# Lesbians Using Donor Sperm, Part 11



## struthie

New home ladies !!!

Cyclers  

Alison0702 & DP - DIUI  
Gina * & Rae - DI  
Tonia* & Bron - DIVF before christmas

2ww - Good luck!   

In between treatment

Eddie* - Clomid and DI 

Emma73* - DIVF in October

 Emma*& Lottie - DIUI

(Feistyblue) Claire* & Beverley - Egg Share DICSI 

(Herbaltea) Sarah* - DIUI 

(Midnightaction) Sarah* - Egg Share DIVF

(Rachjulie) Rachael* & Julie - DI 

Woo_Woo* & Lea - DI

Rach* and Sue - Starting soon - DIUI 

MG - Melissa & DP - DIVF 

(Spangley) Lucy & DP - DICSI 

Precious Cargo On Board  

(Starrysky)Heather* & Jo - DICSI in Feb  

Charlie & Lee* - DIVF   

(Nismat) Tamsin* & Karen - DIVF - due date 01.03.07  

Never Forgotten Angels 

Woo_Woo* & Lea 
Tonia* & Bron 

Our Miracle is Here 

Evelet & R* - Proud parents to a baby boy born 16.08.05  
(Bagpuss1) Kerry* & Helen - DIUI - Proud parents to Edie born 02.01.06
Edith* & Mabel - DIVF - Proud parents to Monty born 12.04.06
Friskypony* & Pup - DIVF - Proud parents to Morven Lilly born 14.02.06
Charlie* & Lee - Proud parents to Louis born 26.07.05 

Sending loads of love, luck and babydust to you all.


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## lucky2010

Hello all,

Hope everyone is OK and coping with what is being thrown at you from all directions!

I am officially starting to chart my ovulation from my next period.... we have decided to definitely start ttc from March, only 5 months to go. I know this seems rather early to get excited but we have so much going on until then that we're sure it will fly. I am surrounded by pregnant people at work (7 just on my ward!!) and feel like I'm going crazy but if I take a step back and look at what we need to get done to the house etc it definitely is the right option to wait for a few months!

Anyway, I must rush as need to go and hang out with pregnant people for an 8 hour shift!!!!

Much love Rach xxx


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## struthie

Hi ladies 

I'm filling in for Marie while she is off enjoying her new baby.

Please could you check the list at the top and PM me with any amendments,Charlie have already done yours,hope its ok,if you want me to change it just send me a pm.

Thanks everyone


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## nismat

Hi girls, 
I'm finally back & posting again. After nearly 5 weeks offline because of home internet connection problems, we got back online about 10 days ago, but I didn't feel up to posting again as I was feeling rather out of touch with everyone after so long away from you all. Daft I know, but I've been going through a bit of a withdrawn stage anyway in the pregnancy in the last couple of weeks. 
I was so sorry to see so much really sad news in recent weeks - my heart goes out to those of you who have been going through really bad times, as well as everyone who is dealing with the day to day frustrations of ttc.

Without wishing to be insensitive, it's probably about time I gave you all a pregnancy update. Unbelievably, tomorrow I reach the 20 week mark! For ages, it felt like nothing was happening following the 12 wk scan, just waiting around. We had an antenatal appointment at 17wks, when we got to hear the heartbeat (and our midwife predicted a boy  which fits with Karen's beliefs!). And then just after reaching 18 wks, I started feeling the baby moving (although it took me a few days to decide whether they were really movements rather than just gas!). I was expecting to feel the "flutterings" that you read about, but it doesn't feel like this at all for me. I get a combination of swooshy sensations and a feeling like my tummy is being pinched and plucked inwards. Decidedly odd! Obviously it's very reassuring (especially as I'm getting more sensations each day), but it can be quite unnerving as well. Karen is absolutely desperate to be able to feel Pip moving from the outside, but no joy as yet, despite lots of trying!

However, the main thing that has galvanised me into finally posting again is that we went for our anomaly scan this morning, which was truly amazing. I don't know quite what I was expecting, but it was so extraordinary to see all our baby's features and body parts in so much detail. We got a great profile scan picture too, which I think that I've uploaded here http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=17602&pos=0 The whole scan lasted for about 15 minutes, and it was just wonderful  We just can't wait to meet this baby- although obviously we don't want him/her to appear too early!

That's all from me for now, look forward to getting "back in the game" so to speak 

Tamsin


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## duff

WOW what a wonderful picture! Tamsin, please don't think for a minute it is insensitive to update us on your pregnancy.  I'm always really excited for anyone on this thread to get pregnant.  To me it's a bit like how some people are with football teams.  My local team is you lot on this thread who I will wave my rattle for and drop my hot pie in excitement when one of you gets in in the net.    

We've got a consultation on Monday morning and I reckon it's looking like IVF again for us.  Tamsin, you bought your own drugs, didn't you?  There's a thread on another part of FF about buying your own but it's 17 pages and I can't make head or tail of it all.  Did you get your prescription from the clinic and just take it somewhere else to be filled?  How does it work with online pharmacies?


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## nismat

Ha ha, you made me laugh at the thought of you dropping your hot pie Duff!  
Re: the cheap drugs, I did a summary of the sources on page 13 of the thread at the top of the IVF page, so if you check that out, all the phone numbers are there (quite a few of the services, especially the big suppliers, have more than one name but are essentially under one umbrella company). Yes, we got our prescription from the clinic and then I rang around all the various companies/pharmacies to get quotes, which varied considerably. You need the actual prescription before you start ringing around, and the big companies want to see a faxed copy before they will quote. I was restricted in who we could go with because I was on Puregon, which some of the big suppliers don't stock. We used Fazeley pharmacy at Tamworth, and got the drugs shipped by next-day delivery. It was really easy!


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## Mable

Good to hear from you Tamsin. Glad all is well.

I am scouting around for a donor, amazing what strange conversations I keep having with nice young men I meet! I have my consultation appointment at Kings in November but have been warned the wait for sperm is a long one. As all I need is sperm, I just feel that surely there is another way.

 to everyone TTC at the moment.
Mable
ps Monty is 6 months and has 1 tooth.


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## Alison0702

Hey Tamsin, glad you're ok and everything is going well. The picture is amazing! I'm with Duff on that I am always really pleased to hear all about other peoples pregnancy stories...but unlike Duff I dont drop my hot pie for anyone     

Duff - You crack me up....here's a   for you

Mable - Cant believe Monty's 6 months already. I think I have been lucky with my clinic in the sperm dept. They get their sperm from a place in London called Louis Hughes, and they allow you to buy 10 ampules for £1500. 


Lots of     to all


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## snagglepat

Hello everyone!

I finally plucked up the courage to log on today and read through the last few months worth of posts. Wow. What a lot has been going on.

*Toni & Bron* - Once again, I'm so sorry about your m/c. How was the D&C? Thanks again for being such amazing hosts when I came over. Staying with you was definitely one of my trip highlights. I definitely think you should come and escape to the UK, to Birmingham in particular... 

*Lee and Charley* - a rather belated congratulations to you. I hope that all is going well!

*Tamsin* - your scan picture is just beautiful. Half way there already! Time really does fly doesn't it?

*Heather* - I'm really glad to hear all is well with Boom. I hope the GD doesn't cause too many issues. I've had a couple of clients with it now so although I'm far from an expert I have a few ideas of some of the scenarios you may be faced with. If you fancy a chat about it at any point then just drop me a PM.

*Duff * - I'm really sorry to hear about your friend, and about the BFN. Sending many positive thoughts to you for your next attempt.

*Claire* - Early miscarriages are the pits aren't they? I hope you're both coping OK with your grieving. My thoughts are with you.

*Rach and Sue* and *Rachael and Julie* - Good luck to you with all the tests and the planning. It's ever so exciting being at that starting point again, so I'm all with you on the anticipation front. 

*Spangley* - Really sorry to hear you had such a poor response with your last IVF, but the Barcelona clinic sounds really interesting. I've heard of embryo adoption before but don't know anyone who has done it. Is this something you think you'll be considering? Barcelona is such a beautiful place too.

*Alison* - Sorry to hear about your BFN too. Looks like we're going to be cycling together now.

As for us, well, we're back. I stopped taking the pill and started taking Metformin again when I got back to the UK two weeks ago, I got my period last week and I'm off to the hospital on Monday for my first ovulation tracking scan. If it looks good I'll probably be getting the turkey baster treatment on or around the 23rd October, although I've been warned the first month off the pill can be a dud so we're not holding out great hopes yet. We're also a little bit cautious about going ahead this month as I've been pretty ill. I managed to catch a nasty chest infection in my last couple of weeks in Aus and by the time I got back home (after a hellish 34 hour journey - I spent most of it throwing up, one of my flights was cancelled and they lost my baggage when I did finally land in Manchester) it had developed into pneumonia. Two weeks on the worst seems to have passed, but I'm still far from my usual bouncy self and my GP has warned me it might be another month before I'm back to rights. So we'll wait and see how things are when ovulation time comes around (or not).

So, yep, one way or another we're back on the TTC rollercoaster. *straps self in and tries to look calm*

I love the idea of a meet up. Unfortunately I've just checked with Rae and she's already got plans that day and we go on holiday on the 6th, so it's not really going to work for us to come to this one. We're definitely up for the next one though, assuming this one goes well. We might even be able to offer a venue if Birmingham would work for that.

Best wishes all round,

Gina.


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## lucky2010

Hello, well, goodbye to everyone.

I have decided not to come on to the site anymore as it seems, for some reason or other, perhaps it's the fact we're using a known donor, or some other reason, that I am getting little feedback from most people on this thread. I was hoping that as time went on and I kept appearing and joining in with the other people's highs and lows that other people may be interested in our journey.... however, this doesn't seem to be the case.

We wish everyone the best of luck, as we always do, with their journey.

Take care,

Rachael and Julie


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## friskypony

hi everyone,
hope everyone's well, morven's got a cold at the mo. can't make the meeting on the 4th as we go away that day.
can't believe monty is 6 months already.
luv an hugs
frisky, pup an morven xx


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## snagglepat

Hi folks,

I just wanted to write a quick note to say I'm really sorry that you feel you've not been supported and want to leave us Rachael. I haven't been around much for the last nine months but I'm back now and I for one would really value having you back on here. We're using a known donor too (a lovely bloke that we met via rainbownetwork.com) and after a break we're just about to start trying again. There are precious few of us known donor users about on this site and I know I'd really appreciate having you here to share those lovely little 'known donor moments' with.

If you do decide to stay away then I want to wish you the very best of luck with your TTC next year. I'd love to hear how you're doing if you feel like popping on occassionally to let us know.

With the very best of wishes (and a PM),

Gina. x

This post contains an unconfirmed link/information and readers are reminded that FertilityFriends.co.UK or its owners are not responsible for the content of external internet sites


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## RachandSue

Please don't leave us Rachael and Julie, we are sorry you haven't felt supported. Why not try and come to the meet on the 4th where we are all going to try and get to know each other a bit better? It's great to hear from Gina and Rae hope you are feeling better Gina sounds like you've been having a rough time - sorry to hear you can't make the meet but maybe you'll be able to throw the new year one and we will all be able to celebrate the new year in together with good news I hope!!!!

Sorry it's not a long post try and get back on tomorrow....

Love to you all

Rach and Sue
xxx


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## Alison0702

Rachael - I'm sorry you feel that you havnt been supported. I cant even begin to say how much support Ithink we all give each other. It has been a little quiet on here for a bit but we're all still here to chat too. So get yourself back on here girl.  


Emma - I think it's a big sperm bank in London which supplies to certain clinics around the country. I can find out more info for you if you like as I had never heard of them either. 

I'm really sorry but we cant make the meet at Rach and Sue's. We decided to go on holiday with our friends on 27October and we wont be back. Boo!
However, I know that a break from the norm will do us the world of good and cheer my miserable face up.  
I'm must be cracking up - I bought the Nolans cd from ebay the other night and its just arrived yay  

Have a good weekend everyone xx


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## MG

Hi everyone,

Rachael & Julie- I have PM'd you.

Alison- I too am interested in knowing where your clinic got your sperm as it would be nice if I could secure my own vials. It would be one less thing to worry about. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and you're right it does do you good to get away from all tx for a while. You enjoy that CD hun! 

Gina-Hello! Sorry to hear you have been so unwell of late. Your flight back sounded hellish too. All the best for a quick recovery and for your next tx.

Tamsin- Wonderful to hear all is well with you and you are making such good progress. Lovely piccie!

Melissa


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## Tonia2

Hello all, 
I thought it was about time I said hello! I've been lurking a bit as have been feeling a bit too miserable to post, but today, _right now,_ I'm feeling ok. No promises though! 

firstly though-
*Rach & Julie * -please don't go!! I've sent you a couple of rambly PMs... I hope we all convince you to reconsider!!  xx

*Gina* - so nice to see you back on the board & thanks for your PM. Will write back soon. I hope you're not feeling so grotty now and that the scan on Monday went well - I so hope it's looking good! >fingers & toes crossed< It's my b'day around the 23rd so I'm hoping it'll also be a significant date for you that you'll remember for years to come !! 

hi *Melissa* - I noticed we hadn't heard from you in a while - I hope things are ok for you! 

Hello again*Tamsin*!! Nice to have you back, I've missed your posts & updates! 

I finally miscarried last weekend, 2 weeks after we found out re. the missed m/c. I was reluctant to have a D&C (so invasive!) so was prescribed some tablets/pessaries to do the job. I had terrible cramping initially but only light to heavy spotting and after 3 days I'd decided it obviously wasn't going to work. Then late Sat night I suddenly started cramping severely, out of the blue and, my god, I cannot begin to describe the pain!  And I'm not one to complain of pain too easily... I instantaneously flooded a maternity pad with blood and the toilet -[ sorry if TMI!! ) - I was cold & clammy & dizzy, nearly passed out and Bron rang the ambulance! I ended up in Emergency on fluids and morphine! (thank god for opiates is all I can say...!!) Most embarressing for the ambo bloke to find me on the loo with my pants down & blood everywhere...  
They kept an eye on me for a few hours, did bloods, gave me fluids, (and I bled all over their sheets in grateful return  ) and eventually they decided I was ok and sent me home with lots of painkillers... What a drama queen!!  Since then I've only had one bad day of cramping but quite managable comparativly, and now a week later, the bleeding has slowed considerably.
My verdict: go for the D&C next time!! It would be over a heap earlier and I'd have easier access to painkillers!!

I have been feeling a bit better since the m/c, although had a bad day on Wed because I was very aware we would have been at 12 weeks then.  (I came home from uni in the early afternoon, went to bed & hid under the covers and said I wasn't coming out for 6 weeks! ...I came out for dinner though!  ) I'm finding I'm super sensitive around others with pregnancies and babies so have to look after myself a bit. I guess it's pretty normal to take a little while to get over all. I have my next appt to talk about FET/whatever we want to do next, on the 25th October so I'm beginning to be able to look forward to that now. I'm not feeling too confident though because our 2 frosties weren't very good quality, so I'm not sure what the Dr will recommend. I'm really hopeful we could have one more go before Christmas...

Sorry for the ramble, 
I'm very sorry to be missing your meet up on November!! I hope you all have a great time!  
Love to you all, 
Love Tonia


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## MG

Hi,

Tonia- I feel so upset for you. You have had a horrific time of it of late. I may only know you through the on-line community but I find your experience heartbreaking . Life is so unfair sometimes. There will be other dates that will be painful for you I'm sure and you will never forget the baby you lost but I hope so much for you that the pain gets easier to deal with and that your next attempt will end with a baby in your arms.  

As for me, I'm having a good think about my options, where I go next, what to do etc. Financially I can only afford one more go at IVF (even that is a stretch) but I'm trying not to see it as the be all-end all attempt. If I want I could save and try again (if it ends in a bfn) but it is whether I want to or not after all the disappointment. More than anything I'm trying to feel positive that it can work for me. I hope to start my next IVF early next year...

Take Care
Melissa


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## ♥JJ1♥

Hi  Emma

I was interested to read about your known donor quest- there is a wealth of resources and literature out there- I found Lisa Saffron books very helpful (you can also email her ,telephone her or attend workshops for men and women wishing to become parents/co-parents/donors)  you can get loads of info from the pinkparents or the D'Arcy Laine Foundation - I think they might have merged now.  Also uk.gay.com has a parenting board.  There are some people who want to co-parent and explicitly state that, or others who just are willing to donate.  Also the gay press is a good resource.  But I would think about the possible issues that may arise and what you want out of co-parenting.

To be honest I had a few friends (in lesbian relationships/partnerships) who has conceived using clinics and anon donor sperm who helped me through this process.  I started to verbalise, as oppose to just think about, my own desire to conceive, and before you know it men are offering their sperm right, left and centre.  Most of my male friends happen to be gay men and I have had several offers, including one who would be a fabulous father but wanted to co-parent, and I could forsee problems ahead and this is not what I really want.

The hardest thing is breaking the ice and discussing it in the open.  My donor would periodically offer but usually after a few drinks- so I was never sure if he was serious or it was the drink talking, and I never then plucked up the courage to raise the subject at other times. I was in a bar with a friend and him and she broached the subject and said 'Why don't you help her' and he said 'I've offered many times but she won't take me up on it'.  Then we moved forward, discussed things openly, had sexual health tests and then started inseminating at his house.  His partner was also in support, and we discussed agreements, but they were quite against it, saying there was no need etc.  (I know they are not legally binding as I have also got a male friend who wanted to co=parent and found a lady wanting a child, thye have  an agreement but it has still not solved his access problems since!).

My journey then ended up taking us to a clinic, as I was inpatient and not conceiving after 4  AI's , and I am so glad we did as and then we discovered that there was a low sperm count, but as we had come so far I decided to have IVF and ICSI using his sperm.  You do have to wait 6 months for the quarantine and pay more for using a known donor sperm through a clinic  - and we all face more discrimination because we were not a married/couple.  To be honest the pressure and emotional stress is much less using a clinicAnyway it all seems so long ago and I am now on my stimming jabs- his partner even gave me it today.

To be honest I am not sure if gay men's sperm is accepted into the genreal donor banks - I know that they are prevented from giving blood, not sure about donating organs when deceased, but on the questionnaire they are asked about having sex with other men- and then how many 'straight' men honestly answer that.

Best of Luck- broach the subject and you may be surprised by offers you receive!!. 

L xx


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## Tonia2

Hi Emma, 
I think co-parenting or joint parenting is a great idea. A known donor was our first choice and one who was really interested in having input into the child's life was even better. We explored this route for quite a while with a collegue of mine (who was gay, incidently), but in the end we decided between the 3 of us that it wasn't going to work. So Bron & I decided to go down the anonymous route instead, just because it removed some of the constant uncertainties we had. But if you can find someone who shares your ideals and you trust, I think it's the greatest thing! There's a quote around that says something like 'it takes a village to raise a child' . It would be great to have someone else's input, their parents and family only add to the number of people who will care for this child. Being in a same sex relationship I also liked the idea of having some male input into the parenting role. It's good to have a completely different perspective on things and he had alot to offer.

The things that we ended up talking about (for about a year) with our prospective donor were things like: 

-where we lived and how it would be if we moved away and /or travelled globally with the child - how he'd feel about that. 

-his partners view, thoughts, contribution -or potential new partners.

-schooling ideals, parenting styles, discipline beliefs, what we believed in and didn't believe in. How our parenting styles might differ in each home- how that might affect the child, potentially moving between two homes.

-finances. Our donor was very wealthy and after a while I realised I felt quite intimidated by that, thinking that perhaps we wouldn't be providing for the child as well he thought we should; Also things like gifts, contributions, what we'd like, expect, & feel comfortable with.

-how comfortable we'd be with him taking the child away on holidays, sleep overs, etc. & when, at what age, how frequently etc. 

-what to call the donor -ie dad? uncle? friend...? We wanted 'uncle' but our donor wasn't comfortable with that, and wanted something a little more 'involved-sounding'!

-whether we'd ttc via a clinic or DIY, logistics, tests etc. He was open enough to talk about his sexual partners /practices etc and provide evidence of testing etc.

-potential for relationship break-ups and what we would do if Bron & I separated, or died,  or if he & his partner did. 

-our ability to communincate with each other if we disagreed on things; and our ability to trust the other to choose what each believed was right for the child. Whether we'd trust that he wouldn't change his mind and demand full custody, how ameniable he was to legal contracts. 

-siblings.

-how involved he'd be in the pregnancy, birth, early stages of child's life. (he surprised us by really wanting to be at the birth!)


Whew! There's lots to think about! Like I said, we didn't go down that path after all that, but it was a valuble process for all of us. It helped Bron & I know more of what we really wanted, and our 'donor' made a few new life-decisions based on what he learnt about himself ... 

It would be really nice to hear from someone who's done it and is currently co-parenting with a known donor wouldn't it..? Is there anyone lurking out there?? ...we need your input!!  

Good luck Emma!

love Toni 

PS. Like JJ we had lots of guys offer, mostly collegeues & acquaintences. You'd be surprised who offers if you make it known, Emma!! A few married friends thought about it as well, but decided it was too complicated with their wives and/or children. One guy was really keen but wasn't going to tell his wife. We dropped that idea really quickly!!

PPS. Thank you Melissa! I REALLY hope this IVF goes ahead for you as hoped for, the money thing is so discouraging... xx


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## Alison0702

Tonia - I am so sad for you   
It must be such a hard time for you and it will take time. I really dont know what to say apart from      
.....not forgetting the lucky  

Emma - Not a problem honey when I speak to my consultant I will get the info. I love your dog. Does it have its tongue sticking out?
I dont think it sounds odd to only want a gay couple as co-parents. I understand where your coming from with the "other woman" scenario, and I think I would feel exactly the same. Thanks for my pumpkin by the way  

Melissa - Hiya!   The cd is great   

Lucy - Hope you are ok   Miss ya 


I'm not feeling too well today. We went to our friends last night for a small sherry and ended up getting plastered on Vodka. Had to be up at 6.30 for work, god I must have stunk  

Have a fab weekend


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## ♥JJ1♥

Hi Girls

I am not against the idea of co-parenting and thanks to who has Toni had summarised the important questions  and situations to consider so well.  The guy I know who wanted to co-parent is an Aussie, and always in the back of my mind was if he returned to Oz it is a long way from the UK and what would happen!!!

My other friend and her female partner were considering a known donor, until his girlfriend (then in her late 40's without children) happened to pass a comment about 'How wonderful it would be when their baby arrived'- at that point my friend and her partner's alarm bells sounded loudly, depsite his views his girlfriend had other ideas, so they headed off to LWC and had an anon donor - and now if the proud mum of the most beautiful baby boy!!!

Also having a gay man in a couple, as a donor is not without issues! - my donors partner (who lives with me half the week and does my jabs) has said to me how envious he is of me at times, as he only wishes he could give/have his partner's child (not possible unless science advances quickly!).

There are no easy answers, but thankfully there are like minded men out there thinking exactly the same way as us about donation/co-parenting - it is just the matching up that we have to do!!

Best of Luck 
L xx


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## starrysky

Hi all,

Alison - Sounds like you had a good boozy night then?!!!!  Sorry to hear you are not going to make it to the gettogether, maybe next time?  By the way, we had your curry last night - YUM!!!!  

Tonia - What an awful experience with the miscarriage, we are thinking about you lots & sending a massive       your way.

Melissa - This was Heather's last attempt at IVF too so you never know......We are convinced that a combination of Accupuncture, Hypnosis, pressed pineapple juice, brazil nuts & increased protein intake all helped with the treatment working.  All sounds a bit mad but definately worth a shot.

Friskypony - Hello, hope Morven has started to get over the cold now.

Gina & Rae - Welcome back after your travels!  I have PM'd you re: the diabeties.  Sorry to hear you have been ill lately, hope you do start to pick up soon.  As you say the Pill can sometimes mess with your natural rythms but you never know, you could be ok?  Starting to sound like an accupuncture junkie... but have you considered it?

Mable - Not seen you about for a while hi to you & yours!

Hello to everyone else.

Things are all rerasonably quiet here, Heather has been feeling a little better for the past few days & we have been for a lovely 3d scan, we have been trying to get a picture uploaded for you all to see.

Love Jo & Heather.


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## Mable

Just wanted to send BIG   to Tonia and Bron. Sounds AWFUL -   
Thinking of you x


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## duff

Hi everyone,

We just had a consultation at the Bridge which went really well. Seeing as we're such long timers with them, they must have told us about the sperm scheme first so we're right up in the queue. I also think we've jumped up quite a bit through not being fussy. I mean, we're not bothered about what job the donor has, or the colour of his eyes.

We've also decided to have a break for a while. My last period was a load of rubbish, just clotty bits and really painful. My accupuncturist said this would be a direct results of the stress of my friend dying (which makes a lot of sense to me). She said it really affects your cycle, lining etc. At first I just wanted to keep trying right away, but it's a HUGE relief to give ourselves a few months off. It's going to be a strange Christmas/New Year without the extra pressure of ttc.

It looks like we'll be having another go at IVF, starting in the new year. There's some discussion about whether we'll need PGD because of my wonky chromosomes (a balanced translocation) or perhaps they'll let the embryos go to blastocycst stage.

Melissa - it would be great if we were on an IVF cycle together! We're also having to count the pennies, so I'm looking into buying drugs independently and having as many of the blood tests through my GP as possible.

*Jo * - I'm an accupuncture junkie too! The accupuncturist has really helped me through some stuff recently.

*JJ1* - when we started out in this process, we were also looking for a known donor. We had a few situations like the one you describe, where it turned out that what people wanted and what they _said _ they wanted were two different things. That said, I know quite a few wonderful co-parenting set ups. It definately can work if everyone is truthful with themselves.

*Tonia * - that list you've written of things to talk about with a potential donor is excellent! Loads of those things came up for us as well.

*Alison* - a _small sherry_? What are you like! everybody knows a small sherry leads to trouble. 

Good luck everyone!


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## nismat

Hi all, it's certainly been busy on here in the last few days! 
*
Rach&Julie* - I'm also very sorry to hear that you've felt unsupported/excluded on this board, when I'm sure that it would be the last thing that any of us would intend to do. Maybe part of the problem was that (until now!) there has been so little discussion of KD issues, as recently there haven't been many people on here using that route, and it's far easier to talk about a subject that you have some experience of, rather than just surmising how it must feel. I, for one, would feel like a fraud commenting on a situation that I have no real knowledge of myself - but had never considered that by no-one responding on such matters, it could be far too easy to feel ignored. I hope that you feel that you want to return, but if not, and you are still reading, best of luck as the process of charting, and then ttc, starts for real for you over the next few months. It's nerve-wracking & frustrating to start charting, but very exciting knowing that you are on your way at last.

*Mable * - good luck in looking for a donor; it must be awful to be faced with such a different set of circumstances to when Edith was ttc. Does the fact that you are looking for a donor mean that you will be trying at home? I hope that I get to meet Monty before he gets too much older - it seems amazing that he's 6 months old already (and that I'm 4 1/2 months pg!).

*Gina * - good luck with re-starting the ttc rollercoaster; I hope that your body co-operates & is behaving "normally".

*Frisky * - hope that Morven's cold isn't dragging on too long, or affecting her too badly. 
*
Rach & Sue* - wishing you luck with all the testing, now that it's happening at last.

*Tonia * - the miscarriage experience sounds truly awful, although I can understand why you would have wanted to avoid the D&C. Take great care of yourself & Bron - it can't be at all easy to re-adjust to "normal" life after going through such horrible events as you have had to recently. I will keep my fingers crossed for a successful appointment on the 25th for you.

*Melissa * - this may be butting in with unwanted advice, but I had hypnotherapy prior to the last IUI and the IVF cycle, to help me gain a (much) more positive outlook on the whole fertility treatment thing. By the time we'd done 5 IUI cycles, it felt like it was never going to happen for us (even though I knew that statistically we weren't that abnormal), and the hypnotherapy really helped me to start believing that one day soon I would get pregnant and actually hold my own baby in my arms. Who can say whether it actually made a difference to the outcome, but it certainly helped my stress levels! Heather went to see the same woman, and I'm sure would recommend her too.

*Emma * - there's certainly a lot to consider in using a known donor, especially if you plan to co-parent, but if it feels right, then it has to be good to find out more. Excellent points from Tonia about the issues to consider, and actually relevant to us all as points for discussion 

*Alison * - enjoy your CD, if not the hangover. You're definitely not the only one on the board with "dodgy" music taste  (my secret music pash is for Wham! )

*Duff * - great news about the successful consultation. I hope that the ttc break revitalises you ready for the IVF in the New Year. Will this be your first attempt at "straight" IVF with your own eggs?

No real news from me, other than to say that Pip is gradually getting more & more active (kicking me right now in fact!). Hopefully Karen will be able to start feeling him/her soon too. 
BTW, we're not around for the Nov 4th meet-up, as we are away visiting friends that weekend. Hope you all have a great time though


----------



## MG

Hello everyone!

Tamsin- No I didn't think you were butting in with unwanted advice. I am actually very interested in hypnotherapy and am looking into people recommended and costs. What's the name/place of the person you used? I very much feel that I need a more positive outlook on my next tx and that I should do as much as possible, well as much as my budget will allow! Once I am more sure of my next tx dates I can start preparing for it by booking appointments.

Duff- Sometimes time off can do you the world of good. I have been an in-betweenie for a while and although it has been frustrating at times I can feel myself and my body coming round and feeling ready for another tx. Sometimes you just need time away to remind you life isn't all clinics and treatment. I'm also doing blood tests and buying drugs outside of my clinic too and it has certainly saved us some money. I hope we do cycle together that would be great!

Jo & Heather- Glad to hear Heather has been feeling better. I'm hoping to do most of the things you mentioned on my next cycle. The only one I'm really shy of is acupuncture...  

Alison- 

We were also interested in the known donor route (Tonia, excellent summary of discussion points!), but after looking into it and what we wanted, decided otherwise. The horror stories put us off too, things can change when a baby arrives on the scene and my first priority was to make us strong as a family. It looks like it may have saved us some time as after all the treatments I've had it still hasn't worked so I may have ended up in the clinic system anyway... 

Best of luck Emma on finding someone!

L-Good luck with your journey!

Melissa


----------



## snagglepat

Agh!

I've just come in from having my ovulation tracking scan at the hospital and I am fuming! Sorry folks, this might become something of an epic rant.

It's been a year since I last got scanned. Last year I was referred to the fertility nurse team at my local hospital for 'ovulation induction' after I was diagnosed with PCOS. This meant I was to be given medication and regular scans to get me to a point where I was regularly ovulating, and because I'd been diagnosed with a fertility problem it was available on the NHS. I was entitled to Metformin and, if necessary, Clomid, and the scans to ensure that was all going OK. If further treatment was needed (such as IVF) we'd have to go private, but we knew that and accepted it. All was well.

That was a year ago and since then, as you know, we've been trying with Rae and more recently taking a break from TTC altogether to give us time to re-energise ourselves in preparation for starting to try with me now. When I arrived at my appointment today the two nurses (the same ones as last year, both of whom I now feel I know quite well and are lovely) sat me down and asked me where we were at and what thoughts we had about what we might do next. I told them that we wanted to give the Metformin and possibly Clomid a good bash for the next 9 months or so and we'd stop and reconsider our options if we still weren't pregnant by next summer. They then told me that their funding regulations had changed and they now stipulated that to be eligable for ovulation induction on the NHS (at least in Birmingham) you had to be 'in a stable heterosexual partnership of not less than two years'. There were other stipulations, all of which I fit into (such as having a diagnosed condition, a BMI of less than 30 and being under 38 years old) so the only reason I wasn't entitled to treatment was because my partner is female. I specifically asked whether if my partner had been male whether or not I'd still be eligable and I was told I would be.

