Grab your Ganeshas and collect your cats: The Elderberry Pavlovas in the Quest for the New Year clusterdiff (thread 25)

[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.

Excellent progress Jellie, don't think you could wish for anything better at this stage. Everything's crossed for you.

Good luck jellie!

I made orange, almond and polenta cake beaky!

Oo Tiger that sounds lovely! Also it sounds as though you are in a really positive place now too. Remind me, are you long protocol? What is it above IVF that's scaring you? Anything in particular that the berries can help with?

Wild how's stimming going?

Jellie that sounds really positive I don't know much about grading but it sounds like they are all doing well. Sending good Barry White vibes to your little embies

Been thinking of you, Happy how are you?

Oops *about

Jellie that sounds fantastic. As much as you could possibly hope for. I'm getting really excited for you. Hope the train journey back to Prague was ok.

Smidge hang on in there my lovely. Thinking of you.

Barking - you can get immunes done and have a protocol done in parallel with your IVF clinic. So long as your IVF clinic is ok with it. Check out Dr Gorgy for this. Whether getting an appointment and tests completed would work to your timetable is another matter. I agree with Tiger that you have a good treatment plan in place for your identified condition. That's got to be promising.

Tiger - It's great that you put in effort to getting your head in a good place. That's got to be half the battle for surviving all this! I was nervous about doing IUI, but once I got started it felt good to hand over some of the TTC responsibility to doctors and nurses.

Stimming is going ok thank you Beaky. It feels like a lot of stuff with six bottles to jack up each time!

Jellie - how old is your egg donor out of interest?

Gill - we won't find out the age until pregnant. They do tend to be younger though as they aren't egg sharers as the majority of donoirs in the uk

Thanks tiger, what worries me is how positive I was feeling for the iui. It worked last time, this time we have a plan in place post bfp, I've had a break, done the acupuncture, quit my stressful job, etc etc. So when it didn't happen it was a shock as well as devastating. But before I found out the result I was already having visions of being in the waiting room for the 6 week scan and then being in the scan room screaming because I was so terrified of getting the same bad news a third time. Maybe there are issues I need to address. I got DH to read some of the book today and he's up for finding a hypnotherapist who might be able to help .

Good luck Jellie. You know the town hall in the centre of the old town in Prague? The one with the big fancy clock? Got married there.

pip that sounds like a fab location for a wedding. Did you have family there or was it just the two of you?

barking ivf success rates are a lot higher, so that's reason number one to be more hopeful, as well as the fact that treatment is more tailored to your individual needs. you've been through a fair bit of trauma whilst ttc, so anything you can do to help get through it is good - mindfulness, therapy, yoga etc have all helped me.

jellie good luck for the next stage. Very exciting.

smidge any update? Thinking of you.

happy hope you're ok

wild glad the stimming is going well. Any side effects?

Working from home today, which is heaven! Snoozy dog curled up next to me and peace and quiet to get loads done, plus an extra night with Mr T, happy days!

Oh Pip how lovely! Look who I found at Prague Zoo today! Got to be a berry sign yes!?!?!?

Transfer tomorrow at 12.30!

Has to be a sign Jellie. Did you give him a rub? If you see a cat on your way to the clinic then that'll make it certain.

Wow Jellie that is definitely a sign! best of luck for ET tomorrow! Let us know how you get on! Are you putting one or two back and will you get to freeze the others too?

Wild 6 is a lot! Glad you are taking it all in your stride though. Good luck for your scan tomorrow.

Tiger that sounds like a lovely day even though it still involved work! My puppy is curled up next to me all snug at the mo

Smidge how are you? Were you able to speak to AliG about things?

Barking when is your consultant app? I'd second what Tiger says, it sounds like you are having such a tough time.

Hope Monday hasn't been too depressing for everyone, at least it flew over for me!

Ganesha, well that is a lucky sign indeed jellie!

Pretty good monday here, we just had pancakes a day early as I'll be away tomorrow. Nutella and banana, and maple syrup and strawberry! Health kick starts tomorrow.

Good luck jellie!

Thanks for the kick up the arse, everyone. Have made an appointment with my GP to ask for bloods to be redone. Will ask for thyroid funciton test too as I've had trouble with it in the past (Had Graves but also have a strong family history of underactive).

Good luck Jellie

Thanks beaky and tiger. I found a hypnotherapist that works at the same place as my acupuncturist, but he does 90 minute sessions and charges £90 . I found someone else but she does an hour for £60, so essentially the same price. No acupuncture this week as she's off for half term, but I'll ask her opinion when I see her next week. It seems ridiculously expensive, but if he can get rid of any emotional blocks I might have and also help with how terrified and desperate in equal measures I am to be pg again, it would be a good thing.

Mmmm. Pancakes.

