TTC a lot longer than 10 months past and present

[Cosmonaut1]

A thread full of the loveliest people

Oooo, mad. I didn't realise you were quite that soon. Another mini 10+er to welcome into the fold. :)

It looks like we have a quorum for a London meet, and hopefully we can gather a few more.

Oh hooray! Shall we meet somewhere near a train station so it's easy for people to get in and out? Cos please only come if you really do feel up to it. We'll have other opportunities. Your health is the most important thing and you have enough on without having to race around. Maybe better to skip this one and do another meet later.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. We planted flowers on our roof deck, weatherproofed it, and I went swimming twice. It was nice, I could have a think while swimming along. Now making lamb curry and getting ready for the week.

mad I am so glad you're finally on mat leave. You should be taking it easy now and getting some well-deserved rest, it's really exhausting at that stage. I worked right up to the day before James was born and I wouldn't do it again - the last day I was really tired and stressed and frantically trying to finish work projects. Would be lovely to maybe do a north of the border meet in August with nelly too perhaps, if I am back then.

ray thanks for explaining about your FET protocol. I really hope the transfer goes smoothly! There is hope this round, as others have proved. I am hoping so much for you. My direct colleagues have been wonderful. My boss is a nice person but I don't think he does fully 'get' it - he can be almost autistic in terms of empathy. He actually showed up uninvited with his wife in my hospital room the morning after James died, when I didn't want to see anyone except family and we were still in total shock. They meant well but it was bizarre.

Quick post from me. I'm just back from the clinic, amazingly they were running on time this morning. My lining was 10mm and he said it was looking very good. So, transfer is set for Friday. They will phone me on thursday to let me know if they have defrosted ok and if we have anything to transfer. I reduce the dose of estrodiol tomorrow so I'm not taking any by Thursday but I start with the progesterone tomorrow and build that up. He went over my blood test results, all were ok except for Lipo protein one which was a bit high so he's recommended I take heparin from thursday onwards. It's not clexane this time but a different one called Fragmin. So, it's fingers crossed that we have nice defrosting on thursday.

critter at your boss turning up at the hospital. Although I'm sure his intentions were good and sometimes people do feel that it's better to offer condolences in person. Massive generalisation but I do think men find this stuff hard. I always remember somewhere I used to work and a colleague lost her daughter in tragic circumstances. Our boss sent a card, contributed to the flowers etc but this lady always said that she felt he didn't do enough to acknowledge that she'd lost her daughter because he never mentioned it to her face, even on her first day back. He just didn't know what to say and I think thought it was better to carry on as normal.

cos what does the surgery involve? Are you excited to think you might have the same bed that K-mid had? Or have I got my private clinics mixed up?

Hello all. I know I've been Fred AWOL for some time, but will attempt a bit of a catch up!

critter you are doing so incredibly well, but I did feel so so sad for you reading about phantom kicks and how much (you understandably) think of your baby. You have been so incredibly brave and I'm convinced a twibling will be along soon. Your consultant sounds excellent and I think you are right to put your trust in him and follow what he says. I was really pleased to read that you have some lovely supportive colleagues although horrified at your boss turning up at the hospital!

euro I love critter's description of you glowing! Hope you are feeling ok. It's great to read of the pregnancies from this thread and shows how things can change even for us long term 10 +ers.

ten good luck with the scan! I hope they are being uber careful and monitoring your every ovary twinge! For obvious reasons I'm a fan of Create, even if some of the drs don't have the best dildocam side manner.

ray so pleased all looked good at the scan. The defrost is nerve wrecking, but I'm sure it will be fine - these days the methods used are so sophisticated that most embies make it. And ignore embryo quality. They really can't tell much so early on and mini Gin was deemed the worst of the bunch. You have done so much waiting and been so patient. This has to be your time!

foxy thanks for the welcome! I miss you all too. It sounds like you've had a tricky few months and done lots of thinking but I'm so excited for you and your next treatment! You have had to really battle to get the funding and been through so much with broid gate, you really are such a strong person!

cos I was shocked that no one had picked up or discussed your septum before. I do feel that they throw ivf at us as a solution to all fertility issues, without properly investigating the causes. It very much sounds like the pieces to your jigsaw are coming together. Good luck with the op!

nellie I've enjoyed reading about your adventures in Athens (and the hobbles in the other place!) Sounds like things are going really well! When do you go back to Athens?

joy I hope the songbird has flown? (Sounds like a 1930s spy film!) I totally understand what you and Ray mean about not having completed your families within the time frame you hoped for. I know I've thought for years (in fact ever since I was a kid) how many children I'd like (3!) by when (36) but am now just so thrilled to have the one at 35. I think not knowing when or how it's going to happen is very hard. Btw was really pleased to read of your AFC recount. I was always convinced that your original one was wrong as you ended up with so many follies when stimming with the biatch dr.

