The Elderberry Pavlovas who occasionally sausage wang – a fabulous thread for 30+ ladies TTC #1 (Thread 8)

[Bunnygirlie]

Newbies very welcome provided they meet the strict entrance criteria (TTC #1, over 30, TTC for 3+months, must have a special pot, NO instadiffers) and bring a bouquet of sausages when they join!

Happy that's made me chuckle, only members of this thread could be annoyed for managing to actually wee in the toilet instead of all over their hand elsewhere! Better luck tomorrow

Boodle, Bunny - I too am regularly convinced that I shall be shortly featuring on 'I didn't know I was pregnant' (which is the most loathesome awful anti-Berry programme that could ever exist)

Speaking of programmes, someone mentioned One Born a bit ago.. Guess who was on it! (Only my backside actually, and very briefly, but still! Fame! )

Hello yorkie! Seriously, Baby on Board badges? I would get TTC rage. Why not just 'Ha Ha, my ovaries work better than yours and I'm a smug fertile ***' badges? (I'm in a very, very PMT-psycho bad mood today. In case you hadn't noticed. Sometimes I'm nice, honest)

Katniss totally feel for you, ttc-failure is crappy no matter how many you already have. That said, I'm not sure this is the best thread to find the support you need, none of us have had babies yet so as the others said the entrance criteria are so we are all coming from the same place. I do hope you find the support you need on other threads though

Barking stupid waiting rooms! and cafes full of postnatal groups and teenagers with prams and facebook updates and pregnant work colleagues and having to stand up for pg women on buses

Right, off to find out what yoni is/was/means... do I need to prepare myself?

That sounds great, barking. I'm about to meet a colleague who has given me the 'enjoy practising' speech before...I think she may give it again today. She has 3 grown up children and was an instadiffer. Lovely. Im meeting her cos I want to talk about the teacher thing, so hoping to steer the conversation that way....

Yes, peanut, prepare yourself to laugh a lot. It's not so much the op, but the very witty responses and name changes and the very good response from mnhq. The fact that it's still there raises mnhq even further in my estimations.

Phew I'm glad I'm not the only one being strict about who joins the berries, i didn't want to come across as mean but the criteria is there for a reason lol. It's like the time I nudged our PG berries who were discussing prams into starting a grads thread

barking hope it wasn't too traumatic being near the baby clinic.

That's exactly what I think peanut about those bloody badges. I didn't even like them before I was ttc. ooh tell us more about your one born starring role!

Started reading the yoni thread too until the gas man came round and then it didn't feel quite right reading it whilst he was there! I shall return to it after work when I get bored in 5 minutes as it is v funny. When I searched for the thread I also saw a thread on the baby name section from ages ago where someone was asking what people thought about her naming her kid Yoni! Someone had to break it to her what it translated to!

Bwahahaha! Oh deary me, how have I survived this far in life without yoni-based poetry?? Can't say I'll be looking Brian up any time soon though If I were brave enough I'd be changing my name to Yonicantbuyyoulove HA

The yoni thread is hilarious - who on earth thinks it's a good idea to advertise for business for such a thing on MN?!
Just in from first apt, and for any out there with thyroid issues take note! My clinic won't start any treatment until TSH is under 2.5, and preferably 2. Mine is 7.89! He said GP's often won't treat until symptomatic, but that is actually wrong as you can't have healthy ovulation with that thyroid level and that the criteria for treatment is going to be dropped to 3 (currently 5)
Am annoyed I've been to GP twice about thyroid in last 6mths, and my wallet is significantly lighten by the clinic today (also testing ovarian reserve and tubes) but felt more hopeful might get there naturally.
One final thing - common cause of miscarriage is low thyroid. He didn't think if I'd got pregnant at that level I'd have made it through. So - anyone in any doubt go and do a sit in at the GP till they give you thyroxine!!

Oh and my claim to fame - there's about three seconds of me standing at a desk in my fetching white uniform, chatting with a midwife and yes, drinking a cup of tea (it was a slow day, honest!)

Sorry wimwom, X threads. Must be so frustrating knowing the GP has messed you about. Sorry for being dim, but what is being done now then, have they given you thyroxine?

Hi all,

Still haven't allowed myself to read the whole Toni thread. Absolutely hilarious.

wim I too have been aggressive assertive with docs recently re thyroid. Got me a 4 week blood test instead of two months after starting in the thyroxine. Have had to be very pro active!

Impressed at your fame peanut even though I didn't watch it

Hi bomb - not dim at all! Started on thyroxine, retest blds in three wks. In mean time having tubes etc checked with a hycosy... Whatever that is. He will keep upping thyroxine dose till my TSH level is less than 2. Nothing else till then. My DH said - aren't those slimming pills?! I'm hoping a few pounds shed could be a helpful side effect!

Thunder - wonder what the reluctance is about? It's a very safe and cheap drug. Did yr GP say why? Mine just said to recheck in a year - helpful.

Wim really sorry to hear you've been messed about. I often wonder if I have complete naivety in believing everything the docs say and I should be pushing more than I do. It's difficult to know where the balance should be.

Christ peanut when you said that it was a clip of your backside I actually thought you meant you had your bare bum showing on national tv!!! God knows why I thought that. I was really impressed and [shocked] that you seemed so pleased about it!

Afternoon berries, new and old! Slow day here in the Bristow household as we're battling our umpteenth sinus infection/stomach bug of the season.

re: Baby on Board badges, a lady in a lift had one and I was secretly envious, thinking I couldn't wait to get one of my own, til DH informed me they were 'naff' and hideous I'm outvoted!!

