TTC 10 plus months, part 6

[mrsden]

A friendly, supportive thread for those of us who are taking a bloody long little longer time than average to conceive.

Hello ladies, phew what a busy few days! I'm only working today and tomorrow this week as I have two lovely mini trips planned. Two nights in two equally lovely country houses. One just with DH and the other with my family and DH. Cannot wait for some 5* pampering :)

So the Woodland themed wedding. Well, as you guessed, it was pretty bizarre. There were some cracking outfits and the venue did look really lovely. They ended up in the local 6th form college canteen (rather than field) due to bad weather but they did an amazing job of transforming it for their reception. DH got very, very drunk on the homemade blackberry wine and I managed to find lots of suitable brown food (supplemented by some brown pasta and chicken I had tucked away in my handbag!). I made one small cheat, which I cleared with my nutritionsit beforehand, some hog roast (with apple sauce and a white, yes WHITE roll - white stuff never tasted so goood... mmmn tasty, sweet crack bread) but I stayed off the booze all night and resisted cheese, quiche, mini pies, cake and many other yummy treats (all beautifully hand made by the groom's sister who is an incredible chef). They had a Spanish band in the evening and a comedy pagan ceremony at sun set, which was actually very funny. The only bummer was that DH was v. sad because the groom (who was best man at our wedding) didn't invite us to their official ceremony in the morning but invited quite a few other friends from home (he moved back to his home town from Brighton a few years ago) and it was a rather sore snubbing. I never really liked his now wife and think that perhaps she doesn't like DH and I for very complicated reasons that I haven't the time or energy to go into here. We stayed in a pleasant enough B&B and then came back to tackle the DIY. Yesterday I murdered a gazillion dandelions with my new Fiskards weed remover (the one on telly) and planted white and red onions, beetroots, garlic and basil. Today I've been mega busy, I learnt that the hairdresser who dyes my hair died a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea he was sick, although I haven't been to the hairdressers since Jan so that I could do a hair mineral analysis test (12 weeks of abstaining from the peroxide). Very sad news. He was only 40 and lovely. I've also ordered my new juicer and am very much looking forward to making some more exotic green juices with leaves and herbs (sad what now excites...)

I also booked our 2nd anniversary stay at my favourite UK spa destination in July (which is after the 3 months of SSI) for a couple of nights and I can't wait. Suddenly it doesn't seem so far away and I can now concentrate on picking treatments and thinking of outfits and possibly a new overnight bag rather than obsessing about TTC. Although TTC is still at the forefront of conversations esp as my moods are making bigger swings than a large pendulum. HAPPY ANGRY SAD HAPPY SAD ANGRY . Oh bugger off hormones and give me some status quo for a change!

So, there's a lot to catch up on on here.

Nelly I'm sorry that your appt made you feel a bit and . Nothing makes me more angry than useless medical professionals, they shouldn't assume that they know things that are beyond the realm of their expertise. Sometimes, I think the NHS system just doesn't work. Other times I am pleasantly surprised. Anyway, I feel at your GP for you. I hope that you have some more reassuring news and solutions soon. You will get there. And there was some :) to take away with you. Do you think you will go private or stick NHS? I hope that some hobbling cheered you up this weekend. This business is all really crap isn't it. Here's a huge hug from me.

Sarlat thank you for sharing your IVF experience so far. It's given me a lot of comfort to think that it's not too bad and that it's manageable and has made you feel positive. I don't know where we will end up or how they'll fix my dodge hormones. I'm now awaiting my letter to see a consultant, which should arrive soon. But I'm not ruling out IVF as a last resort. As my Dad would say, "plan for the worst, hope for the best". Anyway, I really, really, really hope it works for you. Fingers crossed xx

Beryl I hope that the move goes smoothly for you. As someone else up the thread and my Nan used to say, "new house, new baby!".

Wine my god, your op has come 'round quickly. I know you had a cancellation, but still I can't believe it's only one week away. I royally understand the shitting it but it will be well worth it. I think you should go in with a t-shirt saying "Go on, smash my babyblocker!" Only kidding. I hope that your stay goes well, remember to take some indulgent snacks, an iPod, crappy magazines, the cashmere socks (goes without saying!) and a renewed sense of hope in TTC to the hospital with you. I will wish you more luck closer to the time. But in case this week gets away with me....good luck lady, you deserve a BPF real soon :)

Gin glad your counseling sesh was positive. Hope you are getting back into your stride after the crappiness. You sound like you are coping so well with all of this. What a brave lady. Hope MrG is looking after you.