*insert lengthy stream of expletives here*   

I was, not surprisingly rather angry and immediately started prattling on about the recent European legislation that forbids descrimination in goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation. (If anyone happens to know the specific name of this legislation and where I can find a copy of it then please let me know as I intend to write several rather stinky letters.) They were both perfectly sympathetic, but pretty much stuck - it wasn't them that wrote the rules and I could tell neither of them were happy about it either.

Anyway, they're bending the rules for me slightly, as they are for several other patients who no longer fit into them either (the BMI limit used to be 35) and they will give me two cycles of scans with the metformin and one more with clomid if it seems necessary, but whereas our heterosexual sisters in the same situation would receive scans every month until conception (for up to a year of trying) my support will stop there. If we want more, we can have it, but we have to pay.

I just spoke to Rae and we're going to put up a fight on this one. Ultimately we have some savings, so we can pay, and we will as long as we have to to get the treatment we need, but we're going to make an almighty stink about it. How dare they!

Anyway *deep breath*... After we'd had our chat they gave me a scan and there's no sign of any ovulation yet. I had follicles of 7 and 8mm but it's still a bit early in my cycle yet (today is day 11, I normally oulate on day 18 or 19) so I'll get scanned again on Friday to see if anything is going on in there. Fingers crossed my ovaries buck their ideas up this week. Any funky ovary-pleasing vibes would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the rant folks. I needed to get that off my chest.

*Emma* - You've had some great advice on this already, but the known donor issue is one that's not surprisingly close to our hearts. Our current donor isn't going to have any involvement other than minor contact once we get pregnant which suits us fine now, but initially we were very keen on having a more involved donor. Our ideal was to have an 'uncle' type donor who would be around on whatever level worked out best for us all. We asked a very good friend (who is also Australian) who was keen, and went through the whole process of all the discussions and making agreements, having tests etc. He always planned to live some of the time in the UK and some in Australia, so we knew that 'uncle' role was going to be sometimes very close and sometimes distant, which suited us fine as we had a strong trust that we were and would continue to be open and honest with ourselves and each other and would find ways of being that would work over time. We inseminated with him for five cycles, and as he was working a way away pretty much moved in with us for four days every month when it was insemination time. Then he met a new partner (he was straight) and the relationship grew very serious very quickly. His new partner wasn't entirely happy with our arrangement, although she went along with it, but the trouble was that we really didn't get on with her at all. When our donor told us they planned to start having unprotected sex we just didn't feel we could trust her (although we trusted him) and that brought an end to the donor relationship. Shortly afterwards they moved back to Australia (she was an Aussie as well). They've now broken up and as it happens, he's back in the UK now and is coming to visit us this week. We're currently discussing the possibility of buying a property together (along with one or two others as a co-op) so he may yet end up being a parent-type figure to our children, even if he isn't biologically related to them.

I'm really glad you've started out haing some good vibes with a potential donor. Fingers crossed it works out for you.  Ask away with anything that comes up!

*Tamsin* - Thanks for the good luck wishes, and yey for an active Pip! I bet you'll be sick of him/her sticking his/her limbs into your organs by the time D day comes around. 

*Jo & Heather* - I'll reply to your PM as soon as I can - it might be tomorrow though as we've a busy evening ahead. I hope this is OK! I have most definitely considered acupuncture, although I've yet to try it. We were recently recommended someone, I just need to earn a bit more money so I can afford a few treatments. I'm actually really interested in going the whole hog with chinese medicine (herbs, cupping, acupunture etc) to see if it can help with my endo symptoms too. It's next on the list of things to try.

*Duff* - Taking a break this year has been the best thing we could have done. TTC really takes it out of you, and sometimes you need a break just to be able to properly reconnect with each other and everything else that is precious in your lives. We made an agreement after our first five months of trying that we'd take a month off every four months or so, just to help us keep our sanity (what small amount we had to start with). I hope you have a lovely christmas without the strain of TTC to interfere.

What a mammoth post! Sorry folks! Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Best wishes all round,

Gina.


----------



## RachandSue

Hi Everyone.

Tests (round 1) have been done at quacks we get results on Friday, blood tests will be done on 31st as long as cycle runs according to plan!!  



When all my results are back which will hopefully be the first week of November our gp will give us a copy of them and a referral to take to the bridge so I'll be able to call them and make our first consultation.   I know I should wait and see as I'm sure everyone is different but I can't so I have a few questions about the process:

1) when you have the consultation do you book your counselling after?
2) this counselling - I'm worried, not that we have anything to hide (we are not pschos!!! - well maybe Sue would disagree about me once a month!! ) but are we going to have to justify our lives/relationship/future plans down warts and all?  
3)if we get through the counselling - is it just a matter of going on the sperm share list and waiting? Duff you said you've moved up the list as you are not fussy about eye colour etc but if you had specified a particular want i.e skin colour/eye colour is it a months and months list??

I apreciate if you say wait and see as I realise this is a private situation for each individual but I thought I'd ask!!! 

I'm glad we are all back on a chatting cycle now we have had such a bad time on the board and I think we need to gee each other and get ready for the good christmas we are all going to have and maybe the christmas fairies will grant some wishes along the way!  

Love to you all

Rach and Sue


xxx

p.s just read Gina's post and to be honest I am bleeping disgusted at the state of our country! This is sooooo bloody unfair and discriminative I cannot believe it and I know Sue will feel the same when I tell her all about it when she gets in from work! Let us know how scans go on Friday and I'll keep an eye open on the net for that legislation I would start with your MP and the hospital director. Well I never!!
xx


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## nismat

*Gina*, that's just awful that you are being told that the funding will no longer be available to you, simply because you are in a lesbian relationship. I would definitely kick up a big stink if I were you, as I'm sure that it can't have a proper legal basis, as you said. I'm really glad that the nurses have at least been able to bend the rules for you a little bit, so that you can at least get the ovulation tracking for a while, rather than not at all. How utterly frustrating though 

*Melissa * - I PMd you with the contact details for the hypnotherapist 

*Rach & Sue* - have you had any contact already with the Bridge, or are you waiting for the results/referral from your GP before you call? The only reason I ask is because our experience (admittedly with LWC, not the Bridge), was that it could take a while just to get a consultation appointment - and all the waiting is awful! There will be plenty more of it to come, so it may be worth ringing up now and making an appointment, even if it turns out you need to change it later. 
At LWC, we saw one of the fertility nurses for our initial appointment (this was actually over a year before we went ahead for treatment, as we were still uncertain about which route to take at that stage). We then saw the doctor and the counsellor on the same day once we were ready to go ahead - but this built further delays in for us, as we had to wait for a date that both had free appointments (we could have started sooner if we had been more flexible re: doing separate dates). 
The counselling truly is nothing to worry about - in no way do you have to justify yourselves and your relationship. It is more to do with donor issues, to check that you have fully considered the implications, and what you will tell your child etc. If you have had any mental health issues in the past (e.g. as a teenager) and these are in your medical records from your GP, these would also come up under the counselling. 
Afraid that I don't know the answer to question 3), as it's probably specific to each clinic, and things are changing all the time re: the donor sperm situation, so it may well be a case of wait & see on that one.

Tx


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## RachandSue

Hello,

Tamsin:Thanks for your feedback and in answer to your question, re have I phoned the bridge, then yes I have, I phoned them about a month ago and they said I could have an appt. within a week! They advised I would be better to wait for my results and referral and phone them back to make the appt. to be honest I think they are relatively quick to give you the consultation appt. as they want your cash!!!  
You have put my mind to rest re counselling it sounds silly as Sue and I have nothing at all to hide I was just a bit concerned about having to justify why we would like to have a family. 

Emma & Lottie: Sorry I never commented on your situation yesterday, I hope you are successful in your journey, we have considered using a known donor and a friend of ours has offered his services!  
We have decided to walk the unknown donor route first and if we are not successful then we will consider his offer, I think its a personal choice and everyone will have different views about it, for us we would prefer to have an unknown donor as we would prefer not to have the involvement/input of someone else! (selfish huh?). 

Love to you all

Rach & Sue
xxx

P.S: can't believe I forgot to mention this Sue and I have decided to have a partnership ceremony in April, so much is going on at the moment, all this planning it's crazy!!


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## duff

Snagglepat! - I am LIVID!!!  How _dare_ they! I don't know anything about NHS rules myself, as we've always paid for treatment (originally due to my partner's age but now because we're happy at our clinic) but this is outrageous. You could contact Stonewall who pushed through the change to the Goods and Services Act and see what they can advise.

Hope your follies grow lovely and big, nurished by all that righteous indignation flowing around you!

RachandSue - the bridge counsellor is nothing to worry about! It's an HFEC requirement of the clinic that they give you counselling. I remember we were really nervous too, and thought they wanted to test us to see if we'd be good parents or something. It was nothing like that. As it was, we found it really useful. I think they might get some couples in there who haven't really spoken about the implications of using a donor before, perhaps not even to each other, or maybe people who are planning on keeping it all a secret from the child.

Oh yes, that thing I said about jumping the queue because of "not being fussy" was pure speculation on my part! we are right near the top of it, but that's only because we've been at the clinic for so long.


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## lucky2010

Hi all,

Just wanted to say that I was having a stressed out/ PMT/ mad evening the other night and obviously took it out on the board.... truth is I can't live for long without my FF fix!!!! Thanks for all the supportive messages.

nothing new here. No personals as there is too much to comment on!!!!

Love to all.

Rach x


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## RachandSue

Hi,

Rach: Good to see you back! It's okay to have stressy days and this is an area to vent those frustrations!

Love Rach
xxx


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## MG

Hi everyone,

Welcome back Rach and Julie! I too have been a bit stressed out the last couple of days due to   which has been worse then usual. It's a pain ain't it. I hope your ovulation charting goes well. 

Gina-That really winds me up  . It is bad enough when you get your PCT turning you down for NHS treatment as they only treat heterosexuals in a stable relationship, 
('unfortunately our local health authorities don't feel able to fund donor insemination for single women or same sex couples as it is not seen as 'infertility')
but retrospectively removing treatment after it has been offered to you is a step backwards. Even when I got the 'stable heterosexual' response from my PCT I felt like European legislation etc would one day help to bring fertility treatment into an equal field after all why should they make moral judgements on who should be parents when we all have to pay contributions equally. To some extent I had accepted I would have to pay privately as I didn't have a fertility problem as such but now that I have done as many treatments as I have it enrages me that they would still deny I have a fertility problem -apparently lesbians don't have fertility problems as perhaps we are not seen as real women. The only excuse they have for you is that you are not with a male partner. Rant on hun...it needs to be said.

Melissa xx


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## MG

Hi again,

Thought I should also point out that I think my PCT's attitude towards single women sucks too. How can you quantify how stable a relationship is and how dare they think they have the right to tell any woman that she doesn't have the right to have children. 

Grrrr

Melissa xx


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## Laragh

Can any of you ladies help.  I need to transport DS from Barcelona to Ukraine.  Anyone know of transport companies who would undertake this.

thanks


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## Alison0702

Gina - I am fuming after reading your post. Hopw bloody dare they. I agree wot (oops I'm typing like a mad wonamn cos I am angry and cant spell) ....I agree with what Melissa said..rant away and get yourself heard. I must admit, the PCT in Teeside (not where I live though) do offer funding for lesbian couples with proven infertility, but am unsure if Newcastle PCT do the same. 

Rach - Glad your back. We all get PMT'd sometimes and this is the place to do it  

Laragh - sorry cant help you on that one!


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## candygirl

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while but haven't posted on here yet. Today I'm so excited though that I had to say something.

After some very tense weeks worrying about the donor sperm crisis my partner and I decided to take the plunge and buy some sperm from America - and I heard just now that our HFEA license has been granted, and the sperm is going to arrive at our clinic next Wednesday.

Even better, that is a whole week before I would be due to start down-regging, so it couldn't be better timing.


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## lucky2010

great news candygirl.... exciting times!!!! keep us posted x


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## MG

Welcome Candygirl. Great news that your import licence has been granted! It does feel good when things fall into place like that doesn't it. It certainly makes a change from all the usual delays and waiting around. 

Melissa xx


----------



## Spangley

Hello everyone

Sorry haven't been around for a while. I was on a course all last week which left me completely exhausted and this week's been loopy at work too.

There's no way I'm going to be able to comment properly on everyone's news but just wanted to pop in and say  

Welcome back to Rach/Julie   

Gina/Rae - so angry on your behalf too - I had that sort of a conversation with Guy's earlier this year when it looked like I would be going down the IVF road - I just didn't have the energy to try to fight or anything I'm afraid

Duff - good idea to take some time off and have a relaxing break ready for IVF

Rach and Sue - great to hear you'r making progress through all the tests - don't be worried at all about the counselling. If it's at the Bridge it's with a chap called Pip who's got a pony tail so you'll be smiling too much to be nervous! Congratulations re the Partnership ceremony - how exciting!

Welcome to Candygirl (we already know each other in RL) - great to hear the sperm's on its way   

Hi to Melissa, Alison, Emma/Lottie, Tonia, Tamsin - hope I haven't missed anyone 

Not much news here. Guy's wrote to us to see if we'd like to import sperm through them so we're going in to see the consultant there on Oct 31st. Thought it would be good to get a second opinion. The problem for us with importing sperm is that because of the cost of the shipping and the licence etc it will be tempting to import enough for a few cycles but with my history there's probably little point of having lots of cycles. I was all gung ho about having a cycle in Barcelona but it's mega expensive and I'm not so sure now. I got my hormone levels done again this cycle and they're more normal again - FSH is 10. The hypnotherapy has made me much more chilled out about the whole thing than I was - maybe I'm starting to come to terms with never being a mother - or maybe I'm just exhausted. Either way I'm feeling ok with life.


----------



## magsandemma

Hi all,
We are new to this site, me 29, partner 30, I have PCOS and have been taking metformin for this which seems to be doing the job!  Currently we are having treatment in london, I am donating eggs and having ICSI using donor sperm.  We have been through our 2wks of down reg, and are now on Day 7 of stimms, we had scan on Day 5 which showed at least 8 follies, they said this was good, but this our first attempt at IVF/ICSI  so all new to us!
Hope you are all well
Good Luck 
Maggie & Emma
xx


----------



## duff

RachandJulie - Hurray!  Welcome home!  

Laragh - I can't help you I'm afraid.  Maybe someone on the main donor sperm threads might know?  

Candygirl - that's great news, with only a week before you start stimming it must be quite a relief.  

Spangley - did you have hypnotherapy in London?  I really want to give it a go before we start on the rollercoaster again. 

MagsandEmma - welcome!  Things are looking good, aren't they?  I wish I could donate some of my eggs but I have a wonky chromosome (a balanced translocation) so nobody but me and my partner would want them! 

I saw my accupuncturist last night and she was absolutely THRILLED that I am taking some time off ttc.  It really does seem to be the best decision.  When you're in the thick of it all, I think you just get used to the level of anxiety.  It's only when you stop for a while that you realise just how much energy it all took!


----------



## lucky2010

Hello everyone,

I did my first pee on a stick today... not ovulating but didn't expect to be really... will have to test for next few days and will hopefully get a surge in a couple.... fingers crossed, is feeling more real now!!!!

Hope everone is ok.

Rach x


----------



## RachandSue

Rach & Julie:Are you doing bbt charts aswell? I am on my first month of doing mine and its all a bit confusing! temp is fine, its the cm thats confusing! what can i say examining my cm has never been my thing and i'm not sure if i'm recording correctly!! Sorry people i know this is not a tasteful conversation and to be honest its taken a while for me to work up the courage to ask!!!  

Spangley: thanks everyone has put our minds at rest re counselling  

Candygirl: welcome and great news  

Gina: How did it all go?  

Love to you all

Rach & Sue
xx


----------



## Fifebloke

Can't help but butt in here... 

Cervical Mucus (CM) is the primary marker I and my recipients go by as it's an absolute pre-requisite for fertilisation. Without Fertile Mucus (FM), sperm can't even get past the cervix.

From what I have gathered from many sources, if FM is present, the sperm can get into the uterus then they can patrol about waiting for an egg or to die, whichever comes first.

As sperm can live for 5 days or more once they get into the uterus and the normal FM production window is anything between 1 and 5 days, then insemming during FM is always in with a good chance.

Obviously, the closer to ovulation you can insem while still producing FM, the better your chances will be.

FM is characterised by being clear or slightly cloudy, and with the ability to be stretched. If you get some between forefinger and thumb then part them, the FM will stretch between them in a thin strand rather than break almost immediately. It is also very slippery between your fingers.

See - http://www.fertilityfriend.com/HelpCenter/FFBook/ff_fertility_signs.html for a fuller description.

Best wishes

David


----------



## nismat

I couldn't agree more with David about the importance of CM in charting  - especially if you are doing home insems rather than IUIs at a clinic (in which case the CM is bypassed, so the consistency isn't crucial to success in the same way, although it is an indicator of correct timing).

Although technically there are about 4 or so types/possible stages of CM, the most important thing to recognise is when it changes to egg-white type consistency (I only ever got either creamy or egg-white, nothing in between ). Supposedly you can measure it by checking your loo paper after wiping, but I don't think it's very accurate. The way I did it (and I'm going to get graphic here, but I think that there's a pretty good chance that we are all fairly familiar with our own anatomy and not too shy about it ) was to insert my index and middle finger and gently pinch the cervix to gather the mucus as it came out of the cervix. If you can get the mucus to stretch between your fingers when you open them out, then that is egg-white/fertile type and you're in your fertile window. As we did IUIs, this was just a helpful indicator to me - in fact, I didn't start doing OPKs until I got EWCM each cycle, as it would start 2-3 days before I got my surge, and it meant that I didn't waste too many.

I charted BBTs (basal body temp) as well as checking CM and doing OPKs. Don't panic if your temp charts look a bit weird at first, as each month is slightly different and it can take a few months before you can start to see your own individual pattern. It is _sooo _ worthwhile charting for several months before you get started actively ttc - it made me so much more aware of my own body, and made me feel like I knew what was going on when (although of course this didn't always help given that my body didn't correspond with the clinic's "average woman" protocol ). A couple of important factors relating to taking your BBT: firstly, make sure that you get a digital thermometer that measures to 2 decimal places, not just one - this makes a _huge _ difference to the accuracy of your charts. Secondly, do try and keep to taking your temp at the same time each morning for consistency - and do it before you get out of bed/move around too much. This meant that I set my alarm for 6am every day - even weekends, which was a bit of a pain, but I usually managed to nod off again afterwards.

OK, I'll get off my charting soapbox now 

*RachJulie* - good to see you back 

*RachandSue* - hope the above was helpful - and sod whether it's tasteful or not! I don't think that any of us should feel shy discussing these matters when they are so relevant to successful ttc. 

*Maggie & Emma * - welcome to the thread . You're already well on the way with your protocol - it can't be all that long until egg collection! Best of luck with the egg sharing/DICSI.

*Spangley * - good to hear from you and glad that you're feeling more at peace at the moment. It must be tricky not knowing which route you will take next - even if the final choice is to leave ttc behind, and I would imagine that it won't be at all easy to make any kind of decisions. Take good care of yourself 

*Candygirl * - welcome to you too, and congrats on your import license! Good luck for the down-regging and all that comes after.

*Laragh * - I don't have any definite answers, but I know that when it was still possible to import sperm to the UK from NWCryo (who could ship direct to your home), some girls used DHL. However, this was organised by the sperm bank in the US, using their special cryo-tanks etc., so it was simply a case of DHL collecting/delivering a shipment. Not sure if it's as simple as this for you. Are your clinic in Barcelona not in the habit of transporting sperm? I would have thought that they should have been able to make suggestions as to who to use.

Another marathon post from me, when I meant to go to bed nearly an hour ago (pregnancy equals compulsory early bed times!).

T x


----------



## Fifebloke

.......and just while I'm on the subject.....

OPKs vary wildly in accuracy and effectiveness.  In theory you should only get one positive reading in any cycle and 12-36 hours later you'll ovulate.  In theory..... 

From my experience, OPKs can vary between giving a positive reading every day for 4 days to not giving a positive at all, even when everything else indicates a normal cycle.  It's my opinion that each type is sensitive to a certain level of LH (Luteinising Hormone) but every woman produces their own unique amount and, for a particular woman, what might be too low on one type will be way too high on another. So use OPKs by all means, but, when you're starting out, test each day with 2 or 3 different types until you find the one that's best for you.

Best wishes

David x

PS FM is still the best though


----------



## friskypony

Hi there ladies,

welcome to Candygirl and Mags an Emma

Thanks for asking about Morven, she's still got a streaming Cold, which i think is also a bit of teething  Poor baby.
She's sooo good though.
We go on Holiday in two weeks an i can't wait, 2 weeks in the sun, then when we come back i'm going to train our little princess to sleep through the night (That's the plan anyway)
Nismat sending lots of Orange good vibes to you - well done!
Anyway must go my Bubs are being called upon 

Hugs to all xxx


----------



## RachandSue

Thanks everyone for your advice, seen as its my first month at charting I'm sure I will get used to it!


----------



## Spangley

Hi Emma

OPK = Ovulation Predictor Kit or pee stick and EWCM = egg white cervical mucus as described more eloquently than I could by Nismat above 

If you get a digital thermometer and start recording your temperature when you wake up every morning you should start to see a pattern of lower temperatures in the first half of your cycle and higher in the second half. I think there's somewhere online you can create your own charts. You can check that every day of your cycle but only use the OPKs from around day 9 depending how long your cycle is normally cos they're quite expensive

Good luck

Lucy


----------



## Fifebloke

Online charts....

See - http://www.womenshealthlondon.org.uk/leaflets/cycle/cycle.html

or - http://www.myparentime.com/features/bbtcharting.shtml

Best wishes

David x


----------



## lucky2010

Rach and Sue,

I'm not charting BBT but am making a note of when my FM comes in realtion to my LH surge.... no surge yet, hopefully tomorrow, then I'm on track for my estimated cycle length etc.

I've just been climbing in a converted church.... it was fantastic.... don't think I'll be doing much of that when (if) I get pg!!!!

love to all, Rach xx


----------



## Alison0702

Welcome Candygirl and MagsandEmma 
Lovely to have you here! Good luck in getting pregnant....There's loads of help and advice on this thread, so you'll have plenty of support.  

       

Lucy - Nice to see you back.  

Duff - I totally agree with what you said about having a break. Although I'll be back on the clomid when period arrives, I have prmised myself not to get stressed about it this time. I think cruising round Mexico might help this time mind  

Hello to everyone else


----------



## lucky2010

Emma, 

I had a look at the online charts and decided to do my own. I'm only charting cycle lengths, mucus and LH surge. I seem to get some mid-cycle pain about 2 days before I ovulate (think only 10% of women do) so hopefully I'll have enough info with all of this.... Only 4 cycles until we start.... wish it was sooner but circumstances mean we have to wait (I'm not eligible for mat leave till then!!)

Church climbing was fab, I'm aching this evening though. I've just finished work and am knackered. Off for 4 days now and then on 2 weeks of night shifts  

I hope everyone is well.

Goodnight all, knackered moi going to bed for a 12+ hr sleep  

Rach xx

PS, Emma, did that guy e-mail you?


----------



## lucky2010

Hi Emma,

Glad he emailed you. Seems sensible to carry on with the guy tou're already in touch with though.... when are you meeting him?

I managed an (almost) 12 hr sleep and instead of waking up refreshed woke up with a stinking headache.... bloody typical!!!

Line is faint on pee stick today so should be the 'day' tomorrow!

Going to take the dogs on a walk in the woods now. Hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend.

Rach x


----------



## Mable

Hi girls,
Just wanted to say, Isn't David absolutely FANTASTIC! Always making such positive, informative contributions.

Off to Monty's half year birthday party with our NCT group this afternoon (all born in April) - the car is full of balloons, cake, bubbles - can't help but think it's for us rather than the babies!!

Frisky - we must talk about sleep training! We are trying the no cry sleep solution at the moment, have reduced his support to holding one hand as he nods off. Still waking to feed in the night a couple of times, we may try to reduce this soon.

Love to all and good luck for your CM analysis!
Mable


----------



## magsandemma

Hi all,
Thanks for all your replies and welcomes, glad I found this site, its good to chat to others in the same position, and see how others feel throughout the treatment.  We went to clinic on friday for another scan, and had 9-10 follies on left side and right ovary still hiding, could only see 3-4 on that side, cudn't bear anymore proding.  So back for the next scan tomorrow, just need them to grow now, the biggest was 12mm on friday, so everything seems to be going well.  Just feeling bloated and absolutely knackered, went to friends kids birthday party yesturday afternoon, it killed me 15 kids under 5, lol, so bloated my jeans only just fit at the mo, but it will all be worth it so not to grumble.
Anyhow hope everyone is well and things are going goood?
Good Luck to all
Maggie & Emma
xxou


----------



## evelet

hello all

here i am back again!

Jude is now 14 months old and is walking (and running) about the place as well as saying "Ready steady go!" and "uh-oh" at the slightest opportunity...
He is still a rubbish sleeper and spends large amounts of time in our bed with extra lovely moments including wanting to play Peepo at 3.30am)


As we are now living up North (in S****horpe) we've signed up with a new clinic (Care in Nottingham) and are hoping that Ros will have her first IUI in November. We are currently arranging for the transfer of our sibling sperm from London to Nottingham and frankly, thank god we've got it because they don't seem to have donor sperm available at all in either of Nottingham's two clinics and also have problems in Leeds/Hull/Sheffield etc. i know LWC have some because my sister's girlfriend has just signed up with them. Its an awful awful situation for lesbians ttc at the moment and every time I think about how and why the law was changed I feel really angry. if only we had ID release and non-ID release sperm to choose from like they do in the USA. (sorry mini-rant over now...)

So, Ros has had the tests, including a pre-treatment scan and everything looks ok. But when we went for our consultation the doctor asked us if we had considered IVF and that Ros's FSH (11.5) was a bit high... I did mention to him that she stopped breastfeeding a couple of weeks before the blood test and he admitted that could have had an effect. But still, it made my heart sink a bit. they will let us do one iui wihout drugs then will recommend clomid for the next cycle. after 6 cycles they make you switch to IVF.

so (apart from saying hello  ) i just wondered what people think about agreeing to try clomid, about how long to wait before we try ivf etc. we are in the very very fortunate position of having 17 lots of sperm but we might want to have more than 2 children so we want to conserve as much as possible (I might want to ttc one day although i'm not doing very well at losing weight i need to lose first...). I know that some of you went throught all sorts of drugs etc before successful IVF so I would be v grateful for your perspectives.

Thanks!


----------



## RachandSue

Hi,

Just a quick note to say welcome to our newcomers!   

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. As our meet is nearly upon us I would really apreciate people letting me know if they are coming as I need to get some food sorted!   Last thing I want is not enough or too much oh hang on who am I kidding too much is probably good so we can all indulge!!! 

Let me know girls everyone who can make it is welcome

Love to you all 

Rach
xxxx


----------



## MG

Hello everyone,

Mags and Emma-Hi girls! Good news on your follies. It sounds like you have a healthy batch on-board! I also find I'm wearing trousers and jeans with that little bit extra room as I get near the EC date. Especially after the trigger injection when I feel all achy and bloated... 

Lucy-Good to hear you are feeling relaxed and your FSH level is looking better  . I too have heard that Barcelona is pricey. I was thinking of abroad options, but all the cheaper, but still good clinics offer anonymous sperm and I can't help thinking that if i have the option to use ID release donors I should... 

Rach & Sue- Hi there! Hope the charting is going okay. Like others have said don't worry about the embarrassing questions as we have all been there! 

Rach & Julie-Is today the day, have you see a line? I always find if I oversleep I feel crappy, I'm quite jealous of how teenagers can sleep for hours!

Emma-Sounds like you are making great progress with arranging a known donor. Best of luck to you!

To known donor users-I too am wondering whether it would be worth attempting to go down that path. It is quite scary as you hear horror stories and I do worry whether it would be worth it anyway as I have had so much unsuccessful treatment. Everyone has said I have been extremely unlucky that it hasn't worked even though immunology issues might be an issue. It would be a whole lot cheaper though!

Alison-Enjoy Mexico you lucky . It is always great to have time out especially when you are distracted from all tx!

Duff-It is amazing how much energy tx sucks out of you isn't it. Good to hear you are finding your break refreshing.

Hi Eve & Ros-As Ros got pregnant on her 2nd IUI I don't see why she should have any problems conceiving her second. Like you say she only finished breastfeeding a couple of weeks before the blood test and that could have had an effect. You are certainly very lucky to have 17 vials of sperms as the sperm situation is unbelievable at the mo. I too agree that it would have been better to do ID release and non-ID release, at least for a couple of years until people got used to the idea an understood what ID release means. Most of the time it is recommended to do 4 to 6 IUIs and if they don't work onto IVF. But it is usually up to personal preference and what you feel would be best for you. Did you do a natural or stimulated cycle in your successful IUI? As that sounds like the most appropriate for you. If it worked before there is no reason why it shouldn't again. The plan to do a natural cycle followed by Clomid sounds appropriate. Clomid seems to be the first step on the stimulated cycles. If Clomid doesn't work for you then there are always other options. IVF is incredibly emotionally and physically intense and I wouldn't advise anyone to jump straight into that unless they have good reason to, especially someone who had success on her 2nd IUI, it seems so unnecessary. Of course if you want to make sure that the FSH level was a one off then get it redone and put your mind at rest.  

Mable-Enjoy the half-year birthday celebrations!

As for me-all is well. Although I find the in-between of treatments frustrating in ways there is some relief to not cycling. If feels so normalising to step back sometimes. But at the same time if someone told me that there are no more treatments for me I would be gutted. Tis a funny world this tx business ain't it! I still have my next tx planned for early 2007 and even though it is only a couple of months away as it is 'next year' it feels like I have loads of time to get prepared.  I hope you will all send me lots of good energy vibes, bubbles, and well wishes as I get closer as I will need all the help I can get!

To anyone I have missed- 
Melissa x


----------



## Mable

Hi Evelet,
Good to see you back!

Just a thought - could Ros go for another blood test to see if her FSH level has settled down? The GP can give you a blood form quite simply. Seems a bit rash to go straight for IVF when IUI worked so quickly before. Kings say that Clomid doesn't make much difference with IUI so they don't use it but other people here have used it so will be able to give you their experience.

Good luck for November! I have my appointment at Kings in a couple of weeks for the first assessment and the counselling - am on a waiting list for sperm (no sibling sperm available) and will be allocated 8 vials and can choose whether to do IUI (which uses 2 vials a go) or IVF. Am probably going to do 2-3 IUIs and then move straight to IVF.

Good luck everyone!
Mable


----------



## lucky2010

Today was the day!!! It's so ridiculous, when we saw two pink lines we were so excited.... anyone would think it was two blue lines!!!! I suppose it's good to know that my cycle is as we thought and our dates to start ttc are easier to plan.Talking about dates.... don't know if anyone has noticed but our ticker has changed  We are now aiming for January, we just seemed to be unnecessarily waiting when we both want this so much. We had a talk and decided that it's VERY unlikely that we'll get a BFP on the first cycle so January it is!!!

*Melissa*, looks like we'll be cycling at more or less the same time!

