success in your 40s?
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Anonymous
| I'm 43. First child is 4. Been trying for 3 years for a second child; one miscarriage in that time. No known issues other than age and hypothyroidism. Finally have the funds to start seeing a fertility specialist this month but the more I research about live birth rates for women my age, iui, ivf, etc. the more overwhelmed and disheartened I feel myself becoming. Anyway...any positive stories about successful births to women in their 40s? I have 2 friends who conceived naturally at 43 and 44, respectively; if they tell me to take one more herb or how "good" it is that I got preg/miscarried one more time...ugh! they're killing me. |
Anonymous
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OP, talk to RE about your chances and what treatment is best for you. Stats are stats, they're mostly meaningless to individuals. You need to find out where you stand, because the rest of the population simply does not matter.
Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Statistically, your friends are an anomaly. Your best bet will be to look into a donor egg. Talk with the RE about it when you go. |
Anonymous
| I got pregnant several times at 40+ and miscarried each time. I'm sorry, OP, I know that's not what you want to hear. I ultimately had success with DE. It's the best decision I've ever made. |
Anonymous
| I had success with IUI at 41 for my Second LC well I'm 12 weeks now. First LO was also an IUI baby. I have Hypothyroidism also and my Thyroid levels have seemed to need to be below 2 for me to get pregnant. You might want to see a good Endocrinologist in addition to seeing an RE. Good Luck. I know there can be a big difference between 41 and 43 but one thing in your favor is that you've had a successful pregnancy. |
Anonymous
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Brilliant success story here. I delivered perfect twins just shy of 45 years old. Healthy full term pregnancy. No medical issues. Easy recovery.
Reason? Donor eggs. Everything else we tried w/ my (nonexistent) eggs was an exercise in failure and misery. DE took one fresh fail and second frozen smashing success. Get thee to an RE stat. Good luck! |
Anonymous
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Your friends may be the outliers.
At 41, we have just one genetically normal embryo (PGS) after two rounds if IVF. We had a total of 25 eggs retrieved and sent out 7 embryos for testing. I sincerely hope its different for you but be prepared for the age factor. |
Anonymous
| I conceived without intervention at 42 and had a healthy pregnancy until pre-eclampsia and premature birth at 34w. I don't think individual results matter, though...strt some testing and don't wait! |
Anonymous
| My grandma had healthy twins at 45, so there's that. |
Anonymous
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I got pregnant with ivf, my own eggs at age 41, first try. When I was 42 I started trying for my second with my own eggs using ivf. afer three failed cycles I moved to DE and got pregnant on my first try.
It is very hard to conceive on your own after 40 and each year your chances get exponentially smaller. Hate to tell you that, but its the truth. If you are serious about this, get yourself to an RE ASAP. Good luck |
Anonymous
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I would see what your egg quality looks like before I would get too discouraged. Even then, egg quality doesn't necessarily determine whether you will have success or not ...it just gives you some sort of an idea. IVF is probably your best bet, because it's generally the fastest and most effective intervention out there and any embryo's obtained can be DNA tested to avoid further miscarriages. DE's are obviously often times a safer bet, but again, I'd see how things look with your own levels before I'd decide on anything.
I was 39 with borderline to not-so-great numbers in trying for my second and was able to get pregnant via IVF with my one and only genetically viable embryo. In the meantime, a friend of mine was naturally pregnant with her first at 40 on the first try and had a second as an oops! at 42. You just never know, but whatever you do I wouldn't wait around to make an appt. with the RE. Hugs and good luck to you! |
Anonymous
There are no tests for egg quality, just quantity. If you do IVF the lab can see what the eggs look like visually, but there's no way to know before doing IVF. |
Anonymous
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Oh dear, sorry to hear about the 'granola' friends and their herbal advice - women who haven't suffered infertility invariably mean well but just have no idea!
I would agree at this age and as long as you've been trying, don't waste time but go straight to considering IVF. Stats only go so far and perhaps you will be one of the lucky ones who still has high-quality eggs. It doesn't hurt to try a cycle so you can see what you get (well, expense aside, I know). FWIW, I am 41.5 and am currently 9 weeks pregnant with healthy (knock wood) twins, my own eggs, first round of IVF. Apparently we just needed to get the eggs and sperm into a Petri dish so they could find one another. I wish you all the luck in the world! |
Anonymous
| I am also a donor egg story. Could not conceive at 41, so moved to donor eggs and it worked! I definitely recommend donor eggs for anyone in their 40's. You could try IVF with your own but know the stats are dismal. |
Anonymous
| Go to an RE and get their assessment - there are general stats for age ranges & then there is every individual's own health status. You won't know where you fall in spectrum without going to get checked - everything else is just random speculation & other individual's experiences. |