The Berries: On knockerwatch, sniffing willies and clinging to the coat tails of the continued clusterdiff (thread 21)

[barkingtreefrog]

The smallprint –
Berries have a strict entrance criteria (TTC #1, over 30, TTC for 12+ months, NO instadiffers, must have a special pot and definitely no mention of baby dust or baby dancing).
Those not abiding by the rules may be escorted from the premises.

The supermarkets here have pink salt everywhere. It's the new wanky ingredient

Wanky or swanky?

Both?

Hope you're ok rain

and welcome serenity! castle fan eh?

have a good weekend ladybros. and will be catching up properly next week…

Yes Tiger I loved Batfink! "Your bullets cannot harm me, my wings are like a shield of steel....."
Barking (when I typed Barking the iPad threw up the suggestion of Batking!) I'm waiting on the Honestly Healthy book. I'm hoping it was the parcel that DP collected from the Post Office today

Hey ladies!

rain Thinking of you today, hope you get through it OK.

feather i hope, you have an amazing day tomorrow and wish you a lifetime of health and happiness (and babies!)

winoh Glad you had good news with your scan!

serenity Re diet and IVF, I didn't really change mine much although I do eat pretty healthily anyway, mainly freshly prepared veggie food. I try and avoid white carbs too but don't get too hung up about it. I had the odd glass of wine after starting stimming. The thing I'm most reluctant to change is coffee as life just isn't as nice without it! I do try and limit myself to 1 or 2 a day. The way I see it, I've been trying for so long that if I went on some extreme diet I'd probably just make myself miserable and more stressed.

Himalayan pink salt barking? Surely any old salt will do? Or Maldon if you want somethung that's just a little bit swanky/wanky?

Sorry you're having a tough time rosie, not really sure what to suggest even though we've all been there. I think just try to remember that there are up days and down days: hopefully tomorow will be better.

My period turned up today after the EC pretty much like the dr predicted it would. Hopefully he'S right that nothing will happen over the next 3 weeks so we can put our frosties in after our holiday. It's a bank holiday weekend over here, we're visiting the inlaws and hoping to get lots of lovely hiking in. Really looking forward to spending some time in the fresh air with lovely DH and trying to forget about everything! Ooh and there's the lovely Raffa to watch in the final as well! Happy weekend everybody.

Oooh Feather have a really brilliant time tomorrow! You will look gorgeous and enjoy every minute!

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend chloe . I'm sure any salt would substitute, but I couldn't find millet flakes either. I'm thinking porridge oats might work instead?!?!

Hmm I went to aerobics tonight and now I am having quite bad cramping..... Bit scared :( DPIL coming over any minute and we had planned on telling them but now not sure I we should...... Argh.

Has anyone else who has been here before had cramps after exercise or exertion? Or does it mean something bad?

RP cramps are normal, as things are settling in and stretching.

Have an amazing wedding day Feather I wish you and MrF all the love and happiness in the world.

Made it through a week of work; now for a weekend of babies. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of the cake and blanket; will try when I've had some dinner!

Here is the blanket and cake.......

Aw hb the cake and blanket are amazing! What a lovely friend you are. I hope the weekend of babies is ok.

Good luck with your baby filled weekend hb. We are here if you need to vent.

Woohoo it's Friday berries! I've missed so much this week, been hectic at work, stressy and not sleeping at home but now have a glass of wine and some peace and quiet to catch up!

Here goes! HB you are truly an amazing person, what a lovely blanket and cake. I really hope you get a MiniHB really soon, you totally deserve it. Shame you couldn't really get an answer at your appointment but I suppose sometimes they don't have an answer. Do you think you will go for a fresh cycle?

Batking I'm over the moon that things seem to be going well for you at the moment, especially after all the awfulness you had to go through. I am keeping everything crossed for you. How are you feeling now?

Feather have an amazing wedding day tomorrow! I'm gonna put you flipping out over the size of peonies down to your preggo hormones! I hope you and Mr Feather have the best time! Where are you honeymooning? How are you feeling too, any symptoms? Will be crossing everything before your scan next week too.

Nolly sorry you had a rough time this week, it is just shit sometimes hey. Hugs and anyway.

