Anyone else just starting their journey ?

[TTC73]

DH is going for his sperm sample to be tested today and hes so nervous and the GP wants me to have some blood tests done and swabs at a later date. So nervous of what to expect and terrified of the possibility of IVF I've heard its so painful ?
We've been trying to have a baby for over 3yrs with 2 chemical pregnancies so far

Good luck @LopeyLopez, I have my fingers crossed for you xxx

Thanks all. Injection was fine if a bit of a faff: have to mix one ampule water with two powders and suck the liquid back and forth between different containers.... i'm a chemist anyway so I'm sure I'll get used to it! Reminds me of working in research labs again....!

Today I feel fine if a little off my food / slight nausea when I do eat. But this could be great news as I eat far too much anyway!! Yay - bonus weight loss!!! Lol! After getting up at 6am with toddler, then running 8k this morning, then doing the weekly shop with toddler in tow...I was still not hungry. This is a revelation for me and totally unusual. It must be the drugs. Anyway I will have to be careful to actually remember to eat as I don't think starvation can be good for egg quality...!

Onwards and upwards, positive thoughts, etc; onto injection 2 tonight xxx

@cariad: I'm a march birthday too! And my dad! Would love another family birthday at this time ❤️

Hi ladies can I join you? Hi lopey and cariad 🙋 nice to have some familiar faces.

I'm 35, ttc #2 for 25 cycles now, and infertility is unexplained. All tests have come back fine. I had a polyp removed in November that should have helped but 6 months later and no joy. I've had two chemicals in the last 3 months (including the one just gone) which is a bit of a worry.

We'll be starting ivf on a long cycle in August, I'm at risk of hyper stimulation so it will be a frozen transfer hopefully. So two more cycles to keep trying until then. Seriously limiting alcohol and trying to exercise/eat well to prepare us for ivf. We're neither of us overweight but i think its made us complacent on the exercise front - must remember its about fitness and health not just weight.

lopey I see you guys are starting the treatment, massive good luck to you i really hope you're successful. Hope the injections aren't too awful. Nice work on the 8k run!

X

Hi @catren 👋 Sorry you've ended up here too but good that you're being proactive and getting things moving.

I've been running loads the last few months, more for stress relief than anything else. I haven't lost any weight with it at all! But I feel better and "firmer"! I just eat too much unfortunately....!

lopey I had the same when i was training for the half marathon - I firmed up and stayed the same weight, which was annoying! And I'm definitely eating too much at the moment, argh! I should start running again, it really is a good stress reliever huh. How are you feeling with the treatment today?

Hope you saw this, people:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/18/how-ivf-became-a-licence-to-print-money?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Well 7!days down and 7 days to wait until period arrives. Finding the wait tough this month. SIL has just given birth to a beautiful unplanned little boy and I’ve been inundated with pictures etc. I’m obviously pleased for her but it stings a little. Some other crap distance relative that I’ve not seen for years came to a family gathering yesterday and announced that I should get a move on with kids seen as I am 30! FFS why do people say such insensitive things or am I being over sensisitive?

I wish I had the balls to tell people outright we are struggling but instead I just feel like I am carrying around a great big dirty secret. Trying my hardest not to symptom spot as it just leads to disappointment.

@lopey good luck on your next stage.

@thisisour I reduced my hours at work last year in the hope it would reduce stress and I would get pregnant. NOPE. Going back to full time this year. Might as well as more money if I can’t have a baby!

Got my blood test on Thursday then we finally get answers on the 2nd !! Can't wait. Even if it is bad news it'll be a relief to know at last

@MrsJones i know i have to watch money now im used to spending and not really paying attention to my bank account not nemore lol no its not u being sensitive sorry but some ppl are prats imo why are they soo nosey and insensitive i get it all the bloody time..well we know ur not having/wanting kids i actually said to my sister a few mnths ago well u dnt know everything when she was joking about it. Ur right its like a weird secret sick of it! @TTC73 gd luck with ur results hun my bloods are next thurs

@TTC73 good luck with you test. I've got my 'day 21' blood test on Thursday aswell! Just hope I've timed it right this time as my cycles are irregular!