MrsD good to hear from you. Wow, what a lot of info to take on board. He sounds really switched on and it must be good to have an action plan in place and someone who is being so thorough. I hope that your test results don't throw up any spanners and that they can get on with the ISCI soon. Hope you are feeling ok and not too overwhelmed with all of this.

Pout I'm sorry that you are still on the mend. Hope you are feeling better. Are you back at work yet? Hope the constipation is easing, constipation is rubbish although it's not a sensation I'm familiar with on my detox 'constant crapping' supplements. I poo 4 - 5 times a day now and have bouts of mega loud trumpet wind. I'm glad I work from home! Used plaster in your food, WTF? That's totally disgusting? I once saw a small child in Waitrose pick up a large melon, lick it all over with glea and then put it back

Joycep Hope the NHS appt goes well, kick off if they horrible to you or if they spout any nonsense. Great news that Mr Joy is back! Whoo-hoo. You must be thrilled to pieces. I really hope you get your break in June :)

Critter I hope you enjoyed the 5/5 celebrations and are having a nice hols.

Frannie you have the sperm equivalent of Olympian athletes after all that washing just waiting to crack that egg! I hope that this is your month. Fingers crossed xx

Izzy fab and heart warming news. Enjoy the rest of being pregnant and bumplicious!

Becks Yay retail therapy :) I plan to go to Whistles tomorrow to buy some baby pink chinos for our little trips away and maybe a couple of other bits, oo naughty RE: Temping - the room temperature shouldn't have an effect on your body (basal) temp. Not unless you get a bug on holiday or if you are under the weather. Keep in mind you need to temp at the same time each day and after a similar amount of hours sleep. If you are planning on drinking then that can have an effect on your temp too. I've recently read a book called 'taking charge of your fertility' which is brilliant for telling you how to temp, check CM, position of cervix etc.

Waves to Artemis, Lemons, Purple, Teu, Flamingo, Lady, Euro and anyone else I've missed. It's snack time for me so I'm off to make broccoli and apple juice

I realise that my post is littered with spelling mistakes, excuse the rush, I am totes hungry and should have snacked an hour ago but got side tracked on here!! Love to you all :)

Hi

Aaagh - did that thing where you write a post and then lose it.

Gin - thanks for the info about natural IVF. I don't know what the advantages are for down regging either. Really glad the counselling helped. Good luck with your next move and good on ya for giving IVF a shot! x

Joycep - I have had 2 scans so far. One as baseline at start of IVF when told about drugs to use. One last Wednesday to determine if down regging had worked. And I have one coming this Friday to see how well stimming has gone. If all goes ok, I will be having egg collection one day next week. It has moved very fast.

Joycep -sorry abou the sore boobs - is that a treatment related thing?

Hello to Pout

Mrs Den and Becks - great to hear that you have new treatment plans coming up. Mrs Den - my advice is to take each IVF step as it comes rather than read too dar ahead. Becks - am well jell of your upcoming hols - enjoy.

H again

Izzy - congratulations - you deserve to relax a little now. I hope you get to enjoy your second trimester!

Princess - your wedding story is brill!! The pamper weekend sounds amazing and just what the Dr ordered!! I'm glad the IVF story is helpful - I'm not anywhere near the end yet so things still have time to go wrong but I just wanted to get it out there that is itsn't as unpleasant as it might seem at this stage.

Having said that, I have been feeling sleepy this evening - this is the first time I have felt a bit 'unusual' - but nothing too terrible. I am meeting my manager tomorrow to discuss an 'action plan' for my treatment and the leave I am taking. There is some uncertainity as to what I can have as special leave or need to work time back etc. I work for the NHS. I am willing to work back time taken for appointments but I hope to get EC (2-3 days away) as self cert or special leave. I want 2 weeks off after egg transfer - hoping to get a GP sick note - but not sure I'll get it. But don't want to work during the 2ww for lots of reasons.