*Maggie and Emma*, hope the scan went well x

And yes, *David* is Soooo helpful.... I really apprecite all the advice and info.... tried the Instead cup.... not keen at all so think we'll stick with the simple syringe method!!!

Hope everyone is OK.

Rach and Julie x


----------



## RachandSue

fantastic news Rach & Julie!

and even better news about you starting your ttx in January

All the best 


Rach & Sue
xxx

ps: i have blown you some bubbles to congratulate you both


----------



## MG

Great news Rach & Julie! It must be a relief to know that all is as you thought with your cycle, as well as very exciting! 

Looks like I may have another cycle buddy! If I can get it all sorted for then  . Hey, you never know, you may get a bfp first month. People do have success on the first month of inseminating and you could be one of them. 

Melissa xx


----------



## snagglepat

Hi everyone,

Wow, it's been a busy week! I wanted to say a very big thank you to everyone who expressed outrage on our behalf at the change in legislation at our hospital. A particular thank you to Rach and Sue who found out the details of the NHS ombudsman for us. THANK YOU!  I've now had a chance to do some research on what the law on these things actually is and unfortunately although the goods and services act was passed earlier this year it doesn't actually come into force until spring 2007. So, for the time being at least, our hospital is allowed to discriminate against us! Grrrrr! They're still getting stinky letters from us, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the second that law comes into force we'll be refusing to pay them a penny for our treatment. (Hopefully we'll be preggers by then anyway.) So, yeah, that's where that one is up to.

I was scanned again on Friday and there was nothing whatsoever going on with my ovaries. My biggest follie was 9mm. They asked me to come in again this morning for a final check before writing off this cycle - today is CD19 (CD = Cycle Day) and low and behold, we have lift off! I have a 12x15mm follie on my right ovary so the fertility nurse estimated I'd be ovulating on Friday. I just rang our donor and he's all set to come and donate tomorrow and Thursday. I'm so excited! I was pretty certain this cycle was a dud, so now Rae and I both are feeling rather gleeful.  Today was the first time she's been able to come with me for a scan and she was sitting beind the nurse looking at the screen, grinning like a mad thing and giving me the thumbs up. Yey!

*Rach and Julie*, welcome back to the thread, and it's great that this cycle is going so well. You never know, if we don't get lucky in the next few months we might be cycle buddies too. 

*Maggie and Emma*, welcome to the thread! How did the next scan go? Hope all is going well for a mammoth collection. 

*MG*, the known donor route has certainly worked out well for us. There's no way we'd still be able to afford to keep trying if we'd gone any other way. There are certainly horror stories out there, but there are also many successful donor-recipient relationships too. I guess they just don't make quite as interesting a news story. Ultimately though, it's got to come down to what you feel comfortable with, and this thread is proof that it really does take all sorts. I think between us we're trying every method in the book, and then some! 

*Eve and Ros* - great to see you back and hear how Jude is doing. That's great news about the sperm you hae too. Fingers crossed it all goes well at your next appointment.

*Emma*, as for all the charting, we gave up on doing the BBT thing after the first few months. It was just a little bit too stressful for us. We found the OPKs worked really well for Rae, but they're more hit and miss for me. Apparently lots of women with PCOS produce more LH than average and we were getting a positive for days. Like David said, they just don't come in a wide enough range of sensitivities to cover all our indiidual differences. Now I'm getting scanned so we know with a reasonable amount of certainty (within 24 hrs) when I'll ovulate, but previously we just had to go on CM - which did do the trick. 

I know I haven't done all the personals I wanted to, but we're dashing out to go and spend the day with 2 of our nephews (ages 3 & 6), so I'll hae to catch up next time.

Best wishes to everyone else and positive thoughts all round.   

Gina.


----------



## evelet

best of luck to you and rae for this cycle Gina. it must be nice to know FOR SURE that you have a follie ready and waiting...

Have just spent an hour trying to cheer up a sorrowful Jude who banged his chin when he was jumping up and down with glee at the sight of his bath running so am a bit exhausted not helped by the fact that London Womens Clinic want yet another flipping consent form signed and £50 Payment before they will send our sperm to Care in Nottingham. Time is ticking on and we need that precious sperm ready for Ros's surge in November!!! Its all costing us SO much money this time round but it will be worth it hopefully!

has anyone here had any experience of a clinic insisting on scans to check ovulation instead of relying on a LH test??


----------



## magsandemma

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all you're support, as its first time even though the nurse says everythings ok seem still unsure about it!   Well we had another scan yesturday and had the 10 follies on left side, biggest was 15mm, rest just behind, although the right ovary still in hiding, only vaguely saw it , could vaguely see 3-4 follies, however nurse was worried about whether they would be able to do EC from right side, so thats not so good, but at least the left one is doing its job well!  Have another scan tomorrow she said she would get the dr in to see if they could move the right one, not looking forward to that one!   However should be having EC on Fri and ET on Mon, so nearly there, thank goodness as feeling so bloated, feel massive, lol, but it will be worth it!

Rae & Gina
-Excellant news from you're scan, especially when you thought you won't be able to do this cycle, good luck with everything.

Good luck to everyone else wherever you are in you're current cycle!

Maggie
x


----------



## Alison0702

Just to say we're off on hols tomorrow, so good luck to everyone who is having treatment at the moment.
Also, good luck to all those big fat follies..


----------



## lucky2010

*Gina and Rae*

Great news about follies.... in the nicest possible way I hope I don't have you as a cycle buddy in Jan.... We're keeping our fingers crossed for a BFP for you after this 2ww!!!! That would be so fantastic, and about bloody time for you guys!!!!

*Alison*, have a fantastic holiday

*Maggie*, good luck for Friday.... and here's to a fertile weekend!

We have emailed our donor about moving dates to Jan and haven't heard back as yet.... i'm getting worried (Julie thinks unecessarily!), I'm sure I'm just being silly as we only usuallt have contact every month or so.... I just need to have it in black and white that he's ok with Jan 

Hi to everyone else 

Rach and Jules


----------



## duff

Maggie - On our first cycle of IVF last year, I had similar with an ovary being tucked round the corner somewhere so they couldn't see it so well.  I was seeing an oesteopath on and off at the time so I went to her and she straightened the whole area out with her magic hands.


Gina - I'm so pleased you've got a nice fat follie this month.  

Alison - have a terrific holiday!


----------



## nismat

*Eve * - lovely to see you back on here, especially making plans for ttc #2! I hope that LWC pull their finger out and get your sperm sent up to Care in plenty of time. Of course it's great that you've got all this sibling sperm available - but it's not like you haven't had to pay out for it already! I hope that the consultant's mention of IVF didn't panic you too much - I think that they often throw it out as a suggestion at appointments, without realising just how big a deal it is to consider it at the start of ttc (we had the same thing at LWC and it freaked us out that they thought that we might need IVF, and it really isn't the best frame of mind to start out with). As others have said, don't place too much reliance on one month's FSH results, as they can vary a lot from one month to another, even without the recent breast-feeding influence. I'm not sure how I feel about Clomid - it's not usually a major deal to take (although some women do get bad side effects; mood swings/hot flushes etc.), and you can't know until you try it whether or not it will have any result in terms of producing more follies. Femara is a better option actually, as it does the same job but is less likely to cause side effects, and doesn't thin the uterine lining which can happen with Clomid. As soon as you start taking any kind of fertility drug, you would have to have scanning to check on follicular progress - it sounds like you're having to do this anyway. Personally, I found the scanning process very reassuring (even if it was a pain to have to trek to the clinic all the time). 
In terms of planning ahead to when you would up the ante, don't get too fixed on it all. Given that Ros did conceive quickly before, there's no reason to think that there should be major problems this time around. I think that it makes sense to review your thinking after every 2-3 cycles, as if things aren't working out, you'll be surprised how your feelings about using stronger drugs/more aggressive treatment may change. 
Wishing you all lots of luck, and special kisses to Jude 

*Mable * - hope your appointment at King's goes well, and that they can give you some idea of waiting time for sperm. It all sounds so dire at the moment 

*Rachjulie*: congrats on your first positive ovulation test! Hope that you hear from your donor soon about confirming a January start, but don't panic yet!

*Gina * - excellent news on your follie! Wishing you heaps of luck for insems this week after your long break. I really hope that it works out for you.

*Mags & Emma * - sounds like you've got a good number of follies growing there; I hope that your right ovary is co-operative on EC day, and that you aren't too sore afterwards.

Hope everyone else is well,
Tamsin


----------



## Spangley

Hello no time for personals because I'm just dipping in at work.

Just wanted to say that I spoke to the Bridge this morning and they've got a donor for us already 

YIPPEE!!!

Oh and you know how I said I wasn't sure what to do next? Well I do now!

Hope everyone's really well  

L


----------



## lucky2010

Fab news *Spangly* you must be so excited!!! 

Good luck and hi to everyone

Rach and Julie x x x


----------



## Mable

Hello Tamsin,
How are you feeling? You must have a cute little bump by now..?
Mable


----------



## MG

Lucy,

Brilliant news! Any idea yet of when you will be getting started?     Looks like the phonecall certainly helped you make up your mind!  Very happy for you! 

Melissa xx


----------



## RachandSue

Spangley: Fantastic news darling - good luck!!     

Rach & Julie: Have you heard from your donor yet?

Hello to everyone else.

Love Rach and Sue
xx


----------



## lucky2010

Hi Rach & Sue,

We've not heard from him yet. This has happened once before where we contacted him to ask him something and he didn't respond for weeks.... it turned out he'd been away on holiday! I know I'm just being over anxious, but as I said I just want to see it in black and white that he's OK to start in Jan.... then I'll chill out a bit!! I'm trying not to obsessively check my other email account but failing   

The down side of using a known donor eh?!

bye for now x


----------



## RachandSue

Just calm down, it will all be fine as you said he's probably away at the mo! But to be honest I can relate to your behaviour as I'm a bit of an obessive myself.


Love Rach
xx


----------



## Spangley

Thanks everyone for all the good wishes - it's a huge weight off my mind 

Melissa - not sure when we'll actually get started. I'm waiting for my period to start now and I can't go for this cycle anyway because of work commitments in November. My next cycle might just start in time for us to go in December - the Bridge are doing their last egg collections on Monday 18th December. If we have to wait till January I'm quite relaxed carrying on with my hypnotherapy and having some more acupuncture and really putting the Summer's disasters behind us before we go again. How are things going with you?

Rachjulie - can really relate even though I'm not using a known donor. I'm absolutely obsessive about every little thing with this ttc lark. Hope he contacts you soon 

Hiya Tamsin - hope you're doing really well  

Eve - good to see you back although think I only ever saw you on the MSN board and Gingerbeer as it took me so long to find my way to here for some reason. Good luck with your sperm transport

Gina - all I can say is huge   to you 

Good luck Mags and Emma and     for follies

Rach and Sue - Is the meet up still happening on the 4th Nov? We're busy in the evening but can make it if it's a lunchtime thing but not sure what you'd arranged.

Lots of love to everyone else

Lucy


----------



## RachandSue

Spangly: Yes we are still up for meet irisbea has emailed me for our address but I think if you two come it will just be the six of us as no-one else seems to be up for it this  due to commitments etc but anyway, we though we would kick off at 1pm.

love to you all


Rach
xx


----------



## RachandSue

Hi gals,

Okay Sue and I have some problems and she will probably kill me (not literally!) for sharing this! Sue's parents have never really supported our relationship, and now this TX subject has blown their heads off, they are saying that we will psychology damage a child as it will never get his/her head round our situation, not only that he/she will be bullied at school and we should walk the adoption route as thats not as selfish.
All of this has done my head in obviously my initial reaction is "biggot" and understandably I have gone spare saying I will never go there again which I know is a childish stance to take as we generally have a good relationship but I can't get my head round this view. I know this a personal question but has anyone experainced this sort of behaviour from families and how have you dealt with it? My mum has been great I'm not saying she's jumping up and down with enthusiasm but she's as supportive as you would expect and her attitude seems to be "if your happy then I'm happy". Truth is I'm devastated and I'm worried that they will never accept me pregnant and will never accept our child as there grandchild. Which I know will be their loss but I can't help feeling it's ours as well!

Sorry to download but I didn't know who to talk to - So I thought I'd talk to you gals!

Love to you all

Rach
xx


----------



## bagpuss1

Hi Guys,

*Rach and Sue*, I am so sorry that you are having probs with parents. I have to say that I have had a vaguely similar experience but this is with my own mother! Unfortunately it has ended our relationship completely and she has never met Edie. I do have to say though, my relationship with her has always been a rocky, uncomfortable and very unhappy one (for me) and this was just the last straw for me!

I think that if it wasnt my relationship with Helen, then it would have been something else so please do not think that your story will follow the same track as mine.

Actually, thinking about it, Helens mum was non too chuffed about us having Edie- we did not tell anyone until I was pregnant- but now that she is here, Edie is the apple of her grandparents eye and they are so glad that she is here- even getting hints about when the next one will be!

Sorry to go on and on and on but these things have a way of working themselves out- Once your little one is born, you will be able to gage the atmosphere and make decisions at the time, I guess all you can do is wait and lay some ground work in the meantime. If Sues parents want to stay in your lives as a meaningful and positive influences, then it is up to them to make the effort to come to terms with the decisions that you have made as a family.

Hope this helps, good luck,
Kerry


----------



## Laragh

Starrysky & Nismat 

Many thanks for your reply "Transporting Donor Sperm"

I did get a quote from one company to pick the sperm up from Barcelona and take it to Kiev for £900 +VAT.  I may just book a cheap flight to Barcelona and pick the sperm up myself then fly onto Kiev.  Should be fun!!

I will certainly get a quote from DHL as well

Many Thanks


----------



## RachandSue

Bagpus: Thank you your story was a help, I know I have to be the adult and just keep my mouth shut but its soooooo hard! Are you still up for coming on the 4th don't panic if your busy.

Love Rach xx


----------



## snagglepat

Hey folks,

*Maggie*, I've been thinking of you today and wondering how has everything gone with the EC. Did they have any more success with your right ovary? I'm sending lots of positive thoughts your way. Fingers crossed for both of us for this two week wait!

*Spangley*, that's great news about haing a donor ready and waiting. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the timings work out for you for December. Thanks for the good luck wishes too. 

*Rach*, I'm really sorry to hear about the issues you have with Sue's parents. It seems that this kind of issue is unfortunately not uncommon. Rae and I are lucky, both our families are supportive of both our partnership and our plans to have children, although it took Rae's parents several years to get their head saround the idea after she first came out. When I was with my previous partner her parents went through a similar process, but I was there for that. We realised that ultimately, they were grieving for the daughter thay had assumed they had, for the future they'd anticipated for her, and were also very concerned about the prejudices and difficulties they excpected her to now have to face - not least because they realised they'd been guilty in propogating those prejudices themselves in the past. It took time, and lots of reassurance before they came round to understanding that things weren't as bad as they thought, and that she was actually really happy. I know that this is slightly different from the issues that parents getting their heads around their grandchildren being raised in a same-sex partnership face, but ultimately it's about them suddenly having their pre-conceived notion of how the world works being turned upside down. There are now several books out there that talk about children raised in same-sex partnerships, and those studies that have been done show that those children generally do just as well, if not slightly better than other kids. The more you can reassure Sue's parents that you are not going to be doing your children any harm by raising them together the more they'll come to understand that their fears may not have as much grounding as they thought. There's a chapter in Lisa Saffron's book _'It's a family affair'_ called 'Our Children's Point of View' which discusses some of these and might be something you could pass on to Sue's parents to help them feel more settled with everything. Lisa Saffron also wrote a book in 1996 called _'What about the children? Sons and Daughters of lesbians and gay men talk about their lives'_ which was made up of interviews with 20 people raised in gay families. It was published by Cassell but apparently is no longer in print. You might find be able to find a second hand copy online though, if you thought it might be worth a try giving it to them to read. Getting in touch with your local FFLAG group might also help. If they can talk to someone else who has been through the same thing it might help to ease their stresses.

I know it's hard for you guys, but from their perspective, Sue's parents have genuine reasons for being concerned. Those reasons may not have any real grounding when you look into them, but they may never have had to challenge their own prejudices before. As hard as it may be, what they really need is support and care, real information that they can put some faith in and space to let their fears out. If you can manage to be caring and supportive towards them it will make it absolutely clear to them that you'll be able to do the same thing for your children, and that alone might help to allay some of their fears. Even if things don't improve and you end up haing to pul away from them for a bit, if you can make sure they know your door is open to them if they're willing to respect you and your wishes, then in time they might come round. If you can manage to keep the relationship open, even if it is a bit rough in places, then I bet that when your child does arrive on the scene they'll turn into the most devoted grandparents.  I've waffled lots, so I'll stop there, but I really hope that you and they manage to keep your relationship as solid as you can. Good luck to you with it all.

*Toni & Bron*, how did the appointment at the clinic go? Sending big hugs to you both from here.

As for us, we've now inseminated twice, last night and the night before. I had buckets of EWCM yesterday, strong LH posities both days (although that's not uncommon for me) and I'm getting lots of oulation twinges today so I think we got it pretty much spot on. Now we just need to wait and see. We're going to test on 17th November - three weeks away - if my period hasn't arrived by then. Fingers crossed! It's been a bit bizzarre, having to get used to it all again. I definitely found it all a bit more 'icky' than I used to. The worst thing I think is the 'dribble'. For those of you about to start trying with a known donor, it's one of the low-lights. Make sure you've got a towel under your bum when you do the insemination because there always seems to be a little leakage. And smelling faintly of 'boy' when you go to the loo for the 12 hours or so after the deed is done is really quite odd.

ANyway, I'm supposed to be working so I'd better crack on. Best wishes to everyone,

Gina. x


----------



## Mable

New pic of Monty ...


----------



## magsandemma

Hi all

Thanks for all you're positive messages!!!

Well had EC today, was so nervous when we got there, but they where lovely and they put us at ease straight away!  Well they collected 12 eggs so thats 6 each so thats good, was amazed how quickly it was all over and I don't really remember much about it, apart from them asking me in theatre if I was woosey and then them saying it was over and I was crying, think it was a combination of everything, nerves, tiredness and releif all in one, but emma was there waiting for me so had lots of cuddles and was fine.  Now just have to wait for the call in the morning to tell us how they have done overnight, am keeping positive, and they said ET will probably be monday, so all excited, however now I have the pleasure of pessaries twice a day, lovely, but its all worth it!!

Gina - Thanks, sounds like its all going well and the inseminations were at the right time from what you said!
So we will be having 2WW together, and testing around the same time, lots of positive thoughts for both of us!!

Mable - What a fab picture of Monty, he's so cute, bless hime.

To everyone else hope all is going well!!

Maggie
XX


----------



## magsandemma

Hi All

Just a quick update, am so excited, just had call from clinic, to say that i have 7 fertilised, which is wonderful news, just keeping positive now that they continue to do well over the weekend, and await the call on monday morn to see if ET will be monday or blastocyst on wednesday.

Hope everyone is well!!

maggie
xx


----------



## lucky2010

Great news *Maggie*... hope all goes well on Mon/ Wed.... keep us updated!

*Gina and Rae*, good luck to you too.... I have everything crossed for you both! You made me laugh with the comments about smelling like 'boy'.... oh what we have to look forward to! Did you do one isem on wed and one on Thurs? We are wondering how many to try and fit in... and if doing more than one per day increases your chances?

*Emma*, I've not heard anything yet and feel like I've been waiting for a lifetime.... it's only been 5 days! It will be such load off my mind when we finally hear from him. I have booked annual leave for the week I should be ovulating (second week in Jan). Julie keeps telling me to stop stressing as she's sure he will be in touch soon. I'm not good at waiting though !

*Rach and Sue* I'm sorry you're having a hard time with Sue's parents. We have had similar comments from various people  I hope that it's possible to smooth thing out.... I'm sure that when you do get a BFP the reality of the situation will clarify how they really feel!

*Mable and Kerry* the pictures of your glorious bundles really does keep this whole journey a reality!

*Heather* how are you?

Hi to everyone else

Love Rach x

Hi to everyone else.


----------



## snagglepat

Hi all,

*Mags and Emma*, that's such great news about the fertilisation. I have everything crossed that all seven continue to do well so you have a wealth of options ahead.  I'll be keeping an eye out for news of your transfer tomorrow. 

*Rach and Julie*, Yep, we did one insem on Wednesday night and another on Thursday. Our donor can only get to us late on weekday nights so it was at around midnight each time. I'm pretty sure I ovulated on Friday as my pain was worst then, but it was niggling for a few days beforehand and I can still feel it now so I'm just hoping there. I'll hopefully find out at my scan tomorrow that it has at least happened.

As for how often to do the inseminations, we've never tried more than once a day. We've read in a few places that sperm will live inside you happily for anything from 1-4 days, as long as it has fertile mucus to swim around in. Apparently any other kind of mucus just stops it in its tracks. We generally try for two inseminations per cycle, ideally one one or two days before ovulation (as long as there is fertile mucus present), and another on the day of ovulation. On the few times when we've been in a position to manage three insems we've done one each day leading up to ovulation. From what we've learned the egg is only viable for 12 hours or so after it is released and it takes sperm a good few hours to swim up to it, so there's not much point inseminating more than half a day after you ovulate. Inseminating up to several days beforehand always seems like a good bet though.

Right, got to get back to work. We're decorating at the moment so we're both wearing extremely trendy paint-covered overalls and I'm being slack so I'd better get on. 

Best wishes all round,

Gina. x


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

Good Luck Gina loads of fairy dust coming your way     also thanks for your advice. The weekend has gone fairly well I have managed to keep my mouth shut and just put their views nearly out of mind. They have announced that they are going to live in Spain in May next year to get away from everything here (including us) which Sue is obviously very upset about but again that has to be up to them whether they will go only time will tell Sue's mum has said she will not be attending our civil partnership where as Sue's Dad has said he will be there for us! I don't know I think we just need to carry on taking tiny steps each day and just see what the future brings. 

On a lighter note, my body is behaving itself and we are on target for blood tests to be done tomorrow (day 2 of cycle) so we should be able to phone the clinic to make our consultation appt. as soon as the results are back!! Which we are both really excited about.

Mags and Emma: Good luck today we will be thinking of you.   

Mable: Monty is Gorgeous.

Love to you all

Rach
x


----------



## Spangley

Hi guys

Thinking of you Mags and Emma- hope the transfer goes well    

Good luck Gina and Rae too    

Rach and Sue - so sorry you've been having a difficult time with parents. Time really does help - it just takes some people longer to get their heads round things. You know we're all here to help you so don't worry if you need to offload. Hope the blood tests are ok.  

RachJulie -hope your donor's got back to you  

We love Monty  

Hope everyone's having a good week so far. My period started yesterday so we'll hopefully be cycling before Christmas. The Bridge does the last EC on Dec 18th and then has a break so hopefully this cycle will behave itself and AF will come again in time. We're seeing the consultant at Guy's tomorrow too - I've got a copy of all our notes from the Bridge to show him - quite depressing reading even though we knew what was in them   I'm feeling so much more chilled about everything though - REALLY recommend hypnotherapy


----------



## Spangley

Hi Emma - we must have been posting at the same time. Sorry you've got cold feet - don't really know what to say to help   but am thinking of you


----------



## snagglepat

Hi everyone,

I had another scan this morning and there was still a big follie there.  No wonder it's still hurting! It did have uneven edges and there was fluid around it so the nurse said she thought it had popped in the last 24 hours. I guess our timing wasn't really that great this cycle after all. Our last insemination would have been about 3.5 days before I ovulated. If we're lucky and our donor has super-sperm some of it might still be around but the odds of success aren't that great.  I'll be having blood tests next Monday to check my progesterone level which should help to pinpoint the timing of this ovulation better and give us more information to go on next time. I guess I should be happy that I ovulated at all, but I was pretty sure we'd given ourselves a really decent chance this time so it's a bit of a blow to know it's probably a write-off - again!

Bah. And Rae's at a conference all day today so I haven't even had a chance to talk to her about it yet.

On the positive side, I asked the nurse what their policy was when someone does conceive and they offer a scan at 7 weeks as standard which I'm pleased to hear. After Toni's experience it's good to know we won't have to hold on until 12 weeks to find out that all is well, or not, once we do eventually get that BFP.

*Rach and Sue*, Glad to hear you might be able to maintain a good relationship with Sues Dad. Hopefully time will be all that's needed for her Mum to come around. Great news about your body behaving too. Maybe yours could give mine some lessons - it could really do with a decent role model!

*Emma*, sorry to hear about your cold feet. If you ever fancy having a chat to someone else who's walking the known donor route for a bit of reassurance then I'd be more than happy to. PM me if you'd like my phone number. 

*Spangley*, thanks for the good luck wishes, and all the best to you for a well behaved body too.

Gina. x


----------



## Mable

Sorry to hear that, Gina. Could you ask for the FSH injection which triggers ovulation (E had this before egg collection)? Just a thought. Fingers crossed for you, anyway.

Rach and Sue - this was a familiar scenario for us too. However, once you've had your baby, I bet that the grandparents will just go nuts for it. My parents can't get enough of Monty and treat him just the same as their 'biological' grandson. We've had to do quite some talking it through thou, a bit annoying but this does seem to have helped them. 

Good luck to Mags and Emma for today and good news Spangley.

Thank you all for loving Monty so much - he is fully organic! (unlike us, living on pizza and chocolate)
Mable


----------



## magsandemma

Hi all

Got the call this morning, so have been to clinic, have had 2 embies put back, they said they where average, whatever that means, 1 3 cell and 1 5 cell, not sure how good that is, doesnt sound like a lot to me, but we got to stay positive and hope that they keep growing in there!!
Anyhow just quick post to update, resting now, so will check in tomorrow!

hope you are all ok, and thanks for all you're thoughts!

maggie
xx


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Girls,

Hope everyone is well, just thought I'd post before I go off to the quacks for my blood tests. Good luck Maggie loads of      your way. Gina, here's to hoping your donor has super sperm     .

Love to everyone else, it's a shame no-one except irisbea and her partner can make our meet up on saturday, maybe next time as we would love to meet you all.

Rach
xxx


----------



## lucky2010

Hi all. Good luck mags and here's to super sperm for Gina!!!!! 

Still no news, we're thinking we're going to have to search for another donor. Not ideal at this late stage but we definitely can't cope with the stress of slow responses when we're supposed to be meeting up to inseminate. Fed up but cracking on with finding someone else. We thought we were so organised!!!!

Love to all x


----------



## RachandSue

Good Morning Everyone,

Had blood tests done on Tuesday, results and quack appt. on 14/11 to get referral, will phone Bridge after!!! Can't believe it's nearly here. Hope all i well with results.  

Rach & Julie: I can't believe you're having some bad luck with your donor - stay strong as he was obviously not the one and you will find the right one for you guys.

How is everyone else doing?

Love to you all

Rach & Sue
xxx


----------



## magsandemma

Its Day 3 now following transfer, feel like I've been on the sofa for a week already, as emmas been working yesturday and today, looking forward to getting some time together tomorrow, might even venture out for some lunch or something!   So glad borrowed the laptop, otherwise would of been worse, at least I can browse some of the day!  But got to stop going on ebay, will be skint by time I go back to work  

Work have been good tho, was due back this Sat night but thought that was too soon, as with my job on my feet and walking most of the 12.5hrs, so they have covered my shift for me, so not due back now until nights from Wed 7th   

We are hoping that we will be able to get to come to the next meet up, hope that this one goes well.

Hope you are all well!     

Maggie
xx


----------



## magsandemma

Morning All

How are we all today?    

I didn't have good night, been up since 2am, slept for an hr and half, don't know whats going on?  
Had low niggles all night but not much else and peeing loads, lol.  So have been on sofa most of the night watching the comedy channel with lots of decaf tea!!

Then when eventually was dozing off, builders arrived to flat opposite ours and are tearing the place apart  , so not impressed!!! Going to go out for a bit, i think before I go mad 

Anyway enough moaning, trying to stay positive but quite emotional today, prob not helped by lack of sleep

Hope you are all well!

Maggie
xx


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Maggie- I'm afraid the 2ww can play havoc with our mind and bodies . Your body's natural system has been played about with during IVF so it is to be expected. Not having enough sleep makes you feel rubbish anyway but noisy builders in the mix doesn't help does it! At least not being on your feet for most of your shift and having time off will give you one less thing to worry about!    

Rach & Sue- Very close to starting now! As for parents: also had issues with mine and DP's parents. Both had v negative reactions   to our relationship. But years down the line and them learning about us and how we live our lives/challenging their prejudices, things have changed. My parents now fully support our tx plans and DP's parents are lukewarm (years ago we would never have thought this could happen). I am sure once we are successful, things will improve even more. Sometimes it does take time. But I am well aware that some people would rather bury their heads in the sand then face the reality of our situations. In their cases you probably wouldn't want their negativity influencing your children anyway.

Emma- I can understand the reluctance to get going again and am also looking into hypnotherapy to support whatever my next step will be. Sometimes though your body just needs to recover and get ready to start again and for me I think it is a mixture of both of these. I am now feeling positive about starting in 2007 as I feel I need the break till then.

Rach & Julie- Sorry that your donor has not contacted you. But it is probably better that you found out now than in mid cycle when you actually would need him. Now you can find someone reliable! Best of luck finding him.   

Gina- Sorry to hear the timing of insems didn't work out as well as you'd hoped. So here's to super sperm...    

Lucy- How did your appointment at Guy's go? Things are moving fast for you aren't they? Things are okay with me. I'm more than fine with waiting till Jan/early 2007 to begin tx again. It means I can fully enjoy the food and drink of Xmas   and just relax. Really excited for you that they have a donor available so soon.

Anyway girls, I need your advice. I went to see another Consultant at a different clinic and he recommends that I consider going back to IUI again but this time with stimms. As my issue appears to be implantation and they can give me drugs to deal with this regardless of if I do IVF or IUI he thinks I should give IUI another go. He recommends 4 stim IUIs and if they don't work than I could move onto IVF. Although the clinic has no limit on the amount of IUIs I can do and he has known people do between 6 and 12 and it being successful. However, optimum success does seem to be four months before the stats drop again. 

He stated that 70% of people are successful over 4 stim IUIs whereas with the same amount of money I would do 1 IVF with a 30% chance of success.

I guess I felt that my chance of a successful IUI had been written off but maybe I am being fed this by an overmedicalised clinic. I do like the idea of doing IUI as I am not looking forward to the process of IVF again. But I wonder whether it would be safer to go for IVF as it is supposed to be the next step. What do you think? Please help!!  

Melissa xx


----------



## duff

HI Melissa,

I've been making similar decisions.  It's a real dilemma. You mention that you're not looking forward to the IVF process and would rather stick with IUIs, maybe this is the key.  I mean, being comfortable and relaxed with the whole process must be better.  It is tricky though because you can't help weighing up the price of all the IUIs against IVF and wondering if you've made the right decision.  I like the way of thinking about the success of the 4 IUIs rather than treating them as individual attempts.  If you thnnk of it like 70% over four goes, it sounds great!  

I've decided to go for IVF because I've had the process before and actually found it quite an adventure.  Also I've got a wonky chromosome, so letting the embryos go to blastocyst should ensure we only have the good 'uns put back in.  

Good luck to everyone!


