The Elderberry Pavlovas are tooling up and making plans to bust out of this joint! Evacuation by helicopter by end of September, no berry left behind!

[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.

Hi beaky I'm 28w now which is rather scary. How are you?

Oooh happy that wedding date is whizzing towards you, exciting

chloe very pleased to see you numbers are going up

Hi all!

Congrats Chloe

Hi Berries

lumen your holiday plans sound fab. I travel quite a lot with work and went to see the nurse recently before traveling in Asia as I thought I needed boosters for various things. She said a lot of the guidelines had changed in recent years for how often you needed vaccines and if you needed them at all, so you may find that HEP jabs are not required if you've had them before. I imagine a call to the nurse might clear things up. Sorry your mum was a bit annoying re paying for treatment - I agree with you that it's totally unfair that the number of cycles you get is dependent on where you live. We paid for our first IVF cycle, but I used savings which I've been gathering over a number of years, so I know how you feel. I think it was barking who said before that if the first IVF is to gather information for the second, it's a cheek to make you pay for the second.

serenity Sounds like you are on short protocol if you have started straight away on the stims - I hope the injections are going OK.

chloe glad it sounds like everything is going ok so far, its good to have some positive IVF news

happy sorry to hear about the smug preggos... like Lumen I keep seeing pregnant people all over the place and can't help comparing their age to mine even though I'm an oldie.

barking well done on surviving the D of E trip; I hope your tests tomorrow show a 0, you've had quite enough bleeding by the sounds of it.

I've wasted hours of my evening trying to find my local PCT's guidelines on IVF funding; the ones I found online on another website were dated 2008. In the minutes of one of the PCTs meetings in June last year an action point was to get the guidelines up on the website... well, it's been 13 months and they don't seem to have managed it. In the end I finally found a spreadsheet complied by the Guardian (still old - 2009) which suggests that they will allow an unlimited number of private IVF cycles prior to a funded cycle, so I feel relieved that I should be fine to go ahead with my funded natural cycle. I think I might email my PCT anyway and tell them to put the damn guidelines up. I also had my follow up for the failed IVF, they encouraged me to do the natural cycle, and if it doesn't work then go back for another cycle on long protocol with estrogen priming although I wonder why we didn't do that the first time around.

Rain I think its fine to be a bitch at work occasionally, it's also fine to bring in cake

Hi to everybody else!

ARGH! Just been bump bombed on fb. Seriously, there's practically no one left on my news feed, how does this still happen?! This was a photo posted by a safe, single, male friend that a mutual friend was in - with massive bump I didn't know about (high risk of bumpage couple, been avoiding them). They had a lovely wedding, went abroad for a year to work, then within a year of getting back she's got a big bump. FFS. And the bump I found out about at the last wedding we went to (same night I did my trigger shot) is now very obvious. She'll be at the wedding this Friday . Just when I think I'm coping .

rain I think it was South africa rather than mauritius we needed jabs/anti-malaria for but worth checking.
chloe congrats for getting to this stage..come on emby!! Feeling a pom pom moment coming on. gillster need a hand?
GL rosie and well done for taking the leap. Knowing when we need to ask for help is so important. Hope goes well.
happy thought it would get easier by now facing news of others upduffness but it doesn't does it? One of my colleagues started ttc a week before us and just announced is expecting number 2. Prompt ridiculous .
barking well done on wknd efforts and let us know how appt goes tomorrow.
Hope everyone's wknds were good and you've had bearable mondays!
As part of my weight loss efforts this wknd I went to a mate's for bbq and cocktails and didn't go for a run. so hard to lose weight when feeling AF just arrived and need !

Evening!

