Candle smugglers of the world unite! The Berries have loaded up the charabanc and have Barry on repeat. Destination BFP (via the pouch of Douglas)

[happylass]

The small print:

The Berries have strict entrance criteria: TTC #1 for 12 months+, over 30, NO instadiffers, must have a special pimping pot and absolutely no mention of baby dust/dancing. Not that we're fussy

Current passengers

Happylass, 37, TTC since Aug 2012. 2 failed ICSIs. Hopefully FET early May with only frostie. Long awaited NHS appt in June
Beaky 35, ttc coming up 3 yrs, 2x failed iui 1x long protocol ivf cancelled due to poor response. On the pill awaiting short protocol IVF in may
Minx, 34, both tubes blocked, 1 buried ovary, IVF info evening June, IVF "booking in" appointment in July
Nolly, 33, TTC 2.7 years, mc Dec 2014. awaiting ivf August 2015 while dh is off on a jolly.
Wild 40 - TTC for three years. Embies on ice and planning FET with immune treatment in June.
HampshireBlues 36 TTC 3.5 years, unexplained. Cycle 1 chemical pregnancy, cycle 2 abandoned due to cyst, cycle 3 failed. Plan thrombotic profile, scratch and short protocol.
Lumen, 35, ttc since Nov 2011, unexplained, two IVF cycles in 2014, both bfns, waiting for lap&dye and results of numerous bloods, aiming for one last IVF cycle in the summer.
Tigerdog, 34 ttc since Jan 2013. Unexplained and all test results good. Currently in the middle of long protocol IVF, 13 eggs collected and awaiting news for next steps.
Gillster, 41, TTC since Feb 2012. Had IVF in Feb 14 and had 6 one cell embies frozen due to polyp. 2 x 2 day embies finally put back 14 months later on 16th April, BFP 28th April
Smidge, 39 this month, TTC since Jan 2013. Unexplained. IVF#1 Short protocol July '14 BFN, IVF#2 Nov'14 and IVF#3 Feb '15 both Long protocol BFNs. High NK cells immune treatment. 2 frosties due to be put back in natural FET in May or June.
Kuma - 40. TTC 2.5 years. Low AMH high FSH - DH antisperm ABs. Failed IVF June 14 and March 15. Looking to change clinic and try another natural cycle in June 2015.
Lucieloos, 35, TTC 18 months, low AMH & sperm motility. 1st ICSI in Czech Republic in April 2015. Awaiting results.
Barkingtreefrog, 35, ttc since Dec 2011. Clomid bfp summer 2013, mc @ 7 weeks. IUI bfp summer 2014, mc @ 7 weeks. Diagnosed with factor v leiden thrombophilia (but
not thought to be the cause of the mc's as they were too early). Failed IUI January 2015, failed IVF March 2015. No further NHS help. Going private for nk cells testing and a scratch before putting the frosties back, hopefully this summer.
Rain, 33 ttc since March 2012. unexplained. mystery bfp oct 13, MMC Nov 13. NHS IVF starting in June
Spare planning FET with remaining frosties shortly
Pont 1st IVF in Czech Republic in July.

Evening Berries, just been having a quick catch up on everything; sorry I've not been in for a few days been absolutely shattered and hitting bed by eight pm!

Beaky I hope that you are feeling well after the ET, I'm keeping everything crossed for the Beaklets!

Tiger I hope you're doing ok, it's so tough and unfair. I hope that the holiday planning is going well and that you and DH find somewhere to escape to.

Antonia welcome to berry HQ it looks like it has been a long journey to date, but I hope that you start getting some results soon and that your stay here is a short one.

I'm ok, still a little shocked and expecting it all to end; this is the furthest we have gotten before so trying not to read too much into anything. Today has been difficult; DH is away and I have woken up with no symptoms at all. Everything that I felt has stopped so I'm not sure what to think. Still our scan is on the 10th so not long to wait and as a friend once said to me; for today I am pregnant and that is one step forward.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the nice weather!

Thanks HB fx! I can't imagine how nerve wracking it is but day by day seems the best way to do it and remember we are here when you need a hand hold.

Just back home and exhausted but have read up to date so couldn't resist letting out a little whoop! for beaky and 2 embies on board after all the worry .
spare I'm so sorry. Due dates are shit, and both of mine were from 7 week losses, so I can't imagine how much worse it would be in your situation . I was on honeymoon for my first due date and spent two days before it crying hysterically, but the actual due date was a lovely day, best weather of the trip and a lovely walk up a mountain which made it feel quite special. Can you do something different to usual? I know a lot of the ladies on the repeat mc threads have planted trees or built cairns on their due dates to mark them and remember their loss.

