Howdy. I am 35 and just found out that I have a septum and have to have surgery. I also have low eggs for my age. I still have a few more procedures to undergo before I find out the game plan. I will find out all of my results this week. We had been trying for a year before I decided to get tested. Who would have guessed that I had all of these problems. At least I know, it is just going to get real expensive here soon. It is nice to talk to women who understand.

I'm 37 and just found out in July of 2014 that a ruptured appendix at age 13 (undiagnosed when I was a child, and I was only put on antibiotics) caused massive peritonitis in my abdominal cavity. The resulting adhesions have rendered both tubes useless, since the scar tissue covers them and prevents eggs from entering. I had my left tube removed during a lap procedure in July because of a hydrosalpinx that may cause problems if & when I begin IVF. The blockage was shown when I had an HSG in April. All else seems to be quite normal (estrogen levels, follicle count & development), and no apparent damage to my ovaries or uterus itself. We have been TTC for three years without any medical intervention. But, clearly, it would take a miracle for me to experience a natural conception. IVF is pretty much our only option. I think it must be really tough for couples that go through many forms of IF treatment -- Clomid, IUI, etc. and work their way up to IVF after lots of disappointment. My disappointment came in one big rush of emotions after the surgery, when I felt like my body was broken and useless, well before I was even aware of it!

Thanks for creating this group, Halterbroke!

I really love hearing everyone's unique stories. You guys have both been through some emotional trauma... Actually I have too, when I thought I had a septum. I don't have fertility coverage and would not have been able to afford the surgery to correct it. They also thought I might have had a bicornuate uterus - where your uterus is heart shaped. I prepared myself for every outcome when I went to see the RE... every outcome except for not having a problem. Turns out the problem was a small fibroid. SMALL. FOUR MM!!! My RE was mystified as to how the radiologist misinterpreted a 4 mm fibroid for a septum or a BU. But that is rural VA for ya...

Hi and thanks for creating this group! I am 42 years old and also came late to the TTC party (started TTC when I was 35). I have been through so much in the past 8 years of TTC. I have had 5 m/c's, two surgeries to correct a septum, had a zillion tests. I have been treated with clomid and fermara and had countless IUI's! My fresh IVF in Feb was a BFN and then my FET was delayed for 6 months due to health problems. I just had my FET two days ago (10/3) so now I am in my 2WW!!

Hello! I'm 38, turning 39 in two days. Like the others, I'm late to the TTC game. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in my early twenties. I had my 2nd lap in April to remove adhensions. Everything else checked out well and the husband is in the clear. I've gone through 2 IUIs and just had my 3rd today. We switched it up a little this last cycle and added in menopur.

Sorry.. I actually started trying when I was 34 ....

hi!!! Im 43 and started trying at 40. I met my now husband at 39 and we started trying to have a baby even before we got married. after 6 months of no success i went to OBGYN and had my FSH tested and my numbers were high!! i believe a 20. she told me i will never be bale to have a child with my own eggs! i was devastated and hysterical!! we made our first appt with an RE and started IUI's right away. MY HSG was clear and just seemed to be my age was the main factor. my first 2 iui's were chemical pregnancies.I was heart broken that they didnt stick but also hopeful that i did get pregnant. i did 2 more that were not successful. I knew it was time to move to IVF. i switched doctors to the best in NYC. he originally did not want to take me but i guess after 2 Chemical pregnancies he had a change of heart and took me on knowing i had a shot at getting pregnant.
I did go through IVF which was extremely difficult for me. Physically and emotionally it took a toll on me!! unfortunately, it was not successful:( i was devastated!!! My doctor told us we basically had a 1 in 10% chance of getting pregnant with my own eggs.
We decided to take the summer off... no more shots! i did not think about getting pregnant. i had been on this crazy roller coaster for about 1 1/2 already and i needed a break!! i really enjoyed last summer!!! but during that summer we actually got pregnant on our own. and that too led to a miscarriage.
we decided our next move was donor eggs! we couldnt go through the financial risk and the emotional devestation of IVF with my own eggs. it was hard to give up the fact that our possible future child would not be genetically linked to me but being pregnant and having a baby out weighed that part!!
i started the mock cycle for the donor program in sept of this year. it was much eaiser then the meds for IVF with my own eggs.
In February we recieved a call that they found a match for us. we decided to not share the cycle with another couple. Mind you, all of our expenses have been out of pocket so its een extremely expensive and difficult on us. but we saved and saved and gave up alot!
it took about 6 weeks of meds before implanting the embryos. i was much more relaxed this time. i went to acupuncture which helped me tremendously. i exercised up until right before the transfer. i just believed that this would work!!
and it did!!! i am 7 1/2 moths pregnant. i am sharing my story becuase i have been on this site for a long time and i always loved reading postive stories that had happy endings. it gave me hope that after all the heart ache we went through that there is light at the end of the tunnel!!
just dont give up!!! always believe!!! yes, there will be dark sad times and its def an emotional roller coaster!!
my thoughts are with all of you and i wish you the best of luck!! xox

