Older mum (38) needing TTC advice please~

Hi all

I am a 38 year old mum of two boys and I would dearly like a third child.

We have been TTC for baby#3, and now into the 6th month.

It has been surprisingly hard as I have never had much trouble conceiving in the past. Not that 6 months is much "trouble", but it seems a bit to me.

My bloods have come back good, my cycle is bang on, ovulation is very obvious to me, and BDing is happening as best as possible...

So I am wondering is it my age and my weight...? Unfortunately I did not drop the weight I thought I would in time and I still carry the first preggo weight...

Other than dropping kilos, does anyone have any tips - supplements etc..? My doc mentioned something about the "quality of my eggs".. what does that mean??? Can I improve egg quality? Can DH improve sperm quality?

Love any advice you can give

Thanks!
xoxo

Hi JoyMama,

I'm an older female still TTC an earthside sibling for our DS who is 2. Back when we began trying in 2008 when I was 38, my FS never put much emphasis on my age. I conceived very quickly with IVF and then again a year later. As we have lost our first baby mid term, and our goal has always been to have 2 kids (hopefully close in age), we are still waiting to add to our little family. I did a cycle earlier this year and I did get pg but I m/c at 6.5 weeks. Before I even started the cycle, my FS has been explaining to me that my egg quality is now much lower than it was when I was 38 (I'm 41 now). Before we consider another cycle, I am now looking at acupuncture to improve the quality of my eggs, and I have had DF on menavit for around 6 months. Your doctor can run a blood test to determine your egg reserve which my FS told me closely relates to egg quality. So basically if the AMH levels are good, the quality of your eggs will be good too. If the levels are low (like mine are), the egg quality will be indicative of that. GL with it all, you can certainly look into the egg quality through your doc.

Beata xo

nd IHi JoyMama,

Like you, I was 38 when we decided to TTC our third. Our first son was conceived on the second cycle of Clomid (my cycles were wacky) and DS2 was an oopsie. My cycle was still wacky after 13 months of BFing DS2 and some months I didn't ovulate after AF returned.

About six months after we started TTC I went to a gyno and was prescribed Clomid. Four cycles of clomid did nothing, and I just felt the gyno wasn't that interested in 'me", if that makes sense, so I went to the acupuncturist/naturopath/chinese herballist I'd seen when I was pregnant with both sons (she did wonders for my overall health when I was pg). Three months of treatment and taking TCM did the trick.

DH also had his sperm tested and his morphology was, in a word, crap. She put him on TCM also plus some additional vitamins. While his morphology improved slightly, his sperm on the whole was better quality. Something obviously worked, as we're 18 weeks along. Interestingly, the gyno did not want to know about DH's sperm - didn't see the point of a test as we already had two kids. It was the acupuncturist who pushed for it ... had it not have been for her we'd never have known he had less than 4% normal sperm which needed some attention. I should also add, I was told to go off coffee, alcohol, sugar and all sweet tastes. It wasn't easy, but it was do-able So yes, I think it's entirely possible to improve egg quality and sperm quality.

Good luck with your TTC journey.