TTC for 10+ months, part 8

[eurochick]

A friendly, supportive thread for those taking a blooming long time to conceive!

Hi everyone, hey Critter thanks for saying anthropologists are cool yesterday, I'm all beaming. Not what I would expect, I thought people thought we all have crazy beards (I do have a beard, of course, but I like mine neat).

princess oh yes loving the clinging to red wine bottle story.

pout sorry sorry. CD 2 is a tiny bit better I promise. rabbit sorry to read that you are feeling very low too.

euro your efforts in research and informing yourself are really something.

Hello everyone.
Pout ? shitzer and big hug. CD1 doesn?t even have to be the only cause of feeling utterly hopeless these days. I tend to get that feeling of doom and gloom most days. That aside, I do wonder why you are getting 3 days of period cramps though ? is that normal for you? I am sure i have said this before but it does sound like your body is trying to do something. Period cramps are a classic sign of implantation especially days before your period. Uuuum. Would you ever be tempted to test your NK cells?

Euro ? i?m not surprised your head wasn?t in the right place. at least you don?t have to do too many tests at the moment. I think the DNA fragmentation test is a good one to do...puts a bit of pressure on the men as well. Although am i right in thinking that if there are DNA problems with the sperm, then that can make it very unlikely to conceive even through ivf?

Critter ? what a nuisance about your testing clashing with your trip home. I hope it can be squeezed in.

Lemon ? i?m back in on Tuesday where i will pick up all my results and be told what next steps are. Dreading it. if i think about it i feel nervous. Really glad to hear you are stitch free now. Can you see your scar at all?

Rabbit ? sorry that you are poorly. I hope it?s not GF again. You ?ve been through enough already .

Princess- i have become a bit of a lump lately. I was so good for the first 6 months of the year ? eating well, lots of exercise. Secretly i thought that would help get me pregnant and when it didn?t i thought screw it. Now i just feel gross and am always bloated. I was very sporty at school. I wasn?t the academic but sport was really my thing and i definitely need to do it tomake myself feel better. Tennis is great. I do actually play quite a bit. Probably best not to go commando though! Sadly i don?t have the legs to play in my tennis skirt...it?s all those children i have had, given me cellulite!

Ello laydees! I'm back from wedding/mini break and back in the land of wifi /3G, hurrah. We are literally 4 weddings and a funeral this year, except sans Hugh Grant [lustful face]. The Fred has been well busy, so this'll be a rubbish catch up!

Just before I went, I was horrified by the turkey baster/not drinking story joy! But also thought about trying to get hold of some of that supa sperm. Your Athens results were interesting. Are you going to take the antibis? My mum once ended up with ecoli in a post-surgery wound. We thought it was the one that's carried in poo, but that must be wrong if it's in yoghurts...

pout boo hiss to ertd. Do you know, I had my hopes up for you this month too. I hate the crushing feeling when af turns up. princess you described period arrival exactly as it happens in my house. Pout big hugs and eat some tasty lard. You will get there one day.

princess you've been making me chuckle as usual! I wish the 'rents had a big London town house! So is it swi for you this month? V exciting. And I'm gonna have to check out urban outfitters now (although I'm too old and fat for play suits).

lemons hurrah for removal of pant catching stitches and drinking of wines! Pleased to hear you are properly mended now.

euro sperm fragmentation? Fuckity fuck. This sounds like exactly our problem, combined with the other shit sperm numbers, as we lost so many embies. Is the test very expensive? Sounds like it may be something we think about before the next ivf. Am pleased you have a plan. You sound v. together and like one resilient lady!

carrie sorry about the discharge from the hospital. This is exactly what happened to mr gin. It sucks.

Aww rabbit I really do feel for you. Your 18% chance sounds very positive to me. Hang onto that thought. It will happen.

artemis hope you are having a fab holiday! It sounded like you were going somewhere sunny

critter yay for twinges. Hopefully this will be a second ovulation in a row for you.

buzzy get those boots on lady!

Hi purple. Anthropology eh? V interesting. Do you still er practice? You could do a study on us all!

missm to me, the SA sounded ok?! I think kitty who was on here got preggers with poor motility?

frannie hope all went well with the move and your exciting news.

mrsd do you get your test results soon?

A big smooch to everyone I've missed.

