Trying to conceive for 10 months or more. Thread 5. All ten plussers welcome.

[lucieloos]

Thread for anyone TTC for over ten months. Please feel free to join us!

Hello all, nice to hear from you again Trixie. I get the need to step away once in a while. Pleased that you have got a plan and it's not too long to wait!

I on the other hand am 7 days in to down regging and havnt had headaches or moodswings, so I'm terrified I'm doing it wrong haha. I also can't shake this feeling that I might be pregnant, which is so stupid but because I got that very faint line, for about two days, last cycle I now feel like there is every possibility that we could have done it on our own, forgetting the fact I've had almost 30 cycles with nothing.

Stupid isn't it. I just want to have a baby!!

Trixie - I'm not sure about you, but I always feel better about pg friends if I am in control. If I'm the first to know or something then it is easier. I'm not sure that make sense, but what I mean is that perhaps the baby shower will be easier to deal with if you organise it because you'll know exactly you what is going on, there won't be any tear inducing surprises. Here to hand hold should you need it though.

Itsme - 7 days in!! Well done. I didn't get any symptoms at all until after EC when I wanted to die bloody OHSS!

I had s complete meltdown to dh last night, I needed the cry. I've been feeling completely overwhelmed and thinking of literally nothing else for about 2 weeks now. He doesn't like to talk about things really, so I've been trying to keep my crazy to myself..... Failed epically last night! He was lively though. Always knows what to say. Xx

I think you've hit the nail on the head Sammy. It absolutely makes sense. I think a lot of what I struggle with is not having control over the situation. Usually you work at something and things work out but with this we do our best and still no baby.
I had really bad mood swings coming on/off the pill so your meltdown could be partly down to that. Its such a difficult time. Good to get everything out before you start.

Not stupid at all Itsme I was really bloated the other day and thought could I be pregnant despite a bfn and heavy bleed. I had no symptoms either at that point, started to get a bit uncomfortable coming up to collection though. Take it easy and make sure you are keeping well hydrated.

Happy weekend everyone.

Thanks Trixie, it could well be the hormones from the pill. I've forgotten when to expect AF after the pill? Does bleed normally start 2/3 days after last pill? I can't remember! X

I can't remember either Sammy but 2-3 days sounds about right.

Hi ladies

Hope you’re all well and having nice weekends

sammy When I was on the BCP, I used to take my last pill on Sunday and like clockwork AF would arrive Weds afternoon. FX for AF arriving on time, so excited that you’re getting going!

Meltdown sounds really cathartic TBH - sometimes you just have to let it all out. I’m with you - I keep the low level crazy (mostly) to myself, but every so often Mount Vesuvius erupts with sobbing and wailing. Your DH sounds like an absolute gem

Itsme hurrah for stabbing underway! When I was downregging for our first attempt at IVF #2 trying long protocol, I didn’t get any physical side effects from the buserelin. (although the moodswings DID kick in a bit later: I was, shall we say, somewhat emotionally volatile!)

Trixie that is a really lovely thing to do, she is lucky to have such a great friend. Does she know about what you’ve been going through? Either way, we are all absolutely here for you

lucie hope you have a fabulous holiday and enjoy a restful, relaxing and restoratice break xx

Bgy when I first came off the pill to get my fertility checked out (I wasn’t TTC, but I had a suspicion something wasn’t quite right, as I’d never really had periods when I wasn’t on the pill), I had one 9-month long anovulatory cycle. My GP said they wouldn’t do any tests until 6 months, but at 7 months she agreed my cycles should have returned, and ran basic hormonal blood tests, and sent me for a pelvic ultrasound. I was subsequently diagnosed with PCOS.

Regardless of TTC, if you aren’t having periods, the Dr should be giving you Provera to induce a bleed every 3 months.

They also should have given you Provera so the bloods could be taken on the right day - they need to be done on day 3, but without a cycle, how they hell do you know where day 3 is?!

I would ask to be referred for a pelvic ultrasound, to see if you have polycystic ovaries.

If you do have PCOS, then the next step would be to referred for Clomid, a tablet to get you ovulating.

