Roll up! Roll up! Mount those uni cycles and shake those pom poms. The Elderberry Pavlovas are drumming away in the hope of a Christmas clusterdiff (Thread 24).

[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.

The roll of honour:

Gillster 40, TTC Feb 2012, IVF Feb 2014 resulting in 6 frozen one day embies. No transfer due to polyp. Failed FET cycle in September due to polyps. Starting 2nd FET cycle on 4 Nov.
Happylass 36, TTC since Aug 2012. Antibodies in DH's sperm. 1 unsuccessful cycle of ICSI September '14. Starting cycle 2 in January.
Smidge, 38, TTC since Jan 2013. Unexplained. IVF#1 Short protocol July 2014 yielded 1 blasto, BFN. IVF#2 in process - Long Protocol Oct/Nov 2014
Serenity 34 TTC Jan 2013, unexplained infertility, DH has textbook super sperm, 3 rounds unsuccessful clomid, 1 ICSI June 14 with complete fertilisation failure, next ICSI Nov 14.
Jelliebabe - 40, Threw the pills away 8 years ago. Unexplained but have a very low AMH, 1st IVF with clinic in Prague, 2 embryo's, chemical pregnancy. 2nd IVF in London branch of clinic - 1 embryo, BFN. Hoping to go back to Prague for Donor eggs in January
nolly, 32, TTC since Sep 2012, unexplained. 6 months clomid did sod all, next appointment 29th Oct, hoping to start private round ivd soon.
Pixie, 33, TTC June 12, DH has zero sperm count but managed to extract some under surgery, start downregging in a week, long protocol, ICSI Nov
Tigerdog 34, ttc 21 months. Unexplained after all tests and currently on waiting list for IVF.
Beaky 34 ttc since aug 2012. Unexplained with recurring cysts and adenomyosis. 1 failed IUI, IVF appointment in November and hoping to start first cycle in January.
Bushy 36, ttc since dec 2011, low amh, ovarian reserve, dh sperm had low count & motility but improved to 'normal' standard, IVF/Icsi in May bfp, then later missed miscarriage at 12 week scan. 2nd Ivf imminent but not sure if dates will work over Christmas.
HampshireBlues 36 TTC since August 2011, unexplained. 1st cycle of IVF chemical. Had a break over the summer. Cycle 2 planned for November
WildflowerMarmalade , 40, TTC 3 years, unexplained, underactive thyroid + immune issues. Sept IUI - BFN. Due to start IVF in Jan
lumen, 35, ttc since Nov 11 without a sniff of a bfp, unexplained, had only nhs funded IVF summer 2014, no implantation, trying self-funded IVF Nov 14, currently mid cycle
AnnieHoo 41, ttc July 2012. Unexplained. MMC Nov 2012, MMC May 2014. IVF Oct 2014 BFN. Waiting for FET.
Trill 41, TTC since March 2013. Endo with one completely blocked tube and one kinked with adhesions. Currently stimming.

And Gil's handy guide to the current IVFers....

Smidge - PUPO on 3 Nov
Pip - ET on 5 Nov
Lumen -EC on 5 Nov
Trill - day 5 of stims
Pixie - week of DR done
Seren - stimming yet?
Gillster- start DR on 4 Nov
Kuma - you starting soon???

I hear you too Tiger. Was hit by pregnancy announcement at the weekend. It was announced by my friend's partner on FB last Thursday but I missed it. DH mentioned it in passing on Saturday and it really threw me. I was pretty upset to have been told this way. When I got into work yesterday (after my scan shenanigans and bad news) I had an email waiting for me from my friend explaining the situation. They'd had a few issues with the pregnancy so had left it until the results of the 20 week scan before notifying people (fair enough) and she was also annoyed with her partner for announcing things without her knowledge before she had time to explain things to people like me. I told her that I couldn't cope any more with most of my friends who are either pregnant or have children so was giving everyone a wide berth for the foreseeable future. She was very sympathetic about it and understanding (I'll still be avoiding her though).

Had a few tears at my desk yesterday, fortunately only one (sympathetic) work colleague witnessed them. I could only explain the situation to her by email though even though she was sat directly opposite me for fear of completely breaking down in the office.

Took Barking's advice today and "unfollowed" a lot of my friends on FB. Quite therapeutic! It's amazing how little people have to say when they don't talk about their children.

Just hoping a get a letter through quickly for my op now so I can bring up the rear in the Feb clusterdiff!

gill that sounds tough. It's horrible finding out in an unexpected way. I have had the odd tear at work too.

I'll still be here in Feb, having not even started!

