Assisted Conception (and all the bits that go with it) volume 9

[Scrummybumb]

A new snug for us AC ladies

Sunnyg - I like the sound of the Pipelle procedure - which clinic are you at, if you don't mind me asking? No, making a baby is not cheap! Would you believe our shopping bills have actually increased even though they no longer contain wine etc! It's all the organic produce, fresh fruit and veg etc - don't know if it's making the blind bit of difference...

Pocket - I also take deep breaths when the needles go in which really seems to help as I am such a wuss - I keep my eyes firmly shut too!

Italian - is IUI today? if so, very best of luck!! Go Serentis go!

AFM, OTD is 4th April, although don't think I can wait that long.... Have been feeling really positive up until yesterday, but this morning the tears are flowing and I can't seem to get my positivity back. :(

I'm now 8dp2dt, no real symptoms (no implantation bleed, cramps, nothing) apart from my boobs have started to get smaller again and a couple of little break-outs, which are classic AF symptom for me.

DH has a job interview on Monday and so I don't want to test over the w/e in case it's bad news and puts him in the wrong frame of mind. He's been amazingly supportive so far and has kept so strong, but I feel atm as though we're both starting to crack as it means so much to us. I just can't face it if goes wrong. My consultant said I had 'til June to get pregnant with ICSI via my own eggs as my AMH is so low.

Plus, and this may make you :) I dreamt last night we got an adorable ginger kitten. I have red hair and feel this is my subconscious telling me it''s the closest I'll ever get to my own genetic baby. Am I going crazy? Probably! Am just really cross with myself as was doing so well up until this point!

Right, wipes tears and pulls herself together off to acupuncture now so hopefully that will relax me :)

Love to all. MC x

Morning - just a quick post from me to wish josie the very best of luck today!!! and Italian you had me in tears when reading your post. I'm so glad you have Serentis on board.
Maple hope you start to feel better through the day. it ain't over yet.
sunnyg - it's the moment of truth today - AF turned up early and will be heading to the clinic this morning. FX!

Just wanted to say Maple even though I convinced myself that I knew when I was pregnant before AF was due (I had 3 pregs before this one), this time it caught me completely by surprise . In fact I felt like I had PMT, remember there are lots of hormones whizzing around your body making you feel all sorts of different things, so like Scrummy said, it ain't over yet. As for the kitten dream (aaah!) I'd take that as you wanting to cuddle and nurture something, and both babies and kittens are cute and cuddly (although hopefully not equally hairy) so don't think of it as a premonition, but just a reflection of your thoughts. Hold on, not long to go

Scrummy fingers crossed the results today are good!

Just wanted to pop in to say great news Italian Am hoping the next 2 weeks go by speedily for you. xxx

yay - we're starting tomorrow. Have no idea what my levels were - was in a meeting when they left the message. just been told to go for bloods at 8:30am, teaching at 10am and scan at 11am. typical ARGC day :). Assume everything was is they should be, as no mention of borderline results....i shall find out tomorrow. Just so excited. here's a photo of me :o

josie how did you get on?

Yay Scrummy you are starting tomorrow. I Love that excited feeling. Good luck for start tomorrow, will be waiting to hear!

Josie how did you get on today? Really hope it all went well and you have your feet up and are relaxed and feeling positive.

Maple dear sorry to hear you aren't feeling good today. As the other's have said, it aint over yet. I'm at Herts & Essex, although I am sure more clinics do it? Maybe the other's can shed some light on this? I know it's been done in the states for a while. I know that also it's quite new research, but the results have been very good. I'm actually egg-sharing as a donor, so obviously a lot of my costs are covered, however with the Pipelle and ICSI and some other bits and pieces it's certainly adding up fast. No matter what happens I'm already very grateful to my recipient whom I know is bearing most of the costs, however I hope I can compensate with some really fab eggs for her! I've found a link here to some more info on the Pipelle (www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2076274/Plastic-wand-double-chances-pregnant.html). This article might be a bit sensationalist, but my clinic sent me some info as well which is much more 'clinical'. I am sure you aren't going to need all of this though maple, all of my fingers and toes (and anything else!) are tightly crossed for you. I hope acupuncture has helped today

Josie I am so pleased I could be of help.

Mapelcake the 4th April will come very soon. Please try and be calm, it is so hard. There are not necessarily implantation bleeds etc. When I got pregant with my DD 8 years ago, I had no idea I was pregnant and the day before our positive test I was in tears talking to my DH about adopton! The subconsious does play lots tricks.

