Anyone else about to start IVF?

A big thank you ladies for all your good wishes and positive vibes - My insemination appt was a breeze. DH went in early in the morning and I followed suite at 11am. I was worried because last time I was so sore I couldn't get out of bed for the rest of the afternoon - and had a lot of cramping and pain. This time however, it was literally a ten minute or less procedure and though I came home, prepared for the after-cramps... I was fine..So I was able to go out in the evening for my writing class. FAB!
Of course, last time the nurses took three attempts to find my cervix..and that lead to all the cramping after... It is amazing what they can do when they are really skilled and do a good job.
kool Fab that AF is here and you're on your way to do your tests.
luck laughed at your comment about the pop sound from Yorkshire -- How did the acupuncture session go?
Bondi yeah to starting your IVF cycle :)
Garden I am to test on June 10 so we are twins again - waiting for the same date :D
Have a lovely rest of the week. FOr me, it's going to be completely NUTTY till June 10 BUT my SIL is visiting next week so hope to really distract myself as much as possible.

womenly i think my comment to you is a bit out of date now i have read more of the posts. hope today went well and you are kicking back on the sofa.

Hi All,

Lots to catch up on here....
WomanlyTales it must be so frustrating to not know where you stand. My Dr told me that is good to push the clinics to ensure you get what you want. Ask as many questions as you can.

Care Its OK to have days when you dont feel 100% Maybe some self affimation in front of the mirror like this little lady thinking about all the things you LOVE...!! :)

Becca it must be tough with DH away. I know its not the same but you can always post here and I am 100% sure one of us will send a reply very quickly

Hi to everyone else, sorry I cant do the full list.

Good news with me is AF arrived on the weekend and I had my first scan Monday and all OK to start IVF. Injections started last night and so far, so good I guess.... Not sure if wind is a known side effect maybe thats the falafel I had at lunch! oops

luck here's hoping your acupuncture will be a jab well done....sorry, couldn't resist

Loving a-wimberwaywine!

Off now to acupuncture. I wonder if she can deflate my currently very sore boobs. Sorry if that's too much info - and alas it's not a PG sign, this happens every month. If you hear a loud pop from Yorkshire, you'll know what's happened...

xx

garden thanks form your reply. I'm 34 and have no DC so we're in a similar situation I guess. Thanks for the offer of the drug co details, I'll let you know how I get on an may well take you up on your offer. I do remember the nightmare you had getting your drugs! Thanks for your well wishes for my DH, it's a really tough thing to be going through but I don't give up hope, this is our new normal now.

luck how flattering that I appear sane ! I guess my philosophy right now is as hard as it often is not to sweat the small stuff and to try to live in and enjoy the present as much as possible. Not to mention a damn good cry and some every now and then, of course!! I'm taking the maternal sculptures as a massive good sign for you and all of us, btw!

A-wimbaway Wednesday, everyone!

Kool big hugs for reading the DD thread, it's totally understandable. And also for your DH, I hope he is doing OK on his chemo. You've got a lot going on, I'm impressed at how sane you sound.

The gallery was great, I'm not mad keen on modern scuplture but there was some I really liked, including a fab polished wood Henry Moore figure > www.henry-moore.org/works-in-public/world/united-states-of-america/buffalo/albright-knox-art-gallery/reclining-figure-1935-36-lh-162 . It was so shiny, I just wanted to stroke it. Interestingly (given our situations), there were several woman-and-child/madonna/maternal scupltures. They gave me a few moments of pause and reflection.

Anyway, from the profound to the well-wishing, I hope all of you are OK, and your snortage/injections are all going well. It seems to me the things we all desperately need during this process are patience and hope, so I'm sending you all bucketfuls of both. Not that I have much of either, but I'll sneak one of the bucketfuls back for myself.

xxx

Oops sorry, hi to bondi and jumping too

Hey all

Just wanted to say hi to my fellow a-wimberway pals

Sending huge positive vibes to womanly today xx

Sending a big squashy vibe of fatness to carebear's follicles

luck how was the gallery? I went for a lovely walk in a park yesterday where there's a lovely Hepworth sculpture, so I thought of you (and for some unknown reason started singing In the jungle......who knew?!)