Congrats chloe! Sounds very positive

happy sorry to hear about the bump count. It can be so gutting. Hang in there till the summer hols!

lumen glad to hear you had a good weekend. Tbh it makes me mad to think that any of us have to pay for ivf and deal with such inequality of funding. It's only one cycle here too, and yet my consultant described it as a way if finding out more about your ability to get pg. If that's the case then surely two cycles should be the minimum. I also have to wait three years until referral so I have another 18 months + of ttc before anything will happen. Our local policy is being redeveloped so that all might change too - leaving me and others in limbo in the meantime.

kuma PCTs don't exist anymore, it is your local CCG you need to check with re IVF funding. They were responsible for ivf commissioning from 1st April last year. There was lots of transition in the system so guidance might have changed.

barking nothing like being bump-bombed on fb to give you a kick in the guts. Seems to happen when you least expect it.

rain it's good to let the bitch side out every now and again I reckon, keep em on their toes!

gil when is your FET?

Had a nice acu session - my lady certainly thinks my pregnancy is on the cards...just need to harness that positive thinking!

X post pixie. I always need chocolate to get me through af.. all bets are off during af i say!! I've also been eating more chocolate to make up for drinking less! Am having a juice craze atm - supposed to help reduce sugar cravings...we'll see.

Crapbarking you just don't need it, especially when you're doing better. One reason I avoid fb.

Grr to all the instadiffer bumps happy. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Rest assured I have been that person sat there trying to zone out from the constant baby talk, the stories that you've already heard with all the other f*ckers that have got pg before you, in the time you've been trying to get 1, then there's the ones that are onto number 2 who was an 'accident', queue lots of smutty jokes and you're only doing it to miss the bad class coming out, blah, blah, blah. I remember being sat there thinking shut up, just shut up!! I'd just had the massive bleed and thought everything was over.

What are your kids doing watching friendshappy? I love friends but curious why kids are watching it.

I didn't have any jabs for Caribbean, kuma makes a really good point re the jabs. Santorini is a great suggestion, big pricey but there are some fab places to stay where you can watch the lovely sunsets.

Thanks tiger it was the ccg website I was looking at and found the minutes about making info available. Sounds like the 2008 info may be out of date although consistent with what I heard at the nhs info session.

It is a shocker that they don't publish the policy kuma. Our CCG is the same. The Dept of Health did consider a national policy to give everyone access to the same funding but bottled it because it would have cost too much.

Howdy

Just a quick post to say hi before i go to work.

The injections don't bother me. Must be due to my extra layers of fat insulation. I've made DH do some, mostly do he feels bad that I have to go through all this and he just gets to do the deed with a cup

I will admit to a delightful combo of feeling depressed and angry with a side of diarrhoea. This is fun.

Is it wrong that I got somewhat excited by the prospect of a new freezer bag/lunch box when I picked up the drugs (that had to be kept cold) from the FS?

Welcome back Barking. Was wondering where you'd got to. Glad the jabbing is going ok Serenity. Glad all is going well Chloe. Great to see you Kuma and hi to everyone else. Barking the bumps were literally everywhere yesterday. After the announcement in work I saw a gazillion bumps when I popped to the shops after school, then was hit with 2 scan pics on FB in the evening! Hoping for an easier day today!
Bushy I've no idea as to the relevance of Friends, I don't think there was one! It was trips/activity day and I was looking after a handful of kids who weren't involved in anything. I'm guessing someone had put it on to keep them quiet. I love Friends too but I certainly wouldn't have chosen the one about infertility, what are the chances!! Have a good, bump free day all!

Hi, just popping in to say hi.

kuma I emailed my CCG to ask them to send me the latest guidelines as I couldn't find any up to date guidelines when I tried searching. They responded with an attachment for me so that might be worth ago.

Good luck to you all cycling soon and for the big Sep escape to the berry copter - gillster fx for your fet!

Oh FFS. I'm still not unpregnant.... Levels still dropping but not getting near 0 yet, currently 220. . Still got 'morning sickness' (just nausea) still got sore boobs, this is now almost 4 weeks after I knew it was a mc. And I left my raspberry leaf tea in the Lakes so I'm going to have to go and buy some more!

