The Elderberry Pavlovas: Hanging up our fertility crystals, relaying the Yellow Brick Road and chasing that chopper. We want our BFPs and we want them now! (Thread 22)

[happylass]

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.

Hola berries, penis express got off to a stuttering start as there were no trains running until last night! Seemed to help the sleep situation as didn't 't wake at my normal 4am.. Held out til 6 instead, not lots of sleep but a definite improvement. Maybe I need to dtd every night!!

Dh has gone out with his mate tonight so got a sneaky one in before he went out , no-one likes a boozy dh!! Don't think the little soldiers perform so well when under the influence!

Had an indirect pg announcement today when colleague was talking about an ex colleague whose class are horrible, chair throwing etc and is really stressed saying it's no good for the baby. I thought I'd misheard, but no she's pg with her third! Did go off and felt like a little cry for 5 mins or so but then pulled self together. Felt a bit out of the loop too as think most of them knew because most Facebook. Sometimes I feel like I'd like to know more and be on there but actually I wouldn't want all my colleagues knowing my ins and outs, I like my privacy and actually, on one level I avoid it because I don't want to see all these announcements and baby/child photos.. Is that really bad??!!

Half term, thank God!! I'm pooped too tiger. Hope the lunch is ok.. You might find it puts you off!

Woohoooooooo my IVF pack and appointments has arrived I had no idea I would be this excited?! Both in November which is good as I was expecting December. Reading through success rates is scary stuff though,there's a massive change from 34/35 and I turn 35 in 2 months anyway I feel a bit more positive now hooray!

How's everyone else's weekend going? tiger was the friends 6mth old manageable? Bushy it looks as though you've found a cure for your insomnia there

Going to get ready for a boozy night out now, will make the most of it and then try to get on the clean living wagon in preparation for the IVF!

Arghhh just typed a really long post and lost it all
Beaky I'm thrilled that things are moving for you. When are you expecting to start IVF?
Bushy I'm soooo glad to see half term - it's been the longest 8 weeks ever and I was out for some of it whilst having treatment.
Currently enjoying some much needed R + R in West Wales with DH.
Promise to try harder to keep up with the thread! Hope everyone is having a top weekend!

That's so exciting beaky!

We had a good day with our friends and their gorgeous bubba, who was an absolute joy to be around. Lots of lovely cuddles. I want one of my own though

Have a great time beaky & remember when you are hungover tomorrow you can mong in peace, no little people making demands on you ( see we have our positives don't we!!)

Hey happy hope you have a lovely time in Wales. We have a posh night away at spa type hotel next w/e, looking forward to it! Certainly has been a long term.

I have lost a couple of posting attempts so losing patience....
Smidge sounding promising.
Gill any news?
Got my special delivery last week and started sniffing buselin yesterday day 21. The 2 times I need to do it at work is going to be interesting.
Envious of those of you on half term/holidays.
Had heart to heart with my dad and his wife last night about ethics of ivf ie what to do with embryos that don't get put back in, at what point are they 'life'. All rather complicated isn't it...

Let's see if this works. I'm well and truly over the crap that is Apple and ios8.

Plus it's hot. 36'c today. Predicted 40'c tomorrow and it's technically not even summer.

Since coming off the pill and starting the infertility roller coaster I occasiinally have teenage style skin breakouts. I didn't get pimples as a teenager so why now??

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Pixie - ask for a special sniffing break and dedicated sniffing area?
Tiger - I hope lunch wasn't too trying.
Bushy - hope you had a good night out.
Happy - dirty weekend away? Have a lovely time.
Beaky- I completely understand. I too neec a kick up the bum.

Well I've just discovered from twitter that this week is national fertility awareness week. Zita West and Emma Cannon are all over it and there are some really interesting blog posts etc on there. Has anyone read getting pregnant faster but Marilyn someone? Is it any good if so?

Tiger you will get there, hang in there.

Bushy yes I am grateful for a duvet day today! Enjoy your spa break and week off!

