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.

Ps starlat sorry meant to say in response to your question, oddly I've never had my fsh done, but my antral follicle count was 16 and interestingly they aspirated 16 follies during the EC. Assume it's all connected some how! My dose of gonal f was 118.5 and 125 alternatively. Suspect I'd end up with ohss if I did normal ivf....

Thank you again for the words of wisdom.

Everything you all say does make logical sense about dosage etc.

I am feeling a little better this evening. I have upped my dose of stimming and had a second emergeny acupuncunture session this afternoon. I have begun to feel mild twinges in the ovaries which my acupuncturist is fairly sure is likely to be the eggs starting to cook.

TMI alert - I have also had a large amount of ewcm today which I can only assume is a good thing too.

I think I panicked because the Dr implied my poor response to stims so far was unusual / abnormal and likely due to premature ovarian failiure. I now see that this is not an uncommon situation and the drug dose may need correcting. I am cross with how he has handled this.

Having said all of the above, I am not out of the water yet - the follies have to do an enourmous amount of growing by Monday if I'm to have any chance of EC instead of ditching the cycle.

My acu lady also said she has worked with many women with hydrosalpinxes. She has seen implantation failiure becuase of it but has also seen many women suceed with IVF who don't have their fallopian tubes removed - again made me feel a little better.

Buzzy - what is SO that you referred to in your last update? Do you take stimms for this like IVF?

Sarlat. x (would do anything for a glass of chilled rose - have one for me!)

Grr frannie to the words of wisdom. And hello teu, I too am curious about new job. Glad you feel a bit less scared today sarlat this thread is so good for that! Please don't feel bad about joining when you did, the thing is now is when you need us most! These lovely ladies are as non-judgemental as they come. Unless you're of the "falling on a cock" fertility type .

I too feel better today. Survived the ILs through the magic of a good Burgundy. And it was a lovely day today, got some gardening done and a nice time hobbling with my girl on her best behaviour . Hope you are all having nice weekends. Are you feeling ok wine, when is the op?

Waves to everyone else.

Evening ladies! I have had a lovely day. Had a run this morning, then a quick catch up with friends at our local farmers' market, then went to Bluewater and bought shoooooooooooooooooooooos and a couple of other bits.

I got my surge this afternoon (weeing on a stick with a big queue outside waiting for the loo) and am booked in for iui tomorrow. They want us at the clinic at 8.30 am, and it is about an hour away! They were trying to talk me into postponing until Monday but last month that would have been too late as I oved the day after my positive opk, so I was firm and said I wanted to go ahead tomorrow.

Yay euro for lovely days, double yay for bootifol shoos, and triple yay for POAS success :)

Not so great on the early morning, but consider it training for when your baby makes you get up at 6am even on the weekends

euro good luck for tomorrow

sarlat SO is super ovulation, where they stimulate your ovaries to produce more eggs for the sperm to hit. I'll be trying Gonal F 75 mgs next month

Evening lovely ladies and happy, lucky 7th thread to us all. I've missed loads (been away for two weeks) and so won't be able to do a full catch up... I gather that a fibroid was found in your lap&dye pout? I am going to hunt the previous thread to get the low-down. And welcome to sarlat sorry you are having such a rough time in your IVF, fingers crossed the ovaries have started doing their thing and you'll have an EC. Lovely to see you kitty and great it is alreay 8-weeks! Hope the out-sourcing has done its trick for you euro, but sorry it had to involve a very early morning. Shame about the numbers of swimmers too. I am onto my third IUI now, it didn't work again, and that made me cry for about an hour on hols. And then we picked ourselves up and drowned our sorrows. Evil AF nelly, glad the burgundy helped. I took to cooking my next cycle's egg in liquor . How are you all doing? Can someone update me? Have there been BFPs since May?

Hello everyone! Wow, I have missed a lot - apologies for the huge number of omissions I'm about to make in my catch up!

euro hope today went well with the IUI - I can't believe it's come around again so fast!

princess I absolutely loved hearing about the woodland wedding. I think anyone's moods would be likely to swing a bit if they've been through three years of TTC.

sarlat I have everything crossed for you - that sounds very scary and upsetting. I really hope you are feeling ok.

wine huge amounts of luck with the operation this week.

pout sorry about the tummy trouble, hope you are feeling ok now.

nelly the burgundy sounds like an excellent call.

Waves to frannie, artemis, mrsden, lemons, teu, becks, gin, joyce, lisa, buzzy and kitty. Apologies for missing you all - this thread has just zoomed along. Hoping this is lucky number seven for us all!

