First of all, I want to apologise for not posting sooner especially to some of you who I know are following my journey. The reason I kept it quiet is because I was quite frankly worried about the chances and stats they quote to us over 40 year olds about miscarriages and so on. I am still in shock and disbelief that I have made it this far by the grace of God.
I am yet to even tell majority of my family so you all are among the first to know.
Some of you may know that I did back to back cycles of embryo banking. After the 3rd and final cycle, the consultant gave me the option of having a fresh transfer. We transferred 2 embryos and one of them stuck! ❤️
My 2 week wait was not the most relaxing because we were in the middle of a house move from London to Liverpool. I tried to take it easy but still had to pack, lift, clean etc. My OTD fell on our first weekend in Liverpool! I had to do my test in a hotel room because all our furniture was with a moving company that was still en route. You just can’t make this stuff up! I was in shock when I saw 2 pink lines against all the odds. 😱
Everyday and every week that goes by, I am still amazed that I have come this far and know that I still have some way to go. I have had a few scares along the way but each time, the baby has been fine and for that I am extremely thankful and feel so blessed! 😊
I am rooting for everyone on this forum and I will continue to have you all in my prayers. 🙏🏾 I have a special place in my heart for those of us that are a little older who are given such low odds with our own eggs. All we can do is have faith and hope 🌈
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JoyfulStar
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This is so great! Gives me hope, as an older lady 😍 The sad truth is, the odds are often not in our favour, not unless you possess limitless wealth to try and try and try, and even then, it won't always happen. So it's so important to hear from real people who it HAS happened to! Wishing you all the best with your pregnancy xx
I’m so happy for you! Thanks for posting and giving us all some inspiration. Wishing you a smooth journey from here and hope you’re enjoying every moment ❤️Xx
Thanks Miracle 43, I was a few weeks from my 44th birthday when I got my BFP! I know similar journeys were uplifting for me. Wishing you all the best with your journey ❤️
Wow - that's amazing news congratulations! I'm so happy for you 💕 And you also have 4 frosties, amazing!! Did your doc transfer 2 day 3 or day 5 embryos?
I hope you can start to relax a little and enjoy this special time. Xx
Thank you! I actually have 3 frosties, 2 from first round, 0 from the second and 1 frosty from the third. After my disappointing second round, I pushed for a day 3 transfer against my consultants advice. 🙈 I just wanted to give my embryos a chance and was too scared to take a risk and have none to transfer. So glad it worked! 😀
Well done on trusting your gut instinct 💕 It's funny as I think my doc wants me to transfer instead of banking / waiting for blastos but I'm pushing through and hoping for blastos and will transfer after 2nd cycle. Congrats again. Xxx
Thank you ❤️ I did what I did purely because I wanted no regrets. One of the embryos not transferred made it to day 5 so the doctor was not completely wrong either. You can’t see the future so I decided to trust nature.
You should always go with your gut to avoid regrets. All the best with your cycles 🙏🏾🌈
Congratulations!!! This is a lovely story!!!This is what I was hoping to read this evening! Thanks for sharing! So glad for you! It gives me hope. I'm going to start my last cycle soon.Happy pregnancy!!! 🥳🥳🥳
Congratulations 🧡 That is lovely news and you have made me feel relieved as we are about to be moving house just after a transfer too and I have been stressing about it all of course! Good luck 🧡
Thank you! I have learned that it is the genetic makeup of the embryo that mainly affects implantation. I still tried to take it easy though. I was lucky that I was off work for 2 weeks so could solely concentrate on the move. I rested in between the packing, paid for a professional deep clean of our old flat and left the heavy lifting to my husband. Halfway through the 2 week wait, my husband and I did a 10 hour round trip from London to Liverpool. I slept most of the way though and left the driving to hubby. 😁
So my advice is try not to stress about the move, it is an exciting new chapter and enjoy being PUPO! 🌹
Thanks Joy 🧡 it's really helpful to hear how you navigated the move! Did you do any lifting of stuff? When I saw the nurses recently they said they couldn't advise me. sorry I badly worded my post, we will be dong transfer soon, hopefully, and then moving soon after 🤞 I have one blast and it is pgt-a normal, keep trying to be neutral about the outcome but so want it to work, will be 40 soon too. Best of luck with your pregnancy 🧡🧡
When you say lifting, it will be good to know the kind of activities you mean. We hired a moving company for the moving of furniture and boxes but I helped my husband with prepping everything ready ie wrapping with cling film or bubble wrap. I certainly did not lift furniture or anything heavy.