Happy enjoy your break. How is everything going with you?

Pixie that is a tough conversation! Especially when you are in this situation. Great that you have started sniffing now! What will be next for you? How long til stimming?

Serenity that's very hot! It's really cold and windy here though, no winning either way

How's everyone else?

lumen have you lost us again? Haven't heard an update from you for a while. Hope all is going well, you must be in the midst of treatment I think, as I think we had similar timing.

I think we are missing a few berries actually, after having a quick scan of the thread over the last couple of months. Hope you haven't lost us and are still lurking

Just had my third dildocam and blood test this morning. The lady told me to use the other arm next time as she could feel the vein vibrating which apparently means it can't withstand the suction/pressure and is trying to close. Yuck! The dildo lady handed me a piece of paper and told me to write in the follicle sizes as she told me them. Bit weird, trying to use a pencil and paper leaning on your thighs when half lying down with a camera poking around your ladybits! Anyway, as ever I thought she kept measuring the same follicles (will I ever trust them?). I had to write down 11 on the left and 7 on the right, but I reckon probably 8 and 5 is more realistic, after discounting the smaller ones (and maybe a duplicate or two!). Anyway, I think that's good... Though the size range seems a bit larger now. Waiting to find out if I need to continue stabbing or take the trigger shot tonight. Kind of exciting, in a scary sort of way - I think I'm more nervous this time round than last.

OH is finally being good at taking his vitamins. I think the fact that there are only 4 left in the packet is giving him a mental boost!

Exciting news on those dates, beaky! Gives us all something to look forward to.

You should definitely be pleased with those follies smidge - I'm really happy for you. Did they give you any idea when you might trigger?

I'm seeing the FC today for a debrief and next steps appointment. I've yet to write a list of questions, am I getting a little blasé about TTC? And would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Who knows.

Anyway, I will be interested to hear what he says wrt tiny amount of spotting on Day 9 post IUI.

Have lovely days, Berries.

I've been told to trigger tonight (at midnight) with EC on weds at midday. They've said OH needs to do his biz tonight. Thing is he did it twice yesterday so is very reluctant. I mentioned he'd already done it last night (didn't mention the morning fun) but the nurse still said to do it tonight too.

I've googled and most places seem to say 2-3 days before EC (which is what it'll be if he doesn't do it again) with the odd one saying same as my clinic - same time as trigger (36hrs).

What do you berries think? I personally feel 36 hrs is quite a short timeframe but don't want to kick ourselves if we don't follow their process....

OH googled 'boobies' for some inspiration and the first thing that popped up was a blue-footed penguin bird! (A booby). Was so sweet, but didn't really assist and we're now watching telly ignoring the decision!!

He did the deed
Just got to hope there's enough left in him for Wednesday, when it really counts!

Smidge great news about your follies and EC for Wednesday! All fx for you. Is this your 1st or 2nd IVF? Sorry I can't remember but am sure I should know!

wild let me know what your consultant says, we don't get a follow up for iui. I do wonder about your spotting too, hopefully they will shed some light for you.

Got asked 3 times over the weekend whether we want kids, I used Nollys one day which helped but a pushy one totally wouldn't leave it!

beAky good on you for the one day comment in the face of persistent children questions! why are some people so insistent! it's rude!
Hope it went well at fc wild

Sounds like it's all about to get very real smidge. My dh had a 2 day gap and that was fine. Love the booby penguin story!

I've had a nice first day of holidays which made my rather grumpy, irritable,then tearful mood of tonight so odd! I just felt really narky. Not sure why... Hormones, bloating or just the old feeling out of the loop and left behind with the whole kids thing.. Anyhow we tidied up the house and feel lots better now.

Ouf! It's eerily quiet in here, but I'm not going to let that stop me.

Interesting session with the consultant today. He felt that both the small non-hormonal cyst I had at the beginning of the cycle, and the Day14 period, and perhaps the mid-cycle spotting, all pointed to a likely womb-lining issue with inflammation / immune system reacting to embryo.