Hello everyone!

Seems like there has been some good news since I last dropped by - congrats chloe!
serenity I need to channel your cool-headed jabbing. The thought of it still brings me out in a cold sweat, although I didn't freak out at my last blood test, so progress!

barking how unfair our bodies can be on us. Is it too late for medical management just so you can be done with it, or is that something you don't want to consider?

serenity for a split second I thought you meant you'd made DH inject himself so he knew what it felt like! . God knows the side effects that would induce... As for the freezer bag, that's the kind of thing I'd probably be pleased by too. Got to get your kicks where you can with this business!

tiger glad your acu lady is being so reassuring. I've got my 2nd pin cushion session this weekend, which will be mid witch (assuming she arrives soon).

kuma I found getting up to date CCG info virtually impossible. Infertility Network had links to the most recent docs but they were still not current. Luckily our FC gave us the up to date info at our recent appointment, otherwise I'd still be in the dark. Definitely worth e-mailing if you can!

pixie I hope the is helping. I find it impossibly to 'behave' when the witch is in the building.

MrP was telling me about a book he's reading called The Chimp Paradox where the theory is we all have an inner human (rational, logical), an inner computer (automatic processes/reactions) and an inner chimp (emotional, instinctive). I have decided my inner chimp has way too much control, but apparently you can get around it by distracting it with things like counting (e.g. On the count of 3 I am going to go and do this boring task I've been putting off - chimp gets distracted by the counting, so your inner human can get on with the work!).
OK that all sounds bonkers, but I liked the idea of this little, easily sidetracked, monkey in my head!

DH has read that rain, he keeps telling me what his inner chimp is doing!
My levels are going down, just sloooowly, and with the help of the raspberry leaf tea I'm still getting stuff out

..finger slipped, posted too early!
... they've not mentioned anything about medical management recently.

I think I just have an inner chimp...

I think I just am a chimp

Barking I'm so sorry. That's really high still, isn't it? for you. Why can't our bodies just do what we want, when we want?

did they give you a sense of when the levels were likely to have dropped?

Hey ladies! Quick q before I go into O2 for Monty Python. The witch has landed, not full on but given cramping will be within an hour or two. I have a late night and lots of meetings tomorrow AM that it's too late to rearrange, but I need my day 2 bloods done. As the witch has arrived late in the day, is tomorrow day 1 or day 2? If it is 2, can I get away with waiting till Thurs? Sorry for typos, typing and walking!!!

No easy answer to that rain - I've had different answers from different nurses/doctors when I've asked! I think you'll be absolutely fine waiting for Thursday, especially if it hasn't started properly yet anyway.

I agree with Barking. Thurs should be fine Rain as my FC always said day 1 was when you woke up and were bleeding.

Rain my FC say if it starts late in the day the. The following day is day 1, so thurs should be fine. Enjoy Monty Python!

Barking sorry this is still ongoing for you, fx it's over very soon. Did you get the number for the consultant re your rmc appointment?

Gill sorry my memory is poor but do you have a date to start yet?

Serenity your side affects sound wonderful ! I think I will get my dh to do an injection (on me! Ha)then he can appreciate how it is! When's your scan?

I definitely need to get to acupuncture but I think I'll wait until after the iui. Tiger your lady sounds lovely and very positive! Just remember how right Feathers lady was too!

Sorry I've missed some people am on phone so it's difficult to read right back!

Waves to everyone. Working strange hours at the moment and long days and not had time to post. My last thought before I went to sleep last night was 'I wonder how Chloe got on with the HCG test' - delighted it's good news.

Rain I agree with everyone else that you will be fine to do the test on Thursday.

barking sorry things are dragging on so long. Keep drinking that raspberry leaf tea.

lumen and kuma you are handling things so well.

So funny about serenity's freezer bag. My little lunch bag is one of my favourite possessions.