TTC 1st child 35+ (Please spoiler any PG news/announcements).

[emily405]

Welcome, Jenny! I am also doing insemination with a known donor. I'm in my second cycle, going to inseminate later this week. I hope both of us have a short stay, but we can compare notes while we're here!

Welcome, BlooBelle! I hope your stay is short now that you are tracking!

Padbrat, Purplelou, Pebble, thanks. I should just stop reading comments on articles online. I don't keep negative people in my life and don't have any friends or even any family who don't think gay people shouldn't have families or kids, but sometimes I can't help myself with paying attention to stuff in the media. I even live in a pretty liberal area so almost all of the people I work with share my views (except maybe one, and she knows better than to say anything to me). Kids sometimes say dumb stuff, but I don't hold anyone to the views they have at fifteen, and even most of them are great. As far as actually being a parent, it's not my child who will be at high risk of negative outcomes. It's not the child of an educated single mother who knows how to navigate the school system and will take her kid to toddler yoga who is at risk. Even though my family is going to be concerned for me doing it without a co-parent, I'm not worried that they're going to tell me I'm really on my own. My parents can't get enough of my nephew, and I have an aunt and uncle who are jealous that they don't have a grandchild yet so are always visiting and babysitting if my sister and her husband want to go out. I don't think my nephew has ever had a babysitter who wasn't related to him, and not because my sister is afraid to leave him with non-relatives but because my family is always around. I can't imagine that they'll treat me any differently just because I don't have a partner.

Twiggers, I bought Preseed at CVS. Bonus - it had coupons for Clearblue tests inside and I had the cashier ring up my purchases in two transactions so I could open the box and use the coupons then! I bought some sticks for the CBFM, and I still have one for a CB pregnancy test should I ever miss AF. I think it's also available at drugstore.com. I looked it up there in case I couldn't find it locally, but when I did, I just picked it up.

Owl35, the only ski injury I ever had was broken fingers. I dropped my skis on my hand in the parking lot in the morning before skiing. No way was I turning around and going home, though. I skied all day and my mom took me to the doctor the next day. No sense going to the ER 24 hours later. I was a teenager on a school ski trip. You can get away with dumb stuff like that when you're 15.

I didn't know a GP would have to prescribe me 5 mg of folic acid. Since you ladies recommended it and I couldn't find it at the pharmacy, I just bought 800 mg tablets and take five of them. That's 4000 mg, and my regular prenatal has 800, so I figure 4800 is pretty close. The bottle cost me about $4, though with as many as I take it only lasts 20 days. I'll ask my GP except I hate going to see her. I don't think she's that great of a doctor, you know? She's ok. I used to have a doctor I loved, but then my insurance changed and I had to switch doctors and I didn't go to the trouble of finding another one I loved. I like my gyn nurse practitioner but only see her once a year, and I figure I'll find a good midwife practice if they'll take me at my age, obstetrician if not once I get pregnant.

I had no idea about the CBFM and used sticks. I just don't turn my on after my peak. Maybe I will start feeding it used sticks instead!

Ok, this was really long! Hope everyone in the US who had the day off enjoyed it!

 

[twiggers]

x

 

[nessaw]

Welcome jenny and bloo. Hope ur stay here is short but sweet!!

Purps am going to join emily in following ur cbfm advice. Thank u.

Hi everyone. Hope ur all ok.vx

 

[chickenchaser]

Welcome bloo xxx

 

[JennyEc]

Gosh, how lovely to get such a great welcome. Chickenchaser and purplelou, thanks for your warm welcome.

Emily, it's good to know that there is someone else in the same boat. I just did my first round with a known donor. I've been a bit strung out since I ovulated, I find the waiting hard to bear. I'm quite an impatient person. A friend of mine told me today that I have to let go a bit. Just take the action and then let go of the outcome. It will make the process much more bearable, and I will be less stressed and more likely to have success.

I'm waiting for AF this Friday, my cycle is 25/26 days, and then I will begin the count down to cycle 2.

Butterfly, thanks also for your welcome. I'm new hear, but looking at your post, am I right in thinking you are trying with donor eggs now? I would definitely consider going down that route if necessary. It took me a long time to get the courage to do this alone and be a single mum.

Anyway, so great to hear from you all. I definitely need the moral support

 

[twiggers]

x

 

[pbl_ge]

Wow, lots of new folks. Welcome, all!

I'm going to be a bit selfish and cut straight to questions about OPKs. Today is my first day of POAS for this, and I did 3. 8 am with FMU, 2 PM (maybe 1 hr since last pee) and 5 pm (maybe 3 hours since last pee--I'm jet lagged and fell asleep. If I can do that EVERY day then maybe I'll get accurate results!).

