The all new rat smacketers thread, this way for a 2012 BFP we are BROOKING NO ARGUMENT

[farfallarocks]

Just wrote a blardy long message before getting the 'thread full' message so here we go.................

Coss posts Stasi - I reckon maybe wait until tomorrow to give yourself chance to fully recover. And no he can't catch it.

I'd save it til tomorrow stasi - not only will it be more potent as it were, but it'll probably be better with regards to your UTI?

I'm 9DPO today, Generic.

I had a weird temp experience this morning - I temp fanjolly, and it would seem my temp varies depending on whether I'm standing or sitting I stood/sat 3 different ways and got 37.20, 37.09 and 37.12 all within the same minute or two

Ooh Pop not long til your confirmation then!

Pop that is so bizarre that your temps change depending on your position. I re took my temps this morning after 2 snoozes and waiting for shouting at DH to go in the shower. It went from 97.21 to 97.23, so not that much of a difference.

Stasi I would wait another day, it can not hurt the potency and gives you another day to get over the UTI. So glad you are feeling a bit better.

Cakes I had similar a couple of cycles ago, it went on for a few days until AF arrived . It is so easy to read so much into every symptom. Sorry to be negative - Fx yours is implantation.

Generic so pleased you are up to getting back on the brooking bike, so to speak. Hope it is only a short journey for you

DH has just emailed to say he wants us to book a holiday for March as he is hoping we will not be able to go in September as we usually do. It brought a tear to my eye that he is so hopeful. He doesn't say much but things like this make me realise how much he also wants a DC.

Ah Sweetie bless your DH. I think that means he would give up the booze factor too. I feel quite choked for you both. That BFP has be on its way.

Hello all other Brookers and thanks for your thoughts. Mine are with you too. xxxx

Awww sweetie that's lovely! :)

Stasi - interesting view re' breastfeeding and family sizes (though my friend who has just had no' 5 breastfeeds all hers and still has one every 18 months or so...) Not sure you'd get full support from some poor mums who did everything to bf but were beaten. It's killer painful: harder than giving birth by a long-shot imho (I managed 10 months but my periods started at about 8 so theoretically I could have been pregnant at 9 months after birth..? I even dreamt about the pain last week...!) But still - I agree that it's one of the attendant responsibilities that should be considered in depth when conceiving any child. Quite frankly I'm with your DH that the planet is under too much strain for Westerners to have more than 2 children per family. Even 3 is an extra burden to an already suffering globe...

GLOOM and doom bean, sorry. I think I need the summer to come tbh. As do we all - much easier to get up the duff with nice warm wombies.

xxx

bean how did you get on at the interview???

DH make me cry in ASDA over Christmas by saying "Do you think we will be going down that aisle soon?" and pointing down the baby produce aisle. Only people TTC would understand the reaction of a normally sane person to such a random comment.

Bean I agree with you on pretty much everything, I've never breastfed, so don't know anything about it! I do know it can be very hard and very painful - but only from watching a tv program, which doesn't help me understand it. I guess I just think it's 'wrong' for someone to be pregnant constantly, if there's only 9 or 10 months between your children, they're not going to get the attention they need. The mother is also putting her health at risk with so many pregnancies, and risking those babies growing up without a mother.

As far as I understand it (and I don't really know) breastfeeding can stop your periods for quite a long time, whereas giving birth doesn't interrupt your cycle? I feel I can't judge the Catholic couple on that program, they're sticking to their beliefs and their 15 children are a consequence of that. You couldn't tell them to give up sex after their 2nd or 3rd child, but I wonder if she'd have breastfed them, just for a while, it might have spaced them all out by average 6 months extra, and she wouldn't have have had so many.

Sorry I didn't really think my comment through, for the most part I just think the Catholic church should re-think their ban on contraception!