Nothing of excitement to report. Our break was great in a totally non ttc way -lots of booze, late nights and v little swi! The wedding was good. Ironically kids were banned apart from new borns and guess who ended up sat next to 2 of the 3 babies there? To be fair, one sounded v hard won. The mum had her cervix removed due to cancer, so the baby was held in with a stitch and was a c sec. However she had a perfectly gorgeous baybee. So euro there is def hope for you. No one interrogated us about kids so that was good too.

CBFM reckons I only had highs no peaks this month but I think the piss sticks were a bit buggered (lots of blue dye down one end). Hopefully it's not my ovaries that are fooked! This means I have to temp next month, boo.

Right I'm off to google frag'd sperms.

Ah gin you've been missed! Glad you had a lovely time away. It is indeed SWI this month, in fact I am entering shag week any day now. We are off on the romantic break. We have been SWI EOD since ERTD. I cooly informed Mr P that today is his day off, unless he is very horny in which case I'm open for business. And who said romance is dead, eh? Well there is one heffer of a pregnant lady next to me in hairdressers, WHY! Very much like rabbit had the other day. She won't look so good in tiny shorts / tennis dress combo though. She actually mega huge. I find that a bit terribly frightening. Plus she has a mini version of herself inside her. A bit a lot weird. Like a distended russian doll. And back to Vogue...,

Ps I think euro you said you'd bought Red for the adoption article - me too, well and the Ren freebies. Found the article a bit lacking in detail. They did a much better one back in April (must be online somewhere) which was about Lisa Faulkener and her adopted daughter. It was really interesting and made me feel like there is another option. There was a lovely line about lisa telling her daughter that she grew in her heart rather than in her tummy. Ironically I was reading it in the clinic post EC!

Sorry I really will bugger off now. Am Fred hogging!

Ps I think euro you said you'd bought Red for the adoption article - me too, well and the Ren freebies. Found the article a bit lacking in detail. They did a much better one back in April (must be online somewhere) which was about Lisa Faulkener and her adopted daughter. It was really interesting and made me feel like there is another option. There was a lovely line about lisa telling her daughter that she grew in her heart rather than in her tummy. Ironically I was reading it in the clinic post EC!

Sorry I really will bugger off now. Am Fred hogging!

Eek really am filling up the thread with my double posts!

princess i'm tres impressed at the eod. Mr gin would never play ball (!) with that!

gin EOD not here my friend.

pout sorry about ERTD this is exactly how I feel every month, its totally shit. critter is right about the clomid so you should be ok

gin welcome back, I too wonder about the sticks, mine have been really pale and can barely see the lines, including the control line

euro you've had a rough ride, I hope Gorgy has some answers for you

rabbit super big hugs, look after yourself

carrie sorry about your DD not being well

lemon yay to stitch removal, fingers crossed you are the first iui success

critter hope all goes well this cycle, could you not take the drugs while you are away??

princess at your trifle story

Well shag week has begun in the bee household, was quite nice and relaxed i'm only cd9 but might as well get in a bit of practice, we're usually every 2-3 days. Still only 1 bar so will have to see what happens tomorrow, still having twinges

Oh I shouldn't read so late at night. I am way too tired to catch up, so just to say I'm still alive here. Pretty sure ERTD is arriving though, which is fuckity fuck fucking annoying. I will wail with you pout

Had a bit of a breakdown last night. There was much screaming and shouting at Mr Nelly (oh dear, again) followed by me bawling my eyes out about general TTC shit. He was awesome, thankfully, but I feel a bit down. Am mega busy with work so hardly having time to read thread, book IVF appointments, or anything else fun. And we have a houseful this weekend, including babysitting our nephew who is going to have to sleep in our room as the spare room is full. So I'll probably be awake all night staring at him sleeping .

Anyway just wanted to say I'm speed reading when I can and missing you all and sorry for the shit that some of you are having, and excited about other shag week style news. But mostly pissed off for all of us at that the finger appears to have abandoned us. The bastard.

Luffs to all.

Oh shit Nelly not another one. I'm holding out hope that it's not arriving but if it is me and pout have got the period sulk well underway. Sorry bout the screaming, but sometimes screaming is not so bad. How old is your nephew?

Glad to see there is some shag week activity underway or at least under starters orders princess and buzzy.

