The WIMBEWAIF and WIMBEWAINF 2WW club, new and existing members welcome.

Ei I'm so sorry your DH has been made redundant. I know from experience that the uncertainty is hard, but I am sure you will all be ok. Things have a habit of working out for the best in the end, even if they are difficult at the time.

Bucky how nice that you popped in, notwithstanding your hiatus from us all. I'm glad you are well and that "old Bucky" (as in the person you were before ttc took over) is enjoying her outing.

So the last day of the pill is tomorrow then, MOB? I bet you'll be glad to get on with the next phase (although isn't that injections?)?

I am going mad here. I now have sore (.)(.) as well. I know I cannot be pg because I ovulated on my bad side and, yes, I know eggs can travel but I seriously think my left tube is duff (otherwise why didn't the last egg go down it?). Somebody slap me, I am being very stupid. I think I have forgotten that I get symptoms even when I am not pg and so everything gets interpreted as a sign. Oh, and to add insult to injury, one of my scabs is looking bad so I have to see the Dr and get checked. Grrrr.

First of all - a big, shiny WIMBEWAI(N)F gold star for Mr PnM and his supersperm Is he still strutting around??! PnM I am so, so pleased that things are finally moving forward for you. I feel really excited on your behalf, although angry at the same time, as your tests could have been done whilst waiting for the SA. But sounds like this GP is much better. Do your blood tests need to be done at a specific point in your cycle? Hope you can have them soon and get on this metaformin! I'm still a bit headachy and grumpy, but the worst side effect of the pill is lack of "lubrication" . Can't wait to get off it! Am impressed with you and everyone else being up on the lingo - you probably know far more than i do!!

EI I'm so sorry to hear that your DH is being made redundant. How awful for you all. Is there much around in his line of work? Sending positive vibes for a lovely new job for him.

Sorry, running out of time... got to get to work... will have a proper catch up and mention everyone else later!

MOB XX

hi ladies
just a quick one to say to PnM im so happy for you and your dh that he got a good result in his SA excellent that you seem to be in good hands with your consultant aswell
hi to everyone else and i will catch up later as DH is researching jobs due the fact that he was made redundant from work and he finishes friday ahh well im sure things will be ok
xx ei xx

Ok, I;ve finally managed to wrestle the laptop off DH so I can catch up with everything!!

MOB I can't believe you finish down regging this week (check out how down with the fertility lingo I am as well - although I learn it all from you guys so if I make a faux pas then don't laugh - or take offence!) I appreciate you prob dont think its gone all that quickly but it seems to have flown by!! How are the headaches? And did you say you were having mood swings (apologies if not!!)?

Caitni IKWYM re working out your options sooner rather than later... Seems a good plan to me to wait until the New Year, gives you a date to work towards. Hope its a good egg this time and you wont need to get that far though

MrsHappy thank you v much for your explanation - you managed to paraphrase what I was trying to get my head round!! I think it seems to be a positive medication but with little research wrt fertility. Am slightly concerned by the side effects people have encountered though. Will cross that bridge when we get to it I guess! Am cautiously getting excited for you - temp drop and then a rise PLUS heartburn? Will eagerly be awaiting your posts in the coming days!! Understand your retisence (sp?) though, so, as I say, am cautiously excited for you!!

Bucky if you're lurking HI!! Hope all is going well in Buckyland and you're enjoying yourself?!

MTW hope little Freya is settling in and all is going well?

How are our other pregnant ladies?? JB? Mibbes?? Hatty and Abby if you ever pop in - Hello!

JG, to echo the others - tis not the same without you!!! Hope all is well with you and DH at the moment...

R4N2 have my fingers crossed for you!!!

Ei how are you?? What are you up to at the moment?

I'm off to Google some more bits. Have found out the fertility specialist we are being referred to was in charge of my best friend when she was pregnant with my Godson - she suffered pre-eclampsia (hospitilised for 6 weeks before birth and then baby born 8 weeks early!). He's great iirc so feel a bit happier about that.

Now I just have to stop DH crowing about his supersperm - he's talking about giving them a few pep talks as, although there are LOADS of them all in tip top condition, they obviously don't know the way (or, he said, in all ernest, someone has obviously moved the signposts ).

That's it exactly! Indulging our inner control freak every now and again is no bad thing

ooooh ooooh ooooh - just picked up on the acu bit - sorry not read all the threat - I have accupuncture for physio - but she's just done a course & told me all about the behind the scenes testing & results & it sounds really positive - good luck! It's defo worth a try!

I know what you mean, Caitni. It feels a lot better to be doing something (anything) than sitting about waiting IME. (Am a control freak, can you tell?)