Tiger I will keep my fingers crossed that you get the right outcome job wise - whatever that maybe sounds like a difficult decision is coming your way. Good luck for the lap on Monday too! Hope you get diffed immediately afterwards did you check the guidelines for your pct re how long you have to be trying for? 3yrs seems ridiculous.

Funky what's a berry HQ Friday night party?! Sounds brill!

Bushy how's things going for you? I will be crossing everything for your scan next week and hope everything is great. That parent is sooo cheeky. I had a client who asked me if I was (during the early days ttc) and I said no, she said "well you need to get yourself on a diet pet" she was canny and old though.

Serenity welcome! Sorry you are here though but these ladies are amazing. Can I ask if you had any symptoms with your ovarian cyst? I had one last scan but they think it was maybe a follicle. I do have typical symptoms of a cyst though so am stressing and dr googling like mad. I hope your IVF works for you first round. Are you long or short protocol? Sorry if you've already said this I've missed 5 pages this week! Also what course are you doing?

Boodle how are you doing?

Win great news about your scan, I am crossing everything for you as well, hope that this is the sticky one.

RP how's your dinosaur?! Love the way you told your dh! I don't want you to leave the thread you always make me smile. Please post here and the chopter

Happy hope you got sorted with your hairpiece. Things like that don't help with stress levels!

Rain I hope that today has been manageable, sending you hugs and

Rosie you don't need a wang, it's totally understandable. Maybe poas Sunday? 12 dpo by then?! I have to make a massive effort to distract myself but it doesn't always work! It will all work out in the end and your own wise advice back at you, is that this will pass

Batking try holland and Barratt, you can def get millet flakes there, not sure about wanky/swanky salt though!

I went to GP today, about excessive bleeding and I've not been sleeping and getting really itchy which I get when I'm stressed so got some cream for that me poor little armpit! she didn't really have much to say about the bleeding. Anyway none so far this week thank god. Watching bad Santa weird and going to do some holiday shopping weirder

Sorry this post is sooooo long, I need to keep up more!

OMG longest post ever

Did anyone see this article today?

Article

So sad and some of the comments made me furious.

Thanks Merk. I think it is okay, they were just quite vicious and within an hour of exercise so I started to think, shit, I've somehow shaken the dinosaur loose :( I think I'm going to avoid aerobics for a bit as that was scary.

HB those are really, really beautiful and you are a very good friend. You will be making a blankie like that for your own soon :)

Barking, win, bushy, hope you are all feeling sticky tonight! (Which my iPad wanted to correct to "STI" )

I saw the article beaky. I liked the poem someone put in the comments:

It's not the loss of a life, the loss of an egg, the loss of your body that hurts.
It's not even the cramps, the bloating, the pain.
It's not the time gone, time ahead, time past.
It's not that you'd thought of a name.

It's the hope.
The hope you thought you'd buried in rational.
The hope you thought you'd forgotten.
It's the hope that quietly waits to awaken, noting each twinge, each change, each possible early sign or symptom.

It's the humiliation of hope. It's my secret humiliation. It's a secret that consumes all my thoughts.

Because despite all the facts, despite all the knowledge, I still dared.
I still dreamed.
I still hoped.

I wish I could stop hoping.

And on a cheerier note I made the spicy bean burgers with cajun sweet potato wedges for dinner night (from the honestly healthy book). Took ages but tasted amazing. I don't know if my grater is blunt but it took forever to grate the carrot....
That's 2/2 recipes a success so far! Got some mountain pink salt from the local health shop, but substituted porridge oats for the millet flakes and rice flour for the polenta. Seemed to work!
I was going to make the healthy chocolate brownies but the ingredients were so expensive I figured I'd stick with the sugar packed ones I already make - little treats are fine in moderation!

I have my head in the sand rp. Bloated, sore boobs and very 'wet' today, which makes it difficult to ignore. No nausea any more though. I felt better when I had nausea... Just worried that at 6+3 my scan might be too early (although still 2 weeks away). Don't want to not see a heartbeat again like last time but not know for sure whether it's game over or not .
Anyway, head back in sand.

