The Elderberry Pavlovas, sausage bouquets, one giant sofa and the Gü pots of destiny! (thread 9)

[Bunnygirlie]

Come on ladies, this is the one! Time for some BFPs!

The smallprint- Berries have a strict entrance criteria (TTC #1, over 30, TTC for 3+months, must have a special pot, NO instadiffers)

Good morrow my ladies! (Or perhaps, noble squires?)

Urrrrm...yeah, whilst the BFP battle charge sounds great in theory, I went past a sign on my TTC journey a little while ago that said 'abandon hope, all ye that pass yonder' so that's exactly what I did. I will, however, sit on the grassy bank on the other side of the moat and make like a mediaeval cheerleader as you load the catapult with steaming great VATS of FMU.

I don't know what's gone on this month but I have had no crosshairs on FF, despite temperatures being up. A strangely timed +OPK has confuzzled it all. I'm just waiting for AF to turn up so I can book my HSG and get on with things.

I am jealous of Bunny and the many wines! I'm not much of a drinker at all, but I really did fancy a tipple (or twelve) last night. Thought better of it though as I've put on about half a stone this year already...no way will you ever catch me in a bikini facebook photo!

VATS?! With capitals?! I really need to get the hang of autocorrect at the moment...every message I have sent recently has at least one ridiculous mistake in it!

Oh, and Barking, yes, it was Cherry I was thinking of, thanks! Memory blank!

Wimwom, sorry that you've had bad news and that the NHS is SOOO crap in your area. Like Barking I will wind back on the complaints about medical support now I know how lucky I am in my area. I had no idea it varied so much. So is it a private FC (fertility consultant?) you've been seeing? At least that arm and a leg sounds like it got you good advice.

Bunny do you know what the next step for you is after seeing GP end of May? Re charting, it's helped me feel a lot more in control. I found it tedious at first and now its just a part of the routine and a lot less hassle than the other lovely things like peeing all over your fingers again, damn these stupid tests in a pot every morning. Not having +ves on the OPKs is really worrying, I'm so sorry about that. I found the same for a while and it's really depressing. As someone else here I think mentioned, it can be because LH doesn't nec hang around for 24 hours so you might miss it. Have you tried a fertility monitor? - bit pricey but I've been finding it much easier to get along with.

Something that my GP said really struck me though - she said that charting and OPKs/fertility monitors can help but NEVER take them as gospel. She said that the results can be misleading for some people and that if you time the deed by it it can be the reason you're not getting pregnant!!!!! DH (or should it be DF in my case? I haven't really got the hang of these acronyms) nearly packed his case when I told him she'd said we really need to dtd nothing short of every two days throughout most of cycle.

You're all very lovely asking to see the ring! I wouldn't know where to start with posting a photo... but it's sapphires and diamonds and I love it.

And what the hell are crosshairs??!

Instadiffer SIL is instadiffed for a second time. She sent DH (her bro) a text this morning. I sobbed for an hour. It's due in January, so, like last time she has told us very early, probably on viewing the test, and, also like last time, they have timed it perfectly for her career plans. She will, no doubt have another perfect pg and birth. I feared she was going to announce when we saw them on the Easter weekend, as she had a little belly, where there is never one to be seen. They probably conceived around then..... I had been thinking about it last night and thought they'd probably wait a while as they want to move in the summer, and I'd be pg by then, obvs. So, when we all head off for their cousin's wedding in June (who is also diffed thanks to their shared instadiffing genes), I will be into my 10th month of ttc. Can't wait. I don't even know how they've been dtd as their ds is up most of the night demanding bf and bil often sleeps on the sofa, so they can't have been doing it much or often. ffs.
To make matters worse, I've been having phantom pg symptoms and was genuinely beginning to wonder this morning whether I could be pg. Why would I be, huh? I can't even get a job interview, let alone conceive. If genetics play a significant role, I'm fucked. It's made me wonder at what point do we call time on ttc and get on with life, for real.
Went to town to take my mind off it and to shell out for more cbfm sticks as I've only got 2 left and was greeted by babies and bumps everywhere. Hayfever is doing my head in, I feel sick and tired and dizzy (think folic acid doesn't agree with me). My hats off and heart goes out to you berries who have been ttc longer than me. I'm starting to wilt inside and it hasn't been that long, in the grand scheme of things.
DH was very sweet, but doesn't know what to do or say for the best. I'm tempted to tell SIL that we're ttc and, while we're very happy for them, I can't cope with details at the moment. I'm also tempted to tell my parents, so that I can have some support. It's felt like a dirty secret, like my depression did until we started telling people.
I have noticed that these things come in threes, so waiting for the next 2 announcements and really hoping that they come from berries.

