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.

For those asking about my FET:

I have my teaching appointment next Monday, I think I start down regging in the last week of this cycle (around 3rd August), AF will be around 10th Aug so I guess as long as my endometrial lining responds well to the drugs and assuming the kids defrost OK, FET should be around 24th Aug.

Oooh gilster a fortuitous date- my birthday!!

rain I've heard lots about the chimp paradox, gave it to my dad so might be able to borrow it. I sneakily read a little before I gave it him and thought interesting but I thought it almost put down the emotional side of self as if that's a bad thing. I think although it's important to be rational, it's also good to be in tune with your emotions. Has anyone read it?

berries! just wanted to say hallo and thanks for all the love pre-holiday. Am now back, & just got into wireless zone. at a very important conference tomorrow so an excellent opportunity for reading the thread catching up with email. Been thinking of you all, hope all is well x

Thanks for the advice Berries, I knew I could count on you! It's still not kicked into high gear anyway, mostly just cramping so I think Thurs is def the best bet for day 2.

Welcome home nolly! Glad you had a good break.

Monty Python were very good - I doubt they'd win any new fans with the show but if you like them it's worth catching the televised one this weekend if you have UK gold!

My inner chimp had me indulging in all sorts of bad behaviour this eve, food and drink wise anyway. I have all the dietary guidance from acu woo but the witch/chimp just makes me want to throw it all out of the window!

Morning berries
barking such a horrible drawn out process, amazing what your body is having to go through, one day at a time.
gillster what's down regging?
We have appt next thurs to understand the ICSI process better, anything specifically I should ask?

Pixie - down regging is taking drugs that will induce a menopausal state. Once they've confirmed that this has happened, I then take some different drugs to thicken the lining of the endometrium. If they decide to put you on long protocol IVF, you will also do down-regging before starting the stimming (stimulating the ovaries). If you do short protocol IVF then you don't down reg and basically start stimming around day 2. They will review all your test results and other factors ( eg. age) and decide which protocol will suit you best. I guess they'll go through this with you at your appointment.

Welcome back Nolly, we've missed you. Glad the hols were good.

Boo to long hours Wild!

Gill that should fly round then! Preparing to join in any cheerleading dances etc for you.

Welcome back Nolly hope you had a lovely break!

Rain the chimp sounds very sensible wanting all the good stuff and for you!

Pixie I don't know too much about icsi sorry, but I think a few berries do! There's a lot of ttc know knowledge floating around these Berry parts

I've started spotting, and have mood swings from hell and The Sadness, so I think AF will be along soon. Hopefully not til after the weekend though. Then I have to ring the clinic to start iui. Eek am a bit scared very nervous and want to bury my head right in the sand and pretend nothing is happening.

Hope everyone is having a good hump day! Also woohoo for teacher berries, only 2 days left!

Hi pixie I had Ivf with icsi in May so can help with questions you might have! although I think gilster has the scientific bits spot on. Our cycle worked and it was the icsi one that was the clear leader and got transferred. Feel free to ask!!

Pixie we have an appointment to plan our ICSI cycle in a few weeks. When will you be starting? There are quite a few of us starting September.

Gil glad things are finally getting moving for you. You've been so patient!

Welc

Aaaargh!!

Welcome back Nolly

Boo to AF Beaky but at least it means you can start your treatment. Keeping everything crossed for you.

So can't wait to finish work now. Sooo much to do for the wedding this week and got zero time to do it. Feeling a but stressed out this evening and DP is being a total fucking useless arse!

Evening all!

Think calm thoughts happy! You'll get everything done and the wedding will be a success...and only a few more days to survive till the summer holidays!

Argh to the sadness beaky, it's the worst. Exciting though that its iui time...another step closer!

Welcome back nolly! Hope getting back to work isn't too painful!

pixie not sure what you need to ask re isci but definitely gather all your questions and write a list so they you mange to ask them all. For some reason my assertive self disappears when I get to the FC!

I fancy reading this inner chimp book rain maybe I'll put it on my holiday reading list. Am now reading a mindfulness book which comes with an 8 week meditation programme - trying very hard to relax and quieten my fretful mind!

wild hope the random hours aren't too bad. Finally made my jam last night! 8 jars of strawberry and gooseberry.