Waves to princess, buzz, mad, sar and art and doll if they're reading. Not long now mad! Looking forward to seeing pics on t'other place. I hope sea is ok

All's good with us. We've been busy selling our house and are hoping to move in the summer. euro get it done now before centime arrives! We're moving to nearer the countryside so will have bastard commutes but more space and a veg plot :) Baby Gin is at a very cute stage, although we'd all like a bit more sleep, ideally with her in her own bed! I look at her and still don't believe that I actually have a baby. Things change so quickly once that elusive bfp is achieved, although the ttc hell will always stay with me and has had a huge impact. I was looking at pics of a pregnant c'leb, (yes yes I was on the daily fail website) and it all felt v stabby. And is it ridiculous for me to moan when I feel so so lucky. Anyway hope to see some of you next week. Lots of luffs.

Euro can I ask why you were going to CRGH above any of the others eg argc? Curious…. Hope you have changed out of the holey leggings at some point this weekend!

Ray I don tknow what Oestrodil is but that sounds rough, hope you are over the worst of it, rubbish all the side effects aren’t they! Your are having ET one the same day I am having EC. Good luck, I am sure it will all go smoothly!

Hi Buzzy good to hear it is worth it! Sorry to hear of troublesome inlaws, I am lucky both me and MrT have nephews already so ours wouldn’t lead to that much of a fuss.

Hi critter Thank you fingers crossed for me Ray and all the other ten plussers then that this is the month. That everyone has different things to deal with is something I often think about, no ones life is perfect. I’m sorry about the phamtom kicks, but glad that your work colleagues care, and that you feel less alone.

Joy Thinking about what could/would have been if things had gone to plan is very sad. I often feel like Cos that I have lost the last three years to this, always having to consider treatment etc, putting pans on hold it is all so frustrating

Cos that absolutely is not selfish, you want to get this done as soon as possible so that you can move on, they should absolutely understand. Agree with the front of house thing, that is a great way of putting it, no ones life is perfect even if it looks glossy. Good luck with the surgery!

Thanks Madwow so soon! Great news, it always goes so fast when it is a ten plusser!

Waves Fox, Pout Sweet, Gin and everyone else I have missed.

Meet up sounds good to me, babeees welcome from my perspective, excited to meet the hard won ten plussers!

I am having EC on Friday, not a great result apparently not that many which are the right size this time (honestly I just stopped listening this round I am just waiting for it to be over to go back to Create), but we will see hey you never know! Been away this weekend and was only asked five or six times when I was going to start having babies…….

critter that is quite shocking about your boss. What an awkward visit that must have been.

I'm really looking forward to another 10+er meet. Whereabouts would be convenient for everyone? The last 10+er meet I attended was near Waterloo which worked at the time as Princess and a couple of others were coming into there from some distance away. I'm City based but happy with anything Central.

I'm happy to try to fix something up if we can agree on an area, unless anyone else fancies being social secretary!

Good luck for EC ten and enjoy your drug free day on Thursday!

We were going for CRGH because their results are almost the best in London and they also offer natural (and when we started exploring other clinics we were torn between having another natural go, and throwing lots of drugs at the problem). We went along to an open evening and were impressed by the staff. We then had a (paid for) consultation there to explore our options before making the decision and again we were impressed with the consultant we saw. After reading about ARGC experiences on here and elsewhere, I knew it wasn't for me. I think I would have found the daily/twice daily in some cases, visits incredibly stressful and the high drug approach would have made me unhappy. It sounds terrifyingly intense to me. Choice of clinic is a very personal thing. I know others rave about ARGC but it wasn't for us. Create's fairly relaxed approach was ideal for me, but we started looking at other options when it didn't seem to be working for us after 3 rounds, and I had started to lose the faith a bit when I felt the bleed I had during EC #3 was not well handled.

gin I agree with you about folk being referred to IVF without proper exploration of other options. I still wonder what the problem was with us, and with cos it seems like they have no found a problem it won't require IVF to resolve. IVF does get round a multitude of fertility issues and is probably cheaper than investigating all of the many possibilities once you have ruled out the biggies of no eggs, no sperm, no/blocked tubes, but not everything.

ray Friday is going to be a big day for our 10+ers. It sounds like you have grown a lovely lining and your triplets (!) will be snuggling in soon.