How are you feeling rabbit? Are you going to get tested for GF? I got it once on the back of a whole bunch of other things 'opportunistic infections' was mentioned a lot. I had been living in an absolute crap hole of a place.

Gin yes I do still practice to a greater or lesser extent depending on the piece of work at any given time. In the RL though, rather than academia. You are right there are any number of studies to be done, don't worry though... < maniacal laugh fades off into the distance>

Morning all.
Lemons glad you feel well recovered let's hope that's a good sign.
Pout I feel it every month, you would think after 18 months I would have got used to the arrival of AF but every time it brings me down.
Yey to shag week Buzzy and princess I am a little ahead of you but would love every 2-3 days. I have to really push for that lol.
Sorry to hear about the stress your having Nelly but yey to the MR being awesome. Hope your feeling better soon. Same to rabbit.
Hi to Euro, Sarlat and Critter and to anyone else I have missed.

Still house of sickness for me DD is on the mend but school won't have her back for her last day so another day off work for me. Might have to take it as unpaid as I need the holidays for next year.

Well the stress of the last week is starting to ease but for the first time since I was ill with my kidneys I'm just not that into dtd. We have but he can tell that I'm not really in the moment. I'm not going to stress about it and will just have to give myself some time

joycep I think there is a limited amount of things they can do if there are problems with the sperm DNA. They can look at supplements, the treatment of any infection, etc. And I guess if it is really crap, it might help us to move on.

It's interesting what you say about fitness. My good friend who has 3 IVF babies put on loads of weight when she was ttc. She has mentioned that she saw lots of fat unhealthy people around her getting pregnant and so just let herself go a bit. Not that it helped. What helped was IVF technology.

Thank you for the comments about my research, ladies. It is really born out of desperation. I just cannot let the diagnosis rest at "unexplained". There must be a reason. Interestingly, when I said something along those lines to Gorgy, he said that about 40% of cases used to be considered unexplained and now it has dropped to 20% as more tests are developed.

Sorry for the arrival/imminent arrival of ERTD. I still have no cycle to speak of. I've been off the drugs since 2 July, so I would hope that something will start happening soon. It is freeing not to have a cycle but I am starting to wish something would happen to confirm that everything is getting back to normal and I won't be permanently menopausal!

Thanks for the feedback on DH's SA. I don't think it's so bad either but I'll wait to see what they say at the fertility clinic. Still shagging away in the mean time as OV seems to have eluded me this month, temp has gone up slightly but OPK still positive after 4 days. I think my body is trying its hardest to OV but no egg anywhere in sight (CD25 now)

euro I don't blame you for wanting to avoid immunosuppressants after all you've been through. Please don't worry too much about the pre-cancerous cells it really is common, I'm glad you're not putting your plans on hold for it. As you know, most people have some form of the HPV and many have the type that shows up on your cervix. I'm really glad they've started immunizing young girls against it. I wish I had been,. After my colposcopy I just had to continue to have them monitored every 6 months for any changes and when they didn't change they dropped the check ups to once a year. By the time I moved to another country and had a check up here they were back to normal.

rabbit sorry you're feeling poorly. Time to be very self-indulgent and do only nice things for yourself.

carrie last month when I know I ovulated on CD16 I had a positive OPK on CD14, a very faint line on CD15 and no line at all on CD16. So don't assume your window was closed.

pout sorry about AF, it still sucks every single month, doesn't it. Anything nice you can treat yourself to to cheer you up? I think I'm going to stat at CD1 ritual, something I like doing that cheers me up that I don't normally allow myself to do.

lemon sounds like everything is healing nicely.

princess still chuckling at your commando mishap but at least your priorities are straight and no wine was spilled. If I ever play tennis, which doesn't happen often as I'm also not a sport person and very definitely a music geek person, I have a short running skirt with built in shorts that I wear. The one I have is addidas (I think) and I really like it.

critter congratulations on the OV! That must have felt fantastic and will hopefully continue for you. fx for this month too.

buzzy enjoy shagweek!

