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

Thanks happy, yes we were there from 11.45 until around 12.45. I remembered you saying you were going and there were a few people in the waiting room so thought of you!

Did you find your follicles grew quite evenly with the burselin? What stimms did they put you on? Was it menopur only and what dose? I'm really not sure what to do now. I've been researching this protocol and the only negative I can see is when the burselin is started on day 2 it causes very high levels of lh to be released which could potentially damage egg quality. Did you take bcp beforehand?

Our appointment with Amanda was at 12.30 so we must have been there the same time. How weird! Yes my follies seemed to grow pretty evenly, although I did have 20 of the on the second cycle with only 11 eggs - no explanation for this but I suspect the aspirin! I took 375 of Menopur. Was put on Norithisterone before both cycles but I suspect this was just to delay AF so they could schedule my cycle to suit them! As far as I know my egg quality is fine / that's what they've always said anyway!

Oh you were the appt after us then as we were in with her at 12.

What day did you start stimms and the burselin? Were they both on the same day? What is your amh if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks minx, it's just all a bit confusing at the moment. I'm going to give the clinic I'm with one more go at the moment. My theory is if I want to try what the UK clinic would do then I can test it out in Czech for less than half the price.

That must be difficult with your ex husband visiting your mum and dad. At least they will be back in Asia when the baby is born though.

Lucie I think I saw you go in. I was wearing a denim dress and Mr Happy was in his squash kit so probably quite easy to spot! In my first cycle I started the Buserelin on cd 3 and stimms on cd 4 but in my second cycle I started both on cd3 - no idea why!!

Oh I'm not sure if I saw you happy everyone else was sat up the other end to us. Hope your appt went ok. Amanda is so lovely.

Barking what a total biff am I, I knew that already and commented even! So sorry, my memory has totally failed me there. What will you be taking during your FET then? Also hats off to you on your productiveness today! How was your dad?

Blue hello and welcome, there's always room for a BESH over here!

Wild love that article, thank you. Did your clinic do many of them? Do you have any other recommended sites for us? Also that beta is massively high! twinnies how long til your scan? Over the moon for you m'lady

Funky they both sound worth a try, apparently dhea can be good for rcm but I'm not sure why, I was focusing on low or when I was reading it. Boo to those announcements too, im always extra jealous of twinnies. I'm waiting for my NHS follow up but at my last cycle they said they didn't know if they'd let me have another cycle as there's nothing else they can do for me. So I'm trying to go with a plan and suggestions and hopefully we can try them. If not I'm looking at Prague, Greece and London clinics because none of my local ones do low OR/poor response. I'm not ready for DE or to give up yet.

Happy boo to the cleaner - can you not ask her to come back later as you need to concentrate or something?! It sounds like your follow up went well, how do you feel about her not recommending trying anything else? I still find the disparity in the advice given difficult to deal with. My understanding about aspirin is that it affects the quality of the egg rather than the fertilisation directly, but obvs that may affect fertilisation indirectly (or maybs I've had too much gin this weekend already!) are you going to take it again? I don't know what do as I think it did help my follicles sprout but the quality of my eggs wasn't great.

lucie I think over suppression is worse when you downreg for a while first or take the pill before you start stimming. Seems like you had a good consultation though. What are you asking Prague to do next cycle then?

Tiger I was looking at a lovely big shiny Mercedes today, thinking how I'm going to get a lush car if I don't get diffed. It totally makes up for it eh! I would like to go and work in America, or somewhere with sun not that I can sunbathe and a busy social life. Anyway, did you get the car? I may try and do a spreadsheet when I get time, I find success rates for low OR are tricky t find but some do have them.

Minx sorry lady but wtf is your ex doing visiting your parents? Is it strange that I'm excited for you to get your dates and things t get started next week? I wonder if they will remove the mustachios you leave before I'm in there in a couple of weeks

Went to a party today and there's a preggo. Also discovered two people were preggo by stupid fb pictures they posted, about how no one knows heat/tiredness like a preggo woman.

Also, two days til holidays

at your impending holiday Beaky where are you headed? 30 days until mine - not that I'm counting or anything! I'm quite pleased that the consultant seemed so positive and has so much faith that it will work for us but on the other hand I think how the hell does she know that there isn't something going on that can't be seen through a microscope?!? But I guess she deals with this every day so she knows what she's doing. I don't think we could justify spending thousands on tests even if she had recommended them though. With regards to the aspirin I'm not going to take it next cycle. We actually ended up with less on the aspirin cycle than on the other cycle so was obviously of no benefit to me. I asked if it could have affected quality as I had more follies and eggs but a lower fertilisation rate and she said no - the aspirin is only for blood flow to the womb . I am however going to carry on with the CO Q 10 and DHEA (mainly because I've shelled out the cash on them now) even though she said I didn't need these either as my egg quality is fine.
Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday. Just going to make some 'clean' pancakes for breakfast (to cancel out the Dominos and cider I had last night!) then we're off for a walk in the mountains. Have a good one all.