MrsH I've heard/read v good things about ACU, so hope it goes well for you (and let me know how you get on!). Agree that ARGC sounds a bit full on - they get the results, but I don't know if we could manage it...and I know we've not been trying so long in calendar months, but I'm nearly half way through my 13th cycle which to me is ttc for a year or more (I figure they mean 12 cycles when they say ttc for a year). I definitely don't want to rush into IVF but at the same time, as AF arrives each month and more and more women around me get pregnant, I don't think I can stand too much more of the hopeful bd-ing every month without entirely cracking IYKWIM. We're giving ourselves to the new year, as by then I'll have had nearly 16 cycles. Fingers crossed we get natural BFPs long before that but still getting my head around IVF in the meantime helps me keep the prospect of a baby alive in my thoughts

Caitni I am going to ACU at UCH. They have, I think, the second highest success rates (joint with the Lister). I don't want to go to ARGC because it all sounds terribly full on. They get a lot of their results by working 24/7 and expect patients to as well, so sometimes you end up going for daily blood tests or scans or whatever and I simply can't fit that in around work right now.

I suggested Agora because the people who have started it are from the Lister so they should be using the same methodology. Plus CGS was suggested to me as a very sympathetic and sensible person with whom to discuss my options. If she hadn't been in Brighton I think I would have gone to see her for our initial discussion about what to do next.

Anyway, I am sure you are sick of hearing this, but you and your DH haven't been trying for that long (though I am sure it seems like it) so get the tests done, but I bet you wind up pg before it comes to IVF...

PnM I'm so happy for you and your DH - what excellent news about his swimmers! Though I'm about PCOS not being ruled out/in before now. Thank god you've come across a knowledgeable and sympathetic doctor [phew emoticon]. I think it's vital for navigating the NHS to have a good doctor. I'm so glad you're making progress, one more step towards getting baby picknmix Starting a thread about Met is a really good idea, I bet there are loads of MNers who'd know about it.

MrsH I love that you share your knowledge about all things fertility related! I think you're right about Metformin - the one friend i have with PCOS has taken it, though she's not actively ttcing, precisely for the insulin resistance. Interesting that the clinic in Brighton has been founded by Lister people - I think it's called Agora. It's only just opened, so no statistics on success, so we're thinking more of Lister/ARGC (my DH is firmly of the opinion that we should go where the results for live births are highest and I agree!). Can you tell I've been googling obsessively? And we don't even have the initial GP app yet! When's your own app and who are you seeing?

PnM again, I'm really happy at the results

Here you go, Picknmix
Nothing to do with oestrogen but I was more or less right about the rest . Wouldn't it be brilliant if it did the trick?

Yay for your DH Picknmix, I am so pleased.
That's one hurdle down and not so many to go!

Re metformin, I am no expert (as you know!) but since I read everything known to man on fertility I have come across it. It's used to treat diabetes and insulin resistance, which is where it comes into treating PCOS.

As I understand it, women with PCOS sometimes have insulin resistance which, I think, leads to hormones being out of whack (too much oestrogen springs to mind) and the metformin straightens it out. I bet if you start a thread asking about it half of Mumsnet will come running!

It's so good you've found a doctor who wants to solve the problem for you. Do you feel relieved to be making progress?

Ok I'm back now!

Dh's sperm is apparently 'excellent' with no abnormalities (yay!). Which is fantastic news (I'm aware of how lucky we are in this respect, plse don't think I'm being flippant) but it brings the question - why the hell isn't it working for us....

The dr we saw was lovely, so much more clued up on fertility, and has agreed to refer us to a fertility consultant even though the reg's for our area state 2 yrs of trying (we're at about 20 months). She also looked at my blood results again and said the dr who looked at them before quite obviously didn't know what she was looking for as she didn't even test for PCOS so she's sending me for another blood test to determine whether I do have it or not.

She said she would like to try me on Metformin, esp before I go to the consultant but will wait until the blood results come in before this.

She was shocked when I told her my periods were erratic and that nothing had been done about this previously.

I feel so let down that this wasn't tried before - its set us back at least 4 months (she agreed this was Not Good) but on the other hand I feel relieved we're finally talking to someone who knows her stuff.

I need to google metformin now as I don't really know much about it. Does anyone else?

Am typing this on the mobile so will turn the laptop on and catch up properly in a sec - apologies its all me me me xx

I have everything crossed for you and your DH PnM. Come back soon and tell us how you got on.

Caitni It's lovely to see you again. If you do decide to go for private IVF you are in luck because there is a clinic in Brighton run by some people from the Lister. Carol Gillings-Smith is one of the consultants and I am reliably informed she is very nice. I did know that the eggs cross over - I ov'd on the left with my second ectopic but it crossed and jammed in my right tube (clever). Some Doctors reckon that they go to the opposite tube 30% of the time, but noone really knows. I just hope that my left tube is actually working...

Are you still lurking, Bucky?

I bet you can't wait to get on with the next bit, MOB. Just think - 4 or so weeks and you'll be on your 2WW (but with access to blood tests for extra reassurance!)!

Now I have heartburn. It's not a symptom, it's not a symptom, it's not a symptom.

PnM fingers crossed for you and your DH!

