TTC 10 plus months, Part 7

[lisacn]

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

Hello ladies!

Fucking hell euro, that is the last thing you need. The steroids sound like a good explanation. Or maybe as others have said, if they sort whatever it is that showed as abnormal, it may be the key to getting that BFP. I know I shouldn't be surprised but a bit of me can't believe that the NHS sent you a letter saying not to get pregnant, whilst they are giving you ivf & trying to get you pregnant!

wine so pleased you are feeling well. You seriously deserve to! Yay for non-ttc shagging.

buzzy I can't remember much about SA, but don't think those results are particularly hideous? As wine has said, get a re-test. Hope mrb is beginning to feel better. purple you made me laugh out loud at the image of buzzy lugging a man size baby about her house!

mrsd mrgin had the genetic tests when he was referred to the consultant, but it's never been mentioned to me and we've also not been told about icsi baby abnormalities! The genetic tests all came back fine - hope yours do too. Your clinic sounds v thorough!

joy so sorry you've been having a hard time recently. at bitchface ex. FFS, some people. I'm intrigued at how one goes about sending one's period to Greece! Sounds like a good idea to get all the tests done whilst you are waiting for ivf. I think frustration at all the waiting makes things harder.

nelly the clinic sounds nice! Mild ivf and natural ivf are different. I can see how you could end up with no eggs from natural but think with mild, you would normally get a few. Clinics seem very dismissive of it. Think it has slightly lower success rates, which I guess affects their stats...

Oh and all the talk of skons, please stop! I had to buy some on the way home! [pig face]

princess hope the migraine has cleared. Wohoo, ewcm. Your diet really seems to be working.

critter well done on the 2 shags a day! Tres impressive. And I agree with sarlet that it's normal to have a bump and some drops on the skin post injection. I found some drugs left more on the skin than others! An interesting fact from one of the nurses is that air bubbles don't actually matter with the jabs I was doing, as the injections don't go into the muscle. Didn't stop me stressing about them though...

poutydave loving the wedding outfit! I must use it next Halloween and go to any parties as a barren :) Sorry pmt is upon you.

artemis you have my sympathies about the football. Mrgin is bloody obsessed, watching at least 1 game per evening. Slack jawed idiot, with some random shouting describes him well during a game. I'm jealous of the northern meet up. I wanna come!

Hi to everyone else! Hope frannie/cheggers is ok, don't think she's been on here for a while.

I'm feeling slightly like I have pmt today, although it's too early! Random things like the Olympics, Boris, football and plates left in the lounge are pissing me off! Ranty rant.

Sorry for the skon chat. Just to really confuse you all, there is also Scone palace. Pronounced Skoon . Stone of Destiny and all that ;)

Gin I didn't ask too much about mild at the tour. I figured that's one for the consultant, but I'm thinking that's my preferred middle ground. I'd be up for Natural if I lived in London but I can't see how I'd work it for several cycles otherwise.

wine what great news you feel well. Re not obsessing - no idea really. My hobbling helps, no doubt about it. But not entirely. In some ways MN doesn't help, rarely a day goes by without me checking it. On the other hand, where would I be without you lot, I wonder??

I meant to reply to other posts but Mr Nelly interrupted me for a shag . Sorry about that!! But it's been warm and sunny for 3 days straight, which is what's needed to bring our house up to comfortable room temperature. We need to take advantage of shagging on top of the bed covers

Morning

Joy I am seconding Princess's wish for a huge headed (or two-headed) baby for Mr J's ex. Could you contact the husband and sow some little seeds of doubt as to the paternity of said child? I am equally and at sending periods to Greece... we are off to Greece soon on our jollies, maybe I could courier a job lot for all of us. Is there any EU customs restriction on the amount of menstrual blood that can be transported between member states? If they challenge me I shall just say 'it's for the economy, stupid'

Euro it sounds like a plausible theory re steroids and the smear test. Have you managed to get a GP appointment? Of course they are all on strike today but you wouldn't know the difference at our surgery, it's a two-week wait for an appointment on any normal day

Mrsden those genetics tests sound scary but thorough... I am really confused at the way hormone levels can fluctuate so much. And how the drs can make major decisions on the basis of the those levels if that is the case...

