Small Ovaries

When I had my internal scan she told me that I have small ovaries, being naive I never actually asked what this meant - Since getting home I've goggled it! I beleive that this probably confirms my decison to go ahead now and not wait...lets hope when I get my day 3 blood results I haven't waited too long.

Article from Telegraph
"A test that shows how fast a woman's biological clock is ticking and how long she has left to start a family has been developed by British researchers.
The technique could revolutionise infertility treatment and identify the one in 10 women who are at risk of an early menopause.
It could also help women in their thirties to decide how long they can safely delay having children while they build a career. The test uses an ultrasound scan to work out the size of a woman's ovaries and a complex computer programme to predict how many eggs she has left. Ovaries are thought to have a finite number of eggs and the number falls throughout a woman's life. When the number reaches around 25,000 - typically when a woman reaches the age of 37 - the decline accelerates and over the next few years women find it more difficult to conceive. When the number reaches around 1,000 the first signs of menopause begin to appear."

Article from the New Scientist

Test to predict menopause revealed (2004) - "UK researchers have shown a strong link between the size of a woman's ovaries and the number of eggs she has left. Hamish Wallace and Thomas Kelsey used this link to create a model that should be able to predict a woman's "reproductive age" to within one or two years using her chronological age and a measure of the size of her ovaries. Ovarian volume can be measured with a simple ultrasound technique that doctors already use to examine the organs.
"In essence, it means we now have the potential to be able to tell a woman how fast her biological clock is ticking and how much time she has before it will run down," says Wallace, at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, UK, and a lecturer at Edinburgh University.
"The accurate assessment of ovarian reserve will revolutionise the management of women requesting assisted conception, those who have had treatment for childhood cancer and those who are considering delaying a family for personal or professional reasons," suggest the pair.
Rapid fall-off
The conventional view is that women are born with a fixed number of eggs in their ovaries. Studies show that the number of eggs peaks when a female fetus is just five months old. After this, the number of eggs declines as they age and die by a process known as atresia.
When the number of eggs left reaches about 25,000 - corresponding on average to the age of 37 - there is a more rapid fall-off in their numbers. This key point usually precedes menopause by about 12 to 14 years. There are only about 1000 eggs left by the time a woman reaches menopause.
The average age of menopause is about 50 to 51, with 95 per cent of women reaching menopause between the ages of 42 and 58, says Kelsey, a mathematician at the University of St Andrews. But some women can experience menopause before this.
Reproductive age
Wallace and Kelsey used published data showed that the larger the ovary, the more eggs a woman has. The pair assume that the large difference in the ages at which women undergo the menopause results from the difference in how the number of eggs they had at birth.
They then modelled data from additional studies to produce a prediction chart. "We were trying to make the distinction between your chronological age and your reproductive age," Kelsey told New Scientist. "A 40-year-old woman could be anything between 32 and 48 [in reproductive age]."
The size of a woman's ovaries can be measured by a commonly used technique called transvaginal ultrasound. "The big thing about this technique is that it is non-destructive and cheap and widely available," Kelsey points out. "It's practical."
Kelsey says they are "optimistic" about developing the model as a prediction tool, but notes that more tests are needed to validate the accuracy of the method."

LWC

Well I finally took the plunge.

I've always wanted children, but I've always thought I'd met "the one", someone that loved me and wanted children with me, the perfect family scenario. Its taken me a long time to realise this just wasn't going to happen - Or at least by the time it did I'd be too late to have children - The added problem being that any single available men I've met have already got children and don't want more, and then more than likely have had the snip.

So on Thursday 18th October I went to the London Womens Clinic. £295 later..internal scan complete, programme agreed and CD3 blood test to arrange. The doctor said I had small ovaries, I never thought to ask what this meant. I've since looked it up and found that does mean I potential close to menopause (I suppose obvious at my age any way!).

Oh and the Progamme - IVF - I could have done IUI - But because I did try to conceve naturally in the passed for 2.5 years the doctor felt the best and most likely treatment to succeed was IVF. I'm going to try and keep positive as there is a 1 in 4 chance of success. Oh and as I'm over 40 they reinsert 3 embies for luck. Lets hope I even manage to get to that stage..

What does this potentially mean? Well I could in theory be pregnant by Christmas! Will be interesting not drinking leading up to Christmas and avoiding questions, though I'm assuming the odd dirnk shouldn't be a big issue....

Why a blog? Well - When I succeed I'd like to share with my child my thought processess and how I came to have them in my life - I know it will be difficult for them not having a none father but I hope that they realise how lucky they are and how wanted they were and how the decision to do this was not taken lightly. I believe we the way the world has changed a child with a father still living at home is more of an exception - This doesn't make it right but I hope it makes it easier.

How I tell a child? At this stage, no idea. I do know that I'd want to bring it up from an early age knowing so that at 13 it has no big shocks to deal with....