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

Wow rain that is a bumper crop of follicles you have there. I reckon you will collect a good 10 eggs out of that lot! I start my next lot of medication towards the end of September and then back out early October for another collection! Counting down the day already!

Beaky, really good news too! Hope for a few lovely quality eggs for you.

not sure if this is of any use to any of you, but lucie mentioning the count down, reminded me of an app I have on my android phone, that some of you may find useful. its called "days left" and is really handy, if like me you like to have things on your phone, helping you count down to a specific date. I currently use it for studying and I now have one showing me the days left, until I can poas.

Ohh I'm definitely going to get that!! Thanks clementine

cool. its quite good, cause you can rename each widget too (rather than just leaving it to say days left), once you've created it, so you have have more than one, and be clear on what each one is counting down too.

clem I used to do something similar with packs of polos when I was a kid! I'd buy a packet X days before the event (I think there were about 15 in a pack) and eat one a day. Ok, that makes me sound a bit weird!

lucie I hope you've got lots of fun things to keep you occupied till then to make the time fly. The waiting around between treatment is such a killer!

beaky I think we're safe this time. The threads discussing Jeffrey and his antics are quite entertaining!

So EC tomorrow. Have been stupidly worrying that I've already OV'ed as I've had hardly any aches or pains today. Yes, I know I'm being an idiot. Have just removed my nail polish and packed my dressing gown, slippers and a book in a bag. Not thrilled about having to go in sans fards, given my hormonal acne has been made 10 x worse by the IVF meds but I'm sure I'll cope! Wish me luck!

Yay to mumsnet being back up! I have missed you all!

Very cheered to read all the good follicle news! Five is great beaky and it would have been hysterical if you'd sat up and shouted SHUT UP! Wonderful news anyway.

Good luck rain sounds as though you're ready for EC tomorrow - I suspect you'll get a good haul! The paranoia that something will go wrong is horrible - but it really does sound like you're having the perfect response so try not to worry! Hope it all goes well. GA is fine - it's only a very light one for EC as you're only out for 20 mins or so. I think I would prefer it to sedation but I've only had GA so nothing to compare with.

minx all sounds good. Have they enlightened you as to where the left ovary is hiding? Surely there can't be too many places! I'm more of the maltesers and cider school of cheering myself up at the mo - struggling with motivation to exercise in particular.

wild the celebratory pork pie made me laugh out loud. We had a long running pork pie joke going at one of my previous workplaces - I got a celebration pork pie at my leaving do, complete with a candle and everything. Glad to hear you're doing ok, and lovely to hear from you.

lucie that's not too long to wait, hope it passes quickly. I feel like I'm wishing my life away a bit at the moment - need to enjoy the present a bit more.

I'm much better today, thanks for all
the lovely advice and support. I just need to take control of my happiness and get my small goals together - and get onto the FC for cancellations!

Berries! You’re still here…! I’ve been trying to check in with you all, and there’s so much news my previous half written post went completely out of date.

clem hello, nice to see you here! How many days till OTD?

rain woo hoo, at your folli growth! Can’t believe you’ve triggered already! Good luck for EC tomorrow, I will be totally routing for you. In my second cycle, I also had the feeling I’d already ovulated before EC, the symptoms and bloatyness just suddenly disappeared. I phoned the nurse in the clinic, who was absolutely horrid did absolutely nothing to calm me down. In the end I got them to scan me right before EC, and it was fine, follis were all still there. I reckon with all the drugs and extra hormones circulating round your body it just means it’s harder to tell what’s normal.

minx all sounding good on the follicles front too there! Well done ovary!

beaky yay for your amazing left ovary! you sure that’s not minx’s missing one…? Fingers oh so crossed for some more folli growth, how exciting! The house project sounds exciting, though a little bit scary. Roll on moving in date, and I’m glad you will at least have a bathroom…

spare really glad your treatment is now properly underway. Fingers crossed that the NHS decision will go your way and you will hear back soon. Good luck for the scan on Wednesday.

