdown on her wishes if something should go wrong. She told me she's worried about having a stroke during her procedure and if she becomes unable to care for herself she demands we put her in a nursing home. She said she is the one who takes care of her kids and she's not having it the other way around! She's a tough one. I told her to get her priorities straight and not have a stroke! No stroke. Surgery went great and she's already home and recovering well. Tough. I think she called me because I usually have a calm mind in emergencies and I'm really bossy! Lol. I worried though because she seemed afraid, and she never seems afraid.but she's good!
We get the monkeys today for the long weekend. Their mother has been ignoring all texts and emails this week. I just despise this woman so much. I just wish she would at least be a decent person where her children are concerned, even if in no other part of her life. My stress is high right now. I wish I knew the kids were OK when they're away from us.

 

[gbeans15]

Libby I ovulated really late this cycle not until about CD19/20, so that +OPK was very elusive this month. Honestly I didn't have to do a whole heck of a lot to get the Clomid. I've seen my ob for quite sometime so he knows me and my cycle pretty well. I kept detailed charts for him for about 3 months, once he knew I was serious about it, he ran some tests and then gave me my prescription. It really has helped pinpoint an exact ovulation date where as before it was pretty undeterminate. (<--- total made up word)
Spyrals my life while fun is exhausting. My husband is a social butterfly and I'm a lone wolf. He definitely keeps me on my toes. I will definitely check out that book, while I realize we haven't been TTC for all too long. Knowing that my age is such a factor I really wanted to be proactive about TTC so I talked to my doc and his nurse ALOT. We are located in Arkansas, not much of a city life but we enjoy a little bit of everything.
Corn sometimes I feel like I get sooo caught up in temping, symptoms, opks, CM, that it is just overwhelming and frustrating when nothing comes form it. I keep saying I am going to quit everything except the temping (which I don't do very religiously anyways). But I just can't quit for whatever reason!
We have a long weekend at our lakehouse planned so hopefully it will help eliminate my need to test.

 

[Spyrals]

Beans, I would NOT quit temping and everything else. I did for about 2 months (before that I did write it down on paper, then lost it) and now I regret now having those records. I would love to compare my temp cycles from earlier this year. Especially since temping is very reliable in detecting pregnancy (18 days of elevated temps is pretty much 100% guaranteed). One thing that happens to me every few nights is I wake up when it's still dark, I'm thinking maybe 4-5 am just so I can take my temp. I wish I would just keep sleeping till 7 or 8 as usual. I think this makes for inaccurate readings, but not much I can do about it.
We've driven through Arkansas once, it was incredibly beautiful! I'm in Florida, near Jacksonville.
I really hope there's an easy solution to our issue when we go to the clinic. I just got a name of a clinic in South Africa my friends went to to get a donor egg and IVF. This is the second time they're going there. She does not ovulate at all due to a medical condition and so they got a donor egg and now they have the cutest little daughter. So this will be kid #2. I guess they picked South Africa for expense reasons, I think it's a lot cheaper to do it there. I'm not sure if I would go there if we need IVF but its still encouraging to hear someone be successful
Libby, I'm so glad your grandma is okay It's so traumatic when your grandparents get ill. So I wish her many happy years ahead!

 

[Libbystepof4]

We are going to a wedding at Hot Springs soon. I've never done more than sleep in a hotel halfway somewhere in Arkansas before. I look forward to actually maybe looking around a little!
Our AC died today. Jeez it is HOT in Texas. DH went and bought a big window unit for our bedroom until we can get it fixed. Our room was the hottest in the house anyway so I'm not hating being able to keep it cooler even after the regular one is fixed. I hate blocking out a window and how junky it looks but right now its just worth it.lol
Still no ovulation. Doing my OPKs religiously. They monkeys are cute and fun this weekend. We used some fabric markers today on their daddy's old white t-shirts to use as art smocks. Tomorrow I think we might do our square canvases tomorrow. Violet saw them and asked if daddy would draw an oval on here for her so she could turn it into an elephant. She's into elephants now. Lol
Little one was his daddy's shadow all day. He told me "I will help anybody do any work that needs to be done!" He loves to feel like he's helping. He's such a caretaker. Sweet monkey.
I'm wiped out.

 

[Spyrals]

They sound totally adorable!! How cute. I would love to be around some kids right now! For now I only have my 2 puppies. We just got them a month ago and I'm learning the joys of having a big muddy yard and two crazy puppies on white floor tiles!
What CD is it for you? Sometimes Ov comes later. I hope that's the case for you and you ovulate soon
I've been obsessing all day about this. As you do. I just wish my AF came already or I got a BFP. I've still got 2 days to go till AF. I'm trying to distract myself with work but it's not working, I just keep wondering if my super faint line was a line or was it nothing? The logical part of me knows it was nothing due to many neg tests after, but it's the irrational part that takes over and makes me crazy. I'm on my own too as dh is "out" meaning he's watching college football ALLLLL DAY long and not available for anything. lol I even did some painting, that's how bored I was!
I'm promised a nice home cooked breakfast monday morning if we make the weight this week. We're trying to drop some pounds, so fingers crossed! I hate dieting, I feel like I'm starving and going to pass out every minute that I don't eat haha. But I really need to lose some weight as I've gained 30 pounds over the last year

 

[Libbystepof4]

I'm on CD13. So still time to ovulate. But if my cycle is only 23 days again this time I'm not real confident. We will see. Either I will or I won't ovulate. And then we will decide what to do next.
It was like five degrees in our bedroom last night from that window AC. Crazy.
We are painting canvases today. Let's see if the kids are feeling inspired!