I attached the photo of these, and here's my question: it looks like I have a line! Is that normal? I'm not expecting to O for another week, and I have no other symptoms. In this photo the oldest is on the right--no idea why the damn thing is rotated here, but I can't figure out how to fix it.
https://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc461/pbl_ge/opks_zps93efadb5.jpg

Do folks usually get a faint line like this long before an O? I'll be very sad if it's another early O month as OH isn't even in town!

 

[ipen44]

Obviously I am already considering the "Why don't I have a daddy" question even though my child will know other kids without daddies. I have kind of been thinking for a while that I will probably be the only mommy, though, but I didn't feel like I could wait around any longer and see how my relationship was going to work out. We don't live together. I know this is going to be my family's first question even though they are supportive of me in general. I have already decided how I will answer that question, both to them and to the potential child when it comes up, but it does weigh on me every time I read stuff about how horrible it is to bring a child into the world without a father, or at least without two parents. Sometimes I think that it would be better to provide a home for a child who is already born rather than to bring another one into the world who will only have one parent, but I could only afford to go through the foster care system, and I am not sure that I'm ready to provide for an older child with special needs, which is all that I would qualify for as a single woman of my age. If I don't get pregnant maybe I will try that route later, but I feel like I need to give this one a chance before it's too late, even if this isn't quite what I pictured my relationship situation to be when I was doing this. I never thought there was anything wrong with being gay, but it's really hurtful to read some of the stuff out there sometimes. I imagine those of you doing IVF and other extraordinary measures have some idea, because I've also read stuff where people ask why you go to the trouble and say that you should also just adopt.

Emily--You should pursue becoming a parent in the way that rings most true to you. I just wanted to let you know about something that I had read regarding your comment about adoption through foster care. I was on this website www.icareaboutorphans.org and read that single and up through the 50s are ok. Truly--I totally understand pursuing pregnancy/child birth/the whole package. With adoption you do feel that you are missing some part of the experience. Just wanted to let you know the other option may be more possible than your are currently thinking.

 

[ipen44]

Purple--We are pursuing open adoption. Honestly, initially, we were thinking that open would be some exchanged letters and knowing full names. We selected an agency because they have a national website for a low cost (less than half the others). They are big proponents of totally open adoption. This means visits, etc. It depends on what the birth parents and you agree to. In most U.S. states this is not legally binding so it is a delicate relationship. The more I have learned, the more I think it is a good idea. I have been talking with my nieces about their adoptions and how they feel about them and both said they are sad that they have not met birth parents. They don't feel attractive because they look very different from the people where they live. Very small town homogenous population. I think open is right for us--just have to wait and see what the expectations/desires are on the birth parent side to see if we can agree to something that works for all.

 

[ipen44]

PBL--The line is normal. The line on the middle one is likely lighter because your urine was so dilute. When using OPKs, I was using them two times per day. Once in the am with FMU and one after I got home from work (I would avoid peeing for about 3 hours just to get good and concentrated). When line 2 gets darker than the reference, you are good. The smiley was easier for me--either a "yes" or "no" is very helpful. Many months, I only caught it when measuring 2x per day because my LH surge is short short short.

 

[ipen44]

Sorry I am hogging up on your forum today, but have some very interesting news to report.

Even then we are going adoption, we are not trying to prevent pregnancy and I still have a monthly POAS problem. I bought a huge lot of internet cheapies back in the day when I was trying every month so I use them at will. This morning I do 1 and see a SSP (small skinny positive). I have 3 days before AF is officially due.

This happened 2 times before, but I miscarry very quickly. My husband has very poor sperm quality. Not many, bad swimmers and not shaped correctly. The not shaped correctly part leads to early miscarriage. Still excited that we seem to have outsmarted the first two problems (it has been 2 years since that happened). I don't expect this to result in a healthy baby, but feel happy to know we are not a total lost cause when we do try again .

 

[pbl_ge]

Ipen

Spoiler

Sorry I am hogging up on your forum today, but have some very interesting news to report.

Even then we are going adoption, we are not trying to prevent pregnancy and I still have a monthly POAS problem. I bought a huge lot of internet cheapies back in the day when I was trying every month so I use them at will. This morning I do 1 and see a SSP (small skinny positive). I have 3 days before AF is officially due.

This happened 2 times before, but I miscarry very quickly. My husband has very poor sperm quality. Not many, bad swimmers and not shaped correctly. The not shaped correctly part leads to early miscarriage. Still excited that we seem to have outsmarted the first two problems (it has been 2 years since that happened). I don't expect this to result in a healthy baby, but feel happy to know we are not a total lost cause when we do try again .

