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Pregnant with #1 at 41, against all odds

Hi ladies,

I have been lurking on this discussion board off-and-on for the last few months. Thank you all so much for your kindness to each other, your encouragement and your words of wisdom! Many, many of us silently track this board's activity without actually posting.

Well, now it's my turn.
And my goal is to return the encouragement you have all given me.
This might be a bit long.....

I am 41 years old and never had children.

I had an ectopic in Jan 2012. I spent many, many months in misery but still TTC as of June, when my husband returned from deployment. After 2 horrible attempts at an HCG (holy s**t that was more painful than anything), I learned that my right tube is blocked due to scar tissue from the operation.

6 months ago, I found out that I have severe Hashimoto's, and my immune system is quickly trying to kill off my thyroid which, as many of you may know, can harm fertility. If anyone googles the disease, you will find that it really messes with your metabolism, your periods, your hormones, etc.
IMPORTANT: everyone should get their thyroid tested. Unfortunately many doctors only test for "T4", and this is not the only indicator of thyroid activity. Tests should be run for FT4, FT3, and Antithyroglobulin antibodies.

3 months ago, we learned that my husband has extremely low fertility due to radiation exposure (thanks, military!).

Although I take care of my body well, I don't sleep much and am under constant stress.

So with all this information, I resigned myself to my fate that I will never have children.

But..... lo and behold, 2 positive HPT's this morning!!
I know this is just the beginning, and I don't want to get too excited too quickly. But whether our little bean sticks or not, it's already a darned good sign that it can still work!

Here is what I think worked for me:

1) Once my doctor put me on Levothyroxine, my body functions have been slowly returning to normal.

2) I did acupuncture

3) I have been following a vitamin/supplements program that consisted of:
- Vitex (Vital Nutrients) - 750mg
- Evening Primrose Oil (Barlean's) - 1200 mg 2x/day from CD1 to ovulation
- Progesterone (Progestelle) from ovulation to CD1
- multivitamin
- CoQ10

4) I drink loads of green tea

5) a lot of sun exposure during the last couple months (vitamin D!)... I went to the desert for 1 week during the week after ovulation of this cycle.

6) my husband has been supplementing with Zinc Picolinate 20% in pure powder form

7) I charted, just to keep track of my body

8) I forgot about trying... just focused on keeping myself healthy

I hope this helps someone out there... and I hope that my tadpole stays with us!!

4 Replies • 10 years ago

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