Hello ladies 
Right, I am back on UK soil with working internet! I can actually get involved again 
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Vap - I don't want to jinx things but I have heard many similar stories to those told by banana's friends. Best of luck on Friday. I appreciate it must feel like such a long time away 
. How far along are you? Hopefully it is just your body adjusting as you get further along with your pregnancy.
As for NCT classes, I don't know much about them at all but it sounds as though they may be the better bet!
NewLeaf - What's happening with the wrist? I hope it's doing a little better. How miserable!
Not long until your UK appointment! Hopefully you'll have a better idea then about what to do for the best.
As for sex selection, personally I think it's a step too far. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way if I hadn't battled infertility and the desperation to have ANY healthy baby! I remember in the conception board a few months ago some idiot girl posted about how she had "2/3 boys* and wanted a girl" and "was there anything [she] could do to make sure [she] had a baby girl".
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- I can't remember if she had 2 or 3 boys. She didn't have 2/3rds of a boy though. The thread nearly irritated me as much as the "I'm heartbroken my husband won't have a 4th child and am thinking of leaving him" idiot.
Banana - What's happening with the hcG? How did the scan go? I hope it's all good news.
Lily - How was your holiday week? Did you get up to much? Hope you've managed to relax a little.
Science - How are you doing lovely? You've really had a ton of bricks thrown at you lately. You're doing so well to be keeping your head above water (even if it maybe feels like you're now!).
AFM, the holiday was lovely and relaxing. We were literally terrorised by small children and babies though! After I last posted, the next day we went and found a secluded spot on the beach where we could both be moody and just switch off and read read read. Anyway, in the morning a family of six (bizarrely all dressed in white linen clothes) came over with a professional photographer and did posed photos for an hour+. Fine. Whatever. Then that afternoon the same photographer came back with a young couple and took a load of "arty" photos of the mother breast-feeding while looking into the ocean. FFS. Jog on love. Then on the flight home we got stuck next to a screaming baby...and to top it all off, when DH put his seat slightly back at 2am when all the lights were off, this angry chav told him to put it forward immediately as her partner was "massive" and couldn't fit in the space. It turned out he wasn't massive at all, but they had some form of child (probably around 6YO) sitting on his lap the whole time rather than on his own seat! Obviously they couldn't be considerate enough and just pay for a seat with extra leg room, as all their money had to go on duty free cigarettes (that's not me being an arsehole: they genuinely had bags full of cigs, booze etc). Also, clearly both their children (the 6ish YO and another one around 7/8ish) should have been at school for the past few weeks when they were clearly abroad on holiday in the Caribbean.
Sadly IVF is now on hold for the foreseeable future. I am so angry! To cut a very long story short (being the same story about various CCG's refusing to fund me and being passed from pillar to post) it's all been put on hold indefinitely (well, until someone who has some sort of authority agrees we can actually proceed! FFS!). We couldn't have gone away at a better time, as I genuinely think I may have had a nervous breakdown given how events unfolded just before we went away.
Where we're at now, in short, is we're looking to do a round of IVF on the NHS, but as that may take months (or even a year+!!!) before they allow this, we're also looking at doing IVF privately abroad this year. Although we haven't fully researched it yet, we're mostly looking at the Czech Republic (probably Gennet). I am over the moon, as DH had previously refused to consider going abroad. Anyway, we've booked some time off in July and we're going to decide whether to have a holiday-holiday (i.e. someone hot and relaxing, probably in Europe) or whether to have an IVF-holiday (i.e. go out for a week or so and do a little casual sight-seeing, but also relaxing and then doing IVF somewhere away from our everyday stressful life). Although it will probably work out roughly the same cost-wise, I sort of resent spending £6,500 going abroad and seeing a new city and staying in a nice hotel less than spending the same amount at the "local" clinic where I'd be battling to get to appointments around work commitments (and if I take time off work, the travel is an hour and a half each way to the clinic!).
In other news, DH has agreed to "back down" and start the adoption process on our 4th anniversary (i.e. July 2017). As he'd originally said he wouldn't consider it for another 5+ years (!) that's a massive move in a positive direction.
In other MASSIVE news (although this is way down the line...like 5 years down the line) we've sort of decided to move to Australia!!! If we have children, we may reconsider this plan (for the sole reason that we want them to grow up with their grandparents & aunts & uncles relatively nearby) but if we don't, then we're pretty determined to move there for two/three years (or even permanently!). It's so nice to focus on a goal which is vaguely in our control (Flat sits back and allows you to make your amateur psychologist remarks right now...).
So all in all, if you ignore the fact I'm still no closer to motherhood, I'm feeling a bit more upbeat . Sorry for the massive unload - that's two weeks' worth of beach-side contemplation vomited onto this thread grin].