Assisted Conception (and all the bits in between) volume 7

Lucy did you get your positive OPK? I got one last night and again this morning. Fully the norm, so expect to see my temps rise tomorrow to confirm Ov today.

lissy hope your scan goes ok today. Do come back to report. I didn't mean to belittle your neighbours behaviour or your feelings about it, so hope I didnt offend you. I'd be furious if my DH did that. He should stand by your side no matter what. In fact he should have made even a bigger fuss to them about the noice having seen how much it affects you. Don't blame you for putting him on the black list.

Got a little update....my results arrived in the post last night power to the people! And the verdict is....unexplained infertility. I haven't got the stats with me (as usual already on the move) but DH morphology has gone from 2,5% to 6%! There was 5 weeks between the samples. His count was 230 and 40% mobility. My stats were 5.5 for LH, 6.2 for FSH, 48,7 for progesterone, 128 for oestradil and 230ish for prolactin - or was it the other way around? Structurally all good. During US ( day 22 of 26 day cycle) lining was 9mm. Immune to Rubella and no Chlamydia or gonnorrea - phew! So, we'll see what Mr T says. DH is keen to try IUI first and I think I agree with him - at least once or twice. But we'll see. Might actually fall pregnant before that

lucy- Just wait until you're getting that phone call every day!

beginnings- Well done, you, for your five follies! A big saying on here is that it only takes one, so you're well on your way! Frankly, I don't think the nurses should do anything to raise or lower the hopes of a patient. That's up to the doctor!

scrummy- It's true, I have been having super-heightened emotions lately. But in comparison to how it's been, there has been a lot of banging and running around from upstairs, anywhere from 8 AM to 10 PM and later. I don't think I'm asking too much by asking them to have a little consideration. And DH totally threw me under the bus...he sent them a letter saying that I'd been unwell and feeling really emotional, and that I'm probably making more of it than necessary. Thanks a lot, honey. He was complaining only last week! Suffice to say, he will now be on my shit list until he makes amends. Me: not a happy bunny.

Keziah- Where are you??? Are you ok???

Big waves to Italian, rowing, late, womanly, and anyone I missed.

Scan and bloods for me tomorrow!

That's great news way to go! Have a little on me. I guess I figure that if I want more than one, twins is probably the only option. But let's get pregnant first...one step at a time Scrummy...

The crossed fingers seemed to to have helped, thanks ladies!

I have five follies (for those of you horrified, I have low amh so am thrilled). Today is day six, and I've had five doses of treatment, on is 12mm, one is 11, two are 10 and one is only 5 so probably won't work. My lining is 9.4 so is doing really well. The nurse wasn't exactly jumping for joy but when I asked her to compare to my last cycle she got a bit more positive. Another scan on Friday but I reckon we're looking at collection on Monday or Tuesday.

I feel pleased today.

Scummy having a couple of friends with twins, I'm kind if with your DH! It's hard work!! But I also agree with you, I'd just be grateful for what I'm given!!

late DH got himself into a real state this weekend on the thought of twins, it was actually quite funny. I would welcome twins anytime. Will you find out their sex?

Lucy I can't believe how quickly time has passed from you getting on the waiting list and here you are, getting your first instructions. How exciting. Glad to hear the scan went ok. I'll POAS tomorrow for LH, so we're still in sync! Spooky

lissy Glad to hear you're feeling better on the cystitis front. Sickness sounds good.long may it continue I'll defo send them (if I can get my hands on them AND take a copy with me. After all this, I'm gonna make are there are plenty copies around. As for neighbours - is this a pregnancy symptom or have they always treated you this way?

beginnings good luck with the scan tomorrow morning. Got my FX for loads of juicy follicles!

Hi to keziah rowing Italian womanly and questiontime

Ah the vials upon vials of blood. That's the good thing about having half the tests done at the clinic and half on the NHS. I got to spread that out!

I just ate five jelly babies. I really am struggling with this refined sugar thing. Which is weird as I don't generally have a sweet tooth!

Glad to hear you're feeling sick lissy. Fingers crossed I'm the same way in a few weeks time!!

Keziahopes do let us know how you're doing, we're thinking of you!