Mapelcake thank you for thinking of me, it was yesterday for me, but not IUI, IVF with our frozen embryo. The one remaining out of the three we had frozen six months ago. Josie was having IUI today. But we are cycle buddies so it's easy to get confused.

Scrummy Whoopies - wonderful news for you. You dear lady how sweet to cry for me! It is a total rollercoster and we are all in it together. Thinking of you, my dear.

Pumpkinjoy how lovely of you to come and say hi, thank you.

Sunnyg wow reading about the magic want, I thought that was some other sort of wand! I love the fact that under the picture it says "In order for a woman to become pregnant, a fertilised egg, or embryo, has to become implanted into the womb lining." who knew! Sunnyg - you are doing such a wonderful kind thing. It is so lovely to hear you speak so kindly of your recipient. As a recipient I know how VERY, VERY grateful I feel for our donor. I am so touched by her kindness, we too were on egg sharing, how wonderful you can be an egg sharer.

YES, Lucy loving your dance.

Baby dust and hugs to Lexie, Weller, BadgerFace, Lissy Keziah, Mini and all and chocolate boobs .

Just running out the door for Spring Harvest, back in a week.

Hugs to Josie on the 2WW and to EVERYONE.

Hugs and kisses.

Maple sorry to hear you're feeling low. Fingers crossed it's not what you think it is, keep hoping.

How are you doing cycle buddy?

My IUI went well yesterday. The clinic was lovely and quiet as they don't usually do surgeries on friday afternoons, we must be special :-D I was very brave and let DH come in for the procedure. His hand holding actually made a world of difference. So it's all over now, just waiting for 13th April, although I'm already really bored, and frantically wondering what's going on in there. Have they fertilised? When will they implant? etc etc I'm going to go mad soon!

Hi everyone - Thanks so much for your kind, wise and positive words - they've really helped. I am feeling so much better today. I was a total idiot yesterday and POAS - of course it was negative at only 7dp2dt but I think it allowed me to get out some of the emotion that's been building up. I'm back on the positive bandwagon now and am going to hang on in there until Wednesday :)

Italian - oops - sorry for the confusion - I was all over the place yesterday! I hope you and Serentis have a lovely break - will be keeping everything crossed for you.

Lucy - At the moment I'd be very happy with a hairy baby! How are things with you?

Scrummy, how did you get on today?

Pocket - How was the acupuncture? Hope it wasn't too traumatic?

Sunnyg - The acupuncture really relaxed me although I burst in to tears as soon as I got there and she told me off for POAS. Unfortunately I'm a very red and blotchy crier and go all frog eyed - v embarrassing when I had to settle the bill at the end! I've heard good things about Herts & Essex from some of the ladies on FF. Do you have your schedule yet? Thanks for all the crossing - if it works you can send me the osteopath's bill :)

Josie -So so pleased IUI went well for you yesterday I'm sure those 2 great follies have produced fab eggs and those little fishes are getting jiggy with them! You just have to believe it will work for you and start thinking of your perfect embie fertilising and dividing perfectly. :) Enjoy being PUPO - you've done amazingly well to get this far - fingers crossed this is just the start of even better things to come.

ZW's 2 WW positive visualisation CD really helps me as it focuses your mind on relaxing and keeping positive (strangely enough, yesterday was the one day didn't listen to it!) I found it really helpful to have things lined up in the diary I could look forward to, lunches with friends etc and took out a free trial with Love Film instant. I managed 8 episodes of Outnumbered over the first few days and then got hooked on Lewis...anything to take my mind off things!

AFM, I'm catching up on work emails today so going back on Monday won't be too horrendous after 2 weeks off. But then it is just a 4 day week and DH and I are celebrating our 1st year wedding anniversary over Easter weekend - woo hoo!!!!

Love to all. xx

Yay Scrummy wonderful news. Hope today went well. Looking forward to your update.

Dear Maple glad you're feeling a bit better having gotten rid of a bit of that stress and emotion. Hang on in there, you'll get that BFP next week

Acupuncture was great today . Didn't hurt at all!! I found the whole thing really positive - practitioner was lovely. She's practiced for fertility before so i feel in safe hands. She suggested that I only eat/drink warm things ("warm and cooked"), ie room temperature drinks rather than chilled etc. and I have to eat more protein and take on more liquid. I feel really empowered now!

Hope everyone is doing well. Especially the girlies on the 2ww bench.

