To TTC or not to TTC, that is one of the many questions...

This is amazing news. I'm so pleased for you. I don't think you would have found it that much easier to focus on your studies with the "am I or aren't I?" hanging over you. When are you going to tell DH?

Flipping heck, isnt today the 16th?? You have the restraint of a saint and you can tell the clinic I said that! Surely there is no way anyone waits until 18 days after 'ovulation'? I have seen crazy threads on here where people are asking if 5 dpo is too early....And from what I've read, HPTs are just as accurate as any lab tests, the biggest difference is that the lab may give you a concentration of HCG.

Oh my goodness. Im all giddy.

This is so strange, do you remember ages ago when we came up with the List of Pregnancy? YTD was first, then you, then.....shit, I just remembered who was third......

Sorry, meant to say 'panic and doubt at some points' - hopefully won't be all the time!

Please drink any alcohol you get the chance to today for me!!!

Believe me, if you want to see post-BPF dithering, you will doubtless see it over the next few months, especially if it is twins! (I know post-BFP dithering is a) pointless, b)silly, and c) probably very annoying because a) and b) but I'll certainly be overcome with panic and doubt and I have a feeling this will be the place I'll choose to express it!).

I think I could have tested on 13th (May), which is technically 14 days after ovulation (ovulation being egg collection). So I'm not hugely past, but certainly safely so. This is only a home pregnancy test so far, so have yet to have a blood test, get any official confirmation. In fact if I rang them tomorrow they will probably rap my knuckles as I was under strict instruction not to do it until Tues! (Although when I rang and said I'd rather not do it exactly on Tuesday if it was all the same to them as I had an exam, they said I could test the day before, which is only tomorrow, right? Hardly naughty at all...)

No, far from first wee of the day (!) - in fact I've been drinking loads of water today as have had a very dry mouth (was thinking sneakily it might resemble the 'metallic mouth' people talk about in early pregnancy - but was trying not to symptom spot TOO much!). So it is quite convincing in that it must have been quite dilute... (I know you must be relieved about that!)

Ohhh, LST, Im so chuffed for you, you've been a complete Dithering Star going through IVF and yet being a founder member of our gang.

So how far passed testing time are you, I assume you havent been to the clinic for the blood test yet? You must be quite pregnant (technical term there) as it wasnt even first wee of the day!!

OMG!!

Thank you!!!! Managed about 10 minutes of revision...

I've rung my sister, who is the only (RL!) person I'm going to tell (apart from DH) until I've had a scan (this isn't great restraint as I'll probably have one v soon because of it being IVF). Well, that's the plan, anyway, but am not famous for my discretion. Anyway, the point is she was on her mobile but she's going to ring back so I may disappear again.

Quite exciting, really (even though I'm sitting here on my own so it's hard to feel as hugely excited as I might have done). IVF weirdness being what it is, I'm actually already in week 5, just, which is great news re. getting through the first 12 weeks (and no sickness yet, though probably this week). Wow. It is quite unreal, really. Wow.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Come back here and talk to me!!

Im so pleased

OMG!!!!

Eeeeeek!!!! Congratulations!!!

OH MY GOD. Oh my god. I have to tell you as I can't tell anyone else (and DH is away and not back until 7ish). I cracked. I knew it was past the point when I could reliably test. And it was a Sunday afternoon, and I was bored with revising, you know how it is... So I tested. And got a BFP!!

This is so strange. I'm mainly weirded out by how not different I feel. But so strange to actually see that cross after years of testing (at least a few months a year) and not seeing it. Eek.

This was a very STUPID thing to have done, of course, as I've still got an exam, and masses of revision to do, and somehow I suspect I might not be 100% focused now...

Oh well. It's done. And much better news than the alternative. (The whole twins/not twins discovery is still to come [gulps hard]).

OK, I'm going to go and try to read about the aetiology of depression. Oh yes, that's going to go in.

Hi all

I'm fine, just madly revising for Tuesday's exam (having basically left all revising - and indeed learning - for this one until the last few were over - what a conscientious student, eh...).