@catren, treatment ok so far, thank you. Injections are easy. Feeling very tired and lethargic but that could just be a normal Monday feeling for me.....😂

Gosh that article in the Guardian that someone posted is revealing....and very depressing. Only 21% of ivf cycles lead to a live birth....isn't that less than natural pregnancy where both parties are healthy and under 35? Thought that was around 25-33%? So that result for ivf is rubbish: with all the assistance that it gives; with the only thing left to chance implantation; it makes me feel very miserable indeed.

Decided I should probably stop ruminating on this cycle too much and just take it as it comes....if it works it works but if not, oh well; it was statistically likely not to anyway. Obviously this is harder said than done!!

Sorry for moaning and being negative. I'm just not feeling very positive at all. All the stats are against me.

@Lopey stats are always depressing for ttc like u said healthy couple 25% and millions of ppl still manage to get pregnant soo dnt let it get u down 💪

Hi ladies, can I join too? I've never posted before but would love to talk with people in the same boat. I'm 33, my husband is 34 & we're in our 15th month trying. We have male factor sub-fertility & have been advised to try ICSI. Currently waiting for results of my husband's 2nd semen analysis - if it's as before we will contact a clinic.

Welcome to the newbies, sorry you're here but at least we're all going through this crap together. I had my HyCoSy yesterday, it was totally fine, just a bit cramppy and I was fine after it. My tubes are clear, although the left one was a bit sluggish but the dye went through fine in the end. We have our 1st NHS fertility appointment today. Hopefully there is time to ask questions and get some idea of if we should keep trying or go for IVF. I'll be 36 in by the time we would get IVF on the NHS so I'm trying to get my head around going private if we need it.

I've recently been listening to the fertility podcast, it's been really informative, it highlights a lot male infertility which is barely looked into.

@LopeyLopez glad the injections are ok.

@LillyLeaf thats gd news but frustrating that ur not gettin newhere.. @EstrellaMay welcome👋💜

Thanks!

@LillyLeaf I hope your first NHS appt goes well. Probably daunting going in, hope they are pleasant. I must try that podcast.

So my appointment was ok. Nothing seems to be wrong, so unexplained. Not really sure what to take from it. The waiting list for IVF is 9 months! So we just need to decide how long to keep trying before we go private. If I knew there was no way of conceiving naturally I would do IVF straight away. I'm just still holding onto this natural conception dream. But also IVF could takes ages to work so will I have wasted this time ttc? Lots to think about. If anyone would like to tell me what to do go ahead because I am confused

Gosh well I've had a bit of a bombshell today. After myself and my partner having tests in the clinic three weeks ago, we've received a letter today for a fast track IVF.

I'm nearly 35 and we know my DH has 1% morphology but high volume etc, so I can only think my AMH was low (they only tested this and I had a scan which they told me was fine at the time).

We have to go to an info session next week and then wait for an appointment to see the doc (up to 2 months).

There's quite a lot of tension in our relationship as I wanted to TTC years ago and DH made us wait.

Thoroughly pissed off and a bit heartbroken tbh. I don't want to put my body through it. I'm also changing jobs soon and the thought of starting a new job a fair distance away from the clinic just seems impossible to me.

We're going to see if we can get our results tomorrow and then look at private options. Can only imagine the NHS fast track route will be a lengthy wait.

I'm in shock, I thought everything would come back fine. Any advice would be appreciated :( xxx

@LillyLeaf and @FingersXssd i know its that fine line of i dnt want to go through ivf but how long is too long to wait. Id say push forward with the ivf and go private if yous can afford it its definetely a scary road to go down but i feel like a switch has turned on in my brain were im just thinking now try everything. Fx it works if it doesnt at least i can look back without regrets and think i done everything within my power

Oh course id b devasted if nothing worked x

@LillyLeaf - it's difficult to work out whether to spend money or time isn't it.... we're similar, do we push forward and go private and 'waste' the last opportunity to get pregnant naturally, and potentially 'waste' at least 6k that we might not have needed to, or do we wait for nhs and 'waste' time we could have got started and got pregnant!?

We're trying for at least the next 3 months as I've just had a hycosy and anecdotally people can be more fertile afterwards (and I don't want to 'waste' that!) We're just going to keep discussing it together and see if we get get to a point where we can't wait any longer.....

@Rubberduckies my friend got pregnant right after hycosy she was waiting to start ivf and it just happened after 3yrs of trying

Whilst googling Hycosy i came across a lot of home remedies for unblocking fallopian tubes surely surgery is the only surefire way to unblock them