First IUI this week at CRGH. Anyone else?

lemons the whole timing thing is difficult. I don't know and can't figure it out.

I am in 2WW and feel like AF is coming. I have a huge spot, cramps and sore boobs. I am 10 DPiui. I did a test to see if HCG out of my system and it was negative so at least I can start being an obsessive tester.

I have had such a stressful few weeks culminating in a Board meeting yesterday where our minority shareholder tried to get rid of the management team. He didn't succeed, so far, but it is so stressful living with the uncertainty.

It does take it's toll on the relationship. I definitely don't have an answer to how to handle it. We try but are really squabbling, I always want support and feel DH is not really interested, as though he'd like to get a baby off the shelf at argos.

Hi all, been trying to get through the dreaded 2ww without obsessing, hence not been on, but am getting slight bloatiness and crampiness which tends o suggest that af is on her way.
Joycep - I have the same boob thing as you, painful from ovulation up to about a day before af - only been like this since taking cabergoline and my hormone levels all levelled out - it was so painful the first month I thought I had injured myself out running and dashed out and spent a fortune on running bras!
I should be testing this coming Friday 21st, if af doesn't get me first
We are down to do 6 IUI unmedicated, but if nothing after no3 I'm going to demand to see the consultant for a review - if medicated saves me moving on to IVF then I'm sure the NHS purse strings will also go for it, if not we end up going around the loop again and our PCT may not fund us -'tis a lottery!

sorry to hear about a rubbish week lemons. And Joycep - so rubbish to get BFN. Even when I am sure it hasn't worked, there is always a little hope that it might have done.

The idea of IVF also terrifies me. I haven't yet thought through the 'what if' yet of IUI not working. I do agree that time out is a good thing for our bodies and our sanity.

The more I look into the timing etc, the more I think I just have to trust my doctor. She has got lots of women pg so must do something right. And I think also that they will look at the size of the follicle, not just the smiley. But having two, I would like the first one to be earlier. I read somewhere that the follicles can erupt at different times (ie ovulate) but usually within a 24 hr period. So perhaps the more follicles you have, the less exact the timing needs to be.

Have you read the 'infertility blog' written by a doctor in NY. If you google 'infertility blog iui timing' you should find him. I think he speaks sense.

I'm manic at work so that's keeping me slightly distracted but having massive hot flushes (either from HCG or progesterone) which is making me feel rubbish.

I test on 24th. Ages!

Jebel - goodnes, 6 eggs. Good luck. surely that all sounds positive. I know what it is like worrying about the timings. I think we just have to have faith in our doctors which is easier said than done for me but hopefully this is going to be your month. Keep us posted.

Hi Lemons, sorry about your awful week. It's also the first thing i think about when i wake up...every single day. My period came yesterday. I knew it didn't work but i wasn't quite expecting it then because i was still on progesterone. I felt so miserable last night. I do feel like it was done too late. It was done 30 hours after i took an injection to release the egg but by the time i had it done my boobs were sore already which tells me ovulation had occurred. Anyway, How can 158 million sperm miss the bloody thing or perhaps the eggs are just totally rubbish. Do you get your surge the same time every month? Do you know whether you will see your surge on Monday then?
My gynae's office is closed and so i won't be able to take drugs this time round. I'm not sure whether she will allow me to do iui without drugs, I would prefer it if i didn't have them. Anyway crgh sounds similar but i think i'm paying around £1000 this cycle as i only needed one scan. But the drugs were £360 which seemed excessive. Clomid was only £17 for 6 months worth so may have been better if i went on that.
I think my plan of action is to do 4 rounds max. 3 with drugs and hopefully one without this month. I've been told the vast majority conceive within the first 3 rounds. I will do the 4th for luck. Then I think i will just reassess things at the end of the year and take a breather from all of this meddling. My dh goes away for 3 months next year and so i hope that will allow me some time off from all this worrying and thinking and i will start saving. Come March/April, i will start investigating ivf which terrifies me but i think i would like to do this at argc and have resigned myself to it really. What do you think you will do?
In the meantime, what can we do to keep ourselves busy and happier??

Hi slightly - it is not uncommon to have two inseminations but usually 12 and 36 hours after surge. Mine is odd as 33 hours and 59 hours after surge and also that I had two triggers on consecutive days. I trust my doctor and she was very confident for me this cycle. Sorry to hear no BFP for you.

Hi Jebel - I have never heard of having two inseminations in one cycle - fingers crossed your symptoms are positive.

Lemons - I'm not on any drugs and they aren't doing any follicle tracking, just the basting after the LH surge detected.

I think if no bfp this cycle I'm gonna ask for some further tests - immunes and maybe some folli tracking - would be a shame to still be wasting my time and hopes each month if I have something simple to fix.