wild lovely to see you here and read all your advice. Hope your energy levels pick up soon.

lucie yay for 2 frozen blasts, that’s immense! Roll on October, so you can fill up the freezer….

happy my private clinic keep monitoring and scans to the absolute minimum, they just don’t think that more frequent monitoring would change the outcome, and they don’t alter their drug regimes either. They scan on day 7, and every 2-3 days after that. I think if your clinic only does collection on certain days, then they could choose to target EC day by dropping your drug dose for last few days of treatment, or possibly coast you by adding an extra day without drugs. These things are more common in smaller clinics and shouldn’t really affect outcome. A day either side probably wouldn’t change so much either as there’s even debate between clinics as to what is the optimum folli size to trigger for EC.

tiger I gained a stone over the past year as a direct result of my treatment. I’m annoyed that puts me at the border of the next BMI category, which could affect my chances and if I was NHS and got weighed on those massive uncomplimentary see saw scales they might have even refused me treatment. Anyway, don’t take PMA pointers from me, I was balling my eyes out on Sunday night…. My advice is to listen to the other berries!

barking sorry about the drowned rat camping experience and the nasty nightmares. I got caught in nasty rain on Saturday night and got a proper soaking, I couldn’t imagine sleeping in a tent under it all. Anyway sorry you have been through such a lot of late, have a

Thanks for your support berries, the announcement at the weekend was quite hard to deal with and I was a bit of a wreck on Sunday night, especially with af arriving and all the anxiety over starting treatment proper. It’s my sister in law. They got married a year ago, she’s a bit older than me and they see it a miracle she managed to get diffed. I’m over the moon for them, even if at same time totally gutted for myself. Anyway, I was feeling a lot better by the time I got to the end of work yesterday, and now I’m back to focusing on my own treatment. It’s now all mobile phone alarms and needles in the sesame household, and I even had to stab myself at work this afternoon.

Wotcha sesame. I've been there too, I think it's normal to find family pregnancies hard. My SIL is also pg - found out just before EC and I was just so upset, whilst of course being happy for them. Didn't make the subsequent chemical pg any easier to deal with, and one of the real reasons I'm upset about the wait till next cycle is that I wanted to be cycling again before my nephew is born in Dec. anyways, glad you're feeling better, and it's all go on the stabbing!

You had a pork pie with a candle as a leaving present Tiger? That sounds brilliant. To my mind there is something very decadent and naughty feeling about eating a pork pie. Now a pork pie and some real Champagne from the Champagne region.....

I can totally see why you would want to get back onto IVF before your brother's baby arrives Tiger. It must be hard to have that bitter-sweet news in the background all the time. Same to you too Sesame. That's a real kick in the teeth, but your time will come. Certainly if you've got anything to do with it!

Well done to Rain on having all the makings of a good crop. Your treatment seems to have sped by (although you might not agree ). Best of Berry luck for EC tomorrow.

It's good you will have a bathroom when you move into your new house Beaky. It's far, far more important to have the means to primp and pamper yourself than it is to have somewhere just to cook.

Just on the discussion about how clinics decide when to trigger for EC, my FC used scans and blood tests roughly every other day. They monitor the follicle sizes and the estradiol levels to try to hit the sweet spot for getting as many fresh, ripe (but not overripe), juicy follies as possible. Once the estradiol rises to a certain level, relative to the number/ size of follies, they know they can't hold off any longer as ovulation is imminent. Just thought I'd throw that in the pot.

We had our 12 week scan today and everything was fine, which was a relief. Time in Berryland has made me appreciate that you can never take these things for granted, so it was good to be told there were no problems.

I'm not going to say goodbye to you all, because I just refuse to. I still want to see how everyone's treatment is going and keep up with all the chat. However, I will probably not be posting as much and I would just like to take a moment to say a very heartfelt thank you for all the support and laughs I've enjoyed from the amazing Berries. You lot are the best. You've made me feel like a normal person and not alone, which has been wonderful.