Lots of love

Sorry Maple that should have been a . I am truly rubbish on this mobile

Oh Pocket I really really hope so! I've wanted a baby for so long now and I know I couldn't have done anything more this cycle so I guess what will be will be. I have never seen my DH cry but he has warned me he might next week, regardless of the outcome.

Am so pleased you found acupuncture so positive and the advice you got sounds spot on. The nutritionist and acupuncturist at ZW recommended a protein supplement called 'Whey to Go' that you make in to a milkshake as a great way to up your protein intake. It's by a company called Solgar and I'd definitely recommend. I normally can't stand those type of drinks but this one was ok - especially if you mix it in a blender.

Isn't it great to feel empowered? The hardest think I've found with all this IVF and infertility malarkey is the lack of control and for me the focus on nutrition and complimentary therapies has really helped redress the balance. Costs a bloomin' fortune though :)

Right, I think The Voice is starting in a minute. A bit of a guilty pleasure but I don't think I can cope with anything more complicated at the moment!

Have a lovely evening everyone. x

Hi girls! Been lurking the last few weeks, but had no time to post.

Italian- GO SERERNTIS GO!! Hope you are able to stay calm, cool, and collected on your 2 WW. I'm keeping everything crossed for you, my dear!

Same goes for you, Josie! Try your hardest not to Google every little symptom, it'll just drive you mad. Trust me, I speak from experience.

Scrummy- Yay for your start! I'm so excited for you! As you've already guessed, ARGC are totally on the ball, so go with the flow and get ready for loads of early morning blood tests.

maple- Good luck to you as well, keep positive, and step away from the pee-stick!

Welcome Badgerface, this thread has amazing women, amazing support, and amazing insight. Don't hesitate to ask any question you need to...

Sunny and Pocket- How goes it with you? What's the news?

bugsy- I agree that it's so insensitive to hold miscarriage clinics in an early pregnancy unit. You'd think someone would've pointed that out by now. Hope the appointment goes well, and keep us updated.

lucy- How are you feeling?

Keziah- How is baby David doing? And you? Enjoying mummyhood?

Big hugs and kisses and baby dust to anyone I've missed....

AFM, being a mum is amazing! And I'm happy to say that our Rosalie is such a good baby! I'm exclusively breastfeeding, so I'm awake every four hours or so during the night, but she settles right back down after I feed her, so that's lucky. Had her weighed on Wednesday, and she's up to a whopping 8.18 pounds :-) Still suffering pain from the birth, but GP said it could take up to three months to heal after the tears that I had from the delivery. Parents and sister visited, which was lovely but exhausting. Neighbors are still pretty awful, but the owner of the flat is now involved, and they're supposed to have a meeting today. He said if they don't get their act together, he won't renew their tenancy, so here's hoping. Just finished writing thank you cards for all the lovely gifts we've received, so that's a relief! Now we're just hanging out and meeting all the new babies from my antenatal class.

I just know I'm going to be hearing great news from all of you in the next few weeks....

lissy so glad you are settling in with Rosalie. It sounds like you are doing really well and so nice to have happy news on this thread.

Josie will be keeping everything crossed for you and italian so excited to hear about Serentis. Wishing you a very peaceful next two weeks and sending you lots of implantation vibes.

lexie congrats on your job, even if it wasnt quite what you wanted.

maple you have been so strong and focused until now. I really really hope that you get the news you deserve in the next few days. I will be saying my own little version of a prayer for you. Good luck to your Dh for his job interview as well.

Huge to everyone else and sorry not to name check everyone. Am on my way for day six scan so had my first four injections. Let's see if those little follicles are growing! Will update you later. Injections have been fine so far. Dh has done them all and we have a little routine now and it is completely pain free so can't complain at his injection skills.

Little update - had scan and everything fine for now. They've done a precautionary blood test to check I'm not responding too quickly but did seem precaution from what she said.

Great news Mini hope things continue to go well. I'm very impressed how well you're doing with the injections. Very brave.

Mini glad things are going well
Jodie glad iui was ok keep thinking it only takes one how the 2 ww is not too bad
Italian glad you have S on board.
Go little ones

Hi ladies! Just popped in quickly and am sooooo pleased to here about the babies Keziah and Lissy! And Italian - fingers crossed!!