Trying to get ready for GP appt tomorrow, first priority, get HSG! Thanks for the info puppy. Is my logic correct? Radiology dept at my local hosp told me they're required to handle all appts within 6 weeks. My CD7-10 would be next week, too early for a referral I would think, so would that mean the HSG would have to be done next month, to be within the 6 week cutoff? Is that an NHS thing, or a local hospital thing?

I like the idea of the badges. It means that people can offer a seat without insulting someone.

I feel really bad for Katniss but the reason this thread started was to get away from people complaining about TTCing #5 when some of us haven't even got to number 1.

wim for me it wasn't really reluctance, it was just doing the minimum possible each time and having no joined up thinking whatsoever.

So my tsh was over 7 in Dec. rather than using her brain knowing we're ttc after mmc in Nov and mention it, she just said 'it's looking a bit high so we'll retest in 3 months'. I naively didn't ask for details as I didn't know much about it then.

Feb comes after 3 months wasted angst over ttc and now levels are 15.5 so she starts me on 50mg levothyroxine and tells me to read patient.co.uk and come back in 2 months for a check. Just a standard approach I guess. When I asked her how much the levels had changed she didn't have a clue and had to look them up- so no comparisons going on then.

So I do the reading and find out the risks associated with low thyroid, and that we should be aiming to get down to 2 and that I can be tested every 3-4 weeks so I get back on the blower and talk through it all. Making sure we're all aiming for below the magic 2 as well. And she agrees, saying 'you know more about this than me now'. Wish there could be a bit more joined up thinking.

Rant over.

I feel bad for katniss too. AND she was going to being cupcakes. Yum.

Chortling at Peanut's claim to fame and drinking tea-ness on telly.

I'm back from a very interesting consultation with a nutritionist - DH was right to mourn the loss of some our staple foods, bless him - but she offered a small glimmer of hope that my whole mess could be salvageable with some hardcore health food so I'm all in

I didn't think I did too badly in the diet department but turns out lots of things we eat and do are enough to wack out my hormone balance. Chuck in an uber stressful 2012 and apparently we're in the realms of adrenal fatigue, thyroid and blood sugar problems - and obviously ovarian malfunction too.

She said that pre IVF days, all fertility treatment was thyroid centred and it has to be working optimally for conception. Thunder your rant is totally justified I feel, WimWom again there's got to be something in this, damn GP's for their apathy.

Soo, I'm on a 90 day wheat, gluten, caffeine, alcohol, pork, milk, refined sugar free diet. I must drink sage tea, eat 60% green veg, 35% lean protein a day and take linseed.

A lot of what she said sounds painful to implement but perfectly sound in reasoning. Awaiting my detailed plans through savouring the last hot cross bun and then gotta take the plunge I think. I'll let you know how I go...

cherry this nutrition advice is fascinating. It's easy to forget how much of an effect our diet can have on our bodies but brilliant that making these pretty drastic changes means you can turn the situation around.

What happens after 90 days? Did she have good advice about general maintenance for good (reproductive) health?

I wonder if there's nutritional advice about thyroid- maybe something to do with kelp?!

If it works Thunder it will be fucking amazing advice and I'm backed so far into a corner by this I'll try anything right now. Pretty much everything in the endocrine system is inter-related so I guess the new regime is to hormone proof everything and all relates to thyroid too.

Also no deodorant with aluminium and no more lip balm with petroleum anything chemical in it.

I have a follow up in 10 days and then another at 6 weeks to tweak supplements, extra foods to add/subtract. Watch this space I guess...

Wow, cherry sounds very positive but bl00dy hard work!! Is it both of you that have to stick to the diet or is DH doing it to be supportive?

DH's first response was 'hmm, so you can't eat bread then... that means 90 days of being able to buy the stuff I like' ie the white stodgy stuff when I make him eat brown or granary!

I think read supportive to a point in this. I guess however it is me and me alone that has trashed my body to the point of exhaustion career ladder climbing like a mentalist, and running all over doing freelance work, trying to renovate a house, keep a horse, keep fit and generally galavant all over the place being on it too much and not resting enough. pales at realisation I is not invincible Is a hard lesson to swallow.

While we're on the whole diet thing

I was told off for not eating enough protein as it's what hormones are made of, and as priority we have to regulate my sleep as 4hrs aint cutting it for hormone production either or indeed functioning like a rational human being

I have to do a home gut transit test too - with, wait for it, beetroot!!! Nutritionists must have to go there with poo in the same way gynaes reach for dildo cams me thinks! Apparently if stuff goes through you too quick you don't absorb the nutrients, and too slowly it can screw up your hormone balance as they are excreted through your digestion and can be reabsorbed if they're e in their too long.

OK, enough of the digestive chat... promise. Hopping off now to go for a facial, yippee, see what miracles she can work on my aged sleep deprived hag bag skin. :)

Fingers crossed all the hard work will be worth it cherry.

I am crampy this eve which means af is on her way. A day early by the looks of it which is a shame as I thought I had settled at 24 days. Also means I am now going to sulk for another month.

Fuuuuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkk. That is all

Blimey Cherry this seems like a lot of work.
It makes you wonder how some people who seem to survive on Redbull and chips manage to get knocked up so easily.
Was this an NHS nutritionalist or did you go of your own volition?

Sorry to hear she is on her way Puppy 24 days is short, do you have a good length LP?

Don't beat yourself up Cherry you were just making the most of life and keeping active. It's not your fault. There are plenty of women who have done the same as you and not struggled ttc, it's not strict cause and effect it's plain bad luck 'cos life's not bloody fair. There are plenty of women out there who have completely trashed their bodies with bad diets/alcohol/smoking/drugs/no exercise etc and they've managed to get pg.

However, you might be able to turn your fortunes round with good nutrition so the best of luck with it. I am having fish and cous cous for dinner tonight (when DP stops grumping at the computer and starts cooking) so hooray for protein!!