Right, as you were. (wipes away some tears)

Hey tiger, glad you are feeling better today too! It will be amazing to be an auntie again of course, and I'm also very glad that they don't need to join team IVF. I'm sure you won't be too far behind your brother and SIL, keep on chasing that clinic!

Ooo, we're back online!!
I can't sleep. Not sure if it's the clinic appointment later today (and being aware that due to other stuff happening last night I didn't get my 'list' written of everything I wanted to ask) or whether it was dh snoring. I'm struggling to sleep well with him in the bed after a month of sleeping on my own . I've taken myself off to the spare room and am sleeping with the dog instead .

Lucie brilliant that you've gone from not hopeful to having two embryos in the freezer!!

beaky amazing follie action!!!!

happy hope the stabbing is going well, and spare too.

minx glad to hear your follies are also behaving themselves - all looking good

rain good luck for today, I'm predicting big numbers .

tiger when you find out how to take control of your happiness please let me know the secret!!

The nurse who did my tests last week said I needed to put on weight as I'm under the recommended bmi. I don't weigh myself regularly but I'm half a stone lighter than I was last time, which I can only assume is due to the stress of the last round. I don't put weight on easily, and the sheet of 'lifestyle changes' they gave us tells me to eliminate sugar, bad fats and alcohol. I realise putting on weight is not about eating shit, but telling me to put on weight whilst stopping eating dessert is not going to be remotely possible!!! I already eat loads of carbs and protein, upping the amount of fruit I eat is not going to replace the calories I'd be getting from cake!!!

Sorry sesame, missed you from the list of stabbers!

And congrats on your 12 week scan wild, must be amazing .

fruit cake barking ? or fruit pavlova with extra cream, or Eton mess.... Sorry, bit food obsessed this am as I wait to go in. They've taken my order for a bacon sandwich afterwards which I am currently far more fixated on than the procedure!

ahh, pressed send too quickly! what I wanted to say was good luck for today barking!!!

wild lots of love to you and the twins. So glad the 12 week scan was ok. I agree, no goodbyes, and hopefully you'll have loads of company in the chopper soon as it is busy in here at the mo with ladies cycling.

barking would you like a few of my pounds?! I have a spare little belly that I could give you! I'm still within the heathy BMI range but I'm about 7lb over my happy weight. Finally going to buy a new pair of running shoes, and get back out there. Hope you managed to get some extra kip.

Good luck today rain!

clem how's the not symptom spotting going?! I still do it every month, you would have thought I'd learnt the hard way by now.

This week seems to be going slowly. Going to chase the clinic today - see if there are any cancellations. I'm sure being a nuisance works in the end!

wild you lovely lady, so glad all is going well. As tiger said hopefully plenty of us will join you in the chopper before too long, no need for goodbyes!

tiger any luck with the clinic? Be that squeaky wheel!

minx that is a tough one when you don't know any of them well yet. I definitely don't regret being upfront at work now (I was considering keeping shtum). Could you possible play some sort of vague 'family' situation card? Or even just say that you're having a minor medical procedure and need a day or two off without getting into specifics? Sounds like a hectic week regardless, I hope it all goes ok. When's your next scan? And will they attempt to retrieve from Mr Left or has he been consigned to mysteryland for this cycle?

Back home after EC. Was weirdly quite a pleasant morning! Our nhs funding is with a private clinic so it's all quite plush and you're really well looked after, private room with ensuite, food menu etc. - was quite surprised by it! Last I remember was having a swimmy conversation with the anaesthetist about cocktails and beaches and that was that! We got 7 eggs, from 11 follies, so I'm pretty happy with that. Just need to get the lights dimmed and the sexy music on for the Petri dish this afternoon! (The nurses were 'impressed' at how quickly DH produced his sample and hope we get lucie style amazing fertilisation rates!!!

tiger good luck chasing, it worked for me - Brough forward from October to today! I did ring almost every other day and I emailed as well...

minx could you do that thing where you tell the truth but selectively.... e.g. My husband has some hospital appointments that are likely to be next week but because they are in response to treatment we won't know the timings yet but I'll need to accompany him... That is all technically true...

rain I'm supposed to be off the fat and sugar like that's possible
I was going to say good luck but just your news in t'other place .

xpost rain, seen it here as well now!