----------



## snagglepat

Hey folks,

What a crazy week it's been! I'm loving all this talk of hypnotherapy. On Tuesday I did an introductory course on Natal Hypnotherapy so that I can begin to use it with my clients. I'm now hoping to go on and do the full practitioners training (assuming I can find enough pennies to pay for it). The course on Tuesday was amazing. It was with Maggie Howel who developed the Natal Hypnotherapy techniques and she did some relaxation sessions with us and they were just fantastic.

Then on Tuesday night I got a call from my current client and I spent the next 24 hours with her and her partner as she birthed their beautiful son. I actually used quite a few of the relaxation tehniques with her through the labour and she found them really helpful. So I'm hooked too now. 

So I've had lots of other things to think about rather than the 2ww, which has probably been a very good thing.  Next week Rae and I are off to Center Parcs for a mid-week break, so hopefully that'll help me to stay positive and happy too.

*Melissa*, tough decisions ahead. I agree wholeheartedly with Duff's comments about yu being able to be more relaxed with IUIs which I'm sure would make a difference. The other thing to consider (if you haven't already) is that although the stats you were given do seem to point to IUI as being the most logical step, it might be worth checking that those stats were for people with your specific kind of problem, rather than general stats. Although if they can help with the implantation issues regardless of which route you choose then maybe that's not relevant. Either way, I wish you the best of luck with your decision making process. 

*Maggie*, glad you managed to get the extra time off work. I hope the builders next door don't make the whole time unbearable though. I've been getting niggles too - for me they're specifically on my right side and they feel exactly like ovulation pain. That means I've now had ovulation pain for nearly two weeks and I sincerely doubt I've been popping eggs out all that time. I'm going to be asking the nurse about it on Monday, but it might just be par for the course too. Hopefully it's a good sign for both of us.   

*Emma*, I am deeply honoured that you'd consider asking me to be your doula. Thank you. I have worked as far as Kettering before - my first client lived in Ringstead. I'd love to work with you once you've succeeded (as long as I'm not heavily pregnant or nursing myself, which might make it a bit more awkward.) Once the time comes it might be worth us meeting up first to make sure you feel the same way once you've met me in real life though. 

*Rach and Julie*, I'm so sorry you're having to hunt for a new donor, but given his slow response to all your queries I can understand. I'm sure we'd feel the same way. That trust is so important. Whereabouts are you? I could always ask our donor if he knows of anyone near you. I know he has contact with a few other donors. I don't know if anything would come of it but it might be worth a try.

I hope the gathering goes well today. Sorry we can't be there. If anyone fancies coming to one in Birmingham in a few months time then do shout. 

Best wishes to all,

Gina.


----------



## magsandemma

Hello All

Hope you are all well and had a good weekend!!  How did the meet go?    

We have just got back from fireworks was good to get out, but knackered just walking a little way!!! Well Its half way thro the 2ww now, wish it was more than that tho, lol.  Been feeling not too bad, just really emotional, with sore boobs!  Going back to work this week I think  , not sure how I am going to manage but I'll give it a go!!

Well hows everyone else?

maggie
xx


----------



## Spangley

Hello everyone

Hope you're all doing really well.

Congrats on getting halfway through the 2WW Maggie - not long to go now and I'm sure being back at work might help keep your mind off every little twinge

Wow Gina that sounds amazing   Have fun at Center Parcs - I love it there and good luck for the rest of your 2WW

Melissa and Duff - very interested in the thoughts about going back to IUI. With my situation I've been wondering whether that might be an option for us although I really want to get to an embryo transfer at least with an IVF cycle just to see if I can first. 

Rach and Julie - really sorry you're having to look for another donor

Rach and Sue - good luck with the blood test results. did you meet up with Irisbea in the end?

As for us - we went in to Guy's to see Mr Khalaf last week. He didn't tell us anything that we don't know already. He was supportive of our decision to have one more cycle of IVF so we feel we've tried absolutely everything. He agrees that donor embryos could be a good option to explore rather than the lengthy wait and expense of donor eggs seeing as we're using donor sperm already. Instituto Marques do treatment with donor embryos for 2500 euros all in and no waiting list. Only problem is it's non ID release so I'm going to explore what the waiting list is like in the UK. 

We've also taken the decision not to try for treatment before Christmas as it was feeling too stressful with all the other stuff going on at that time. I also agree with Melissa's point that it would be nice to enjoy eating and drinking what I want over that time. So we're going to postpone till January and give it our best shot in the New Year

all the best to everyone for a good week

Lucy


----------



## duff

Lucy - Hurray for you both taking time off over Christmas.   I think me, you and Melissa are going to be doing ourselves the world of good by relaxing, eating and drinking what we like for a while.  

I've recently got into exercise classes, of all things! When I was ttc I was nervous about trying something new, so I thought I'd give it a go while I have the chance.  I've had a Turkish bath and a couple of saunas too.  

You already see an accupuncturist, don't you?  It's just that mine is really pleased to be treating me while I'm not ttc.  She said that lots of what she was doing during the cycles was battling against clomid side effects, so it's really good to have the opportunity to get me all balanced out while I'm not on any drugs.


----------



## Spangley

Yes we've already taken full advantage of freedom from good behaviour and spent the weekend eating curry and drinking too much. Tooting Gala bingo on Saturday - highly recommend it  

I haven't been to acupuncture for a while but I think I will get into the swing of that again. I've also started running again as during the tx I didn't really feel like it and also I'd read that you should conserve energy for your reproductive system. Running always cheers me up and chills me out. 

Turkish bath and saunas sound good too


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

How is everyne doing? We met up with Irisbea and her partner on Saturday (well they came to us) had a really nice afternoon. Must arrange another one with more of us after the fetivities!  

Gina: Hope you and Rae have a great time at Centre Parcs!  

Spangley: Thanks for the luck, some are back the worrying ones are all clear and fine - thank god!  
There are still some outstanding but it looks like the "E2" is a bit messed up so it might have to be done again!! For the love of God!!!!!!   We might just leave that tho and see what the Bridge say.


Hope everyone is well and not getting to stressed as the run up for xmas nears us! Has anyone finished all their pressie shopping I bet there is someone out there smiling smugley to themselves and to be honest "fair play to them"!!! 

Love to you all 

Rach
xx


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Hi Duff- It is a bit of a dilemma. I think perhaps what I should do is go for one treatment at a time and worry about the next after that. Although I am leaning towards the 4 stim IUIs.  I too found the ICSI an adventure in some ways. But although my recovery from EC-1 was a wonderful 2 hr sleep and I felt fine immediately after, my second EC recovery left me feeling awful for 2 days. I remember waking up in EC-2 and I think they must have quickly increased the dose maybe too much!

Gina- It is true logically the stats do point to the IUIs and I would feel more relaxed about it. Plus my new Cons who is very familiar with the treatment involved in my immune issue did feel that IVF was unnecessary at this point. The Natal Hypnotherapy sounds fascinating! Your work sounds so rewarding. I hope you enjoy your break at Center Parcs!

My main issue is am I fooling myself that IUI can work when 2 ICSIs haven't.  Plus I may be the 30% in the unsuccessful category in the 4 IUIs. But equally since my previous tx's they have discovered the implantation issue which according to the Consultant when treated should bring my chances up to/close to the normal range. So in a way it is like starting again. Either way I have a limited amount of funds so if the IVF/4IUIs doesn't work then it'll be time out. There is also some comfort in the 4 IUIs as I have 4 chances at the preg test instead of feeling like everything rests on that one IVF. Also I am fearful of seeing another bfn on my 3rd IVF/ICSI. It'll feel like it will never happened. Anyway even though my head is swimming with all this stuff, my DP and I are pretty much set that the next tx with be a stim IUI. I'm giving myself to the end of the week to resolve it and then no more over-thinking!

Lucy- I can understand why you would want to do a ET before heading back to IUI  it would also seem to me to be something I would have to do. Good Luck on finding donor embryos! I wish more places abroad did ID-release it would certainly widen the options!

Lucy & Duff- Pleased to hear that you will be indulging yourselves this Christmas ! I think we bleeding well deserve it. I shall definitely raise a glass (or two or three...) to you over the Christmas period as we have time out from the tx healthy treadmill! Anyone else be joining us?

Rach & Sue- I haven't even started my pressie shopping yet! Prob should be getting on with it soon!

Now I had better get on with sorting out my acupuncture and hypnotherapy!

Melissa xx


----------



## Alison0702

Wow so much to catch up on. Got back from hols last night after 12 hours in Heathrow waiting to get home then when we did get home, our bags didnt!  
Had a great holiday. Got caught up in a really bad storm on day 1 of cruise and ship was all over the place. Thought I was going to die! Rained most of the 10 days aswell, so am now whiter than when I went! 

Have finished my 5 days of clomid today, so will be going for a folicle scan in about 10 days time.  

Mable - Monty is just sooooo cute. He's changed wuite a bit hasnt he - a proper little boy.

Rach and Sue - Really sorry to hear things arent as rosy as they could be with Sue's parents. It must be hard for both of you, as you are both so excited and must feel like its putting a dampner on it. Fingers crossed it gets easier for them to understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong in what you are doing. I havnt had any experience with this kind of situation really - apart from an ex's sister hated me cos she caught me and her snoggin on the sofa once  

Lucy - Excellent news..really chuffed for you, Think you are right about waiting to get going though so you can have a drunked stress free Christmas. I am slightly concerned about Tooting Bingo though  

Maggie and Gina - Loads of      for your  

           

Kerry - Gorgeous picture

Hello to everyone else. Must go, off to join weight watchers for the 9th time. Then coming home to have a massive curry.


----------



## duff

Alison! welcome home mate!

Melissa and Lucy! - this IUI/IVF thing is *very* topical.

I was at my GP this morning arranging blood tests and I told him about our plans to do IVF in the new year. He said that it was completely my decision, but that I was to remember that the doctors at fertility clinics are technicians and tend to make everything medicalised. He said to remember that we were the customers and to make sure we weren't being railroaded into things. I asked him if he thought the IVF was a good idea, and he said that he understand why I might want to do it because of sperm shortages and money etc, but that I'm someone who is making eggs that fertilise, I ovulate normally, I've had a clinical pregancy so it _can_ work and I don't actually have any fertility problem.

I've been thinking all day about this, and then the doctor from the Bridge phoned, saying that they'd discussed our case and think PDG is the way to go. They want to take a bloody cell out of each of the embryos grown and bi-sect it to see if they carry the wonky chromosome. I said it sounded a bit extreme to me. And expensive - an extra £2000 ON TOP of IVF!!

I'm going to have a good long think about all this.


----------



## lucky2010

Hi everyone,

all is well...  he did respond and as I thought he'd been away. Now he knows we're starting to try in 8 weeks he's made himself more available.... stress over!!!

We're decorating the lounge and having new carpet, slate floor in the kitchen and hall and new carpet on the stairs and landing.... needless to say the house is in chaos and we're having a takeaway for the second night on the trot!!! I really feel like I'm nesting  

Hope everyone is well.

Rach x


----------



## MG

Hi everyone!

Hellooo Alison- Glad to hear you enjoyed your holiday even through the rain. Although as I do get seasick, I feel ill just reading about the bad storm at sea. I hope you are all refreshed for your current cycle 

Duff- Interesting this IUI/IVF thing. It is worth considering just how much fertility clinics over medicalise things. Also a strange coincidence that on the day you talk to your GP your doctor from the Bridge phoned and recommended PGD at an extra £2000!!!  Thing is you always feel the 'what if that's the answer?'. I suppose the important thing is that we do what we feel is right for us. Good luck with your decision making! 

Rach & Julie- Good news about your donor responding . It certainly sounds like you are having a good revamp of your house. I think nesting does help as it makes you feel more mentally prepared for a baby. There are definitely a few things I would like to do to our house but it'll have to wait!

Hope everyone else is okay?

Melissa xx


----------



## Alison0702

Melissa, how you doing. I did mean to post you a little message the other day but just realised I forgot  
Have you made any decisions yet about what you are going to go for in the new year? 
It's a toughy! After my 3rd BFN at IUI, I said, right thats it we're doing IVF instead as I got really pessamistic about it ever working.
BUT after my little tantrum, I sat back and thought that statistically it wont work straight away and I have to give it a few more chances - mainly because of the money, but also its not as much strain on my body. Think we are going to give it another 3 tries, then think again if it still hasnt worked. 
Your right though - 4 chances of getting pregnant with IUI as opposed to 1 chance with IVF.

Hope my pumpkin helps with your decision making.  

Duff - How are you enjoying your new healthy lifestyle then  


Day 2 of weight watchers and already I could eat my own arm off  
Am so hungry all of the time. Doesnt help that on the cruise I ate every 15 mInutes for 10 days  

Lots of 

           

                              to everyone


----------



## ♥JJ1♥

Hi Ladies

I thought I'd share my good news with you, as some of you have given me advice and hope, PM'd me and are also at the Bridge as single/couples etc. 
I got a  today eventually!!I conceived with my gay friend as my known donor at the Bridge and we had ICSI. I had Mr Shaw for EC and ET.

I initially did the HPT and got a  on testing with First Response but for *'Pregnant'* with Clear Blue Digital - so repeated them both and got the same results-  confused I dashed off for bloods and I am pregnant!! Have to go back for more bloods on Sat to ensure they are doubling.

Best of Luck with things and hope that 
L x


----------



## Alison0702

JJ that is brilliant news honey..well done you. Take lots of care of yourself now.


----------



## candygirl

Hey all,

I know I don't post very much, but I've been following everyone's stories with interest.  Our news is that our sperm has arrived from America, and I've started downregging for my second IVF cycle.  If all goes according to plan, we'll know by Christmas if it's worked or not...

Congratulations JJ!

Candy x


----------



## magsandemma

Hi All

Hope you girls are all doing ok??

We are now 11dpt, unfortunately yesturday starting having really bad af pains, not good as this is when af would of been due to arrive, started having some spotting yesturday, and again this morning, although the only thing keeping us slightly positive is its not like usual af, so hoping thats a good sign, but I suppose we will find out sooner or later!!  Really wanted to test now, but not sure if thats a good idea or not

Anyhow how are you all doing?

Maggie
xx


----------



## RachandSue

Hi Everyone,

JJ1: Congratulations that's fantastic news make sure you keep us all posted on your development.  

Mags and Emma: Stay positive darling xxx    

Candygirl: Good Luck!    

Rach & Julie: Great news re your donor - back on track!  

No news from us just waiting for Tuesday to come round so that we can book our consultation, also lots of wedding plans happening so that's keeping us very busy!!  

Love to everyone

Rach
xxx


----------



## Spangley

Hey there everyone - wow it's been a busy week!

Firstly huge congrats to JJ  - so exciting  

Welcome home Alison - so sorry to hear the weather was bad for your cruise - and I'm right with you on the hunger pangs. I started the Guardian   Eatright plan on Monday and I'm absolutely starving and have lost a whole 100g. Only 14kg to go  

RachJulie - glad your donor reappeared so you're still on track for tx soon. Hope the decorating's going ok

Duff - The Bridge recommended PGS for us back in June - seems so long ago now - we decided we'd go for it to reduce chances of miscarriage. Of course it all had to be shelved when I didn't produce enough eggs anyway and to be honest I was in two minds about it because of the chances of false readings and the idea of playing around with embryos became a bit offputting when thinking about my own embryos.  

Melissa - hope you're doing ok with your decisions. It's so hard isn't it

Mags and Emma - fingers crossed for you    

Still pondering myself re the IVF/IUI and wondering whether to go and see Mr Shaw again now and see whether there's any point in IUI for me actually. Got my letter back from Mr Khalaf at Guy's after our appointment last week. The words "reduced ovarian reserve" don't inspire hope but I'm ok. 

There's very much life beyond infertility with me at the moment as VSO (who I work for) are the (London) Lord Mayor's Appeal charity as of tomorrow and we're in the Lord Mayor's Show and busy planning gala dinners etc. So if you're at a loose end before Football Focus tomorrow morning watch BBC1 between 10.45am and 12.30. You might even catch me on telly   And then we're off to Southampton for a 40th birthday party - I've been saving my alcohol allowance all week so I'll probably be   by about half past seven

Have a great weekend everyone

L


----------



## Mable

Good luck to Mags and Emma. I lurk sometimes on the 2ww boards (am addicted to the rush of excitement that comes with a BFP announcement) and a girl there has recently had AF pains and spotting and ended up with a BFP, just to give you some hope. Edith also had AF pains on day 10.   

Spangley - how exciting you work for VSO. We went to Mozambique with VSO a few years ago, pre-Monty. Was the most wonderful thing I've ever done. Do you get to travel much?

I'm also in an IUI/IVF dilemna - mine is that with only 8 vials of sperm allocated per person in my clinic (and IUI using 2 per try), what treatment to opt for. Am going to ask for clomid to see if this increases my chances. 

Sorry - no real time for personals. Special thoughts for our 2 pregnant couples, Heather and JO and Tamsin and KAren - Heather you are nearly there, good luck for the final few weeks, and Tamsin, all the best to you too and do let us know how you are getting on.

And   to everyone trying at the moment,
Mable


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Congrats to JJ!  You must be so excited! 

Candy- Great news that your sperm has arrived from America. I know some people have had trouble what with the HFEA guidelines changing so it must have been a great relief to you to get the go ahead. 

Mags and Emma-  I have my fingers crossed for you. It could be an implantation bleed. I'm not sure I'm the best person to say whether you should test. The general consensus is do not test early. Because you could be pregnant and your hormone levels may not be high enough to pick up on a test. But I'm always a bit naughty...  

Alison- Like you said, statistically tx doesn't work straight away, and even though we do get pessimistic we should remember that. When I said to my Cons (new clinic) I'm not sure whether it is a case that it will never happen or I have just been extremely unlucky, he said that it was not even a case of being extremely unlucky, as statistically it won't work more often than it will. Even with IVF with a 30%/high chance of succeeding, if you were throwing a dice and 2 and 6 was a pregnancy and you threw neither you wouldn't think you were extremely unlucky, just that statistically the odds were against you. With IUI the chances are less than that. I like the way the consultant puts things into perspective. At LWC I always felt that I was a big failure as it is always about increasing the medical side of things, rather than it might work next time. Thanks for the pumpkin it is helping!

Rach & Sue- Good luck with the wedding plans!

Lucy- I am so glad to hear that your life is very busy right now and there is very much life beyond infertility at the moment. Don't you worry about that hideous terminology 'reduced ovarian reserve' we've all heard success stories where people have had all the odds stacked against them. There is nothing stopping you doing your donor IVF and _if_ no luck with it going back to IUI, or the other way round. Which do you feel you are leaning more to? I think I may try and catch that programme! Enjoy that 40th b-day party!

As for me, I'm thinking my next tx will be an IUI with drugs/stims. After that I'll prob take each tx as it comes. I suppose it all depends on how I respond to the drugs etc. So come 2007 that is the plan!

Melissa xx


----------



## magsandemma

Hi All

Thanks to everyone for you're replies and you're words of encouragement, am trying to stay positive but am pretty sure that this is af, its more often now, although still not as heavy as she would of been as she normally kills me for the first 24hrs.  We went out for a bit today, just to get some air and get out of the flat for a bit, and bout 2 hpts, have held off from testing yet, but think will definately test in morn.  Now I just want to curl up with large glass of wine, but best not do that just yet,    

Hope all you girls are well.

Maggie
xx


----------



## Alison0702

everyone

Maggie - How are things? Did you do a test?  

Melissa - How you doing? I'm glad that you feel better at your new clinic. It makes such a difference when your doctor is nice. Mine is really canny! 

Gina - How are you feeling?  

Lucy - You're job must be very exciting! Am watching it on tele, and the VSO people have just gone by. Were you there too? I was having a good look, but saying as I dont know what you ook like, was a bit pointless    The atmosphere there must be great!  Good luck on your diet. I have 3 stone to lose, so must try and stick to it as much as poss.  

Rach and Sue - When is the wedding? Hope everything is going to plan. How are things with Sue's parents? 

Update on Heather.... I had an email from her a few days ago. Her pc is broke so she cant get on the site. She's doing well, and only has 7 weeks to go. 

NOTE TO SELF...DO NOT DRINK COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF WINE WHEN YOU ARE ON A DIET AND HAVE HAD HARDLY ANYTHING TO EAT ALL DAY!

Lots of     to everyone


----------



## RachandSue

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.  

Maggie: Did you get a test done this morning?  

Alison: Our Wedding is on the 20th April next year, Sue's parents are ok, I think their policy is if they don't mention it, it will all go away!!!  

Gina: How was the break? Did you have fun? How are you feeling?  

Heather: Good luck with the last seven weeks!  

Love to everyone else

Rach
xxx


----------



## magsandemma

All

Hope you are all well!!   Just thought I'd update you all, continued to bleed over the weekend so we knew what the test result would be, but you have to hope, official test day was today and was -ve.
So just enjoyed a pampering bath with glass of tia lusso as a treat.  It just wasn't meant to be this time, spent the weekend crying as knew deep down is was over, so all cried out at the mo, need to contact clinic tomorrow to see what the next step is, hopefully we can start again after xmas.  Will give us some time to get ourselves fit and ready, also can have a bloody good xmas, before starting again.  Thanks for all you're support.

Rach & Sue  -  Congrats on setting a date, thats great to have that to focus on and all those plans, how exciting, where are you getting hitched  Good Luck for tomorrow and booking consultation!

Hope everyone else is doing good!!!

Maggie & Emma
xx


----------



## snagglepat

Hi Folks,

*Mags and Emma*, really sorry to hear you got a BFN.

I can join the club. My period started on Friday, three days early, which is unheard of for me. At least it stayed away until we got home from our center parcs holiday so I could make full use of the facilities. This period is really heay too, so its probably making up for only haing a light withdrawal bleed when I came off the pill. The other news is that I've continued to get pain in my right side eer since ovulation. I spoke to the fertility nurses who said they thought that maybe the follicle I had didn't drain, forming a cyst on my right ovary. I'm going to be scanned again tomorrow (CD5) to see if that's the case, otherwise if I went for a scan at day 11 and they saw it they might think it was a regular follicle. I'e neer had a scan when I've been bleeding before. I'm not sure why but I'm definitely a bit more uncomfortable about it than I normally am. Bah.

Oh well, onwards and upwards. We did have a lovely, lovely holiday though. We went to the spa and had a Serail treatrment - a private steam room for two supplied with two large bowls of mud that you coat each other in then steam and shower off. It was really bizarre, but really good fun.  So at least we were nicely chilled when we got the BFN and haven't really felt too bad.

Congrats to *JJ*. Well done. 

*Rach and Sue* - good luck with the wedding plans. I'll let you all into a little secret. Rae and I are doing the civil partnership thing on December 21st (the solstice). We're doing it on the quiet though, with just our parents and our two best friends there. Although it's ery definitely a quiet thing we're both quietly excited about it. Can't help it really. 

And best wishes to everyone else.

Gina. x


----------



## lucky2010

Maggie and Emma and Gina and Rae... we're very   to hear about your BFN's.... Here's to a fresh bit of luck in the new year  

Gina and Rae, congrats about your civil partnership arrangements. will be thinking of you on Dec 21st .

JJ, congrats.... hope more of us will be joining you on the BFP board soon  

We're in chaos still with decorating. Only about 7 weeks until we start ttc!!!! I was booking some course dates today at work for Feb and March and I couldn't help but hope I will have had beginners luck by then!!!!

Love to everyone else. Off to paint some more woodwork!!!!

Love Rach and Julie


----------



## MG

Hi all,

Mags and Emma, Gina and Rae- Really sorry to hear about your bfn's   

Gina & Rae- Pleased to hear you had a lovely holiday. I hope you have a wonderful day on the 21st Dec!

Mags and Emma- Pampering yourself is the best way to go right now. Cry those tears and take care of yourself.

Melissa xx


----------



## Spangley

Hello everyone

So sorry to hear about the BFN's and hoping Gina/Rae and Mags/Emma are getting in some serious treats. Love to you all 

Great news Gina about the CP - very exciting   We're been thinking about ours at the moment - torn between small private affair with a couple of people or a massive disco party with everyone we can think of. Might be next May though which would be our 5th anniversary. We had planned to do it after the baby but now before the baby seems to make more sense  

Rach and Sue - good to hear about your CP plans too. Hope the planning goes smoothly and the parentals are ok

Rach and Julie - hope decorating going ok. Only 7 weeks to go - that'll fly by - so exciting  

Fantastic that you did a VSO placement Mable. I'd love to go to Mozambique I've heard great things about it. I don't get to travel that much - went to Bangladesh last year which was fantastic and one day I'll sign up to volunteer myself. 

Hi Alison - yes you could see me on the telly - but clearly you wouldn't know which I was. It was a great fun day really enjoyed it and very pleased with the coverage we got. I'm dieting in kilos which for some reason makes my goal more achievable. I was really well-behaved all last week but yesterday for my weigh-in hadn't lost any weight at all but today I'd lost 1kg. My DP's in on it too and we're both trying to lose at least 8kg so only 7 to go!

Right better get back to my quorn and nimble sandwich


----------



## Alison0702

*Gina and Rae* - Sorry to hear about your result  How did your scan go today?
But excellent news about your CP. Lovely Christmas wedding, how romantic. All the best 

*Mags and Emma* - Sorry to hear your news too. Stay positive 

*Lucy* - Quorn and Nimble - YAK! 
I do remember a woman in a yellow cagool (really not sure how you spell it) with longish brown wavy hair, was that yoo?
Good luck with the old weight loss...I'm off for my date with a pair of scales at 6.15pm. I'm not holding out much hope as I didnt exactly stick to it at the weekend 

Have my scan tomorrow so I am praying my follie has grown big enough to have IUI.        

I will think of pumpkins while I'm lying there legs akimbo, and that might work


----------



## duff

Hi gang!

Congratulations JJ!  

Awww bugger it Mags and Emma and Gina and Rae.  

I'm feeling quite chipper.  We had a review at the clinic last night (which was all a bit unsettling because there was some sort of emergency going on) and the fantastic professor went through the whole PGD process with us then agreed with our decision not to do it.  So we're back to IVF, leaving the embryos to blastocyst, then freezing any that are (hopefully) spare.  

Well done to Lucy and Alison for dieting!  I thought I could use this time off to lose some weight but I'm drinking too much beer!  I'm enjoying the exercise classes though.  Today is "Body Pump".  Try as I might though, I can't follow the routines.  It makes me laugh when I look in the mirror because I'm always out of time with the rest of the class! 

Hope the scan goes well Alison!


----------



## Alison0702

Yay - Had a leading follicle 21.5mm so its all go for IUI this month. I am so pleased.

Also, I lost 3 1/2 pounds at weight watchers. 

Hello *Duff* mate! So IVF it is then eh! See, I think if you're excercising, you can drink as much beer as you like. Body pump is really hard - i'm getting hives just thinking about it 

 to everyone
xx


----------



## snagglepat

Hey folks,

Congrats on that follie *Alison*! That's a goodie. When's your IUI? It must be soon. Exciting times. 

Spangley, if it's your five year anniversary in May, you've been together almost the same time as Rae and I. It's ours next June.  We ummed and ahed quite a bit about what to do for the CP, but ultimately decided that if we were to have a big do we'd be doing it for everyone else and not for ourseles, so we've selfishly decided to stick to something very low key for the ease of it. Having it at the solstice fits for us spiritually too.

And yum to quorn. I love the stuff. I'm sure they must put something in it to make it addictive.  Good luck to everyone who's trying to lose weight too. Thanks to Metformin I dropped nearly two stone last year so am just hoping I can stay where I am now. It can be tough though. I'm craving chocolate just thinking about it. 

Our scan was fine by the way. No cyst, so my body must be hurting me just for the hell of it. At least everything looks fine for this cycle. Next scan on Friday 24th, CD15.

Gina.


----------



## Alison0702

I don't believe it.....

I spoke to my consultant at 3 and he said to take the HCG injection straight away and go to him tomorrow night. So on the off chance, I did another ovualtion test and it was positive!             
Cant believe it, I never ovulate myself. Now I know what it feels like to be a real woman  

So, I'm off to get my "present" tomorrow night at 8pm. I'll be testing on my mam's birthday. The only problem is that now I am so excited and think all of this is a good sign. Oh god, this is going to be a long 2 weeks for you all   

Please send me lots of good luck bubbles and lots of smoking pumpkins.


                


Gina - Glad the scan went ok today. Our 5th anniversary is in January but we have no plans for CP yet.


----------



## RachandSue

Hello to everyone,

 for Gina and Rae and Mags and Emma stay positive gals

  Great news about scans for Gina and Alison

Rach and Julie: How's the decorating going?

Spangley: Everything is going well with plans so far and parents are starting to join in talks about cp but not about tx but we are aking baby steps!!!!  

As for us we got all our results back from the quacks except one that they forgot to send (how I do not know but that one has to be redone!!! ) he said all was well my fsh level was 10.4 he said that was normal I thought that was a bit high but then what do I know?   Does anyone else have any info on this?  

So we've booked our appt. at the Bridge which is the 30th. We are quite excited about it now its going to become real!!!  

Love to you all


Rach
xxx

P.S: Alison that's fab good luck I've sent you some good luck bubbles
xx


----------



## ♥JJ1♥

Alison- wishing you loads of luck. Sending you  for your 'present' tomorrow evening and    for your 2ww- if you try to think positive all the time it goes quicker.

[fly]     [/fly]

L xx


----------



## lucky2010

*Alison*, great news, maybe it's best that it was 'sprung' on you out of the blue as there isn't so much time to worry.... it must be a sign  Keep us updated, we'll be thinking of you xxx

*Gina*, glad there isn't a nasty cyst lurking ... sorry that you're still in pain though.

*JJ*, how are you feeling?

*Rach*, Decorating is going well thanks. All finished apart from carpet which is being laid on Fri morning.... only furniture to lug back in then.... We can't wait to have the house back to normal!

Julie has fallen out with her Mum too as her Mum has started to be 'funny' about our ttc.... she was okay (even quite excited) about it all when we first mentioned it to her a couple of years ago, but I think now that it is an imminent reality she has started to freak out. She spoke to me today and basically said that if Julie didn't apologise for upsetting her (by existing!) then she wasn't going to speak to her. I told her that it was her loss and that if she wished to sit at home feeling bitter and resentful then that was her business... we wait with baited breath to see what happens now!!

I have spent the afternoon with my friend at Christies while he had an MR scan. He has been told he has 8 weeks (max) left to live as he has stomach, lung, bone and now brain tumours . I feel like a lot of things have been put into perspective for me today, I am so lucky.

On that happy note I'll sign off. Love to everyone.

Rach xx


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Rach & Julie- I'm sorry to hear about your friend and the very sad news. It does make you realise how much you have got. Thinking of you over the coming months.  

Gina- Good news that there was no cyst! Although I am not a vegetarian I also love quorn -at least you know what you are eating! Good Luck for you cycle!

Rach & Sue- Nearly there!   I have had plenty of experience of blood tests being sent off and not getting done/something else being done instead/vanishing into thin air. it can be so frustrating especially as no one enjoys blood tests! Not sure about the FSH, I think it has to be under 12? 

Alison- Good Luck! Come tonight another of those dreaded   is upon you!      

Duff- So IVF it is then! Are you all set to go for January?

Lucy- Any decision on what your next step is?  

Things are fine with me. I may not be ready to start tx at my new clinic in January (paperwork, tests etc) so now need to get my head mentally around starting another date! At least I may have more time in between Christmas and tx to try and get healthy for it as I'm currently lacking the self discipline! I have much admiration for you who are following your diets as I find that this time of year makes me  feel like I'm getting ready to hibernate!  