North Carolina was total heaven - a whole week of lazing about in the sun with a bunch of Mr C's friends in a massive beach house which had a pool (with a slide and flashing disco lights) and a hot tub. Only a couple of his friends have children yet, and they seemed happy to have left them at home for the week with grandparents, so it was a great distraction from TTC. I also went to a Walmart for the first time (huge and so cheap, I'm sure for sketchy reasons but I did love it) which randomly had a British check out lady who'd emigrated after marrying a local guy. I also had the pleasure of visiting a North Carolina institution called a Brew Thru, which is basically a drive thru liquor store, where our friends went to get beer for the week. Pretty cool. I stayed off the dairy but I did have some booze and lapsed from princess's brown diet during the week... too much barbecue of a definitely non-organic and probably pumped with hormones but still delicious variety.

buzzy and nelly new job starts as soon as we can sort paperwork, next 1-2 weeks hopefully. Got quite used to pleasing myself these last 6 mths since 'redundancy'.
OPK was positive earlier than expected but Mr Teu had some sort of bug and now I have something stomachy to so that's this month out. Mr Teu seems to have missed not listened to the important info around TTC and SWI
Fingers crossed sarlat and euro
critter glad you had a good time.

Good luck euro, hope that all went well and fingers crossed that this is your time.

sarlat How are things today with you? I was thinking of you over the weekend.

lemons I'm so sorry that the IUI didn't work out for you this time. That is crappy and I'm not surprised that you had a good cry. It is lovely to have you back and I am liking your egg cooking in liquor approach

wine Massive good luck for your op. I hope that it all goes well and that your hospital stay is over quickly!

teuchter Congratulations on the new job. Sorry that this months SWI is off. Typical! I would make Mr Pout do it regardless, It would take a limb dropping off for me to consider giving him a break

critter your holiday sounded amazing. I love the kind of holidays that involve lots of eating & lazing around. I'm glad that it was a TTC/other peoples babies free time for you.

buzzy Oh God at your patient and the laxative/immodium see saw! I must admit I have a face when I read on the laxative instructions about lazy bowel! All is well now so they have been shelved!

nelly I'm glad that you survived the ILS and AF combo. Not sure I would have. I was thinking about the ridiculousness of the IVF situation at your end and how difficult they make it to fit the criteria. I imagine that we will have the same issues.

There was a thing on BBC Breakfast this morning about fostering. I didn't see the whole feature because I got sick of waiting for it whilst suffering perpetual traffic updates, Susannah's gurning & weather forecasts was also disproportionately disappointed that at no point did the scout with the shovel accidently clatter Carol. Evil smiley Anyway it got me thinking that maybe this is an avenue me and DH should look at. It seems less scary than adoption. I wonder whether they have the same rules as they do for adoption about not seeking fertility treatment when being considered. Has anyone else thought about it?

Waves to everyone.

Wine all the very best for your op! Soon it will be gone! I think your plan sounds excellent, although I doubt you will need it, once the fugitive has been removed. Thinking of you :)

Euro hope everything went well yesterday. Fingers crossed for this round xx

Nelly sorry to hear AF arrived :( Hope you have had a lovely weekend and are feeling better.

Lemons sorry to hear your IUI didn't work. Sounds like you had a lovely hols tho. Hope you aren't feeling too sad. Do you have another round booked in?

Artemis sorry you find yourself back in a frustrating place. Go get pushy - make sure you get all the treatment you need.

Sarlat sorry that you have had a terrifying time with the IVF. It all sounds v. complicated and technical. I have no idea, but I hope that your doctor has everything in hand and is only trying to give you the very worst case scenario

Critter helllooooo and welcome back! Your holiday sounds amazing. A pool, with slide and flashing lights and a drive thru boozer?!! Sounds v.cool.

Teu hello! And oh bums to positive OPKs and man bugs. Rubbish. Good luck with your new job tho.