Lissy I also got my first phone call from the girls at the clinic yesterday. It was brilliant; 'these are Mr Taranissi's instructions for you today', I felt like a special agent accepting a secret mission! (although my instructions were to pee on a stick. Not much glamour in that )

lucy- I know what you mean about the 17 vials. I got myself a bit worked up over it, so I made sure to eat a loaded protein breakfast and brought snacks with me in case I got lightheaded. Turns out it was no big deal! I had my Kindle with me, so it seemed like it was over in a snap.

Italian- Have a fantastic time on holiday. You certainly deserve it!

beginnings- Here's hoping you have loads of nice juicy follies!

scrummy- Well done on your referral to ARGC. You might have to wait several weeks, but at least you're on your way! In the meantime, get ALL of your paperwork and test results together. I sent mine in before my appointment AND brought it with me on the day. Maybe just a bit of overkill...

keziah- How are you feeling, sweetie? Hope everything is going well.

rowing, my love, what's the haps?

womanly- Good luck with your IUI. Keep us posted!

AFM, doing well, if not nauseous all the time! Finished antibiotics on Saturday and it seems to have done the trick for the cystitis, although I'm still peeing so much I'm afraid it's going to come back. Drinking loads of water, though, so hopefully it'll keep my system flushed out. Back for another scan on Thursday, and self-referred to my local hospital for ante-natal care. Been emotional too, and upstairs neighbors are total jerkballs who let their kid run around at all hours, so it sounds like a stampede. I've rung their bell and knocked on their door twice in the last two weeks, and they haven't done a thing about it. Oh, and apparently it's "harassment" to complain about the noise! Reduced me to tears last night...

Have a great day everyone!

Hello,
Law thanks for the info about DHEA. I have looked into it quite a lot and still think it sounds very promising, but have decided that when it comes to ARGC I'm just going to throw myself wholeheartedly into their way of doing things and obey whatever they say. Maybe that will be my next step if this doesn't work.
Beginnings the mid cycle monitoring appt went quite well, thanks. It was a 'perfect scan' apparently. Nice big follicle measuring 21mm getting ready to pop, and good thick lining. My inkling has always been though that I ovulate well and regularly, but that it's the second half of my cycle where things go awry. I'm very interested to see what my blood test will be like 1 week after ovulation. Oh and I had my blood taken for the immunes. 17 vials of it, SEVENTEEN VIALS OF IT!!! It was fine, and I barely felt a thing, and didn't feel any different after, but it seemed to take a long time! Your dinner sounds lovely. It's the same in our house, I actually enjoy eating really healthily, it's just that when DH and I eat together (most of the time) I need to make a few compromises so that he enjoys it too. I'm a (newbie) fellow gardener too and have taken so much pleasure in growing rocket, peas, radishes and carrots this year. There's something very exciting about picking something from your garden that you've grown and eating it!

Good luck with your scan, and fingers crossed for good, healthy follicles.
Waves to everyone else!

Hi all,

Lucy how did your appt go yesterday? The injections are going fine. No side effects really. I've a teeny bit of bruising but that's it. That didn't happen the last time but it's not bothering me so I'm not worried. Maybe there's still some clexane floating around inside me or something.

Thanks for the link rowing. DH is away for work at the minute and oddly that makes the food thing a bit easier as I just concentrate on what I want to eat. I love beetroot and he hates it so I had a salad for dinner last night that involved lettuce from the garden, beetroot, an egg and avocado. If that's not superfood, I don't know what is!!

Have a great holiday Italian

scummy fingers crossed for a quick appointment.

I'm back in for a scan tomorrow morning. Here's hoping for some nice growing follicles!!

hi all.. me again.i tend to flit around and lurk a bit..,

Italian- my DD will be 3 in November. Sorry its taking so long to get a donor... fingers crossed you get to the top of the list soon..

Scrummy- i referred myself to argc around this time last year. we had one cycle and are now 28 weeks pregnant with twins.

Question- am happy to answer qs about argc too... but i have selective amnesia on some of the detail!! the whole process i did find very intense. Our wait was just shy of 2 weeks for a first appointment- which i thought was pretty good. we also looked at the lister- but the chaotic reception at argc actually convinced me it was a goer... to me it said they care more about results than appearances.. i was just more comfy there. Am i pleased we went there? yes. Although i would say, they do have a great success rate but also a high number of multiples...