Ah Rabbit I?m so sorry you?ve been feeling so low. Its not surprising, you?ve had this looming over you for so long, was there a droid, wasn?t there, having that huge operation and then told your tubes were clear and everything was fine, to now be told 18% chance I think I would be reeling too. I reckon 18% is a load of BS personally, where on earth did that come from, which study shows all the people who?ve had exactly what you?ve had done who?ve then gone on to get PG and in what timeframe? These people don?t really know, and I think great things are going to happen for you! Don?t forget, small acorns grow into huge oak trees!! I?m sure that its perseverance and determination that will get us there in the end.
Carrie hope your DD is feeling better soon, that can?t be helping to get you in the mood!
Euro I?m very impressed, once again, by your level headedness and independent stance on what treatment you will and won?t have. I have to ask though, have you had someone say to you they support the approach you?re planning to take regarding not having the cervix operation thing and trying to treat it with a natural approach? Isn?t there a halfway house with some kind of freezing of cells or something? It was interesting what you said about Dr G but I imagine it was a bit hard to be thinking about all that with the other stuff going on. Did he give you an idea of what he thought was your most likely cause, or what he seemed most interested in you pursuing?
Buzzy I?d be interested in what your friend gets told by Dr G (not that I?m trying to glean his opinions without paying to see him of course!). How did your scan go today?
Purple I?m very intrigued at what an anthropologist actually does, are you able to say without outing yourself?
Artemis hope you have a fab holiday
Critter did they give you any actual measurements of lining and follicles? I think what is ?good? seems to vary a lot between clinics.
Joycep good luck for the test results next week. Information is power as they say, as long as its consultants? view then combined with the wisdom of mumsnet afterwards! What are you thinking about the anti-b?s now? I?m the exact same as you that I was sporty at school, and really need it to make myself feel better, but quite often have the ?screw it? mentality.

Princess with your brown diet commitment, and obvious figure to be able to wear playsuits, your reaping your own veg, and moving into house you?ve just renovated, I feel sure you are soon to join the coven and create some sproglets to join your idyllic new life! I actually think I?m going to move somewhere fairly close to where you are - the house you mentioned in a previous post is about a mile from where I?m moving to, and I?m a member of a tennis club not that far away! I?m almost brave enough to suggest meeting to play tennis, but not quite ? I fear Farrah Fawcett might turn up on the opposite side of the net which would not do my ego much good at the moment!
Lemon please can I come and hide in your ample bosom too?? I don?t have as much need as pout just now, but it sounds so comforting! I feel I could hide in ample bosom being fed lemon drizzle cake until this whole ttc shebang is over. What a great mum you will make
Pout or Le Pout which was my favourite of your names ? I also offer a squeeze from my largeish bosom, but unfortunately need to add large boned shoulders and ribs. As a good friend said to me on one of my darker days ?maybe the worst part has passed now?. Don?t forget the immortal genius of D:Ream ? things can only get better.
Gin your story of the lady with no cervix and still having a baby should give me hope really that things are possibly against the odds, but it just makes me think ?geez even people with no bloody cervix?s can manage it!? I?ll add that to the list of men, gays with turkey basters, people who don?t even have sex and still get pg etc etc !! What are you plans regarding any further IVF (fingers crossed you get the ironic bfp in the meantime)?
Muddy so sorry to hear about the screaming ? it is necessary to get it out sometimes.
Medusa I love the idea of a CD1 ritual, I may start planning those.
Well its all go in CB household. We are still taking the anti-b?s (with a little grumbling from DH). We?ve just started another IVF round at a new clinic and despite the new consultant giving me lower than normal prognosis of 25% chance per cycle compared with a normal 40% I?m feeling fairly upbeat. After Euro?s nightmare with how she felt on the drugs, I?ve realised my body will happily digest any number of narcotics, I actually feel pretty normal despite the injection of top whack amount of hormones for the last 2 days. I was thinking that the anti-b?s would solve all my problems and I would just fall pg naturally next cycle, but I realised that realistically I would need to give it 6 months post clearing infections and I just can?t take another 6 month period of waiting, there?s been too many of those, so we?re opting for the ivf again. Of course no-one wants to get pg this way and when I?ve imagined it working and suddenly turning up with a baby after all these married years, I worry that the ?label? will stay with me forever. I also worry I?ll forever feel like an incomplete female and never regain the confidence in life that I once had, but hopefully having a real life child would chase these thoughts away most of the time.
We?ve also sold our house. This is the house we bought when newly married, which was going to be our ?forever family home? and the one I dreamed of having babies in, and meeting the local coven etc, which we worked so hard on to make picture perfect and looks like the magazine?s I pored over for so long?.and which has remained empty of children or the local coven, and has become a financial millstone and a huge symbol of past hope and optimism of a time gone by, much like my faded dodgy tattoo reminds me of a few misspent years. So its going, and we?re off to a much more ordinary (but perfectly lovely) house, in a location which would be suited either to family life, or to having good times without. And Universe, I make you this deal ? I will hand back my perfect house and exchange it for the (perfectly lovely) ordinary one, on the condition that it comes with a perfectly ordinary family!.
Aagh, that was cathartic, feel much better now, thanks for letting me offload!
Waves to anyone I missed. x