Wow, Ipen, I hope this is a sticky bean for you! Keep us posted. If you don't mind, however, the ladies on the forum have agreed to put good news about pregnancies inside spoilers, like I've done here. Some of us have been trying for a long time to conceive, and this way we can choose to look and/or brace ourselves before seeing other people's good news. You can use spoilers one of two ways. The first is to click on "Go advanced", highlight the text you want to hide, then click on the smiley face with a black line. The other is to just put in text:
[_spoiler] WRITE YOUR MESSAGE HERE
[_/spoiler]
But take out the underscores.

Also, thanks for the reassurances about my faint line! I completely missed an early O a couple of months ago, so I'm just scared it will happen again.

Good luck and lots of dust to you!

 

[Dwrgi]

Ipen-have you ever thought of having ICSI? (If you need to, that is. Hoping this one sticks! ). The embryologist will select the best sperm and use this to fertilize the eggs. Sounds like your eggs are fine. Surely worth thinking about??

Good luck, lovely!

 

[Dwrgi]

Wow, lots of new folks. Welcome, all!

I'm going to be a bit selfish and cut straight to questions about OPKs. Today is my first day of POAS for this, and I did 3. 8 am with FMU, 2 PM (maybe 1 hr since last pee) and 5 pm (maybe 3 hours since last pee--I'm jet lagged and fell asleep. If I can do that EVERY day then maybe I'll get accurate results!).

I attached the photo of these, and here's my question: it looks like I have a line! Is that normal? I'm not expecting to O for another week, and I have no other symptoms. In this photo the oldest is on the right--no idea why the damn thing is rotated here, but I can't figure out how to fix it.
https://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc461/pbl_ge/opks_zps93efadb5.jpg

Do folks usually get a faint line like this long before an O? I'll be very sad if it's another early O month as OH isn't even in town!

Would agree with Ipenn-there are defo lines there. Incidentally, some people write on the sticks with pen, using very small writing, obvs!! That way, you can keep on top which is which. Unusual for O to be this early, but interesting to catch it now. Keep on monitoring and pray that DH comes back early!!

 

[iamtruetome]

Good Morning Ladies,

I'm just wondering if this has happened to anyone else on here...

AF was scheduled to show this past weekend, so I had made an appointment to get my FSH test on Monday in an attempt to get the ball rolling in figuring out why we haven't been able to conceive.

However, I had very light brown spotting for four days last week (mainly when I wiped, except for one day when it showed on a panty liner), then on Saturday I got a tiny bit of red flow, along with the cramps, bloating, etc. that I typically get with AF. Since then I've had barely anything, but some brownish-black blood (again, spotting on a panty liner) this morning. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my blood test yesterday because I wasn't having a true period.

I'm not pg (temps have dropped and HPTs are negative), so now I'm worried something might be wrong. My periods were always 5 days, and in the last year they've been more like 4 days with only one of those being "heavy" flow. This wasn't even a full day of AF.

I couldn't sleep last night...concerned that my body is turning against me, and it is so discouraging. I have made an appointment with a new ob-gyn (closer to home) in mid-February, but DH and I are still filling out the paperwork for Shady Grove.

I'm just wondering...has this happened to anyone else on here?
If so, did your AF return to normal?
I have my CBFM and was all set to use it for ths first time this cycle, but I don't think I'm going to ovulate this time around.

 

[Maddy40]

Do folks usually get a faint line like this long before an O? I'll be very sad if it's another early O month as OH isn't even in town!

Hey Pebble...wow that's quite a line you have there, girlie
I think the only way to know when you definately O is a blood test? I normally get 3 days of positive OPKs with a very distinct havy line. But I actually O right at the beginning of my surge. Only discovered that when I started having blood tests and internal scans at the FS. But of course, like everything about TTC, it can apparently vary for each person and can change per cycle FX it's just your body slowly building up to the right level.

AFM I've read but not enough energy to write a long post today...tired from driving! Two days away in Sydney was fabulous. We deliberately acted like tourists (even though I used to live there, DH hadn't been before), including several hours lying on Bondi Beach this afternoon before driving home. Glorious! Scan on Monday showed 2 follies 10mm and 8mm, going back on Thurs for another check. Hope my left ovary decides to play ball, as it took quite a lot of poking and prodding both internal and external to find it at Monday's check!

 

[Butterfly67]

Gosh, how lovely to get such a great welcome. Chickenchaser and purplelou, thanks for your warm welcome.

Emily, it's good to know that there is someone else in the same boat. I just did my first round with a known donor. I've been a bit strung out since I ovulated, I find the waiting hard to bear. I'm quite an impatient person. A friend of mine told me today that I have to let go a bit. Just take the action and then let go of the outcome. It will make the process much more bearable, and I will be less stressed and more likely to have success.

I'm waiting for AF this Friday, my cycle is 25/26 days, and then I will begin the count down to cycle 2.