Lucy- someone i cycled with used DHEA and is now pregnant with a little boy. i think the feedback she got was that it made the eggs sticky... personally i havent used it, but she had had many cycles and few eggs and is younger than us... and had her best cycle when using it. if you go onto fertility friends you will get a wealth of info!

Rowing, kesziah, lissy... big waves!!

Hi all,
Have a lovely holiday Italian. I hope dd's challenging behaviour calms down soon.
Thanks for the advice rowing, I'll google milk thistle and see what that's about. I seem to be doing everything else that is meant to bring fsh down. God knows what it would be otherwise, in the 100s probably. I had been taking wheatgrass but then read on an argc forum that it can increase your cytokines. I have no idea what they are, but it sounds like I wouldn't want that to happen, so stopped taking it. My amh is not great, around 4 last time it was measured. I'm just going to have to see what happens I think. There's only so much nature fighting you can do! Hope your ds is better now.
scrummy yay that you got your referral. Hope your waiting time goes quickly (or even better that you get a bfp before your appt).
beginnings well done with getting to grips with the menopur. Do you have any side effects from them or are you feeling ok?
Back in argc tomorrow for mid cycle scan and immunes testing.

Hi all,

Lucy FSH can fluctuate and you say and stress levels are supposed to cause it to rise. What day did they take your blood? When I have had mine it has always been day 3 after AF begins and progesterone on day 21. I can't remember, but I think they take estradiol the same day.
Your AMH levels are important as well, did they check yours yet?
I have read about women lowering their fsh with a diet change, definitely have seen wheatgrass mentioned a few times. Google lowering fsh, there are stacks of posts.
Also acupuncture has been linked with lowering fsh.
I have seen quite a bit about liver and possibley kidney health affecting fsh, but not sure how, so perhaps the old milk thistle?

This forum is great for the diet side, there's so much on it

Beginning, there might be something on there for you, if you fancy a bit of quackery
I missed the appointment because DS had a very dodgy tummy and I didn't want to take him to a hospital. I phoned the main reception and was put through to a voice mail to explain. The nurse phone that afternoon, wondering why I hadn't turned-up. I have no idea where I left the voice mail message, perhaps you could check your answer machines?!
We haven't rescheduled, but I am feeling disinclined to go now, as I know it isn't going to make a lot of difference to me.

Hi all. Back from GP and fresh with a referral to ARGC. He was well aware of Mr T's work and reiterated how it will be intense! He was really stunned by the way the hospital has refused to send copies of my results to me or him, so I'll be following that up with added confidence that I have the right to have them. So, that will most likely mean that we would start treatment in Dec/Jan I guess, what with waiting time, monitoring cycles etc.

beginnings well done for self-admin. I hope you will cope ok with them.

womanly I hope third time I lucky for you.

lissy how are you?

Lucy sending lots of 'don't stress' and 'down, FSH, down' vibes your way

Italian hope you're managing to relax too....

Hi to everyone else

Hi Lucy. I saw a nutritionist at Zita West last year and she said basically the same, encouraging me in particular to boost my protein intake. I confess that I'm relatively good but probably a bit bad at the refined sugar. Comfort food.... I do try though.

Very proud of myself for managing the menopur all on my own last night. DH did the mixing for me last time but he's going away for work tomorrow so I'll have to do it myself and I'm on the highest dose so I have to mix four vials of it with saline.

rowing how was your appointment?

Keziahopes how are you doing? It feels like it's a while since you posted.....

Hi Beginnings, I went to see a nutritionist and she gave me some advice on eating right for fertility/pregnancy. In all honesty I think it's basically eating healthily, and cutting out the rubbish, but things like including zinc (lamb, nuts, egg yolks, rye and oats), B6 (cauliflower, watercress, bananas, broccoli), essential fatty acids (oily fish and unsalted seeds), antioxidants (a rainbow selection of fruit and veg, like beetroot, apricots, yellow peppers, pink grapefruit, green leafy veg), betacarotene (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, watercress), Vit C (green veg, peppers, kiwi, tomatoes, citrus fruit, berries), Vit E (nuts, seeds, oily fish, avocados, beans), Selenium (brazil nuts, sesame seeds, tuna, cabbage, whole grains). No (or as little as I can manage!) refined sugar, alcohol, tobacco, coffee etc, etc. You get the picture. I didn't eat unhealthily before, but fertility aside, I do feel better for taking a bit more care about what I eat.