Has anyone heard from joy? She seems to have been absent for a while. I hope she is ok.

Oh I am a rubbish thread member right now. All this talk of a London meet is making me jealous so first up, Critter and mad for sure! Maybe fox could come up north too? End of August works for me. I will also have passed a big birthday so may be a little bit suicidal . In fact all this talk of age makes me wonder if I'm too old to be hanging out with you all...

ray I have everything crossed for a good defrost, I so hope this is it for you, you deserve happy news.

Ten that really is a mystery, how strange that your body has reacted so differently. Out of interest, how many is "not many", because remember 7-10 is considered very good!

euro hurrah for glowing, moving and business class. We do all manner of complex things to avoid flying in the back of the plane these days, I'm becoming a bit of an expert. When is the next scan, I was sad to read that you had more worries to contend with but hopefully Gin was able to reassure you.

Talking of gin, how interesting that you still get stabby feelings. These days I have more and more days of complete apathy, and then once in a while, I get the stabbiness so badly it makes me wonder if there is an actual pain in there. Like yesterday, one of my friends on t'other place posted a pic of his youngest (of 4) on her tiny hobble. It was all pigtails and big grins and it made me weep.

Cos I am trying to ignore the general concern over Greece worries... So far I haven't felt my life was in danger! And we paid for our tests with credit card. We had to pay for the drugs in cash, because they settle with the pharmacy directly or something, but I was ok with that. I am glad you have a date for the Op, so soon, and your appointment sounded fascinating. If ouchy. I am still annoyed that I didn't get a chance to see if my scratch made a difference to my final IVF outcome.

Mad oh my goodness, it's happening so soon! And we haven't even met yet! Maybe I'll get to meet mini-mad.

Critter I am open mouthed at your boss turning up at hospital, but I guess it was one of those "what to do for the best" things where they made the wrong choice. The phantom kicks sounds pretty harrowing, I am gladly you are over half way to FET, James' Twibling is going to be very lucky. I am jealous of your trip, that was where we got engaged and I am very fond of it. It's good that you were able to talk things through with friends. They sound lovely.

I hope the songbird is giving you a break Joy. Are you still waiting for you NHS round?

Haven't heard from Pout for a while - thinking of you, and Big Dog and Little Dog too of course :)

Lovely Fox I hope you are ok. Life has been throwing you Lemons lately, and not of the wonderful 10plusser kind.

princess, buzz, mad, sar, art and doll are all in my thoughts lots, lovely to see them post now and then.

AFM we finished the vile antibiotics. We tried to time things exceptionally accurately this month, thought we had. Unfortunately Mr Nelly then had to go away. From what I thought was the right timing, I expected AF on Wednesday, it didn't turn up until the Saturday. As he was 300 miles away, then we didn't get sperm anywhere near egg given our longevity issue. I'm a bit over the whole thing and not really sure what to do next. Maybe take the DHEA for a couple of months, then a bit of IUI, before back to Athens. To be honest we need to save up for that, and at the moment I seem to prefer spending money on other things. It's as if I just don't believe it will work, so why waste more money? Which is a cheery end to the post....

I will try to keep up a little bit more as I know I've missed loads of people and very important thoughts .

Thanks Euro that is interesting. I would need to have a think about the time commitment certainly – I am not sure I could do it with work, but I may be able to if I planned ahead. That is the only advantage to this round is that although the days I do go in I wait around for hours and it is frustrating waste of my time, it is so rare they want to see me it doesn’t feel as intrusive. I also imagine that ARGC would want a whole load more tests before giving me a round as I haven’t really had any – no hysto lap and dye or any of those things I see people talking about.

Thanks Nelly I think I have 7 which should be mature enough but the doctor was very disparaging….. I don’t know what is good and what is bad, I figure surely one single one that works is all I need, they seem to have a drive to get as many as possible. That is shitty about the timing of the work trip, the saving up for treatment is also totally crap, I totally understand the desire to spend money on something else (I keep booking holidays).

I was told I have a polyp in my womb or uterus (are they the same thing??) which could impact implantation, woop, but there is nothing they can do they think it may be oestrogen induced. There is nothing I can do to change the outcome of this round (or pretty much any other round) so I am just not thinking about it too much. It will all be fine (and repeat).

As I work and live in London I am easy as to locations – anywhere that works for others.

Ten, they might find more eggs than they think. They did with me. Anyway, it's quality not quantity and you only need one.

I start the progesterone tonight. I don't know if it's the blue pill but I've felt so odd today. It's sort of like I'm not in my body or head if that makes sense? A sort of floaty feeling. Most odd and not nice.