Melissa xx


----------



## evelet

hello all

glad to see things are moving for you gina.

and Alison - good luck. feeling positive can only be a good thing so don't knock it!

our sperm was moved from LWC to Care in Nottingham with no problems despite all our worst imaginings of car accidents and sperm soaking into the tarmac of the M1.....

Ros went to the clinic this morning and had a scan. they told her she had nothing on the left but 3 on the right whatever that means (I wasn't there and she never asks any questions  ). when she phoned this afternoon they told her she needs to go back on Monday morning for her next scan. They don't use the LH 'wee' tests at this clinic - just scans and blood tests. Its an hours drive to Nottingham so we can only hope she ovulates on Monday or not long after! Any info on how scanning for ovulation works as opposed to the lh tests would be most welcome. we did feel glad when we realised the whole thing including the scans and the insemnination etc only came to £600. Definitely cheaper than LWC I think.

anyway hopefully we'll be into our 2ww next week. we'll let you know!

Hey Alison:


----------



## Alison0702

Hello everyone

Well, little spermys are all on board

Swim hard little lads        Swim hard little lads

All went ok last night. Only problem was that when the consultant was filling out the forms, he asked me what time I took the HCG injection. I hadn't taken it as I had had a positive ovulation test, and when I told him this, I never asked him whether I should take the injection aswell - and he never said. 

My positivity at that point was suddenly whipped away. BUT he did say if I had a positive, it doesnt matter - has anyone had this before?
Ah well, I am sure he knows what he's talking about. 

Gina - I am sure I could smell "boy" last night. I'm sure its not possible, but after you said, I couldnt get it out my head  

Good luck Eve and Ros     Thanks for your lovely pumpkins.  
I chuckled at you vision of sperm all over the M1    

Melissa - Sorry your tx has been delayed    Time will fly by I'm sure.  

Rach - So sorry to hear about your friend. It's such a horrible thing. Sending you big hugs  
Hi to everyone else. Have a great weekend..xx


----------



## LouisandPhoebe

Hello everyone

It has just taken me over 2 hours to read all the posts i have missed!
Sorry we have not been on here for ages with work and Louis there never seems to be any spare time.

Tamsin - I can believe how quick time has gone it will soon be march and your little bundle will be here.

We had a lovely surprise - early christmas present - Lees parents have payied for  us to join them and her little sister in Furteuventura ( can't say it or spell it!) for the week before christmas.  I hope louis is ok on the plane.  Then were all at my parents for christmas.  Lee is 15 weeks pregant and we had the nuceal scan and our little pickle looked perfect ( we got to see him/her in 3D).


As our sperm runs out of date in November i am starting to ttc in July so that it gives us at lest 5 goes at DI.  Does anyone know if i will need tests/scans again before ttc. 

Congratulations on all the BFP's and good luck to everyone ttc.

Lots of love

Charlie, Lee, Louis and the bump
xxxx


----------



## Spangley

Hello everyone

Alison - congrats on your lovely big follie - all fingers crossed for you this cycle.     When I was doing my IUIs I never did a HCG injection, always used OPKs instead. 

Duff - glad you've made a decision you guys are comfortable with.  I like the mental image of you at Body Pump  you sound as uncoordinated as I am. I prefer freestyling myself  

Glad the scan showed nothing untoward Gina. Hope this cycle is the one    

RachJulie - Sorry to hear that Julie's mum is being "funny" and really hope she comes round. 

RachandSue - 10.2 is a shade on the high side I think but not a worrying level. Don't forget GPs aren't experts at this stuff by any means so talk to your consultant about it when you get to the Bridge. FSH fluctuates every month anyway. I've ranged from 6.8 to 14.5 just in the last 6 months. 

Melissa - sorry to hear your tx might be delayed a bit. Which clinic have you transferred to? I keep wondering if I should transfer to the Lister or ARGC for a 3rd opinion but I know I'm clutching at straws a bit. 

Hi Eve - fingers crossed for Monday     Glad to hear you're tx is coming in cheaper this time round

Great news Charlie - must be wonderful to see the little one on the scan - hope Lee's doing ok

As for us - no real news here. Still toying embryo adoption vs egg donation vs another attempt with my ropey old eggs. Wondering whether should just abandon my eggs and save up for egg donation instead. Might make another appointment with Mr Shaw before Christmas to help with the decision-making. 

Had a classic insensitive hetero friend conversation at the party last Saturday. I hadn't seen her since last Christmas so she was asking how the fertility tx was going so I told her all about it and what a hard year it's been. I said "so our next task is to decide what we're going to do next or to work out what life beyond infertility will hold" and she said "Oh yes it's like that for us, now the kids can go to sleepovers we can come away overnight to parties"   

Hmm no I don't think it's like that for them  

Hope everyone's having a great weekend - we're chilling on the sofa for as much of it as possible. Oh and I've lost 2.3 kilos which is 5 pounds - yippee!


----------



## Alison0702

Hello

Where is everyone??

Lucy - Well done on your fab weight loss honey... 

I'm having quite an emotional 2ww so far and I'm only 3 days in


----------



## Spangley

Big   to you Alison - hope the 2WW improves

And ditto to where is everybody?  

Is this smiley new? I like him


----------



## lucky2010

alison, hope you are coping ok with your 2 ww. thinking of you xx


----------



## RachandSue

Alison: How's it going darlin? 

Hello to everyone else, any news? None here I'm afraid Sue and I just waiting for next thurs to come along!

Love to you all

Rach
xx


----------



## candygirl

Hey all,

I start stimms tonight    I can't believe i've got to this stage already.

Alison - good luck with the 2WW

Lucy - well done with the weight loss!  I've managed to lose 8 pounds in the last 6 weeks, but I don't know if I can keep up with the diet while I'm stimming...

Candy x


----------



## snagglepat

Hi everyone,

*Candy*, that's great news! Bet you're really excited. 

*Alison*, how are you doing? I've got my fingers crossed for you. I had to laugh at the thought of you smelling 'boy' too. 

*Spangley*, well done on the weight loss and good luck with the decision making. It can't be easy. We think we might have finally come to the point where we give up any hope of trying with Rae again but it's been a long time coming. That biological link can be such a difficult thing to let go of.

*Charlie, Lee & co*, hope you have a great time away. What a lovely present! 

*Eve & Ros*, my clinic just go by scans as well - apart from when they can't scan me for whatever reason when the ask me to use the OPKs, but they're really not very reliable with me. What they probably meant at Ros's scan was that she had three follies on her right ovary and with luck one of these will have kept growing until it burst releasing the egg. Next time, she could ask them how big the follies are. they need to be in the region of 19-22mm before they pop the egg out and charting them over a series of scans can be quite exciting... well, for me at least. . Good luck with it. It looks like we'll be on the 2ww together this time. It's a long time since we last did that but it seemed to be lucky for you before. Hopefully it will be again. 

As for us, there's nothing to report. My next scan is tomorrow and I could ovulate any time in the next week. At least we should begin to get an idea of when after tomorrow. Oh, we did find out this week that we'll be getting two new nephews in the new year though. One is going to be adopted and its almost certainly going ahead and the other is due in January. We've known about that for a while, but only just found out it's a boy. Exciting times! That'll bring us up to five nephews, and one neice. I think we ought to hope for getting pregnant with a girl, just to even things up a bit!

Gina.


----------



## lucky2010

Hello, Just checking in. It's only about 6 weeks until we start.... very exciting. Donor is now being super-responsive now Jan is approaching.... what a relief!!!

Hope everything is okay with everone else.

Alison..... 


how long to go?

rach xx


----------



## Alison0702

Hello everyone

Rachjulie - only 6 weeks eh. That'll come round quickly especially as santa comes in the meantime  

Lucy - I like the new young man on the board too...very handsome!  
Hows your diet. Mine isnt - put a pound on at weight watchers on Tuesday so comiserated with an indian takeaway. Have not stuck to it at all this week, and have eaten like a pig. I have just had two kitkats and feel thoroughly sick  

Rachandsue - Helloooo. Hope your ok.


Well, positivity has shrank to an all time low. I am bloated, have cramp and am eating and craving chocolate like usual. I dont think its worked again. People say on here that you can still get the symptoms of   even when you are pregnant. But this must be only for IVF as none of my straight friends have had ANY symptoms. I am totally fed up.
I am trying to be happy at work, but when I get home I am shattered cos I dont want to be happy and nice. I want to be a bit*h but cant be   - it wont let me type the word properly, keeps changing it to "woman"

Aah boo! 

 to everyone.

Duff, tell me one of your crap jokes to cheer me up.


----------



## friskypony

alison sent you a few good luck Bubbles, think positive. i was really crampy.
Hugs 
Lou,pup an morven xxx


----------



## Alison0702

Thanks Lou....Morven is such a little cutie! Feel a bit better today, not as crampy, not eating every bit of chocolate in sight.  
Not sure whether to test now on Thursday. Might just wait and see whether I get a period, rather than build myself up for testing ??/

Bye for now


----------



## Spangley

Hi everyone

Hope stimming going well with you Candygirl and well done on the weight loss 

How was your scan, Gina?

Glad your donor's more communicative now RachJulie  

Sorry to hear you're so down Alison big   to you and maybe a little bit of   for good measure. Really hoping it's good news for you this week     

I think the diet's going ok - we've stuck to it really well. I've lost another half kilo I think - can't quite keep track because I'm really undisciplined and keep weighing myself every day so of course it goes up and down   Made an appointment with Mr Shaw at the Bridge for 7 Dec when we're going to sort out what drugs etc we'll be on in January. My period came on Saturday so it'll be 8 weeks ish till we're cycling again. Going for one last IVF cycle but if it looks like I'm not responding to the drugs again we'll pull the plug on it to save our pennies this time. Fall back plan is donor embryos unless we win the pools to afford donor egg treatment

Love to everyone


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone

We have all gone quiet!  Probably as we are all bogged down with the xmas rush?  We have no news, we are anxious about Thursday. 

After appt. we are going to Lakeside to finish our xmas shopping! Well, start and finish!!!! We are firm believers that a marathon shop is the only way to do it! 

How is eveyone doing? Any updates? 

Love to you all 

Rach
xxx


----------



## madison

Hi all,

    I hope you don't mind me gate crashing your thread but i wondered if any of you know how Heather & Jo are ??
  They have net been on line for ages & Heather & I were on the 2ww together & are due close together.

  Any info on how they are would be appreciated please.

  Thank you Katy. xx


----------



## lucky2010

Hi *Madison,*

Not seen any posts from Heather and Jo for ages, sorry can't help.

*Rach and Sue*, good luck for Thursday.... exciting times!!!

Nothing to report from here.

loce rach and Julie xx


----------



## Alison0702

Hiya

Madison - Heather and Jo's pc crashed a while ago so thats why they havnt been posting for a while. She sent me a quick email at home from the local library but havnt heard anything for a few weeks.

RachandSue - Good luck for Thursday. It has been quiet on here for a while, thats why I havnt been bothering to post much. Been wierd and quite lonely on my 2ww this time. Ah well!

Lucy - Thanks for your wiggly good luck bum. I have kind of lost the crampy feeling. Still not sure whether to test on Thursday or just wait to see if period comes. Ah what am I on about, I know I'll not be able to resist.

Bye for now


----------



## lucky2010

Alison, sorry you've felt lonely on you're 2ww, I've been checking up daily but not posting much as don't have that much to say!

Thinking of you anyway!

Rach xx


----------



## madison

HI,

Thanks for your help you two, I heard from her from the libary also but it seemed like ages ago.

  Thanks again

  Love Katy. xxx


----------



## Spangley

Hi there

Rach and Sue - really good luck for tomorrow - will be thinking of you  

Alison - so sorry to hear you've felt lonely on your 2WW. I have been thinking of you but haven't been at my desk much this week so haven't had a chance to check in here. It's probably good to test just so you know either way. When I was doing IUIs my stupid AF always used to come early so I didn't have that problem but personally I think it's best to test so you're not living in false hope even though it's really scary testing. Really really good luck - everything crossed for you this time   

Not long to go now Katy - how exciting  

No updates from us - just work and "I'm a Celebrity" keeping me busy


----------



## duff

I haven't got any news but wanted to post so you know you're not alone Alison!  I check in everyday, but my life is just Body Pump and beer until January.  Actually, I'm so impressed by your weight loss Alison and Spangley.  I reckon I had the biggest bum in Body Pump today!  Mind you, lots of them are scrawny bints who could do with a good dinner or two.  

We've got some sperm ready for us at the clinic, which is a relief.  Oh, and tomorrow evening I'm going to a special supervisory group with my accupuncturist because I'm her best patient (not really, I'm a slightly tricky case apparently) where FIVE accupuncturists get to fiddle about with me.  Being a show off, I'm looking forward to it but I'm slightly concerned about where they want to put the needles.  When my accupuncturist discussed my case with them before, a couple of them thought she should put needles in this certain point....on my periwinkle!  You know, the bit between your   and your    Imagine a needle in there!


----------



## snagglepat

Hi folks,

Slightly Sh**ty news here. My scan on Friday showed nothing doing, but as that was day 15 they weren't too worried and they booked me in for another scan today - day 20. Last cycle on day 20 I had a medium-big follicle but I didn't ovulate until about day 25. I get in there today and there's no big follicle, just little ones, but there is fluid around my right ovary which indicates that actually I ovulated around 24 hours ago. It looks like we missed it.

I don't know whether to be angry or just to cry. Well, actually I'm already doing the latter. For some reason this feels so much worse than last cycle's BFN. At least we gave everything as good a chance as we could then, but to have no chance at all this cycle just feels so unfair. Plus, it turns out that the clinic is shut over christmas, and having just spoken to our donor to tell him the news he's probably going to be overseas then anyway so we won't be able to try next cycle either. I'm being scanned again on Friday just in case, but it's a pretty pie-in-the-sky hope really. We've been home for the last week and our donor has been ready and waiting for our call. We could have tried ever so easily if only we'd known. I spent this morning at a doula & client coffee morning too, surrounded by pregnant women and two with babies and thinking 'we'll be trying for ours again in the next few days'. Yeah, right.

I'm at my lowest right now and I know I'll feel better once it's sunk in, but right now I'm really just wondering how much longer I can actually keep this up. We're just entering our fourth year of trying. Maybe we should just take the hint that it isn't meant to be.

Sorry to be low folks. Rae's in meetings all day so I can't even tell her until this evening. I'm so glad this board exists though, to have a space to say all this and get some of it out. Thanks for reading.

Gina.


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Alison- Sorry you've been feeling lonely this 2ww. I have also been thinking about you and hoping for the best.           

I've not been posting here of late for two reasons really: one is that I've just been crazy busy and the other is that I've got nothing to say for myself. I'm still waiting for the slightest clue of when I'll be starting tx again, and as tiresome as it is for me writing the same thing, I'm sure you feel the same way reading my non-news!

Gina-    This journey is hard. I've been on it for about 3 years and it is tough staying positive. We all have our bad days. I have so much respect for you doing the job that you do. It must be so tough sometimes but other times it must be an inspiration. I always take much hope from long time tx-ers. Some of us just have to go through that much more. We're just in that category!

Duff- That acupuncture session sounds very...er... interesting!  

Lucy- Glad to hear you have a plan. If you don't respond enough to your IVF would you cancel it or change to IUI? 

Melissa x


----------



## irisbea

gina im so sorry you are having such a rough time , it must be even harder for you because of your job. do you test for LH and chart as well as having scans ? (im sure you probably are but)im just thinking if this  would prevent this happening again. 

Maybe the break will give you time to regroup and revitilise yourself , it is just such an exhausting rollercoster and i think  sometimes to hear your true voice when you are in the throes of it.

Have you considered having iui I know for some people the medicalisation (if thats a word) of conception jars but the success rates are higher. ( also has your donor had his sperm analysed?)

Anyway, consolations and supportive thoughts, take care    J


----------



## Alison0702

Oh Gina I am sorry things arent going too good for you both. I know exactly what you're saying about it being worse than the BFN. You're all set to have the insem, looking forward to a 2ww, think "this could be it" then your bloody body doesnt work properly! I know how you feel and it's crap. I always use the OPK's and then go for a day 15 scan. Sending you big hugs...  

Thanks for your lovely messages everyone. Am getting a bit more cramp today, completely obsessive about going to the toilet "just to check". I have to get the first flight down to Heathrow in the morning to do some interviews, so I have decided not to test until Friday morning. The way I am feeling though, AF might just beat me to it. I will let you all know then.

Take care and speak soon


----------



## nismat

Hello all, I feel terribly behind with everyone's news since I last posted!

*Alison * - I hope that this 2ww is going to end in happy news for you 

*Gina * - I'm so sorry that it looks like you have missed your window this cycle - how totally & utterly frustrating when you have your donor "on hand" so to speak. What a bummer. I'm not surprised that you feel so down right now, so I hope that you & Rae had a good talk/cuddle last night.

*Duff * - "interesting" acupuncture indeed! I know that we all get pretty used to having everything on show/examined during clinic treatments, but the thought of an acupuncture needle right there just seems like a step too far in the invasion of privacy! 

*Rach&Sue * - hope that things have gone well at today's appointment - and that your Christmas shopping trip is/was successful!

*Rach & Julie * - I'm so pleased that everything is working out with your donor, and that your first ttc cycle is very close now. You must be so excited!

*Spangley * - good luck with your appointment on the 7th. I often think of you, and I hope that the consultation proves to be helpful in your decision-making. It must be so hard to deal with all the issues that are involved in your ttc, not to mention the financial implications. 

*Charlie * - I didn't realise that you had a deadline on the usage of the rest of your sibling sperm - that puts the pressure on! Is it a 10 year deadline on the storage of sperm that is running out next November? It must be a bit stressful, but exciting too. I would imagine that you will definitely need to have scans/tests done again before you start ttc, so you will need to get this organised some time in the spring. For one thing, clinics generally want tests done every 6-12 months, and for another, your body and hormones may be behaving rather differently following a pregnancy and you want to find all that out a few months before you start the actual ttc, so that any possible "issues" can be sorted out/regulated, especially given that you've got a ttc deadline. Sounds like you'll all have a lovely Christmas in the meantime though.

*Candygirl * - how's everything going with your IVF stimming - you must have had your first scan by now? 

I'm sure that I must have missed mentioning people - if so, it's completely unintentional!

I've reached 27 weeks of pregnancy today - so I'm in the final trimester! Tomorrow it's exactly 3 calendar months until our due date  Time is really whizzing by, and I'm really enjoying being pregnant at the moment. The exhaustion of early pregnancy is past and my energy levels are pretty good at the moment (although I know that this will change again as we get closer to the birth). I've also been pretty lucky throughout in that I haven't suffered too badly from the worse pregnancy symptoms as yet, and I hope that this continues! My bump is very obvious now (although it's common to get comments of "you aren't all that big really are you?" and "are you sure you haven't got twins in there?" on the same day!) and there's lots of movement going on inside (some of which is evident from the outside too - it looks funny to see my belly moving completely independently!). 
We're starting to get the house more organised/baby ready, although there's still quite a lot to do (but hopefully plenty of time to do it in). Our NCT classes start in January, which I'm looking forward to, but Karen is not! She's of the "deal with the birth as & when it happens" school of thought, which pretty much reflects how we were over all the ttc stuff too - I did all the research and then told her what she felt that she needed to know. Karen has firmly stated her intent to be at my head end throughout the birth!   It's quite funny really, but at least we both know where we stand on it all, and there's no point in trying to change that. She loves talking to the bump and feeling Pip move, and is looking forward to being a parent just as much as I am, but I think that the actual birth is something that she could possibly do without experiencing (although she's determined to be there for me). At least my mother will be on hand as back-up!

Right, I've written a long enough essay now; catch up again soon.

Tamsin xxx


----------



## snagglepat

Hi folks,

Sorry for my low yesterday - I was just in the thick of it. *Melissa*, your comments were lovely and spot on. I've just got back from a relfexology session with a maternity reflexologist (she also happened to be my doula assessor when I was still a trainee) and I've come away with some positives to work on over the next few months. She's lent me 'The Fertility Solution' by Niravi Payne which I'm already a few chapters into. It's all about the mind-body connection and how deeply imbedded feelings from our past can affect fertility. I'm sure that it combined with my hypnotherapist training next week will combine to make me infinitely more positive about it all. 

*Irisbea*, thanks for your comments too. Unfortunately the LH tests don't work for me as my LH level is too high because of the PCOS - I get a positive reading for days at a time, and my cycles are too irregular to make charting worthwhile. IUI isn't an option for us, at least not with our current donor who we want to stick with if we can. Well, it could be if he were willing and we went through the quarantine process, but we're not sure if we do, at least not yet. Ultimately we've only tried one cycle so far with me on the treatment so we'll give that a good bash before we move on, it's just frustrating that we can't try again until the new year after everything we've been through to get where we are. And our donors sperm is good stuff - he's been tested and come out above average and he's produced several kids already. Just not with us. (Yet.)

*Tamsin*, it's great to hear that you're having such a good time at this stage in your pregnancy. It's funny hearing how Karen feels about it all, especially the birth. I've found that the partners of my clients have either _really_ wanted to be 'at the business end' at the birth or really haven't. Some of the most memorable moments from the births I've attended have been seeing the partners face as the baby emerges. I'm sure she'll find it deeply moving when the time actually comes, in her own way. 

*Alison*, fingers crossed for you!   

Has anyone heard from *Tonia* recently? I keep thinking of them and wonddering how things are.

Best wishes all round,

Gina.


----------



## lucky2010

Just a quickie... *Gina*, I'm so sorry that you missed your window.... how frustrating, disappointing and upsetting, especially after the length of time that you and rae have been ttc.  thinking of you.

Hi to everyone else. *Tamsin*, good to hear how you're doing.... exciting times!!!! Have you tried John Lewis for fabric? I seem to remember there were a couple of nice non-cartoony/ gender specific ones when we were last there.

love to all, rach x


----------



## candygirl

Hey all,  no time for personals as I've got some work to do  

I've had 2 scans now, and so far I've got 20 follicles on one side and 19 on the other!  That happened last time, and only 8 or so got bigger, so we'll see what happens.  I'm having scans every other day at the moment, but they watch me very closely due to my PCOS and I'll end up having daily blood tests as the stimming continues.

I'll keep you all posted...


----------



## lucky2010

*Cndygirl*..... go follies go!!!! fingers crossed x


----------



## Spangley

Yay Candygirl - hope it all goes smoothly and you get a good crop growing 

Gina - how frustrating for you but at least now you can relax, enjoy Christmas and get ready to give it all another bash in 2007. I can't recommend hypnotherapy highly enough. I've had 3 sessions now and I can really sense the positive effects after each one. The main effect has been how much less raw and emotional I feel about the whole infertility thing - somehow I'm a bit distanced from it. I really hope it helps you too as being in this for the long term is so hard

Hiya Tamsin - great to hear from you and congrats on entering the 3rd trimester. I think of you often too  

Alison - thinking of you this morning - really hoping for good news   

Duff - how was your acupuncture - you should have charged for tickets to that - people pay good money for that sort of thing  

Rach and Sue - hope your appointment was good

Rach and Julie, Irisbea -  

Melissa - yes I think we'll definitely convert to IUI next time if we have to abandon as it really will have to be the last tx cycle. I also talked to the Bridge about donor embryos and they're very happy to put us forward to any couples that decide to offer their embryos for adoption. Apparently it doesn't happen that often and some people might not want to give their embryos to lesbians but then not that many people come forward asking about donor embryos either so I reckon we're in with chance - just might take a while

Hope everyone has a great weekend


----------



## brasilgirl

Hi
I posted occasionally a couple of months ago when I was trying IUI. 
Since then, I have been signed off work with stress which has turned out to be a good thing as I have realised how little time I had for myself and how crap I was feeling.
After 10 days I am now feeling much better - good thing really as I am doing EC at Care in Manchester tomorrow. I can't remember how many decent sized follicels I have - I have decided not to obsess on details - but I know that there were about 12 in total the last time we looked (yesterday)
Wish me luck ladies - and I am sure I will be around on the board as I am definately having another week off work to take me towards the end of the deaded 2ww.
Take care
Julie


----------



## lucky2010

Good luck for tomorrow* Julie*, staying off work sounds like a good plan! Will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Rach x


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Ladies, 

Sorry about the delay with an update but it's been a funny couple of days trying to get our heads round all the information that has een given to us by the clinic!! 

Okay this could be a marathan post so I'll apologise now for rambling!!!! 

They have told us that they have no issues treating us but their waiting list is a minium of 12mths for sperm.  We have a three options 1)Wait, 2)Have an interview with a Denmark guy who could get us treatment in Denmark through the Bridge or 3)Buy our sperm from America before Feb! 
 

We have decided to attempt to buy our sperm from the US which the consultant seems to think is relatively quick and easy and after speaking to xytex they agree expensive but easy! 

There are other issues (there would be!) this thing with my fsh she (the consultant) believes that mine is expetionally high for someone of 28,  she is recommending that we/I have a hycosy scan to check the situation out rather than wasting money trying to get pg when ivf could be our only choice (which makes sense) not to keen on that but hey ho!  She did point put that my fsh could have just been bad that month so even though she would like us to have the scan next week she would like us to retest the fsh levels next cycle just to see!

So there you go, what does everyone think? Especially about the buying o sperm from xytex - easy or not?

Love to you all

Rach & Sue
xxx


----------



## ♥JJ1♥

Hi Rach and Sue

Glad you had your first appt and now have a plan!! I am at the Bridge (should have been discharged to GP/midwife etc but now my baby has a slow heartbeat so still on weekly scans with them).

My first FSH was 9.1(although I am a oldie at 38- compared to you spring chicks) I didn't realise that an FSH between 5-6 was best until I went there, so I decided to repeat it for about 4 months and profile it, as I had 6 months to wait for my donor's sperm to be released. 

My GP gave me a form so I just went to the blood clinic at the hospital where I work on about Day 3 each month- and my FSH was then always between 5.6 and 6.3 , so I now think the FSH being up was a one off or nerves I know I had it on done on day one before.  I don't know what yours was- but for some women that have  very high FSH on the complimentary therapy thread they have used wheatgrass and angus cactus and it reduces it. I didn't but did do acupuncture and lost weight. 

The Bridge also wanted to have a Hycosy scan but then said as I was having IVF and egg collection it was not necessary, as they surgically removed the eggs with a catheter so don't need to see if the tubes are clear etc.  I had an ultrasound again through the GP, although the Bridge did another just before the IVF (and charge 165 pounds) as part of their pre IVF work up, and a trial embryo transfer.

Dr Smith-did ask did I want IUI- but my friend had 6 IUI's at LWC and didn't get pregnant, and got pregnant on her first IVF and was a similar age to me. Also then our sperm was of lower count than we expected so I went for IVF and ICSI to maximise chances and it worked first time.

A word of advice to reduce your costs at the Bridge- don't buy the drugs there, as they have a huge mark up on Mr Ali's in Shadwell- 5 stops on the tube from the Bridge and very easy to find, he is open on Saturdays too, and he has always had the drugs in stock, he is a nice man. I got my main bulk through Pharmasure who deliver to your house in a  massive box on a day to suit you inc Saturdays - with all the needles, sharp boxes, I asked for an autoinjector , and one drug Pregnyl is on ice as lives in the fridge.  They are similar prices to Mr Ali's as well, but you don't have to carry it home. Also your GP should prescribed the 10 weeks supply of cyclogest as they are not fertility drugs if you do IVF.  

Also some of the nurses know more than the others, I was telling one things as she was unaware and telling me to draw the drugs up incorrectly,I queried her (being a nurse myself) then she brought the senior nurse who corrected her.  Another one kept asking me if I wanted to abandon my cycle -as I wasn't a great responder- and always pessimistic, I can see you have to ask me once, but not everytime I go after I had made my decision to stick with the cycle- and I proved them wrong.

Miss Smith was off on holidays when I came to IVF, so in fact I had Mr Shaw for EC and ET and he was really lovely and I had confidence in him.  I had one Dr that I requested not to have as I didn't like her manner and had an awful trial embryo transfer procedure with her, but it was a breeze with Mr Shaw on the day!

Best of luck it is so exciting- hope it all works out for you. Good Luck 

L xx


----------



## brasilgirl

HI everyone
Bein gup here in Manchester, I can't be of any help with the Bridge, and I am quite ignorant when it comes to FSH as I have decided this time round to try and not worry about anything until th eclinic tell me there is a problem - that brings me to my next paragraph...

had a bit of a shocl yesterday. Did egg collection , got 7, which seemed ok what with my age , endometriosis and everything. But when they came to thaw the sperm, there was only less that 1% motility. Freezing had practically killed off what was a really great sample.
I was still quite drugged up when the embryologist came in and ask me if we could do ICSI as this was the only optin really. Luckily I had read up a bit on this, but it had never been mentioned by the clinic to me - I think they just didn't anticipate it at al. Apart from the added, unexpected cost, I have no idea if there are any other implications to ICSI rather than IVF - can any of yo shed any light? I'm just off to look around this site to get some more info whilst I waut for the clinic to call me with the number of embryos we have this morning. WIth ICSI they have to take away matter from around the eggs and can tell what grade of egg it is - I got 5 good ones and they would expect 60-80% to get through to today.
I am on tenterhooks
Julie


----------



## Spangley

Hi Julie - ICSI is where they inject a sperm right into each egg to help fertilisation. Sounds like you made the right choice as if the sperm are sluggish then fertilisation isn't so likely and you've been through so much so far to get your eggs you don't want it all to fail now. Fingers crossed that you get some good embryos   

RachJulie - so sorry you've had such mixed news. Definitely get your FSH tested again as it does change from month to month - my GP's been really lovely about me having it tested several times this year - I've been 6.8, 9.2, 14.5 and 10. Candygirl and her partner imported their sperm from the US through Xytex and it was really straightforward, though cost a few grand I think but they bought 12 vials or something like that. The nurses at the Bridge will be able to tell you exactly what you need to order and how to go about it. And definitely have the hycosy scan which is only like having an IUI not too uncomfortable although again try your GP to see if you can get that organised on the NHS which is what I did and saved a few hundred quid. It would be good to avoid all the heartache of failed IUIs if something does show up there. 

And following on from JJ1, after a couple of doctors at the Bridge who I didn't really get on with we now see Mr Shaw who's been great with us especially as we've had so much bad news. Also have found Liz and Annette are the best nurses 

Love to everyone


----------



## brasilgirl

Just had a call from the clinic, we got 5 fertilized eggs overnight
THe clinic thinks that they are all good and no reason to think we won't have 5 good embryos by tomorrow
Julie


----------



## Alison0702

Hello everyone

Another BFN for us  

Just quickly popping on to tell you as I dont really want to think about it. Been away for the weekend to a lovely lebian owned b&b in the lakes, so that took our minds of things a little bit. Got the period from hell now, so will be back on clomid tomorrow. 

Good luck everyone  

Bye for now


----------



## Spangley

Really good luck for good news tomorrow morning Julie  

Alison - so sorry   thinking of you


----------



## friskypony

Hi Alison,
so sorry hon, what dose of Clomid are you on? how long?  sending big hugs.
Ps which B+B was it?
Love Lou, Pup an Morven xxxxx


----------



## candygirl

RachJulie - we went with Zytex and they were brilliant.  Eye-wateringly expensive, but very efficient and the sperm arrive less than a week after the license was approved.

