Assisted conception (and the bits in between!) - part 3 - all welcome

[Caitni]

Right ladies, time for a new thread.

And a big welcome to everyone . Here's to many more success stories and healthy pregnancies!

That's such a kind message, thanks so much. It is very good to know that the injections aren't as bad as I fear they might be! I am going to go back and read the thread from the beginning now so that I can catch up with everyone's stories.

Onlyaphase my heart sank when I saw your post, Im so sorry af turned up. You sound definite, but Im going to keep hoping for you anyway.. its def not implantation bleed? Have you tested yet? I don?t know what else to say except I will come and visit you for sure.

Roseca - think I would ring my gp just to get a bit of reassurance

Islegrin ? not really qualified to say much yet as its my first cycle, but you?ve had some great advice from the others. Bend like a reed is a good philosophy though, you really do have to let go and hand control over to the experts. If you can take a few days off around EC and ET it helps take the pressure off. I waited 4 months to start ivf so that I could time it with my holidays and so far in some ways Ive found it less stressful than the iuis in terms of getting to scans etc. Best of luck for your appointment on 25th.

Bumpless ? best of luck for scan today, hope those follies have been listening xx

Hi Horton and welcome. Please do not be scared of the injections, I do know how you are feeling but they really aren?t as bad you think they will be. It sounds as if you will be suitable for iui on a natural cycle. I had natural cycle iui treatment when I was 39 and conceived my son on the 2nd treatment It was quite straightforward really. When your period starts you book scan for around cd8. You may have another scan a few days later then you do one injection (just one, the needles they use are really thin and small, and its over in seconds) to trigger ovulation and 36hrs later you both go to clinic, he does his bit, then the washed sperm put into your womb by catheter. It?s a bit like a smear test and over in a few mins. As Islegrin said, some people are prescribed drugs like Clomid first to stimulate the follicles before triggering ovulation ? but it sounds like you are ovulating naturally. I had 2 more iuis this year, like you we are ttc our 2nd, but Im 41 now and dh?s swimmers aren?t so tip top so we are currently on an icsi cycle.

Still on 2ww, think Im going a bit nuts. Been reading Zita West book and wish I had got hold of it two weeks ago.. now worrying as im getting crampy pmty feelings like af is coming am trying to stay busy and hopeful. Having another shiatsu today as Zita says implantation takes place 7 days after ET (seems a bit late but she is the boss..)

Full moon tonight ladies, supposedly very good for conception! moonbeams to you all xx

Hi bluebell, I don't know if you've been pregnant before or not, but when I was pregnant I had dreadful cramps before finding out. I was quite weirded out as I never usually have cramps with periods.

I have read the whole thread now, and may I just say what a lovely bunch you are. I laughed and cringed at the stories about everyone's horribly fertile friends - I've had a few moments like that, too.

Welcome to the thread Horton i agree with you everyone is nice on this thread and you will find that we are all at different stages in our treatment reaching our ultimate goal a BFP and bouncing bundle of joy and a few of us you will find i.e. myself and onlyaphase ready to commit a crime and end up in prison (only kidding) so if you wanna visit us to keep us sane or share your thoughts feel free.

Cant remember who was going on about Cyclogest and bottom burping etc but yes i suffered with that too it wasnt very nice am wondering if it is anything to do with the coating of veggie fat on the hormone.

still have a light AF but am not unduly worried about it, am waiting till friday and if it hasnt cleared up will defo be ringing RMU to seek their advice as i dont think that the GP will be really clued up on the after effects not really their area of expertise is it besides i dont really want to go to GP surgery incase anyone there is suffering with swine flu last thing that i want to be worrying about.

Has anyone tried making my mocha cup cakes yet?

Hi folks!

OAP you sound like you are doing an amazing job of getting into a good mental place. The 'it wasn't our cycle' head is sooooo much better than 'we're doomed and everything's awful', although incredibly hard to manage to get into it. I'm baking you a cake with a file and a turkey baster in it so you can choose whether to comfort eat, escape or carry on TTC from your prison cell - in fact, I think I'll use Roseca 's mocha cupcake recipe so we know it's the good stuff.