Purple are crazy nipples anything like crazy paving? Dave I get the pregnant PMT boobs as well. I have always had them from post-ov until my period though they are getting worse with age It is one of the many unfair things in the TTC universe that the main preg symptom is exactly the same as that for PMT

Pout/Princess when I first went to my GP he actually said that trying to understand the female reproductive system is like trying to understand the phases of the moon and that midwifery had moved on very little since medieval days. Filled me with confidence, that did

Wine I am glad you're feeling good and well done on the post operative shagging. I admit I am relieved to be allowed a month off swi, even though I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the whole HSG thing.

Buzzy hope Mr B is on the mend. When MrA is poorly I do wonder if having a baby would be that much different. Did they not explain the SA to you? They should go through it with you line by line. Some of those numbers look OK from my limited knowledge. i was shocked at the low % motility in Mr A's sample until they explained that 5-7% is in normal range.

Gin I don't think you need to have PMT to rant about Boris/ football/ olympics/ plates left in the lounge

Hang on. Hidden chlamydia?! Jeesus, what next? where is it hiding? Surely the blood test they do for antibodies would pick that up, otherwise what's the point?

Top marks to Nelly for top-of-covers shagging, you wild thing you

Northerners, we are close to having a date. Tea and skons all round . When I was at school you could tell how posh someone was by the way they pronounced skons/scoownes. That and if they had their dinner at tea time. As I think Sarlat pointed out, the three meals most northerners have are called breakfast, dinner and tea. When I went to uni I met some really posh people who called them breakfast, lunch and supper . In 1970s Yorkshire 'supper' consisted of a cup of warm milk and two cream crackers with jam on half an hour before you went to bed. It in no way involved cracked pepper or linen napkins. Then Nelly I did a history course that introduced me to the Stone of Destiny at Scone/Scoone and my little brain nearly exploded.

Can you tell I have nothing to say? Temp dropped this morning and spotting has started. Feck feck feck. I am so sick of this now. I have been having periods for 25 years. That's long enough, surely? Why can't my body just work?

Hello, I am an avid reader and infrequent poster. Me 34, DH 38. 3 yrs trying, just 1 MC. Finally insisted on having blood tests which show high testosterone (me) and got a choice from doctor of Metformin for 6 months then referral to a specialist clinic or an immediate referral. I took the immediate referral and have our first appointment in early August. Frankly I half pleased that we're doing something finally and half gutted it's come to this and a bit frightened about all the poking about and drugs that might follow. Any wisdom from those in the similar situations much appreciated.

Welcome freedom sorry you've found yourself here but you'll get loads of support here
Artemis I'm sorry for the spotting and dropped temp . I'm one of the ones brought up on breakfast, lunch and supper. All gone a bit wishy washy now as Mr Teu is a breakfast, lunch and tea man, oh and sc-oh-nes. But then he is from Cov.
euro bloody hell. Hope you get some sense out of the GP.
buzzy hope MrB is continuing to improve.
Very interesting about infections and ttc. The medical profession still haven't got to the bottom of my recurrent thrush infections (9+ years ). Everytime it gets bad enough that I go through another round of swabs and testing the comment is the same "ooh very inflammed". NSS! I've long wondered what it might be doing to my insides.
Sorry about not checking with everyone. It's taken me 2 hours to catch up with everything that's been going on!
Waves to all and also wondering where Frannie has gone.

Ooh Teu you've mentioned something that has long bugged me. I too have had recurrent ?thrush infections for many years. Numerous GPs have sent me off with treatments, often without doing the swabs, that don't resolve it. I have seen two GPs at the current practice. One says it's thrush, the other says it is a skin condition like eczema or psoriasis . They have both given me different treatments neither of which have worked. I only ever get it in the second half of my cycle and keep telling them I think it is related to hormone levels but they don't listen. They have also insisted thrush has no bearing on fertility but i am not sure I believe them.