Well, we've had a lovely few days away. Started with getting my hair done (much needed) and some shopping. I got into a pair of size 10 Aubin and Wills chinos. I've not fitted size 10 trousers for, well, let's say a very long time. So very . We stayed in a gorgeous hotel on Thursday in a huge room with a view over a really beautiful garden and a top notch restaurant where they treated me like a princess and let me design my own courses to meet my strict criteria: warm lobster salad with mango and chilli salsa; grilled pink bream with steamed vegetables and wild rice on a bed of wilted spinach; finished with a massive fruit salad and wild fresh mint tea. Mr P very much enjoyed everything that they had to offer including a rather nice glass of pinot noir a whisky sours and rhubarb eton mess . We then went to a spa hotel with my mum and dad on Fri - I had a really lovely massage and facial and then spent time with mum in the outdoors hot tub overlooking gorgeous sunny countryside. Mum was pretty chilled and uncharacteristically pleasant about the goings on with me, although she's more concerned about my little bro, whose still in the binge drinking and vomming all over the bedroom floor stage and calling for help at 5.30 in the morning - hilarious to us ( ) but not to mum ( )!!! Then we had a rellies 40th on Saturday, think Shameless v Eastenders in a pub in SE London. Not my scene and deffo not my scene when completely sober and drinking iced water (and they had no bottled water so I had to make do with unfiltered tap - ugh) Back to the house yesterday to sow some grass seed and tidy up for today because the NEW FLOOR GOES IN! Yipppee I am not going until next weekend when it's in because the whole taking out and putting in of floor has been making me feel v.stressed and as I am supposed to be avoiding stress I have made an executive decision that I am not going until its done. But once the new floor is in, we can start fixing upstairs - plastering, new ceiling in the back bedroom, new electrics and getting ready to decorate. It's all taking shape :)

In TTC news, I am about to take the last of the CCT (constant crapping tablets), which is great because it means that I do not have to poo so much and take control again. I've never had to go so much in public toilets before in my life and am royally looking forward to a much more civilized one poop a day at home. I've got my appointment with a consultant booked for 11th June. Although the letter says that we can choose any hospital in England (anyone else have this?) we've decided to stay in Brighton as that's where the booked date is held and I don't want to delay. Also means its not far if we have bad news, so we don't have to travel with my huge sunnies and tear stained cheeks and can jump in a cab and come home. Plus we made a decision that if we don't like the consultant in Brighton or if we don't feel it's going our way we will go straight to private. AF arrived on Saturday and has been decidedly different to normal. My mood has been much more stable in the run up, still a bit teary but not as angry, my period came on CD27 (unusual) and it started with a (sorry if TMI) big spurt of red blood rather than a couple of spots. I've had cramps each morning for 3 days when I normally only have cramps for 1 - 2 but I feel happy and stable, which is a big improvement for me. I'm thinking that the regular eating may be helping with the moods. Still what with the EWCM and no midcycle bleed I am feeling much more positive in general. Plus no 2ww is a bit of a god send. The new juicer is here, although I've got a hectic day of work and a viewing at 6pm, which means lunch and afterwork cleaning.

Waves to anyone I've missed, hope that everyone has a nice day and it's sunny where you all are. Tail feather plumps and shakes for everyone!

Morning everyone

Nelly so sorry about evil AF, it is so cruel when your body plays tricks like that. Hope you got on OK with the ILs, talk about bad timing... i too have to go round the house removing TTC evidence before anyone comes round. I'm certain my mum will have come across the massive box of ovulation pee sticks when rummaging in our hopelessly untidy bathroom cupboard for a spare loo roll but thankfully she hasn't said anything. Hope you are feeling better today. I googled the fertility diet blog, really interesting stuff. You are right about ignoring the stats. I need to spend less time with Dr Google. Practically all my friends with kids had them aged 35+ so there has to be hope.

Sarlat really sorry about your frightening few days and especially how the doctor reacted. He shouldn't have mentioned something like premature ovarian failure off the cuff like that. How are you getting on - will you be able to have EC done today? Don't worry about the give/take on here. We are all here because we need understanding and support and nobody is keeping score

Becks did your DH find the courage to go for his SA?

Buzzy hope MrB has succeeded in evicting your squatters

MrsDen theoretically I am under the NHS specialist fertility consultant but have never actually seen him, I saw either the fertility nurse or the registrar who is a gynae. I'm not impressed with the registrar at all. His English is poor, he didn't respond well to me asking questions and just seemed to want to get us out of his office as quickly as possible. I've no idea who my next appointment is with, they won't say when you book. Hope your blood test was OK. I hate having blood tests done, I have fugitive veins too, I usually come out with junkie track marks on both arms.

JoyceP I have many rants about the way fertility problems are treated by the NHS, particularly the lack of any clear systematic process for diagnosis and treatment, labyrinthine systems, poor record keeping, lack of information and particularly the vast differences in policy and practice between PCTs. We all pay the same rate of taxes, why the hell should access and entitlement to treatment differ depending on where you live? The system seems set up to create uncertainty and stress. Every now and then I get my campaigning head on and think I should make more of a fuss but i am not sure who would listen - there are plenty of people out there who see fertility treatment as a lifestyle choice and don't think there should be any entitlement to it at all. I am like you in contemplating the worst case scenario but MrA won't talk about it yet. We have discussed adoption and both felt that it wasn't for us but we haven't addressed what a child free future would look like. I don't know what the barrier is as he had to be persuaded in the first place and has always been less interested in the idea of having kids than me.