Went to power yoga this evening....wasn't quite as scary as it sounded although my legs were like jelly walking home!

Evening everyone!

gillster I've started devising a new pom pom routine so it's perfected for August!

pixie We did part IVF part ICSI so happy to help if you have any queries.

beaky That's good news you can start the IUI soon- I felt much better once we started treatment, like we were finally doing something that might work rather than failing month after month. Were you thinking about doing acu, I recall you mentioned it? Personally I definitely think it's worth giving it a go alongside IUI, if only for the relaxation benefits.

happy Good luck with the last minute wedding plans - try and enjoy the run up as it will all be over before you know it. I know the feeling though of wanting to kill your OH pre-wedding!

You're making me feel guilty with your power yoga tiger I realy need to start exercising again, am turning into a chubster.

Hi to everyone else and thanks for the nice messages, you're such a lovely bunch! wildfm was especially touched by your post!

Morning all

How is everyone today?

Well went for the dildocam and I seem to have high sitting ovaries so in order to see them the FS had to use a delightful crowbar levering action. Only one ovary could be seen and only three small follicles were on it. I have to do another 2 stimms days then look again.

I'll write more soon after breakfast. I'm starving!!

Sounds painful Seren! Go follies go! < adopts the follie stimulating dance and samba's off to work>

Crowbar action?!

Ooo Tiger 8 jars of jam! They sound lovely. Power yoga, not so lovely! What does that entail?

Aww Happy sending unstressy vibes your way. Hope you get sorted but at least it's the last day tomorrow!

Chloe I think if it was IVF I might have more confidence but at the moment I don't, the FC weren't even going to let me have iui cause they said the success rate was so low but they agreed as the dr had offered it. I'm actually really nervous too. How's everything going with you anyway? Do you get any more blood tests now or anything?

Serenity that sounds awful. Fx for a growth spurt for your follies!

Crowbar, yowsers! Hope all is well for the next scan serentity

beaky power yoga is normal yoga but faster and with a bit more movement. My hips and thighs are feeling it today...there was a lot of lunging! Enjoyed it though.

pixie how was your appointment?

Just had acu for a pre ovulation boost. Away for the weekend in Dublin, my birthday present from OH so looking forward to the weekend...only one more day to get through!

How's everyone else?

Oh tigerdog you are going to have the best time! Do you like Guinness? Meant to have iron in it so good for you!

Eek serenity !! Not heard of high sitting ovaries before,apparently my tubes were narrow when they looked.

Good lord it's been hot today. 1 more day to go teacher berries!!

Oooh tiger you must go to that church where they have the Crusader's body. Creeptastic!

Does anyone else have thunder and lightning?

Why does tiger go to that church rp?
No thunder and lightning here.
I was opening some of my school presents and have got a pretty little wooden clothes peg with 'special teacher' on it and am struggling to think how to use it as too nice for clothes, don't peg that much stuff at school, know people use them to peg photos to lines. Thought if I got a magnet and stuck it on back it would make a really cute fridge magnet to keep receipts etc, otherwise could use it to peg stuff together or seal bags of food. I'm not the most crafty person in the world but thought some of you ladies might have a good idea. Seems to pretty to waste in a draw or on a clothes line.

Follies had a huge growth spurt and FS found six (and my abnormally high ovary - it was hidden by my swinging bowel)! I'm booked in for another US on Sunday and egg collection is Tuesday if all goes well.

So enough about me. How are you all? Have I missed much?

Morning all. Last one teacher berries. Woooohooo! Had our staff night out last night. I left at a respectable 11pm but I think there'll be a few sore heads in school today!
Serenity great news on the follies. When I had my dildocam she had problems seeing my left ovary because of the shadow from my bowel
Have a great time in Dublin Tiger. We went at New Year. The Guinness factory was great (even though I don't like the stuff) and we visited Kilmainham jail too which was interesting.
Have a good day everyone, nearly the weekend. Oh and did I mention I've got 6 weeks off

Woo hoo happy!!! Blooming knackered today thought, mega thunder and lightning kept me awake last night.

Me too! It was so LOOOOUUUDDDD! And the lightning was so bright it was like someone shining a massive mag light right in my eyes. Knackered!

Great news on the follies serenity! at 'swinging bowel'