Hope you're feeling OK with the drugs.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Hi Lucy. I'm on a short cycle. A very short cycle! The suprecur is the down regulator. I started that last night on the first full day of AF. I had a scan today and all was good so I started the stimulatory drugs this evening. The last time I was also on the pill for ten days but I can't do that now that we know about my thrombophilia issues. I'll start the prednisolone on Sunday and then the clexane and aspirin the day after egg collection.

Don't worry too much about the FSH. Then maybe I won't go up!! Mine was 14.4 when I barely knew what it was and then was 8.8 when I was stressed to the eyeballs so there's no reasoning with it as far as I can see. As a matter of interest, what does your fertility diet consist of?

Best of luck womanly hope it all goes well for you.

Happy Friday to everyone else.

Hi womanly, lots of luck for your third cycle (third time lucky and all that!) How are you feeling about it?

Beginnings best of luck with this cycle. I'm not overly familiar with protocols and drugs (yet!) Are you on long or short? What does Suprecur do? The anticipation is an absolute killer isn't it, there's such a fine balance between managing expectations and being hopefully optimistic, and being pessimistic to avoid disappointment if it doesn't work. I hope it doesn't drive you too potty. Distraction is definitely the best policy for me. Will be thinking of you anyway and keeping my fingers crossed.

Lissy the little bean is going from strength to strength, that's brilliant. And as horrid as morning sickness is, at least it's a good strong symptom that the pregnancy is taking over your body. And I'm sure once you come off the antibiotics you'll feel better, as they do normally really wipe you out. And no, the baby pictures didn't bother me, they were super cute and funny, and testament to just how many babies Mr T has helped be born.

Italian have you talked to your clinic recently? Do they know how much longer it might take? Hang in there, it can't be too much longer.

AFM, well, my bloods haven't behaved particularly well. FSH went from 5.5 in April to 12 this month. Now I know stress can make it worse, and so I probably brought it on myself by stressing they were going to be high (vicious circle anyone? I do exactly the same thing when I have my blood pressure taken) but ladies, apart from trying to relax more, does anyone have any hints/tips on how to reduce it? I already do acupuncture 2 x a month, exercise, pilates, eat a 'fertility' diet. Gah! What more can I do? Also, I'm probably clutching at straws but I had about a week's worth of spotting, and then had the test done on day 3. Do you think the FSH reading would be lower if I had it done on day 1 or 2 next time?

and i am starting my 3rd cycle of IUI - began injections yesterday.

sorry - it's been awhile since I came to this thread - but just wanted to cheer Lissy and keziah - great news.
Italian it is quite insensitive...have experienced it too - I was angry at the time but then I accepted that these are just weird people with weird selfish viewpoints.

Hi all,

Just noticed Vallin had been on, lovely to hear from you sweetie, and I'm glad it is all going well. [hug]

On the run, but backson

Hello all

Sorry I've been AWOL for a while. I have been thinking of you all I promise!

Lucy sounds like you had a great appointment. Good luck with it all. Very interesting about their response to the DHEA too. Sounds like they take the same view as the Lister.

Lissy it's so exciting - it really feels like its moving so fast! Great news.

Keziah I hope all is well with you too.

Italian keep on going...fingers crossed that you'll get good news soon.

Good baby vibe thoughts to everyone.

Well, AF has arrived, a couple of days early. So, it's the first shot of Suprecur this evening and then a scan tomorrow to see when we can get going on stimming. With a bit of luck in the next couple of days we'll be off and running. I confess I want to curl up in a corner and not come up for the next few weeks. I hate the anticipation of whether or not this will actually work......pragmatism appears to have fallen away this evening. And I'm craving carbs and chocolate.....