The Elderberry Pavlovas head into 2014 which will be full of ivf, berry babies and BFPs!!! (thread 17)

[Bunnygirlie]

The smallprint –
Berries have a strict entrance criteria (TTC #1, over 30, TTC for 6+months (preferably 12+) NO instadiffers, must have a special pot and def no mention of baby dust or baby dancing UGH !!! Ooooh aren’t we strict!

The 17th thread, wow! This had better be it ladies, time to get off the Sofa of Pity onto the Pouffe of Positivity and beyond!

ambler my friend (who sadly has just mc) seems to have similar probs to you. Her nhs consultant did nothing apart from throw clomid at her and put her on the ivf waiting list. Oh and made her have 2 uneccsary hysteroscopys. Anyway, her private fc said 'there's no evidence but I'd like you to try prog pessaries and a mild ovulation stimulating drug (letrozole)...and hey presto bfp. If you live in the west mids I could get you his details

pip re the vits, it's funny as of all people you would think that as a dietitian I'd be sensible to practice what I preach! I eat a balanced diet and aren't even in my first trimester any more yet I'm still a complete sucker for consumerism and religiously take pregnacare every day!

Evening all!

birdy no I'm a wimp, hubby is doing all my jabs!

Had to add a morning jab today, 2 a day now, fun fun fun! This one hurt

Hey boodle belated happy MN birthday! and

feather to be fair the jabbing isn't too bad, bit sore for a few hours but fine.

barking boooooo to hitting the 2 year mark Glad you feel more positive after your acu appt.

Hugs to you funky seeing that test must have been tough

pip glad is going well, a quiet uterus sounds interesting lol

ambler looks like you have found a fellow LP ranter in boodle

Bunny If the jabs hurt are you sure you're doing them right? I really find them completely painless, but then maybe I have a high pain threshold. I do find that they are getting itchy when I get hot at night.
How long until you start the stims?

pip the evening jabs (gonal f) with the pen thing are fine it's just this mornings one (cetrotide) that was a bit ouchy, different syringe and longer needle may be the cause. Assume I am already on the stims?

Gonal f is the stimulating injection. I found my morning one more stingy and itchy afterwards, that was suprecur (downregging one). I definitely found my thigh less painful than my abdomen, and I preferred sliding it in rather than jabbing straight in.

Had my acupuncture this evening which was painless. Lovely lady, plenty of talk about chi, and after needles all down my spine and in my wrists and little burning pyramids on my feet (Moxi ?sp), my burners are all in alignment and my fire, water, wood and lungs are all strong

Are you on stims already Bunny? I spent about 3 weeks already down reggging and I start stims on Sunday. When are you expecting egg collection?

lady glad you had a good acu appointment. FC nurse said to inject in my tum, didn't emotion my thighs.

Pip I'm short protocol where i believe you skip the down regging and just do the stimming. I started jabs NYE, expect egg collection sometime after day 12-14. Will know more monday after first scan. What about you?

Wow thats super quick!
So I start stiming on Sunday. First scan next Friday. Then a week of every other day scans. Then egg collection the following week. So about another three weeks to go!

Oh and I've just seen from the IVF thread that previous Berry Twinkle has had a BFP, I had no idea.

I saw old berry twink got her BFP a few weeks ago, so chuffed for her

Now we've started it does feel kind of quick, I assume I will have scans mon weds fri next week and then egg collection end of following week maybe?

Ambler sadly the nhs appear to be in stubborn non acknowledgement all over the country. I've had the same experience as boodle and yourself. Opks and temps suggested I was ovulating every cycle, blood test showed I definitely didn't by cd21 but cd28 blood test was deemed ok. LP generally 8 days, backed up by blood test. AF very light, mini tampons more than sufficient and didn't need changing regularly. I was always convinced the short LP (and light AF) were a problem, but FC said there was no such thing as a luteal phase problem. He dismissed opks and temping as a waste of time. The clomid worked for me so I assumed that it made O strong enough. Since the mc no AF at all, but the acupuncturist seems to think the cycles are still there, I just need to stimulate the blood flow. I'm going to bore you now so if you read on you've been fair warned....

The way she explained it was the 'normal' female cycle was 14 days of estrogen while the follicles get bigger and stronger, then 14 days of progesterone. The pill gives you 21 days of estrogen so after 10-15 years of taking the pill your body is a little confused. She said that in cases like mine the progesterone is there, as shown in the blood test, but it's just lying dormant after so many years of being supressed when it should be active. The accupuncture stimulates everything and gets it moving again.

As I basically haven't had a clear cycle since July she said I should take the wet herbs as well. This means actually making it into a herbal tea. Only I failed miserably . I was supposed to soak the herbs in cold water for half an hour then bring the water to the boil and simmer for 1.5 hours. However, I put the water over them then realised I was going to be out running when I needed to start boiling them, so they were soaking for 2.5 hours. .. Then I brought it to the boil and turned it down to simmer, noting that I would need to leave it until 10 we sat down for last night's silent witness. Then we watched tonight's silent witness. Then I realised it was gone 11 . The whole house stinks of herbs but I've boiled the bloody thing dry and there's no liquid left to drink. .

Great news about twinkle, hadn't heard .

Sounds like you're on the fast track Bunny, have they given you a date for your bfp?

Oh dear, apologies for the essay I wrote last night!
Happy Weekend Berries .

Morning all, don't know if you remember me from last year? Sorry for being so quiet. I had an upsetting gp appointment where he basically told me I had no chance of getting pregnant and needed to consider doner eggs. I've been licking my wounds a bit since then. I've been temping this month and it looks like I've ovulated so surely can't have no chance?? Anyway just wanted to explain my absence. I've been lurking and sending many positive and fertile vibes to you all.