Oh Carebear All the very best with your next round of IVF. I hope this does it and that you are the proud owner of BFP stick soon. You never know it may be the ab's that tip the scale in your favour, despite dismal stats. I really hate stats. I don't think any two people are in exactly the same boat, especially when you consider that making a baby is a double act. I fear I have sounded like a knob over my lifestyle - not perfect by any stretch of the imagination! I will admit to being pretty smug at the old playsuit thing but it is the bonus side of not drinking and eating whole foods alone (I've lost a dress size since Xmas). I've eaten like the McKeith and have had to pass on lots of fun (recent wedding aside). Said £10 playsuit will only be outed on the beach, by the pool and not anywhere in the UK! I would love to play tennis with you and I can confirm that I do not look like Farah Fawcett!! That made me snort a bit of brazil nut accross my desk, as I sit here in yesterday's clothes, unwashed, un-make-up'd...(although we had a bit of a naughty lie in this morning including some SWI - EOD going strong - perk of working from home!) And I had my hair done last night so that's at least one bit of me is not skanky (I'll be washing / changing at lunch time in case anyone is wondering!!!) Oh and I can't play tennis yet and this is a new avenue that I am thinking of exploring, what with tennis courts in the local park behind the row of shops in the village near my house....if that gives you any more clues? If we do meet, you are guaranteed to whoop my ass! Anyway, I'm not getting overly excited about a BFP any time soon. I've been in this game for far too long now. Still, at least it's given us time to get sorted and grow up a bit. I'm curious about your new home and your location? I may just PM you! I think dream home for dream family is more than a very fair swap... I would want both! Our house is teeny, tiny but it's what we could afford and we were desperate for a garden and driveway having done Brighton for too many years.

MissM fingers firmly crossed for success. Thanks for tennis skirt tip. I'll have to do a bit more research.

Euro interesting comments from Dr G re unexplained stats. I'm sure your cycle will be back soon. Almost 3 weeks since you had the first load of drugs and didn't Sarlat say that it takes about 6 weeks? I also thought of another recipe book for you, it's called The ORACle diet (same guy as juice book). Some great recipes in there, it's a diet for life type plan and aims at helping to reduces the risks of heart problems, obesity, diabetes, cancer etc

Carrie hope your DD feels better soon.

Nelly sorry to hear of melt down and stressful time at work. I hope you have a nice rest over the weekend, even if it does include a nephew to look after. I've been told that being in maternal situations is good for TTC, hence why I've been stroking pregnant bellies and trying to get exposure to babies (and small dogs) lately. Maybe if I rub enough bumps and baby heads (and puppies) it will be the final piece of this mental TTC puzzle?! So get stroking that nephew's head and FX that ERTD is not on it's way.

Buzzy good work on the SWI. So, we appear to be in shag week at pretty much the same time. Good luck!!!!

In other news, the underwear ordered from Figleaves didn't fit. It has been returned, I'm off to see the french lady tomorrow morning....

Your post is very interesting Care, I think you are making a very fair deal there and understand very much your need to move physically and be in a different environment. at Farrah Fawcett. I'm going to think about the anthro thing and get back to you.

