The Elderberry Pavlovas: sit on the sofa of hopefulness and make yourself a special omelette while prescribing the vomming cat to those that deserve it and observing the lunching of the tactless.

[barkingtreefrog]

It's time for some more grads!!

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

oh god barking that is terrifying. it happened to our dog before and it was wedged so hard he had to be put under to get it out! bloody dogs!

Kitty, snap! I too have just enjoyed al fresco dining and plenty of wine. It has helped lift me out of my funk a little bit, which is always good. :)

Kuma, I agree with Goosey in that clear blue fertility monitor is an expensive, but reliable bit of kit for identifying ovulation. I tried it for a bit but quit because I was actually ok with cheapy ovulation sticks. Not really sure what I thought I'd get out of it looking back! For what it's worth, I HAVE to do my opks in the early afternoon to get positive readings. I've never had an evening positive. I recommend trying earlier in the day perhaps before you splurge on a cbfm.

Hi Kuma, welcome. sorry, I've not got much knowledge about temping and ov sticks but I just wanted to say hello

Different opks work differently. I tend to use the first morning urine ones. What days are you testing? How long is your cycle?

Evening Berries. Very of all you ladies with your vino and al fresco dining. I've been stuck in all day revising . But decided to sod the revision tomorrow and hit the beach .
Welcome Kuma. I would definitely experiment with the OPKs a little longer. Try them at different times of the day. I only ever get a positive late afternoon. I once used digital OPKs 3 times in 24 hours because I'm obsessive as an experiment and only the second one was positive so that shows how easy it can be missed.
Hope you're dog is ok Barking. Happy weekend all

Hi Kuma, welcome to the berries! I'm afraid I'm useless when it comes to info on the opks, as I don't use them, but loads on here do so I'm sure they'll be along to help shortly. Didn't want you to think you'd killed the thread though!

As far as the tests go, they would probably be able to do your hormone levels but I think most of them like to rule out male factor fairly early on. Do you have cycle issues or anything that leads you to think there might be a problem? Sorry, nosy I know!

barking oh no, you're having the worst luck! However, these things come in threes, so HSG reaction + DH out of action + stick swallowing dog = no more bad luck, must be time for your BFP soon

Ah sid sorry you're missing your hols . Hope it's not postponed for too long.

kitty I just had some peach beer in the beer garden with BoomDog. All is well in the world, not even a single bump in sight and the only baby there was screaming so I was actually quite glad I didn't have one for once!

charming how did your appointment go? x

Haha I obviously took too long to write that, kuma is clearly not a threadkiller!

Thanks for the advice! I've been testing from day 7 - I have 26-28 day cycles normally; the instructions said test from day 10, but the charting app I have been using thinks I OV on day 10 based on the other recorded symptoms.... I guess I'll persevere with the sticks till I finish them this month but try using them in the morning.

Just went on the Clearblue website to look at the fertility monitor and some freaky internet woman started talking at me "hello kuma, its time for us to have a baby...." couldn't work out how to silence her either, and she knew my name! Good thing I wasn't in the office - terrifying! Kind of hoping that if I splash out on one then I might never need to use it .... probably wishful thinking though!

Haha B00M, thread seems pretty alive - it could do with some realtime updating features though!

Cycles are pretty regular, have had problems with spotting for a few years and had various blood tests done about 5 years ago and had a normal and TV-ultrasound, but that didn't reveal any signs of endo or other lining issues; did find out that I have an arcuate uterus but masses of paranoid referring to Dr Google suggests that it probably doesn't have a huge influence on conception....

happylass good to know; as its the weekend I recon I'll do multiple tests and see what happens.... its all fun in the house of Kuma

Ps Kuma if you do want a CBFM I've got a brand new one, never used it but it's no use to me as my cycles are too long (I found AFTER I bought it) - if you'd like it let me know x

Oooh and we can be freakish-uterus buddies, mine is apparently bicornuate Hadn't heard of arcuate but it would appear there are all kinds of uterine weirdness possible! After a bit of internet trawling I feel thrilled that at least I've only got one cervix

You can have more than one cervix?? Jesus!

barking how is the woofer?