Breakfast, lunch and tea, now that's hedging your bets

free welcome, I hope your appt goes well for Aug, have they pout you on the Metformin in the mean time??

teu how is the job going?? Thrush recurrent for 9 years bloody hell and yes it would look very inflamed NSS indeed!!

artemis sorry for the temp dip and spotting I have emailed a copy to Mr Shehata's very understanding nurse, she is always nice when I see her but she must think bloody hell its that crazy obsessive loon who emails/stalks me all the time

nelly top cover shagging wayhey you little rebel , only thing with that is you sometimes get wet patch marks

gin boris/footy/plates/olympics would give anyone pmt

princess can sympathise on the migraine front, does your GP give you anything or do you buy over the counter

wine i'm glad you're feeling better, and thanks for the info

joy if bitchface ex has a two headed baby than it would be Tasmanian lets just hope she has a long and painful labour

well mr b man sized baby is alot better, he had a funny turn lat night after his shower, I took the dressing off and the scar isn't too bad, not like he's a model or porn star so its only me who is going to see it,
Dear MIL sent an email to me last night saying that she remembered being told when mr b was a baby that due to his sickle cell trait that they would have to be careful with anesthesia really?? I've consulted dr google and nothing has come up, she called at 9.00 am to tell him despite me emailing her to say I would let him know

waves to everyone else

Welcome freedom. The thought of the tests can be a little scary at first but you soon get into the swing of it. I'm now at the stage where if I went to the dr with a broken arm, I would probably whip my knickers off, climb onto the couch and spread 'em....

Artemis my temp dropped too this morning, so I guess I am heading for my pre-IVF bleed. And then I will be menopausal until they start stimming me .

I have managed to get a recommendation for someone to do a colposcopy and further investigations. Now I just need a referral letter and I can call my insurers.

Morning all.
I have news that has made me feel physically sick on two very different fronts at the same time. This process is making me schizo. I am annoyed with myself and now feeling that the heat is on to get duffed next month (although someone forgot we were on the SWI ban this morning (not me) and no doubt that will lead to mentalling despite only being on CD11 and having a red light on FF ) Anyway, the news. My best friend found out she is pregnant on Saturday (physically sick) but that she started bleeding heavily on Tuesday (physically worried sick) and that she has had scans and they think it will be ok (physically sick - why couldn't my two have been ok despite heavy bleeding) but she has been told to wait and see (physically worried sick been there, got the t-shirt). Oh my heavy heart. I'm mostly worried sick and hope that this works out well. I just really, really, really, really want to get upduffed now so that we can have babies together. Otherwise, I lose my best-friend to TTC too . Kinda feel that she will find new friends with babies and I'll be left behind. One of our other friends (she of two tries and taking speed at time of conception... Dr Google?) is really close to my bestie and I can't bear to think of them pregnant / with prams together.

I also googled the anticardiolipin thing yesterday and it's really great to know that there isn't a known cure. So even if they do find something, they probably can't do anything about it. Yay. I'm feeling very hard done by today.

Hi freedom sorry to hear about your tests, but good that you have something to work from. I'm none the wiser about my hormones, waiting for the next test (3rd one - looking for low progesterone) in a couple of weeks. So if you have high testosterone do you have PCOS? There are lots of diet things you can do to help. I highly recommend Marilyn Glenville's book on PCOS. I bought it on the day I had a scan that showed up cysts. However, I've since been told that I do not have PCOS and that my right ovary just has a PCOS appearance. I don't have high testosterone or any of the other symptoms related to the syndrome. I also have a membership to Verity and they have loads of interesting / useful stuff on there. Good pointer from Euro. I wish you well on your journey and hope that your stay here is short and sweet :)

Frannie where are you - oo - ooo - ooooo (echoing round). Hope you are ok. Any news on the non TTC related other exciting stuff?