Ooh Jellie - exciting times for you. Ganesha at the zoo is as clear a sign as you could ever wish to have. Plus the quality of your donor's eggs is a pretty good sign too! Good luck for ET.

Pipbin - I love your nonchalant announcement that you got married at the old town hall in Prague. You are too cool for school lady.

Tammy good work on booking the tests. Head in the sand is all very well, but there comes a point when you have to face facts and take action. Let us know your results once you have them. And try to get the fullest thyroid profile you can get, ask for thyroid antibodies to be tested too if possible.

Beaky - are you counting this 2ww? Or just ignoring it? I think your HPT will be fine if you will be having bloods done the next day. I eat food which is more out of date than that. And how is Beakypup? Are you madly in love with her?

Smidge - what news? I hope you are bearing up, my lovely.

Sending Berry best wishes to HB and Happy.

Tiger - quite jealous of your work from home day. And it sounds to me as if you have started your healthy eating plan already - Nutella is healthy surely? It's mostly hazelnuts for goodness sake.

No side effects much from the stimms, just looking a bit pudgy. Feeling a bit nervous generally and glad of the scan tomorrow. It should at least give an idea of whether the dozens of vials are working!

Good luck jellie. I love Prague. Can't believe you got married there Pip. It must have been beautiful.

Wild I love your comment on the out of date HPT! I agree though, I'm sure it will work fine.

I called AliG's nurses team and asked if they could bring forward the OTD from Monday as I had been bleeding since 4dp5dt. They have agreed to let me have the blood test earlier but they said the soonest they can do it (and still confirm a definite negative) is Friday - 9dp5dt. She said if there is some HCG then they would have to repeat again in a few days but I reiterated to her that I am 100% certain it's a negative. She said bleeding that soon was really quite early - but I said for me unfortunately it seems to be standard, whether or not I'm going through IVF, I always seem to start bleeding at a week before AF is due. It's rubbish

I'm still very fed up, as it just seems so hopeless when I don't even get to have any of the tww. I'm just getting over the transfer and boom it's already over. We wondered about going somewhere else but to be fair I think AliG has done everything that we have heard of. Do you berries have any thoughts on what else we could try? We've done short and long protocol, had laparoscopy, had endo scratches, had proper immune testing and steroid, blood thinners and intralipid treatments. I can't think of anything else. My only hope now is that a FET will work better for us. Maybe my body doesn't like all the hormones. But whether we do all the immune stuff too I don't know? I guess it still makes sense, in case implantation is still the problem.

Anyway in non- ttc news, I'm sitting by the harbour, waiting for 2pm when I can go back to the hospital and find MrSmidge after his nose op. He's having some sort of septoplasty thing to help sort out his sinuses, so I'll need to look after him for a while now. Fingers crossed he feels ok and the 2weeks recuperation he gets off work can be relatively enjoyable.

Just a flying visit to wish Jellie good luck for transfer today. Go embies! When will you return to the UK?

Sorry it's all a bit gloomy for you Smidge. If things definitely haven't worked out then maybe give your body a few months to properly recuperate and give the FET a go. You've had three IVF cycles in a quite a short space of time so your body has been under a lot of stress. I don't think you could have done anymore in terms of maximising your success. Hope Mr Smidge is on the mend soon.

Aww Smidge what a rubbish time for you. I'm sorry I have no idea of anything else to try,hopefully someone else might have heard of something. was your smear clear when you had that in January?
Maybe one of the original berries may know someone who has been through similar, or we could ask on t'other place for you if you like?

jellie very best of luck for et today!

Wild have you had your scan yet? Hope it went well, I've been crossing my fingers for you. I am kind of ignoring the 2ww, I just want to get past otd and then get on with things. I think depending upon what the FC says I won't do another cycle until after April now, we have bits on between now and then and I feel a bit trapped atm. Weirdly MrB said he feels really positive about this but that's completely the opposite of me! I totally adore beakypup, she's getting really independent and adventurous, not so cuddly anymore though she totally knows she rules the house!

Oh Smidge, sorry for the glumness. I'm completely talking off the top of my head here, but maybe the early bleeding could suggest a womb lining issue? Or maybe it's an immunes/ implantation sign? I think you need to see what AliG says and take it from there. Hate to think of you all sad by the harbour. It's probably good that you have MrSmidge to look after for a bit which might take your mind off things.

The scan went fine. I'm responding ok and they said everything looked good, so that's a relief.

Beaky - Beakypup sounds adorable and I love that she fully knows that she rules the house. Good old MrBeaky, perfect timing with that present. I hope he's right about your 2ww.

good luck jellie
SOrry you're feeling down, smidge. Hope you get a decent conversation out the clinic

And also Smidge I totally understand that you are being sensible and trying to protect yourself by being realistic about the outcome, but you haven't actually tested yet.

when is otd beaky?