Like you I think my body would happily digest buckets of narcotics but unlike you I don't see a way to move forward and do IVF. I've seen euro and several other sensible women on MN respond to long-timers requests for tips and tricks with - something is preventing conception, push for some or more exploration. I just couldn't agree more. So I find it strange to be looking up what carrots can do for me (full report to follow) and waiting for my miracle baby. But I think this is it for me. I have to see my doctor in 6 weeks, to check up on the damn cyst, so I can have another think before that. The thing is I get the impression that he thinks that things are best left well alone. I think I will keep these focused efforts, temping, shag week, until the end to this year and then have a think about how to wean myself off.

princess grinned at brazil nut snorting, but it had to be a brazil nut didn't it? Brazil nuts make babies and they are the only nuts that do. Interesting fact, people are crazy for nuts where I am. Nuts, nuts, nuts, all day every day. You know the only kind of nut you can't get hold of? Mmm, I don't need to go on...

Purple I've been eating brazil nuts regularly for years. I can categorically confirm that brazil nuts do not make babies. Brazilan nuts however, well that's a whole different ball game

Wow to the cervix-less differ, Gin! Care I haven't had dr sign off on my plan yet because my appointment isn't for another couple of weeks, but he would have to work pretty hard to persuade me to consent to treatment now. I have about a 3% chance of the abnormality turning into cancer within 10 years and a 90% chance that it will eventually regress to normal. So the odds are in my favour. And NICE guidelines indicated that mild abnormalities should not require treatment, so if the gynae wants to convince two lawyers sitting in my room to consent to a procedure against clinical guidelines, he had better have a good case! I'm going to listen to what he has to say, but I think waiting to see what happens over 6 months is the best course of action. It is what would have happened if I had just gone along with the NHS 6 month recall rather than feeling like I needed to see someone asap to get advice on whether or not I should continue with the IVF cycle I was in the middle of.

They don't really do the freezing any more now Care. They prefer removing the area surgically so they can test it and make sure they got it all. I'm not wholly convinced, I have to say.

MissM thanks for the words of comfort. I'm glad your cells are back to normal now.

Care Dr G didn't give any indication as to what he thought the problem might be. He just ran through the tests he offers.

I'm glad you are coping well with all the drugs! Some people do metabolise them better than others - as is evident after my IVF ishooos! I'm one of those people who can't drink caffeine after lunchtime if I want to sleep and finds that half the usual dose of paracetemol will do the job. And I am particularly senstive to anything hormonal. I should probably have been on a fraction of the usual downregging dose - I was no doubt having a massive overdose every day beyond what my body needed to shut my ovaries down. The only "drug" I don't have this problem with is alcohol, after years of work to improve my tolerance. I hope your next IVF cycle goes well and gets you the result you want.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing in selling your house. We're sort of in the opposite situation - contemplating moving from our London home to somewhere outside London for more space and a bigger garden. We're holding off because I don't want to end up in a 5 bed house with a climbing frame in the garden if it will always be just the two of us.

princess thanks for the book tip. I will look into that.

Don't tell me that Brazil nuts won't get me duffed! I have recently discovered somewhere near my office that sells chocolate brazils and I am a tiny bit addicted...

Is this where we are all going wrong? Not enough Brazilian nuts

Still feeling low and mega tired, sludge is slowly starting so looks like another fail. I will indeed be cuddling nephew too much this weekend. I get huge pangs of jealousy though when I see toddlers hug their mummy. It's not fair. And the cat is fed up being squished by me. Luckily my hobble is well up for kisses .

Can't promise to post over weekend as I'll be too worn out from the reality that is children but I'll read and think of you all. X

Snorting my water at princess's Brazilian nuts making babies in a ball game no less You are terrible and hilarious!

I heard Brazil nuts are good for semen and as DH is on the skinny side I feed him up with nuts. He is about a stone lighter than me and about 8 inches taller :( but than I am officially overweight since the op... Clearly it was the scales fault and not my failure to do exercise.

Wave at joycep I am one of the sporty ones during school and uni. And still but of course I had that fall of my bike in the beginning of the year and I seem to have gone lazy since. I have decide to try and get back into the routine, because I do love it and it makes me feel so much better...

And carebear come here, bosom is post-O sized and can easily fit you and the poutster, the drizzle cake is finished but I have some oat and raisin cookies I baked yesterday, you sound like you could do with a bit of comforting. I feel so sorry for the hopes and dreams, turned into financial mill stone story. It is one thing I have always feared, because unlike most I have always wondered whether I would be able to conceive. It took my parents years to have my brother, than many followed. But that time in a house with empty baby rooms would be unbearable. So DH and I live in the tiny but lovely flat I bought before we met. And we are not going anywhere or looking until a 12-week scan or a given up TTC completely. Impressed with the be happy both ways house, we've been on the lookout for one of those, but not found it yet. So really, that echoes your sentiment euro no moving to a house with empty rooms.

