Yo yo!! Calling all Ladybros over 30 TTC #1. Join the Berries aboard the Charabanc of lurrrve. Bring real Champagne, from the actual Champagne region. No Colombian builders allowed.

[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

WildflowerMarmalade 40 - TTC for three years. FET done in June with immune treatments - waiting for result... Six embryos in the freezer after two freeze all cycles.

Minx 35 in August - TTC 2 years. Stage 4 endometriosis, both tubes blocked, 1 buried ovary, IVF booking in appt in July, hoping to start IVF soon after

Smidge 39, TTC since Jan '13. Unexplained. IVF#1 Short protocol July '14 BFN, IVF#2 Nov'14 and IVF#3 Feb '15 both Long protocol BFNs. High NK cell immune treatment. Natural FET in June '15, awaiting result.

Happylass, 37, TTC since Aug 2012. 2 failed ICSI cycles and 1 failed FET. Hoping to start long awaited NHS cycles in late August provided pesky smear test is sorted by then.

Beaky 35, ttc coming up 3 yrs, 2x failed iui 1x long protocol ivf cancelled 1 BFN following IVF

Tigerdog, 34 (soon to be 35) TTC since Jan 2013. Unexplained. IVF#1 May 2015 resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Now transferring clinics in the hope of a second round of IVF on the NHS and considering an NK cells biopsy in July/August.

barkingtreefrog 36, ttc 3.5 years. clomid bfp summer 2013 then mc @7 weeks, iui bfp summer 2014 then mc @6 weeks. Factor V leiden thrombophilia diagnosed at the repeat mc clinic. IUI bfn Jan 2015, IVF bfn April/May 2015. Currently awaiting nk cells results before a FET possibly in August/September.

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.

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 BFN.

Rain, 33 ttc since March 2012. unexplained. mystery bfp oct 13, MMC Nov 13. NHS IVF starting in June

Said it in the other place too Barking, but totally willing your embie on with all I've got.

Rain, good luck with your stabbing. I'm going for a lining check on Monday and aiming for transfer 12th August. I find the injections are much easier when sitting down- more of a muffin top that way.

Hello t'other berries

Glad the first stabs went well Rain. I had a nightmare with air bubbles on my first few attempts - really stressed me out but it does become second nature after a while. The rules regarding private treatment aren't more relaxed here - you simply just keep quiet about it! I've told the NHS I've had one go (I've actually had 2) but if I hadn't told them they wouldn't know about it.

Happy, yes we were referred by gp although before we went to see her I had amh done at crgw and dh had 2 sperm analysis which were poor. She did all the other blood tests for me which came back ok but said because we had been trying for 18 months then she would refer us. Had we not had those tests done privately I suspect it would have been a different story and maybe she would have sent us off to a consultant for further investigation.

Rain, as happy said I won't be telling them about my private treatment. I'm allowed 2 attempts privately without it affecting the NHS attempts but I would rather just not mention it.

Lucie if you tell them you've had 2 private cycles then your NHS entitlement drops to 1 attempt - something they don't make clear and something I didn't find out until after we'd done our 2nd cycle . We decided to tell them that we'd had 1 go plus a FET just in case they had got wind of any private treatment! The downside is that they are using exactly the same protocol as we had such a good response - I would have liked to try something different but guess I'll have more of a case to argue if this cycle doesn't work out.

Ohhh I don't know that thanks happy.i think I'm going to keep everything quiet but will decide nearer the time. I can see it may be beneficial to tell them about one treatment so they have something to work off.

Yep there's no mention of losing half your entitlement if you've had 2 private cycles but someone on another thread told me so I emailed WFI to check. We decided to mention that we'd had 1 private go just in case they'd found out. Then at least we could have said "noooo there's been a mix up, it's just the one cycle we've had..." But I'm guessing with you having been abroad there's no way that they'll know? I also sneakily asked the nurse at my GPs to check my record to see if there was any mention which there wasn't.

Can some one tell me why I was wide awake at 4.40am today? Third day in a row, but today I have no nervous wait for a phone call and I went to bed exhausted, so why am I not still asleep?!?!?