Evening all

maybe exciting about your allotment, we have a couple of vegetable patches in the garden. In case you're interested, last year we grew potatoes, carrots, peas, leeks, runner beans, butternut squash, radishes plus tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers in pots. Not forgetting the 1 parsnip - it was very impressive but a bit lonely

sweetie any plans on where you are going for your holiday?

stasi I'll just say ouch, and hope you get better soon

generic yeah to the nearly negative pee-stick (we don't say that very often round here)

olives boo hiss to AF

pop what's wrong with laying in bed to take your temperature? through my own not-so-scientific research, I've found that laying still in bed and surfing my temp will remain constant but snoozing causes my temp to rise. But anyway that was a nice high temp you got this morning.

As for me, I had a bit of EWCM and a positive OPK today so i think the egg is about to be released, what a pity I'm 500km away from DP. But we did rat-smacking yesterday so I'm hoping the egg is out quickly enough to be caught by those sperm, or its delayed enough for me to get some more SWI on Friday am.

Hello brookers

Stasi - no criticism intended re' your bf thoughts. I'm we can all agree wholeheartedly that no religion should blindly tell people whether they can use contraception or not... for health reasons as much as anything. Anyway - hope you get an early night tonight and are mended soon for SWI.

Good luck Beedle - hope the spermies are feeling chipper and up for a bit of hanging around in your tubes for good day more at least.

@ Pop's temp acrobatics.

Sweetie - your man is so up for it. Where there's a willy there's going to be a way. Brooking no argument.

Interview was fine though they didn't like my questions... "Can the council guarantee that they will maintain free parking in the area?"; "How about improved signage?" "Have you bent Sainsbury's over a barrel talked to Sainsbury's before you give them planning permission to build a new store just down the road?" I stumbled on the inevitable equal opps question though should have pointed out that they could at least have a woman to chair their Trust. Reaching minority groups to involve them in volunteering is always a challenge. Not sure what else I could say on that one though could have given an example of a great project I know about but of course wasn't in my mind when on the spot.

Anyway - tbh - they didn't get many people coming forward so it's all rather token. I'm inspired to get on though. DP's right - it's almost time to put TTC away (and just don't use contraception). Only after DP has suffered a few months of v little booze that is... Poor man, he is so grumpy. Withdrawal symptom if you ask me. Anyway - now he knows what it's like being me!

N'night all. xxxxxx

I am sooo tired so I'm not even going to attempt a name checking post because despite reading through all of today's posts I have promptly forgotten most of it again Will return after work tomorrow to catch up but for now I am off to bed. Laters lovelies xx

Your right sweetie its possible its not but just have to wait and see. I don't yet feel like af is imminent so who knows.

Will POAS if af not arrived by sunday. That would be exceeding my longest ever previous cycles.

beedle DH would not take kindly to me rummaging around and shoving a fanjometer in his favourite place, followed by a loud beeeeeep every morning! So I do it in the bathroom which isn't really advised, but I figure if I do the exact same amount of walking every morning it will cancel itself out :o

Glad it went reasonably well bean - I'm sure all the candidates look back and think "why didn't I mention xyz?" I know I usually do :)

Hope everyone's ok today. I had a rubbish day at work yesterday, but I'm sure today will be better.

FF has moved my ovulation day back to where it should be, hurrah! Coz if AF is late, then DH will be away when I pop next month which is just. not. on.

Morning all (just), how is everyone today?

Pop at rummaging around in DH's favourite place!! I take mine when DH goes to the toilet in the morning! Hope you are having a better day today. I forget, is it you that works from home?

Cakes I am keeping everything crossed for you.

Hope you are feeling rested now Olives

When do you find out if you got the job Bean? Hope you are feeling ok today x

Stasi how's that UTI? Hope it has all cleared up for the swi tonight

Beedle thanks for the ideas for the allotment, and [grin[ at the lonely parsnip! I'm sure those sperm are going to get to the egg, plenty of time.

Your DH is so cute Sweetie I love it when they come out with things like that out of the blue!

I am still sick. I feel like I have been beaten up. So to console myself I am teaching myself to crochet, and have made one sock. Now to make the other.... I also have a poorly teething puppy on my hands. I feel so sorry for him, it's like all his teeth have decided to come at once!! He is the only one out of his litter to have started teething, and he is really going for it

Beedle I hope that parsnip received a ceremony when it was roasted.