We've had bad news today - went for my 4th stim scan today, and the follicles have stopped growing.  I've got to have another scan tomorrow but we're not holding out much hope  

I am worried about one thing though - I'm only on a low dose of Menopur (150) due to the PCOS.  I had a blood test on Saturday which showed that my oestradiol had dropped from the day before, but they never rang me about it.  I would have thought that they would want to increase the menopur dose in that kind of situation?  Nothing we can do about it now, just wait till tomorrow.

I'm devastated though - it had been going well up till now, but it looks like we'll have to abandon the cycle.

(I've got a week booked off work from Wed as well...)


----------



## nismat

*Candygirl*, I'm so sorry that it's looking like you'll have to abandon your IVF cycle. How disappointing and frustrating  It does seem a bit slack that they didn't make any adjustment to your stim levels if your oestradiol had actually dropped - but maybe if it had dropped, (rather than stayed the same or barely increased), it was already then at a point at which things couldn't really be resurrected? Not sure though. I am sorry. Have they advised you to increase today's dosage? And have you had more blood tests today? I hope that it's not all over for you for this cycle.

*Alison *- really sorry for another BFN. Bloody awful. Glad you had a nice weekend though.

*Julie *- good to see you on here again, and to hear that things have turned out well so far with the IVF-turned-ICSI. Hoping for a full 5 embryos for you still today. When are you expecting to have ET?

*RachandSue*, I just wanted to clarify that your FSH levels and having the hycosy are essentially 2 separate things. The Hycosy is to check for tubal patency (i.e. blockages/damage) - it isn't related to your hormone levels. When we started treatment, we were advised not to have the Hycosy until we'd had 3 failed IUI cycles, but I think that given the donor sperm situation now (both the waiting times and the increased costs if you import), it really does make sense to have a Hycosy done before you start any treatment, just to be sure that you aren't going to be throwing the sperm up there when they might have no chance of ever meeting the egg _if _you do have tubal issues. Of course, if you're all clear, which is the most likely outcome, it can feel like a bit of a waste of money, but it's better to "waste" the money that way around than to waste a lot more money on cycles that could never work. 
Re: the FSH, as others have said, it is definitely, definitely worth getting repeated tests done, possibly over several months, when you have a high initial reading. I was 34 when I had my first one done (just prior to my first IUI cycle), and it was 9.8 or something, and it was because it was at the higher end of the normal range that the clinic pushed us towards doing medicated cycles more quickly than we wanted to. When I had further tests done (much later), my levels were a lot lower - a single month's result is only a one-off snapshot, not an accurate picture of your hormone levels/ovarian reserve. So it's good that your consultant wants to re-check your level next month.
Sorry about the sperm situation - in your shoes, I think that we would definitely take the Xytex option as well. You'll get to have much more choice/info about donors as well if you take that route, then if you decided to wait for UK donors, when you pretty much get what you're given. I know it costs more, but to me, it would be worth it for the peace of mind in knowing that you can go ahead with several cycles of treatment, once the sperm is imported. The idea of travelling to Denmark each month for treatment sounds a fairly stressful option!

Tx


----------



## duff

Candygirl - I'm sorry to hear things aren't going so well. 

Rach&Sue - I had a hycosy at the Bridge before starting the IUIs.  It's worth doing now to put your mind at rest that the IUI has a chance of working.  I didn't find it too painful either.  It felt crampy, like a bad period pain, but was one of those pains that eases as soon as you feel it rather than persists.  

JJ1 - great advice about the meds, especially getting cyclogest from the GP.  I need to save all the money I can.  

Brazilgirl - hope the embryos are doing well!

Spangley - I'm having the "special accupunture procedure" on wednesday this week.  I wouldn't mind so much, but I have a bit of a crush on the accupuncturist!

Alison - mate!  I was so sure it was your month!  I'm really sorry it didn't work out for you this time.

I'd like to know what you lot think about twins.  When we were at the clinic the other week, I was asking about putting only one embryo back in or whether my translocation (a chromosome wonkiness that I have that probably gives each embryo a 1 in 4 chance of not working) means we should put back 2.  See, the truth is I really don't want twins. Ok, if the choice was between twins or none, I'd take twins anyday but, the truth is, we really can't afford two kids at once.  

Anyway, the consultant said that, as we're growing the embryos from the next cycle to blastocyst stage, the liklihood of as many embyos implanting as are put back increases.  My partner reckons that we should go for two, because possibly one might be affected by the translocation.  What do you think?


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for all your posts of support!   I have booked Hycosy scan in for Thursday, they are going to do our counselling and CMV blood test on the same day, so busy day!   I'm pleased it will be all done on Thursday as it was originally planned for tomorrow but the nurse is not there tomorrow which is good as we are going to see Mama Mia on Wednesday night and I didn't want to have any repercussion cramps in the theatre!!!  

So roll on Thursday - let's get it done and out of the way so we can get on and buy some sperm!!!   

Alison: So sorry darling! Bloody unfair!  

Duff: Twins are my dream so I'm not the best person to ask! Sorry! I think tho that your partner is right about bettering your chances!  

Candygirl:So sorry darling again it's soooo bloody unfair!  

To everyone I've forgot - sorry and hello    


Love

Rach and Sue
xxx


----------



## lucky2010

*Alison*, So sorry, I was sure it was your month this month too!!! Was it 'the Knoll' where you stayed at the weekend?

*Rach and Sue*, it certainly is all go for you at the moment!!! I hope thurs goes ok and enjoy Mamma Mia.

*Candygirl*, sorry about your news, big hugs.

*Duff*, I am quite excited by the idea of twins (would prefer one though) but Julie, on the otherhand is horrified that there's even a chance that we might have twins!!!! My friend has a 5 and a 7 year old and has now found out she is pg with twins aged 38.... she was in shock for about three weeks but has come round and is now very excited!!

*Julie*, hang on in there embryo's... thinking of you!

Hi to everyone else. only 3 weeks till Christmas.... arrrggghhh!!!! I've not bought a thing!!

Love rach xx


----------



## brasilgirl

Hi
SOrry to her abot people's bad news this mont especially candygirl and Alison - but it is so much more likely to work out in the end than not - that's why clinics love lesbians - we are so good for their stats!
It took me 18 months to get pregnant first time round, admittedly only 2 goes at the clinic , but that was after I was told by a consultnant that my chances of having children at all were very slim because of my endo. It was a horrible uphill slog.
I saw a great nutritionalist in London called Dian Shepperson Mills. She specialised in fertility and endo - though I'm pretty sure she'd be great for fertility in general. SH eput me on a lot of supplements and was the first person to spot that I had an allergy to wheat. SHe changed my life - not only have I not been near a pizza since, but I lost 3/4 of a stone in weight and felt so much better after 6 months following her advice.
I know very little about the hormone levels and specific questions you all ask each other - but I have read practically everything on endo and fertility!

Meanwhile, good news from me...
All five embryos were a good grade and so this morning we had 2 put back in the oven and 3 in the freezer.
I am very excited. Even the thought of twins - which would in some ways be a disaster - is not phasing me.
Nicki my partner does not want twins, I am slightly more blase about it. But even she agreed that at 39 and with endo, it was statistically not a good bet to put only one back in as it would mean something like an 80% or more chance of failure. Two means a 25% chance of twins. But then again stats mean nothing because non of us are statistical averages.
A friend of mine had twins and she said that it was the most magical, fantastic thing, watching these two tiny babies who are so close and have such a unique relationship. But she also said she was completely exhausted. 
My view would only go with two bastos if you really could face the idea of having two babies. Because it could happen.
I'm on doctor's orders to rest - so back to the DVDs!
love
julie


----------



## Alison0702

Hey Tamsin, lovely to see you're back and having a lovely enjoyable healthy pregnancy  

Lucy - Thanks hunny  

Go Julie - Loads and loads of     and   

Candygirl - Really sorry that it could end up in an abandoned cycle. Hopefully not though     

Duff - Cheers hun. Maybe next month eh! Have I missed something about your acupuncture - where are you having it??

Rach - Yes it was the Knoll at Lakeside. I's really nice - have you been?

Lou - Oh I've been on clomid all my life (well it feels like it anyway) I have been on it since last year, but on and off cos I wasnt having regular periods cos of pcos. BUT Metformin sorted me out.

Rach and Sue - Hola! Good luck for Thursday. 

I'm in a much better place today. Had a good munch on my 3 clomid tablets this morning. YUM
Have got some good stuff coming up next week. Doing a first aid course through work Mon-Thur and going to see Paolo Nutini again on Tuesday - he's fab!

Thinking of getting Dolly Parton tickets for March. Has anyone else going to see her?


----------



## lucky2010

Hi *Alison*, yeah we have been to The Knoll, I took Julie there for her birthday in August. It was a lovely weekend and they went 'all-out' in making it special when i said it was her birthday.

Glad you're more upbeat today.

Rach x


----------



## Alison0702

Rach - It is lovely isn't it. The owners have split up now - one of them ran off with a guest. So it's the other one and her sister Denise running the show. I used to live 1/2hr away from there so I caught up with some friends too so that was nice. Hope your ok


----------



## duff

Hello all!

Ok, I've changed my mind, twins would be wonderful!  I think I was just freaking out because our flat is barely big enough for us two.


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Alison- Sorry to hear about your bfn 

Rach & Sue- Good Luck with the import! At least you will have far more information on the donor and you actually get a choice! I had a Hycosy done and although I found the procedure unpleasant and uncomfortable as soon as it was over I was fine and I had peace of mind that my tubes were clear!

Candygirl- I hope the scan brings some good news today. 

Duff- Enjoy Wednesday!  Twins would be wonderful. All tx over with in one pregnancy! I know what you mean about reservations about a twin pregnancy. Although my reservations are not so much cost but more related to the increased publicity and debate lately on the risks of twin pregnancies (and the extra strain on NHS facilities due to premature babies [IVF twins]). There are more risks and difficulties associated with multiple pregnancies/births. As much as I love the idea of twins the reality may be quite different especially as my recently diagnosed condition puts me at greater risk of miscarriage/still birth etc so a single pregnancy sounds a whole lot safer and likely to result in a baby. However, if I had 2 embryos to put back they both would be regardless of the elevated risk. We just want a family.

Julie-   

Rach & Julie- Not long to go now before you're on a 2ww!

Gina- That book you mentioned does sound interesting. I think I'll definitely have to buy it as it sounds like something I could do with reading!

Melissa x


----------



## lucky2010

Hi Alison,

Yeah, I think they'd split up just before we went... atmosphere was a bit low from the kitchen. We went on a spa day while we were there at a hotel called Holbeck Ghyl....was divine!

Hi to everyone else. I like the xmas theme.... it's the most xmassy thing in our house at the mo!!!

Rach xx


----------



## lucky2010

I get so excited everytime I see our ticker....not long to go now!!!!


----------



## candygirl

Just a quick update - they increased the dose of menopur to 225 on Monday, and my scan today showed 3 big follicles.  So now I'm having two more days of menopur and another scan on Friday.  The nurse was still very gloomy today, and said they didn't know if I would get enough big follicles to go for egg collection, but I think it's a lot more hopeful than it was on Monday.

(when I used to hear people say IVF was an emotional rollercoaster I thought I knew what they meant, but I had no idea till now...)

Alison - sorry to hear about your BFN  

Julie - how was the ET?

Candy x


----------



## Alison0702

Candy - Hey the news is much better today then! Keeping my fingers firmly crossed for your next scan     

Rach - The chef was a bit miserable when we were there aswell. Her sister was really nice though. Only another month for you two...woohoo! 

Duff - Whats all this about your acupuncture


Well, on day 3 of clomid, and my day today consisted of me bursting into tears 3 times/having a radgy with my boss (oops) and having absolutely no patience with anyone that crossed my path!  
I am an emotional wreck. Not coping very well at all and feel like I am reaching breaking point. Work is so stressful and I am so behind with everything  
Dont know what to do next if this doesnt work on go number 5. Need a cuddle


----------



## brasilgirl

Just got back from 24 hours in the lakes at posh hotel with lots of food and sleeping.
Feeling a bit better than I was - also the stomach upset from the ET has calmed down a bit.
Candy - the ET was fine. I didn't feel a thing. They sedated me up to my eyeballs and I don't remember anything. I had some side effect though - nothing alarming, mainly wind (in my shoulders which eventually went to my stomach) drowiyness and horrible acid stomach with a bit of pain. But I took aloe vera juice and some great gastritis sachets I got in Germany and that has eased it.
I was a bit disappointed I couldn't use the pool on my break away, but the nurse reminded me that I did have open wounds on my ovaries and that it might not be a good idea.
So, just settling into that 2ww. Trying not to drink - but nurse said that if the odd glass of red wine helps me to relax then I shouldn't worry - oh I so agree!
Have been having twingy pains today, fleetingly thought about embedding pains and then decided it was too early.
Think I'll go to bed and read. Stop my brain from twittering on
Julie


----------



## MG

Alison-  

Candygirl- I hope your follies continue to grow and here is a dance to wish you luck and your follies a growth spurt!            

Julie- Sounds like you had a wonderful break. What a great way to treat yourself after an IVF. Best of luck in your 2ww.      

Melissa xx


----------



## duff

Candy - Good luck!  I hope those follies keep growing!

Julie - What a fantastic idea, starting the 2ww with a holiday.  I think I might have to try that myself in January!

Alison - My accupuncturist reckoned I had a "block" on one of my chi lines or something, so last week I had four accupuncturists have a prod of me and they all decided I needed the special treatment.  I had it last night.  The accupuncturist put a needle in my perinium and one just above my bum and a couple in my chin.  It made me squeal, I can tell you!  Mind you, I've felt fantastic since  

It's horrible, isn't it, the more cycles you have the more you think you're going to have.  Five isn't many.  My GP said that anything from 12 - 18 would be an ordinary number of goes it takes heterosexual couples with no fertility problems, so we should be thinking in the long term.  I dunno though, it's so hard when you've got clinics shaking their heads over 6 unsuccessful IUIs.  

Rach&Julie - Yeah!  It's really exciting starting the whole process.  I'm really excited about starting it all again in January.  Mind you, it's been lovely having some time off.  I want to remember this, because it's so easy to get caught up in cycle after cycle when you're ttc.  I'm going to try and remember to take breaks if need be, not just for one cycle but a couple of them, to really get the chance to relax and prepare for the rollercoaster again.


----------



## Spangley

Hello all

Glad you've had some better news Candygirl! Really hope some more grow for you   

So Duff - did they charge you more for that extra special acupuncture sesh?   And would you have gone through with it before going through fertility treatment? I know I'm much less inhibited about my bits these days. When do you think your Jan cycle will start? I think my cycle will start on 17 Jan.

Fingers crossed for a tranquil, moodswing free 2WW Julie. Glad you've had a chance to relax so far 

Big   for Alison 

Very exciting RachJulie - I'm excited about our next cycle too now 

MG  

Hope everyone doing ok. We're off to see Mr Shaw this pm to discuss our January tx. Hopefully we'll be good to go for my first cycle after Christmas which will be Jan 17th ish


----------



## Alison0702

Duff - I am wincing in pain just thinking about needles in the old perinium.      Hope it sorts you out and your enjoying your time out from all this rubbishness. 

Lucy - Fingers crossed it is 17th.  

Candy -      Will be thinking about you tomorrow    

Julie -                 

 to everyone else


----------



## lucky2010

Alison, I was trying to be more tactful about the cook but I know what you mean  

hi to everyone else!

Rach x


----------



## lucky2010

What has everyone bought for their partners for christmas? I've got some bits but am struggling now.... neither of us NEED anything.... maybe that should tell us not to waste money but I do love spoiling Julie!!!


----------



## Tonia2

Hi guys, sorry to have been a bit AWOL lately - have been feeling completely rubbish about the whole ttc deal and just haven't been able to go there!! I'm only just starting to feel ready to climb back up on the horse again now...and I've got PAGES of posts to go back and read! I even had to think to remember my log-in name etc! I'm sorry I've been so avoidant!!  I feel I've been a bit selfish and sorry for myself....  I'm sure I'll get over it!!  In the last 2 months I've finished Uni for the year, had exams and been busy doing gardening, de-cluttering, moving furniture, getting work done on the VW, working and trying (rather vainly) to lose some of the kilos & kilos I've gained since starting treatment! (oh dear, it's really starting to bother me!) We were also treated to a U2 concert in Melbourne last month (OMG!! swoon!! I'm the biggest fan! I haven't been that excited in what felt like forever!!) Last weekend we bushwalked up a huge mountain here in Tassy, and woke the next morning to 10cm of snow outside our tent!  That was pretty unexpected as it is now offically summer!  Fairy land!  We had to leave a bit earlier than planned though as we weren't that prepared for the snow and it wasn't clearing at all. But it was fantastic, despite the blisters. That' s the closest I'll probably get to a white Christmas anytime soon!!

After the miscarriage in early October I've been waiting (impatiently) for my first post-m/c period, which came last week ( FINALLY!), had the ever-lovely dildo-cam scan this morning, and all looks good, so am anticipating FET next week sometime, probably Wednesday-Fridayish. I'm not feeling the slightest bit hopeful about it. Not at all positive.  I keep thinking, "oh well, at least after this 2ww I'll be able to paint the bathroom without having to worry about the fumes..." !! We've only got 2 frosties and they weren't the greatest quality - the clinic has a 70% thaw rate, so hopefully at least one will survive the thaw and make it to transfer. I feel a little nervous because if it all goes ahead it's likely I'll be testing around Christmas day. Not sure I'm ready for that roller coaster again yet.

I won't catch up on lots of PMs (there's too much going on & I've only read a couple of pages back!) except for a couple of quickies -

_Gina _ - thanks so much for your emails and concern.  I'll PM you!

_Alison_ - SOOO sorry to hear you bfn  I know it gets harder each time... 

_Duff _ - just to add my two cents worth re the twins debate: I was in the exact same spot as you when we had IVF. My Dr is against the idea: higher rates of complications in pregnancy and much higher incidences of cerebral palsy etc; he said the gold standard of IVF treatment is to have the same high conception rates with no multiples/twins occuring, and he gets really excited about how they're aiming for that in his clinic. ( I was like... yeah yeah, whatever, just do what it takes to get me pregnant!! NOW!) But I'm also the same as you - I really don't want twins - one alone is so much work and I don't want to not be able to give my best in parenting because I'm so stretched between two. BUT if by some miracle I did have two I would deal with it and definately not be wanting to put them back!! It would be kind of exciting! Lots of people have healthy twins every day... 
Our ideal is one so we opted for one put back- which, as it happened did implant and start life, anyhow. I would do the same again. It also depends somewhat on your age (I'm not sure how old you are). Bill said he could be talked into putting two back if I was really insistent _and _ 38 or over. Prior to that age he's extremely reluctant. ...Good luck with your decision making!!

_Rach/Julie_- we decided a few years ago we won't buy each other Chrissy presents anymore- we were tired of the commercialism stuff and giving / recieving things no one needed!! Besides, if we want something we generally just save up and get it anyway! We make a bigger deal of birthdays instead, and at Christmastime each of us chooses to donate /support some charity venture, and "surprises" the other at Christmas by telling the other what it was. I've found it much more satisfying, and we tend to do similar kinds of things for extended family/friends now too. Failing that, good books or CD's never go astray...

I'll attempt to catch up on all the news in the next little while,

love and best wishes to all of you, especially to those having treatment/2ww right now.. 

Tonia


----------



## Alison0702

Tonia - I am so pleased you're back honey..we've all missed you! Sounds like you've been keeping busy over the last few months. I'll give you a gold star if you catch up on all the news on here! Its bad enough when you go away for a weekend  
Good luck for your FET. We should hopefully be on our 2ww together as I go for my follie scan next Friday, then hopefully if my follies have behaved themselves, prob have IUI Sat/Sun.


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

How is everyone? 

All is well with us. Hycosy went well, my tubes are clear! I'm CMV positive so we can go ahead and pick our donor which is what we are going to attempt to do over this weekend so we can get our wigglers over here!!!

Tonia: Soo glad to have you back!

Love to you all & have a great weekend


Rach & Sue
xxx


----------



## candygirl

Well, on my last scan (yesterday) I still only had 3 follicles - no growth despite 4 days of menopur 225  

We've converted the cycle to IUI, which I'm having tomorrow.  I'm very disappointed, but at least there's still a chance we could get pregnant this time...


----------



## Alison0702

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE....

HEATHER AND JO HAD THEIR LITTLE BABY VERY EARLY ON 21ST NOVEMBER.          

He was 5lb 5oz and was a bit poorly at first but doing well and she says he is gorgeous. Heather had a c section, and had to spend 12 days in hospital - now has pneumonia. 
I'll keep you updated if she has no time to post on the thread.


Sorry to hear your follies didnt behave themselves Candy    Good luck for this cycle


----------



## lucky2010

Fantastic news *Heather and Jo*!!!!! What is Boom called in the end? I hope that Heather is feeling better after what sounds like a rocky ride!

I have had a TERRIBLE night. Julie and I have had tonight planned for ages, first weekend off in 9 weeks so today we went xmas shopping in Manchester, followed by xmas markets, pre-theatre dinner then theatre at the Royal Exchange..... Well firstly my Mum invited herself along so we were feeling slightly put out about that. We had dinner and then Julie disappeared.... being sick in the loo the poor thing. My Mum and step-Dad then had to go to the theatre alone as I waited in the foyer in the dark while Julie carried on being sick in the loo. To top it all when I was reversing out of the car park I managed to ram my car into a concrete post and have managed to gouge not only the passenger door but also the bits above and below. I am now camping in the lounge as Julie is feeling too ill to have anyone near her..... fed up is an understatement!!!!

Sorry to moan, Rach xx


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Tonia- Welcome back! It's great to hear from you. I can understand why you needed time out from all ttc for a while which I presumed was why you were not posting. Sometimes in this journey we have to put ourself first!

Lucy- I hope everything is all good to go for January!    

Candy- Sorry that you can't go ahead with the IVF, but like you said converting to IUI will give you a chance. 

Heather & Jo- Congratulations on the birth of your baby boy!           I hope Heather recovers fast. 

Rach & Sue- How long does it take to import sperm from Xytex to your clinic? Great news that your Hycosy went well. How did you find the procedure?

Rach & Julie- Woah what a night! Next time you arrange a nice night out perhaps don't tell your mum till afterwards! Not that that would have helped with Julie's sickness...  

Melissa xx


----------



## brasilgirl

Hi
Day 8 in the "post embryo-transfer limbo" house.
Spent the weekend mopping up sick (sorry TMI!) from partner and daughter. Rachel - I think Julie might have had the same virus that raided our house on Saturday night. It was pretty grim.
I too went to Manchester City Centre on Saturday. I attempted the xmas market, but I wouldn't recommend it at a weekend for anyone who is trying to chill out or even stay vaguely sane. I gave up after 5 minutes and got back on the tram home. Anyway, homebase sell exactly the same wooden xmas tree decorations and they have a half price sale on (get down there for your crackers girls).

I feel sick, but I think it's the progesterone. Had some pink spotting today, so the clinic have upped the prog. dose to twice a day - oh the joys. But I have some twinges too and to be honest I am not feeling that confident about a good result out of this cycle. I do realise though, that it is impossible to know for sure till you know for sure.

Great news for Heather and Jo.
Candy - I hope the IUI works out for you. When I had Maia I was going to have IVF but had to convert to IUI (nothing medical though). I was going to ovulate in the middle of carnival (this was in Brazil) and the clinic couldn't get their regular anaethetist as he had already booked a flight away to the beach. So my consultant suggested I tried IUI anyway. I had 2 follicles, it worked, I got my gorgeous girl and saved a wad of money. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I have decided to go back to work on Thursday after 3 weeks off. My stress levels have really come down, and I think it would be better for me to be at work rather than twiddling my thumbs at home. I have 3 days left, think I might go and make some sort of jam, all that stirring is therapeutic. 
Julie


----------



## lucky2010

*Julie*, sounds like both our households were hit with the same bug.... yuk! Jam making sounds very therapeutic. What day do you test on? Fingers crossed for you x
*
Candy*, fingers crossed for your IUI x

I'm starting to pee on sticks again today with the hope of a +ve result on thurs. We bought a baby gate for the bottom of the stairs  yesterday.... I like to convince myself it is to stop the dogs going upstairs but it's nice to think it may have a duel purpose come the new year 

Must go as have to go wood shopping with our handyman!

Rach xx


----------



## candygirl

The IUI went well, so now we've just got to wait out the 2WW... It's amazing how painful it can be to ovulate with 3 follicles - my tummy is only just getting back to normal today. I'm off work till Thursday, so I'm taking it easy for a few days - which is lovely.

*Julie* - it's good to hear that IUI can be successful after IVF is abandoned. They did say that I had a very good chance with 3 follicles, so here's hoping. 
Fingers crossed for your test day 

*MG * - once we had our license approved, it took less than a week for our sperm from Xytex to arrive at the Bridge clinic.

*Heather & Jo* - Congratulations!


----------



## lucky2010

*Candy*, glad all went well, here's to a sucessful boxing day test!!!!

x


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

Nightmare few days! Sperm, Weddings, Xmas and then to top it all off Washing Machine decided to play up yesterday and we had to empty it out onto kitchen floor!!!  

MG: Hycosy procedure was okay to be honest, I think you build it up to be something it's not so it was a relief when it was not painful - a little uncomfortable yes but not painful! Xytex think our sperm should be here in the new year whole process is goig to take 4-6 weeks due to Xmas - so not too bad!  

CandyGirl:     

Heather & Jo: Congratulations Ladies and we hope you get better soon so you can enjoy it all!!! 

Love to you all

Rach & Sue  
xxx


----------



## lucky2010

*Rach and Sue*, good news that you haven't got to wait too long for your sperm. Have you had any luck with getting someone to share the shipping costs with you? Hope washing machine is up and running again!

*Julie*, you must be testing soon.... how are you doing?

*Candy*, hope you're doing ok.

Well, less than a month to go now.... I'm doing my FSH wee sticks at the mo. I have booked a couple of days annual leave for the 2nd week in Jan for our meeting with our donor.... starting to feel nervous about the whole thing.... arrrggghhh!!!!!

Hope everyone else is well.

Love, Rach xxx


----------



## lucky2010

+ve wee stick today... right on target! Hotel now booked for 10th Jan!!!


----------



## nismat

Hi all,

*Heather & Jo *- huge congratulations on the birth of your son!

        

So sorry to hear that it all was probably rather traumatic, with the early arrival/Caesarean/pneumonia and long hospital stay. You really haven't had an easy time of it at all have you, with all the earlier pregnancy (and ttc) complications?!  I hope that now that your little boy is here, and once you've had a chance to recover from the birth/pneumonia, that it will all prove relatively plain sailing from here-on in. Look forward to hearing more about your baby, when you get back on-line. 

*Candygirl *- I'm really sorry that things didn't go according to plan with the IVF - it must have been very disappointing. I'll keep everything crossed for you that the conversion to IUI proves successful though   

*Rachjulie *- what a shame about your ruined night out - how miserable! It's so exciting that you'll be starting ttc so soon though. I'm sure that the first time will be a bit nerve-wracking, but one you've got the first insem over, it should all feel a bit easier. How many goes are you planning/hoping to have each cycle? Ooh, just saw your new post - do you have to travel up to meet your donor?

*Tonia *- lovely to hear from you; you've clearly kept yourself pretty busy with all kinds of other stuff in the aftermath of the miscarriage - I'm not surprised that you didn't want to think about anything ttc related for some time at least. Fingers crossed for successful thawing of your embryos for an FET this week    It must be very hard for you to feel positive about it working, but the rest of us will be rooting for you.

*Brasilgirl *- sending you some good luck vibes in your last few days before testing   

*Rach & Sue* - glad to hear that the HyCosy was all clear - reassuring! And great that everything is now organised with Xytex, for you to start in Jan/Feb. Do you mind me asking what you decided to look for in chooosing a donor? At one point (early on), we considered importing sperm in order to get more choice of donors (and more info about them), but I actually found the choice overwhelming! Choosing seemed like an impossible task 

*Duff *- that's great that you feel so good after your unusual acupuncture session - I hope that it's done the trick in releasing the "blockage".

Not a lot to report from the pregnancy side of the fence - my pregnancy is progressing in a nicely boring textbook manner! And believe me, I have no complaints about that  We have already ordered our pushchair & carseat, and we're getting a crib and a cotbed from one of my friends, so that's the "big" items sorted. We've bought a few clothes and toys, which I'm sure we won't actually "need" as we're bound to get given stuff, but it is lovely to be able to buy some things ourselves  I've partly cleared out my study in preparation for it becoming the nursery, but we won't organise it properly until after Xmas, as my sister will be sleeping in there (and it's not very big!). We start our NCT classes in January too, which will finish a month prior to the EDD. Maybe doing the antenatal classes will really bring it home to me what is about to hit us, as it still feels pretty unreal most of the time. Oh, and if I've already written this stuff in an earlier message, do forgive me! Pregnancy forgetfulness has hit me in the last few weeks, and it's really funny how often I completely lose track of things!

Tamsin xx


----------



## lucky2010

Hi *Tamsin*, textbook progression is good!!!! Glad you're doing OK, not long to go now!!!

We plan to do 2 insems per cycle on days 12 + 13 of cycle. Our donor lives South of us so we will travel down and stay over night, having one isem on day of arrival and one on day of departure! This suits us as we don't want the donor to come to our house and can easily book the appropriate days off work (in theory!).

Rach x


----------



## brasilgirl

Hi everyone
A quick post - I am at work and about to go home - it's my first day back and a colleague keeps emailing reminding me to take it easy and go home early.
I am testing on Monday 18th. Over the last few days I have had some bleeding (including some red), so I've had a couple of extra accupunture treatments. At the moment I am feelig pretty achey and not too hopeful. All I can do is wait now - I have 3 parties between now and Monday - but I have to take it easy I know. 
I probably won't post now till I have some news to tell
take care and have a good weekend
julie


----------



## lucky2010

Good luck for Monday *Julie* 

hope everyone else ok. is quiet on here at the mo.

Rach x


----------



## Spangley

Hello everyone

Great news about birth of Boom! Hope you're doing really well Heather and Jo   

Good to hear from you Tonia - good luck with the tx  

RachJulie - glad pee stick was on time - very exciting - not long to go now  

RachandSue - glad hycosy was clear. Think you might have been in the Bridge waiting room when we were in there last Thursday. It seemed to be lesbian couple day  

Good luck for testing on Monday, Julie and hope your 2WW not driving you   Candygirl  

Hello to Nismat - glad to hear everything progressing smoothly

Hello MG - yes we're all set now. Got our prescription ready to order online and we're top of the donor share waiting list so we've got a choice of 3 donors   I've got acupuncture booked starting next Tuesday and will also see the hypnotherapist at some point during the tx too

We finish work today - yippee!

Love to everyone


----------



## Alison0702

Good evening lasses!

Lucy - Hey isn't it great that you have a choice of donors! Cant remember - have you been to acupuncture before? I've stopped going, she hurt me and I got to the point where I didnt really enjoy it.   

Candygirl - Keeping my fingers firmly crossed for you   

Rach and Sue - Hiya!  

Rachjulie - Glad you got the right result on the old pee stick - one less thing to worry about.

Tamsin - NIce to hear from you. Glad everything going well  

Hi Melissa, hope you're ok  

Julie - Have a nice relaxing weekend! Sending you loads of     and    for Monday. 