Thanks for all the support. I'm slowly getting over the shock of yesterday - despite all their warnings, to go from two healthy embryos in the freezer in the morning to one very poor one put back by the afternoon and nothing left in reserve was a bit of a rollercoaster...
I can now see that if one embryo was going to perish, much better now than if this poor one had been the first out, and then next round I went through all this again and had nothing to put in on transfer day. Although I'm guessing in that situation they might have taken the other one out anyway and aimed for a two embryo transfer if they'd seen this first, but trying not to over think things.

spare yes, that's exactly what the dog is like. Drives me crazy sometimes, and it's usually worse when I'm tense - he seems to feed off my nervous energy or something?!

I filled in a self referral questionnaire for my local private clinic. I'm still in two minds as to whether that's a really negative thing to do and goes against all the mind body connection stuff but it's too late now... I want to know we can get moving again if necessary and to do that we'll need an appointment before dh goes back to work....

Barking it's probably the stress of yesterday that is keeping you awake - hope you manage to catch up on some sleep soon
Very busy times in Berry HQ! Think we need a runners and riders list! I'm no Gill so apologies if I leave anyone out.....
Barking - PUPO
Funky, Rain & Minx stabbing
Lucie starting stabbing as soon as AF rocks up.
Who's with me later in August ? Beaky? Nolly? Anyone else?
Just realised I should be starting in about 3 weeks. That's come around so fast!
Happy Friday all. One third of the way through the school hols already

Morning all, I feel like I'm a bit behind the times at the moment. My motivation levels in all aspects of life are a bit lacking tbh.

happy that link really does give some good advice. I wish I could share it with everyone without outing myself. I think I would be more vocal but Mr T is very private about it all, so I have to respect that.

Dizzy, clem I temped for a few months so that my acu lady and I could look at how my cycles worked out, then I stopped. I'm regular, and my charts were reassuring. I also kept having charts that made my acu lady think I was pregnant (she had access so would watch them too). For the first year I was always poas and I found it heartbreaking. Much less likely to bother now. If you can find the right lady clem I would recommend acupuncture. My lady has been a rock, especially during ivf. Mr T is very scathing about it, but I find it so supportive. Fingers crossed for you both still!

Barking the early morning waking will be a symptom of the stressful time you've had. I get this all the time. Take it easy as much as you can. What a rollercoaster but you are one tough lady. Doesn't hurt to fill in the form if you want to - think of it as insurance, sensible to have but not necessarily going to need it.

Great news that NHS wales has sorted itself out lucie although I hope you won't need it. Has af shown up? When will you be flying off?

happy hope your cycle works out for getting underway. The lack of control over these things is very frustrating. I wish I was starting with you all but I can't even get a first appointment. Grrrr

minx how are you getting on?

beaky how are you?

spare where are you up at the moment

Rain glad to hear the stabbing is going ok. It wasn't as bad as I thought, I used to be totally afraid of needles!

Hope everyone is ok. Glad it's Friday and the first quiet weekend in ages ahead - the next two we're away, so just going to potter. But first my weekly hassle of the FC for an earlier appointment...

Still nothing until Oct...can't bear to wait that long

happy If you have 2 self-funded rounds here, you are ineligible for NHS funding. Hence our annoying choice between waiting an unspecified time for our funding to be approved (all we know is the wait is 'less than the 3 years it used to be'...) or paying for another round (thank you in-laws!) and then losing our eligibility.

tiger I cancelled the appointment at ARGC for next week as the more I read about them, I just didn't like their approach. So back to Create on the 11th for a consultation and hopefully kicking off another round when the witch turns up towards the end of the month. I'm presuming that they'll we'll end up freezing them all and then doing an FET mid-sept, but it will all depend on how I respond to stims this time. My impatience levels are rising, but in the meantime, I'm in body-is-a-temple mode - 6 booze-free days a week, no caffeine and lots of exercise. I've managed to lose 7lbs so far, so happy with that if nothing else (and alarmed at how little exercise I was clearly doing..!)

rain Glad the stabbing is going well. I think we all have those bubble problems for the first few days, but you get a bit more blase about it after a while! And glad they aren't too sore.

barking Hope you get some good sleep over the weekend, and barkdog doesn't annoy you too much. Maybe filling in that form is a good thing, because you'll get an irono-diff now. It is a FUFC of sorts...

Spare that sucks about the NHS situation in your area. Here it works like this:
3+ private = 0 NHS attempts
2 private = 1 NHS (although we were never told this!)
0-1 private = 2 NHS
Would they know how many attempts you've had though? My private FC doesn't inform the NHS and in fact they specifically told me not to tell them!

