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.

Pip good luck for tomorrow
Arctic fox....cute!!! Want one.
Hey Merkin long time no see. Hope you well.
Well done smidge..progressing well so far
Lumen at what point did you get the hot flushes? Down regging for a week and I'm waiting for them.
Wild you're totally right..I'm just super impatient.
Told boss lady at work about ivf she was very understanding. Think I'll tell my sisters this wknd. Quite a few of my close mates already know as i've had to cancel a boozy wknd planned for end nov...right around hopefully ET.
Jellie Good luck tomorrow
Hope everyone else good...and also looking forward to wknd. Been a long week. Hope you all have your Halloween biscuits at the ready? .
Zombie pom pom dance well underway.

Hello, did pretty well & got quite a lot of school work done. More tomorrow- am meeting a friend then back to crack on, I do find it hard to get going! Lol at googling how to avoid procrastination, I found a really funny article online about it, I'll see if I can find it and put it on- all about the playground of dissatisfaction- which is where you waste time and never truly enjoy it because the work is nagging away at you in the background and that sometimes the only thing that gets you going is the panic monster- so true!!if I'm not done by Saturday it'll definitely be the panic monster. Really don't want to work on w/e though.

Yes, I am wondering what nettle tea tastes like and whether I should get some when I'm in town tomorrow.

Sleeping a bit better thanks beaky but not uninterrupted, keep waking up & needing a wee then it's a little difficult getting back to sleep. It's been better thus week, partly because the pressure of work is off and I'm not lying there chuntering over all the work things to do if worrying about how little sleep I'll get if I don't get back off to sleep. Had no problem falling asleep in front of the David Attenborough prog. How beautiful were the tigers? Loved the little pounce arctic fixes too tiger

Re the moods, sounds fairly familiar, I'm not that bad day 1-5, I initially on day 1 feel disappointed and but rubbish but then think it's a fresh chance. I have found at the tail end I get really emotional, cross, tearful, needy and depressed- think it's pmt as a week later it's my period.

lumen really sending good thoughts your way. What does this protein shake taste like? It sounds v rich. Do you have it as a meal replacement e.g. Breakfast or is it in addition? Must cost a fair old whack too.one final question- where did you get the recipe and advice from that it was good if stimming?

wild would your French patisserie be from a certain patisserie Valerie by any chance? Nom nom! Am going for cake and coffee at little cafe tomorrow. They do awesome Halloween cakes so may have one!!

For those asking about nettle tea I think on its own it tastes foul but with something else it is quite nice, I have ones blended with peppermint, another with lemon and a third with blackberry. All make it much more palletable (not sure how to spell!)

The protein shake recipe and instructions bushy is from my acu lady who herself went through IVF at my FC and has a toddler as a result. Most of the time I have it as a breakfast replacement if I am having it in the morning, but I have also had it as an afternoon snack. It tastes quite nice to be honest.

pixie my hot flushes started about two weeks in to dr this time, but on my last cycle I had no side effects and I still down regged sufficiently, so don't worry if you don't suffer, just count your blessings!

tiger I have similar mood swings each month, it is a wonder that out dh's put up with us really

happy am jealous of you spending time in Pembrokeshire and now shopping in Manchester. I am from the Tenby area but my grandparents are from Fishguard.

My fur baby (of the feline variety) is currently doing my nut in. He injured one if his front legs last week which the vet thinks is just a sprain, kept him in for 3 days whilst he constantly complained and swore at us (painkillers making him think he was fine) so let him out, only for him to be back to square one the next day. More complaining and swearing has ensued due to the resumed captivity! He has finished the painkillers now so that might calm him down slightly as he feels more sorry for himself.

Bushy I've not done any school work this week yet. But I've brought about 100 books with me to mark as I thought barricading myself in a hotel room would be the best way to get through them - no distractions! unless I decide to pay a quick visit to the gym/spa
lumen I'm jealous of you coming from Tenby. One of my favourite places! Are you still living in Wales?