Ah Gil hope you're ok. Been thinking of you
Just wondering if any of the non FB members want to join our secrect group? The non pregnant Berries are almost in the minority now so it'd be good to have some reinforcements! Lumen Smidge Wild and anyone else who's not already in?? If you fancy it just drop me a PM and I'll add you. I for one find it much easier to keep track of what's going in when I can put a face to a name!

Bloody hell, Gill you have had a few really tough days. Hugs and and for you lady. I am so hoping you get a quick op to sort the polyp. Fx. You are totally right about some people with kids not really having much else to talk about. Or just not wanting to talk about anything else

Thanks happy but I'd rather stick here as I'm not really looking at Facebook any more. Also I like the fact that newcomers and lurkers can learn a lot by reading our experiences. (And vice versa of course). Kind of feel I've had so much help and support on this thread that it would be a shame not to give the same chance to others.
Maybe I'll change my mind after the jan/Feb cluster diff if I still haven't made it to the winners enclosure
Hope you'll stick around here too though?

It's not an either/or smidge you're allowed to do both .
FB just gives us the opportunity to share things in a private group that we wouldn't want to put on a public forum like mn.
I appreciate the need to back away from all things fb though. I have un followed practically everyone and I don't post on my timeline so when I go on it's purely for the groups I'm in, I don't have much on my news feed.

When do you fly home Smidge? You and your family must be getting pretty excited now.

Tomorrow!! Yes, getting excited now (though disappointed my body is telling me a secretly hoped for FUFC pre Christmas baby is not gonna happen) not that I had been imagining phoning MrSmidge and giving him the news over the phone on Christmas morning or anything

Aww Smidge you never know! But either way at least you'll have a lovely trip home and when you get back you can crack on with the IVF. Sherry for us all! There's a few berries do both mn and fb - as Barking says it's somewhere that is totally private in case you need it and most use it second to mn anyway. Does no one else fancy it?!

Oh Smidge I didn't meant to make you think we were abandoning you! The FB group was formed about 18 months ago and, as others have said, the 2 seem to coexist very well. Completely understand if it's not for you though. Hope you have a safe trip home.
Just come from the clinic. Scratch on Jan 7th. Should start stabbing around the 13th Jan with EC pencilled in for week of the 26th. Could have started earlier but the week of the 19th is already fully booked. Annoying as we have a night at a lovely hotel booked for early Feb. The spa there is amazing and I won't be able to use it now grrrr.

I think your ivf dates are going to be close to my iui dates happy! otd will probably be the same week!

My OTD is probably going to be on or around my birthday.

happy the fab group sounds good, how do I join?

Review meeting yesterday was pants. He told us that in his opinion we make crappy embryos and even if we're try again and get to blast again we only have about a 25% chance of success

My FC seem to be good if you have a known issue (eg blocked tubes) but crap if you are unexplained. When I asked about the scratch and immunes he said that they do offer the scratch but in his opinion implantation willing happen with or without it if they embryo is any good. They don't go anywhere near immunes as there is no clear proof!

I thought we had better eggs as all 6 that fertilised did with only 2 pro nuclei, last time a few had 3 or 4. So I think the coq10 and protein helped.

Dh was quite annoyed with the guy after we left and was good at reassuring me. But for now we are giving it all a break until the spring when we will then start investigating other FCs.

Sorry for the me me me post but yesterday was quite shitty and I can't talk to anyone else about it.

Aww Lumen he sounds likes knob. I would definitely look at other fc's, your private anyway right? I've read lots on here about improving embryo quality as you've said with coq10 etc. Also I've read quite a bit on implantation issues and immune issues did seem to be a recurring factor in failure of a blast to implant. Hopefully you will find a new FC that will deal with this properly for you. Hugs in the meantime and lots of

Happy cycle buddy, I'll be around the same time but am long protocol so will be a bit behind you for otd - if I get that far! So for jan it's me, you, Wild and Barking Smidge will you be jan too?

Lumen that does sound a bit rubbish. Definitely, definitely look at other clinics. If you are paying for it then you may as well find somewhere which tailors treatment to you rather than giving you a one size fits all approach.

It's good that you saw an improvement in embryo quality with the CoQ10 etc. Maybe it would be worth looking again at the book on improving egg quality which we discussed at the start if this thread? I remember that it includes a full on plan for tougher cases when the big guns are needed.

It is worth looking into immunes if you think it might be an issue. The full tests are quite expensive, maybe more than £1k, but I'm not totally sure as I haven't had them done.

A good place to start might be with a full thyroid profile. It costs maybe £200 and they check for thyroglobulin and thyroid peroxidose antibodies as well as the other thyroid things. If those antibody levels are high then it's a good sign that immunes should be investigated. It might give you somewhere to start without investing too much cash in the unknown.

Don't despair lovely Lumen , the consultant doesn't know everything. He's probably mediocre at his job, but you deserve better than that!