Hi all I'm 38 and started trying at 30. Its been a really long journey paved with some of the hardest experiences I have ever had. I have had 2 miscarriages one which was a missed miscarriage and didn't know until my 12wk scan. I am going for my final attempt of IVF in early 2015.

Well hello everyone!! I'm a 39 year old single female going for my second IVF. In 2005 I experienced a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and lost a tube. Fast forward to early 2012, and I knew at 37 I wanted to try for a baby, but being single I was going to need help. Went to the 1st fertility doc, who basically told me to use donor eggs. He only found 4 follicles and my AMH was .25. I was devastated, but not deterred. Decided on a second opinion. This doctor found 8 follicles and my HSG showed the remaining tube to be open, but a little stubborn. I tried 4 rounds of IUI and at that point decided IVF was the way to go. In Nov 2012, I started meds and my body responded perfectly. 6 follicles produced eggs, 4 mature 2 immature. On implant day, they returned 1 grade A, 1 grade B and a morula. Didn't know what to expect, but I got pregnant. Oh happy days. :) Boobs hurt and I was hungry, voraciously hungry. Started craving root beer (which I hate) and ginger ale (which not a fan). I did the big reveal at Christmas time, to the delight of my family. I'm the only sibling without children and I am my mom and dad's first born, they both remarried. January 6th was my first US. About 2 days before, I knew the baby wasn't going to make it. I wasn't hungry and just something didn't feel right. When I went in, the nurses asked if I was excited and I told them not really. The scan showed a heartbeat at 64bpm and the baby was measuring a week behind. I knew that it would not get better. But, I had to stay on the progesterone and come in the next week for another US. The next appt, the heartbeat was still going, only a little faster and still measuring small. We knew it was only a matter of time, but my babe held on until 8 weeks. Then my body being a rebel decided not to do things quickly, so I had surgery at 10 weeks. That experience left me drained emotionally. I'm a really strong woman, but this broke me in ways I didn't see coming. I started working out and after a couple of months, I felt like myself again. I lost 25 pounds, had muscle everywhere and decided I wasn't going to try again. I had a good life and so what, maybe someday I'd adopt. Fast forward to 3 months ago. Got a bill for sperm storage, well heck I had forgot about that. It got me thinking, and I realized 40 was only 6 months away. All of a sudden my heart screamed for me to try again. So I called the Doctor and got started. They did the 3day blood work, and my FSH was 7.9, my AMH was .67. Then last week at my US and mock transfer, they found 12 follicles. We are keeping with the same protocol as last time and I start next week. I've only told a few people, haven't said a word to my own mother. She will kill me :) Anyway, good luck everyone!

I just turned 38 and I haven't been trying to conceive because i was single. Two years ago I decided that i couldn't wait for Mr. Right to come along because my eggs were drying up at a rapid pace. Of course once I decided to do IVF or IUI I met a nice man but he had a previous vasectomy. So IVF it is. I went through all the testing and my AMH is 1.2 and my FSH is 9. Had a D&C to remove some polyps in the uterus. I start my lupron shots tomorrow. I am also doing acupuncture. Retrieval should be at the end of this month. I am nervous and excited. and trying not to think about how much this is costing for a "shot" of it working.