Euro hope the early morning IUI went well yesterday and MrEuro's goods were more plentiful on this occasion. i can't believe how fast time has gone since your last treatment.

Frannie at your nosy unhelpful relative!

Critter and Princess those holidays sound fantastic! Spa and hot tub goings-on sound just the ticket.

Wine how are you feeling about tomorrow? Hope the stress is manageable. It will all be over soon and you'll have one really major obstacle out of the way.

Another Monday... seems to have come round too soon after an uneventful weekend. I am probably in the 2WW by now but because I haven't been charting/OPKing I don't know for sure. I haven't had any ov pains for a couple of days so am assuming the egg must have gone. I have never had ov pains before but with clomid I get occasional stabbing pains round my ovaries from about CD10 onwards. It's not very pleasant but I assume it's just my ancient ovaries whimpering at being made to work so hard. I am relieved to have got to the end of the clomid prescription but not holding out much faith that this last cycle will work. I have an appointment mid next week to find out what they suggest next and then decide whether we go private or not.

Waves to anyone I've missed, hope you've all had a good weekend.

euro - hope iui goes well.

nelly - i hope you are feeling a little better this week.

wine - thinking of you and for tomorrow?s op. I hope it all goes swimmingly and am glad you have got quite a few months to recover.

Pout - i am pleased you are back to normal.

buzzy - it did make me laugh when you said MrBuzz wasn?t in the best of moods as he didn?t have the right screws. That?s the kind of thing MrJoy would get in a grump about.

frannie - oh dear at your family member?s comment. At least she didn?t say ? motherhood is the most amazing experience ever so get a move on!?.

lemon - boo hiss at af arriving on hols. I hope it didn?t spoil it too much. Cooking eggs in liquor sounds a fab idea.

critter - sounds like you had a wonderful time. I am pleased you weren?t surrounded by babies as well. Nice to have you back.

sarlat - thinking about you this morning.

pout - at your analysis of BBC Breakfast! I shall join in with the evil smileness and concur that I wish the little boy scout had accidently clattered Carol with the shovel as well. I like Susanna however I hated an interview she did in the daily hell which said ?I?m proof you can have it all ? a career and motherhood?. Babylessness brings on bitterness so I read that with indigination... ?lucky her that motherhood came so easily?. I watched the fostering bit before i left for work and the family they concentrated on only fostered teenagers. My hats off to those people. I have briefly thought about fostering but very loosely but I think I would prefer to go down the adoption route (not sure I could handle kids having to leave especially if I had mothered them for some time)...I?m not even sure I would wish to adopt from the UK just purely because the system appears to be a complete mess and blighted by incompetence.

So I had a 7 day luteal phase this month. WTF? AF 4 days early. Could acupuncture have buggered me up? My acupuncturist will no doubt try and tell me my thermometer is broken like he did last week when i told him my boobs were really painful before ovulation. I know it?s not though. I really think i am going through the perimenopause so I spent all yesterday festering and wallowing in worry and misery. I know i haven?t even tried ivf yet but it just seems that issues are mounting up.

Hope everyone else is more cheerful.

Frannie - I meant to tag on to the end of that comment that that is what I was told once ie get a move on. Some people come out with corkers!

Xpost - princess. It does sound like your diet is doing something. Sorry bout AF though.

Xpost Artemis- I often rant (normally to myself as DH doesn't listen to me) about the systematic diagnosis and lack of it. And it's terrible that there is a post code lottery as to what treatment there is. Don't get me started on those people who say kids are a lifestyle choice and so therefore we should accept the hand that was dealt. Grrrrr

sarlat thinking of your today x

wine one more sleep till broid eviction

joycep at early AF, I can't say that acupuncture has had any affect on my AF's so far but you never know, are you able to get your FSH LH and E2 done again??? Maybe a mid cycle scan?? I know its costly but it might give you an idea of what is going on inside, big hugs x

artemis the squatters are quite persistent, I now have twigs sticking out my plant pots so they don't get comfy :)

critter very at your fabulous hols

princess at the Shameless meets Eastenders, and very at your spa treat

pout let me assure that all old people obsess about their bodily functions , personally I think I'd find fostering harder, I couldn't imagine looking after a child and then having to part with them, it would just break my heart.

euro hope all went well with the outsourcing

Well I'm starting to feel tearful/ pissed off so AF is just round the corner, hopefully before Thursday, didn't stop me poas though , strangely enough i'm using up some old wool and i'm knitting booties my colleague had her baby on the weekend, well I better get back to work waves to everyone