YTD - add to the others' good wishes - really hope you're feeling better. It's such a horrible shock, a car collision, even if (thankfully) relatively minor. Hope you're feeling back to normal (or pregnancy normal!) soon.

confused - really sorry to hear about your grandfather. Can't say much more than the others and you have wisely said about this one, except I know what it's like. My grandmother has just come out of hospital after a small coronary, and moved into a nursing home from her house, which she's pretty devastated about (though she was totally unsafe at home and actually starting to not eat enough etc. because she couldn't manage to do things). She is in very bad health, having strokes and minor heart attacks every few months now, and lots of related horrible problems, and wants to slip away now (so v. unlike your grandparents, by the sound of it), which is terribly sad. But she's still more or less with it, which makes it very sad to talk to her - you just want to turn the clock back. She may go and live with my parents, but she and my mother (her daughter) don't get on very well so I really think she'd be better staying in her town with a few friends vising if she can bear the institutional nature of where she is (though it's good as they go). Hope your grandfather has the best possible quality of life for the remaining time (and my grandad had skin cancer (though v. treatable kind) about 20 years before he died so you never know).

Hi Suerock! Good luck with the decisions - really hope there's some movement and good news soon.

Good luck this week, hp.

Not much news with me - have just been busy revising and had to go to a one-day conference yesterday in Nottingham (great timing!) for my MSc project. Holding out on the testing, though it's hard... Had a twins panic in the middle of last night - only actually half sure I want to know this morning! (Dithering to the end...)

OK MUST get back to the books
xx

Hello all,

YTD sorry to hear about the acccident. Hope you're okay and not having any nasty aches and pains. Sounds as if it's all precautionary with the EPU (what's that stand for?) but thoughts are with you all the same.

I think you hit the nail on the head (again) about my grandad. I am very against the idea of keeping going for as long as possible when it detracts from quality of life, after all we wouldn't let our pets go on forever would we, but the idea of letting go is also incredibly hard. While he is not there yet his health is failing and he is getting fed up with it all, as you would do. He has always been a very fit man who was never ill up until the last ten years and then it seems like it all caught up at once. My grandma, on the other hand, is only a year younger (exactly) but apart from her dodgy knee, which she has since had replaced, she's just the same Grandma she's ever been. In fact, I forget they are both pushing 90! Even my grandad as he's mentally just as quick as ever.

Suerock it's good to hear from you. You sound as dithery as ever (like I can talk!) What's the major mood you're considering? Locations or jobs? Or both?

LST where are you? Hope you're okay!

HP SP hope you're not too worried about the looming appointments. The sooner things are looked at the sooner they can be sorted out! That's my overly simplistic motto of the day, but hopefully one that does have at least some credibility...

Flipping heck, YTD, I'm glad you are ok. What a fright. I've been rear-ended at low speed ( ) and it's a hell of a jolt and shock to the system. And that's without the extra worry of being pregnant. I hope all is well today, you may be aching more, my neck really hurt for a few days after. Let us know how you get on at the EPU.

Hi Suerock, yes, the thread has been busy, but some of that was C posting to move her previous post from the screen!! Glad you are ok, and I really hope things are moving on the job front. A baby friendly job would be an interesting development....

Quiet weekend here. Really nice. Have a few things happening in the next few weeks that are playing on my mind - docs appointment, hospital appointment etc. I'm hoping the time whizzes past.

!!! That's how many posts since I was last in here?! Haven't had time to read back in detail so I hope you're all (bumps/eggs/exams/cars/family & friends/jobs/dogs/houses included) well and I haven't missed anything major.

Not much news from here. No action on the infant front and very little on the job front - it all grinds through so slowly. But thinking about a fairly major move which is hopefully not incompatible with an infant if that works out.

Am home now, with a clean house and good food cooking!

Did you decide to yell at the scummy estate agent, C, or did you decide against it? Bloody agents, they are such a nightmare, but at least that woman your friend spoke to seemed to be doing a good job.