Hi ladies, a meet up in London on Monday sounds awesome and so does bringing along some plusser babies!

Ray - floating out of body will be the drugs but yippee to the great lining and I know how worrying it must be putting trust in the defrosting. But all well and good you will have several to put back.

Ten - hopefully you won't need to consider the Argc. I can tell you all about them if you ever need info. And tell those docs to bog off - 7 is plenty! What is wrong with them. Don't forget Euro and what they said to her at ET (donor...) it just makes me think they have no clue. My NHS round is at crgh so I will be intrigued to know what they are like. I have polyps or cysts on my fallopians tubes. Not quite sure what they are. Makes sense if it is estrogen as I didn't have them before ivf.

Nelly - it is so tedious trying to work out what to do next and we can't save right now as we seem to spend everything we earn on the house. I still feel resentful at the amount we have spent to get nowhere (it would have funded one or 2 kids for 18years I expect) so I do prefer to spend it on something we can guarantee.

Cos - can't believe how quickly that op has gone in the diary. I really hope it goes smoothly and you can join us on Monday. I just really feel this will be your year now. It has to be.

Critter - can't wait to meet you!!

Thanks ladies for enquiring about the bird. I have been bird free this month as AF has come and it didn't appear. What a relief. The trouble is my diet has been bad so I hope I haven't blown it for next month!

Oh and for those who have asked, I basically am waiting for approval of funding for my round. I reckon it will be approved already and I just need to ring up to find out. Once approved I can start. But I have a lot on my plate at moment so I am going to wait until my July AF I think. It's only 2 months away and will give me a chance to try and get a bit fitter and lose some pork. But a massive part of me just thinks it's completely pointless and I have the doctors words running around my head that quite possibly we are couple who produce faulty embryos.

Thanks Ray I am definatley of the opinion that I only need one that works rather than a load of shite. Hope you are feeling less weird now, I don't know what drugs you are on but have at various times over the last three cycles felt spaced out/drunk a lot. Good luck tomorrow!

Joy I think just lumps, they are not always hormone related but can be brought on by hormones esp in an IVF cycle. Some people may have them all the time, mine they say is temporary (as it wasn't there previously). Good plan of waiting until you are ready to try again.

EC tomorrow, joy, looking forward to having a nice medicated nap though......

Ray hope you're doing ok. It's so hard not to mental. I think forget what anyone says about quality - if they're still going and survived the defrost then that's great, they're still going! Best if luck for tomorrow, then they'll be back where they belong.

Ten good luck for EC, keep us posted.

I was going to do a better catch up than that, but will have to another time. Waves all.

Hi all

Just popping in to wish ray and ten good luck tomorrow. Will be thinking of you both! And cos, good luck with the op!

Euro it'd be brilliant if you could be social secretary for the Monday meet up.

Joy that sounds sensible. I'll be paw clutching. Two months away, hurrah!

Nelly I loved what you wrote about pigtails and big grins but I really think you'll have a little one on a little hobble too. You are going to be an amazing mum and your little one will have such a happy childhood.

Very jet lagged here and about to go to sleep. My news is that I checked in with my consultant obstetrician (because I wanted to start setting things up for a July FET and thought worth checking in with my OB first) and he actually said I am good to go with the FET whenever I'm ready so long as my RE (reproductive endocrinologist) is also happy. I emailed my RE and he said he would need a blood test to see where I am in my cycle and he would also want to do a saline sonogram to check my uterus first. So I'm having the blood test next Friday. I figure if the doc says it's ok, it must be ok. But am nervous too, of course.

Ray , Ten and cos wishing you all good luck tomorrow. Strange how nothing been going on for ages and then all 3 of you have something big going on.

Critter - that's good news about you being able to get going again. I think it will really help the healing process.

critter that is great news. I know that after my mc all I wanted was to be pregnant again, so while the situations are very different I can fully understand your desire to get on with the FET asap!

joy I am glad the songbird is leaving you alone for now. It sounded miserable to have it going on like that.

Good luck to Cos, ray and ten. :)

Would 6.30 on Monday work as a meeting time? Do people want food? Last time I came to 10+er drinks, I think we met at Giraffe near Waterloo. That worked, and there are plenty of other options around there. Alternatively, I can find somewhere near Liverpool St or Bank (which are both very well connected). If people fancy the West End, I might need a bit of help picking somewhere as I don't know the area as well. Over to you....

Euro Giraffe near Waterloo at 6.30 works for me. Huge thanks. The social secretary hat, in my imagination, has a small jaunty feather.