Hi Charming nice to have some company on the sofa here, help me nosh through this tray of muffins I cooked myself to sweeten Aunt Flo's weekend stay!

I also had a completely irrational feeling that this month I was pg even though I'm pretty sure it's impossible with a 7 day LP!

I don't know what you're low down is, whether you know any reasons for not getting pg quickly?

Charming, much sympathy for instadiffing SIL. Mine had a baby last year and I'm absolutely dreading her doing it again and announcing a second before I can even manage a first. Have also got quite a few friends who got their first early on when I began TTC and must be due to start announcing second babies any day now.

Have spent this afternoon alternating between marking and reading HSG horror stories online. There are definitely more bad than good accounts out there and now I am bricking going for one next cycle. Stupid, stupid me.

BoodIe sounds like you me and Barking are all heading for HSG around same time - I can book mine on Monday. Feel quite nervous I have to say - have you been told you have to take anibiotics and painkillers before? Also weird getting head around not trying this month.

Muffins, you say? Don't mind if I do. SIL conceived her first at our wedding. ffs.
boodle I think there will be more second dcs now. Come away from the HSG horror stories. Not worth it. Seem to remember berries having had them and that they were fine. Internet full of people exaggerating shit.
Goosey I've had crazy long cycles since coming off the pill, but clear scan of ovaries (some cysts, but consultant not concerned), and normal bloods. Going for a day 21 progesterone test in 3 cycles time - whenever that may be! I'm on cd 24 now, but I have no idea when or if I've ov, as cbfm has read 'high' since cd 6 and I didn't start the opks til last Wednesday. Could have happened already, or not yet. Hoping that acupuncture will have regulated things, but don't know yet as this is my first cycle after a 100+ day cycle. We shall see.

Charming is cbfm the Clearblue fertility monitor? If so, do you use a different type of ovulation test too? Why is that? 100+ cycle must have been scarey - I get really mixed emotions whenever I get a freak long cycle, like could I be pg, or are my cycles just getting less frequent? But at least after pill there is a reason for it - how long ago did you stop, were you on it for ages?

and what is dcs?

Sorry, slow reactions here - your SIL conceived AT your wedding????!

yes, Clear blue fertility monitor. I also use ic opks, but have just switched to them from clear blue digitals.

dcs - dear children. Realise now that I didn't need the s at the end!!
I was on the pill for about 5 years, although I did have a break somewhere in there of about 6 months. I stopped taking it last August, had three cycles of 42 days, then 107 now cd24! Hurrah!

How are you feeling about the tests etc?

I'm not sure if it was during the reception, as it were . no, I meant she conceived over that weekend.

Goosey, yep, if you're in the same boat as Barking, then you're in there with me too! Barking and I got our FC referrals at a similar time and then in the end my FC appointment was exactly a week before hers. I was tearing my hair out during February as Barking got her appointment letter through really quickly, and then they took aaaaaaages to send me mine!

After being so slow with my initial appointment letter, they were very quick to send me the date for my 3 month follow-up (which is early July). In the meantime, I've got the HSG to look forward to, and I've had to get progesterone tests done again (all to date have been on CD21, which didn't work for my cycle). They are also checking prolactin.

Charming, I'm so glad no one conceived at my wedding - that would have really left a bitter taste in my mouth, but then I don't even like to look at my wedding photos any more as it just makes me sad to reflect on how I felt that day - so excited about buying a house and making babies...

Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone at our wedding was far too drunk and full of food to do anything other than pass out! It was one of those weddings!

charming I too have a pg SiL and it stinks. I'm on cycle 17 so our baby should if life was fair have been in between her two in age, but no, she's already on her second while we're still thing for number one... I am desperate to be pg before she pops it out in September as it would just be unbearable. If you have a good relationship with your SiL I would definitely tell her. I haven't seen my SiL in person since she announced but she has for no known reason defriended and blocked me on fb. She's the wife of DP's brother but DP and his brother are not close. They have nothing in common at all. They both rate material things over everything and call DP an 'eternal student' just because he doesn't go out and spend a fortune on flash cars and designer labels etc. I want to point out that we are close to paying off our mortgage (well, in 4 years if not sooner) while they are paying interest only on theirs, can't afford to move to the big house in the nice area that they want, and still regularly have to borrow money from his (retired) mother!!!!
I don't think that would assist family harmony though....

goose & boodle I'm not worrying about the hsg as I'm only on cd12 I think, so I'll be able to hear from both of you how it is before I'll be able to book mine .