Anyone else who has done injections found tender lump under the skin in an old injection site? Assuming this is just inflamation and no big deal?

Cheers Sarlat x

Evening all,
Great to hear from you mrsd. Sounds like you had a really productive meeting and you have a plan of action. Great news. I'd be really interested to have a bit of a nose at what your results were (that he thought were a bit high). Sounds like you've got lots to take in and decide upon- we're all here to hold your hand!

Hope my fellow iui buddies euro and lemon are ok and dealing ok with any 2wws or beyond. I'm 6dpiui and feel strangely removed. Don't have any hope and am not temping which is really helping my mental state.

That's not to say becks that temping isn't worth doing. It really is and helps you to learn so much about your cycle. As princess said, TCOYF book is really helpful, as is the fertility friend app. The room temp shouldn't make a difference, I don't think, but regular time is really important. My orifice of choice is my mouth, even if less accurate!! GL with the 2ww.

princess wow, you've been busy. Glad you didn't have to forage. That pig in a bap must have been like a piece of heaven!

beryl glad the hol went well. Hope the house move is going well.

lisa sorry you're feeling down- this is such an endless rollercoaster isn't? Hope you're getting support in RL.

pout hope the pain and bloating is easing- profiteroles are brown so I'm sure they're doing only good. I'm sure the bleeding is nowt to worry about.

gin great news that the counselling went well- it really does help to talk to someone who is detached from the situation. Hope you are keeping well.

joycep I also have sore boobs- again, not reassuring, but please don't panic about your eggs and hormones. I'm sure these doctors will find out so much more when these processes start. Not long to go now xx

izzy so pleased all is well after your hellish start. Can't imagine ever saying 'I've had my 12 week scan' but you graduates give us all hope!

sarlat GL with the meeting with your manager tomorrow. Hope they are understanding.

Not much to report here- v busy and trying to stick to the PCOS diet in book euro recommended don't think the 4 mojitos on Saturday night were in it though. Really want a GP appointment since the discovery of PCO and the fact that my skin is ridiculously bad- lumpy and painful. Do you think the GP will treat PCOS separately from the fert treat? Scared he'll tell me to bugger off after referring me already! Anyone here on metformin?

Waves to all- have a good evening xx

I do shift work including nights so I don't have a regular sleep pattern. I also do not sleep well and wake frequently throughout the night? I assume this would mess up any temping?

Hi everyone. Sorry I too have been AWOL. After my appointment on Thursday I wanted to try to clear my head a bit, plus we have been away for a few days with friends. It was a lot of fun and no surprise PG announcements :)

I'm not sure where my head is at with regard to my appointment. Basically as far as I can tell the main issue with the FSH is that it may mean that I don't respond so well to IVF stimulation. The FSH "score" in itself shouldn't be the actual reason that I'm not getting pregnant, as it's not that high, and I am indeed ovulating. In all other ways I've a fairly textbook set of results so far, so I am a bit :confused: as to why I'm not upduffed. I have the appointment in for my HSG, it's the day before I go on holiday but doesn't really fit with my cycle. So I'll have to re-arrange (for when I get back, I presume, as I can't imagine they'll bring it forward). And from there I reckon we'll go private and move onto IVF. However my sister is encouraging me to ask about IUI first, which I'll certainly consider. I'm still feeling a bit down about the whole thing really, I think it's because it's the age thing, and really the only thing there is bugger all I can do anything about. Meh to getting older, meh to Mr Nelly taking about 2 years to agreeing to start TTC, Meh to my GP not being on the ball.

I'm sorry this has just been me me me. I'm due AF tomorrow and no spotting yet which is good, but so stupidly annoyingly frustratingly I'm letting that give me hope, even though I have already felt some typical womble pains. .