Pout at your comment Carol v Scouts and Spade. Made me

Artemis are you able to try a different hospital / doctors under this NHS choices thing? If they prove completely useless next week, you should complain and asked to be moved on. Or as you say, go private, but it doesn't seem fair that we are all considering this costly option - I can only consider it as an option because my parents are happy to pay. And that comes with its own problems attached. My mum was telling me that they are not allowed to call obese people obese as it's too upsetting (my 18 yr old cousin has a 52 inch waist! - really ridiculous). Whilst I understand this sentiment that no-one should be belittled or made to feel sad about a desperate situation perhaps they should adopt more tact with ladies like us and use more appropriate terms and language and tone down their attitude. Having babies is not a lifestyle choice it's a fundamental part of belonging to the animal kingdom! I am also a firm believer that the problems we experience now are largely to do with our environment - ours foods are tampered with and full of hormones, we are surrounded by off-gassing toxic materials, car fumes, pollution, we have electronic interference from wifi and mobile phones, we are given pills to stop us having babies, pills to start us having babies, chemicals for this, chemicals for that, we work at desks tapping away at small boxes and a huge proportion of the UK are not only obese, but deficient in vit D and lots of other vits etc because they don't get enough sunshine on their skin or have to walk anywhere or food sources are crappy because of mass farming techniques. For anyone who thinks that it's "our fault" for leaving it too late, for drinking too much, for being overweight, being too stressed or whatever other shitty reasons they can apply I would like them to first consider the above look at society at large and perhaps think about how may other factors are responsible not just ourselves. Is it any wonder that 1 in 6 (or 1 in 4) are having problems? It seems fecking obvious to me! That's not to say that we can't try to make the best of a crappy situation but it does bother me greatly that the above is shoved under the proverbial carpet. Plus an inefficient NHS doesn't help at all (although to be fair, I'm happy having an ok time of it with my GP / hospital this time 'round). As you say, we all pay proportionately and we should expect the same level of care. Remember that they work for us, we pay for them and not the other way 'round. I am the customer and you are the doctor, employed by me the tax payer. I understand your thinking on campaigning. I would like to start an anonymous campaign to bring awareness (bit of an oxymoron!) but then I can't be bothered because there is so much other stuff to also campaign about and I have a job and house and TTC to consider, not to mention the brown diet and selling a property, social life and trying to nurture my 2 year old marriage. Modern life just feels too big and hectic sometimes. Although I do consider myself a feminist so I also feel grateful that I have options and choices in my life, unlike generations before. Oh it's all very confusing. I felt v. passionately about MC a while back and the lack of good info / support. Maybe I should do something, I just wouldn't know where to start. Makes me In saying all of this, I am hopeful for you, Artemis. Lots of people in there cracking them out in their 40s. Anyway, 40 is the new 30. I will be 21 again this year . Keep that tail feather high, gl for the 2ww. I have my fingers crossed for you.

Joy Sorry you are feeling low and having weird cycles. Do you think your acupuncturist is doing any good? Do you think you should try another one? My cycles were never weird until TTC. And most recently completely weird. Maybe diet, stress or just my body letting me know that something's not up. I'm totally p'd off because I forgot to put a tampon in this morning due to rushing around to do housework for viewing and and have now bled all over lovely new chinos. Grr. I'm not bothered about AF this time as we are not allowed to try until I've completed my 3 month diet stuff, some of the supplements are not compatible with TTC. The quicker the cycles go the quicker I can get back on it. I read another book this weekend during down time at the spa hotel (I feel like I am becoming quite the expert!) called "It must be my hormones", which is very enlightening. The lady who wrote the book runs a clinic in London, I'm very much considering her if the NHS consultant is poo and before going to a fertility clinic or if the brown diet alone doesn't do the trick. It would seem that progesterone cream and the brown diet are required, she also champions everything DrG and my nutritionist are saying, which is good news. The book talks about all sorts of hormone things and how being out of balance is very common in our society. Sorry if this is irrelevant to you! I hope you feel better soon. Have you got any appointments, treatments coming up soon, sorry if I'm a bit out of the loop at the moment. I'm sure you are not going through peri-menopause. I will second you on -wanting to poke in the eye-- hating anyone that makes comments like "motherhood came so easily". So patronizing and smug. What they're actually saying is "look at me I am a real women because my reproductive organs function so well". Boo hiss to them. I hope they have terrible hot flushes and irritability through 'the change' and tear away teens. Oh and not to mention itchy piles and incontinence . I had to witness my v drunk cousin drag a small 6 year old across a noisy pub by her arm this weekend and it made me sad because it was completely unnecessary. My mum stuck up for said cousin saying that "those kids are just so controlling, they always have faces like slapped arses. We all know who they take after (referring to the Dad). She just wanted to catch up with her family and have a nice time. It's not fair on her at all. Poor her etc etc." This annoyed me no end! Take the kids home, it's midnight, they're tired and ratty and their heads hurt (the music was too loud and truly terrible), it's not their fault you got drunk and want to party. If you want to see your family, bloody organise something for a change (or don't have your wedding in Cyrus and expect us all to drop everything for you) or here's an idea, get a babysitter! Grr. Also, she's often boasting about her 'perfect' family on FB and posting pictures of her little angels and how wonderful being a stay at home mum is. And how much she loves her DH. Part of me is but then I would much rather have my life than her life and I think that all the FB stuff is completely fake and a cover up for a miserable existence. I know what goes on behind the scenes. Her mum tells my mum and the other two aunties pretty much everything...And my mum tells me all the family goss regardless if I care or not!