Artemis I'd forgotten about the dinner / lunch debate. It's such a long time since I lived in the North. I have lots of lovely Northern friends and do miss being there sometimes. I don't miss the relentless teasing about my accent though. And I certainly don't miss the Isle of Man, where I spent my teenage years (and some time after uni) For me, it's breakfast, lunch and dinner. I find supper as amusing as suppository both words make me giggle. One sounds so old fashioned and posh and the other just rude. I might add smurf into the mix too, only made funnier by the fact that my home office overlooks some very big graffiti and there is a huge smurf holding an AK47 to Voldemort with a caption that say's "Nobody move, nobody get smurf" Now when I sit down to turn my computer on, make a cup of tea, watch the world, I catch a glimpse of the smurf and well I can't help but smirk. Tee hee. Sorry about the temp drop this morning and the spotting. Crapola.

I don't think I expressed my horror about hidden chlamydia, HIDDEN CHLAMYDIA WTF? 'scuse mon francais. Where is it hidden? Is this some horrible joke? Mother Nature is now hiding STIs up in the fanny hole? But seriously, just another thing to worry about. G-reat. I'm intrigued about how to send a period to Athens. OH wondered if you send them a tampon? We thought that this sort of behaviour was reserved for ex boyfs / people you really don't like. I'm sure Peaches (Electronic Artist and not Geldoffs spawn) used to wing tampons around at gigs. Anyway. Please enlighten us JoyceP!!

Nelly you did make me with your on top of the covers. We took our scabby blind down last year in bedroom when we decorated and then realised that our windows are huge and we can only have custom made blinds (failed attempt to buy a cheap B&Q blind which covered half the window)so to save money for the new house we decided that we would forget about blinds and let the new owner sort that out. So we have been shagging sans blinds for a year. Firmly undercovers. Especially after a naked morning / builders on scaffolding outside our wedding incident, where I had to roll and wrap myself in the duvet and jump across the room like a weird looking hot-dog to get dressed in privacy!

Gin well done for seducing MrG at the weekend, sorry you are feeling period-y now. I think footie causes instant PMS. I remember it well from my years as a footie widow (pre Mr Princess) FX for your 2ww.

Wine I am soooooo pleased you are feeling well. That the wound is healing and that the supplements are working. This is all heading in destination baby!

Well, I'm off to get my head stuck into work. I'm meeting my friend later and I'm having a word with myself. Must be positive. She is going through hell. Must not show a glimmer or jealousy. Although she knows I will be because she has sat with me for hours and hours and hours listening to my problems and about my miscarriages. I really hope this isn't an MC for her, really really very very much. I feel all protective. But something tells me that heavy bleeding 3 days after a test isn't a good sign.

Waves to all missed. My fertility feathers are twitching and raring to get back on it next month. Hopefully FF is right and today is a red traffic light - not fertile day and that Mr P hasn't buggered up my 2.25 months of hard work

Morning ladies

Teuch Ditto @ breakfast, lunch and tea.
Thrush for 9+ years ans still no answers (witters in my head how "womens problems" seem to have little priority for the NHS)

Freedom hello. Good news in the referral (in a weird way obviously). Hopefully it will shed some light on what might be going on.

Gin Early PMT - bummer!

Wine it's great that you are feeling better....adds iron supplements and probiotics to shopping list!
Tips for maintaining TTC calm and serenity......Ketamin? disclaimer other horse tranquilisers are available

Lemon I forgot that you too have interesting boobs!

mrsd Good luck on the genetic screening. Also wow at the changes in FSH/LSH levels. I didn't realise they could vary so wildly.

Buzzy Great that your DMIL didn't think to impart this wisdom earlier....say a few days earlier

Princess Hope that you are feeling better today.
I miss the League of Gentlemen

joycep thanks for the info on Greece. I am a bit baffled about how you will send blood through the post...what will you write on the label where it asks the contents of the package????
I really don't understand why the UK aren't routinely doing this screening too. Like Princess says anitbiotics are so cheap. I was telling DH and he mentioned how he has a script for some antibiotics for his tooth. He has suggested that I take them....does it matter what type you take I wonder?

artemis Preggo boobs surely are one of the Universe's greatest gifts to give to a TTC'er I will join you in some tampon (and scone) flinging.
Sorry that you are spotting today. I will be joining you shortly as I have pretty much got a AF Bingo fullhouse 1) less sore boobs - check 2) headache - check 3) silently weeping for two hours in front of the TV last night - check 3) Arctic white pee stick - check (stupidly POAS yesterday afternoon just because I had one left over from the pre lap cycle. This has been duly paraded around every room in the house and checked every half hour for the last 24 in the hope of seeing even an evap line....I am so pathetic that seeing any kind of line would feel better than no line 4) Jumped down DH's throat for daring to laugh at the Pearl tampons advert. No I did not share his mirth at the "It's game over for you" line - check
This sucks and I have gone beyond disbelief into utter bloody despair at this point.