MOB oh I'd so be the same re imagining the worst about the clinic - imagination overdrive is so easy! - so am glad you got through. I'm also glad it's Wed, as that brings this stage to a close and brings you to the next step of getting your BFP

PnM Got everything crossed and sending you loads of positive vibes! Will be around a bit later to see how it went. I know exactly what you mean about not wanting anything to be wrong / wanting there to be a problem so it can be fixed. Either way, you have taken another step forward in getting it done. Thinking of you lots. XXX

Caitni Lovely to see you. Keep up with that BDing!! I managed to get through to the clinic this afternoon - last pill wednesday. Imagination went into overdrive though, as i only got the answerphone all morning, so i convinced myself that the clinic had gone bust/ closed down / burnt down etc, and my treatment would therefore not happen See - i really AM a mad old bird!!!

Hiya everybody!

Will post more later but wanted to let you all know dh and I are off to get his sa results tonight. Got a last min cancellation so please cross your collective fingers for us!

Am in the strange position where I so want there to be nothing wrong for dh's sake but also for something to be wrong so that we have something to 'fix'. Does that make sense??

Anyway, will let you know how it goes, check in later xx

Hi ladies

Sorry for not being around much - things are busy at work, and both myself and my DH are trying to cut down on the amount of time we spend/waste online each evening/weekend. Well, the weather was so nice in brighton over the past weekend that we were out and about for most of the time

MOB glad to hear that things are still going well with you. Have you called the clinic to find out which day is the last day of the pill? Myself and my DH had a big talk about assisted conception/IVF last week. We're planning to go and see the GP at some point soon-ish, to see what diagnostic tests we can get on the NHS, but reckon we'll head for private IVF sooner rather than later. In our PCT there's no IVF funding until you've been trying for 3 years and there's no way I'd last that long (would have been committed with ttc-induced insanity well before then ). Until then we're just going to keep on the health kick and bd lots and focus on being positive and keep our fingers crossed

MrsHappy I'm also cautiously optimistic for you (a temp dip and then a rise - that's such a good symptom to spot!!). Even if you ov'ed on your tubeless side you can still get preg as it passes to the other tube so fingers crossed. And I'm so glad to see the name change as well

RFN2 the tww already! Let us know if you get any good symptoms and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed you get your BFP this month

Ei like the halloween name change! Hope you got that egg well and good and you get a BFP soon. Shall also be keeping my fingers firmly crossed for you

Bucky I'm so glad that you're doing things for you - it's so important for life to not stop just because we're ttc (at times easier said than done I know...). I'm too chicken to ever get a tattoo but absolutely love them (well, not the Amy Winehouse retro sailor-y type ones - topless ladies and the like - which I see all over east london at the moment). Not long now til NYC - hope you're getting excited! Let's definitely go for lunch after you get back. My email address is catherine dot cronin [at] gmail dot com so drop me a line (and any of you ladies are free to email me anytime ).

07MTW hope you and Freya are both happy!

Waves to PnM JG (I echo MrsH - we miss you!) JB and everyone. Hope everyone's happy.

I'm expecting to ov soon - prob on Wed - so just lots of bd-ing at the moment. I've somehow convinced myself that the most important day for us to bd is the day after I ov, as we don't usually last that long and the one month we did I got a postive hpt (albeit a faint one). Fingers crossed we last that long this month

love and baby dust to us all all
C xx

God MOB, if I didn't spend it all symptom spotting just think how much spare time I would have on my hands...

Judith do you ever manage to lurk, I wonder? I miss you around here. Can't you get internet access at home?

Morning MrsHappy (Good to see you back to that name BTW)I finish down regging this week - i need to ring the clinic actually as i have in my diary for Thursday "stop pill" - but i don't know whether that means i take one that day and then stop or whether the last one is Wednesday . I then have my baseline scan next Monday, so things are getting quite exciting. I am getting unofficially slightly excited for you, what with temps dipping and rocketing! It must be so hard for you, i think symptom spotting is inbred in us all! Take it easy and look after yourself. X

Hi all

How goes the downregging MOB? (see I am au fait with IVF terminology these days...) How much longer do you have to do it for?

Time is flying by RFN2 . I have my fingers crossed for you.

I hope the rest of you are well.

No real news from me. I'm about a week past ovulation and am trying quite hard not to symptom spot. I just want to take it easy and remember that now I am lop-sided there is probably less of a chance of a bean (especially as I reckon I ovulated on my tubeless side). It's hard though, especially when your temp dips at 6dpo and then rockets afterwards...

RFN2 Wow, on the 2ww already! That time has gone quick. I have my fingers firmly crossed for you.

MTW I hope everything is going well with you and little Freya. Will go and read you birth announcement!

Congratualtions MTW hope you are enjoying your beautiful DD x

Well its cd15 for me and all the signs say I oved yesterday so I am on the 2ww
We managed to BD on days 9 12 and 13 so hopefully we have caught the egg

This is the worst part now, nothing more we can do so keeping our fingers crossed x

Hope everyone is ok x

Thank you for all your kinds words of congratulations

I've posted my birth story in the birth announcements for any of you who are interested.