Buzzy feels weird calling you your new name, like when you get married and have to change everything! Well, hello! How are you. Sorry AF is lurking. Liking the sound of your knitting. Sounds hopeful if you are knitting booties... Hopefully the witch will stay away. Good that finger be a loomin'

Oh crap, will you look at the size of this post and with so much work to do too! I'm going to step down from my soap box now! Oh and start le grand nettoyage for le stinky stinky viewings.

Thanks ladies. The outsourcing seemed to go fine. Had next to no cramping this time. Annoyingly, by my temp this morning, I don't seem to have ovulated yet, so we could have done it this morning rather than making everyone come in on a Sunday (and get up at 6.30am ourselves to drive across London). I don't feel like I have today either, so I am wondering what is going on. I normally ov like clockwork on day 14 from the right side and that was yesterday.

Mr Euro's sample was a little better than last time but still not great. Maybe that is where our problem is?

Sorry not to catch up with everyone. I'm having a rather busy day at work!

My goodness so many posts, I've been reading for ages! I'm a bit shaky and non sensical to do good posting back but suffice it to say, I send soothing and good vibes to all of you, with af comiserations, sperm cheering on and a bit of holiday envy thrown in too.

I've just packed my hospital bag (of epic proportions!) and am about to do my last yoga practice for quite some time. Hopefully I'll be able to do an update at some point to tell you how things went. I've not cried, I feel more like I'm in some sort of odd shock, like a rabbit in headlights.

See you when I'm broidless!

Good luck, Wine. See you Broidless very soon!

Good luck wine Lots of love xxx

Hello ladies. Firstly a special gold star to princess for her posts! They gave me plenty to read while I sat in the carwash earlier .

wine best of luck for tomorrow, it will all be done before you know it, you will have a shiny womble all beautiful and pristine for babies to snuggle in. Hope the hospital bag includes the cashmere socks. Will be thinking of you x

sarlat how was today? I so hope you got some better news. But even if it wasn't as good as you'd hoped, remember they learn a lot by how you respond, and hopefully will be able to amend doses for future cycles. Fingers crossed you won't need those though!

euro glad the IUI is behind you, more sperm is better than less sperm, and they surely pick the best ones anyway? Fingers crossed for you too.

Welcome back lemon I am so glad you had a lovely break, but boo to the arrival of AF. I feel your pain, I'm still a bit pissed off about mine this cycle. Hopefully this will be 3rd time lucky for you :) No BFPs while you were away I don't think? I like the idea of your eggnog - like a boozy version of mrshy1s sperm frittata?

Glad you had a lovely time too critter - I've heard some lovely things about NC but never been there. You are allowed to fall off any diet on holiday, even fertility boosting brown ones!

Tell him to Man Up teu!! Bloody men and their man flu. Good luck with the job when it starts, but I can imagine it's a bit of an adjustment going back to work!

I agree pout it's very hard to win with the IVF lottery I think. I wish I'd flipping lied about how long I'd been trying. If only I'd known. Still, we can hope for an ironic pre-IVF BFP. I didn't know you couldn't undergo fertility treatment whilst on an adoption list. Well I guess I can kiss that line of enquiry goodbye too. It's looking harder and harder to see a way to baby-ness at this rate, for me at least.

haha princess at the CCT! I hope it's all back to normal soon. Your weekend sounds lovely, and hooray for progress on the house. Hope the viewings have been going well on the flat. It's good that your mood feels a bit less erratic, but I think a brown diet is too high a price to pay personally . It's only Mr Nelly that has to suffer my moods after all!

Oh Artemis I hadn't thought of OV pains being a sign of the ovaries working too hard. I'm sure lots of young fertile things get them too . Thanks for the empathy on the AF/IL combo. It was pretty tough really but I have survived!