Clem that app sounds great! Hope your managing your 2ww menkul ok! Fx for you

rain wow, 7 eggs is amazing, hope they are getting jiggy right now with dh’s lightning speed sample in that petri dish… And fingers crossed for some good fertilisation news in the morning.

minx I told my work I was booked in for day surgery for a minor medical procedure, and then had to return a couple of days later for a follow up appointment (ET). I also said that I wouldn’t know until a couple of days beforehand exactly when they would be able to fit me in cos it would depend on how I was responding to the treatment. And the one time I had to call in sick during treatment, I said the absence was due to a gynae issue (with no further questions asked…).

wild really glad you got some good scan news and the twinnies are doing fine. Thanks for your giving me hope.

barking good luck for your appointment today, hope you remember most of the questions you want to ask.

Good luck with the chasing tiger, go get ‘em!

Ffs, for some reason my posts always go wrong on here! Anyway...

Rain your FC sounds amazing and fancy! Glad everything went well, I'll get my fertilisation shimmy on for your embies! Also, absolutely lol'end at the nurses being impressed at your dh's speed

Tiger hope you're feeling a bit better today! This week is definitely dragging. I've been doing couch to 10k and it's really helped me get back into running. It's just getting out in the first place! Although I did get a reminder from the app which said "let's go for a run, it's only 30mins and you'll feel great after" and you know what, I fucking went!!

Sesame thanks, I guess my lazy left ovary has woken up for a bit! Aw close family announcements are so hard, hope you are feeling ok today. We will get there! How are you finding the new protocol so far?

Wild I know this isn't mumsnetty but

beaky I did couch to 5k nearly 2 years ago, how far along are you? It’s a great programme and I loved that not only is it only 30min, but you also start and finish at your house so no faffing about having to get to an exercise class etc. I’m still running once or twice a week now, but it’s now about 40-50 minutes out the house, plus stretching after plus an hour or so procrastination before I even get my running gear on

Btw what do berries think about running during treatment?

I’m only on day 3 of the new protocol. I’m liking it so far. I weirdly like the Buserelin stabbing - I must have got used to the ritual from my LP days. I’ll be adding in the stims from tonight. First scan not till Monday, I really don’t know what they’ll find but I think I’ve probably got a couple of days grace before the anxiety levels build up again.

Sesame just on week 3. I've done it about 3 times over the last 3 years but I find it easier to do it again to get going, when I've not ran for a while. I'm going to keep running until et, the just do lots of walking over the 2ww.
Glad the new protocol isn't causing you any bother! I didn't mind the buserelin either, but I decided this morning I really don't like the cetrotide, it's a right carry on. Are you taking coq10 or anything?

Superstar minx! Might as well get done in one go what mere mortals do in a year! I hope it isn't too stressful. I would agree with the others - go with a gynea procedure. I'd also give yourself some flexibility - Tell them you think you'll be back in the next day, but it depends on recovery - so you can extend if needed. I would have struggled with work the day after EC as I was a bit sore and generally felt rough.

Great news on the eggs rain! Will keep my fingers crossed for good fertilisation! Your clinic sounds swish! At mine, because I wasn't eating wheat, they went off and got me a full meal from the canteen! Mr T ate half of it. How are you feeling now?

beaky I'm dead impressed with your running effort. Pay day tomorrow and I'm going to order myself some nice new running shoes, having been to try some on today. Think I might also download the app. I've been spending too much time on the couch! How are you feeling? When's the next scan?

Seasame I think gentle runs are probably fine during treatment, then switch to walking in 2ww. I quite liked burserelin too, and really didn't mind stabbing in general (weirdo). Fingers crossed all will go well at the first scan! I found listening to mediation tracks helped with the anxiety to a point but I definitely lost the plot more than once!

barking I like your style - I need to get on the daily calls to get myself seen. How did it go today?