And on that note waves & love to everyone...

princess x-posted
Sorry to see that you are sad and stressed today. Lots of hugs.

Hope that everything turns out okay for your friend.

Glad that you have a plan euro Hope that you are feeling okay today. I have been thinking of you.

morning!

It's my day off today and I am supposed to be putting some order back into the house but I'm demotivated. The piles of dishes and washing can wait until after lunch/dinner. I have breakfast, lunch if it's cold and dinner if it's a hot meal and then either tea or dinner. I use them interchangeably. I wonder what that says about me? Supper to me is a slice of toast as a snack before bedtime.

Welcome freedom. I find it's much better to get on and do all the tests and things. It gives something to focus on and new deadlines which is better for me than the aimless hoping for a BFP. So far, I haven't found anything that bad. I have no shame left when it comes to baring all and I don't even flinch when it comes to giving blood which I used to hate.

joycep I'm also intrigued about how you send menstrual blood to Greece. Do you send a used sanitary towel (boak)?

nelly well done on cover top action. Warmer weather is much more conducive to SWI. It also helps that I'm more likely to have defuzzed my legs if it's summer.

buzzy glad to hear mrbuzz is a bit better. Those results don't look too bad to me, but then Mrden's are awful.

poutydave I'm sorry you think af is on the way. What is the pearl advert?

princess SWI with no blinds, the neighbours probably know your fertile times as well as you now.

teu 9 years?? How awful, you'd think they could have found something to help you by now. Sometimes I do wonder whether doctors have any clue about what they're doing.

euro I'm glad to hear that you've got a recommendation for the cervix stuff to be sorted. Such crappy timing.

wine great that you're feeling almost back to normal. I have high hopes for you and your newly cleaned out womble. We haven't had a BFP for ages now so it has to be someone's turn soon,

I'm in that pre ovulation positive thinking phase. I feel quite upbeat about everything. I know this won't last, I start feeling bad again about 5dpo but I'm making the most of it for now. DH is being particularly lovely, I was moaning about 4 weeks being such a long time to wait for the results and he suggested we go away for a long weekend to make the time go faster. So, I'm going to do a bit of research on city breaks. I was thinking Amsterdam, amazingly I've never been although DH did work there for a bit.

princess I meant to say fingers crossed it works out ok for your friend. How many weeks is she? You do hear about people having bleeding and it turns out ok so hopefully it will have a happy ending for her. Although, I totally understand how hard it will be for you either way. Big hugs xx

princess awful. , biccies and a shoulder.
Artemis not that the swaps have ever shown anything useful. At least they were apparently checking for other strains of candida, among other things. 'Some people are just prone to it' is a truely unhelpful statement, particularly coming from a GUM clinic gynae. Grr. When it comes to this issue I fear I'm a bit like euro - knickers off and spread 'em.
buzzy Job going ok, thanks. Still a bit possum-like. Got brownie points for working out how to fix an issue with some HTML. Did you hear about the 5.3 in Melbourne?
Have a good day ladies.

Hello ladies. It is raining here again, so cold in the house that I have on thermals, with a hot water bottle on my knee. Safe to say no kinky on-top-of-covers sex here today . Also for those concerned, we have no neighbours, only sheep, so it was all safe. Phew.