Hi Horton and welcome to the thread. I went straight to IVF from clomid and bypassed IUI so I don't have any insights to offer I'm afraid, but lots of ladies here can help you through it, and I can confirm that the injections in IVF are not the worst bit, so I bet they're not with IUI either, despite seeming like a nightmare. Good luck!

Bluebell hang in there! The cramps sound like a particularly mean and scary example of the is it AF / is it BFP school of ambiguous symptoms. Hope you're managing to chill out...

So Bumpless is clearly full to the brim of hormones and no longer in control of her emotions. Scan today was good, 3 follies ready to go and in fact the (lovely) scanner lady found a 4th that's rapidly catching up - and then had her morning complicated by me dissolving into floods of tears in her examining room and having to sort me out. Got it together to go back out and then did exactly the same thing in the meeting with the nurse when she told me that we were ready for EC on Friday. I seem to have got to the end of being able to cope with the nerves and relief at every stage! Still, it's wonderful to have almost reached the point of actually having some eggs, which I honestly didn't think we'd manage again, so it's all good. What a shame I can't have a lovely cool delicious fragrant glass of chilled white wine, right now that would exactly hit the spot...

Hugs to everyone

thanks for your messages. Today have achy legs and lower back, headache and cramping, just like I do every month before af arrives I know its not over for definate until af arrives but the signs are not looking good for this month. Will keep you posted.

I've got everything crossed for you Bluebell . You're right that it's not over yet... sending you loads of burrowing, growing, sticking vibes and a big hug. When do you test?

Thanks Bumpless. Am booked in for blood test Monday. Its really early for af to arrive its only cd26 today..

Best of luck bumpless for your EC tomorrow.

Bluebell, my clinic gave me a leaflet which I can't find now, but to paraphrase it said that it is more common than not including when IVF has worked to experience all the usual pre-period symptoms in the days leading up to your pregnancy test.

I know it is pointless to say this, but please try not to worry about this.

Bumpless, good luck with EC tomorrow. Still haven't got my cake yet though?? Shoddy postal service around here!

What is EC, please? But best of luck anyway, Bumpless, despite my ignorance!

EC= Egg Collection and ET= Egg transfer for IVF.

Bumpless - what round of IVF is this for you? Best of luck on your EC!!!

Anyone else beginning stimming in late August?

Thanks, islegrin.

Good luck, Bumpless, hope all goes well.

Hi girls

The scores on the doors are 2 eggs from 4 follicles - not exactly best in show, but not disqualified yet either. Poor DH had a bit of a time, as they zonked me out much more than last time so he had me sparko next to him, no-one telling him anything and all the other women coming out fairly awake and knowing how many eggs they had got. He knew the couple in the cubicle next door had got 12 eggs half an hour before we knew we had 2. So he was imagining that we hadn't got any and that I'd wake up and he'd have to tell me... poor love. Anyway, have slept all afternoon and had acu so feel better. We have to go back for ET tomorrow, apparently no point in hanging around if there aren't enough to weed out the weak ones so they want them straight back in there. This means we'll already be on the train to London when we get the call about whether any have fertilised, so I'm praying we don't have to just turn around and come back again!

Do any of you have any knowledge of assisted hatching? We didn't do it last time because the embryologist said there was no evidence of a harder shell, but I've regretted it ever since so wanted to do it this time as a precaution. But I don't know whether it's appropriate for such early embryos anyway. Methinks some googling needed...

OAP , how's it going? still bleeding? Any tests? Hope you're managing to hang on to your fantastic philosophical attitude, which as you can see I'm doing my best to learn from... Sorry you haven't got your cake - I can only imagine that the postman also has a pregnant SIL and a DP in the cells, and has pinched it. I'm making you another one, this time how do you fancy a chocolate brownie cake with walnuts and candied orange pieces and bitter chocolate icing? And some of Roseca's cupcakes on the side to bribe prison guards with too. And I'll throw in a corkscrew along with the turkey baster and file as you might want to throw a party in there to distract attention.

Bluebell OAP is right (she has a habit of being right quite often, I've noticed...) that all these symptoms could be very good as well as very bad. It's incredibly hard to do, but the only thing you can do is look after yourself and wait and see... Everything's crossed for you, only 3 days to go now! Have you got a nice distracting/relaxing weekend planned?