I'll be back tomorrow afternoon when I should have some time to catch up with everyone properly. Had a 4am flight this morning so was at the airport at 1.30 am to drop off the car hire and check in. No sleep at the airport, possibly an hour on the plane and 45 minutes in the car.. Then arrived at my parents to pick up the dog but ended up at the hospital for three hours as my dad had a fall yesterday and broke his hip (he has msa, very little mobility and falls often, but this was the first break) and had an operation this morning. It was horrible to see him looking so frail. And to really piss on my chips the ward he is in in above the maternity ward, which you have to walk through to get to the lift . ffs

Welcome back Barking the lack of sleep doesn't sound too good; I hope you've managed to get some sleep overnight. Sorry about your Dad. I hope that he is comfortable and that he gets sorted soon. And who the hell would organise a hospital like that!!!

Had a bit of sleep now!

happy the delayed AF with cyclogest and cycle otherwise continuing as usual sort of makes sense to me - there are follicles there at the baseline scan aren't there, as that's what they decide the dose on, so makes sense that they're already growing?!

spare I don't think going on the pill saves any eggs, if anything I think the pill totally screws you over. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I'd been on the pill since 16 due to irregular and painful periods (which, looking back, makes me think my fertility was always screwed anyway) so that's a good 16 years of fucking up my hormones.. A friend who has just has her third baby, but needed clomid for her first two, and had a mc first, blames the pill for her problems and thinks that it's only now, 7 years after she stopped it, that her system is back to normal and she got pg really easily 3rd time round. Obviously there are millions of women who've had years on the pill then stopped and got pg, but I think there was loads they didn't know about it in terms of long term effects, and still don't.
There's my little soap box bit for the day...

Antonia welcome, but sorry you have reason to be here. I'm impressed and slightly of your ability to still see friends with babies. I just can't do it. There's only one friend I still see, as the balance of pain in seeing her baby and joy of spending time with her goes in her favour! All my local friends with babies I no longer see. I don't even go on the girls' nights out anymore as they talk about their babies and I can't handle that either. I just end up so bitter and jealous and sad and angry (one had her baby close to my first due date, another had twins on the day my first mc was confirmed, another had her baby close to my second due date, another is now pg with her second having conceived her first after we'd already been TTC a year... I could go on, but they all upset me in different ways!!) It's just so much easier to avoid the upset and spend time with my undiffed and unbabied friends!

tiger I've spent this holiday thinking about the next one! I've got some time off at the end of August and can't decide where to go, but the original plan of Scotland is not going to cut it, I want guaranteed sunshine and somewhere I've never been before....

wild I've now got that back to work feeling, already wondering what is waiting for me! In the meantime, the oven I ordered to replace ours (it broke the week before we went away) is being delivered to work tomorrow as I couldn't take a day off for delivery. I thought I'd just drive our camper van to work and they can deliver it to the van! Only I've just got a text to let me know that my window of delivery is 6.20 to 8.20 am. WTF?!?!? And they'll call me half an hour beforehand. So I could get a call at 5.50am?!?! Obviously I will not be at work at 6.20, so there could be an issue there but if necessary I'll just have to drive to work when I get the call. .

nolly the not toiling sounds very annoying, I hate dealing with builders etc.

I don't think I dare look for that ivf funding thread mentioned, might wake the dragon...

minx have you now moved? Happy moving!!

tiger I'm having the nk cells biopsy tomorrow (as long as AF stays away...), this is my second cycle post ivf, not sure if you were told you had to have two complete cycles then have the biopsy on the third? My consultant didn't say anything about waiting. Also, I heard the same thing about it doing the job of the scratch but my consultant talked about having the scratch as well, at a particular time to work for the FET.

forty I am up and down on the healthy eating. Considering trying wheat free again to sort out my unbalanced cycles but the thought of giving up bread again is upsetting me!!

Lucie Is the hidden c thing something they don't test for the uk? It's a minefield isn't it, you could keep searching forever and it's so difficult to know what to go with

tiger having now read back to earlier in the week, I'm hoping you're feeling a bit better. I can say that two cycles on I'm feeling a lot better about the latest failure, but the mc's still haunt me when I least expect it.

smidge I'm glad the twins were ivf, somehow it's easier to accept, even if it hasn't worked for yourself (yet!), it's easier to cope with pregnancies that weren't an easy win!

Ok, out of time, need to GT up and meet some friends for a bike ride and I don't have anything sorted yet!! Need to go and out the pedals back on my bike for a start!!!

Happy Sunday everyone .

Ha ha ! get up not GT up! Now there's an interesting autocorrect!

