I painstaking read back through the thread for assisted conception and feisty and forties and made notes in a notepad on my pc without saving it. Just as I got to the final bit my pc updated something, the screen went blue and the only bit to be lost was what I had been doing for mumsnet chums!
So, because it is late and I can?t face going back over it again, I will just say hello to any new people, please tell me more about agnus castus (anyone who can), all best luck for the lovely people on the two week wait, congrats to those who have just got positives and sorry for those who have got negatives. I think I do know exactly who you all are but I don?t want to risk making a mistake! I am thinking of my chocobunny pal for tomorrow and I am posting the same thing on both threads so Kiwi, please ignore one!
Long post, only read if you are interested.
Sadly, our fertility treatment with donor eggs, did not work. The embryos I named Emerald and Laurel did not hang on and the test was negative.
I did the test on Friday at Spring Harvest (an Easter Christian event at Butlins, yes, I know it sounds odd but it is amazing). Before I went away I had been quite positive and in a totally mad way was even hoping for it to be two of them. But once I got away a kind of calm resignation seemed to settle and I could almost imagine it being a negative result. I got up on Friday, after a pretty restless night, desperate for a pee and did the test. It was negative. I felt very sad, cried a bit, went back to bed and cried a bit more.
Spring Harvest has a 'pastoral' team, which means they are counsellors but don?t really counsel you, they just listen and pray for you. So DH and I went to see them. It was a bit like a French farce, I popped my head in the door and they could see us straight away, which I wasn?t expecting! I needed the loo and was about to head off when they said they had a loo and showed me to it, I was trying to text DH to say come to the pastoral chalet now and he called to say I still had DD's coat and then I had to go and give him the coat and left my phone in the loo. It was a bit of hilarity in an otherwise sad situation. I said to the pastoral team, do you want to know our problem? They said no. We went to the room and I toyed with the idea of pretending DH had been having an affair, but decided to stick to the truth! The lady we got had worked for 20 years in adoption services so was just the right person for us. She was kind and helpful and we chatted and then she prayed. I used up a lot of tissues and then we left.
Through the day and the following couple of days, while I waited to re-do the test, I felt a kind of resignation.
I felt very close to God as we sang songs about being God's friend, and I felt kind of lifted up above the situation. It is hard to describe and I really hope I don't come down to earth with a bump. My sister described me as resilient, and I hope I am but I hope on a deep level I am also accepting this, I don't want to feel sorry for myself, even though I think I have the 'right' to if I want!
Also, I guess the fact we do have DD already makes it easier to bear and the fact that DH is open to adopting makes it easier. I did ask the clinic about donor embryos but they are even rarer than eggs, and the wait could be two years. I think we have our answer. If we were younger or richer or did not have a child, or perhaps all three, I would definitely press on, but now I do feel resigned to it. I am sad, still, and a bit raw. It is hard to explain to people. I know we are lucky to have DD but that does not totally take away the pain of this failing and so it is hard to explain to people how it feels. I am still glad we did it, glad we waited a year and glad we spent the £5K. I would not want to have not tried but I do just feel very sad, still, that it failed.
I am now getting excited about the prospect of not having to have fertility treatment and looking into adoption. But I will probably harbour a secret fantasy for the next few months that I will miraculously get pregnant by myself (well, not totally by myself!).
I am planning a book about the whole fertility road, maybe it will also include adoption if we get that far, maybe I will never get it published! I have already got the title, I think it will be to do with hamsters, guinea pigs or rabbits... note to self, must get DD a pet!
This all sounds quite jolly and the reality is that if I think about it for too long I could feel quite bitter. But I don?t want to feel like that. There is enough sadness in the world. I am sure given time it will all feel better. God has been a source of joy to me while away and continues to be with me in this.
Best wishes to you all. I will lurk a bit longer probably and then find a new thread for adoption.