Pop - why not give DH the job of fanjo-temping - favourite place maintenance? Why's he going away when he shouldn't? full. stop.

Poor Maybe - feet up lady. Crochet is the cure.

The interview wasn't for a job really (though it will be full on); I've offered to chair a trust to keep our local park and children's petting zoo alive because the council tried to close it. I live in a fairly deprived area of London and this is a highlight we shouldn't have taken away from us. I'm not really experienced enough but I have energy and ideas so we'll see. I've suddenly of course got really busy with work - just completed something and taken on a new book to edit. Q exciting but buses are coming at once.

And DS is struggling and clingy at the moment. Not sure if it's because he's missing his bottle of milk at night (we're trying to stop it as I'm worried about teeth but he's quite distraught...) or if he senses some tension at home re' TTC - the idea of which makes me feel v guilty. [emoticon?] Poor DP really is quite lost without his glasses of wine at night. Feels rotten but I can't backtrack now after getting this far and still hope that it might tip the balance for us...

Olives - feeling sprightlier?

Fx Cakes

*Stasi& - there is a poster asking about AMH after chemo - have you seen her fred? She had a good antral follicle count 3 months after chemo but her amh is weirdly low...

Yes I work from home maybe which is just as well or I think I'd have had a nervous breakdown by now otherwise!

Hope you and Otis both feel better soon :)

xpost!

bean he is going away to visit family; alas, being NHS he doesn't have much choice in when his holiday falls tbh, and as my ovulation time can range by over a week there wasn't much I could do :( He'll only be away 2 nights though, so we might be able to work around it, it depends when I pop.

Your DH will adapt; he will have to find something else to fill his time with? Maybe you could take up a joint passtime to fill the evenings? (I'm thinking something like scrabble once DS is in bed but that's a bit tame )

Just a quick post before work. Looks like af is considering making an appearance so I guess its a no this month. I will def have an answer one way or other by Monday I think. Unless (which is being really really hopeful) af is appearing normal which has confused some women into thinking they weren't pg when they were.

Hello everyone, hope Thursday is treating you well.

Hello everyone

bean and stasi I just wanted to have my twopennies worth re 15 kids and counting. I didn't see it this week, but last week one of the families clearly had real emotional issues around wanting to have lots of children.

I think it's really hard to try to deny the biological imperative some people feel to breed. It certainly gets me, and with all respect, I think all of us on here, whether we've already had a baby/ babies or not.

I do feel that family size is a personal choice, albeit (like so many other things) a personal choice with external considerations. That extends to things like the cars we drive (or not) the jobs we do, the diets we choose and the like. Whilst I agree that 15 kids is a lot (and potentially indefensible), I would hate to live in a society that dictated how many children was the 'right amount'. Societies that do make prescriptions around family size tend to impact on women's reproductive and other rights in many ways, whether that's like the one child policy in China or exhortations on women to have multiple pregnancies in the old eastern bloc countries.

Birth rates in this country are also going down across the board, so despite the odd (and I do mean that in both ways) families with double figures of off spring, the average is far closer to one.

I hope I haven't over stepped the mark. I certainly don't want to offend, and I know that there might be a degree of 'she would say that wouldn't she'. I am painfully aware that I am in a very privileged position to have 3 children, but I also feel very strongly that I would like a fourth. That, I promise, will be it though.

Wow, whimsy I actually didn't realise you were ttc no4! I don't have a problem with large families in theory (and I don't count 4DCs as large at all) as long as the parents can manage them.

I'm from a big family, as is DH - one of 5 and 7 respectively. My concern with such big families is the inability to give all the kids all the attention they need, and the tendancy to treat the elder children like mini-adults, expecting them to care for their younger siblings as such (e.g. DH, who is the eldest, was once absolutely devastated when his youngest sibling called him Dad accidentally; it caused a lot of internal conflict over how he felt about his role and place within the family dynamic).