Did anyone see Graham Norton tonight? Is it just me employs bitch mode or has Amanda Holden done something awful to her face? It looks like the skin has been pulled tight and doesn't move when she speaks. Most odd.

Sorry for the multiple posting .

Yes, I saw graham norton ( lurve him, think he us fab on the radio, big grill graham fan!!). I said same to dh, her face looks really odd, too taut. I actually thought she was quite witty etc but bit of an attention seeker in that dress and doing the head stand. It put me off how she kept adjusting herself on the sofa for her best angle ( now I sound bitchy!!) thought Martin sheen's intro was brilliant.

Welcome to my world batking re not knowing re heartbeat on scan.

hb the blanket is beautiful. How did you do that? Did it come as a kit? It is needlework/cross stitch? And the cake is amazing. Is that a pg lady sat on the cake and little footprints on the white icing? I take it the pink and blue booties are because your friend hasn't found out? You are a really lovely and very talented friend. You could sell those they're that good!!

beaky what a cheeky cow at your work!!! Some people!!

rp it may just be regular cramps and twinges! have had a few of those but prob not a bad idea to slow down a bit eh. Did you tell in laws?

feather's getting married in the morning! ding dong the bells are going to chime!! Can we have a wedding emoticon and baby icon??!!

Don't know if this is a bit naughty but had a cider shandy tonight, we'd gone out for friend's birthday meal in pub and really fancied a big drink. Sun was out. Had big ass meal to soak it up inc pudding- yum yum!!

Happy wedding day feather! I hope you and MrF have the most amazing time!

Great article beaky thanks for sharing. It does sum up the pain of it all pretty well. I'm hoping some of my friends read it. I have looked but I can't find any reference to 3 years in the ccg policy on IVF but they have a new policy out for consultation that says 2 years. The difficulty is, because of my line of work, I know the people responsible for the policy so it makes it very awkward to ask questions! Am doing some less obvious digging to see when the new one will kick in.

barking they're on my list to make too. Hopefully the 2 weeks until your scan will fly by.

Thunder and lightening here...regretting booking in for 9am yoga class!

Happy wedding day Feather and MrFeather

bushy glad it wasn't just me, I wanted to scream at the tv to tell her to sit still and stop posing!!
I didn't really have a week to wait last time as I knew before the second scan that it was very unlikely to be good news. I'd started bleeding heavily with very bad cramps and had spent the week on the sofa clutching a wheat bag. DH and I had just agreed that it definitely wasn't happening this time, and I was having a bit of a sob, then 5 minutes later our mates announced the birth of their twins. I'll never forget that evening, it's more ingrained than when they turned the monitor round on the scan and just said 'I'm sorry'.
This time though the progesterone could still mask the bleeding so I can't take no bleeding as a good sign.

Sorry, I'll shut up now, it's not helping with the 'don't think about it' policy!!!!

feather is getting married today!!!!!!!!! Have an amazing day lovely!!!!!!!!!

tiger any recipes you'd particularly recommend? Or anyone else who's got it?

Thanks for your lovely thoughts, ladies. I tried some meditation yesterday which made me feel a little better so will do so again today. I think I've jinxed it now and am starting to have AF like cramps and other AF symptoms.

Beaky, I hope the bleeding will stay away for a while to give your mind and body some rest.

HB, this is a lovely blanket and as everyone else on here has said you are truly amazing and it will be your turn soon.

Barking, I agree with you re the HH book. Some of the recipes are lovely but I am not sure you really need the super expensive and special ingredients. This would make GF a very expensive exercise. I will be doing the same and substitute ingredients where I see fit. You said you've been GF for a while now, any other cookbooks you can recommend?

Tiger, good luck with the yoga class and the job interview. We have booked in for a 9am run, too, but luckily the thunder and lightning have stopped.

RP, fingers crossed, your dinosaur is still feeling comfy and attached to you. Same to you barking/ bushy/ Feather/ win, hope all your little ones are settling in nicely and we'll have a spate of post-scan celebrations from Thursday onwards.

Happy weekend everyone and happy wedding day Feather. We're off to a small festival this weekend. I just hope the rain stays away, we'll be camping.