Happy- I think the lure of the spa might be too much!! I am posting on my phone whilst waiting for my even tardier than me friend to meet me for coffee. Check me out on the 3g!! This is the friend who announced recently she is pg with 2nd. She's v good and always tries to buoy me up. Her little man will be in tow, hopefully he'll let us enjoy a bit of coffee & cake.

We're staying in hotel with spa tomorrow, going to cook myself in the Jacuzzi!!

Dh was like shall we do now or later this morning, reminding me we need to do every other day!! Think we've come to end of the fertile period, if cm is anything to go by but will keep on in our nice hotel!!

happy have lived just outside London now for the past 16 years. Family still live there though so visit often.

bushy am jealous of your spa hotel, have an extra 30 mins in the bubbles for me and a few drinkies

Had another scan this morning, follies still not ripe enough but growing well, so more stabbing over the weekend and another scan Monday with EC hopefully now on Wednesday. Had blood taken from back of hand today by anaesthesiologist as my one working arm vein is blown from bloods last weds with another doc - the nurses palm me off on them as my veins are so difficult. It is very challenging to be hydrated enough for them to get blood but have an empty bladder for the scans!

H gosh this thread is busy again all of a sudden! I love it like this, but I do seem to fall behind very quickly.

Completely unrelated post but currently we have no hot water. Our boiler has stopped working again, after last being 'fixed' 10 days ago. We rent here so cost doesn't concern me, but it is quite strange as the boiler in my house back in England (which is rented out while we're in aus) has also gone. It started playing up 10 days ago(!), and now has completely given up the ghost. Same as ours...! I've heard of sympathy pregnancy symptoms but we seem to have boilers on opposite sides of the world going on the blink in sympathy!

Feel v sorry for my tenants as they only just moved in, and where would you rather be without hot water/heating... Australia at the start of summer, or England just as the nights are drawing in....

Anyway, in the meantime I've started the joyous crinone pessaries, and await a day3 update from the lab tomorrow. Eeeeek!! So worried. I think I'm finding it much harder this time as I'm so much more aware of the statistics, and how many drop off before blast stage. My clinic only believes in blasts, reckoning if they don't make it in the Petri dish, they wouldn't have made it inside me. I'm really dreading hearing the news . TBF tomorrow's can't be too bad, surely... But the drop off between day 3 and 5 is getting me very pessimistic. I think I need to get the adrenalin/endorphins flowing by doing some top notch shimmying myself, and try to get myself to think more positively. aargh but it's so hard

Just back from egg collection.
14 eggs and good sample from DH. As the Shilling Shockers say, we anticipate.

Interestingly we talked about having two embryos put back rather than just one.
The embryologist looked into the stats and told is that out of the 95 women of my age that they saw last month, of the ones getting two embryos put back 45% got pregnant and of the ones getting one put back 20% got pregnant. Of the women with two embryos, 15% are pregnant with twins.

Just dashing through but great news Pip! Also my clinic sent me similar info re stats with results for 2 v 1 being put back and pg rates were about the same as you've quoted above. I'm not there yet but it definitely makes me think I'd go for two. Do you know what you want to do? Can I ask did you do 1 or 2 on your other cycles?

I'm keeping my shimmy on and my pompoms of fertilisation are on the go for you!

I'll check in with everyone else later, sorry!

Aagh! Smidge my boiler went kaput too! Maybe in sympathy with yours, I can't be sure. Just shelled out for a new one, which in all honestly was not what I needed months before IVF in Jan.

Update us soon as you hear tomorrow. Willing them on for you.

Pipbin very glad to hear your news. All sounds well and promising. We anticipate indeed.

Great news pip, shimmying has commenced for the fertilisation dance

Beaky I only had one put back the first two times but I was entitled to two.

Well done Pip that's fab news!
Smidge am keeping everything crossed for good news tomorrow.
Pom-poms of fertilisation are waving!

Lumen fx for Monday's scan and EC for Wednesday, shimmying and pompoming for you too thanks for the recipe too. I have been having a green smoothie with strawberries this week for breakfast and really like it as an easy alternative. Hope your fur baby recovers quickly.

Jellie how did your dildocamming go?