Barking I hope you have a relaxing day with a big nap schedule in. Keeping everything crossed for this little embie.

spare that's a great plan, I really need to get my finger out and sort out my diet and exercise but at the moment for about a year now I've just ate whatever I wanted and my exercise has got less and less. I've been back to the gym lately but my fitness seems to be really low and my motivation is at its lowest. Well done on the 7lbs off too. At least you know what you're getting with your current clinic and they do have really good success rates too.

Tiger I hope you manage to get something sooner, keep on at them! I'm in the no motivation club too. Re telling people, me and she are the opposite way round! He would tell everyone if I'd let him. I am getting nearer though as some people make the most arrogant narrow minded comments. Grrrr.

Minx Rain and Funky glad stabbing is going well and sending appropriate /down regged/thick plushy palace lining vibes for Minx and Funky at your scans.

Rain if they are tiny air bubbles don't worry but large ones need to go, having said that it needs to be pretty big to cause a problem. My nurse said I was worrying too much about the tiny ones and I made more trying to get them out!

Happy Friday everyone!

happy
We only get 1 NHS round anyway, down from 2 a few years ago.
We had a bit of a chicken and egg situation, because the way to skip the 3 year waiting list was to apply for transfer funding, but the way to do that was to get a letter from our current clinic saying we are a great candidate to have funding to use them again, because we responded well last time. So you have to 'fess up to at least one round in order to get the funding. I guess there is no reason they need to know about the second, but in all honesty, I'm bloody well expecting it to work, and then we'll be ineligible because we will have a child! Well that's the plan, anyway...

Grrrr. Just walked past a heavily preggo woman in the street smoking a joint.

I now have an earlier appointment! Whoop! 20 August. Apparently there is a further wait for IVF and unlikely to start before Oct but at least the ball will be rolling a bit sooner. Phew.

beaky that sort of thing makes me so cross. Grrr.

Well, that has cheered me up. Nearly time to knock off and enjoy the weekend

Yo yo ladybros berries! I can’t believe how much is happening in berryland right now. Sorry for the radio silence for me. I went back to the office after a week off and sort of got swept away with work type happenings.

rain my job can be demanding/stressful, but luckily I have a good bunch of people around me at least at the moment, and my boss is supportive. I can also do flexible working when I need to, which is a big help. Love that your phone alarm says ‘stabbing’. I also had lots of alarms on my phone during treatment, and one even went off when I was in the cinema once... The injections might be fiddly at first but do get a lot easier and quicker as you go along.

minx I’m sure a few hours late won’t make a huge difference for one injection. You asked where I thinking of going for treatment. For the moment, I might do one more cycle where I am now. I am still thinking about going elsewhere, either London, or possibly abroad. I have some recommendations for London and need to set up some initial consults. I also filled out the Serum questionnaire, and might pick up my correspondence with them after August.

clem How is the symptom spotting going? Are you planning on testing tomorrow?

dizzy did AF finally make an appearance, or do you think you might swing back into the poas camp?

beaky that moustachioed baby made me I love it! I have a friend with half a moustache tattoed on her finger, as a tribute to a half man half woman comic act she’s a fan of.

smidge have you arrived in the UK now? And how did your session with AliG go?

happy interesting what you were saying about setting a cut off point for your ttc. I think this is something I need to give serious thought to, especially as I’ve been going from cycle to cycle. I tried to talk through with a fertility counsellor, especially after the mc, but just came to the conclusion that I need to keep going for now. That is also a brilliant link by the way.

Waves hello to nolly and funky

barking you are a very brave pupo berry, going through the week you’ve had without dh and a scaredy dog for company. I hope the embryo is now snuggling in and you get to relax for a bit, in between going off to that festival… Hope it at least stays dryish!

lucie sounds like you have lots of treatment ducks all in a row. Fingers crossed the new cycle does the trick though and you won’t need any of those back up plans!

tiger happy Friday and so pleased you finally managed to get that appointment sorted!

spare congratulations on your ‘my-body-is-a-temple’ routine, sounds like you are doing great! I’ve gained 10lb in the past year and really need to do something about it. I blame the IVF although the office treats probably aren’t helping . I’m back to running twice a week, walking a little each day, and some yoga, but it’s not really making a dent.