Basically, plan of action:

• ask Dr for Provera to induce a bleed (say you’re concerned about endometrial hypoplasia if they’re not forthcoming)
• ask if the day 3 hormonal blood tests can be repeated, now they can be done on the correct day, so as to give meaningful results.
• ask to be referred for a pelvic ultrasound

maple Ah, the case of the missing AF is solved! No idea how a basic multivitamin could affect your cycle, but deffo worth mentioning any changes in your cycle to your Dr. And v late to reply but OMFG Hen do baby bomb?!!!

AFM, I’m plodding on. Obv bricking it about my broken lining and WTF is going on in there, but am confident that I’m in the best hands possible to work out the best way forward

Started Provera on Weds - so fingers crossed it shifts something

HyCoSy booked for 28th Jun, see consultant on 30th.

However, even if we do manage to induce a bleed with Provera (plan A), I'm minded to ask about doing an HRT cycle anyway, as a mock FET, so we can have a dry run to assess my response to oestrogen - and crucially, to see what kind of withdrawal bleed I get after stopping progesterone, as that will tell us a lot about the quality of the endometrium (ie do we get a healthy bleed, or is it still clotty, suggesting compromised blood flow)

As desperate as I am to start a FET, I also want to do as much as possible to optimise the uterine environment before we put anything back. Given we don't really know why the miscarriage happened, a mock FET seems like it would be a very useful diagnostic exercise.

In ‘fertility woo’ latest, given I’m now at my wits end to have a frigging period, I’m now trying ‘Maya Abdominal Therapy’ - which is basically some woowoo tummy rub, that’s supposed to be able to help with menstrual issues. I am a massive sceptic about all this stuff, but I figure I might as well give it a go, as - if you set all the chakra woowoo energy bullshit aside - it does make sense that massage could help to stimulate uterine blood flow. You have a couple of sessions, but most of it is stuff you’re taught to do at home, so it’s not a massive weekly time or money sink. Will report back!!

Oh and following on from our prev discussions about PGS testing and aneuploidy rates, I spoke to the embryologist at CARE to get the breakdown of the frosties (from Cycle #2 in Jan) vs the fresh embryos (from Cycle #3 in May)

The really interesting thing is that NONE of the frosties from Cycle #2 were genetically normal

The only competent embryo from that cycle turns out to have been the one we transferred (and miscarried) - which tissue testing subsequently identified was chromosomally normal.

The 6 euploid embryos all came from this 3rd cycle.

The difference in embryo quality has been pretty stark

Cycle 1: 7 eggs, nothing made it to blast
Cycle 2: 17 eggs, 5 blasts biopsied - 1 euploid embryo (transferred & miscarried)
Cycle 3: 28 eggs, 9 blasts biopsied - 6 euploid embryos

If we hadn’t had the frosties tested, we would have almost certainly have had 4 failed FET or more miscarriages. And I don't know if we would have had the emotional strength to carry on after that.

Whether any of our 6 euploid embryos will ever become people, we don't know. But they all came from this third round - so if we hadn't done PGS, we wouldn't have even been in the game.

Hi all!

We got home yesterday and I've just spent the last hour catching up on the end of the last thread and this one, but as I'm on my phone (and have a memory like a sieve!) I can't remember much of what I wanted to say! I'm sorry so many of us have been down in the last few weeks. I hope you're all OK, and I have been thinking of you all while I was away.

mpp! How WAS it all? Did you have the most amazing day? And a fabulous honeymoon? Hope so!!

Hi everyone, I was reading your posts for a while but was a bit too timid to write. It's been really interesting and insightful to read all of your posts. I'm 32 almost 33 gulp and have been ttc for 10 months... Tbh I'm completely losing patience with the whole thing and an increasingly becoming more down about it all. Trying to be patient and calm but not succeeding! Naively I thought I'd be preggers like after 3 months.... Obvs not! Wishing you all lots of baby dust xx

Welcome back mpp! Hope you had an AMAZING time!