Good luck all, SBC x

Hello all, Can I sneak in? I have been lurking reading this thread and feeling everything you are talking about.

I went on injections last month for my first round of IUI. Nothing. One follicle whereas I sometimes produce two naturally! I cancelled the IUI and did things naturally. I cried and wailed in the car on the way home and can echo the feelings that lemons and joycep are feeling. BFN.

Then this month, marginally higher dose, I had 6 mature follies (I am not in the UK and understand in the UK they would not go ahead with IUI with this many). My doctor said that your body can sometimes just react differently. I had an IUI on Monday eve after trigger on Sunday am. I am a little concerned re timing as detected my LH surge on Sunday am and have been wondering if IUI too late. I then had a second trigger on Monday eve and a second IUI on Tuesday evening. I have never heard of this or having the second IUI so late. My doctor said that she thought the smaller follicles would ovulate a day later so wanted to make sure they did.

Now worried about so many things for no reasons: timing being wrong; not being pg; being pg with sextuplets; being pg and having a miscarriage etc. I am torn between being positive and then not getting my hopes up.

I am so emotional now. Just spent half an hour sitting in my car at work sobbing my eyes out. I had to put Michael MacIntyre on my ipod to make me laugh so I could get into the office without all my staff noticing my red eyes.

What an emotional ride it is. I always said I would never become the kind of woman who is obsessed with TTC but how can you not be when you are going through all these things.

I am bloated like a balloon now and having horrible cramps. Hoping that it is a good sign and just one (or maybe two) are embedding.

While my Dr did the IUI she told me that she was really happy as another patient that evening had had 6 rounds of IVF with another doctor and just got pg on the first round with her. What a lovely story.

Hope you are all ok. I wish that it was easier for us all to talk to people openly about it.

Slightly, that all sounds positive. I have never heard of the bubble of CM - what the hell?? Surely there isn't a two hour window with CM to get the men up there.? No wonder it is all so damned hard.

lemons - i am sorry you have to wait another month for your amtrak. it's infruriating but you can still get on with another round of iui can't you? What is CRGH like ?? is each round hellishly expensive?

I will take my last progesterone tablet tonight and so AF will arrive on Friday evening. I absolutely know it hasn't worked. I've got a few weeks of injections to look forward to which brought on lots of cramps this month. Feeling terribly frustrated by all this.

Hi IUIers, we went for our second round on Friday, had a different nurse, but she was equally nice, if not nicer than the last one. She explained things really well to DH who was actually brave enough to be present throughout!

(TMI) She told me that I had the bubble of CM at the "door" which is only present in situ for about a two hour window which would be used as the ladder the sperm in standard practice! So this should be a positive, fingers crossed.

After my first one, I never felt pg and wasn't filled with positivity, so wasn't shocked when AF arrived, however this time feels a bit different.

I only had cramps for about 24 hours afterwards this time. I told the nurse about the cramps and she said that it is a good thing to feel them as it means they got the produce in the right place!

I also avoid the pregnants and recently given birth - had to make some last minute excuses not to go to a baby shower on my last day one, it was just too much! I haven't told any of the ones around about our plight, I really don't know how they would react and treat me afterwards, so just conceal my pain!

Fingers crossed for you both with the next rounds.

Lemons - ...i'm sorry . That was just the first one don't forget - most people aren't successful in the first round but i understand it's still a miserable feeling because there is always that flicker of hope.

I know I'm out this month. Boobs have completely deflated and they are not painful anymore. They always deflate at this time. I am 10/11dpo and i would naturally get my period today or tomorrow but artificially delaying it with progesterone. There is no point even hoping to be honest.

Did you see your pregnant friend? I try and avoid pregnant people. I saw my friend's baby. she was gorgeous but i had this very odd moment when holding the baby and i just felt it would never be our time, i just couldn't imagine that would be us witha baby. I'm dreading christmas but even more so, NYE, it always seem such a milestone in my head.

hope you're feeling a bit perkier.

Lemons - oh i'm really crossing fingers for you. I really hope AF doesn't show up tomorrow or Sunday. Do you normally get the discharge before AF??? I never get that so if it was me i would be highly suscipious. I think it's right not to test actually. Testing doesn't change anything anyway. God i hope it has been a success for you. Even if it hasn't, you have to be positive about the next few iuis. How weird you dreamt about me!! TTC does effect us in odd ways. I dreamt i had a daughter last night and it wasn't very nice waking up. I just wanted to go back to dream land.

Totally agree about enjoying life pre dc. I'm wishing my life away right now. I need to change that.

All i remember from my nhs progesterone results is that it said above 30 was normal. And as i think i mentioned before my gynae likes above 40. However, i think a number below 30 does still suggest you have ovulated. Is it worth yuo doing the progesterone tests on the nhs? £50 is a lot of money especially if the day is wrong...? You could just tell your GP you would like to be booked in for one...?? just a thought.