Sending massive good luck vibes to our three brave ladies today, ray, ten and cos. Do check in and let us know how each procedure goes. Will be sending lots and lots of positive energy for a smooth transfer, an easy and productive OHSS-free EC, and a perfect septum removal op.

Hello! Selfish me post here, I have a quick question ladies please ladies I haven't been given any clexane this round would you take a baby asprin? I asked and they said they only give it to women with clotting disorders but I was given clexane at create?!

Waiting to be released. Hope cos and ray are all good?

630 Monday works for me, but I don't know what any of you look like?! If anyone would mind making friends in the other place please could you pm me with details, or perhaps someone could wear a carnation????

I'll PM you ten. Also I will try to book a table when I have numbers and then you can just ask for the table booked in my name.

cos I turned down clexane at Create as the blood clotting tests I had had elsewhere were clear. But I accepted baby aspirin instead. There doesn't seem to be a downside to taking it. In your shoes I probably would (starting after EC).

Ten, I think the jury is out on whether aspirin does anything but I don't think there would be any harm in taking a baby dose. Have all your clotting factors been tested? I've been given fragmin because lipoprotein was high or something. The dr said they give heparin if you're at risk of ohss and also can give it for one of the clotting disorders. Over here it's not licensed for any other use but they believe women who take it have higher pregnancy success so he says they give it whenever they can ie they look for an excuse.

How was ec? Are you feeling ok?

Critter, excellent news that you can get on with fet. I can understand the waiting has been an extra torment for you. Just make sure your uterus and scar are ok and then go for it! How many twiblings do you have on ice? Are they all blasts?

Cos, I'm thinking of you today.

I have two embies on board. Transfer was tricky this time because my uterus was tipped right back for some reason. I saw them on the screen though :) they're dividing as they should so that's good news anyway. All the staff at the clinic know us now, I feel like they really want it to work for us. My dr said he's still a bit puzzled by us, he checked again that all the genetic tests had come back clear because I think he was thinking that might be a reason. I'm going to take it easy this afternoon. Do you think there is anything I can do to make them implant?

Ten, they will be the stunningly gorgeous group of ladies. I wish I could come too.

Thanks Euro.

Critter - wow that seems to have come around so fast (not for you I am sure). Perfectly reasonable to be nervous, I am sure the whole thing may be hard, but worth it. Good luck for your test on Friday I hope it shows you are all ready to get going. You deserve it.

X post ray, Woop for two on board! Apparently watching a film that makes you laugh is a good idea...... Not sure which corner of the internet I scrounged that bit of info from but doesn't sound like a bad way to spend the afternoon anyway?

Yes EC all uneventful, waiting to be released so I can go home and get on the sofa with the dog and MrT can make me some lunch!

Ten so glad the EC went smoothly. Now rest up and drink plenty of fluids! I'd take the baby aspirin, it can't hurt. I think I'll take it next time as there may have been clotting issues in my placenta despite showing up clear for clotting disorders in blood tests.

Ray that sounds really promising, great that they are dividing nicely. Oh honey I am so hopeful for you this round. Get lots of rest this afternoon. A funny film is a great suggestion.

I'm still not quite 4 months out from the birth but I'm guessing that it'll take a while to set things up as I will probably need some sort of birth control pill protocol given my cycles are so irregular / non existent. And I'll need to do this saline infusion sonogram test first which I think checks to see what the inside of the uterus looks like in terms of scarring etc. So there will be a few steps first. We have five frosties at blast although four of those only reached blast on day 6. James was the leader - which matches the 'girls are slow growers' theory. We had two at blast on day 5 and chose a single embryo transfer - there was another just behind James. They called the next day and said they'd frozen five.

If euro has a girl then we will have proved the fast = boy! slow = girl theory. 5 blasts is a great number. Do you think you will go for set again? It's so hard to know what to do for the best. We had 5 day 1 frosties, but only 2 defrosted ok so we said to put them both back. I know it's stupid but I feel a little sad that 3 didn't make it, because it means we have to do another full round if these two don't work. Perhaps they'll give you heparin for your next pregnancy.

Today feels like a positive day on the thread.

Ray. You make blasts . You always wondered. I am keeping everything crossed super tightly for you.

Critter I can imagine it feels good to have something specific to look forward to now. Recently there will have been a lot of looking backwards. Completely understandable, how could you not. But now there is something exciting in front of you. I am very happy for you.

Ten great news. How many eggs did they get in the end?

I'm jealous of your meet. I wonder if I can get to London on Monday