Everythings moving quickly for you bunny and pip is close on your heels!

Pleased to hear you're happy with your new acupuncture lady barking. It is so frustrating that all the evidence for low progesterone/short luteal phases seems to be brushed under the carpet by most health care providers.

Hi Wine. What did your gp make this shocking statement based on? What tests have you had done to date?

Of course we remember you win Have you been referred to the FC? At my gp surgery there's only one doctor who deals with the fertility referrals, the others I've seen just shrug their shoulders and declare themselves 'not a specialist in that field' so it's unusual for a gp to be so certain. Signs of ovulation sound good. Jump on the acupuncture bandwagon .

I had some tests done in November which showed very high fsh. Which means I have very few eggs left. I went to the gp to get the tests re-done to see if there was any improvement. I think the gp thought it was a waste of time, but we're getting them re done anyway. I started acupuncture after the first fsh result barking. I really like it! Maybe responsible for me ovulating this month??

No ref to FC yet either, think the gp wants to see what the next set of results say...

wino I would take what your gp says with a pinch of salt until you've seen a fc. I'm not sure why he hasn't referred you already! I'm a dietitian and gps never cease to amaze be how little they know about dietetics so I definitely wouldn't be taking fertility advice as gospel just yet!

Win, if you've only had one FSH test then surely any GP worth their salt would want to double-check that? How rude to think it a waste of time! I could be wrong here but shouldn't they also be doing an AMH test? Any other Berries know?

Another score for acupuncture! . How long have you been ttc win? Surely you can get a referral regardless of the result? Add your stats to the latest list .

Defo ask for referral to fc. Gp's know a little about a lot. I have 2 friends who are go's and when I had a threatened miscarriage (which did miscarry) just before christmas, I spoke to them both about whether my gp could give me progesterone or whether it would be fc or private hospital... neither of them had any idea what I was talking about. They didn't know they existed and and said they had never prescribed anything of the sort. I would never trust the general experience of the general practitioner on such a specialist area.

Oh and wino my gp told me my bloods were fine when actually my prog was only 20 (ideally it should be 30 for ovulation)!

yes, you're totally right, GP's really don't know everything. My husband said the same thing. I think i just found his certainty ate away at any hope I had left! I'm going for my second blood test results next week (I feel sick at the thought already), so I think i will push for an FC appointment regardless of what they say. They did AMH on my first lot of tests, which didn't look great, but less of a problem than my FSH. They didn't do it second time round (stupid doctor!!!)

We've been trying for 8 months Barking, not as long as some of you guys I know. although it feels like it's going to be a long road!

just adding myself to the (possibly?) latest list:

Lady - 34, TTC since Jan 2012, unexplained, chemical after IVF#1, awaiting IVF#2
Bunny - 33, TTC since June 2012, DH low count, me PCO, ICSI IVF jabs start today NYE!!!
Feather - 34, ttc since Nov 2011, six rounds of clomid, bfp in November which ended in Ectopic. Deciding on next steps in early 2014
Aquarius - 32, ttc 20mths, diagnosed with endo, awaiting follow up FC apptmt
Birdy - 30 - TTC around 26 cycles, DH low count, 1% morph, starting ICSI early 2014
Happylass - 35, 13 months of TTC but currently on a break due to wedding purposes. Starting back after one more cycle - sod the dress! Currently awaiting HSG.
Gillster - 39, TTC since Feb 2012. Just had fibroid removed but otherwise unexplained infertility. Starting short protocol IVF in Feb.
barkingtreefrog - 34, ttc since January 2012, clomid bfp ended in mc in Sept, cycles not returned since.
Kuma - 39, TTC 13 cycles, high FSH, low AMH, low antral count so generally a bit stuffed. Next NHS FC apptmt in March, likely to go private before then.
Boodle - 30 - now on my 31st cycle if TTC. Unexplained infertility with slightly low amh. Clomid failed. Now in the IVF process, long protocol, hoping to start early spring.
Yorkiebilb, 35, ttc since Sep 2012. Mmc Dec 2012. High fsh, good amh. Possible immune issues. Fx starting egg sharing ivf mid Jan. Long protocol.
Funkymonk, 31 (32 almost here). TTC since Nov 2012. MC July 2013 (5+2). MMC Dec 2013 (identified at 8+2). 2 lots of medical management but bean still in there refusing to leave. In limbo until 8th Jan when will prob be ercp. A miserable sniveller.
tigerdog, 33, ttc 12 cycles. Initial FC appointment in January. Berry newbie but glad to be here whilst aiming for a bfp.
SidneyBristow, 38, TTC 18 cycles. Unexplained. Private IVF cycle to start no later than mid-Feb; bricking it.
Pipbin - 38, TTC 3 years I think. Blocked tubes. Round two of IVF.
Snowlily -33 TTC Dec 2012, so far au naturel, with GL & acupuncture. First blood test next week.
Ambler - 31, ttc since June 2012, 'borderline' post ovulation progesterone, 3 unsuccessful clomid cycles, next NHS fertility appointment in Feb
Winooo - 36 (37 next month argh!) ttc 8months, high fsh and low amh, getting test results for a second lot of blood tests next week. Trying acupuncture (love it) and supplements so far.

Welcome back winohhh sorry to hear that you aren't getting much useful information from your GP. The AMH results should be more reliable than FSH so if they were not too bad then that is good news. Do you know what your result AMH result was? As I understand it FSH fluctuates and can be affected by stress etc; AMH is a better indicator of ovarian reserve. If your GP wants to check FSH again perhaps they think it was an anomaly?

I would expect that once you get an FC referral they would do an Antral Follicle count to see the state of your ovaries. I would pressurise your GP to refer you ASAP if they think you have low ovarian reserve.

Hello other Berries too and Happy New Year!