Hello everyone I am 35 and have been ttc for 2 years with my husband. A few challenges we face were he had a vasectomy 16 years ago, I had a tubal ligation (against my will), we have had 2 failed ivf attempts, he had a vasectomy reversal and I have had a tubal ligation reversal. He was told he had slow and not many swimmers, my left tube is open and producing like it should. Doctors are not sure why I am not getting pregnant. They diagnosed me again with unexplained infertility. When I got pregnant with my dd 14 years ago, it was after years of trying and iuis and meds. We are hopeful it will happen though I have lost a lot of faith due to the monthly disappointment. I have no RE in Alaska simply because there isn't one. This has taken a huge toll on me. It feels lonely out here with my situation. Glad this group is open for support.

Hi Everyone,

I am 39 years old and starting life over. I have two older children (13 and 19) from a previous marriage that I am extremely blessed with. Life threw us some major curves, but we all came out survivors on the other end of it. I began to repair the pieces, find myself, learn to stand on my own and eventually learn to love again. I met the most wonderful man who is attentive to me and my kids. We have been married a year now. We would really love to have a baby of our own and have been trying (unsuccessfully) for a year now. It has been a struggle and I feel like my age is playing a big part of my troubles to conceive.

I admire everyone here and pray that we can all find our miracles soon.

Thanks for listening,
J

This group appears to have gone quiet, but I thought I would join and introduce myself anyway in case anyone ever decides to check. I am 35, I will be 36 in a few months, so I haven't been part of the 35 and up club for long in my TTC journey. I have been TTC since I got married 4 years ago. I keep seeing all of these younger ladies on DS have success with IVF, and I haven't yet had success, so I figure its time I start talking with others in the same boat.
Here is my story: I got pregnant about 2 months after we started TTC, but I started to have spotting the same day that I was scheduled for my U/S and the pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 8 weeks. After that we kept TTC, and after a year went by with no luck I made an appointment with an RE. We did two rounds of IUI, and both resulted in BFN's. I then got pregnant naturally again the following month. The natural pregnancy was ectopic and my fallopian tube burst and was removed with emergency surgery. After that a few months later I still tested positive for Hcg, so it was either left over pregnancy tissue, or another pregnancy that was abnormal since they could not find it on an U/S. I was given methotrexate, and told to wait a few months before TTC. As soon as those three months were up we started TTC again. After no luck for several months I decided to do another HSG to see if my remaining tube was still open. Prior to the ectopic my uterus and fallopian tubes were textbook normal according to the RE. The second time around after the ectopic the HSG showed either no tubes or complete occlusion. This left us with the only option of IVF.
My AMH is 3.5, FSH 6.2, and I always have well over 10 antral follicles on the Day 3 U/S. I was told these numbers are in the normal range and potentially even good for my age. I had been pregnant naturally, so we were told we were great candidates for IVF.
IVF #1 Long Lupron protocol. Canceled due to failure to suppress.
IVF #2 Long Lupron protocol. 8 mature follicles on last U/S before trigger, 11 eggs retrieved, 9 mature, and 6 or 7 fertilized. Day 3 transfer of 2 embryos. BFN. None to freeze.
IVF #3 Micro dose flare lupron protocol, canceled, failure to suppress.
IVF #4 Long Lupron protocol. 17 mature follicles, 10 eggs retrieved, 6 mature, 4 fertilized with ICSI. Day 2 transfer, 3 embryos, BFN. 1 frozen embryo.

The plan is to try again to get more embryos, do PGS and freeze, and then transfer.
I am scheduled to start on BCP's at the end of the month and proceed to the ganirelix protocol. As it gets closer though, I keep wondering if we are making the right choice, and should I check out some other clinics in the area that I haven't met with yet. I have met with 3 out of 6. I keep wondering if there are tests that we missed that we should do before we waste more time and money. I keep wondering if we should even bother with my eggs, or is it just incompetence by my clinic or the embryology lab. I am trying to trust my new RE at my clinic, but its just been such a long difficult process with too many bumps in the road along the way that I am kind jaded.
So that is who I am and my story for now. Still hoping for my BFP!