Hope LSTs exams have all gone well, it's such a good feeling when they are all out of the way, isn't it?

Haven't heard from Suerock for a while, wonder if there is any news on the job front. Or even the baby front, you never know! Hey, Suerock, you should move here (you know where )!

Hopefully YTD is sat on that comfy chair and is taking it easy. I will do my stern voice, otherwise

Yes. I held a baby. The parent kind of chucked it at me in a kind of 'let's see what HP makes of this then' way. Little did they know, I am very confident when it comes to holding babies, it's pushing them out of my bits that I'm less keen on! Anyway, the baby was very sweet, and I only thought about running off with it for a fleeting moment.....But the parent was like 'Oh, you are so ready'. Hmmmm.

Finally, before I go and eat, you know that bit of research that showed that women tend to dress diferently around ovulation. I'm ashamed to say that today, I was that woman . Totally without thinking, I left the house in my tightest clothes. And went to work. Oh, the shame.

Thanks - it's nice to know someone else is in a similar position, horrid as it is.

Can't wait to hear about this baby holding!

Also have to go as at work - maybe back this evening (friends for dinner later on but maybe before then I'll be about)

No, petal, I was going to reply last night, but ended up nipping out and it was late when I got in.

Sorry to hear about your grandad, its really tough at this point in a loved ones life, Im going through the same with an elderly relative of my own and its heartbreaking - you just want them to live forever. xx

Better go, am at work.

PS> I held a baby yesterday, and was told 'just go for it, HP".....

Er.... bave I managed to kill the thread?!

Oooh, realised I forgot to add either (please don't get too excited) that I got my friends to call the estate agents. We got her to ask certain things about location, development potential, how long it's been on the market and so on and she said that the agent was 'excellent.' The woman she spoke to was apparently very knowledgable, full of praise about how things like the cupboards etc were 'of very high quality' (they actually cost us £15 for the lot, all 18 doors, on Ebay; we just sanded them down and then repainted them) and said the trains (we are in front of a train track but you don't hear it unless you are trying to) 'slowed down a lot as they get to the junction further along so aren't noisy and also the house has secondary glazing so noise is at a minimum anyway' and so on and so forth.

Very pleased, I have to say!

Now in two minds about going in tomorrow - this has put me off the boil so far.

Lastly, and I have been putting off writing this but if the inevitable happens I'll wish I mentioned it before, my grandad (89) has a cyst type thing on his shoulder which has been diagnosed as a skin cancer. We don't know the details of what kind and the conotations but my mum's going with him and my grandma next Wednesday to the consultants. My grandad is wearing out, basically, although mentally is almost just as quick, and I've been thinking he's not going to last much longer for quite a while now (a few years at least.) Obviously I will be utterly devestated when he goes, but I also realise noone can carry on forever. His health is now pretty poor and he isn't able to do much and there comes a point where the cure is worse than the problem (if he has to have a skin graft for this shoulder thing for example.)

Still horrid but it's life and it's not a bolt out the blue whatever happens.

Back - was watching Jamie Oliver and had a dog snuggled on my lap so didn't want to wake her up getting my laptop.

Am I leaning more towards a decison than we were last August? Hmmm. I guess, the short answer is yes but it doesn't feel like a 'yes.'

I think it is that I dont want to not do it, but that hasn't filled me with an urge to get cracking either. Also, over the course of us starting to chat about it both me and DH have been both pro and against - he is as bad as me, YTD, trust me! - which hasn't helped the decision process.

Sometimes I'd love to - reading threads like the one we've just mentioned can have that effect - and other times I think I simply don't want to have something that will complicate my life and make things potentially more tricky in every sense (even just going to the loo on my own!)

I love the Dithering Party Politics.

Look after yourself, young lady.

(I will lead the doc to believe that TTC is on the cards in the near future, like you say, may get things shifting. Really, really hope the dildocam doesnt get waved around....)

Oh, I was just reading that. All the stuff about needing to pour a jug of water over your bits when you have a wee was a bit

The baby stuff was cute though.