Yam Fam!

[Chooklass]

Yammers thread 9!

Yammer rules:

A safe place for those of you who have been trying to conceive for 6+ months and even yams aren’t helping. Come and have a good ol’ bitch and a moan without judgement. Please read the rules before posting!

The Yam Commandments are as follows;

• Thou shalt not arrive one day and post BFP next day

• Thou shalt not give advice to others when TTC for one month only

• Thou shalt not participate in one-up-manship and realise TTC is shit for everyone in different ways

• Thou shall allow posters to be fucked off with the world and everything in it at regular points in the month

• Thou shalt not be offended by strong language

• Thou shalt not tell everyone to eat yams

• Thou shall accept being called a muppet for testing at 7dpo at 9pm at night

• Thou shalt not symptom spot during the two week wait and must be prepared for a telling off if you do so.

-Thou shalt not post pictures of positive pregnancy tests. We will be delighted to hear about it but no photos, please and thank you

@Booksandbaths1 and @Pinkemi - good luck with all the injecting! I suspect I'll be going down that road soon so am following your journeys with interest/ trepidation!

Thanks for the "good lucks" everyone. :-)

@Booksandbaths1 thanks! Good luck to you too! I haven't dared venture to the IVF conversations on this board... mainly because I think if i read up too much about it.. I'm just going to stress myself out worrying about it all. Just want to potter along nicely and not stress.. you know? Already pretty terrified of egg collection (react really badly to sedation etc) so i think reading up about other peoples experiences might push me over the edge. haha

So far it hasn't been too bad.. but Im sure that will change tomorrow when i start taking the other injections.. and then next week when the scan appointments start.

I'm just praying that my egg collection day wont be the same day as the day Im meant to be a bridesmaid!! Keeping my fingers crossed that my body is reacting in the way it should.. so egg collection will probably be next week Friday!

Like @Looking I also check in time to time to see how you're all doing.

@maddiie glad to hear you finally got a straight answer. If it helps, I'm PCOS + hypothalamic dysfunction and they got me to ovulate on the lowest dose of letrozole. They have many weapons in their arsenal! xxx

Good luck to everyone taking injections - I take my hat off to you! (I have to turn away and not look when they take blood from me!)

@Pinkemi I made a chart, stuck it on the fridge and ticked off each injection. It helped me see how far we'd come and also how little we had to go.

Honestly the egg collection wasn't that bad. I was a bit bruised afterwards, one of my ovaries had migrated up during treatment and had to me "encouraged" back into position. But the actual procedure was fine.

Good luck to you too @Booksandbaths1

@BGDino Ive been really surprised with myself actually on how well i have been doing.. But then tomorrow morning will be the test.. coz they are proper injections. The ones ive been taking so far are like a pen with a really really thin needle on them. SCARED! lol

@Si1ver is it strange to say that I feel more scared for how i react to the sedation than to the procedure itself? Honestly when i come round from anaesthetic, I am normally screaming! Its a horrible feeling. Actually thats a lie.. I dont want to be awake for it.. I hope they give me a high dose! I'm such a wimp. haha

I would love to make a chart for the fridge but I cant. Our family or friends have a habit of randomly popping in sometimes and I dont want to run the risk of someone finding out! My meds are in the fridge in an amazon box with the words "birthday present.. don't look!" on it! Does anyone elses family do that? Come round and look in the fridge for something to eat. haha

I think I have quite a short protocol.. about 12-14 days of Injections.. and then they will put the eggs in on day 3 or day 5 depending on how they are progressing (or how many we collect.) Big chance of not being able to collect any apparently.

@Si1ver For egg transfer day... did you go back to work after? I'm trying to work out if I should take the whole day off as a sick day/ hospital day.

I didn't no, I was abroad though remember.

I woke up, had something to eat and drink at the clinic. Then I got the tram back to where we were staying stopped and got coffee and read my book then spent the afternoon asleep. I felt a bit woozy and bruised. I also had had some very nice painkillers. I think I'd be aiming to take that day off if I was you.

@Si1ver ah i forgot you were abroad.

Its so hard to plan! I keep just getting "well it could be this day" or "it could be that day." why is nothing ever simple!? haha

It's hard and you do need to be flexible. Things change during your protocol. If you don't respond well they'll push your EC back, which impacts your entire cycle. My EC was pushed back by three days to give my eggs extra time to mature.

Equally if you respond well things are escalated.

The best thing to do is plan as little as possible (so easy when you have no life things happening like weddings and work) and just go with the flow instead. You should have definite time frames three days ahead of anything happening.

Reporting for duty, glad everyone is still hanging in there. Best of luck to those starting IVF, sounds really tough. The joys of Yammerhood huh?

Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm pregnant. Going to buy more sticks to pee on, had period type pains on and off since Saturday and more consistently the last few days. I get bad luteal spotting (@Chooklass thank you for all your conversation about it and that thread link, very interesting), and on Saturday I had a proper gush of red amongst the usual spotting from about 5-6DPO. Since then it's lightened up and tapered off completely. I don't temp anymore, so I could be anywhere DPO wise tbh. If I base it on my last cycle then I'm about 14/15 DPO. Rather terrified this will be short lived. It's hard not to dream about 8 months down the line you know

@maddiie I am a fellow PCOS sufferer. I had two wonky cycles earlier in the year but still not too bad by PCOS standards, a 42 and a 48. Otherwise I ranged from 24-34 ish. I think I was ovulating mostly too albeit luteal spotting had always been there since TTC. My skin got terrible after those two cycles, lots of cystic acne that was very painful.