Tiger I have a similar mood cycle to you! At least we know what is coming I suppose. AF arrived for me today but since we had a break this month I haven't felt quite so bad. Also it meant that I could book in for next bloods for IVF so that helped! Re your work colleagues, maybe they all were hoping you would only be leaving temporarily!

Gill I am super impressed with your moves, you should get some fire batons too yep wait for the baby announcement via text, we had one announcement by....... Yes that's right, snapchat I think I will look into aspirin too, it can't hurt right?!

Bushy it sounds like a very productive day for you, but yeah there's nothing like panicking to get my work done. I remember once when I had an exam, I cleaned all the floors with a small cloth to avoid revising. Pah! Hope seeing your pg friend went ok. Enjoy your spa this weekend!

Happy how's your shopping going?

Smidge boo to the two broken boilers! What wierd but bad luck. Fx for your day 3 update, let us know what they say, shimmying and pompoming for you too I think you'll still have a good few blasts at day 5, there see I can be positive for you

Have a good weekend berries

Getting exciting in here!! Interesting stats pip, think they recommended just one being put back in for us due to age. I would think they'd follow the same process again.

Got lots of work done and was trying to be really good and quickly pay credit card off too, which wasn't so easy. Ended up having a bit of a meltdown over managing it. Anyhow, we use a credit card to put all our food shopping etc on and then pay it off. We normally pay it off at end of mth with what we have left over in the joint account but recently we've started paying it off the next mth after, when been paid (before the due date though!). I can't quite get my head round doing it the new way thinking it'll be harder to know when to cut back but dh thinks it's fine. Anyway, quick straw poll- if you pay your food shopping bill etc on a credit card when do you pay it off- end of the month or at the start of the next mth?

Dh has said he'll take over the managing of it from me but I don't know if I can give over the control and trust him with it( control freak!!)

Hi bushy. My credit card is set up to pay it off by direct debit (which is fine if you know you'll have enough to pay I suppose!). My reason for doing this is that they take it at the last possible point before it's due, so I get as much free credit as possible (and can earn the measly extra bit of interest in my bank account) without ever being late to pay. I am a demon for checking my bank account and credit card online though so I can always be sure I'll have enough.

pip they are very interesting stats. My clinic will only ever transfer 1 . I only ended up with 1 blast last time anyway, so it was pretty moot in the end.
I am wondering though, are these day 3 embies that are being put back, rather than blasts? If they are day 3s then I won't feel quite so bad, but if they are blasts then I'll be more annoyed my clinic won't let us!

We just got the day3 call.

4 of the 6 fertilised eggs are looking good - all 8 cells, and the assisted hatching went well. We won't hear more til the transfer on Monday - assuming there will be a transfer! Thanks beaky for being positive on my behalf . Must keep the vibes going...

Boiler quote for England house is just under £3k. Have to say I thought it would be a lot more! Never have I been pleased to receive a bill for £3k.. Goes to show that thinking the worst has some benefits!! Ha ha

Good news on the embies smidge, here's hoping for good news on Monday too.

bushy we pay for everything each month on cc too. Have it set to be paid in full by dd on the 28th of each month which coincides with our paydays. Not sure if that helps you? Ours got battered this month paying for IVF and a new central heating system so I am having to monitor it closely to ensure we don't go over limit and get penalties.

Happy weekend berries x

Great news Pip on the number of eggs, sounds ideal. Hoping there's some excellent quality there too. Interesting news re: the stats. I'll definitely be putting 2 back due to my age and also they only do day 2 transfers for FET

Looks like things are progressing well too Smidge. I wish they'd let you give a pep talk to your embies. I would totally be there giving them words of encouragement!

Fingers crossed for you too Lumen for your scan on Monday. "Go follies!"

Beaky - I break out the fire batons for implantation!

Bushy we get our credit card statement at the end of the month around the time we get paid. We then just have a DD out of the joint account a couple if weeks later. We also take it one step further though and have another interest free credit card for at least 12 months to fund some larger purchases. This helps the cash flow when needed (eg purchase of new roof). We've also paid this all off this month so pleased that there is no more credit card debt but sad that my short term savings have been obliterated. Currently looking at getting the next interest free credit card particularly if we end up paying for treatment next year.