Happy, that all sounds very promising for you. Maybe it is just a numbers game. You have only had 2 fresh cycles and they say to see it as a course of 3 so hopefully your next one will be the lucky one and if not you still have another back up. I agree take the dhea and cq10 as there have been lots of good things about them and they can't hurt. Will the NHS keep you on the same protocol or have you not got that far with them yet?

Beaky, I'm going to ask the Czech clinic if I can do this short flare protocol with the down reg drug like the UK clinic has suggested. It does worry me a bit just because it's new and I have absolutely no idea how my body will respond to it whereas with my other protocol I knew I was capable of getting a good number of eggs and it was just the early ovulation that needed to be controlled. I'm going to give it a try though and try not to raise my expectations too high with this one and if it doesn't suit me then it's something else ruled out. Hope you have an amazing holiday

Lucie that sounds like a very good plan. My AMH is only 6.2 and I had a decent response on short protocol so fx you'll be fine. Yes the NHS are sticking to the same protocol as CRGW. All the CRGW staff worked at the Heath a few years ago so apparently they do things in the same way. I'd quite like to try something different but the NHS think I've just had the 1 private cycle so I've got no real argument for changing things.

Well give it one more go happy and if it doesn't work at least you can say you have tried it twice and would like to do something different for the final one. Sounds like you and I are quite similar. My amh is 7.3 so hope I respond as well as you to this protocol. Just got to try and get the Czech Dr to agree to it all now!

wild hope the birthday bash went well. I was about to ask how your head was then remembered you wouldn't have been drinking .

happy/Lucie it's all just so much to think about. I wish they had the answers - this is your problem, this is what we're going to do to solve it. I doubt there are many other areas of medicine where treatments and protocols vary so much from place to place.

tiger did you get a deal on the car?

minx Why was your ex dh visiting your parents with his new wife? Surely there's no reason why you should have to meet up with him?
A BESH comes from another thread similar to the berries but it used to be a lot different, with some right characters on there and strong themes to each thread (and lots of swearing ). When the berries started the BESH thread was more for the long term ttc'ers, whilst the berries were those who had TTC for more than a year, but weren't onto the ivf stages yet. Most of the original BESH have thankfully now had good reason to move on, some less good reasons to leave. The last BESH left from when I first encountered them has now got her very long fought for bfp . Anyway, BESH stands for barren, evil, selfish hag. Essentially what the daily mail thinks of older women who haven't produced sprogs. I decamped to the BESH for a while for a break when I had my 2nd mc and needed a change of scenery watching the rest of the clusterdiff progress was too painful at the time so I can vouch for Blue .

beaky unlike Professor lucie I have absolutely no idea what we will have for the frozen cycle, or even what I want beyond progesterone support. I'm just going to go along on Wednesday and find out what the nurse has to say. I am pretty much decided I don't want both embryos put back. I think it's my hormones that are the problem, so if they're not right they'll kill both of them, and I'd rather gamble one at a time than both on the same cycle. I have no idea if there's any reason to that, but it seems higher odds to not gamble them both on the same conditions. And I really don't want twins. After 2 mc's any pg I would be lucky enough to achieve will be stressful enough without being a higher risk one.

wild/minx/beaky My dad was looking better, but still has no independence. It upsets me so much every time I see him. He has had bed sores on his feet so he has to have them on an inflatable pillow in bed. He finds it really uncomfortable and can't sleep like that, one nurse moves the pillow up so it was under his ankles and his feet hung over the edge, which allowed him to sleep, but every other nurse just tells him it has to be like that (the uncomfortable way) and refuses to move it. He's asked to speak to the person in charge so they can tell the nurses it's OK, but no one has come to speak to him . There's also very little rehabilitation happening, it's essentially a ward full of old people who are medically fit, but not independent enough to go home. But the physio didn't even turn up on Friday, so Dad can't even work on getting any independence back . And of his room of 4, 2 died this week and were swiftly replaced with two more. Can't be a fun place to be. He's been stuck in hospital 5 weeks already.

Off down south this evening as we're at a funeral tomorrow. DH's uncle, who he was very fond of. Very sudden and unexpected death. Ever feel like you just can't catch a break?

Wild, you say your hcg was 4000? At 4 weeks diffed? Umm is anyone else thinking TWIIIINS?!

Hi Blue. I want to be a BESH. Reckon I'd live up to the name quite nicely. What kind of hoops are you having to jump through for your NHS referral?

Hope you're feeling a bit better Happy. Good news about your appointment. Despite them not having any explanations as such, it's good to know they think it's just a waiting game for you. I have read about how the chances of IVF success apparently increase each time (until you get to the 5th go after which the chances do not change much). You, Barking and Spare are surely the next ones to leave Berry HQ. And Kuma if she's still around. Hope you're ok if you're reading.