Hmm, it was the weekend of my sister's wedding we started TTC... maybe I'm being punished for the insensitive timing! 4 years down the track she's TTC#2 and I'm still whistling in the wind...

Strangely comforting to be having HSG at same time as two other Berries - I'm really glad I found this group.

Boodle - both you and Barking have mentioned appointments set up for post HSG - I don't have one, do you think I should ring GP or hospital to ask about that? What is a prolactin test? I've just had my second set of progesterone tests done - day 20, 23 and 25 in a 28 day cycle with short LP. I've just got my day 23 one back and it is 42 - although I'm pretty sure that with a short LP you still can't sustain a pregnancy. They sent the other two to a different place so I have to wait til my GP tracks them down!

Charming, why do you use both the monitor and the OPKs? Fingers crossed this time your cycle will settle down, that sounds just crazy, all that uncertainty - but sometimes it does take ages after stopping the pill doesn't it?
Thanks for asking re the HSG, I'm really not looking forward to it, I've got this nagging feeling it could damage something though I've been told there's 0 risk of that. In fact, the doctor said that though no official statistics apparently sometimes people just conceive naturally post HSG...

goose the nurse told me that sometimes the ink flushes out any mucus that might have been in the tubes which is why some women get pg next cycle.

And about the appointment, I don't know how it works where you are but my next appointment is my first with the doctor at the fertility clinic and s/he will then have the results of the hsg and the scan to discuss with me so s/he'll know whether to pat me on the head and give me clomid or whether there's a bigger problem.

I just hope I see the results of the hsg as they happen, I'm really not good at waiting!!!!

Evening all! Been lying under the sofa today with a mini hangover! Deffo needed a few drinkies but there is a reason I don't do this very often! lol

Hubby out all day today so been chilling on my own and he won't be back till late, night on the pity sofa ladies?

goose not sure what the next step is. Berries, anybody else had low progesterone on their results?

Oh cats that's rotten, damn your SiL! I know how you feel, I'm on day 3 of cycle 12 so its a short time compared with a lot of berries but it's still bloody horrid!

Charming so sorry you're feeling down. Sending massive hugs. My SIL mentioned the other day that she wants another baby. She's my bridesmaid and got a feeling she's going to try to pop one out before our wedding next year - which is exactly what I'm trying to do grrr!! Looks like I'm going to have to put a no sex clause in my wedding invites so no one gets upduffed the weekend of my wedding!!
Other people's announcements don't usually bother me but I've seen 4 on FB in the last few days which is really taking the piss!
Cd15 here. Was feeling really pleased with myself for climbing southern Britain's highest mountain this morning. Feel totally rubbish now though and think I've caught DP's lurgy. With both of us having been ill there hasn't been a great deal of DTD action in the happy household this cycle

Oh and Goose crosshairs are the red lines FF puts on your chart to predict OV. I switched to FF from another charting app a few months ago because I wanted the crosshairs!!

goose, I've only just started using the monitor, so it's not tuned to my cycles yet and has only given 'high' readings for 18 days, so don't want to miss ov. Also, decided to throw everything at it this cycle to see where it gets me.

Berries who use ic OPKs - advice please. The line has been getting darker over the last 4 days. Today it was still not as dark as control, but definitely darker than yesterday. Does this mean ov is coming? So, would today be a good time to dtd?

barking gutted for your friend. Does make me realise how lucky I have to have a dh on the same page. I think its time your friend finds herself someone who wants to comit! Thinking my ttc issues might actually be karma now as I was very blatant with my wedding planning!

thunder managed to keep to just 2 glasses. It?s the pizza that came after today! Ooops!

Poas earlier and surprise surprise the usual, but then not quite sure when af is due anyway

oh and guys, my mate went to see her fc the other day and he told her not to use preseed as all lube can affect sperm, and if she was was desperate to use water!