I am sure you are not perimenopausal joy. And even if you were, as I understand it IVF is still a good option. I can't remember where you are in terms of treatments etc, is IVF coming up quite soon?

Oh buzzy I hope the tearfullness and booty knitting are signs of something else. We need a first BFP to kick off lucky no 7!

I had a weird "stuff" day today. Had to go out and buy some stuff to take to my (pregnant) sister on holiday, plus an amazon order arrived. So between it all I bought/received :

Breast leakage pads
Big granny pants
Boys pants
Cute clothes for nephew and bump
A City guide for a holiday I'm not going on
TCOYF. I have succumbed. It's huge.
2 pregnancy tests - use by date of 2014. My last lot are out of date
A UV torch for hunting out cat pee.
A spray to deal with said cat pee.

I particularly like the combo of a fertility book, preg tests and breastfeeding pads. Imagine if those had all been in Tesco, the checkout assistant would have been well confused!

Anyway at the end of this massive post, if you are all still awake, I need advice. I am on CD4. My HSG appt is for next Thursday which will be CD14. My hospital told me that I must not be pregnant when I have it (HA!) and to book it for the FIRST Thursday after my period which would be this week, but I'm assuming I can't bring the appointment forward, only move it back. My period tracker says I am due to ovulate on CD14 this month, ie same day as the HSG is due. But I normally OV on CD12 or 13, it's just it was a bit of a longer cycle this month. So should I

A) Have the HSG next week and have no sex as advised between now and then, and potentially miss a month if I ovulate as early as I normally do.
B) Have the HSG next week but have sex on the day or two before despite instructions (there wouldn't actually be an embie at that point, but not sure if the reason they give is due to potential damage from an x-ray, or potential issue with the dye; or
C) Push the test back to next month, with the slight risk that if I have a shorter cycle this month, I might miss next month's too as I get home from holiday on a Thursday, so the timing might be off.

Mr Nelly thinks we should have the test as then when we get back from holiday we can get on with private clinic appointments. I'm not sure how I feel about missing a month. I mean, this might be the golden egg, right? I'm doing a good job poaching them in wine a la lemon...

OK off to go and start reading my massive bible. How on earth will I hide that from my mother, especially as she's staying in our house for two weeks whilst we are away?

wine, really, really good luck - I hope it all went completely smoothly and that you are recovering and cosily wrapped up warm, with your feet up, in the softest cashmere socks post-op... with plenty of tea and magazines and a spring-cleaned womble.

euro glad the IUI went ok - and hooray for the extra swimmers, well done Mr Euro - I'm sure that there will be enough to hang around and do the job? Anyway, fingers crossed for you that this is your lucky month and glad that you don't have any horrible cramping.

princess hope the cleaning has gone well pre-viewings! I am fascinated by your adventures in diet/hormones, and agree that there is lots of crazy stuff in the food - especially here in the US - but like you I also see women getting pregnant very easily who are most definitely not on anything close to a healthy diet or lifestyle. at the Constant Crapping Tablets... I can't read that without thinking of KD Lang singing it to the tune of 'Constant Craving'

buzzy sorry you are feeling tearful. I don't think I could handle knitting booties - I don't have the skills, but even if I did, I think it would be too sad-making. You are a brave soul!

joyce sorry to hear about the short LP, and sorry that you're feeling rotten with AF back. I would find it really annoying if an acupuncturist was telling me my thermometer was broken because he didn't know what to say about my cycles. We don't all fit into boxes.

artemis I will be interested to hear what the doctors suggest for you after clomid, if this cycle hasn't worked. I've got my appointment with the fertility guru next Tuesday and am itching to know what he's going to suggest, given that 150 mg Clomid has been such a flop for me.

pout I haven't thought about adoption or fostering yet... trying not to meet trouble halfway, as my mum says. Hope you are feeling ok.

teu that's frustrating about the stomach bug!

sarlat how are you?

frannie grr about your friend's comment. I worry that I am that way sometimes - I was talking to one of Mr C's pals about kids, and he said that he didn't want any, and I was nosily asking him why and he said he just didn't want to change his lifestyle for children - he later told me this week that he's been agonizing over whether or not to have children because he has a lot of mental illness in his family, as does his incredibly sweet and lovely GF and they are worried it is hereditary. I felt like a right plonker, and of course apologised profusely, but I was so ashamed that I'd caused them more hurt and embarrassment.

Hello lovelies!

Nice to be back and I shall be calling my egg this cycle eggnog. Althpough I hasten to add that I am counting on marinating through high levels in the blood, rather than the entrance down there - thanks for that distressing idea nelly! Well done on weird shopping. I discovered my (cheapy) pee sticks will go out of date in September and that means I can pee on one nearly every cycle until then. But I don't feel like it...