Oooooo Berries I so need to vent . The news story about couples not leaving it too late to start TTC has popped up on my news feed and a girl I was at school with has commented with the usual drivel about 'if you leave it too late it's your own fault and you should have to pay for it'. The irony is she has 3 kids and is living on benefits in a council house. She's also seriously overweight and has just had gallstones removed on the NHS. I'm so tempted to reply but don't really want to get in to a FB spat especially as she's seriously uneducated. But I'm sooooo angry

Screw it. I decided to reply!

What did you say Happy? I cannot believe the gall of some people!

This.
I'm not even bothering to reply now though as I think you can all see the type of person I'm dealing with . Tickles me that she doesn't seem to comprehend that taxes are paying for the house that she lives in!
I've now probably outed myself and our whole TTC story but I'm past caring!

Just saw one of your comments on fb Happy, well done for addressing it, although she is clearly an absolute idiot hopefully this will make someone else think, if not her (you just have to read her first badly written comment to know she will never understand) to you.

Barking sorry to hear about the end of your trip and your poor dad. I hope he is recovering ok.

I would have been raging too happy. I got so angry about the IVF funding debate I was shaking when I responded to the thread the other day. Good on you for responding. Just doing a bit of holiday research now - kefalonia is my favourite so far if we can find somewhere decent to stay.

barking sorry to hear about your poor dad. . Hope the NK biopsy goes ok, you'll have to let me know what it is like. How long does it take to get the results? I think I will probably self refer to Coventry but they did say wait two cycles following a failed IVF. I'm feeling ok, still very flat and the added misery of horrific skin, but I will be pulling my self together and getting back into supplements, healthy eating etc from tomorrow. And I'm buying new running shoes! I'm also making an appointment with my new GP to secure my onward referral to the FC.

I work right by the maternity unit and feel like I'm constantly bombarded by pregnant women. I've even changed the route I walk to avoid it!

hb hope you're holding up ok. Today you are pregnant

beaky how are you doing? Feeling any better? Still doing the crazy moved in my best Lycra!

spare hope you're doing ok too. This shit isn't easy but we'll get through it.

wild how are you?

smidge did your dates line up in the end? Have you had your weekend in Tazmania?

I need a bit of a wang. I'm working myself up a bit about the possibility of having an autoimmune disorder. I do have a family history (sister and gran have Coeliacs and IBD) and have got a fair few of the symptoms myself. Of course, what I probably need to do is stop googling, but it just seems like a very real possibility. I've gone from being optimistic that my time will come to feeling like it never will.

This photo has never been so appropriate! I did actually reply again but I'm definitely stopping now as her last response didn't make any sense and there's really no point attempting to debate with someone who doesn't use full stops or capital letters!
Barking I'm sorry to hear about your dad. Only just read back over the thread. I just jumped straight in and posted earlier as I was seething . Thinking of you and wishing your dad a speedy recovery
Spare I hope you're doing ok and have managed to enjoy your weekend away.
Tiger hope you manage to find a hotel, Kefalonia does look fantastic. I too am convinced that I have some immune issues. I have eczema and hayfever and extremely sensitive skin - my face is forever breaking out in a scaly red rash. I'm pretty certain it's some kind of food allergy as my skin was fab when I first started clean eating but I've been pretty bad this last week what with half term and going away and it's a mess again. However, I was all set for getting some immune testing done but Serum in Athens said there was nothing in my history to suggest I had any immune issues and they wouldn't particularly recommend it

Happy, I would still get some immunes done. Have you asked crgw about treating empirically to save you money on the testing? From what I can see from other forums it seems that they are happy to do that. Have you used prednisone or Clexane before? They also do intralipids for £125 now which is brilliant! I would see if they will let you have any of that. As it can't hurt even if it doesn't work. I must say I was looking at crgw again last night and came across their 80% refund scheme which we were very tempted by. Basically you buy 3 rounds of ivf up front which is about £10k and then if you don't have success within the 3 rounds they refund you £8k. If you have success first or second time you don't get anything back and end up paying the £10k for one or two cycles. I guess those ones fund the ones they need to refund. I can't decide if it's a good deal or not or a bit of a gimmick. £10k is a lot to find up front tho and then medication is extra.

Tiger, if you do have an auto immune issue then there is lots that they can do to help. It doesn't mean it will never work for you. Maybe you could also ask to try prednisone and Clexane next time if you haven't already.

Barking, sorry to hear about your poor dad. Hope he is getting better. I think they do the hidden infection tests at one or two places in the UK but not many and then they have to send them off to Greece anyway and charge more so I have just gone direct to them. Just waiting for them to acknowledge receipt of my sample then the results shouldn't be too much longer after that.