Anyway, i have no symptoms. I wouldn't expect any. Boobs got much better the other day and now they are quite sore again. But it really doesn't mean anything. The boob problem only started when we ttc. I never had an issue before. I really am not expecting this to have worked. Although my gynae told me 6 months ago she would have be pregnant by October....and I'm sort of holding her to that. I just wish i would wake up and have morning sickness one day. That's how my SiL knew at 14 dpo. She just ran to the loos to throw up. First month of trying. I'm not jealous of course!

I haven't been to see my friend yet. I will do tomorrow i think. I have a present. I do wonder whether i will find it easier to see her with her a baby than when she was pregnant. I will let you know.

Hi Lemons - i can't believe you are 10dpo already, that's gone quickly...probably not for you though. I must say I felt utterly miserable on Friday when i wrote the last note above. I had taken a couple of days off work and i just sat at home crying whilst watching the Jeremy Kyle show!! Yes a bit of a low point. It was exasperated by receiving a message that my second friend in a week had given birth.

To be honest, I actually quite like this bit of the cycle. I don't have to think about my period yet or whether i'm pregnant. I've done all i can and don't have to do swi. The bit i hate is just before my period but from about 9dpo i normally can tell it is gameover because my boobs stop hurting, so there is never much of a wait. My boobs are absolutely agony at the moment. I was in pain whilst swimming and standing under the shower at the weekend. They normally are quite painful and they have been agony before but it is very rare that i have to sleep in my bra. I know it doesn't mean anything though.

I would say that everyone is different and you wouldn't necessarily have pains or bleeding or sore boobs. I do know people who didn't have anything. But then again I guess we are on super alert. But 10dpo is still very early. It's always difficult to know what to say, on the one hand I want to tell you lots of positive things but on the other hand you don't want to give people false hope. For me I would rathe prefer not to have any hope and then one day get a surprise bfp rather than hoping and hoping and then having all hope dashed.

I don't know about you but my life just feels in such limbo at the moment, tinged in sadness about how things are going. It's difficult to feel upbeat.

Do you think you will do a pregnancy test at 14dpo or will you just wait??

lemons - I beg to differ, it sounds like you are a statician to me! I love your thinking , it's how I think and gives even more thought of being hopeful. I often think about the number of births at St Marys Paddington as this is where I would give birth. They deal with 9000 births a year. Since trying there have been 15000 births there And I can't comprehend how we can't be ones of the next 9000. It seems such a high number for one area. Anyway crazy thoughts.

5mill is the least they recommend for IuI so your DH is well above that. I worked out last night that out of those they put in me, 9 mil are normally formed.

Also I am not getting a blood test, it hasn't been suggested to me. I will assume I have. I start taking cyclogest today. I know when I had my day 21 test that my results were 30. And this indicated normal on the nhs guidelines. When i had my nhs bloods done, i decided to go private and My gynae said however she liked to see Progesterone results above 40. Hence why she gives me cyclogest and may explain my short luteal phase. 27.9 does suggest you ovulated but it sounds like your bloods were done too early and probably didn't catch the peak. Isn't it extraordinary how people who know nothing about results can ring you up. It just makes the process harder than it is already.

So I have to do pregnancy test 2 weeks today. If negative i come off progesterone. I am giving myself 3 cycles....maybe 4 and if that doesn't work, I guess save for ivf. Good luck to you too. I feel that for both our emotional well being we need to get pregnant very soon!!

Hi Lemons - she didn't say how large it was. Doesn't have to be over 18mm? She just pointed to the triple lining on the scan but didnt really say anything about it.
Well I have had the procedure today. It was ok just undignified. 160m sperm were put up there. Now singers crossed! It takes 4 mins for the fast swimmers to get up to the top of the fallopian tube. I still feel like it was done too late. I did see the stats of where I went and the success rates are low- about 20%. Out of interest did you bleed after the procedure? I seem to be.
I agree, we would have to be statistically very unlucky for nothing to happen by Xmas. I am going to be gutted in 2 weeks so I think I am going to just prepare myself for the worst. How are you doing??

Hi Laughing - I went in for scan yesterday and the one follicle was just ripe and I had a triple lining. I am only on cd11 today but have to inject ovitrelle tomorrow which will release the egg within 48 hrs and then I have IuI on thursday morning. Been panicking today that they are doing IuI too late but I got to try and keep a lid on this. The trouble is I have read far too much up on everything and I keep thinking I know more than the doctors and that they arent doing things properly. Very bad habit! I must say I have lost hope before it has started.
How long are your cycles?
I am being put on cyclogest after IuI as I have a short LP. Oh how I wish it was just straightforward.
I hope you're ok.