Anyway busy day at work tomorrow but should be able to catch up on Thursday. General hugs and waves to everyone :)

nelly big hugs to you. I can identify with what you have written. My mood changes all the time about what I think about this whole situation. I'm not sure I'll ever get over having to have ivf, because it makes me feel quite angry to think that we do everything right lifestyle wise but we can't have a baby the way others can. But after meeting the Dr yesterday, I feel much more positive. I think for me it's a little easier because there isn't a choice. The only way we can have a baby that is biologically both ours is to have icsi. It's a hard choice for you about whether to try IUI first. I think if you're thinking time is an issue then I would be tempted to go straight to ivf. If the IUI would be medicated then there isn't that much extra with ivf and the odds of success are much greater.

pout sorry you are still suffering after the op. I know you wanted them to find the answer but I think in the long run it's better not to have endo. It can be a pain to treat I've read and very painful condition. Will they do anything about the fibroid?

joycep yay to mr joycep being home again. The best bit about DH being away is when I'm expecting him home and I get that excited feeling like when we were first dating

wine I can't believe the op is so soon. Just think the baby blocker will soon be all gone and you'll be all systems go for baby making.

sarlat thank you so much for writing about your experiences. We'll be starting some time over the next few months, provided the genetic tests come back ok. We'll be doing the short protocol I think. Are you doing the long one with down regging? I don't really know how Drs decide which one to do.

gin that's good about the counselling. We were asked yesterday whether we wanted to join a group counselling session. I declined because I really wouldn't feel comfortable. Also, one of the questions it said it helped you explore was "what our life would look like without children" and I really don't think I want to contemplate that yet.

frannie my FSH was 7, my LH 11. He thought those results were ok, although ideally they should be 1:1 he said mine weren't too far out. Whether I have pcos is sort of irrelevant because on DH's results alone we need ICSI. Although, he did say pcos can affect how well the ovaries respond to stimulation and the risk of overstimulation is greater. My TSH was 3.1 and prolactin was 340, these are a little high. He said they might indicate a thyroid problem and this would have to be sorted before ivf. So, I'm crossing all my fingers that the next blood results come back ok.

I wish CD 1 would get here so I can have the bloods done. I had spotting yesterday so thought it might be here today. But so far only spotting. Typical that when I want AF it doesn't show.

Waves to everyone I've missed.

Morning everyone

I've been away for a week and just catching up. Lots going on as always. I will try to catch up with everyone but apologies to anyone I miss!

Princess your wedding tales made me and I am hugely in awe of your willpower in sticking to the brown diet in the face of such temptation. The weekends away (and associated retail therapy) sound like a great plan, I bet the next couple of months absolutely fly past and things will be moving forward before you know it. All that DIY and gardening is impressive too.

Nelly I really identified with your 'meh' feelings, I have the same especially about age and MrA taking so long in the first place to agree to start ttc. I don't know if starting two years earlier would have made any difference but we might have had more options in terms of investigation and treatment. We are where we are and 99% of the time I don't resent him for it but can't help wishing things had been different.

JoyceP hurrah for MrJ being back, hope you manage to get your break in June

Sarlat thanks so much for sharing the IVF experience. It's really helpful to hear about it from those going through it, I don't know whether we will go down the IVF route (though it seems likely) but you have taken some of the fear out of it for me.

Frannie fingers crossed for IUI success, hope you are taking it easy during the 2ww

Critter hope you are enjoying your week at the beach! That sounds lovely

Lisa I've got plumber envy... last time we had a plumber out we ended up wtih a scruffy fat bloke with a massive bum crack and a penchant for singing along badly with whatever was on the radio, didn't appreciate that much!

Wine good news about your op date though it must be terrifying at the same time. It will be one major hurdle out of the way and hopefully with a nice shiny broid-free womble the path will then be clear.

Gin glad the counselling session was helpful. Do you know what the next steps will be?

MrsDen that's a huge decision you've made, glad you are feeling more positive after seeing the doctor but I can understand your anger at how unfair it all is. Hope things start moving for you now.

Well I've had a lovely week away, a walking holiday in Ireland with a terrific bunch of women, and a week of not thinking about ttc or babies or any of this stress. I got the last round of clomid down me but other than that didn't think about it - didn't temp as I was sharing a room, and was distracted by good company and lovely scenery and a whole lake of guinness and was remarkably unstressed. A friend invited me on a week organised by her walking group and the women there were all either child free (whether voluntarily or not I don't know) or had grown up children, largely single/divorced so there was no baby talk and nobody asked me about not having kids, it just wasn't an issue. Being with a group of interesting independent women with full lives has made me think differently about not having children and feel a lot better about the possibilities life holds when you don't have that responsibility. And just having a week away has done me more good than I might have imagined. Now I'm back I haven't started temping again this month and am not bothering with the ov sticks either, just going to do what is required during shag week and try to keep the stress to a minimum. I can't imagine it will make a difference, but after a week of feeling like a normal person for the first time in years I'm just trying to keep hold of some of that feeling.