 

[gbeans15]

Libby hopefully ov is imminent! Man, it's been a hot September so far no ac would be excruciating. Hot springs is a beautiful city, lots and lots of history! If you like older historic buildings I recommend staying at the Arlington. Also you can to do some type of something on bath house row. It's very interesting.
Spyrals, I never would've even thought about going out of country for ivf, etc. not sure I would go there for such a procedure either but intriguing nonetheless esp since it was successful first time around.

 

[gbeans15]

Oh and being at the lake didn't help so much with not testing (like I ever had a chance,ha). Neg at abt 9dpo. I know I need to wait just don't have the patience.

 

[Libbystepof4]

We actually are staying at the Arlington! That is where everyone is staying, I guess. I hope we have time to do some fun stuff!
It is super hard to wait to test. It's just so exciting to think just maybe it will go ahead and be positive!
We just finished our paintings. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be famous. Don't worry, guuys. I won't forget you when I get on TV... Ha-ha!no seriously, though, I absolutely love DHs little painting! It looks like a bright red sunset on the farm. Really neat. We put them in the garage to dry. I'll send a pic when they're done. Violet painted her elephant. It's blue. Lol

 

[AnnieMac2]

Wow, I missed 4 pages of posts!? We met up with a couple of dh's siblings and spouses at MIL's for her bday Fri & Sat and I was unexpectedly busy the day before we left.

Welcome, gbeans!! Your life does sound fun! I know what you mean Spyrals - I've had a weird couple of years since moving here (lots of medical stuff that kept me a little reclusive) so I'm trying to build up my social circle. I've been finding it hard to connect to people here, but have a couple good friends so I'm content enough. Anyway, I have never made it to 14dpo either, gbeans! Good luck!

I'm sorry about the bfn, Spyrals. So disappointing. Big huge hugs.

I'm glad your grandmother is doing well, Libby. Is she in Georgia? I'm worried about my MIL after this weekend. She's 75 but seems really confused. They have a history of Alzheimer's on that side, so it's concerning. We would take her in here - she's generally easy to get along with, so we wouldn't deserve any awards for patience - but I think she'll likely end up in PA because two of her kids live around Philly. But we're not that generous, because we wouldn't take my mom. In fact, I'm pretty sure she won't meet my child until it's old enough to go on its own. And it would have to be mature enough so she couldn't f--- it up. People will probably see it as petty punishment or something, but I just don't care anymore. When you treat someone like garbage for 35 years and then they have a child, even just as a result of logistics, you don't see the baby either. You don't get special accommodations to abuse someone just because there's a child you feel entitled to. We would probably take in my father though. But he has some issues and I would have to make sure it was still a healthy environment for a child to be in though. My kid is not going to grow up thinking that what my family does is acceptable. Thank god dh's is so healthy and loving. I feel like you should get special recognition for selflessness, Corn, since you only got to live with dh for 6 months (?) before she moved in! And I agree with Libby, I'm so happy for you that you feel like shit!!

How are the kids doing, Libby? God I want an enchilada and margarita. I'm really getting unreasonably frustrated right now that I have neither haha.

 

[Libbystepof4]

The kids are OK. There is drama arising, but I will wait until things become more clear to tell you about it. Right now its still very confusing. Suffice it to say that Nora is still firmly in the least decent human beings category. Evil evil woman. And as much as I really think she's horrible, I STILL fuss at the kids when I observe disrespectful behavior towards her. She doesn't discipline them and so they do whatever they want with her. I've watched as she tells them not to do something and they get that sassy face on and go right to whatever she told them not to do. And she ignores it! Little kids test that way to see who they have to actually obey and she lets them ignore her. I've started telling them right in front of her they are not allowed to be so disrespectful to their mother. I don't think she cares for my interference, but its for their benefit, not hers. They don't do that crap to me, I'm not having them do it to anybody. The Little just looks her dead in the eye and tells her NO when she tells him to do something. He did it in front of me one time and I said "excuse me!?! Would you tell ME no if I told you to do something?" He said no. I told him he's not allowed to say anything but yes ma'am when his mommy tells him to do something. He said that she lets him. I said that it doesn't matter because he's still not allowed to misbehave just because he can get away with it. She didn't look happy. He said yes ma'am. Little monkey will be in charge of everyone if you let him. And she lets him! It's ridiculous! He's four years old! Ugh. I'm sorry. I got off on a rant there. I'm just so tired of her ridiculousness.
So how are you ladies feeling?

 

[Libbystepof4]

https://s927.photobucket.com/user/Libbybrown0413/library/Art with the kids

Let me know if this works. These are the kids and our paintings from the other day. If you're interested. It was a fun activity. They all had fun and most of them over painted their canvases. They want to do it again!