Appointment went well apart from them running late. DH's SA was good - everything within normal range, lots above normal. He's chuffed. PCOS confirmed! As soon as he put the probe in, he said 'yes, pcos without a doubt.'. Hurrah! Loads of follies and one massive one ready to go and lots of mucus...he he! Ov imminent. Dtd last night, going to drag DH upstairs later and tomorrow.
Metformin prescribed and I can choose to take it when I want. Talked a lot about how it can reduce the risk of miscarriage. Anyone else heard this? And if you have pcos you have a higher risk of miscarriage?

um. you. cervix. WHAT???

Oh charming so glad you got your diagnosis! I want a doctor who will do that!! Plus added bonus of only having another couple of weeks of this flipping cycle left if your follicle's about to blow FX for a lovely BFP from you soon!

And yes I had heard of all the nasty things associated with PCOS, but am choosing to shove head in sand about them. I didn't know metformin was associated with lowering the risk though, that's good to know for when I speak to FC especially since we've already had one mc..

Heheh barking check this out...not to freak you out or anything..

B00M loving those images, not sure that I would buy the image for T-Shirts and calendars, I guess they sell more conventional images too! I might take you up on the CBFM, I'll see how I go with the rest of these sticks....

Eh? boom did you mean that link for me?! Is there something about my uterus you know and I don't?! Should I be worried?!

charming glad your appt went well!

Gosh that was a tough evening, firstly something at work made me so angry I wanted to cry! Really struggled driving over to my friends house, knew I had to get it out my system or I would cry as soon as I got there!

Luckily I got there at the same time as my best mate so at least I didn't have to cope with mum and baby on my own! He is a beautiful baby and I had a bit of a cuddle after the other two left, mum was waffling on about how glad she was that her last pregnancy was done with, how tough it is but how amazing it is, how tiring the birth is but how life changing it was etc... (I struggled not to cry)

UGH

IamKuma I haven't read all the answers since your first post but suspect they will all be contradictory so...
The only way (without blood tests) you can be pretty certain you have O'd is by temps. Whilst OPKs will tell you when you have a hormone surge ( which probably means O) you can have multiple surges in a cycle without ovulating therefore OPKs alone don't tell the full picture.
I had 3 to 4 cycles before figuring our how to temp. My recommendation would be;
Buy cheapy OPK sticks from amazon (can dig out a link if needed). Do them FMU every day from day 10 to 20 for 3 cycles.
Take your temp (with a BBT thermometer) every day for 3 cycles. Take it at the same time, 30 mins the earliest time you have to normally wake up. It's a pain in the arse and all your temps will look odd, but keep going. Use fertility friend (free) to record the temps).
I guarantee after 3 months you will know your cycle inside out OR be pregnant. The OPKs show your hormone surges towards O, so you get a warning of when to have sex. The temps will prove you have O'd. It's valuable information which will help.
Personally I think the fertility monitor does nothing better than a cheap OPK, it tells you you're maybe O'ing but it can't confirm it without temps or bloods. Good luck!
(FYI berries the prof is back...... And tipsy)

Bunny poor you. On the flip side I have not held a baby in years :(

Thanks Prof.Merkin, and everybody else for your very comprehensive advice, so quick, and on a Friday night!

I shall dust off the BBT thermometer and start doing the temping again, already have the cheapey OPK sticks .... and will keep fingers and toes crossed for all of the Berries on the thread!

kuma agree with merkin apart from saying to test from day 10. As you think you might ov day 10, still start on day 7

barking how's the dog?

bunny you did well not to cry. I'd prob have just blubber end and made a tit out of myself!

Has anyone seen the 19b baby born in Indonesia? It's one BIG baby!!!

Sorry barking, meant to direct those pictures at tally but glad you got to enjoy them too heh! And sure you have a lovely normal one-cervixed uterus!

bunny sorry you had a rough time. Baby visits are always hard, especially when the mum blathers on, well done for going though x

Right, off to take the mutt to the beach! Hooray!

Ps oh my word, that baby is GIGANTIC! a diabetes baby if ever I saw one...

Actually just realised its old news!

mahoosive baby