Waves, tail feather shakes and cashmere socks to everyone

Morning ladies,

Artemis your holiday sounds amazing. Just the ticket I'd say. Glad you had a lovely time. I often think, what I would do if I didn't have kids? I think I would re-train (again - I'm on my 2nd professional career having had a 'moment' at the tender age of 25 and leaving my TV job for a much more sensible finance job) and set up my own business. Or I'd go back to university and study philosophy, which is what I wish I had done when I was younger. I might consider these directions anyway when we have kids, DH is an only child and although I'd always hankered after 4 children I think that with my hormones and after the 3 years of not even getting there yet and now entering the 4th, 1 bambino will probably be enough! When child is at school i can then think about myself new career directions. Anyway, enough of my musings. Even I feel refreshed by your post! May your TTC (for at least this cycle anyway) continue to be relaxed and stress free

Nelly and MrsD sorry you are both having to wrestle with big stuff. It isn't fair, all this TTC. However, you are both on your paths and there are solutions out there for you. Try to ignore all the stats and focus on keeping happy and healthy. I hope that we all get to look back on this time and just go, "yep, it was really crappy, but we got there in the end".

Nelly a special you are not old post. I just went back through the posts to learn that you are 35. Definitely not old. Loads of time left :) If it's any consolation I nagged my DH for a baby from 26. We 'accidentally' got preggo when I was 27 and nothing except another MC, blighted ovum and months of misery and despair since then (ok so there have been lots of good times, but this does rather hang like a cloud and hasn't helped my anxiety too much!) I haven't been taken seriously by doctors because I took a year out to get married (28) and cope with an MC and because I get hit with the don't worry you just have to keep trying (the implication that we either a) don't know what hole to stick in it or b) we are not having enough sex) because you are only young. Grrrrr. I am now 30, sans baby and at the very start of my medical journey. I won't have a child until I'm at least 31, a mega 4 years late. And I suspected I have a hormone imbalance from my mid-20s, which makes this even more frustrating for moi. However, as my old GP was so unsupportive and used to send me away with a flea in my ear every time I went with an illness (not very often) I never had the confidence to say, I think my hormones are up the wall, because the bitch she would have thought that I was overreacting. Plus I didn't have any hard facts to go to her with. Yet all my friends and OH agreed that there must be something wrong with me, because 'normal' people don't suffer the swings that I do. Perfectly happy the one minute, angry and teary at seemingly nothing the next (sometimes, just leaving my phone at home or seeing an advert about mistreated donkeys or being hungry have set off huge waves of emotional tears). Oh and I was diagnosed with depression twice too, both just before AF turned up. Go figure?! So, what I'm saying is that, even if you had started trying younger, you may still be in the same boat but with more of your happy years ripped away from you. I lost the last 3 years of my 20s to TTC and I feel very bitter. If I'd have known that it would have taken until being in my 30s to be taken seriously, I would have left it and enjoyed my 20s with less guilt and baby making zeal. I thought it might be useful to give you the other side of the coin (maybe not very - I'm sorry if this isn't making much sense) so that you can look back at the time you had to 33 to enjoy yourself and not worry about this bollocks with a big smile and warm fuzzy feeling. Even if it's a small consolation?! Anyway, I think you deserve a big hug anyway. Sorry if this didn't make much sense / make you feel any better.

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday, that it has come to light that some of our friends have made comments about us being v.sensible not trying for baby until our house is sorted out (the implication being that I'm not pregnant on demand) and us having to tell them that in fact I am not capable of popping one out on demand and am undergoing investigation. Cue lots of faces as if to say, "you're having problems? How is that possible? Surely, you just have a shag a get upduffed like us?" Sadly not people, sadly not.

Right sorry for my mega post. Love to all, hope you have a good day. I'm off to do my last day of work for this week. I could get used to this two days of work a week lark :)

Thank you everyone for being so lovely! You do cheer me up! Though princess not sure if I posted the wrong age somewhere, but I'm nearly 38 . Hence didn't even start trying till I was past the legendary fertility destroying 35. How did I get to here, I wonder?