We went to the hospital for my scan today and had a nice big follicle so my body must like 150mg of clomid! Will carry on pee sticks until Monday, and if I havnt ovulated myself by then I have to take HCG injection and prob go for IUI Monday night/Tuesday night. Can't believe this is the 5th go. If no success, will rethink next steps, but I really want to go for IVF next. Dont think I can do this again!
I've just started getting a headache and sore throat so hope it doesnt spoil the weekend  

Hope you all have a good weekend

Love Alison


----------



## Alison0702

Emma - It's probably cos we're always talking about Indian curries! 

I got a positive ovulation test this morning at 01.10am - Only 2nd time I have managed that on my own.   Had my HCG and have to go for my IUI tomorrow night at 6.30.
It's not my consultant doing it this time. All the money he earns has paid for anice little holiday in Australia, so its his lovely nurse doing it. Maybe she'll be lucky.     

Speaking of Indian, we are off to friends for wine and curry at 7pm, so I'd better go and get ready.

Bye for now
xx


----------



## lucky2010

Great news *Alison* we'll be thinking of you tomorrow night!!!! fingers crossed!

Allthis talk of curry is making me have cravings! I'm really trying to eat healthily at the moment... with little success! No news here, just trying not to count down the days and put too much hope in our first DI... is very hard!
*
Julie*, hope you've had a good weekend and that you get the result we all want for you on Monday.

I'm working a 14hr shift tomorrow so had better get to bed soon!!

Love, Rach xx


----------



## snagglepat

Hi folks,

I've had a mad few weeks and just got on here to catch up. It's amazing how much can happen in so short a space of time!

*Emma*, I loved the sound of your dream! It's amazing what our subconscious can throw at us sometimes isn't it? I had to laugh at yours though, especially as we all seem to like a good curry on here.

*Heather and Jo*, massive congratulations to you on the birth of your son. I'll be sending healing thoughts out to all of you over the next days and weeks. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it when you're ready to share it.

*Allison*, I have my fingers crossed for you tis month. Hopefully the nurse will be your lucky charm.

Fingers crossed for you for youe test on Monday *Julie*. I hope the spotting is a sign of some wonderful news just around the corner. I'll be thinking of you both.

*Candygirl*, I've got my fingers crossed that this cycle works out for you too despite the difficult build up you had with it. How are you feeling about it now?

*Tamsin*, It's really lovely to hear from you and get an update. Time really is flying isn't it?

*RachJulie*, It's great to hear that things are so well settled for your first try next month. Not long to wait now - you must be so excited. I so wish we had such regular cycles to work with, and I hope that yours stay that way. It makes the whole process so, so much easier. Good luck. 

*Tonia*, lovely to see you back. I'm guessing you've had the FET by now. I can't tell you how many appendages I'm attempting to cross for you - the visual image would probably need to be censored for public safety and my chiropractor would have his work cut out untangling me. Lets just say there's a huge lorry-load of love and positive thoughts winging around the world to you both.

As for things here, we've had a rough week or two. Rae's Nan died while I was away on my course. It wasn't entirely out of the blue - she'd been ill for a long time, but it was, or course, very sad. Rae was very close to her. It was her funeral on Friday so we've been having a very quiet weekend, getting in some quality time together.

As for things in the fertility stakes, after apparently missing ovulation this cycle we started to plod on and think of ways to make the most of this unexpected two month break. We went to a naturopath who has completely revolutionised my diet. I've been instructed to give up dairy (no biggy for me), wheat (a task and a half) and sugar (my favourite substance in the world) for the sake of my currently off-balance hormonal body type. It was really interesting as a session and she picked up an awul lot just from looking at me and my eyes and tongue. Fascinating stuff. I've been doing the new diet for a week now and at times I could cry my cravings for chocolate are so strong. I'm determined to stick with it though, at least until my next appointment mid-January but so far I'm one hell of a grumpy sod to be around, especially at meal times.

Some more not-so-great news is that my period was supposed to arrive early last week - or should have done if I did indeed ovulate when they thought I had. So far, there's no period, and no hint of my body gearing up for it either. Not a premenstrual symptom in sight! I'm nearly a week overdue now, which I'm assuming means that I didn't and haven't ovulated and my body is regressing to its pre-metformin state. I saw my GP on Friday for a prescription review and he upped my dose of Metformin to 2000mg a day which is a regular dose for a diabetic. I'm hoping this will kick my body into touch but if it doesn't and it looks like the Metformin is no longer working I'm not really sure what the next step for us is. I might ring my clinic next week just for a chat to see what they have to say.

It's not all doom and gloom here though. On a positive note, my natal hypnotherapy course was amazing and I came away hugely inspired. I'll be beginning to teach and practice it in about April I should think, once I've completed the various assessments/registrations. Very exciting stuff!

Oh, and Rae and I are getting civily-partnered on Thursday which is rather exciting too. 

Anyway, I'd best get to bed. It's way past my bed time and I intend to follow Emma's examle and go to sleep hoping to meet up with a bunch of you in my dreams....

Gina. x


----------



## RachandSue

Hi Everyone,

Gina & Rae: Congratulations you two for your CP arrangements on Thursday we hope you have a lovely day. Sorry about your lack of ovulation this cycle, here is to a positive new year!!! 

Alison: We are thinking about you today and sending you all the   we can muster up!!!

Emma & Lottie: Great Dream, I can guarantee you I was the one eating the Korma as its all I can eat off the Indian menu I'm more of a Italian/Chinese/Mexican Gal! xxx

Spangley: I have to agree about Thursday! How are you two getting on? Great news about having a choice!

BasilGirl:    

Rach & Julie: Not long now it's sooo exciting!

Nismat: It was a bit overwhelming to be honest but we just tried to think about features that we wanted i.e hair and eye colour, family history but I think you have to keep an open mind about it otherwise it can consume you. We are wiring the money to them tomorrow which will mean our application will go in on Tuesday so hopefully our wigglers will be here in January!!! 

Tamsin:    

For anyone we've missed - we are sorry!
As for us nothing to report, just waiting xxxxx

Love to you all

Rach & Sue
xxxxx


----------



## brasilgirl

Hi everyone
I am going a little mad and resisting early testing. Have period pains a little but nothing else. I just want to get that test over and done with tomorrow. I really don't feel as if I am pregnant, but hey - what do I know!
I haven't got dressed yet today, made fairy cakes with my daughter, we ate most of them and now Nicki has taken her to the park and round to visit a friend as I need some time to myself.
So - I'll let you all know the verdict in the morning
Julie


----------



## magsandemma

Hi All,

Hope you are all well?  Haven't been on here for a while now, so was just trying to catch up on all the posts.

Brasilgirl - Good Luck with the test today, hope its a  

RachandSue - Sounds like you have lots of plans at mo, lots to keep you busy.

Gina & Rae - Hope all goes well with the CP arrangements.

Rachjulie - Sounds like all will be starting soon with you guys.

Hope everyone else is good, and all organised for xmas.

Well quick catch up on whats been happening with us, we had review appt few weeks ago now, and all went well, saw a different consultant as our's was on holiday.  He explained everything in detail with us with regards to cycle and all the drugs that I had been on, he said that my embryos where grade 1, and they where very pleased that all 7 eggs had fertilised, but was concerned that 3 of them had arrested at 2 cell stage on day 2.  Also said that we can start again when we are ready, we are going to egg share again, so just waiting to be matched, but requested to start in feb time, then my body will have had a good 3 months rest.  He stated that I needed to lose more wieght, but would like me to lose 25kgs, which I thought was quite unrealisitc in less than 3 months!!    Anyhow am continuing on metformin for now, and been recommended to start aspirin when try next time, and to have gestone instead of the bullets.  So thats an update on treatment, apart from that its been busy busy for both of us at work.  Amazingly this year we both have xmas off, which hasn't happened ever over the last 6yrs, so we can enjoy xmas together this year, will be spending it with emma's family.

Well I think I've waffled on enough for now, I better get back to work!!!!!!!! 

Love 
Maggie


----------



## brasilgirl

Well its' a.....

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! 
I am in total shock. I was sure it hadn't worked this time.
Going to ring the clinic this morning. I think they do a scan in 2 weeks time.

I know that this is just the beginning and anything could happen, but I am thrilled. I thought I spent all yesterday evning on the sofa feeling tired and sick because I had a virus or cold or something.

By my hurried calculations, I'll be due on August 25th.
Talk to you all later, when it's sunk in a bit.
Julie


----------



## ♥JJ1♥

Julie- Congratulations on your  hope that you have a wonderful pregnancy
L xx


----------



## nismat

*Julie * - huge congratulations on getting that BFP! You and Nicki must be thrilled 
Hope that it's all plain sailing in the weeks ahead   

*Mags & Emma* - lovely to hear from you & get your update. Trying to lose 25kg in 3 months would be absolutely crazy - totally unrealistic, not to mention unsafe! Even trying to lose 25lbs in that time, while potentially achievable if you could lose 2lb a week, would be pretty damned hard. I'm sure that it's a good idea to lose as much weight as you can, but without putting quite so much pressure on yourself.

*Gina & Rae* - best wishes for a lovely day on Thursday for you CP  
Well done on changing your diet so radically - it can't be easy. Hope that it makes a big difference to your cycles etc.

*Alison * - hooray for your body finally doing its thing and giving you a +OPK! (and btw, what had you been doing that meant you were up at 1.10am to do the test??! You clearly have a much more exciting social life than us!). Hope the IUI went well last night, and that Xmas/New Year takes away some of the stress of the 2ww.

*Emma * - hope that it wasn't me showing off my belly button! 

Love to all,
Tx


----------



## lucky2010

*Julie and Nicki* huge congratulations on your BFP, I'm so happy for you. Was thinking about you all weekend with my fingers crossed!

Hi to everyone else. The rota has been done for the week we are supposed to be starting to try and I have been given all the requests I asked for.... an absolute miracle!!!! Let's hope it's a good omen!!

Rach xxx


----------



## Alison0702

Julie and Nicki - WOOHOO! Well done girl, am so pleased for you. I had a sneaky feeling you were by what you said, and was really pleased to read your post. Take it easy!  

Tamsin - I love Metformin! I've had a positve OPK two months running, and both on day 14 of cycle. I've been feeling rubbish all wekend cos of a bad cold, so Iwasnt out partying on Friday night. Found a great new game on the internet which helped me lose about 3 hours of my life, thats why I was testing at daft hours of the day  

Rach and Julie -   Hope you are both well. Don't worry about being excited for your first IUI - everyone must be. As long as you stay realistic yet positive you will be fine. And of course you have us lovely folk to talk to about anything too  

Rach and Sue - Are you two all ready for Christmas?

Gina - So sorry to hear about Rae's Nan - hope you're both ok. You always seem to have loads on your plate! Hope you're not too grumpy without the chocolate. Hopefully this diet will help your body work well with that HUGE dose of Metformin.  

Tonia - How you doing? Hope the FET went ok, and that your taking it easy on your 2ww. Lots and lots of     and    


We had our IUI last night. and all went well. We had a chat with the nurse about how fed up we are with IUI and may want to move onto IVF if this cycle doesnt work. She talked a lot of sense, and basically said that my body has really only started to react to the metformin/clomid in the last 2 months, so she would class this as our 2nd IUI. I felt like asked her for a refund of the other 3, but refrained  
So, I am a lot more positive and will carry on for another few cycles should this not work. I am praying hard though.  

I am off sick today. My cold has gone onto my chest and I could hardly sleep last night. Feeling sorry for myself, but am going to make myself a fish finger sandwich now - yum! 

Big hugs to everyone
xx


----------



## Tonia2

Oh my Gosh! Congratulations *Julie & Nicki!*  Well done! You must be over the moon! I hope you have a wonderful trouble-free pregnancy! The wait for the first scan is alot like the 2ww... hang in there  Yay Yay for you three!!

 We had FET on Saturday morning.   I hadn't had a +ve OPK by last Tuesday (was expected Monday) so had an extra scan and then a trigger to get things moving. Maybe things are still alittle out of sync due to the m/c. Other than the trigger it has been a totally natural cycle - a whole lot less hassle than an IVF cycyle, that's for sure! The first frostie  they thawed didn't make it  so I have the 2nd one, lil' "Berry",  on board.  We both felt quite sad about losing the first embryo. Fingers crossed for this one though- if it doesn't make it we'll start another IVF cycle ASAP next year. This time he did say this one was a 'better than average embryo' which is a change from when they first froze it -maybe he just says that to everyone!!!  I'm not really feeling anything much about it at all. I suspect though in a week I'll be hyper-aware of every twinge - it was about day 10 I started to feel different, last time. So what are we... day 3 or so now... my offical test date is the 1st of Jan. Wouldn't that be a brilliant New Years present...?!! I reckon I'll be testing a few days' earlier than that...

*Gina & Rae* - absolute bummer to hear about AF not turning up. And about not being able to have chocolate. I would find that agonising and very much grump-inducing!! I hope the metformin does the job. And love and hugs to Rae re. her Nan.  Even when it is anticipated it's hard. I hope you have a fantastic and special day on Thursday,  Congratulations!!  We'll both be thinking of you. Wish I could give you both a (real, not cyber) hug!! 

*Alison * - YAY for ovulating!! We're 2ww buddies! Are you going to do a 2ww diary. I thought about it but concluded that I don't really have much to say! Sorry you've got a yukky cold, they're so miserable.... a great excuse to stay in bed though. 

*Candy girl * - how are you going? you must be nearly half way through your 2ww...  Hopefully Santa will bring you a BFP!!

*Rach & Julie-* woo hoo! not long at all to go now. The other day we were talking about when we first started treatment and Bron reminded me how I walked around with smile from ear to ear for about a month. It was so exciting to be finally actually DOING something and not just waiting around. I remember it well! I feel all excited over again for you!

*Tamsin-* lovely to hear things are going so well. I wish for you no dramas and a normal, ordinary, everything pregnancy realted! No surprises!!

*Maggie * - I agree with Tamsin, 25kg in 3 months sounds unsafe as well as pretty unrealistic! It's just not that easy!! Good to hear the news re. your embies - hope it all goes well, keep us posted!

*Rach & Sue * - glad to hear plans are progressing so well. I've been thinking alot about our donor & how we selected him etc in the last few months. We had about 5 or 6 to choose from, and didn't find it too hard. We swapped after 5 unsuccesful IUI's. Our current one is willing to make contact with families before the child is 18 and I think we'd actully like to explore that possibility down the track. What kind of laws etc re. disclosure apply when you import sperm? Can you trace the donor /make contact later?

*Emma-* nice to hear from you! I'm a big fan of a good Indian curry too! Bron makes fantastic curries - You may be onto something there!

*Duff -* how are you going? haven't seen much from you lately. I hope you're doing ok.

*Spangley -* Glad to hear things are shaping up for you too... good luck also in your donor choosing. It is a bizarre thing really, to have to select a bloke according to all these charcteristics in balck and white on a peice of paper. I 'd much rather meet him and suss him out in person! What are the most important things for you in choosing? We went with someone very similar build, height, eye/hair colour etc to me, but also gave significant weight to their reasons for donating and family medical history.

*MG* - how are you doing? 

*Heather & Jo and little Adam: * I hope you're all doing well and recovering from your ordeal. And getting lots of quiet peaceful time together as you all adjust to each other! Love to you all.

I'm sure I"ve forgotten someone...

Cheers, 
Tonia


----------



## brasilgirl

Thank you everyone for all your good wishes to us - yes we are really excited, but I am also a bit cautious. I'm looking forward to my first scan, but also I'll be glad when it's over!

I've got a doctor's appointment today, which seems a bit previous to me, but she had a space so thought I may as well get in now. 

Tonia, Alison and Candygirl- good luck on your 2wws I am hoping there will be lot's of you coming along along with me and that we can all meet up this time next year, sleep deprived and unable to string sentences together...

Rachel and Julie - it's getting close now - it is exciting, but really draining as well - make sure you get lots of time to chill out with eachother and destress.

Magggie - maybe the doctor meant 25Lbs? 25 kilos isn't humanly possible to lose in that time.

Have to get off to the doctor's now. We went through pregnancy together last time round - I couldn't wish for a better doctor.
Take care all of you
Julie


----------



## Alison0702

Gina - Just realised I didnt wish you all the best for Thursday! Hope you both have a fabulous day!  

Tonia - I was going to do a 2ww diary, but they have changed the threads and hardly anyone bothers, so though I wouldnt bother either! I did one the very first time and it seemed to help, but I am used to being on a 2ww now, so not too bothered    Hope you're ok  

Julie - Still really chuffed for you


----------



## Mable

Congrats to Julie   Wonderful news.

Good luck to the 2ww-ers    
Mable


----------



## candygirl

Congratulations Julie - I'm so pleased for you!

The waiting is driving me mad    I've got breast tenderness, but I had that last time and I got a BFN.  I'm not bleeding yet though (which I was at this stage last time).

The next 5 days are going to be tough....


----------



## lucky2010

*Gina and Rae*, have a great day tomorrow. We'll be thinking of you.

*Candy*, I hope the next 5 days fly by.... my fingers are firmly crossed!

Good luck to the other 2wwers.

Rach x


----------



## Alison0702

Candygirl - Hope the next 5 days fly by for you. I know how you feel, it's ****.
I have been feeling to sorry for myself with being ill, I've hardly thought about my 2ww - probably a good thing!  Take care and think of   - or maybe not considering when your testing!  

Hi to everyone else


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

Julie- Congrats on your BFP! What a fab early Christmas pressie! 

Gina & Rae- I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow!  Sorry to hear about the rough time you've had of late.  for Rae. I really hope the Metformin does the trick.

Tonia- Glad to hear your FET was successful and you have an embie onboard! 

Alison, Tonia & Candygirl- Much          to you all during your 2ww's

Maggie- That sounds like a totally unrealistic weight amount to lose. As if this journey isn't tough enough without ridiculous targets like that! Regardless of whether he meant lbs or kilos!

Lucy-   I hope your okay? 

Hopefully I'll be posting more in the New Year. It seems that sometimes you are obsessive about these sites and others it is best to be more infrequent. As I'm inbetween tx at the mo I find sometimes it is good that life is a little less tx if you know what I mean? So as much as I want to support you all as much as possible I find myself not coming on here so much. Not to mention that this time of year is sooo busy! Yah it's nearly Christmas! 

Melissa


----------



## starrysky

Hi everyone

Merry Xmas to everyone and good luck to everyone in the midst of treatment or about to start!    

We havent posted for ages for various reasons including a blown up computer (so I have the odd one hour slot at the library) and the early and rather traumatic arrival of baby Adam, born on 21 Nov!!  . I'll tell you more when I can bear it but he is healthy and well after all the scares along the way. 

Will get a piccie on when I finally have enough cash for a new computer.

Love

Heather and Jo


----------



## lucky2010

*Heather and Jo*, great to hear from you. I hope things are settling down with Adam and that Heather is recovering well. Have a great first Christmas as a family.

*Gina and Rae*, it's a cold one today, hope you're appropriately wrapped up for your service. Enjoy your day and congratulations!

Everyone on 2ww's GOOD LUCK and fingers crossed for firm implantation.

Our new front door is just being fitted and then the house is more-or-less done. It feels so much more like home now. Am feeling slightly excited about Christmas now, partly due to buying Julie a fab pressie that she has no idea she's getting (last minute inspiration!!).

Bye for now and Merry Christmas!!!

Rach xxx


----------



## Alison0702

Rach - Ooh what you got her? 

Gine and Rae - Have a fab day!  

Does anyone do what I am doing right now?

I am sitting watching discovery health and home, watching pregnant women, births etc etc crying my eyes out. It makes me feel really down but I cant stop watching it.    
I am normally a very sane, strong person  

Something strange happened this morning. I went to the loo (just for a pee) and there was browny discharge on the toilet roll ( sorry I know it's really too much info, but I am not sure what it was) Can anyone help?


On that note...more


----------



## lucky2010

*Alison*, no idea about the discharge i'm afraid.... Implantation??!!! not putting what i get her online incase she sneeks a peek!!!! Let us know how you get on!!

Love rach xx


----------



## Spangley

Hello everyone  

Alison - sorry to hear you're feeling down today. Hope your discharge is implantation bleed   

Well done on the last minute inspiration Rach. I've done all my shopping for Clare now and we've got all our presents under the tree. Very exciting  

Great to hear from you Heather and Jo - and Adam. Lots of love to the 3 of you  

Hi Melissa - I know what you mean about not posting very much. Every time I pop on here, loads more has happened to everyone so it puts me off posting with my non-news! Anyway hopefully we'll both have more to report in the New Year   

Candygirl - hope the waiting's going ok - not long now till you test   

Congrats to Julie  

Hope today's going really well Gina and Rae - thinking of you  

Hiya Tonia - glad the FET went smoothly. We've only really gone on physical characteristics with the donors so far but we've never actually had any proper choice before. I still haven't got the details of them from the clinic but there's no hurry as I won't need the sperm until late Jan/early Feb. Really good luck for this cycle - hope the 2WW goes smoothly - at least you've got lots to take your mind off it with Christmas etc  

Hello to anyone I've missed too

Not much fertility related news from us. I've started acupuncture again ready for cycling in the New Year and that's about it I think since last time. We're very happy with our diets as we've now lost about 5.5 kilos each and it hasn't been too hard even with the season although I do think about food most of the time but I think I did that anyway even before dieting! Ooh and we've booked our civil partnership ceremony for May 2007


----------



## Alison0702

Melissa/Lucy - I personally want to hear your non-news, so keep posting!  

Lucy - Great news about your CP. What do you think you'll both wear?


----------



## Spangley

Morning - happy to provide endless non-news!
Not sure what we'll wear - definitely not big white frocks or anything too fancy as neither of us want a big "do". 
Off to buy cheese at Borough Market this morning - it's going to be really hard not to stuff my face with snacks


----------



## bubbleicious

Hi girls,

I'm from the clomid board but just thought i'd pop over and wish you all a very merry christams and ahappy new year. Lets hope all our dreams come true in 2007!


----------



## Alison0702

Lucy - I love Borough market, we stayed at our friends who lived about 5 mins walk away. It was very Christmassy then, so I bet it was fab today. Enjoy ramming that cheese down your necks...lets hope you dont put 5kilos back on. 
Oh, no big white frocks...I am disappointed!  

I am soooooooooooooooo excited for Christmas I could pee my pants.


----------



## Tonia2

Hey ho,

 *Alison*  heh heh! I've only just started to feel like it's Christmas in the last few days! Not yet at the peeing in my pants stage though...   I spent most of Wednesday with Bron's niece making Chrissy decorations and decos for the table. We're having a "proper" formal Christmas lunch - probably the kind of thing you guys have every year in the UK! We usually do BBQ seafood and salad outside in the sun!! And go to the beach for the afternoon! A Christmas in Winter is not something I've experienced... 

 Hey, I have a slightly weird question for those using anonymous donor sperm. When I was pregnant I started to think alot more about our donor, and susbsequently have been recently reading a brilliant book by Ken Daniels (I think its called ' Donor Conception - building a family using donor insemination'. DCN have it.) It's made me think alot more long-term than I had been, though alot of the issues discussed are more hetero-focused (it's still worth it though!). But anyway -  it sounds really shallow and I'm a bit embarressed to admit it, but while I was pregnant I started to constantly wonder about what our donor looked like and started to freak that he might be butt ugly and the baby might come out looking like a monkey or something. I hadn't really thought about that side of things before I got pregnant. I mean, it is such a guessing game, isn't it? and the imagination is a powerful thing! And it's not like there's alot of choice or that we even know much about what we're choosing. Along with all that, I feel completely in awe of this man and so grateful that he has taken the initiative to provide such a gift. If we do get pregnant I think I'd really like to at least meet him one day. Have any of you had similar concerns? It's not too shallow a thought is it??!!! You know, it would be so cool to at least have a photo...?? (I know you can't b/c of privacy, etc.) I hope I haven't offended anyone...

As far as news go I also have none. This 2ww is dragging heaps. I want it to be next week now! How are you doing, *Candy*? only 2 days til testing!

Have a fantastic christmas everyone!
Love Tonia


----------



## Alison0702

Tonia -        I dont think what you said is shallow, in fact I think the same. The first time we went for IUI, I said to Ju, "I hope this bloke's not a pig" and the nirse said sternly "There's no such thing as an ugly gene" I thought oops I shouldnt have said that!  

Have a good Christmas!


----------



## lucky2010

*Tonia*, It's totally 'normal' to think along those lines.... we have met our donor and still think those things!!!!

Prob won't post now before Xmas so I hope everyone has a great day... think of us while we're at work 12.30-9pm!!!!

Love to all,

Rachael and Julie x x x x


----------



## RachandSue

Hi Everyone,

Julie: Such fantastic news we are sooo happy for you.  

Alison: We are ready for xmas - just! I'm nominated wrapper of the last few today!!  

Tonia: How are you doing?     

Gina & Rae: Hope you had a lovely day - it looks like a few more of us will be following your lead in the year of 2007!

So here we are, xmas is a funny time of year for me really, don't get me wrong it's great in some ways but this year we are spending xmas day with Sue's "disapproving parents" which would have been fine if we hadn't had a massive blow up last monday! It's all been put under the mat for xmas but it's still there underneath everyone's fake smiles!!!!

The child in me wanted to stamp my feet and say that I wasn't going to go after all the evil, twisted things that were said to Sue and myself last monday (selfish woman who gave up her rights for a child when she became gay, baron woman who doesn't realise the damage that would be done to a child born into this "abnormal" family - to name just two of the comments) but I haven't, well thats a little fib as I did but told Sue that I didn't mean to act like a child and I would go and put my fake smile on but that I wouldn't have more than two beers all day so that if it kicks off I can still drive!!!! 

This is why I haven't posted this week as to be honest I have been really cut up this week, well not just me Sue as well as not all comments were aimed at me in fact a lot was aimed at Sue!!! I'm trying to put it all out of my head but I'm finding it really hard! A couple of our friends have told us to just keep smiling on the day and if she kicks off just think (whilst smiling) your just like bloody Pauline Fowler which I found quite amusing!!!

Anyway, sorry to moan! On a positive note our licence application has been put in so here's to hoping that our licence will be approved early next yera so we can begin our journey!!!

Love to you all

Rach
xxxx


----------



## Alison0702

Oh Rach, I am sorry you're still having trouble with Sue's mother. I'm glad there aren't too many people with that attitude. God, we worry enough before we decide to think about having a child - what other people will think/will the child be picked on etc etc, and you think out of everyone, your own parents would be supportive. She wants to be careful she doesnt "lose" Sue as a daughter, as I would be telling my mother where to go if she started those antics. Hope Christmas day isn't too stressful - just think how nice it will be when you leave to go home. Take care  

Did anyone watch The Box Of Delights when you were younger (I am talking 1984).
It was a real Christmassy programme and I ordered it yesterday off Amazon and it's arrived this morning - £9 it cost to get it delivered today Eek! However, I will be a happy bunny later this afternoon when the house is cleaned, the shopping is put away, and we can sit down and watch it.

Not sure if I'll get a chance to post again before Christmas, so if not, have a great one everyone.

And for all of us on the


----------



## RachandSue

Thanks Alison, I'm sure it won't be awful it's only one day isn't it? And you are right I think she is really now on her last chance with Sue!

Emma: Hello, I'm gladyou have decided to go and see the Bridge if nothing else it will give you some options!

Have a lovely xmas everyone!!

Love Rach
xxx


----------



## Tonia2

*Rach & Sue * - SO sorry to hear your family dramas! How hurtful to you both!! It really puts a dampener on things... OMG!! I can't believe what some people say! There are so many damaged children resulting from heterosexual, ie so-called "normal" families; AND research shows that people who have undergone any kind of IF treatment /DI are better than average parents, because they've worked so hard to get there!! So much is said in ignorance.... She clearly has no idea... 
My mum has said the EXACT same things to me prior to us starting tx and consequently we don't have any contact at all beyond birthday and Christmas cards. She still doesn't know we're having tx. Though she might suspect it. I guess I'll tell her after we have any babies, when I'm feeling brave... It helps that we live in different countries, I admit - but the main reason we've stayed in Australia is because of her and the rest of my family. Which makes me sad and I do wish it were different, but like Alison said it's easier to tell them to bugger off, and I prefer that now than pretending to play happy families!! (I did that for years and it got too hard!!) So I hope your Christmas is managable and that you can find heaps of support and solace in each other. You are very brave to go! 

*Emma:* lovely to hear from you - have sent you a PM. 

*Candy: * Any news How are you doing?  

A bit over a week to go *Alison*... 

Love Tonia x


----------



## ♥JJ1♥

Girls I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a Happy Christmas- as I may not get the chance tomorrow. I am off to my donor and his partner's for Christmas, so we should have fun.  I just keep thinking Chrsitmas next year could be so different- hopefully there will be a few more additons for Santa to visit.

Keep smiling thorugh the the traumas- I love the Pauline Fowler idea, it is only a day but often hurtful things are said that cannot be taken back! My friend and her partner thought she had her mother's support until their son came along and then her odd comments came out- but all too late as they have their miracle man now.

Love to you all 
L xx


----------



## candygirl

Hey all,

Just to say that I got a very faint  at 4am this morning (kept waking up so eventually I just did a test!)  Obviously far too early to say how it'll go, but I'm a little bit excited....

Have a good Christmas all - can't stay on long as the whole family wants to use the internet 

Candy x


----------



## ♥JJ1♥

Candy congratulations on your  what a wonderful Christmas present!!!
L xx


----------



## Alison0702

Oh Candygirl...I really really hope you get the same result when you test again. What a fantastic Christmas it will be! Sending you loads of          and


----------



## Tonia2

Congratulations Candy!!  
              

What fantastic news for Christmas! Fingers crossed all remains well!!

Love Tonia x


----------



## lucky2010

Congratulations Candy, so happy for you!!!

Rach and Julie x


----------



## lucky2010

Hi all,

I hope you all had a great Christmas!!! Any news from anyone??

Julie scared me today by saying it's only 2 weeks tomorrow until we start trying, AF is due any day now... trying not to put too much pressure on my body by getting stressed about it but it's hard.

Hope everyone is well.

Love Rach x


----------



## Valhalla

Fingers crossed Rachel! I know it will be stressful the first time, but hopefully in the future, if needed you will be more chilled out! Hugs and cuddles to you both!


----------



## Tonia2

News from me- 
No Christmas present here - AF arrived on Boxing day evening,  so we're two very sad little beans down here in Tasmania at the moment. Fortunately at the FET I booked an appt with our consultant for his next available spot - have an appt on 11 Jan. Will be planning the next full IVF cycle... BRING IT ON!!!

Hope there's some better news out there! How're you doing Alison, Candy...?

Love Tonia
x


----------



## candygirl

Tonia - so sorry to hear that.  I'm sending lots of   your way for your next full cycle....


Rachel - Good luck for your first go.  It's such an exciting time.

Alison - fingers crossed....

I've done another urine pregnancy test today and the line was much stronger, so I'm starting to become excited now.  I'm going to the clinic this morning for a blood test.  (the nurse said - 'we offer a free pregnancy test' and I thought, but we've given you more than £2000 for this cycle alone, in what way is that free?)

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Candy x


----------



## Mable

Sorry to hear your news Tonia - you are in line for some luck in 2007. Sending some   over to you both.

Big congrats to Candygirl - so exciting to get this news at Christmas.

Big welcome to baby Adam and looking forward to Tamsin's arrival very soon now.

Wishing everyone TTC so much luck in 2007 - I hope it is all of our years. I am starting TTC myself in January with some IUIs at Kings. I picked up my clomid yesterday and it's all starting to feel a little more real.