He said not to bother having the immune tests done as he would treat with steroids irrespective of the results, just based on experience.

The thinking is that we will have IVF, which will need to be in January to avoid clashing with Xmas. I'm to have hysteroscopy and scratch directly beforehand.

Beaky when are your November dates? It'll be good to get going.

smidge your poor DH he has to do the deed and then you come on here and laugh at him! I'm trying to figure out what time Australian midday Wednesday is over here. One am Tuesday perhaps?

X-post bushy - funny how those moods come upon us, isn't it. Tidying the house is an excellent way to i) distract yourself and ii) feel cheered up by achieving something. That's what I find anyway.

smidge you must confirm what time UK time the EC will be. That way I can cross my fingers in my sleep for you.

Thanks wild, yes you're right, now the clocks have changed we're 11hours apart, so midday weds in Sydney is the same as 1am in England. Did my trigger last night.

beaky my OH has taken to saying "we're working on it" when people (who aren't in the know) ask him about children. I quite like the way it shuts them up, as they really don't want to know about our sex life, and it also probably makes them realise the process isn't quite so easy as snapping ones fingers and saying 'let's have a baby now'.

pixie how is the sniffing going? Hope you aren't facing any bad side effects.

beaky it's my 2nd IVF. Don't worry, it's hard to keep up with everyone without taking copious notes! First time we got 1 blasto out of 10eggs, but it didn't implant.

I have a long list of chores to do today before EC so I really shouldn't still be on MN. Just can't seem to be bothered today - it's that everything's on hold feeling .. Can't seem to put my mind to anything other than counting down. Hope you berries are getting the various good luck Pom Poms dusted off ready for the pre-Christmas down reg diffsters. (Gil pixie lumen me seren?... Anyone else?) Good vibes needed, and some sort of group synchronised fertility dance this time around I reckon

wild sounds as if your doc has a plan! that's good. I think the scratch is a good one if you have potential immune issues. It definitely seems to have improved response following it. Do some research on the steroids he plans to use, as I think my info said you really need to up your frolic acid intake (like 10times) on one sort (Can't remember the name) - and if so you might want to start that before the treatment.

Sounds like you're making excellent progress Smidge. Will be keeping everything crossed for a decent haul of top notch eggies.

Indeed an interesting meeting with the consultant Wild. Do you know if they'll do your hysteroscopy under GA or not. I kind of wished I'd asked for another scratch when I had mine done although the fact that they removed 2 polyps probably resulted in a bit of disturbance.

My drugs arrived on Friday and I start stabbing in one week. I seem to be the only one who down regs by injecting rather than sniffing. Probably a good thing as my nose isn't the best.

Stressing about what to do around Christmas now in terms of staying put or visiting relatives. If things go according to plan, OTD will be around Christmas Day. The birth of my nephew is also fairly imminent so that will be in the mix too. Whilst I don't mind seeing him over Christmas, I don't want to spend days with him particularly if it's a BFN. We have three sets of parents to get round ranging from an hour to nearly three hours drive away so equally don't want to spend days on the road. I am such a bah humbug and it's still October!!

Decided to buy my first road bike at the weekend and DH is delighted as he is already a very keen cyclist. Took it for a 40 mile spin on Sunday and boy is my bottom hurting. Hopefully some practice will toughen it up!

I've also said to DH that I don't want anyone in RL knowing about this FET as don't wanted the added expectation. My parents were asking if I had my dates at the hospital last night and I just said that it was all sorted but I wasn't telling them, which they were fine about.

Evening all.
Just saying hi before going to bed.
Have got our appointment with the new doctor at the new clinic tomorrow. Yay dildocam time.
In other news it was 42 bloody degrees yesterday. I sense my electricity bill will be huge this summer.