All the talk of weird boobage yesterday. I get nada. My boobs are tiny anyway, I have this idea that if I ever ever get pregnant they will be the give away, they?ll be lit up like a Belisha beacon. But I did have the hormonal lump a year ago, and got it checked out. Jeez mammograms hurt! But some of you have also mentioned that you get a really bad case of PMT just before ERTD which you assume is a drop in Progesterone. Mine was tested 7DPO and was 55, so not low, but I also always get my snappish day on 7DPO. This drives me mad as I usually know that?s another cycle out for me (hence I have so many out of date piss sticks), but should I be worrying about the fact it hits a week before ERTD? I've often wondered .

princess I am sorry to hear about your friend ? obviously I hope everything works out for her, but at the same time your mixed emotions are completely normal. You have put so much effort in to this, you definitely deserve the big pointy finger (and where the FUCK is it just now??). I?m sure if this is a BFP cycle for you, you?ve been so good with your diet that it will already have made a huge difference. I?m assuming your fear is it turning into another MC? Hugs to you :)

joy you too are working extra hard for that BFP. Sending periods to Greece for the economy, stupid. (Love it artemis!) and contacting specialists worldwide. Sometimes I feel such a novice, but I don?t feel I have any clues. No MC or abnormal tests or anything that even gives me a gut feel as to what is wrong. Perhaps IVF will be diagnostic for me after all. Or maybe it?s the cold (I know we?ve talked about Eskimos, but I have cold feet a lot of the time, so maybe the acu theory of increasing blood flow would help? Interestingly my sister has a new theory that taking up running is the answer as everyone she knows who has done so got Pg. Ugh.). Anyway, I too am curious about the logistics of posting blood! Hazardous package, surely???

Before I forget, an IVF question. The clinic said they had to re-do Mr Nelly?s SA. Is this just a money making ruse? Both his were fine, why can?t they take the NHS result? They will for other tests?

poutingdave I am at your advice to joy to make up the exciting things. I found the ?wonderful shared hobby? particularly hilarious! take the antibiotics

Very interesting mrsden on your results changing. Fish in particular . Sorry about your friend popping out number 2. Meh. Weekend break sounds a good plan. I am half considering Geneva (we have a flight voucher to use) but the hotels are very expensive!

Ah yes critter, biscuits. The poor mans scone! Lard ? ha ha, google Buttery. Pure lard, but oh soooo tasty!

Interesting about the medieval theory. I was thinking after the tour about how all very gung-ho IVF is really. Firstly I read that it?s the only treatment where there is no recommended drug dose. This is what led me to the natural or mild route. The pioneer (he of the first ever IVF baby) said in the early days they would start with the lowest doses possible, whereas now it?s more sledgehammer/nut. And then there is the fact that they say ?oh we don?t really know if this will work?. Imagine going in for an operation and them saying ?hmmm well sometimes we successfully remove the appendix, but sometimes we can?t find it or we miss a bit or it?s not where we thought it was going to be?. OK I know some operations don?t work in Real Medicine, but at least there seems to be a culture of continual improvement, whereas IVF seems to be just a bit of a money making scheme lucky dip . Rant over.

buzzy glad Mr B seems to be on the mend. I can?t advise on the results (we were told Mr Nelly?s were normal ? that?s it). But agree that they don?t sound too low generally as I too was shocked by what was considered normal.

Hello freedom - you?ll get great advice and support on this thread, not to mention some downright weird chat.

Artemis so sorry about spotting :( It doesn?t get any easier and I?m so sorry for the wasted hope.

teu I know nothing about thrush really, but would trying becks bicarb swab be worth a shot just in case the thrush was hindering fertility? Also artemis do you use tampons? I sometimes wonder if they bugger things up, even though I still use them.

LOL at euro exposing her Piccadilly circus chuff for every medical condition she has!