I was off work so I did most of the packing of clothes books, kitchen items etc but I rested a lot in between and spaced it all out so I did not overstrain. I could easily lift light to medium sized boxes and laundry bags for short distances ie from one room to another but left the lifting of heavy boxes that were full of books to hubby. The moving company moved a lot of our items but we took our valuables with us in the car. Again, I carried things that would not cause me to strain too much.
I would say just do everything in moderation. I figured the activities I took on were the equivalent of light to moderate exercise so figured it was okay. You know yourself and what you are capable of so assess what you think is okay for yourself. The last thing you want to do is do something and then you end up regretting it. I did wonder at the time of I was doing too much but I tried to mitigate it with lots of rest in between and hubby encouraged me not to lift anything heavy anyway.
When I got my BFP, I helped with unpacking but did a lot less at once as time was not so critical, we really spaced out the unpacking and I would say my husband moved the furniture around and maybe I may have helped with lifting our dining table into place but this was a very short distance i.e a few feet. The main thing is I assisted with the move without doing anything that would cause me to overstrain.
This is joyous news. I was pregnant with my gorgeous little boy at 44 too. Enjoy this as much as you can. Hope like me you're getting lots of extra scans 'because of your age'. Congratulations
Thank you so much and a massive congratulations on your gorgeous little boy! ❤️🎉
I honestly feel blessed and I have had quite a few scans already due to some bleeding and so on. I know I am getting additional scans after 20 weeks. This is new territory for me so slowly enjoying it. 😊
This is fantastic news 💕💕 congrats and thank u for sharing 🙏I just got my 3 rd BFN and the negative “I’m too old” thoughts came creeping in so Thank you for giving us hope.
All the very best for the rest of your pregnancy 🤰
Thank you so much and so sorry about your BFNs. Those negative thoughts really can take hold which is why I was so cautious to share it too soon although I was also keen to share my success story as I knew it would encourage others. All the best with your journey 🙏🏾
Oh my gosh, this is amazing! Huge congrats, sending hugs and best wishes. I’m also 44 and on my 3rd and final cycle. Scan and menopur starting on the 16th August. This gives me such hope! It CAN happen. Love to you and your family xx
So lovely to have stories like this to give us hope, especially over 40!! Hope you're managing to start enjoying it now as I know its a stressful journey, really lovely story to wake up too take good care! xxx
This is amazing news huge congratulations 🎉 🙏🏻 What a blessing - It gives so much hope to us older ladies how was your amh / fsh? Mine is a combination of low amh and high fsh so odds feel stacked against me im 39 😖xx
Thank you so much 😊I can’t remember my FSH but my AMH was 9 I think. I think the back to back cycles really helped as the numbers of eggs retrieved increased with subsequent rounds. I will be praying and rooting for you 🙏🏾
Ah I'm so happy to read this post this morning I've been thinking about you and was wondering how you are doing good luck with your journey from here onwards
That’s such good news, I’m at the point where I don’t know what my next move will be I’m just turned 43 been on this journey for years but had lots of treatment over the last 2 plus years. To no avail. Now my consultant is suggesting double donors and well I’m not sure.so to hear somebody actual made it in their 40s is wonderful news. 👏🏻
Thank you so much for your kind words, IVF is such a tough journey and I think it is definitely harder the older you are. I know I am one of the few lucky ones but I hope my story does help others in their journey. I was prepared to give up if this not work and my husband and I talked about a plan b!