Hi berries, I had a lovely spa day with my mum where when she asked how I was with everything I confessed about the Ivf etc ( we'd told them we'd been trying for a while & about the miscarriage but not about the Ivf-dh wanted to keep it quiet) I felt that it was getting a bit awkward, secretive and also upsetting not saying about it to mum. She said it was no wonder I couldn't sleep with all of that going on and how that did make the mmc worse because so much had gone into it. She had no idea what Ivf entailed and was amazed. She also told me that my third cousin is pg with her second Ivf baby. The first took three Ivf tries and this baby took the first time but that's still four rounds of Ivf to pay for-wowee!! They're in Ireland so nothing is free. Felt quite encouraged by that. I knew she'd had Ivf to have her first but didn't realise it took three tries.

My dh had wanted to keep it all quiet but that almost makes it feel like a dirty secret. She doesn't know whether to tell my dad ( who'd said maybe mum would find out more on our spa day!) or brother. I said I don't mind but we won't fuss about it in front of dh. Weirdly my mum said my brother had been to the dentist in the summer and said to her that I'm pregnant because the dentist said!! Very weird because a: can't remember telling dentist that I was nor the last time that I went. Poor mum had to say no, to my knowledge she's not, which was after the mmc- weird!! She was going to say to my brother then but they had other people round so she didn't think it was appropriate. V strange! Bit bloody annoyed with the dentist because that's not a nice way for my brother to find out, seeing her soon so not sure whether to tackle her over it..

gilster my mum was asking when our next Ivf would be if we're taking it. I've let on it'd be soon but was evasive about dates as don't necessarily want the added pressure so know how you feel. Last time we said we would tell no one.. Dh then got drunk and let slip to a couple who we're good friends with. That worked well as no pressure but someone to talk to if needed and also I felt that the berries were my support. I am amazed at your 40 mile spin on the road bike-wowee!!

Re Christmas I would just play it by ear, you've not got to make any decisions yet. It is nicer to be nearer to home throughout the whole thing. We were camping and decided to test when we returned. In my experience if you leave it a little longer than OTD you get a more definitive result but it's whether you can do that.

smidge love your dh's response- we're working on it! V blokey and straight down the line!!

wild the tidying def helped to snap me out of the mood! Good to channel the grrr!!

Dh is back so I'd better look lively!!

Just a quick hop on as a bit busy but good luck for tomorrow for collection! Laughed out loud at your oh and the booby pic

Hugs to all berries catch up properly tomorrow x

hello berries,

gill it is so hard to plan for Christmas anyway, never mind having to deal with OTD at the same time, and avoiding new babies. BUT in the spirit of being positive, it could be the start of something pretty amazing! I'll certainly be keeping everything crossed for you. Christmas is our ttc anniversary. We are going away with OH's family, which will be lovely but hasn't turned out to be very well timed with the possibility of starting IVF. If only we had a crystal ball...

wild that sounds like a good plan, and great that you are getting the immune treatment, which you thought might be an issue. Starting in January sounds good, new year, new baby!

Bushy sounds like you've had a lovely day! Glad that you managed to have a good chat with your mum. I can also understand not wanting to tell people about IVF. I think I will tell one colleague I'm close to (if I start in current job) and best friend (because I will need a RL person to talk to about it) but wouldn't tell family, friends etc as I couldn't bear the concern on top of the disappointment. I have told a couple of friends we have been referred but wouldn't go into the specifics beyond that.

smidge I've also used the 'we're working on it' as I find it really is a good one for shutting people up!! There's not really a follow up to that unless they are the kind of people that want to start asking about your sex life! When is EC? Keeping fingers crossed for a good clutch of eggs!

beaky when do you have your first appointment? Our initial appointment is on Monday (group session) then apparently we have a nurse appointment within 3 weeks of that. No mention of seeing a consultant at all which is weird. Guess we'll find out more next week.

I feel absolutely dreadful, had a terrible blinding headache come on this afternoon. Had to come home at 5pm, not go to yoga, and lie in the dark for an hour, and that combined with paracetamol still hasn't gotten rid of it. A bath and an early night for me I think.

Hope everyone is ok.

Amazingly, hot milk with cinnamon and nutmeg has taken away my headache! Wonder drink!