OK I should probably do some actual work today. Also, my hot water bottle needs filling up. I need to move somewhere hot. Suggestions on a postcard please.

princess Sorry to hear about your friend, its totally normal to feel like that

teu yay for brownie points, no mention of Melbourne, very rarely here about anything happening your side of the equator unless its that silly Argentinian woman going on about the Falklands

mrsd ooh city break sounds lovely, did you do anything to help Mr D's SA, I had already ordered Macca, Lcaritine,l arginine and co enzyme.

wine* - i?m so pleased you are feeling so much better. Long may it last. I have great faith that your issue has been found and dealt with so you won?t have to step to my new low of having to send bodily fluids across to Greece ! I feel it must only be a matter of time for you now.

gin, sorry you are feeling pmt ish. What has Boris done to p you off?

nelly - woohoo for nelly?s house reaching room temperature. I?m still under the slanket every evening on the sofa but I think i have particularly bad circulation.

artemis - at you becoming a messenger between uk and Greece. And teu and artemis - the recurrent thrush is interesting. From the moment we tried to conceive, I got thrush for the first time. I was always getting it in the second half of the cycle but it took to ovulation to get rid of it. I must have had about 15 flare ups in 15 months for the past year. The doctor prescribed me 36 boxes of canesten which was highly embarrassing when I went to pick them up from Boots. Anyway, I only used one of them in the end. I haven?t had a flare up since January and the only thing I changed was eliminating all sugar from my diet. I think sugar feeds the yeast infection. Anyway, if it really gets you down like it was me, it?s definitely worth a try if you haven?t tried it already. Hasn?t got me pregnant but i have always been told that it shouldn?t affect fertility...but i?m cynical about everything i?m told these days. I think there is good book out there on candida as well..i will try and find what it is called.

buzzy - those numbers don?t look particularly disastrous and I echo what someone else said to get them retested. The results can vary hugely especially if he has had a cold. Also, i think what he desposits now would have been made 3 months ago so what was his lifestyle like 3 months ago? It could have been a dodgy patch.

freedom - sorry you are in this boat as well. It totally sucks. Hopefully your appointment in Aug will help a bit more. I still find all these hospital appointments quite scary but i think you?ll find it is better to feel like you are doing something than just waiting and hoping month after month.

Oh euro , a coloscopy sounds like a good idea...you really will have had it all done to you by the end of it all.

princess - sorry about what your friend is going through. It?s hard when a close friend announces a pregnancy but when something goes wrong , you suddenly realise how much you want it to go right for them. I

Ok I do feel I am stooping to new levels of digustingness with this Greek thing. Sorry ladies! So my chlamidia tests on the nhs all came back negative as well but apparently this hiddenC is being detected in people. It is actually testing the blood cells rather than just from a swab or urine. I think the thought in Greece is that these hidden infections can cause the elevated nk cells that are being discovered in people with immune issues. All they require is a drop of blood and you mix saline solution with it and send to Greece. Lucky recipient huh! For anyone interested in infection screening...sarlat , it mentions hydrosalphinx...

www.fertility-academy.co.uk/recurrent-failure/infection-screening/

Joycep the numbers are not good, I got an email from the nurse who said if the results weren't good then dr shehata would suggest iui, that will be a bit of a logistical nightmare for us but we could do it this coming cycle, mr b will get retested in a few weeks

oops sorry forgot to say Mr B has lost about 2 stone and is now very thin
looks like some starving African but paler I feel his health has suffered from it. His stress levels have been about the same really, constant job hunting for over 2.5 years.

oh its me again, was it someone on this thread who asked about sharp bins?? I just got one from Boots for £1.75

Joycep you are not stooping, you are a hero. Courier Artemis , I'm not far from Greece so should you need a fixer or any on site follow up, just let me know (sideline to antibiotics procurement business).

Dave people take antibiotics here for the common cold take them

Nelly my (also tiny) boobs did nada till 3 months ago. I too thought boob madness would be a sure side of pg due to the general nada-ness, but no, not here. Artemis they are not like crazy paving but their craziness makes it feel that they are trying to jump off my body onto the paving (crazy or otherwise).

Nelly I also feel like a novice but like you am yet to find any specific clues to work on. also, on Geneva, I know it and indeed the hotels are pricey. Have you thought of using the tickets for Geneva but looking to stay over in France?

princess sorry about your friend, very tough.

buzzy hoping the retest SA is better.

Waves to all.