I am on 1500mg metformin, started at the beginning of August (cranking up weekly by 500mg). My skin is so good again now, I still have scars but no more nasty cysts. I also had a hycosy this cycle. Not sure if either of those have helped but I feel like they must have. PCOS sufferers have a higher risk of miscarriage so I am keen to stay on my met for that reason and I would recommend you ask for it too. My GP did prescribe it but some won't and want the Consultant doing it.

@Owlpatrol do you think he's burying his head in the sand? My DH has ASD and isn't overly sexual so I was rather worried about him, he didn't want to talk about it and got quite annoyed about me reminding him but to give him his dues he went and did it last week.

Eeeeek @OrcinusOrca!!! Got everything crossed for you! Have you tested?!

I did, a blue dye as it was all I had, hence wanting to try a FRER or maybe a digi. Keep rushing to the loo for a knicker check too

@OrcinusOrca omg how exciting a yammer graduate so close! I'm eagerly watching your updates as I too have been cramping and need to hold onto every glimmer of hope. Yes i definately think dp is burying his head in the sand it's a tough one but I'm going to have to get tough soon because it's ridiculous now he's not being tested, but he's a sensitive type lol but they have to all get over it. Like we do when we go for smear tests!

Ps I am shamefully doing an ic in the morning I'm only 9dpo but hey the struggle is real

I am officially pregnant. That's four sticks I've peed on or dunked. Accidentally got a first response rapid result and the line isn't as dark as I hoped but apparently they're not that sensitive. Got 1-2 weeks on a digi too. Think I'm in shock. Very scared it will all be over in the blink of an eye.

@Owlpatrol I've had cramps since at least Saturday which was about 10DPO (am guessing my spotting started on 6DPO as it usually does around then), and I had the big red gush then too. I've had niggles on and off since then but it basically always feels like FP is about to start, it just didn't. No other signs at all!

Congratulations @OrcinusOrca!

Fingers crossed that you have a super boring and uneventful nine months.

Yay!!! Congrats @OrcinusOrca! So happy our new thread has started positively . Got everything crossed for you!

Agree with those who mentioned diet and lifestyle changes in regards to PCOS. Here is some good background research info as well: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cen.13288/full
Fertility: fertilityresearchandpractice.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40738-015-0003-4
This is something you may also consider reviewing with your healthcare provider or a Registered Dietitian.

And congrats @OrcinusOrca !!

Eeek congratulations @OrcinusOrca so pleased to see a yammer bfp this gives us all so much hope

Congrats!! Very happy for you!

On a side note.. i just had a mini melt down. Spent the past hour or so sobbing. These meds...urgh!

Thanks so much ladies. Feel incredibly lucky.

Oh @Pinkemi one of my friends had IVF and said it was so much harder than she thought, she found the injections really tough and how they affected her mood. Have you got anything planned for the weekend that you can look forward to?

I feel like a bundle of nerves. One minute im happy and then next im sobbing. Just had a call with my DM and got annoyed because she told me to calm down... so i called my DH to have a moan.. and ended up sobbing down the phone because it felt like he was having a go at me. (In reality he wss just trying to help.)

Im worrying about messing work round too much i think. So hard.

Nothing fun planned for weekend. Meant to go see family on sunday but i just wanna hide from everyone.

Your workplace won't remember you for having time out a month or two down the line, it's always forgotten about. I had quite a few medical appts the last few months (not just fertility stuff) and everyone has totally forgotten about it. People only notice in the moment when they need you.

Will going out help or do you need a weekend to mope? I love a mope. I get a bit aggy by mid afternoon though so I tend to go out in the morning and do something (even the grocery shop or to get a coffee) and then continue my mope later on. You're entitled to lock yourself away if you want to, don't beat yourself up. Being a yammer is SO hard, there are times I couldn't even come on the thread because I felt so crap I needed to bury my head.

@OrcinusOrca Well luckily the time i might need off is in half term week.. so they are expecting it to be quiet. Just spoken to my boss about my "medical appointment" and have taken a day off on the monday for when it is expected.. but have told her that it could be later on that week and that i will work back any time owed. She seemed to accept it.. so thats a MASSIVE weight off my shoulders!

The weekend I dunno.. My mum really wants me to go over to hers to hang out with her but part of me just feels like I want to mope at home. But I dont want to upset her either..

My DH thinks I should just be honest and say that I dont feel great (im still coughing my guts.. dunno how i DONT have a chest infection according to the doctor) and need the time to just relax at home. I dunno.. we will see.

@Pinkemi - treat yourself to a weekend of hibernating with Netflix and PJs if that's what you need. It's really important to put yourself first while going through all this, I reckon.

Oooh weekend with Netflix and pjs sounds good!
@OrcinusOrca was there anything that made you take a test?
I tested today bfn but I'm only 9dpo shameful!