Your holiday sounds amazing Artemis I will try to channel some of your inner calm I think!

Better get back to work for now

Nelly sorry for getting your age wrong . My bad, what a wally. I feel I've dug myself into a hole and someone needs to take my shovel away. I have another story up my sleeve tho, my old boss (director of telly production company I used to work for) tried from 28 and didn't have her son until she was 43. Last resort, 2 rounds of IVF in her 40s and she had a lovely little boy (now 11/12). She didn't seem like an old mum at all - she was really trendy, sporty, did loads of cool stuff with him and he was very, very happy and she was really very happy. She managed to juggle being an MD of a very busy and successful company with picking him up from school (v. posh private school), going to plays and sports days and taking him on 6 - 8 wk holidays on their yacht over summer hols! It certainly made me think at the time that there is a balance to be struck as my mum was strictly stay at home, had me at 20 and is now a v. bored housewife at the very young age of 50, having never had a career or hobbies (unless you count ironing and looking at holiday brochures!) You'll get there Nelly. xxxxxxxxx (please accept my apols if I upset you again)

pouty - i hope you are much better today. sorry you are bleeding, did they say how long it would last for? Presumably everything is just flushing itself out?

mrsd - that?s great you have now officially got the ball rolling. I am glad he didn?t rush the appointment, there is nothing worse than feeling like you are being rushed out the door especially when you are paying. I think arrogance comes with the territory unfortunately. I think it is law here now to have the hiv and hep tests done as my clinic will need a some kind of stamped certificate to prove that i am in the clear. The short protocol sounds nicer but i still can?t work out the difference. i hope you are feeling ok. It?s a lot to take on board and get your head around and emotionally coming to terms with it is difficult. We are coming to the end of the thread...will you start the new one as you seemed to bring a lot of luck on this one?!

princess - at woodland wedding. The mood pendulum rings a big bell with me. i?m not sure if it?s my hormones or just the emotional strain. I?m with you about re-training if i don?t have kids. I think i will re-train even if i do have kids and would love to start my own business. When i think of things i could do, it sort of gives me a little buzz of excitement and a little hope that things could be ok. Also like your story about your old boss. There are definitely huge perks in having kids later on. And we are all as young as we feel!

sarlat - that does seem to have moved fast. I can?t believe EC is next week. i hope your meeting with your manager goes well. I can imagine that as you work for the nhs that they are more sympathetic...well i hope they are. I?m not sure about the tender lump but i know i was getting bruised around my stomach from the injections. I am sure it is bound to cause some reaction. How are you doing at the self injecting...it seems like you have been coping marvellously.?

frannie - shouldn?t your fertility consultant be treating your pcos alongside your iui treatment? I know someone who was on metformin and clomid and they got pregnant after being told they should really just go straight to ivf. I think GPs are the wrong people to be treating the pcos as they don?t seem to know much about it as far as i can work out. Can you speak to your consultant abou tit?

nelly - i am sorry you are feeling down about everything. I know it is a horrible feeling having regrets that you didn?t start earlier but you have a bit of an action plan in place which is great. An hsg is positive step - you never know what it will do..spring cleaning the tubes seems to work for a lot of people. I hope your consultant can discuss with you whether they think iui is worth trying or whether it?s best to move on to ivf. Anyway, massive hug to you. i hope your hobbler is some comfort to you.

artemis - your holiday sounds wonderful and very carefree ? just what hte doctor ordered. It is really nice that you were surrounded by women who led fulfilling lives even without children. When we are trapped in this ttc journey, i think it is very difficult to see beyond the darkness sometimes and we often feel a sense that our lives and our future happiness depend on having kids so it is nice that you saw beyond this.