Oh fuckbags, I'm spotting and I'm sure my period isn't due for another week. Decrepit womb. Even not trying it's stressy. Let me join in with the tampon flinging. Or maybe we could tie tampons to a fire lantern and release them to the fertility gods and ask them to show mercy? I don't feel fixed at all and fear it will just be more of the same as we resume ttc next month. On and on and on. I too feel I've done my time at the trying coalface and I'm ready to get the he'll out of here. Pass me the ketamine Dave!

princess sorry to hear about your friend and the turmoil of it all. It happened to me earlier this year. I felt all sorts if things. That friend is pregnant again now (hope it's alright for your friend). I too have watched my two best friends be pregnant together. In truth the reality has been different to my thoughts of them doing lovely yummy mummy things together. They have made new friends through nct etc and don't agree with each others parenting!

joycep I'm glad you are becoming expert in Greek (TT) Chic. Why can't it just be a blood sample?

nelly running has not got me updiffed. Glad I don't have to worry about that!

Artemis it's dinner and tea for me. Supper was marmite on white sliced toast and a glass of milk. I sometimes still have it!

freedom good to get tests going. There may be a little ( or in my case a lot!) of poking and prodding but all for a good cause.

Eek about the thrush teu it's a horrible thing. Have you tried anything woo for it?

Running hasn't got my updiffed either wine.

I love the idea of us all posting bits of period to Athens to help the Greek economy. I guess every little helps! We are helping employment in one little corner of Athens anyway.

How awful for some of you to have such persistent thrush. I am sure it is hormonal. I have only ever had it when on the Pill (for two very brief periods). Although I have heard the sugar thing before too.

buzzy I got a sharps bin with the case of drugs from King's. Like a proper junkie.

Oh and a cold will definitely affect an SA. Mr euro's SAs weren't bad, but his two IUI samples were both a bit crap. He managed to have a cold for both the months we did IUI...

Nelly my boobs started getting incredibly painful at certain times of the month a few years back. Speed bumps would have me close to tears. They have calmed down a little now, although I still get some rather painful months. I've had a lump checked out in the past too. With my nan and my mum having both had breast cancer I am about paranoid about anything lumpy in that area. Although it appears that I should have been worrying about my cervix all along. Who knew?

In euronews (there is actually a TV station called that but fortunately they don't broadcast updates on me), my chuff gets even more Piccadilly Circus -like tomorrow when a new gynae gets to peer up it with a microscope. I have managed to get a consultant to fit me in for a colposcpy tomorrow. I would actually have preferred next week as my period is due tomorrow but he is off on hols on Saturday for two weeks and has managed to squeeze me in. Could you all collectively will AF to stay away for another 24 hrs please?

At least this is taking my mind off the IVF.... For anyone interested, the downregging is going fine. Touch wood, I haven't suffered any major side effects (felt a bit hot but not what I would term a hot flush). The bit I am finding trickiest is not the actual injecting but rather drawing the injection without getting loads of airbubbles in it! I recall my diabetic friend from childhood having the same problem with her insulin. The injecting process itself I don't personally find any big deal, but then needles have never bothered me.

Quick post before bath and cooking
Sorry that you are spotting wine. I too am spotting and while it was expected am decidedly naffed off. Still have booked my monitoring scan for Monday but I am so not looking forward to fanjo fiddling with full AF
Maybe your womble is still recovering after your major op and needs time to readjust. Don't stress too much things will settle down I'm sure but in the meantime I'm in on the raging at the fertility Gods

On jogging and upduffedness...did anyone see 24 Hours in A&E last night and that poor girl who nearly died after a spinning class???? Apparently she had so overworked her muscles that they had started to breakdown and poison her system. Now I have never felt the inclination to run, except possibly if there was a bus at he end of it, but I now feel absolutely vindicated that sat on my arse, feet on the pouffe with a bar of Dairy Milk is the safest way to go.

Good news on the quick appointment euro. Lots of luck and starts the AF willing away dance!

dave i'm with you on the sitting on my arse or on my "throne" as Mr B calls it

euro thanks for the reassurance :) they should give everyone a sharps bin if they are given needles. Glad the down regging is going well, and at euro news

I shall be asking lots of questions about iui ladies, before I move onto the ivf questions, should have paid better attention really