I hope whatever you decide will have a positive and fulfilling outcome for you . 🙏🏾
Thanks I’m taking a short break to think about my plan B. It’s financially exhausting as well as emotionally. I don’t think clinics consider the extra costs involved when they cancel treatments because it’s not worked as well as hoped. Or give you the choice to continue or cancel, that’s a tough one and I think that may have cost me a potential chance. It’s like a lottery 6 eggs cancelled because there’s trapped fluid that might get in the way or one egg next time and they’re happy to continue. I know which horse I would bet on if I had my time again., ( we only need one 🤔)
Anyway enough of my grumblings.
Hope it all goes well ❤️
I am so thrilled for you, you so deserve it and have been a great support to others on here. Wishing you all the best with your pregnancy and can't wait to hear that baby is finally here. Hope you are settled into new house now xx
Congratulations on your pregnancy. I'm 44, as well, and just had my embryo transfer on Tuesday and I'm praying for a implantation and you have idea how much hope and inspiration you gave me this morning. I pray a happy healthy pregnancy and God will continue to bless you and your little one growing inside you.
Just waiting on round #2 🤞🏼 It got cancelled last month because my lining was too thick so here’s hoping this is my month! Wishing you so lots of luck and love for the rest of your pregnancy and the new house. We just moved too so living amongst chaos and boxes!xx
Congratulations, I’m over the moon for you. All while moving house, what a rollercoaster 🎉
I am also doing 3 rounds of back to back cycles, just starting the second cycle and feeling shattered already and just downregging.
Any tips appreciated for the back to back cycles, as I’m worried I won’t many eggs in the 2nd and 3rd as the meds are still in my system etc. All these worries
How many eggs did you get for each round if you don’t mind saying? I am on 450iu of Meriofert and reading lots about lower stims being better for older eggs so worrying it’s too strong 😫.
Thank you so much ☺️. Really happy to share tips. My 3 cycle package was back to back with a month’s break in between. I actually got more eggs with each subsequent round
Cycle 3, 15 eggs, 10 mature, 5 fertilised, 2 embryos transferred on day 3, 1 blast frozen- BFP
As you can see I had one disastrous round but overall a positive outcome.
I was also on 450 ius but a mixture of 375 ius Gonal F and 75 ius of menopur from day 4 or 5 of stims. Like you, I was always worried about the dosage but I did initial consultations with 3 clinics and 2 offered similar protocols so decided to trust the experts.
After the disastrous 2nd round, I was very tempted to reduce the dosage but my consultant blamed the sperm and even if I was not so sure, I continued with the same protocol. When they got 15 eggs and only 5 fertilised I was convinced it was going to be another disaster so pushed for a day 3 transfer. When one embryo from the rest not transferred made it to day 5, I felt slightly more optimistic but as the 2WW went on, my hope dwindled. Then to my surprise- bam BFP 💥
By the way, I was always on a short protocol never did down reg .
I hope this helps somewhat. All the best with your journey. 🙏🏾
Hi, thanks for all the tips, thats really helpful. I think I need to try and relax more about the high stims then. My clinic said they'd do less, maybe 300 IU, if I wanted to but I am also too scared to go lower in case I get a poorer result. I only got 5 eggs in the first cycle and 4 went on to freeze so I need all the help I can get. You did so well getting that many eggs each time. I hope I get more with each round too 🤞
I think I'll see how it goes for this 2nd cycle and decide whether to make it less stims in the 3rd. Did you have 2 periods in between your cycles or was it egg collection, have that one period and them start again? I've never done the short protocol so not sure how diff it is to the long.
I don't know if my clinic do day 3 transfers, I might ask them then. At the moment I am trying to freeze all and start steroids etc (for supposed high NK cells) before the FET but i am tempted to do a fresh transfer at the end of the 3rd cycle too. Would they freeze a day 3 or is day 3 only for fresh transfers?
I have also been worried about back to back versus giving yourself a break in between and what yields better results and it seems there are two schools of thought. I guess at 43 the sooner I get the eggs out the better and hope for one good one 😩🤞
At 43, that is exactly what my consultant advised. Telling me to get all the eggs I could with back to back cycles before turning 44. I turned 44 in June.