My acupuncturist told me yesterday that 1 in 4 people in London now need western medicine to help get them pregnant. (1 in 6 in rest of the country). 90% of his patients will end up with a baby at the end of their journey and they don?t actually have records on the other people. He was also saying that he has people on his books who went through the menopause in their 20s and actually they are in better places than the likes of us who are in limbo. These women know that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it and human resilience has kicked in. Also he thinks 1 in 3 of his patients lie to friends about how long they have been trying. Some of them won?t even admit that they went through ivf and will pretend that it happened straight away.

that's interesting what your guy said joycep. I sometimes feel so alone in all this that I forget there are so many others in the same position. I don't intend to go around telling people we've had ivf, if someone asked me outright I'd tell them but most will assume (if I get pregnant) that it happened easily for us I guess and that we just took our time before trying.

nelly don't let yourself fret about the age thing. 38 is not too old. My clinic treats people well into their 40s. I sometimes wish that we'd started as soon as we got married but then like princess says we wouldn't have had the carefree few years that we had.

My friends baby is soon to turn 1 and she was moaning yesterday about how time has flown by and he is no longer really a baby. For once I felt a little smug because I was thinking that she will have finished her baby days (this is her second and she says last) when I am starting (hopefully!)

becks if you work shifts then take your temp whenever you wake up, they say to take it a the same time of day which is when you wake up, this is because your body has 'been at rest' so your temp will be stable, I wake up and go loo lots in the night too. You should still be able to get an idea. I take mine up the bum as they say its the most accurate but I don't think it really matters as long as you are doing the same way each time.

nelly I didn't start this baby journey till I was 38, I'll be 40+ by the time I have a baby. I don't think your age is anything to worry about :) especially when you think about others that are younger and are in the same boat, big hugs

artemis your're holiday sounds perfect, its the sort of holiday we'd like, i can give you the plumbers details

well i'm at home again with the mother of all migraines :( , it started Monday night, just cannot shift it, I was supposed to be on a course today

waves to everyone else

Joycep sadly the mood pendulum has been in full swing since I was a teenager. Only made worse by TTC. At least I'm starting to get some answers and my history is now starting to make so much more sense. My mum's very volatile and feisty, so I always assumed that bad PMS was in the family and just part of my make-up. Now I understand that this is not the case and in fact that it's because I'm chronically deficient in progesterone CD3 - prog 2, CD15 - prog 2.3, CD21 - ? (I imagine maybe 2.5, and that's being generous). Seems as if mummy doesn't have the low prog as she kindly pointed out to me the other week on the phone and that she is in fact just volatile mental and feisty unreasonable and used to getting her own way ! Your acupuncturists stats are really quite something. I think a lot is down to social stuff and environment. I'm not too bothered about intervention at this stage. Just give me an effing baby! I think that a lot of my friends will start to lie when it comes to it. My bestie has been trying for months but making out to other peeps that they're not really trying and I know that it took our friends over a year to get pregnant with their son (DH's friend and he confided in DH that he thought he was infertile) and then told everyone it was a 'happy accident' after a night out. [Hmm].

MrsD I'm glad you were feeling smug. And that's all!

Thanks again everyone, and princess of course you didn't upset me! I think I'm just feeling particularly low as AF is due and my womble is getting progressively more achy . Anyway I just fessed to a friend what was going on as she was telling me about a mutual friend who is about to start IVF (she's been very open about it) and I felt like I'd have enough of keeping it in all the time. Anyway she was v sweet and said baby aspirin had worked for her so I might look into that.

I'm sorry for just me posting but I'll blame the phone! Hobbling tonight which will hopefully take my mind off all this feeling low.

Oh and FFS about the lies people tell about how long it took .

Hello ladies! How are we all?

I am feeling pretty good. I hit my huge work deadline on Friday and then went away to the outlaws' place in France at the weekend. I arrived pretty groggy after working until gone midnight on Saturday and then getting up to get my early flight, but then I had a few days to recharge my batteries and feel rather better now. I love the south of France. There is something wonderful about cycling or driving past the lovely vineyards and chateaux with nothing much to do. Oh, and I had my first several few glasses of wine after giving it up back in February. I can confirm that it does taste as good as I had remembered. I managed not to think much about ttc over the weekend as we didn't talk about it with the outlaws and I wasn't on the internet, so it was largely out of my mind. I have my pre-iui scan on Friday so I'm sure I will be obsessing about ttc again soon enough.