Nice to hear from you Trixie. Sorry you have to wait due to admin but end of July isn't far off now so you'll be going before you know it. Did you decide on whether to get the scratch? It's such a minefield isn't it. I think it's really lovely of you to organise the baby shower. If it gets hard, vent on here. You might also want to let her know what's going on so she understands if you need to back off a bit at times? Up to you though, you know what you can cope with and its nice to do something normal every so often and not have all decisions guided by this crappy ttc journey. Good on you

Banana, good luck with the provera, I really hope things improve for you soon. I think you're u are taking the correct approach not rushing to the fet when things aren't ideal, but it must be annoying it's taking so long. Fingers crossed for you. Good news about your improving eggs too. How lucky the embryologist picked the one good one? Do you think it was luck, or is it possible to gauge a good quality one without testing? I am very tempted by pgs when we get to IVF but it sounds expensive and not sure whether my clinic do it? Trixie do you know?

Sammy, hope your period arrives soon and your u can get going!

Itsme, congrats on the stabbing. How are you feeling?

Maple, your appointment is really soon now. Good luck!

Lucie, hope you're having a great holiday!

Trixie, you asked about my test date. I don't have an official one as such, but I'll test on Saturday if I'm not well into my next cycle by then. I'm 11dpo today and my usual LP is 12/13 days which makes me due on Wednesday. I ov'd really early though so Saturday would make me one day late based on my usual cycle length. I'm not feeling hopeful at all though, I've had no symptoms except the last couple of days my boobs feel really full but that's v normal pre-AF. Trying to see the treatment as a 3 cycle thing so hopefully won't be too down when period arrives. As if

Sorry, crossed posts with you Bellini. Welcome! You'll find much support amongst the ladies here. Have you been to your GP yet for any tests or are you waiting for the 12 month mark? Fingers crossed you don't get there and get a bfp very soon.

Welcome back MPP. Glad you had a great time.

Hi and welcome Belini

I got asked by a friend to do muffins for them as she was doing a fundraiser today for Muffings for Midwives. I jumped at the chance to do that one and put my all into baking them friday night and saturday. I managed to make about 50 and added to the others people had made they sold the lot on suday and made £450. I also made my sister's wedding anniversary present for her husband on friday evening as she is off working in China. I dropped it off to him on saturday. Then saturday night I went to my friends house with flour, balloons and wine. I drank some of the wine and taught her kids how to make stress balls out of balloons and flour in the back garden. We also brought BBQ stuff and had a BBQ. Then I had a big chat with the eldest child (8) about problems she is having at school, then read them 2 books and off to bed for them. It was a lovely evening.

Today we did the allotment and had a nap.

Thanks all!

Stealth it was amazing! The day went without the slightest hitch, the weather was lovely and everyone had a fab time. The exam was rather stressful. I think i did well enough to pass but I'm not expecting a great mark. I panicked and wrote whatever came into my head and I've no idea if I actually answered the questions properly but I'm hoping so. Honeymoon was awesome! DH (how mad that I can use that instead of DP now!) and I had a fantastic time. :) How's things with you?

Star fx for your testing saturday! How did you find this cycle? How are you feeling?

Welcome Bellini and all the other new people!

Bloody hell Brenna you've had a busy time! 50 muffins! Congrats on all the sales. That's awesome! :)

Trixie I also think you're very lovely to be doing the baby shower. It must be difficult and you know where we all are if you need us.

Banana I'm sorry to see that things are difficult for you again.

itsme also proffering congrats on the stabbing! Hope it's going well!

AFM, currently waiting for af after taking norethisterone for most of the honeymoon. I came off it yesterday so I can apparently expect af in 2-3 days. No side effects or anything while taking but it does feel a bit weird to be two weeks 'late'. Also waiting to speak to estate agent this week to hopefully confirm completion date for the house sale, as we can't plan our first Czech trip until we know that incase dates clash. As soon as we know, plans will finally be in motion! We did come home to a letter from the nhs saying we meet some criteria for help and they will be in touch shortly with an appointment date but since we know we won't get ivf the plan is still Czech though I think it's worth going to the NHS appointment to see what they say.

Hope everyone else is OK. I've kind of missed keeping up with you all!

