Trying to conceive a baby is ridiculous after a woman's reached a certain age
I know this from experience.
When I was younger, all it took was, perhaps: a holiday, some likker, and maybe for a man to WINK at me before I fell pregnant. I took my fertility for granted- pregnancy was something to fear my Fertile Myrtle-ness springs from a long line of peasant breeding stock.
Little did I know that baby fever (and a decades younger partner) would overtake me in my forties.
My partner and I decided to TTC back in October 2011. I was pregnant (at age 42) within 2 weeks of making this decision. We set up all the doctor's appointments, I found a perinatologist who specialized in high risk/older women pregnancies. We waited for the first ultrasound, not even worrying about things like miscarriages and difficulties. I had given birth three times before- I *had* this or so I thought.
I discovered at our first u/s that the baby had died at 6 weeks 1 day. That was Thanksgiving Day for us, when 20 of my family members and I fell ill with samonella food poisoning. They found it in my system and the nurse said they suspected it could've been the reason for the demise. Of course, at my age, I now know that there could've been MANY contributing factors besides food poisoning.
The MC didn't want to leave my body, so I had a D & C 4 weeks later.
My next period started 38 days after that we tried to conceive naturally to no avail.
After 7 months of trying, my doctor put me on a three month prescription of clomid (50mg)/estrogen/progesterone. He did no prior blood tests or anything- he said, at my age, that time was a factor. We had to be aggressive. I seemed to be having regular 28-30 day cycles, I was able to get preggo on my own- I just needed a 'boost' in the ovulation department.
I took the first round of clomid on CD3-7, followed by the estrogen on cd8-12.
I bought soft cups, preseed lubricant, a dozen eggs-
We BD'd like rabbits, daily.
I read up on at-home inseminations with egg whites.
On our first go, after my positive OPK, I had him give me a 'sample'. My partner found this to be hilarious and kept making chicken noises. We mixed up the egg white like the website said, scraped the sample into the instead soft cup and- as I tried to insert the blasted thing- watched in horror as half it's contents slithered down my thigh. My partner, at the same time, remarked that perhaps we were conceiving a were-chicken and it would probably be better to just do IT naturally--- we could DTD and then insert the soft cup AFTER SEX to keep the contents in place.
Since my pos. OPK, he's been instructed to do NOTHING but lay in the bed without his pants on it's shark week at my house and he's OK with that. I told him that I didn't need romance, with the pain my lady parts from the clomid, I can barely stand to move, He gets to watch the Olympics, play video games, nap, and BD. This man is in heaven (albeit a tired one), while I pull out my hair and pee on OPK sticks all day long.
On the clomid/hormone thing:
I have experienced nausea, headaches, crankiness- you name it. By ovulation time (which arrived with a positive OPK on CD13), I was bloated and felt like ripping my ovaries out with my bare hands. They felt like they were being squeezed with a vise, the pain radiating to my lower back and uterus.
I am now on CD 14 and it's a full moon I am pretty confident that today is O day, as the pain is unbearable at times.
I cannot believe the things we women put ourselves through when we want a baby. I can't remember conceiving being THIS DIFFICULT before. My partner, after I described the pain (and having likened my ovaries to male testes) to him, said that he doubts a MAN would ever go through the same stuff.
What crazy TTC stories do YOU have?
I cannot be the only person with desperately ridiculous ttc stories!
When I was younger, all it took was, perhaps: a holiday, some likker, and maybe for a man to WINK at me before I fell pregnant. I took my fertility for granted- pregnancy was something to fear my Fertile Myrtle-ness springs from a long line of peasant breeding stock.
Little did I know that baby fever (and a decades younger partner) would overtake me in my forties.
My partner and I decided to TTC back in October 2011. I was pregnant (at age 42) within 2 weeks of making this decision. We set up all the doctor's appointments, I found a perinatologist who specialized in high risk/older women pregnancies. We waited for the first ultrasound, not even worrying about things like miscarriages and difficulties. I had given birth three times before- I *had* this or so I thought.
I discovered at our first u/s that the baby had died at 6 weeks 1 day. That was Thanksgiving Day for us, when 20 of my family members and I fell ill with samonella food poisoning. They found it in my system and the nurse said they suspected it could've been the reason for the demise. Of course, at my age, I now know that there could've been MANY contributing factors besides food poisoning.
The MC didn't want to leave my body, so I had a D & C 4 weeks later.
My next period started 38 days after that we tried to conceive naturally to no avail.
After 7 months of trying, my doctor put me on a three month prescription of clomid (50mg)/estrogen/progesterone. He did no prior blood tests or anything- he said, at my age, that time was a factor. We had to be aggressive. I seemed to be having regular 28-30 day cycles, I was able to get preggo on my own- I just needed a 'boost' in the ovulation department.
I took the first round of clomid on CD3-7, followed by the estrogen on cd8-12.
I bought soft cups, preseed lubricant, a dozen eggs-
We BD'd like rabbits, daily.
I read up on at-home inseminations with egg whites.
On our first go, after my positive OPK, I had him give me a 'sample'. My partner found this to be hilarious and kept making chicken noises. We mixed up the egg white like the website said, scraped the sample into the instead soft cup and- as I tried to insert the blasted thing- watched in horror as half it's contents slithered down my thigh. My partner, at the same time, remarked that perhaps we were conceiving a were-chicken and it would probably be better to just do IT naturally--- we could DTD and then insert the soft cup AFTER SEX to keep the contents in place.
Since my pos. OPK, he's been instructed to do NOTHING but lay in the bed without his pants on it's shark week at my house and he's OK with that. I told him that I didn't need romance, with the pain my lady parts from the clomid, I can barely stand to move, He gets to watch the Olympics, play video games, nap, and BD. This man is in heaven (albeit a tired one), while I pull out my hair and pee on OPK sticks all day long.
On the clomid/hormone thing:
I have experienced nausea, headaches, crankiness- you name it. By ovulation time (which arrived with a positive OPK on CD13), I was bloated and felt like ripping my ovaries out with my bare hands. They felt like they were being squeezed with a vise, the pain radiating to my lower back and uterus.
I am now on CD 14 and it's a full moon I am pretty confident that today is O day, as the pain is unbearable at times.
I cannot believe the things we women put ourselves through when we want a baby. I can't remember conceiving being THIS DIFFICULT before. My partner, after I described the pain (and having likened my ovaries to male testes) to him, said that he doubts a MAN would ever go through the same stuff.
What crazy TTC stories do YOU have?
I cannot be the only person with desperately ridiculous ttc stories!