I'm just back from a dental checkup. It made quite a change to have someone furkling around at that end, I can tell you. And it's a long while since I have seen any medical professional with my knickers on! You will be pleased to hear that I managed to restrain the urge to rip them off as soon as I saw someone in a white coat wearing latex gloves coming towards me!

princess I'm glad the wedding was fun.

Artemis welcome back. That sounds like a lovely week. I have just finished reading (several years after everybody else) Around Ireland with a Fridge.

Mrsd I know what you mean about feeling resentful about having to have IVF. I also feel hugely frustrated that on paper there is no reason why we shouldn't be getting pregnant. I feel like telling the medical researchers to pull their fingers out and get on with finding whatever it is that the tests don't cover!

Nelly it sounds like you are in a similar position to me - on paper there is no reason why it shouldn't be working. And also have some regrets that we didn't start earlier as I now feel that we have to rush into interventions that I am really not happy about. But Mr euro just took a while to get there. Meh indeed.

BTW, were you stressed when you had your blood test? I am sure I read somewhere that stress can cause FSH to rise? I'm not 100% sure about that though.

Hi to frannie and the other iui-ers. We will probably have our next one Sunday/Monday. Friday should tell me more.

Gin yes, you remembered correctly. I am at King's. That's where I am due to have my NHS IVF round and where I was going to get IUI done when we decided to postpone the IVF. But when I found out I was due to ovulate at the weekend and king's don't open at the weekend I switched to a private clinic where I had already been seeing someone for the NK cells treatment. I have found King's to be good apart from the opening hours though. Everyone I have seen there so far has been lovely.

critter enjoy your hols! I feel much better for my minibreak.

becks I've temped in loads of different places (hot and cold) and switched time zones and still find the temperatures are accurate enough for me to see a biphasic pattern.

sarlat thanks for your post about IVF. We were supposed to be starting it in March but I had a complete freak out when the fridgeload of drugs got delivered and decided I couldn't face it just yet. So we postponed for a while and are trying these couple of cycles of IUI in the meantime. I should be having IUI#2 in a few days. And assuming that doesn't work, I would start downregging on day 21 of the cycle after that, so around mid-June. If I don't have another freak out about it. The tricky thing is that I am working away for 3 weeks over the summer, so if I didn't start it in June, because of the way my cycles fall, I probably wouldn't be able to start it until September.

mrsd I do think IVF/ICSI is a lot to get your head around. Give yourself and mrd some time to come to terms with it.

It's a real shame that people feel they have to lie about it taking them a while to get pregnant. I wish it was something people could be honest about. It makes me feel a lot more "normal" that quite a few of my friends have had difficulties too.

Welcome back Euro glad you had a lovely time away and got to drink lots of lovely very, very . Sounds like you have a very busy couple of months coming up on the TTC front, which must be exciting / nerve wracking too. Sounds like it's all under control. I agree that unexplained is a 'weak' explanation and that much more research is required. Anyway, nice to see you back :)

mrsd, I have realised i seem to love telling people about my fertility issues (and i always thought i was intensely private) so would probably introduce any child i had as my little ivf miracle. I must say i find it very hard to get my head around these figures because i know the odd person who has had clomid but i have no friends who have been through ivf. Yet whoever i tell (half of London so far), they always say they know loads of people who have been through ivf. A friend did tell me recently that our old colleague was having ivf and my immediate reaction was show a massive and inappropriate smile and go "REALLY?" . I think it was a relief to hear that someone I once knew was doing ivf?but I shouldn't have looked so happy.

Also we must remember that although we are behind our friends in baby world , several years will not make that much difference in the long run. Also, it doesn't mean they will be grandparents sooner either which is the next step and concern once the kids have grown up!

princess - i have had numerous conversations with various docs, acupuncturists and witch doctors about progesterone and it seems natural progesterone can help solve/cure many things. Migraines, pms, post-natal depression, sore boobs. There is far too much estrogen in our foods and products nowadays.

nelly - i am glad you have had a good chat with a friend. sometimes it can just help to get it all ou thtere.

eruo - i'm glad you had a fab time in La France. The south is gorgeous and whenever i go there i feel like i'm a million miles away. I was at the dental hospital last week and was thinking the same thing

ladies I'm going to try and create a new thread, wish me luck :)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1469133-TTC-10-plus-months-Part-7

hope this helps, see you on the flip side