Butterfly, thanks also for your welcome. I'm new hear, but looking at your post, am I right in thinking you are trying with donor eggs now? I would definitely consider going down that route if necessary. It took me a long time to get the courage to do this alone and be a single mum.

Anyway, so great to hear from you all. I definitely need the moral support

Hi Jenny, yes I am going for donor eggs because I just think that if I do get pg at this age it would be much more likely to be a take home baby with DE. It is quite expensive but i will give it one go and if it doesn't work and I don't get frosties then I will go for donor embryo which would mean ending up as a single mum too

My cycle is also about 26 days as I tend to O on cd11 although it has varied a bit in the last 6 months

Wow, lots of new folks. Welcome, all!

I'm going to be a bit selfish and cut straight to questions about OPKs. Today is my first day of POAS for this, and I did 3. 8 am with FMU, 2 PM (maybe 1 hr since last pee) and 5 pm (maybe 3 hours since last pee--I'm jet lagged and fell asleep. If I can do that EVERY day then maybe I'll get accurate results!).

I attached the photo of these, and here's my question: it looks like I have a line! Is that normal? I'm not expecting to O for another week, and I have no other symptoms. In this photo the oldest is on the right--no idea why the damn thing is rotated here, but I can't figure out how to fix it.

Do folks usually get a faint line like this long before an O? I'll be very sad if it's another early O month as OH isn't even in town!

pebble I normally get lines like this about 2 days before I O...

ipen

Spoiler

congrats on getting even a ssl here's hoping it turns to a sticky bean for you

 

[Dwrgi]

Do folks usually get a faint line like this long before an O? I'll be very sad if it's another early O month as OH isn't even in town!

Hey Pebble...wow that's quite a line you have there, girlie
I think the only way to know when you definately O is a blood test? I normally get 3 days of positive OPKs with a very distinct havy line. But I actually O right at the beginning of my surge. Only discovered that when I started having blood tests and internal scans at the FS. But of course, like everything about TTC, it can apparently vary for each person and can change per cycle FX it's just your body slowly building up to the right level.

AFM I've read but not enough energy to write a long post today...tired from driving! Two days away in Sydney was fabulous. We deliberately acted like tourists (even though I used to live there, DH hadn't been before), including several hours lying on Bondi Beach this afternoon before driving home. Glorious! Scan on Monday showed 2 follies 10mm and 8mm, going back on Thurs for another check. Hope my left ovary decides to play ball, as it took quite a lot of poking and prodding both internal and external to find it at Monday's check!

Good luck with the follie check on Thurs! Looking good though! My clinic recommends star jumps before EC as it helps the ovaries to drop, thus making the follicles easier to find! Might be worth a try next time you scan-about five should do it!!!

Lucky you, being on Bondi. So weird to read this, when my brother lives there too. It's a small world! Glad you enjoyed your break!

 

[drhouse]

Hi all,

Grow follies grow Maddie... holiday follies are the best type!!!!! Can't wait to hear if the star jumps assist in finding the lost ovary.

Ipen - exciting news..... great to hear....

Butterfly your DE, DEmb program is getting closer and its getting exciting!!!!!!!!!

Pbl your lines are impressive.. soon soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

AFM... one word. Heart burn. Actually two. Heart burn and constipation. Excellent!

 

[Irish_eyes]

@ipen44

Spoiler

Congratulations fingers crossed for a sticky bean

Hello to everyone else, hope you are all doing well and oh my, this thread is fast pacing isn't it?

@Dwrgi I know what you mean now about the CoQ10 being expensive. Have been looking around for it and bottles of 30 could set you back around £15 with each tablet containing 30mg which means I would need to take about 20 tablets a day. Could that be right?

I have a question, this is the first time this has happened to me in the 4 years I have been TTC. Last cycle, I worked out that I was due AF 13-14 days after a +opk which worked out to be a Friday or Saturday but I ended up taking it on the Wednesday which means if all was right then my LP was 11 days. I have always had a 29 day cycle and a 13 day LP. The odd time it would be 28, 30, 31 and 32 days but always with a 13 day LP. I have always had spotting before AF arrive and it gets to the point I am not sure what to class as day 1. I have taken high strength EPO before but it only delayed ovulation. After IVF my cycles not seem to last 31 days with exception of one or two months. I stopped temping a long time ago as it puts DH off and only POAS for a few cycles so I am not sure if the 13 day LP still stands. Well, I know it would be best to temp, poas and get the CBFM out again to see whats happening.

Anyway, this cycle AF left on CD4 or 5 and on CD10 I woke up to (TMI alert) an approx 2.5" x 1.5" of red blood in my underwear and there were a few clots of blood (I normally get this when I have AF). It just went from that dark brown discharge and now I just feel constantly wet. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be and would it be anything to worry about?

And sorry for the long post...again.