I am currently on day 42 of my cycle, following my post treatment bleed and there is zero sign of AF making an appearance. I’m desperate to start a new treatment and am gearing myself up to return to my current clinic for one more go, and I’d really like to do that in August if at all possible. My clinic sent me a reply to most of my questions, and at least I know I can try something slightly different this time –even though they don’t think it would make so much difference-- . Also my boss is going on a big holiday in September and it could make things difficult to take time away from the office if I delay things.

Sesame no it didn't. In some ways I'm pleased because it means i haven't fucked up the 'day 21' prog test. FC appointment is on Monday so I figure I will test that morning if AF doesn't appear over the weekend. As I say, it's a tough one to call as my usual 30ish day cycle has had a couple of 50day ones this year and disappointment sucks.

All the talk if acupuncture got me interested in it though so I might give that a whirl. Can't hurt can it?

Dizzy, well done for holding that nerve. Is this your first fc appointment then? Do you know what it's about and is this the point where you get to ask questions?

Woohoo Tiger that's fantastic, a month and a half earlier! Well done

Sesame it's a long baby corridor reminding you of what you don't have at my FC, so Minx and I moustachioed them glad you've settled back into work. That's a really long cycle, do you normally have long ones? What will you be doing differently next IVF cycle?

Dizzy fx for a FUFC! Do you know what you want to ask etc in your appointment? I did acu for a little while but it was v expensive and I didn't feel like it helped apart from it make me really chilled! But others swear by it. A berry called Feather had pcos and swears acu helped sort it and she now has baby feather!

tiger excellent news! Good to see persistence does pay off!

sesame hope AF shows up soon, unless you might have somehow sneaked one of these mythical post treatment bfps, cos obviously that would be better!

dizzy nerves of steel! I hope your appointment goes well. Is it at an actual clinic or with a consultant? All the differences between CCGs confuses me massively - our referral path was GP to consultant gynae based at a local hospital who ordered all the basic bloods and my hycosy, then referred us on (a year later, post my MC) to the fertility clinic earlier this year.

Stabbing question for all you mega experienced berries! How quickly do you do it? I drew blood tonight and even 30 mins later it still stings! I think I a) stabbed too slowly (last night my skin 'gave' quite easily but tonight it was tougher, so had to push a bit harder) and b) maybe depressed the syringe too slowly? What's a good pace at which to actually do the injection? Would rather not have too many repeats of tonight!

Beaky, no my cycles pre-IVF were in the realms of 25 days or less - this is my body's reaction to the IVF drugs . I would be doing another short flare cycle next time, just tinkering a little with the drugs. I would hate a baby pic corridor, it would be a lot better if they just kept the thank yous away from the patient areas. I'm very averse in general to the soft focus baby/happy family/little feet pics they use in a lot of fc marketing. It's hard edge science type clinic places I much prefer.

I suspect I'll ask them how many rounds of ivf I'd be entitled to, as it looks like it varies from what I've seen off this thread! I'd also be keen to know about timeframes and the results from all the blood tests ans how they might treat me. My friend reckons they might try a lap and dye? But I guess that's up to the consultant.

I'd defiently laugh if i got a fufc. I've heard so many stories of it happening.

rain it would have to be a case of divine intervention for me to get a post treatment bfp! If you didn't pick up on it earlier, I am doing this on my own and qualify for the berries on a technicality (I am very much ttc my first for more than 12m and I'm over 30). Also, despite my status, I still have helpful aunties that come up to me at weddings and family occasions to have a baby before it's too late...

As for stabbing... When the needle goes in it has to be perpendicular to the skin and it goes in quickly and firmly, like a dart. I had 2 weeks of slowly stabbing at an angle before a nurse told me this. Then the other thing I learnt from experience is that some points on my belly hurt or sting more than others. I think it's just to do with how the nerve endings and blood vessels are distributed. There's no way of telling beforehand, but if I put the needle in and felt an ouch or lots of resistance, I didn't just keep pushing in, I just moved the needle a fraction over, hoping to move to a patch of skin with less nerve endings. So it wasn't a dart movement that worked for me in the end, it was a smaller push to test the area, and then a much firmer quicker one. Also try and pick a proper fleshy area, don't go too near your belly button or too low down.