Big hugs Josie too :)

May well be back here in an official capacity soon ;) DS is now 7 months. No sign of ERTD but I have been exclusively breast feeding up until now. Am going to see a nutritionist a week on Friday to see if a diet tweak will give us a 'free' baby - if not we are on with our frosties

Just had massive catching up session over about 4 days without having time to post and never quite getting to the end of the thread!
Nice to meet you Badgerface and Maplecakes. Badger down-reg injections usually turn me into a missile-throwing witch, apart from the last one, Prostrap, which was blissfully symptom free for some reason. The trick is to have chocolate on hand at all times. Good luck! Maple I think Poppet is adorable. Grow Poppet Grow!
Italian anaemia is horrid ? so glad you?ve got it sorted! And you?re definitely next in the queue for some good stuff to happen to ? you must have exhausted even the most committed gremlins? enthusiasm by now. Go go go little Serentis!
Scrummy how exciting, good luck with the cycle!
Josie brilliant that you?ve turned a corner. I?m so glad the IUI went well ? now your main job is to rest and think positive growing thoughts.
Sunny I?m a big fan of acupuncture, if you can find someone who specialises in fertility. Mine has kept me as close to sane as possible under the circumstances and has smoothed the physical and emotional road a lot.
Mini great going so far, how many follies?
Lissy so nice to hear from you and it?s brilliant that you and little Rosalie are getting on so well. I remember those snuggly night time feedings, at the time I was dizzy with tiredness but now I feel all nostaligic?
Pocket nut and yoghurt smoothies were my answer to protein boost orders ? v nice breakfast supplement!
So I?ve just shelled out over £400 for a massive pile of drugs, a month of antibiotics for DH and me, followed by the normal cycle drugs plus another pile of antibiotics, clexane and steroids ? and we haven?t paid for the intralipids or the actual cycle yet. I keep thinking I must be mad but somehow don?t know how to get off the train?

Hi everyone - sorry for the radio silence. It's been really full on all weekend. Bloods and scan Saturday morning, break for some brunch and retail therapy with DH before teaching session at the clinic (had to wait for blood results to come back to give final confirmation that we can go ahead). Home at 7.30pm then straight to inject my first dose. I was so tired and nervous my hands were shaking - and I managed to get my dose wrong! It was ok though. No harm done. And I did my first injection totally on my own today when I got the call at 2pm to take it NOW. I've been taking Fostimon alone until now and today have started Clomid too for 5 days. Had my hysto yesterday morning and still a bit sore from that - completed by Mr T himself!!!!! So, it's all going ahead at speed here. Back again for bloods tomorrow morning, but no scan so it should be quick. FYI - FSH was 7.5!

Will name check tomorrow. Sorry for the me post...

Down and out!

Maple I?m really glad you?re feeling better

I?m glad you?re doing ok too Pocket Acupuncture sounds very positive

Lissy I?m trying very very hard not to google, I did it lots before I found out I couldn?t get pg, and finally got bored as I ?knew? it wasn?t going to happen. Although, there?s technically a chance this time, so I?m going to try my hardest not to symptom spot!

Fab news MiniH

Best of luck MoJangled

Scrummy you?re definitely braver than me! Sounds like a very busy weekend. Fingers crossed for you

Well, I know some people like to name their embies, and although I technically might not have any embies, I?ve named my 2 eggs ?Fred and Ginger? so I?ve been talking to them (in private of course) and encouraging them, but they won?t tell me if they?ve been fertilised, or if they?re ready to implant I know I might be getting ahead of myself, and if they don?t survive I?ll be gutted, but it?s actually a little bit comforting for now, even if it?s only temporary. I worked out implantation could be anytime from Thu to Mon so I?m tearing my hair out waiting! I hate 2ww!!!

Josie your little embies chat is one of the loveliest things I've read for a long time - and I love your names too go Fred and Ginger go. You may not have any implantation symptoms - although I am sure I felt a sort of light pulling sensation (in a place that turned out to be way too high!). Hope youre managing to distract yourself

josie I love your names!

scrummy wow that is full on! I heard the schedule was intense but had never heard full details. I wouldn't want to do my own injections so you are far braver than me.

Mojangled if they tip you upside down and shake you you'll definitely rattle! That is some cocktail you are taking!

vallinnapod really hope that you dont need to be officially back here - not that you're unwelcome, just hope the nutrition works. I actually studied nutritional therapy for a while but had to stop as it all got too much with work and ivf but I do believe there is a lot you can do on that side.

Today I feel a bit like I'm carrying a baby walrus - stomach is very bloated. Am heading to the gym for a little work out as dr ok'd it and really helped on Sunday with bloating. Next scan tomorrow so should have follie count then.

Just popping in to wish you maple good luck for tomorrow. I know you must be very nervous. But we are all gunning for you. Lots and lots of positive vibes to you ox