Monty is 8 months and saying nothing but Da Da!
Babydust to everyone-
Mable


----------



## lucky2010

Hi Tonia,

So sorry that you didn't get a lovely BFP for Christmas. Good to hear you so positive about the next round though! We hope you had a lovely traditional Christmas in the sun!!

Candy, you must be so excited!!!! Yipee!!!

Alison... fingers crossed!!

Mable, very exciting that you're starting in Jan!

My AF is due to arrive tomorrow but feels like it's going to come today.... will mean changing a few arrangements but hey!! 

Love to all x


----------



## Alison0702

Hope you all had a good Christmas. We did but it was very quiet. Was back to work yesterday but it's been ok. 
Have had a few cramps, and my boobs are a bit sore and bigger than usual. But only 2 more getty ups till test day. 

Tonia - Boo! Sorry you got a rubbish test result, but hey it's great to see you excited for the next go at IVF.Like you said BRING IT ON!  

Candy - FANTASTIC! What a Christmas present chuck. Well done, really pleased for you.  You made me laugh with what you said about the "free" pregnancy test..yeah yeah yeah whatever 

Rach - Two weeks will come round quickly for you I'm sure. Aww good luck!   

Rach and Sue - How was Christmas day

I'll keep you posted with the size of my (.) (.) over the next few days  

Bye for now


----------



## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone had a lovely xmas.  

Tonia: So sorry darlings but as you said bring on the next round!  

Rachel & Julie: It's getting soooo close - Good Luck!  

Alison: Hope sore (.)(.) is a good sign for the new year!   And xmas day was okay, nobody had any excess alcohol due to Sue's grandad is over from Spain at the moment for xmas and he knows nothing about Sue and I as it is her mothers dirty little secret as she so nicely puts it!!!   So lots of fake smiles and an early night, much to Sue's disappointment but better than a family bust up so we didn't care! Had a lovely Boxing day with each other and here's to the new year which again we have decided to spend alone.  

Candy: Congratulations we are sooo happy for you xxx  

Mable: Good luck in Jan  

As for us, other than the bit I said to Alison, we are just waiting for the bridge to give us an update on our licence. I am resisting the urge to ring and ask as I know its the holiday season and nothing would have happened yet but I'm itching with the anticipation over it!!!   So just waiting waiting waiting....! 

Love to you all  

Rach and Sue
xxxx


----------



## nismat

*Candygirl * - huge congratulations on your Christmas BFP - how wonderful! Glad to hear that the originally faint line is now much stronger, and here's wishing for a straightforward pregnancy for you   

*Tonia * - very sorry to hear that the FET didn't work out for you   I know that you didn't have much hope for success this time, but it must have been a big disappointment all the same. However, maybe it all means that you're now more ready mentally to feel positive for the next full-on IVF cycle - and it's good that you've got the consultation lined up so soon, so that you can just get on with it ASAP hopefully. Wishing you masses of luck   

*Rach&Julie* - you must be in a state of nervous excitement at the thought of starting so soon after all the waiting and planning  Sounds like your body isn't so stressed out that it's holding your period back though which is good. I hope that it stays on track for ovulation as well! Very excited for you - starting ttc at last is great!

*RachandSue * - well done for making it through a stressful family Christmas  Hope you get some news from the clinic soon about your import license, so that you can also get underway before long.

*Mable * - just can't believe that Monty is 8 months!!!    I'm sure he'll switch to the Ma, ma, ma's soon  I can't remember what parenting names you are each using? We still haven't found anything suitable for Karen to be called (she doesn't want a mothering-type name of any sort, and we haven't found an alternative that she likes yet). 
It's such great news that _you _ are starting to ttc now  I hope that it works really quickly for you, and that you don't have to go through all the IUIs and then the IVF like Edith did to conceive Monty. 
Oh, and I'm hoping that our baby doesn't make his/her arrival *too  * soon - a full 2 months please!! 

I've had a couple of pregnancy "developments" over Christmas, so I've got some actual news to post for a change. The first was that I developed a nasty rash on Christmas Eve - very sore and dry, and although it's now over more of my body than it was originally, it's not as bad as it was. Both itchy and sore now, but I've been to see both the midwives and my GP, and the general consensus is that it's nothing to worry about, probably brought on by the (self-imposed) stress of trying to make everything perfect for the first family Christmas in our house. It should just go away (or it may linger), and I've just got to keep my skin well moisturised. The GP wouldn't even give me a prescription for any helpful creams, so I'll be out to buy a vat of E45 cream later today. If it's still the same in a week then he'll run some blood tests for liver function (to check for choleostasis; although the midwives said there was no sign of this, as you get a rash on your feet). Until then, I've just got to live in loose cotton clothing and keep myself cool  
A more positive development was that Pip's movements have changed totally - lots of much bigger movements as s/he somersaults, and it's now suddenly obvious where various limbs/body parts are inside the bump - great fun trying to guess arm/leg, elbow/knee, head/bum etc.  And the final thing that has happened is that I've started leaking milk!!!!  Time for a purchase of disposable breast pads I think


----------



## lucky2010

Hi folks!

*Rach and Sue*, Glad there were no big bust ups at Christmas! Hope you have news of the licence once the hols are over!

*Alison*, I'm hoping that sore boobs are a good sign for you too.... hope you have good news to tell us tomorrow!!

*Julie*, How are you doing? Has it sunk in yet? Hope all is well

*Tamsin*, good to hear your news... how exciting about the milk!!!!

*Mable*, Monty looks adorable in the new photo.... he's so big now!!

News from here, I woke at 1am this morning with a horrendous stomach bug and have been on the loo all day... joy!! Have had to phone in sick to work for today and tomorrow and am feeling VERY sorry for myself! Still no AF, due tomorrow so I'm glad it's not early but am hoping that this bug hasn't delayed things as our donor can't donate at weekends.

Best go and try and drink the first thing of the day!

Rach xx


----------



## magsandemma

Hi to all 

Hope everyone had a fab xmas   !

Rach and Sue  -  Good to hear xmas went ok, I can understand how you feel as I have a stepmum who has told me numerous times that I am "abnormal" and "what happened to me, that I wasn't brought up to be like that", whatever that may be, lol.  So I can sympathsize with you both.

However had to go home just before xmas, as I have a very poorly aunt at the mo, although it did give me the opportunity to tell my dad about the ivf, which seemed to go down ok, well as well as can be expected, we both agreed however not to mention it to stepmum just yet!!! LOL.    Just my mum to tell now who will be ok with it, but has too many other things to deal with at the mo, so will tell her next visit.

Alison  -  Sounding good so far,     to you, hope its good news.

To everyone else, hope you are all weel.

Well we got a call from the clinic this week to say that I had been matched again, and that I could start taking the pill in januarys cycle, so will hopefully start down reg at end of Feb by the sounds of it, so all systems go again, so exciting.  Also my boss has been very good and is checking to see if I am entitled to any leave during treatment, but has said that when I have transfer to take 2wks off sick, which was very nice.  So its back to trying to lose a bit more weight and off the booze in preperation to start again.  I got zita west book for xmas, so have been buried in that for the last 3 days, lol.  

Well best get back to work, hope everyone is good and good luck to everyone for the New Year!!!!

Maggie
xx


----------



## lucky2010

Hi folks, Af arrived on time today.... never been so happy to see it arrive!!!!

Hope everyone is well.

*Alison*, any news?

Rach xx


----------



## Alison0702

Rach - Glad   arrived on time! That'll be the last time you wanna see that! I test in the morning, but to be honest I have cramp/big boobs/massive belly/pain in my lower back, so I dont think I'll be posting good news tomorrow morning. I'm going out tonight so I'm just going to enjoy myself.  

Maggie - Glad you had a nice Christmas. What are families like eh! We're really lucky as we've had no problems with stupid comments. Good job aswell!!!!!!
All the best of luck for your next cycle


----------



## MG

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Alison- Your symptoms all sound positive to me! I hope we hear good news from you tomorrow. I also have a copy of The Box of Delights! I hope you enjoyed watching it  

Candy- Wonderful news!     What a fab Xmas pressie and a great way to start the new year! Also, personally speaking, wonderful to hear of a successful IUI after a bfn on IVF! Gives me hope!

Tonia- Sorry to hear about the bfn    Glad to hear that you are looking forward with positivity! Much  for your next tx.

Rach- Great news that your AF arrived on time! You are now officially in your first cycle of tx!  In roughly 28 days (or however long your cycle is) you will definitely not be wanting to see AF it will be more like this:     .   

Rach & Sue- Glad to hear your Xmas with Sue's family went okay. I hope the licence application goes quickly for you. I imagine the HFEA are on hols right now so things will probably move much faster in the new year. 

Maggie- I recently got a zita west book too and as much as I thought I already knew about my cycle and fertility etc it is proving to be a very informative read! Your boss sounds very supportive, you are very lucky, and great news that you shall be cycling soon!

Tamsin- Great to hear from you. Your pg seems to be flying past so quickly (from my perspective). I hope the rash clears up but the movements of limbs etc must be fascinating to experience!

Mable- Good luck with your tx in Jan!  

Lucy- I hope you had a great Xmas and lets hope 2007 is the year eh!  


Been very busy as have been away all Xmas so couldn't get access to this forum! Been desperate to know all the news. Only one day to go till I hear Alison's! Am hoping to start my stim IUI in Feb/March time but I obviously wouldn't bet on it! Other than that it has been wonderful to spend this Christmas eating and drinking and enjoying myself! 

Melissa


----------



## nismat

*Alison * - I hope that your body's playing tricks on you and that those are pg symptoms rather than PMT symptoms . Enjoy your night out!

*Rach * - hurrah on your period arriving exactly on time! Look at your ticker!! Tomorrow it will be down into single figures  

*Maggie * - great news that you have been matched and are due to start soon. Good luck with the weight loss etc., and hope that the Zita West stuff is helpful (without being too hard to follow!).

*Melissa * - the pregnancy seems to be flying by for us too! I've been so lucky that it's been so relatively trouble-free. I've actually been able to enjoy most of it, which is more than most women can say, however much they are wanting their baby!

Karen & I went on a major baby-stuff buying trip yesterday, to fill all the gaps on our "essentials" lists. It was actually much easier than I anticipated (it was mainly small-purchase items relating to bathing, breastfeeding & nappy changes, plus things for my/the baby's hospital bags, but it looked like a very long list!). I even managed to get some half-price breastfeeding pjs, plus a couple of nightshirts for labour, in the sale at Mothercare! And today I've made a purchase of some ex-trial cloth nappies from an on-line service that is closing down & selling (pre-used) nappies off seriously cheaply - I've got a set of 18 nappies + 8 wraps for £52!! Only £2 each, when new nappies usually cost around £7-8 each! It's at http://www.nappytrialservice.co.uk/4020/info.php?p=1&pno=0 if anyone's interested (I got the link from the Best of.... thread over in the Bun In The Oven section). I really like the idea that I can try out so many different brands in a small size before committing to a major purchase of one or two breands in a larger size, so it was a great link to come across. 
Other than that, we still need to buy new mattresses and bedding for the crib and cotbed that a friend is loaning/giving us, and we want to buy a rocker/glider chair & stool. Plus I still need to decide on a sling/baby carrier, but won't do that until I've met up with the local group from www.slingmeet.co.uk (they seem a really friendly bunch). There are a few other extras for the hospital bag, closer to the time, but otherwise, I'm feeling very organised now! We still need to get the nursery all set up (which is waiting until IKEA is less horrendously busy - all we need is a couple of sets of bookshelves for me to move my work stuff elsewhere around the house), and I need to make the curtains (if I ever receive the fabric sample we think that we're going with - first ordered about 4 weeks ago!), but there are still about 2 months to go after all! 

Then the only other thing I need to source is a baby "memories" book - believe it or not, I actually found a lesbian-friendly one yesterday in Mothercare   (a Peter Rabbit one), which didn't have the whole mummy/daddy thing in it (it just had one or two references to "we" as parents, and then the rest to "me" or "I" as the baby. The only "father" mention was in the family tree - guess you can't easily avoid it there! Unfortunately, Karen wasn't keen on it - I don't think she realised quite how difficult/virtually impossible it is to find one. I have yet to find out just what her objection to it was - but at least I know it's available if we can't find anything else. I'm pretty sure that I saw another possibility a while back in a book shop that had black and white photography in it, which is probably more to her taste. Only thing is, I can't remember where that was!

Ooh, I do love getting organised! All we've got to do now is wait for 8-10 weeks for the baby!


----------



## Mable

Ooh Tamsin - 8-10 weeks is NO time - how exciting!!   Your shopping sounds like fun.

Good luck Alison today    About time you had some good luck.

Wishing everyone a very fertile 2007 with lots of luck for everyone TTC
Mable


----------



## Spangley

We're back home now after a few days away visiting both sets of parents. 

Really exciting Nismat - sorry to hear about the E45 emergency hope it's all ok now. Little Pip sounds like he/she's having fun over Christmas anyway   

Rach - glad your AF was on time - here's to a successful cycle for you  

Great to hear from you Melissa - glad you've been enjoying Christmas  

Maggie - glad your dad's ok about your TX - my dad's completely weirded out about so I decided not to talk to him again till I'm actually pregnant. My mum's been brilliant though. 

Tonia - so sorry to hear your news but at least you can start again right away  

Candygirl - SO exciting   

Rach and Sue - glad your Christmas was uneventful and hope you have a lovely NYE  

Mable - good to see the new Monty pic and good luck for your tx next month

Alison - hoping for good news from you today. Thinking of you  

News from us - in the end we had a grand total of 4 donors to choose from   unbelievable. We've chosen one who sounds really nice from the info he put on his form so hopefully this will be the one. I've got an acupuncture appointment on Tuesday 2nd in an attempt to get my FSH level as low as possible and my cycle should start on around 16 Jan. I'm going to have an FSH level done on CD2 and only proceeding this cycle if it's 12 or below. Drugs wise I'll be taking Clomid and Menopur daily from CD2 and Orgalutran to prevent the LH surge when the first follie reaches 14mm. I'm going to order the drugs next week so we'll be all set. 

Happy New Year everyone!


----------



## Alison0702

ladies

Sorry to say it was another   for us this morning.  
I knew it. I'm ok though, been shopping today and just about to start the housework. We've got friends coming for the day tomorrow so it'll take our minds off it. Here's to antoher round of clomid!  

Lucy - Glad you've had a nice Christmas hun. Hey, how fab that you had a choice of 4 donors. Can't believe your tx is starting soon...time has flown by.  

Mable - I'm hoping 2007 is the year for all of us trying. Bet you're getting excited now. Monty is getting so big now, he's gorgeous.

Melissa - Glad you've had a great Christmas stuffing your face  

Tamsin - Wow, you have been spending! Must be lovely to start to get everything sorted. Can't believe it's only a few months till Pip appears. Have you thought of any names, or are you keeping that quiet for now? Hope you're rash gets better

Happy New Year everyone, and like Mabel says, here's to a happy fertile 2007 for all of us.

Love Alison
x


----------



## Spangley

Ahh Alison - so sorry sweetheart   Glad to hear you're not feeling too low this time though. Keeping busy is always good and fingers crossed you'll be inseminating again in just 14 days 

And yes here's to a happy and fertile 2007 to all of us  

Where's the Champagne smiley? This one doesn't really cut it


----------



## MG

Alison- So sorry hun   . Thought the sore/large boobs were a good sign . I was quite hopeful for you. Hopefully you can go straight into another cycle/insemination  

Too bloody right 2007 will be a fertile and happy year for all of us!    

Melissa xx


----------



## Tonia2

Happy New Year everyone!

 So sorry to hear of your bfn *Alison*... here we go again...

*Tamsin,* I bought a fantastic baby book last year - It's probably not everyones' style, but I love it. It's called "My really cool baby book" by Todd Parr (www.toddparr.com). It's full of bright colours, bold lines and honest clear text - and the family page says something like "some families have two mummies, some families have two daddies, some have one mummy..." etc and it has cute little pictures and you get to tick what you have in your family. In terms of graphics and style it's the absolute opposite of Peter Rabbit!! I bought mine on Amazon. Todd Parr has lots of other lovely kids books too.

Love to all, 
Tonia


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## lucky2010

Happy new year to you all!!!!

*Alison*, so sorry to hear about your BFN.... here's to the next round!!

*Tonia*, I have just bought that book too!! I love it. It was £50 on Amazon UK.... needless to say I looked elsewhere and found it for between £7 and £12!!!

*Tamsin*, Julie wants one of those baby gliders too, she's seen one in John Lewis and has fallen for it.... think that'll be Julie's baby purchase for herself!!! All the shopping sounds like my idea of heaven.... especially since they are all legitimate purchases as you 'NEED' them!!!!!!

Hi to everyone else and here's to a very fertile 2007 for us all!!!

Rach xxxx


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## candygirl

Alison - sorry to hear about your BFN - here's to better luck for you in 2007  

Lucy - 4 donors! How fab to have a proper choice!

Tonia - I've been looking at books on Amazon as well - I found one called 'Heather has two mommies' which I'm very tempted to buy...

Happy New Year everyone


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## brasilgirl

Hi everyone
I have been laid up with the worst cold in the world and then 3 relaxing (not!) days at the inlaws pretending I don't feel sick as we don't want to tell them yet.

But apart from that everything is fine!
Got my 6 week scan on Thursday and I am more than a little anxious about it. I'll let you know what they say. 
Candygirl - if all goes well we could be comparing virtual stretch marks!
Alison - so sorry to hear about your BFN, but its great to keep positive. After a year and a half the first time round I had got really fed up, and stopped worrying so much about it (got quite drunk the day before the IUI - whoops) but that's when it worked out for me. I'm not advocating you go on the red wine, but I'm sending you lots of positive energy to help you keep going.
Rachel/ Julie how are you doing?
I'm not letting anything sink in till I've had that scan - but I am feeling quite horribly sick every day, not that I'm complaining and very tired. I keep talking about "if" rather than "when " the baby arrives. I know that this is partly to do with the fact that with my last pregnancy I had a couple of major scares and had some of the worst days of my life waiitng for an amnio result which turned out fine.
Got to go and spring clean the house now - nicki and I aranged to do it this week - she is huffing behind me as I should be downstairs sorting cupboards - better go!
love
julie


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## bagpuss1

Hi guys, sorry that I have not been around for a while, I have been lurking and keeping an eye out for all of your news.

[fly]OUR LITTLE GIRL IS ONE TODAY[/fly]

We cant believe it has been a year since our angel came into our lives, we have been quite emotional today and writing her cards last night was a bit tear jerking!

*Tamsin*- well, one year on and you are waiting for your little one to come into this world! who would have dared to hope that both our wishes and dreams would have come true!

We were given the Peter Rabbit book and have just finished filling it in, we have been totally happy with it and would highly recommend it! We also bought a plain A4 book and got people to write in it when Edie was born and have put her scan piccies in it. That has proved quite a lovely keepsake and will be written in over the years whereas the Peter Rabbit book is for the first year only. We have a high backed chair from Ikea that I used for Breast Feeding, It suited us and bounces, it worked out quite well for us and was tons cheaper than a glider. I also used a Widgey Cushion to help with positioning, I got it from Mothercare Also I would highly recommend the Lansinoh cream to prevent your nipples from falling off in the beginning!

*Mable and Edith*- Monty is an absolute beauty, he is soooh cute, I hope your sleep and reflux problems have started to settle down, I often think about you and how you are getting on.

*Candygirl*- Congrats on your BFP, heres to a happy and healthy rest of pregnancy.

*Tonia and Alison*- so sorry to hear about your BFNs, I had my fingers crossed for you both.

*Rach and Julie*- Good luck with starting treatment!

*MG-*- I agree- 2007 the fertile year for all of us!!!

Hi to everyone that I have forgotten, we are due to start discussions this summer about our next move with parenthood, we have got sibling sperm stored for another 4 treatments, now identity release (Edie can have info about him too now even though he was anonymous when she was concieved) Helen wants to adopt and always has done since she was little so we might go down that route, personally I would like Edie to have a full biological sibling and then adopt, I think that is the route we will go down eventually. All in all a very exciting year coming up! We are having two parties for Edie, today is for family and one for friends with kids (God help us) on Sunday.

Anyway must go and prepare party food (and eat it myself)

Lots of love and happines for the New Year,

Love Kerry, Helen and Edie.


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## lucky2010

Hi *Julie (Brasilgirl),*

We are doing ok thanks, slightly nervous about the first AI's next Tues and Wed. I'm trying not to think about it too much but I'm living and dreaming it! I hold no hope of getting pg on the first go and am seeing it more as a 'trial run' to get us used to the whole process so that takes off some of the pressure. I'm working from tomorrow until next Monday so won't have much time to think about it all! I can't believe it's nearly 6 weeks for you already! Do let us know how your scan goes.

*Kerry and Helen*, I can't believe Edie is one, I think she'd just been born when I first started looking at this board and that only seems like yesterday! We've got one of those chairs from Ikea too and Julie has just decided that it'll have to replace the idea of a glider!

Hi to everyone else!

Rach x


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## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,

Tamsin: I know I'm a bit late seen as you have bought one now but there is a brilliant "alternative family" baby book here.

http://2moms2dads.com/baby_memory_book.htm

Rach & Julie: Great news on your af arriving on time - only a few days left.

Spangly: Good Luck for this cycle!!

Alison: So sorry darling - stay positive!

I am sorry that this message is a short one and I have forgotten loads of people so sorry again! But I'm trying to settle back into a routine, as no doubts we all are!! We had a lovely nye. Hopefully, we will hear from the Bridge this week/next.

Love to you all

Rach & Sue
xxx


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## RachandSue

Emma and Lottie:

We are here ask away we will try and help as much as we can, good luck with your appt.

Love Rach and Sue
xxx


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## brasilgirl

Hi everyone
I thought I'd let you know about a group we have in the NW called Rainbow Families. It is for lesbian parents, carers and partners and prospective ones too. We have a drop in every month where we provide a creche (but not everyone who comes has children).
At the drop ins we try to do some fun stuff like try alternative therapies, have quizzes and more practical things like Q & A with a solicitor about parenting and civil partnerships.
If you live arounf the North West and want more info just let me know, or you can look at our (poorly maintained but up to date) website at http://www.rainbowfamilies.co.uk/
Julie


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## lucky2010

Hi *Julie*,

Thanks for that info... I have had a look at the site and would love to come along. Julie and I were talking about how a forum like that would be useful once we have a baby on the way. We only live 15 mins from town so it's not too far either. Maybe we'll see you there?!

Hi to everyone else!!

Rach xx


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## RachandSue

Hello Everyone,



Sue and I are giving the opk's a trial run this month so we can get used to using them!!!  

Question:

What time do you think they should be done?  

It says don't have a wee for four hours before you do the test, which believe me with my bladder being the size of a knat this is not easy!!!!!!!!!  

Love to everyone

Rach and Sue
xxxx


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## lucky2010

Hi Rach,

I have used a variety of these tests and have settled on the Clear Blue (ones with smiley face), they too say not to wee for 4 hrs before but last month I only managed 2hrs one day and still got a smiley face looking back at me. I only settled on these as on most you have to determine if the second line is stronger than the first or not (if it's there), with these it's either  -) or ( ).... much easier! Some say not to use early morning urine,some say to use it, some say not to drink too much so as not to dilute sample (which makes sense to me!). I tend to test at about the same time every day (about 12 midday) ... hope this waffle makes some sense to you!!

Hi to everyone else. Final times arranged for next Tues and Wed with our donor so all set.... just need to be appropriately fertile now.... easier said than done I'm sure!!!! Is it pineapple and Brazil nuts that are supposed to help with implantation?... if so will have to get some in!

Bye for now.

Rach x


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## evelet

Hello all

We used OPKs with Ros when we were with LWC ttc-ing (Jude was the result after 2 IUIs). Ros just did one a day, first thing in the morning as instructed by the clinic. The clinic we are with this time uses scans instead which does seem more effective and the process doesn't seem to cost any more.

Due to the dates of Ros's cycle we weren't able to ttc over xmas so frustratingly we still haven't actually been able to have a proper attempt. Ros has a prescription for Clomid (50mg, 1 per day from day 2 to day 6) and hopefully that will  help as we had to abandon the last IUI cycle due to rubbish follicles..

what constitutes day 2? if Ros gets her period at 5pm does that count as day 1?  

TAMSIN: We are SO excited for you. The rash sounds horrid though - hopefully its gone now? Ros had horrendous wrist pain towards the end  of her pregnancy and had to sport a fetching pair of hospital issue fawn coloured wrist splints as she had carpal tunnel syndrome. Literally the day after Jude was born the pain went away. Pregnancy does weird things to you...

MABLE: Maybe you and Ros will be cycle buddies? It would be very weird if you managed to conceive at the same time. Here's hoping anyway!

Best of luck to you all for a FERTILE 2007...

Eve x


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## Spangley

Hello everyone - haven't really got any news. Back at work and really bored. Talked to my boss yesterday re the tx dates and she's very supportive even though as usual it's a bad time for me to be off work. 

Eve - my clinic has always said that if you start proper bleeding before 12 noon that's day 1. 

Hope everyone's having a happy Friday


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## Tonia2

*Eve * -Our clinic also said the same thing - proper bleeding before noon = day one. It's weird though if AF properly starts just after midday, the_ next day_ is day one....

*Emma -* how did your clinic appt go

T x


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## duff

Hi gang!  

No new here really.  We bought ourselves sperm for Christmas and now we're just waiting for the whole IVF process to start.  It looks like everything will kick off around the end of the month.  

Some exciting news is that my accupuncturist (yes, she who put needles in my periwinkle) has offered to do something called the "german protocol" on me, which means she would treat me right before embryo transfer then right after.  I'm not even going to google it to get more information as my new year's resolution is to stop being a fertility geek.  I haven't even googled the blood test results I just got!  

Best of luck everyone!  here's to 2007 being our year!


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## Tonia2

_"We bought ourselves sperm for Christmas"_   ...not the usual Christmas pressie but what a great one!! How lovely to hear from you *Duff * - I had wondered how you were doing. Glad to hear you're ok. I was thinking the other day you must be missing your friend around Christmas/new year esp... 

How did the scan go *brasilgirl*?? It was on Thursday wasn't it? Fingers and toes tightly crossed that all is well.

*Candy* - when is your 1st scan?? It must be coming up...good luck!

T x


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## Alison0702

Rach and Sue - Like Rach, I use clearblue digital ovulation sticks. I started off using the normal clearblue ones, but I found it difficult to read whether I had a surge or not. So I started getting the digital ones, and they are fab - the smile says it all! I get mine on ebay as its much cheaper than the shops.

Duff - Lovely to hear from you again. Your accupuncturist is being very attentive to you isnt she?  
Glad you're ok - you do know though that as soon as you start tx again, you will again be the fertility geek - enjoy the break!  

Eve - I got confused this time, as I got my af at about 1pm on Sunday but it wasnt nothing to write home about. Then it came properly on Monday so I started taking my clomid on Tuesday! Ooh its all very confusing! 

Lucy - It's horrible going back to work when you've been off. Keep smiling  

I havnt been too bad on clomid this time, but I keep getting reminded I normally turn into a witch after day 3 (day 3 is today)
Booked my scan for 15th so fingers crossed for a nice big follie  

Have a nice weekend


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## ♥JJ1♥

Hi

Good to see that you have some exciting news on the thread thanks to Candy!! and so many of you embarking on cycles!!! and the baby pics are so cute.

Duff -  many IVF acupuncturists use the German protocol- I had acupuncture pre ET, then straight in a cab across central London to the clinic , taking my Valium on the way (recommneded by clinic as I had a traumatic trial embryo transfer, but in fact ET by a different consultant was fine) then ET, and straight back for another session of accupuncture- I got pregnant then.  He also said that he had more than a 50% success rate for his IVF clients.

Some clinics have on site acupunturists, or allow you to take your own to get it as near to the ET as possible. I also had the situation where I was going to have day 2 embryo transfer and I had had my pre acupuncture session and then got a call to say they were leaving them until day 3 as were still all dividing and didn't know which to put back!

Best of luck to you all
L xx


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## candygirl

Hi all,

Not much news from me. My first scan isn't till 18th January, which seems like ages away!  I've started to feel a bit sick - it's not morning sickness though, it's afternoon and evening sickness   I also only seem to want to eat cheese sandwiches and chips - not the healthy diet reccommended in all the pregnancy books.

Mainly though, I'm more anxious than I thought I would be. I'm so aware of all the things that could still go wrong.  Here's hoping...  

Candy x

p.s. My HCG level at Day 17 was 785, which is quite high - the nurse said it was a good sign...


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## brasilgirl

I had my scan and everything is fine. THere was one little mince pie in there with its heart beating away. There was also wat cuold either be an empty sac or a fibroid - I reckon it was the empty sack of the pther embryo. I had a red bleed before my test date and was pretty sure it was at least one of them coming away.
So - I couldn't have asked for better news. I am really starting to let myself feel pregnant now. I am also sufffering from evening sickness like Candy, and am completely unable to eat muesli anymore - I am usually really healthy with breakfast but I'm back on Rice Crispies.
Nicki is being great as I am having a real energy crash early evening and she is doing most of putting Maia to bed.
We have decided not to tell her till after the 20 week scan or if she asks before then because I look different - she doesn't miss a trick so it wouldn't suprise me.
I have started talkign about when the baby arrives now to Nicki - and trying to enjoy the fact that yes, I AM PREGNANT!

I'll have to sort out the ticker thing on my profile.

I'd like to add my bit about accupuncture. I have had intensive accupuncture leading up to treatment and around implantation up to the test date. ANd still carrying on once a week till week 13 at the recommendation of my accupuncturist. I am CONVINCED that this has been a major factor in both pregnancies (other attempts have failed and I wasn't able to have to much - maybe just one session). I really hit the jackpot as mine is a lovely woman who is a fertility specialist 10 minutes drive away. SHe has just been to a fertility and accupuncture conference in London as is really up on latest research. I'm sure she could recommend someone near to you if you have problems finding someone.

I have 3 ovulation pee sticks (Clearblue) which I won't need (any more treatments I have will be through clinic). I can post them to anyone who wants them

Take care
off to make biscuits with Maia - well she makes the mess then I make the biscuits!

Take care
Julie


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## aweeze

Hope you don't mind me popping in here! I post on the Single Womens thread and we have been thinking about having a chat night in the chat room and including you lovely ladies in it as we share the same/similar issues.

I have now set it up - here is the link - http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=80667.0

I do hope you'll join us  - hopefully it will popular and we can make it a regular thing.

Lou
X


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## friskypony

Happy New Year for 2007 may everyone get BFP's 

Sorry i've been scant with chat since Morven was born, I hope to be better this year, we're finally getting a decent broadband Yippeeee!!
Bagpuss  time flies Edie is Beautiful, were coming up for Morven's 1st birthday in a few weeks and it seems so odd, but fantastic!
Mable an Edith Monty looks fab with his Xmas toy, Morven liked the paper an musical toys best Ha haha 
Rach Julie it's pineapple juice one small glass a day an baby asprin an accupuncture that i'm convinced gave us our little Miricle!

To everyone else keep Positive  for those BFP's this year. It can happen, they told me it never would, But HAHAHA 

lOTS OF LOVE TO ALL
Lou, Pup an Morven xxxxxx


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## Marielou

New home this way http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=80744.0 This thread will now be locked.


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