Garden I'm glad that sniffing appears to have settled down now. It's a roller coaster isn't it? I'm sure they'll be spoilt for choice with your fantastic blastos! Are you definitely going to try for getting 2 put back? The Dr we saw at Guy's said they'd probably only let me have one put back if we get to blasto? Maybe it all depends on individual circumstances. My wonderful DH is on chemo at the moment (which is the main reason we're having IVF) and she did say that the stress of his illness coupled with the possibility of twins might be too much....a good point I guess.

at teds, becca and Bodeccia

Sorry if I've missed anyone. I realised I didn't ever put my stats on....I'm usually on my iPad and am a bit computer illiterate on it.....cutting and pasting doesn't always seem to do what I want it to!

My AF turned up today so I'll have to get my bloods done tomorrow then hopefully get a call from the nurses to get my schedule before starting sniffage. garden I seem to remember you waiting a while for the call didn't you? I guess I've got three weeks before anything happens. And the patient info evening next week too (seems a bit back to front but I guess we just have to tick the boxes!).

I have a guilty admission to make.....when I got pg last year I joined a due date club on MN. The babies have now started arriving and I'm still avidly reading the thread even though I feel that I'm not part of it anymore. I should just stop reading it but I can't seem to manage it. I guess reaching my DD was always going to be hard...

Running is a spiritual pursuit so that is a YES... BUT it might be too stressful physically esp during the luteal phase..though that is when we burn more fat than carbs. I am walking these days which takes twice the time but oh well.... I want one less thing to kick myself about (grin)

LOL luck, that did make me laugh about the lion king, that is so random i love it.

Bodeccia, I totally woke up this morning and did not want to get out of bed and face the world, but repeated to myself 'take one day at a time' like you said and I ended up having a great day at work, totally took my mind off things and feeling much better!

Thanks so much to you and everyone else for your supportive, fat follicle growing comments, that's so nice of you all! Made me feel all warm and fuzzy .

GP, crying at James Blunt? Things are serious!! Quick have a .

I totally agree with the work dilemma, and I think enough to keep you going to keep your mind off things without causing loads of stress and travelling is definately the ideal. There are other times to take on great work.

Womanly, I keep thinking should i go for a run, but then tell myself that i need to be taking it easy!! Its just too much of an easy excuse to sit on the sofa.

I am still sniggering about the lion king. x x x

Hi ladies

garden I am still laughing about your James Blunt comment - perhaps it was him, rather than the song, you were crying at? (apols to any JB fans!)

becca interesting re: your acupuncture. My practitioner is doing the traditional Chinese version and it's certainly relaxing, although I need a bit more proof that it's regularising my cycles. I'm intrigued by the alternative version - what sort of things are you being asked?! I'm still wondering whether to try reflexology as well/instead.

carebear a BIG hug to you and follicle-plumping vibes your way. I don't know enough about to reassure you, but hope that you will see some lovely fat follicles tomorrow.

womanly and garden the work thing's happening to me too. We're just setting up a shared service across 3 NHS trusts and it all kicks off in mid-June, just as I start my treatment. My boss is making all the right noises about how I must make my treatment my priority and how they'll work round me, but then most of our team are off in July and Aug for school holidays. So that leaves me and my colleague to run the show, and I don't want to dump everything on her... tra la. But I am going to be strong and work from home, if I have to work at all, so that I don't have the mammoth commute that I do now. That's got to help.

Anyway, I'd better sign off, because in the name of work I'm off to visit the shiny new Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. Lovely!

Here's a thought for you. The urge to sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight is never more than a whim away

Happy Tuesday! xx

agree garden - It is a tricky balance isn't it -- we want enough to do to keep us well occupied...but not so much that it adds to the stress of fertility treatment... I got an email this morning asking if I am interested in this 'stress-filled' project with a big client...and I was like... I am trying to see if I can take time off work to just de-stress from this whole fertility thing.. so it's doing no work (and hence having a lot of time to ponder on the yes..and buts..) to doing too much work (and have upped the ante that much more for our bodies..)