Spare, how are you? Hope you are hanging in there.

Happy sorry I can't remember but what your clinic say at your follow up? Did they have any suggestions of anything else to try? Did serum suggest anything?

That photo is spot on for that idiot! And she has more than 1 child too?! - poor children is all I can think.

Tiger Kefalonia always looks lovely and quite a luxurious holiday for you hopefully. Also, you don't need a wang, we all get like this about our various worries, but remember even if you do, they can address immune issues with various treatment. Have you thought about doing the Serum questionnaire? Your time will come I'm ok, feeling a bit better today but I've basically been bedridden since Thursday as I'm so ill. I've only taken paracetamol as I asked at the FC and that's what they said. It's so difficult to think there's any chance when my body is dropping to bits. The beakryos must feel like there's constant earthquakes going on in there, with the coughing etc. There's no way they will implant!

Beaky we've not been for a follow up yet as, 2 weeks after our BFN, Mr Happy still hasn't got around to calling the FC to arrange it. Men!! Serum said they would focus more on improving egg quality through a lower dose of Menopur along with some other drugs. They didn't advise against immunes exactly but said they could see no real reason to recommend testing. I haven't completely ruled out having them though, but it would be abroad as they are so pricey here
Lucie I'm pretty sure CRGW do treat empirically as we've already had Prednisolene. They've only recently started the 80% refund scheme and, from what I can see, there are certain conditions for being accepted. I'm pretty sure DHs sticky sperm alongside my low AMH would exclude us (not that we are looking to spend another £10k!). I will be interested to see what happens with your hidden c test. At the moment though our future plans will pretty much be determined by what the NHS say next week....

Aw beaky you poor sausage. Lots of rest, and fluids. I'm sure the beakryos will be oblivious to the coughing! Serum questionnaire is a good suggestion, I might do that.

lucie you're quite right. I need to take a leaf out of your book and be a bit more solution focused...positive attitude starts here!

happy that woman sounds like a complete idiot. Ignore!

I'm quite interested in the Serum questionnaire. It's free, is it? I think I might fill one in after I have my nk cells results. No idea how long I have to wait for them, will ask tomorrow.

I'm another who is paranoid about immune problems due to allergies and other issues - I mentioned it to the consultant who dismissed the idea immediately...

Tiger I would definitely do serum questionnaire they are so lovely and helpful. I'm sure they would come up with some useful things for you to try and it's just nice to get a second opinion on it all. I'm not always positive. I have bad days too but I think my way of dealing with it is to research into things as much as I possibly can so that I feel I have done everything in my power to make this work.

Happy, I forgot your nhs rounds are coming up. At least that's something. I think mine are still about another 2 years away!! I have asked crgw to send me some more information on the refund scheme. I've looked into some of the others around the country and the only restriction with them is age but crgw do mention other things like AMH etc so if that is part of the criteria I probably won't qualify either which in a way makes it an easier decision! I am going to be trying less Menopur combined with Gonal f on my next round in a few weeks so I can let you know if I see any difference in results or quality. I had 2 good blasts transferred last time too which failed so maybe we are similar x

Barking and tiger here is a link to the serum questionnaire

www.ivfserum.com/questionaire/

It is free to do. I think it's aimed at people who are actually considering going to the clinic but I know lots of people who have done it and had excellent advice. Who's to say you might not consider going there in future

Thanks Lucie I googled it earlier when you mentioned it and I thought the questionnaire was so detailed I'd be interested in anything they can say after reading it!

Barking Serum gave a really long detailed response to me and provided some very useful suggestions. They seem to specialise in repeat MC/IVF failure and I know of someone (best mate's sister's best mate) who recently got diffed after treatment there. She has many issues and has had several failed cycles here in the UK after many years TTC.
I also filled in a questionnaire for one of the Czech clinics but their reply went along the lines of "you sound perfect for our egg donor programme. We also advise AMH/LH/FSH tests." Useful

Ohh which clinic was that happy if you don't mind me asking?

It was Praga Medica Lucie. I've also been in touch with Gennet and Reprofit though no questionnaires, just emails. As I said though we can't make any plans until we know what's happening with the NHS. I'm not counting on being treated by them anytime soon though! They told DH 3-4 months after this appointment but I was originally told we'd be seen last October for an initial consultation - we're still waiting!!

Oh right I haven't been in touch with Praga. I think they are quite a bit more expensive than some of the others. I am on the waiting list for Gennet and as you know Reprofit is my current clinic. I don't think you get the type of advice with either of them that you get with serum but Reprofit are pretty good in that you get email access to your doctor and can ask any questions as you go along or suggest things you would like to try.