Lucie I don't think I'll be much help, as I did long protocol, but I did use the same drugs as you. Buserelin/ suprecur and then menopur. I had a good spread of similar sized follicles. 20eggs retrieved and 11 fertilised.

Barking, could you speak to PALs about your dads care? That usually makes a difference in my experience. ... I'll be interested to hear back what your FET plan is after Wednesday. We have a lot of similarities in terms of our history so I would expect us to be on a similar plan.

We too have a family car just for us and the dog. Nowt wrong with that. Did you get a good deal Tiger? My 'clematis' hasn't been pruned for some time as haven't see DH for 6 weeks now. although I did show it to him briefly on Skype

What's all this moustache talk? Have I missed something? 6 years in Asia sounds amazing Minx. Did you live all over?

Beaky = biff haha. Not heard of a 'biff' before! That's really shit that the NHS are saying there's not more they can offer. It's bullshit. You ought to cruise past your consultant in your shiny new Merc, slapping them around the chops with a wet fish as you go.

Wild, clematis pruning... The bloom depends on the prune. What 'group' of clematis you have depends on the time of year it flowers. Spring, early summer, late summer. I think. Ours flowers now and then keeps flowering all summer so I clip the flower heads off as they die so that new ones keep coming. Have no idea if I'm doing it right but it always looks alright. #clematisconniseuriamnot

Sorry to hear about your relative Barking. Sometimes it does feel that life never stops dealing out crap hands.

Aw Barking and I was discussing the whole can't catch a break thing with my friend on Friday, the general consensus was that the older we get the more and more shit that piles on. Hopefully your appointment on wed brings a change in luck for you.

Happy I try to take the same view, this is their job and they have a lot of experience, but I wish the NHS would try a wider range of treatments to various problems.

Funky, I laughed my head off at the thought of driving past the consultant slapping him with a wet fish Also, Minx and I are both at a clinic which has a baby picture corridor of all their successes. We thought we would mustachio all of the babies since you have to walk right past the whole lot to get in! Ha at your, ahem, skype flashing I bet it's difficult being apart for so long, it's something I'm not sure if I could manage clingy

AF arrived properly today, very short cycle this one, ov'ed around day 11 and spotting since day 16. Hopefully next cycle will be better and we can maybe ttc hahahahaha as if that'll work

beaky I'm on cd31, feeling crampy today. AF should arrive tomorrow. But I didn't bring anything with me, forgot to pack my mooncup . I'm doubly with myself as I have a big box full of tampons and towels at home that I haven't needed since switching to the mooncup, and I'm going to have to buy more tomorrow, that I won't use past getting me through the funeral and back home again!!!

tiger - when looking at different cars, I kept having that conversation in my head of....I want a 3 door, but 5 door will be may more practical with kids...like you say, just need the kids to fill it with.

I've always driven 3 doors tho, so not sure I'll ever convince myself 5 is for me (sure chronic lower backache will convince me otherwise, if I do ever have a bundle of joy to lift in and out of the back of it tho

well, thats a rubbish start to the week...as I'm on my 1st cycle of clomid, we had to go to the hospital today, for my first follicle tracking app. up at silly-o-clock, to get there for 07:30 this morning.

fertility nurse who does the scanning, called in sick (there is no backup), so we all got sent away . hoping they will call me back later on, to rearrange for tomorrow.

I know it can't be helped, and if she's ill, she's ill...just very frustrating to waste our time on this, and the fact there is only 1 nurse in the whole hospital who can do this, means if she can't make it for any reason, all the women with appointments are affected .

whinge over

minx - on it for 6 months, but agreed with consultant that at the 3 month mark (if no bfp by then), I will go to docs and kick off the referral for IVF (as the referral can take 6 months).

not sure if I'll be able to be patient enough to wait those 6 months tho...

Thanks for the welcome (and the BESH explanation barking! - sorry to hear things so tough right now)

I'm gonna lurk around if that's ok. However the only useful thing I can add is when car buying choose something impractical. I bought the sensible family car 3 years ago instead of the 2 seater Porsche I actually wanted but wouldn't be good with a baby. 3 years later? No Porsche - no baby I might trade it in for a motorbike to push fate into getting me pregnant!

welcome blue - I've only been here for a week, so I'm new too...everyone's lovely.

Thanks clem

Berries! I'm off to the drs tomorrow to ask for my bloods to be redone - can you do day 2 bloods on day 3? Also what shall I ask for in addition to that and day 21/progesterone?

Barking that's shit luck, again will you be able to get going with the FET this cycle then?

minx that must be tricky. Still like you say, they'll be gone soon and before the baby arrives too.

Clem that's crazy that they only have one scanner! What on earth! I can't get my head round it. Do you have to go back tomorrow? I'd say get in as soon as for the IVF, there's no point in hanging around.

Blue do it! If that doesn't tempt fate what will!