Care I know the feeling. Physical exhaution is what I go for when that happens...Yesterday I walked for an hour and 25 minutes despite the rain and felt like all that built up energy was expelled out back into the universe! I hope Weds brings you good news - these follicles can grow quickly over a couple of nights so you might just find that good crop of 8 from the sixteen that take the charge.
I watched that human creation video (available on iPlayer) and what I got out of it is - we are here, against all the odds. As we are here, so shall our little ones -- Believe in that. Not in the buts and the yes' and the day to day progress/set backs... believe that despite all these odds our little ones will make it through. That's what we humans are good at. Big hug and sending you to warm you up.
Becca I do not have a lot of pain when I have a period with my variety of PCOS. What did your doctor say about the levels of pain you get..?
Bodeccia Awesome that AF is two weeks away - gives you the long weekend to really switch off fertility stuff completely... what have you planned in the pampering dept?
garden Thinking of you - hope the sniffing is going well.

Good luck womanly, I've got everything crossed for you :)

Carebear: take each day at a time, who knows what magic can do before Wednesday. I'm thinking of you.

Good luck with your appointment Becca on Wednesday, if DH can't go, will you be able to go with a friend? These things are always better with someone than on your own.

Still on AF watch here. Will still be a couple of weeks by all accounts, I'm just checking in.

Hi ladies,

Thanks Gardenpixie - if it is any help to your friend I have had real success with 'getting regular'. Took a couple of months and I have to say I wasn't as bad a 9 months with out a period, but if you find a nice acupuncturist they should be talking to you all the time about all sorts of things in you background to taylor your treatment for you. As I understand it there are two types of acupuncture, the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Five Element Acupuncture. I think TCM is is the more 'medical' approach, treating symptoms, where as the Five Element Acupuncture is tries to address the route cause of the problem (apologies if that is completely wrong!). I had an acupuncturist first who was more clinical and although I got some relief from symptoms, it is not as wonderful as what am getting from the lady I go to now. She seems to do a highbred of the two and always wants to know about the strangest of things!! Must be working as I have been 29 days for the last 3 cycles!! Not sure if I am ovulating for certain but that has got to be a good sign hasn't it?

On a related note, Luchbealady my acupuncturist has offered extra sessions when I finally get to the guts of the process. £300 does sound a bit steep though, she charges me £40 per hour, which is reasonable I think. I have given up hair cuts and it it is roughly cost neutral at the moment

Hi Teds thanks for the advice about the supplements, I am still taking mine but DH has given up as it gave him the squits! These men are delicate aren't they?

Hi Womanlytales have you found with you PCOS that you get a lot of pain when you do have a period? I was finding that it was making me pass out in the most embarrassing situations!

Hello to you too Carebear and Bellablister. I sincerely wish everyone the best of luck with the stages they are at. I still feel like I don't know what to expect about the process however much research I do. I have my last test on Wednesday (AMH) before we have our first appointment with the consultant. I am a little weary as DH is on business in India, and I am not sure I want to know how long I have left until my menopause! It is way to much like mortality!

I have everything cross for all you heroines!

Care sorry you're feeling down I don't know if it helps but I figure that IVF/IUI are for those of us who have slightly imperfect reproductive systems. If you or I were the type of people to produce 20 lovely follicles, that produced 20 eggs of amazing quality, then we probably wouldn't be here in the first place. It may take some time for the doctors to figure out how to get us 'working' but it's people like you and me, with our little imperfections, who are successful with IVF.

garden well done on the first-time-sniffing-success! And 10 June will be here before you know it... honest

Luck glad you are still here and that you are feeling more positive. Though I'm not sure we should allow you to call your ovaries 'wrinkly' - I'm sure they are lovely ovaries really.

Womanly I have my fingers, toes and everything crossable, crossed.