Aw mpp so glad it was a great time! And am sure you did well on exam, I always found at uni that the exams I was the least confident about I did the best in - I think because I knew too much iyswim. Congratulations on becoming a Mrs!

All's well with me, am 12+2 and just slightly anxiously waiting for my 12 week scan which is not happening until 13+4. Will feel like a real milestone once we're through that!

Yep!! Officially just over a year now... Got first appointment at the hospital next week. Fingers crossed we get things moving soon. Good luck everyone! xx

Thanks Star, Brenna and mpp for the warm welcome! And hi to everyone else! So yes I've been trying to conceive for 10 months but I did decide to go with my husband to have some tests done and all came back fine ... So I guess it's kind of a waiting game. But I decided to try an IUI next month and see what happens! Did you all have a good weekend? X

Hi all! Blimey lots to catch up...

Trixie hooray to getting a scratch in before your next cycle. Hopefully time won't move at a glacial pace like I know I it can do! And how lovely of you to plan the baby shower! If you feel overwhelmed at all we are all here!

Lucie hope you're having a fabulous time in Turkey and sunning yourself!

Itsme I'm glad there have been no headaches or mood swings!

Sammy it just hits you sometimes doesn't it? It's all I think about every day - i wish I didn't but it's so hard to switch off. Sometimes you need a good cry but I know how heart breaking it all is.

Banana good luck for Wednesday! Hope the Hycosy goes ok - presume you've had one before? How are your tummy rubs going?!

MPP welcome back!! And congratulations again! Glad you had a wonderful day and honeymoon!

Bellini welcome! Sorry you find yourself here. I was the same, though I would be upduffed after a few months I'm having IUI next month too!

Brenna amazing work on the muffins! Well done for raising so much! Sounds like you had a very productive weekend!

Not much news from me - still spotting but had temp drops so AF should be stating soon. Have my appointment next Friday - currently en route to my second acupuncture session!

Thanks guys. AF rocked up in the night/early this morning and scan is at 8.30 tomorrow. Should be ok. If not I guess they'll have me back Wednesday morning.

Banana - that's a good description. It really is like I open the floodgates sometimes! Tell me more about this Maya abdominal therapy? Sounds like it would go well with the woo acupuncture!
Also I can't believe that about your blasts. Imagine if you'd not tested and used all those Frosties. You might have given up when actually you never stood a chance. Geez.

MPP - welcome back!!!

Hi Bellini, welcome! Knowledgeable bunch here, you've come to the right place.

Star - good luck with testing.

Brenna - wow, that's a busy weekend! An allotment, how grown up!

MPP - you're off to Czech too. I think you're all very brave to go to another country for this. Although if we end up doing anything else privately then for the sake of my bank balance I may have to consider it!

Stealth - 12+2! That's seems to have gone fast... Although I appreciate not for you! Good luck for your scan

Maple - how did the Accupuncture go?

So I have my baseline scan in the morning. I'm all nervous and tearful this evening. It's stupid. I've had a million scans. They're not scary. Just.... Gahhh that we're all in this situation at all.

Finally started period so hopefully with the scan a week from now I can start stimming!

AF started for me today too!! It seems heavier which is good - wonder if the Pom juice / acupuncture helped?!

Sammy hope scan goes ok and you feel less tearful this morning?

Itsme hope your scan is ok next week and you get to crack on!

Thank you Maple, I'm in the waiting room now.
I'm ok, just nervous. I'm so used to things going wrong now that I kind of expect it if that makes sense? Plus AF is very light this month which is worrying.

