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Conception

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Original poster

The ongoing search for BFPs now leads the BESH to the barren polar wastes, in the footsteps of Scott, Shackleton and Franklin.

999 replies

ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 19/02/2013 22:35

Pack those reindeer sleeping bags, huskies and skis - we're off to the Antarctic to look for our BFPs. Unlike Scott, we'll eat the poniez if necessary (topical joke). Let's huddle together through the Antarctic night and we'll try not to kidnap one of the emperor penguin toddlers for our very own. Bring on blizzards, pack ice, shipwreck, attacking leopard seals, voyages across the Southern Ocean in rowing boats and hazardous traverses of South Georgia in search of rescue - just like the Shackleton expedition, NO BESH WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.

(do I win the prize for most random fred ever?)

OP posts:
FrankellyMyDearIDontGiveADamn · 22/02/2013 18:15

Hmm, chilled Sav Blanc is what I have. Oh well, I figure after a glass or two the pain will be numb.

What were you up to last night anyway?

TWinklyLittleStar · 22/02/2013 18:27

Chilled sauvignon will help. Definite. I would love to be able to join you for a glass, have one for me. I am working tomorrow with a different team and their boss is an utter waste of space. Yuck.

RaspberrySnowCone · 22/02/2013 18:29

Hags I'm not sure if I have a dilemma......? Well, not a dilemma, more of a 'I'm not really sure' kinda issue. So.... When I spoke to PCT they said to expect to see FC consultant at end of April time. I have a holiday from mid April and back on 24th. I've told them this and they've said no problem, they'll ring my mobile if any issues with dates to make sure I get the message, rather than just write to me. But, holiday is in France and should have been to consume a vast amount of wine and stinky cheese and french beer. We are exceedingly good diet wise so we won't be pigging out but do you know if we should be off booze/caffine completely etc for three months before starting IVF to protect MATVs swimmers? Also, how quick will it be from that first appt to actually starting? The FC said there isn't really a waiting list at mo?

Don't know why I feel stressy, I just do. Yes please for lol thread!

TWinklyLittleStar · 22/02/2013 18:33

rasp I say enjoy the wine and stinky cheese. I am sure someone here (?Bugs) said their other half had much better sperm results after a relaxed boozy Christmas than previously, when they were trying hard to be good but were stressed.

Northey · 22/02/2013 18:36

My timetable was:

12 Dec - preliminary FC consultant appointment followed by general info evening
9 Jan - test results review and dildocam for baseline scan
24 Jan - drug delivery
1 Feb - first stimming injection
14 Feb - egg collection and spaff production.

So two calendar months between first appointment and the point at which our respective cells were collected.

Northey · 22/02/2013 18:40

And that's also in a clinic with no waiting list, currently. Also, I did short protocol, so if you were doing long protocol you'd have a few more weeks grace for healthy living.

I second the booziness thing for spaff. AMNH did his a couple of days after a stag weekend and acquitted himself very well. Though I admit I did beg him to cut down before the actual thing.

RaspberrySnowCone · 22/02/2013 18:46

Thanks chaps, that's good to know. Like I say we are a pretty healthy pair so even a lot of wine for us probably isn't a massive amount realistically. Think we'll just kick back and go with the flow :)

I'm currently participating drinking while in the bath and watching vids on the Tube of You of male pole dancers. Some insanely good male polers out there :) I find it quite sexy, is that odd?

RaspberrySnowCone · 22/02/2013 18:46

Participating! I meant practising!

Original poster
ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 22/02/2013 18:52

HA! Do you want to know what our timetable has been? (bearing in mind this has all coincided with my dad's mental collapse)

Last March - referral to consultant
May - consultation with consultant
August - HSG
September - second consultation. Told us we could go ahead with IUI and they would "hurry the process up in view of very low AMH (

OP posts:
Northey · 22/02/2013 19:06

You really have had a spectacularly shit ride, rie.

I think there are meant to be ways to do ivf more cheaply, like some GPs will prescribe some of the drugs so you can get them for the standard prescription rate rather than the £££s the clinic charges.

Or MrA could sell his superspunk...

RaspberrySnowCone · 22/02/2013 19:37

That is shocking Rie, I've kind of followed along having been on the thread but when you write it down like that it really shows how crap its been.

So I guess I'll just have to wait and find out for myself how long this will all take. i have an AHM test result that I had blood taken for in January. Really ought to find out the result but then I think well, I can't do sod all about it if it's bad can I so it might be best just not to know.

JethroTull · 22/02/2013 19:48

Remember ours was more expensive because of ICSI & chromosome test. We got a refund on the chromosome test though because they wouldn't do it on the single embryo. Nice to get £2500 in your bank! So all in inc drugs I think it was about £5.5k.

Original poster
ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 22/02/2013 19:50

Oh really?

ICSI is good for sperm ishoos, no? So I probably wouldn't need it, given the 160 million?

OP posts:
JethroTull · 22/02/2013 19:53

Our timeline was similar to Rie's with a 4 month wait to see a geneticist. Who told us what we'd read on the Internet.

Northey · 22/02/2013 19:54

I am suddenly overcome with admiration for the skill of embryologists. What an amazing thing to be able to do, to select a sperm and inject it into an egg without killing either.

Did you say they could use spare material for training purposes, jeff? I did.

JethroTull · 22/02/2013 19:55

Exactly Rie. We had to have it because the chromosome thing meant most of SSG's troops were duffers. ICSI added quite a bit on I think too.

JethroTull · 22/02/2013 19:56

It's bloody incredible when you think about it Norf. I met ours. She was lovely.

Northey · 22/02/2013 20:03

I met two from the general team - one who received the eggs through the little window at EC, and one who discussed all the grading with us and brought the embryo back in on ET day. Both times with my legs in stirrups. Sigh.

Original poster
ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 22/02/2013 20:11

Please tell me you get a little apron and there aren't people wandering in and out and able to see up your minge?

OP posts:
Northey · 22/02/2013 20:16

Hahahaha! It is all very discreet, and in fact the egg collection embryologist window was up by my head end, so all he could see was my surgical gown and a massive modesty blanket on my knees. And my knee length socks.

Northey · 22/02/2013 20:18

They have to do lots of identity verification, so it's important that the embryologist confirms directly with you who you are so he doesn't plonk the eggs in someone else's petri dish. No-one is there who doesn't need to be.

JethroTull · 22/02/2013 20:21

By the time I got to egg transfer I was so used to the dildocam et al I was past caring. I still maintain that egg transfer was nothing like a fucking smear. It was the worst 10 minutes of the whole thing.

JethroTull · 22/02/2013 20:22

We had wristbands that they scanned. Very high tech.

Original poster
ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 22/02/2013 20:23

I didn't find the last smear too bad at all. Bit proddy and achey and that was it. And the HSG was fine too.

Has anyone else had the HSG and can compare?

OP posts:
Northey · 22/02/2013 20:31

I had HSG and I found it more ouchy than embryo transfer.

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