That's without considering the wider social and economic impacts ? but I have to be honest (and selfish?) and say I'd care a great deal less about the size of the family if the family's working and not surviving on benefits. Coincidentally, I heard on the news this morning that we have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Europe, and given that education's pretty good nowadays, I honestly do wonder if that's in any way connected to the benefits lifestyle that some girls and women aspire to.

I've just had my 10dpo irrational-weep, I think that AF has packed her bags and is on the train to PopcornVille :(

Oh Pop - so sorry to hear that. I am so pissed off if she is on her way. Chin up and keep going. Thinking of you. xxx

Whim - not overstepping the mark at all; perhaps we were with our opinions - sorry. You're right, it's personal choice and I feel bad enough wanting 2 (esp' as DP doesn't particularly). But I also can't help how I feel about this overpopulated planet; and the problem of the cost of individual global footprints is quadrupled in developed nations, so larger families in developing nations has less of an impact. If our birthrate is going down (which I appreciate it is here and in other parts of Europe) then that's a good thing imho. I certainly don't want to sit in judgement of you as an individual - or other women - for wanting 4 (and I know two people with 4/5, both of whom are notably stay-at-home from choice so can't be accused of not spending time with their families etc). I can tell you're a fab mum and lovely person so exactly the right sort to be making lovely babies/toddlers/kids who become decent adults. 15 on the other hand is indefensible in my mind. Or a kind of mental illness. Sorry, but that's how I feel.

Your point about women's rights is hard to get around too.

And... there are children of small families who feel unloved and neglected. So it's all swings and roundabouts.

Anyway. I must go and eat some chocolate. All this moralising is making me hungry.

pop and bean I take both your points. I actually think the more children I have, the better I get at managing them! Like there are things that would have sent me into a flat spin with DS1, that are just water under the bridge with the others.

And I do, kind of, agree about very large families, it's just that I don't know where a very large family starts. For example, even if I do have 4 children, they will be my parents only 4 grandchildren. Whereas a friend of mine has only one child, but is one of 181 first cousins. Yes, you read that correctly: 181. I almost feel like I need to write it out in words. Her parents are ones of 9 and 13, each of whom went forth and multiplied. So which of us is the large family? A rhetorical question, but an interesting one, nonetheless.

I'm glad you haven't fallen out with me over this! I think we are a model for mumsnet of how to conduct an adult conversation, and accordingly, I have adapted a chocolate chip cookie recipe to make very grown up, but still attractively chewy, stem ginger cookies.

Bad luck on AF pop and green btw. I had a total sob over the 'random acts of kindness' thread earlier. Think I might be in the same boat.

Evening ladies.

Still shattered tonight, work was busy, busy again today! I'm not sure I can make an intelligent comment on the 15 kids thing as my brain is not functioning this evening. They only thing I will say is that I wouldn't want to be dictated to about how many children I can have but equally having 15 children seems like madness to me! And with my AF hormones raging when I watched it the other day I was just and that some people are just so bloody fertile and I'm not! I'm also not sure at what stage a large family becomes abnormally large - maybe at double figures? I just don't know!

Cakes, Whims and Pop, sorry to hear that you are all feeling like AF might be coming for a visit - I'm brooking no argument that you're wrong

Chairing the trust sounds like a very worthy cause Bean, those kind of facilities need to be fought for but make sure you don't take on too much.

to hear you're still poorly Maybe, hope the crocheting is distracting you from feeling so crappy!

Well I had a crappy day yesterday, due to some monumental phone cock up I got 2 text messages congratulating me on the birth of my baby girl - I bloody wish! They were meant for a friend of mine who has just had a little girl! I am over the moon for her but can't help a little twinge of as she has had 2 children since I've started TTC DC2! It does seem so easy for everyone else I know in RL! Anyhow, on a positive note I have an appointment on 20th Feb for NK cells tests so maybe I will soon have some answers! My goal is to have a plan in place by May this year as that will be 3 years of TTC and I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I know that all sounds a bit and depressing but actually I think I am even more determined the longer it goes on - I'm brooking NO argument that I will get pregnant and stay pregnant this year - FACT!

TTFN