First Timers TTC. Safe space for brain dumps, questions, whinges and celebrations. Part 2!

@Mitcx 45 weeks?!! Omg I really feel for you, that's appalling.

I had a fertility letter through at the start of Jan acknowledging my referral & to ring today if I haven’t heard…. I rang up today to be told there is a 45 week wait and that they are trying to get that letter stopped 😭😭😭

I know waiting times are really long but I wasn’t expecting that long & I had this date in my mind to have an idea of when my appointment would be. Totally gutted

@Feliciacat thank you for that. I may be a bit more open with her and let her know as we are very close and she will be so excited for us. You are right in that she will be mortified shes upset me. I won’t put it on her she upset me though as it feels like she just made a comment that hit a nerve.

I think I’m pinning a lot of upset on her when really I’m just upset at the situation. Since January my very regular 4 day periods have been all over the place and I’m worrying there may be something wrong as it’s so unusual.

First time in the morning is best! And I still see positive lines on all. I have my fingers crossed for you.

No I haven't been taking them at the same time. Hopefully that is why...

I've not seen that before @plantymcplant. I hope for you it isn't :(
Are you taking at the same time of day?

My tests are getting lighter. I guess it's a chemical. Has anyone had this before?

@taytay2020 delighted you’re getting somewhere. I’m phobic of needles too. Top tip is to get it lying down and to take someone with you. Good luck with it, it’ll be interesting to hear how it all goes.

@Ditzydaisychain I don’t know if your friend is correct. I think periods can get shorter as you get older but it doesn’t necessarily indicate infertility. I’m sorry about how that comment must have made you feel. It’s a sensitive time when you’re ttc and I bet your friend would be mortified if she knew how her comment had affected you. Is it worth a chat? Some reassurance from the one who made the hurtful comment might make you feel better?

@Plantymcplant thats such fabulous news 💕 sending you all the positive vibes ☀️

I am struggling this week. I’ve had a very short 2 day period and my friend told me I’m unlikely to conceive if they stay so short so I’m having a down day. I know it’s normally 4 days so to take no notice but she’s really upset me. She doesn’t even know we are TTC so it wasn’t meant maliciously, it was just a passing comment.

@TinyDancer91 Sorry to hear AF arrived. Hoping for some positive news for you from the doctors soon 🤞🏼

@taytay2020 thats really good to see you’ve finally got somewhere. 2 years is such a long time to wait for some resolution.

@taytay2020 hope you don’t have to wait too long? What next steps are they planning for you?

We've just received a really clear and helpful letter, as a followup to our appointment last week. A good summary of what they've done so far, what the results show, and what the next steps are, plus the date and time of our next appointment. After 2 years of nothing it's really nice to finally be getting somewhere (even if all future steps seem to mention the word 'injection'!) 😩

Hi! Period due today and have some brown discharge. I was feeling super down but had an appointment with my doctor this morning and she basically said "oh don't worry about that. Anything that isn't period blood / full-on blood is normal and can happen in early pregnancy" so I'm feeling better than earlier and am going to test tonight when I get home. I'm about 13DPO now. Don't want to get my hopes up too much, though. We DTD pretty much every other day since the end of my last period, so will be gutted if it hasn't worked this time around.

Thank you everyone! How is everyone else doing?

Congratulations!!

Huge congratulations plantymcplant!!

@Plantymcplant that's wonderful, congratulations!

@Plantymcplant congratulations! That looks positive to me! So pleased for you xx

11dpo - I'm shocked, it doesn't feel real. This is cycle 8 and I never seen anything that looks like a line before.

The next issue I can foresee is that I'm self-employed and I get very busy in the summertime, with various days (and occasionally whole weeks) of work I literally cannot reschedule in order to go to a doctor's appointment. Loads of IVF stuff seems to happen on a rigid timescale so I think we're going to have to ask for approximate dates in advance and hope we can line things up with when I'm actually around. Arrghhh!

@mitcx last year, we both had a blood test and DH had a semen analysis (then a repeat 6 weeks later). Then last week we both had another blood test (no idea what mine was for, but his included genetic testing), and I had an internal ultrasound. That's all so far. Next appointment (probably end of April) is for blood test results and next steps. They also mentioned DH would have an ultrasound sometime but I don't know when (or why they didn't just do it last week!)

That's just our unique cocktail of tests though. The only fertility issue they've flagged so far is sperm quality, so these are the relevant tests for us. I imagine if my blood test or ultrasound had shown different issues we might be in for different tests and/or treatments.

@taytay2020 wow 3 weeks is really quick. It just varies so much by area. How is your journey going? What tests etc have you had already?

We had to have bloods, ultrasound & semen analysis before we could have the referral & also be weighed for bmi- im borderline for my bmi (for my ccg) but the more I think about it the more I seem to gain!

@Mitcx We had to remind our doctor to actually do the referral, but they then did it immediately and we had our first appointment at the fertility clinic within 3 weeks. I think prerequisites for the referral were: I'd had a blood test to check hormones and STDs (and possibly other things? it wasn't explained but they definitely had those results on my file), DH had a blood test to check for STDs, and I was asked for my BMI.