Just wanted to say GOOD LUCK to wine if you see this before going to the hospital. Everything crossed for good droidal removal!

DH and I had a what-if-it-produces no baby chat on weepy AF morning. No conclusions but a good chat. Brought us closer, so that was good. The hols generally did. Very nice.

But pout I would find fostering really challenging. It is the giving back part after mothering for a while that would be awful, I agree with buzzy. But we did briefly chat about adoption (again)...

How did the appointment go today sarlat? Well done on keeping to the diet, princess and feeling better for it. I have to say animal fat and alcohol do make you feel a little ill after a while, so I am back on the healthy eating wagon big time...

Have you done your first IUI frannie?

Quick waves to the others, joycep, mrsd, artemis, teu, critter too knackered to catch up properly, sorry!

nelly I always get tearful/pissed off around AF time, I don't think Mr B would know what to do if I didn't Sadly my secret hobbling isn't a secret or as interesting as yours. I have a box full of my baby knitting, blankets, hats and jackets, I might end up giving it away
Hide the bible in Mr Nellys underwear draw, if she did find it she is hardly going to tell you.

artemis good luck with your appt next week. I can sympathise with your friend, I think my mother is mentally unstable (and I don't mean it in a bitchy way) and as my sister is very similar so wonder if it is hereditary or just learnt traits?? I'm sure they know you didn't mean any harm by it and he obviously felt he could discuss it with you and might help them come to a decision.

Well the shower screen is now up!!! thanks to the polish builder downstairs Mr B then said well now that the DIY is finished we just have the babymaking drama to deal with felt like saying if I could call in a builder/plumber to fix it I would!!!
I'm more than happy to knit booties for all you lovely ladies, I can't sit still so need a little hobby, keeps me out of trouble.

Hi Ladies.

Princess - it's great about the new and improved AF. All going in the right direction. Are you are a writer? Your posts are funny and flowy.

Artemis - good luck with this cycle of clomid. What will the next step be for you if you do go private?

Joycep - I don't think you are perimenapausal. From the outside looking in, it seems that your AF isn't early and that you ovulated around the time that you started with the sore boobs. That would be the normal way of things. What has happened this cycle? Are you on new treatment / programme which has changed things. I'm pretty sure your lutal phase hasn't changed. What's the latest with the IVF clinics that you approached? Sorry you have to go through more stress with funny cycles.

Buzzy - thanks for all the support. I am amazed you can knit - what a wonderful skill. Hope AF stays away!

Euro - best of luck. All sounds very positive. Has Mr Euro's sample been on the low side during the testing phase? It's interesting that you think this may be the issue? However, IUI does overcome this by picking the best of the bunch so don't worry about it for now. Easier said than done, I know. Can you do any positive visualisations? Also I was told to wear orange clothes and think orange coloured thoughts - helps fertility.

Wine - Good luck and big virtual hugs for tomorrow. You are brave and strong and you will reap the rewards. Allow yourself lots of time for recovary, emotionally and physically.

Nelly - great about getting the HSG sorted.

Hi to everyone else I missed an thank you for all the concern for me.

Well the scan this morning was better. I was seen by a nurse who spoke sooo much more sense and managed to calm me down.

The scan showed the womb linning is 7. something mm which is more than thick enough - hooray. There were many follicles on each ovary - about 7 or 8 on each I think - hooray. Why did that Dr make me think I only had 2 follicles full stop? .

Of those follicles, one was 15 mm, about 3 were around 12-13 mm and then the rest were hovering around 10mm and under. Not sure it they all count or will contain eggs or whatever.

Those good follicles are still not quite big enough (the threashold is 16 mm) but there has been good growth and response over the weekend.

I'm not out of the water yet. I am being scanned Tuesday morning to check that trend has continued. If it has, I will have EC on Thursday or Friday.

Over the weekend, I had 2 x accu sessions, rested loads, had hot water bottle on staomach and ate loads of protein, nuts, seed fruit and veg and loads of yoghurt and some milk. The Dr didn't think anything except the drugs caused the follicle growth but i'm not sure. The Dr and Nurse both seemed pleasantly suprised by the level of the growth.

Those of you who told me last week that the dose / protocol was wrong in relation to My initial poor response were right. The change of dose was needed and some people do just take longer. I can't beleive what the Dr was saying.

The only bad news is there is still toxic fluid in my tubes. This will always be a risk in case the fluid tips in to the womb and flushes out any new embryos. But there was no evidence of fluid in the womb today which is a good sign (but no guarentees).

Feeling releived for now but still got a million hurdles to get through.

Thank you to all you ladies. Will update tomorrow.

xx