As I was on a short protocol, the cycle looked like this:
Cycle 1- Baseline scan, Stims from day 2 of period, further scans, egg retrieval, withdrawal bleed, rest till next cycle
Cycle 2- Baseline scan, period, stims from day 2, egg retrieval then withdrawal bleed
Cycle 3- was just like cycle 2 except for the transfer at the end
After each withdrawal bleed, I had to wait for the next period to start to begin stims. My rounds ended up being roughly 2 months apart ie one in January, March, May 2021
If you look up one of my old posts, I was worried about the speed and my body coping with back to back cycles but got some really great and reassuring advice from the lovely ladies on this forum so don’t worry.
As for egg freezing on day 3, my clinic does not do it, they only freeze day 5 blastocysts. It was because my consultant and I discussed having a fresh transfer at the end of the 3rd cycle, that the option of a day 3 came up. He was against it but the embryologist was more sympathetic to my worries. They gave me the option of day 3 or 5 transfer in the end.
I would say you should go with your instinct based on your circumstances. I did not need the extra NK treatment. Also although they got many eggs, in cycles 2 and 3 my fertilisation percentage and blastos frozen was low compared to yours. My consultant was not incorrect by pushing for a day 5 transfer as I still got a blastocyst on my third round. I was just too scared to take the chance because of the 2nd round.
My AMH was 9 last year so the number of eggs retrieved is linked to that. My consultant felt that getting 6 eggs in my first cycle was an underperformance but as we got 2 blasts from 6 eggs, there was no need to change the protocol.
You getting 4 from 5, is a fantastic result. 😀
I think if you end up with the same number or more with subsequent rounds, one or more of those by the grace of God will result in BFP! This is based on the rough calculation of the 10% chance they quote to us.
Finally, I drank full fat milk daily during stims in cycles 2 and 3 after reading from someone on this forum that
it helps egg growth. I don’t know for sure how much it helped but anything we can do to help eh?!
Huge congratulations and wishing you a beautiful and healthy pregnancy!! ❤🙏 Thank you for sharing your story with us, us ladies over 40 need positive stories to continue our journey with hope. And your story makes me believe that what's meant to be will always find a way, we just have to stay strong 🍀🤞
Thank you so much for your kind words. ❤️ So glad you found it helpful. All we can do is continue to hope and even at 14 weeks, still hoping it turns out well.
I’m so so happy to see this post!! I had a break from the forum as the viability scan posts were stressing me out but just checked back today and HURRAH!!!!!Such wonderful news and sending you all my love xxxx
I can totally understand about the break. I remember the first few weeks dragging on. Really happy to see from another post that your viability scan went well. I hope and pray your pregnancy continues to go smoothly 🙏🏾🌈
Thank you!! Oh my gosh those 2 weeks were soooooo long. It was like time stood still. I keep meaning to post about our scan because I really needed to see positive ones during that time… I really hope all goes well for you too xx
This is so encouraging as a 42 year old. Congratulations!
I actually never tested my embryos. I took a chance after getting advice from 3 different doctors. 1 recommended testing and the other 2 did not as I had only ever had one failed transfer.
I did not go with the clinic that recommended testing the embryos as I could not be that emotionally ruthless. I wanted to leave it to nature and rely on my faith. Obviously this is a personal decision and not for everyone.
I wish you well on your journey 🙏🏾 Thanks again for your kind words ❤️
Such a wonderful post , congratulations to you. You’ve giving me some hope. Have consultation with consultant tomor , I’m 42 , one last embryo . 7th time lucky is a thing right ? ☺️
Hi JoyfulStar, congrats on your BFP! I'm sure you've given so much hope to others and it's really interesting to hear your story. Can I ask what Coq10 you were taking? Im 43 and currently wondering if to do another cycle. Thank you so much
Thank you so much. My CoQ10 was from Nature’s Best in the ubiquinone form but 200mg. I started taking 2 tablets a day but increased it to 3 a day before my last cycle.
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take good care! xxx
Sensitive: Pregnant at 44—own egg, frozen 1 year ago
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