My acupuncture lady is on holiday for the next two weeks (typicall), so I have a new one lined up. Sadly I have to pay £60 instead of £45 for the first appointment again... Not much I can do about it though. Xx

MPP congratulations and welcome back! Hope married life is treating you well and that you’ve had a fabulous break

Bellini welcome - this is a wonderful group, I’m sorry you find yourself here, but hope you will find it as supportive as I know we all do [flower]

itsme great news about AF - not long till downreg scan and then you’ll be rocking! Stimming goes sooooo quickly once you’ve started, you’ll be at EC before you know it. Excited for you!

lucie hope you are having a fab time sunning yourself and getting lots of R&R

Sammy good luck for scan - thinking of you. I can totally relate to scanxiety, it’s like ‘aaarrrgggghhhhh, what is it gonna show?!!!!’ Everything crossable crossed lovely xx

BTW, this Mayan Abdominal Therapy (google it if you want a laugh, it sounds like the most massive load of woowoo bollocks), if you strip all the ‘magic uterus aligning properties that will cure all known ills’ garble, basically seems to be some extra woowoo magical special tummy massage. Which I’m hoping will just help to stimulate blood flow to the uterus. Obv if it cures all known ills then bonus Much of the session seems to be about teaching you techniques to do self massage at home, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a more informed tummy rub, than just me randomly smushing things around for a couple of minutes!! I think she’s gonna try and make me do castor oil packs, which keep popping up on infertility forums: I fail to see how a soggy flannel is going to do anything, and it sounds like a right faff, so I may have to have selective hearing…!! Session booked in for Friday, I have the most ridiculous questionnaire to fill in before then

Brenna you’re a one-woman efficiency queen! Stem cell scientist by day, domestic goddess, horticultirist and part time vetinarian by night

Maple hurrah for AF! I haven’t actually had a HyCoSy before - because we rushed to IVF so ridiculously quickly, because all the tests suggested I was in borderline premature ovarian failure (no, we still haven’t figured out what was going on there, now I’m PCO again), we never tested my tubes. Although as the main purpose is the saline bit to look at the uterine cavity, the squirt up my tubes will be a bit of a bonus I guess

Star good luck for test date - thinking of you. My maxim is always ‘expect the worst, but hope for the best’ - although not sure how much of a mega PMA example I am! But hoping for you all the same

AFM, last day of Provera today, so tomorrow onwards it’s knicker watch, desperately hoping for signs of any sort of imminent period (not expecting anything, so prepared for plan A to be a total washout)

Dr obv thinks if it’s gonna show, it’ll show within a week, as my HyCoSy is booked in for a week’s time (28th) - which he says we’ll cancel if I’ve had a bleed before then. I’m then booked in to see him for a consult 2 days later to talk next steps

Ho hum.

Morning all!

Thanks Stealth. I'm keeping everything crossed for the exam results. They're due mid July and while I didn't stress too much while we were away, I've found myself thinking about it rather alot the last few days! I'm so glad everything is going well for you! Exciting that your scan is so close but I imagine it's also quite nerve wracking! Best of luck for it!

ispalts Goodles luck for your appointment next week. It always feels good to get things moving.

Bellini and Maple ooooh, iui next month! Exciting for you both, and you'll be able to compare experiences together. Everything crossed for you both!

Maple Thanks for the congrats! How did you find the acupuncture?

Sammy I hope the scan has gone well! Sucks about your acupuncture lady being away though but I can see why you'd use a different one. It would maybe seem like a waste of the previous appointments if you didn't keep them up now? The idea of Czech makes me nervous to be fair, as I'd much rather be here and know I could physically go and ask any questions/get help with any issues, but the price difference makes a massive difference to us. Here we could afford one or maybe two goes whereas there we could afford 3. A no brainer. I'm not really looking forward to it though, especially the logistics of how/when to book flights. I'm hoping to pick the brains of those who've been already when the time approaches and I STILL haven't joined the Czech group that Lucie keeps telling me about.

Fab news Itsme! Hopefully all will proceed right on schedule for you!

Banana I am absolutely loving married life! I'm still telling anyone and everyone who'll listen about our wedding and honeymoon. I just can't believe it all flew by so fast! Mayan Abdominal Therapy! That sounds... interesting! I'm going to go and have a Google once I've written this post! I'm giggling at soggy flannels! Fingers crossed for AF for you! :)

I hope this helps Banana. This sentence made me laugh "Brenna you’re a one-woman efficiency queen! Stem cell scientist by day, domestic goddess, horticultirist and part time vetinarian by night." Mainly I am just tired and crabbit.

Only 3 days until my blood draw. Then a month to results. But a lovely holiday in between. I am focussing on that right now.