Stick to your guns with the gyno euro. I think you are being very sensible and wise. I am still undecided what to do about the unexplained label. What makes a difference, I suppose, is that it took my parents forever too and then they had loads of us... And there was no diagnosis then either. Also, since your smear results, I am less tempted by immuno suppressants. And sending periods to Athens is (at the moment) really one step to gross for me. I find the pregnyl injection lurking in the fridge quite traumatic enough...

How are you today rabbit? I really hope the nice weather will give you the boost you need. And if you stay this run-down do go and see your GP about it as GF can return!

How's pout? I always find CD2 much better than CD1, so I hope that goes for you too? Did you manage to sort the subscription?

You sound very decided purple about not going for IVF, I am really impressed!

Sorry about sludge making an appearance but have fun with the nephew! I love kiddy cuddles, much better than cats. But if you do stuff for them you generally get them. I really love the sudden hand holding or demands for lap-climbing whne they are tired or a bit scared. Sadly my baby nephew is getting into the semi-independent stage of wanting to explore the world rather than be cuddled by me. So he kind of wrestles himself out of my arms :(

Welcome back gin! General and friendly waves to the others. I am going to have another hour of useful time and then The Weekend Starts!! Whoohoo.

Hi ladies,

I hope you don?t mind me butting in? I posted on here a few months ago but have been caught up with finishing a 4-year project recently (deadline September, so almost there?) Besides which, I didn?t have much to report. However, that?s starting to change? We had some tests done with our GP (me: cd21 blood test - all fine; him: SA - normal). So we got referred to the fertility clinic, and have been given an appointment to see the consultant in August. In preparation for this, I was asked to have an ultrasound/blood tests on cd2-7 and Mr B has to give another sample. I just had the scan (it?s day 4 of my cycle) and found out there were 3 follicles on one ovary and 2 on the other. I had no idea whether this was significant at all, and the technician didn?t seem that concerned. However, I have just been consulting Dr Google and am weeping rather dismayed? Do I have depleted ovarian reserve? Are my ovaries even more ancient than I am (34)? It seems I should have around 15 follicles, not a paltry 5. Does this mean I wouldn?t be a good candidate for IVF? I realise these are questions I will have to ask the consultant in August, but it just helps to get it off my chest. Mr B is away with work, you see, so there?s no one around to mop up my tears cheer me up. Sorry for a very me-me-me post I hope everyone else is doing well. I?ve tried to keep an eye on things, but this thread moves so quickly I find it difficult to keep up!

Ah thanks Princess and you absolutely do not sound like a knob - sounds like you've worked damn hard and are now about to reap results all round. I think you should parade proudly down Brighton seafront in your playsuit! And i think i may know the point where those tennis courts are, if you get my drift? I'll be keeping my feet warm not too far away. And agree, Brighton parking is a nightmare.

Euro best of luck for your next appointment. I assume you can keep having smears to check things are not progressing? (not that I find it hard to stand up to doctors or anything!)
Thanks for the reassurance about doing the right thing house wise. Its a decision we've struggled with for ages. And I think holding off buying Euro and Lemon is a good plan - I would never have bought this house if I knew what we had in store. My mum was a fall first time every time kind of person so never really considered this eventuality was likely. Anyway enough wallowing from me on the house front - I should be grateful to be able to afford a house full stop. Lemon I like the reassurance that it happened eventually for your parents. What made the difference for them I wonder?
Purple I'm a big believer in doing what feels right for you at the right time and no more. Anything other is doomed to failure anyway i think as I'm sure the mind / body link is important.
Nephews are great aren't they. And Neices. Unfortunately they make it hard for me to see adopting as an option, as I feel so differently with them than other children.

Have a great weekend all. x

Crossed posts Beryl - I think there's a difference between actual follicles growing that month, and an antral follicle count which is the total number of possible egg growing (insert technical term for 'pods'). Were you taking any medication? Did they tell you the size of these follicles? Even if the 5 was your antral follicle count, if you're still growing follicles that's what counts. There's much debate about whether reduced quantity has any indication about quality.