Weyhey!! Go smidge's embies, that is great. Have you been doing anything different this time supplements-wise?

And my boiler was under £3k too, and yes I was pleased to be paying it as I'd feared much worse. Got a new Worcester-Bosch boiler put in, they're meant to be very good!

Bushy my calorific pastry was from Paul. There's one on the way to work, which can be fatal for my good intentions. Very jealous of your spa hotel, enjoy poaching yourself in that jacuzzi.

Lumen thank you for the protein shake recipe. It sounds pretty nice and is similar to a banana smoothie I often make for breakfast. I'm going to try adding some almond putter or peanut butter to that, as an experiment. Are you vegetarian did you say? I guess that would make protein intake especially important.

Beaky thank you for the two links on motivation. I like the second one, the Zen one. And what, pray tell, is a green smoothie with strawberries? Is it made from algae?

I'm confused by Gill's day 2 transfer for FET. How old are the embies when they are frozen? Is it frozen at day 3 + 2 days out of the freezer then transferred? Can someone explain, please.

We went out for dinner early last night and both ended up asleep on the sofa at home by 9.30. It had been a very long week. I have a bit of a headache this morning after that half bottle of wine . Feeling slightly guilty wrt to looking after the developing eggs. But I have hardly drunk any alcohol at all for the last few months and was decent quaility wine she said, trying to justify herself .

Anyway, back to better ways from now on. Full speed ahead for a good go in Jan. DH has been walking around with no pants on saying that he needs to keep his swimmers cool. God help me!

Wild they froze the embies as soon as they fertilised as apparently they are more stable then. When they defrost them they give them a day to divide then pop them back the next day, effectively a 2 day transfer. Other FCs do things differently though.

Oh wow gill, I was also surprised to see you say the FETs were day 2. My clinic only freezes blastos so was thinking similar things as wild. Just goes to show there are different methods everywhere.

wild my boiler is also going to be Worcester-Bosch! My bro (who knows about these things) was also singing their praises, so am pleased to hear you also saying the same.

Blood test tomorrow to make sure I'm ready for Monday's ET. (Though seriously, what would they do if it's not...?).

Got to dash ladies, it's prog pessary time!

Good news Smidge.
Remember, it only takes one. On my first cycle the woman in the next cubicle had one egg collected. That fertilised and she got pregnant.
On the subject of boilers I just had a new one fitted for £1.5k. £3 sounds a lot.
Just had the call from the clinic. 8 mature eggs and all fertilised.

Morning all. Great news on the embies Smidge. I found the most stressful part of IVF the wait between day 3 and day 5 as I was petrified we were going to lose them all. As it happened they all made it to day 5 and I'd been stressing over nothing! It's no good me telling you not to worry but try to do something nice to distract yourself. Keeping everything crossed for you! With regards to how many to put back our FC didn't seem bothered that we wanted 2. We had to read and sign information on the risks of multiple births but these are no different to getting diffed with twins naturally. If you're over 40 they'll put 3 back
Pip any news?
Gil you panicked me a bit with your day 2 frostie. Ours went in the freezer as a day 5 blasto but I guess it's a different situation as we didn't know until then if we'd have any to freeze. I read somewhere that there's s 50/50 chance that frosties won't make it through the defrost process which worried me a bit as we only have the one. However when we spoke to the consultant this week she said 98% of them make it which is a lot more reassuring!
Beaky I've not started the shopping yet. Thought I'd leave it until tomorrow as we have to check out by 11 and DH will be in work til late afternoon so I'll be homeless. I have been good and done a bit of marking though
Well I'd better get moving. I have a coffee date with a Berry!
Have a good weekend all.

Excellent news pip, go embies go!

You berries always make me smile. Had an awful day as my puppy has been so ill. She's had to go sleep long term, sadly. am totally devastated.

Anyway I'll check back in when I can see properly but I'm still shimmying and pompoming for you all. If someone doesn't get a bfp soon I'm gonna write a letter of complaint. Don't know who to, but someone! Life can be so shitty!