Islegrin do I detect some wanting to get on with the next phase? I bet you do! I didn't get put on a downregging protocol but can imagine it's a bit of an odd time... Hope you get some lovely cycle buddies to go through it with, it does help. This is my 3rd cycle - first one was abandoned after 10 days of stimming, second one looked good but no implantation, we'll see if we get over the final hurdle this time.

Ailz I'm missing you, don't know if you're away or just having time out but hope all's well and we get your lovely sparkle back on here soon!

LL how's it going? any luck with the carpal tunnel treatment? Hope you're getting a sweet little bump to show off. I don't know if you're a slogan T-shirt girl, but a friend of mine had twins last year and she had funky maternity T-shirt, in black, with silver writing that said 'You can't scare me, I'm having twins' which I always thought was brilliant!

Off to lie on the sofa and send fertilising thoughts southwards...

Evening ladies

Just a quick one as have dinner on the stove...

Bumpless well done on EC! Hope those two eggs are getting suitably jiggy with your DH's swimmers . I'll pop in over the weekend to see how you get on. I bet the acu was good after EC - wish I'd thought of that. I know very little about assisted hatching but I think it's only for blasts at day 6 - I think embryos don't start to hatch until the end of the blastocyst stage...

Bluebell good luck with testing - the last few days are so nerve wracking. I had no symptoms bar cramping (I never get cramping) so was convinced it hadn't worked and my clinic kept banging on about how pre-AF symptoms are effectively the same as pre-BFP symptoms...

Lottie ouch about the CTS! My sister had that with her second pregnancy and it did disappear after the birth. But she had months of splits, painkillers to cope with the keyboard at work so I'm sorry to hear you're suffering too.

OAP sorry to hear it didn't work out this time. You sound in a good place mentally though, which I admire you for.

Islegrin bend like a reed - probably the best piece of advice for embarking on IVF! I was really inspired by Lottie's advice of being in the now, as I could see how it helped her get through her cycle. It's hard, and at times I certainly wasn't, but it really helped me to try and go with the flow and realise that I wasn't in charge of how my body was responding etc

Waves to everyone else - hope you're all well.

Not much new with me - we've booked another scan for tomorrow as I'm convinced the baby's stopped growing (irrational, as have no reason to suspect it). I'm over 10 weeks now and am glad to have stopped the cyclogest (had to throw out a load of knickers wrecked by the cyclogest discharge-y stuff!). I somehow thought that once I was pregnant all would be well but I've actually been more anxious since getting the positive result . Time to start bending like a reed I reckon!

Hi everyone!
thanks bumpless. i dont know what happened to me really. i think i just wanted to stop thinking about it all for a while, plus i was really busy with home stuff, all combined. i am not unhappy, just needed to shake out the cobwebs or something. I have been testing the water, telling people that i am having trouble getting pregnant, just to see their reaction. i dont know whether any of you ladies have done this. you know the breezy, well-meaning, questions 'so are you going to have another one then?' and i am so sick of saying 'oh yes one day when we are ready'. i dont know why i say that. i am exhausted from saying that, so i tried it out on a mum i know. i dont know here REALLY well. but i just got quite a shocked look in reply. and 'oh'. so i think i might be back to saying 'yes, we will have another when we are ready' until i come up with another one!
Anyway, i have not read all the posts above, just glanced through and I am going to read them now, so tarraaahhhhh x

Ailz, I always say 'Yes, I'd love to have another but I'm rubbish at getting pregnant' and then laugh. It certainly stops people asking twice! The laugh (if you can possibly manage it) does help to defuse the 'I have just dumped a load of my emotional shit all over you' element.

How long have you been trying? My DD is nearly three and we've been trying since she was born, more or less.

Carpal tunnel sounds horrid, lottie. Hope the splints and codeine help a bit. Codeine sounds bloody marvellous. I had no idea you could take that when pregnant.

I'm sure he is right! Was just thinking I must remember you can take codeine for my (hopefully) next pregnancy as I had bloody awful backache last time and codeine would have gone down a treat!

And enjoy those scans. I'd have as many as possible - they are so much fun, so lovely to see those little arms and legs wibbling about.