Happy , Beaky , Barking , Smidge (?) I'm really looking forward to cycling with you in the New Year. That is to say that apart from being terrified I'm looking forward to it!

I spoke to my FC yesterday to check start dates. They are moving sites in February and I was worried that would prevent me starting my cycle, but apparently not. Hurrah! So I'm due to start in the second week of Jan although, as the lovely lady at the clinic, AF will surely not turn up on schedule when she is wanted.

Lumen sorry you had a rubbish appointment. But as the others said they don't know it all! If you PM me you're RL name I'll add you on FB. I have to add you as a friend first I think but you can de friend me after if you like - I won't be offended!
Wild I thought you were taking Northisterone? That should govern when AF turns up. I start taking it on Boxing Day so I won't bleed until after the 8th Jan when I stop taking it. Otherwise AF would turn up on NYE. My FC uses it to control which day you start treatment.
Loving that so many Berries are starting treatment in the New Year. Here's to the Feb clusterdiff!

I will be taking norethisterone Happy but will only start them in Jan. I'll be having hysteroscopy and scratch first, then start the norethisterone, then start sniffing actually towards end of Jan.

Lumen
Sorry you had a rubbish appointment. Where abouts are you based? Can you get some recommendations for clinics from the berries (I really, really rated mine, which is in London, if that is any good?)

I work in London spare so happy to have recommendations

There have been lots of London recommendations (and success stories!) lumen, I'll ask a quick qu on fb and hopefully you'll see some replies when you head over! Your clinic sounds rubbish, I'm confident you won't get that response everywhere. I think everyone slots in somewhere good for them, different clinics have different styles and specialities.

I'm getting a bit nervous of this Feb clusterdiff now. Been part of two big berry clusterdiffs already and both have ended badly for me. Third time lucky? I'm kind of wishing I was also doing ivf. Keep having to remind myself that iui worked last time...

Lumen I remember a few if the London based Berries talking about the Lister Clinic. Was that where Kuma went or maybe Yorkie?
I haven't been able to find you on FB btw, I've PMd you so maybe you can find me!

Hello berries! sorry for being AWOL! I have only just caught up with you all....

PIXIE - wooooohoooo! brilliant news

Happy - actually choked at the "Gu2 pot... guess what i have in the cupboard upstairs - one of the glass ones. Would love to join the "other" group!

Lumen - What clinic are you at now? There are loads of good clinics in london ARGS Lister (mine is City Fertilitye but they don't really investigate immunes so much)

Lots of preggo announcements, I sympathise .... I'm not looking forward to a lady that I'm quite close with having her baby (due tomorrow) She had her transfer the day I had my first EC. So yes I'm also feeling a bit down in the mouth. not sure what I'll feel like on Sunday... might just spend the day in bed... I don't think anyone else will remember it should have been my due date.

Anyway - went out for my first Xmas do today at lunchtime was nice - but feeling stuffed still YUM Hope everyone else is alright, I have read through but my brain cant cope to comment on it all... XXX

I went to Create Fertility. Don't know what they are like on immunes, but their general philisophy is low dose stims and let your body pick the good quality eggs. The lower dose of drugs keeps the cost lower as well.
They also had a bit of a 'throw the kitchen sink at it' approach, so I had a scratch, prednisolone and Clexene, where as I think other clinics will only do that after earlier cycles have failed or if there is evidence of something specific. Create is more empirical!

The admi side could be a bit muddled but the clinical side was excellent, including the embryologists.
My best mate went to the ACU at the Chelsea and Westminster and had a very mixed experience. I can get more info from her if you want

Just popped in to see how you got on Pixie didn't realise that you had pimped early. Huge congratulations, I am really pleased for you and Mr P.

Lumen sorry that you had such a rubbish appointment it's so frustrating to come away with no answers. Like you say it is worth investigating other clinics.

Gill I am with you in the way in which announcements are made these days; I saw a friend at work who said nothing about being pg and then announced it on FB. I am learning to hate FB as every other post is about someone's child. sorry starting to sound bitter and twisted here is hoping that the pesky polyp does one!

I was talking to my Aunt the other day and happened to mention that if the last cycle had taken that I would be six months now and got told "stop looking backwards and relax; worrying about it is what's stopping you get pregnant" I bit my lip but it is so difficult to not wonder at what would have been.

Barking I know what you mean, but with you on third time lucky.

Deffo sounds like you need a new clinic Lumen. I can't offer any advice I'm afraid as I'm not London based but sure some of the other berries will be able to help out.

Sorry you're feeling down too Jellie, hope the weekend passes without too much pain.

I have to admit that half of me just wants Christmas to be over with and the new year to begin. I am such a bar humbug at the moment.