Copenhagen January 2011

Copenhagen January 2011
A cold November in Copenhagen...

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Riots, looting and ovulation

It's been a difficult week for us Londoners, thanks to the rioters and looters that rampaged the city.  I live slap, bang in between two of the worst affected areas in a zone untouched. My thoughts on it all probably have no place here...best kept for another medium.  All I will say is that, as an ex inner city teacher and Assistant Principal who worked in gang ridden areas, I am not surprised, but shocked.  Do I really want to have a child in London?  It could be like living in a war zone.  Mad Max (crazy movie starring Mel Gibson and some truly terrible clothes) is not so far off, by all accounts.

Anyhow, against the back drop of a world gone completely mad I was beginning to give up hope of ovulating this month.  In any other context that comment would seem completely off the wall.  However, I'm sure any of you charting whilst trying to conceive will know what I'm talking about.  Having returned quite unexpectedly to a 24 day cycle last time, I began testing on Day 6, expecting a surge on Day 9-10.  As each day passed I started to think that I'd hit the 'do not pass go' barrier and I'd stopped ovulating.  On Day 12 though I finally I got my LH surge.  I'm thinking, what the hell is going on here?  How can I have a surge on Day 12 if I only have a 24 day cycle?  Perhaps my body is just taking its time to return to some sort of normality after my second miscarriage in May this year. (I keep wondering if the stress of waiting for breast cancer results in March and the double biopsy in April was partly responsible.)  God knows, but now I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette every time I do a test for ovulation. It remains to be seen whether or not everything is stabilised by the Clomid. One would hope. So, one more cycle before I try it.

One piece of interesting news I did have was from the clinic in Southampton, Complete Fertility Centre.  The women I spoke to took my case and fertility stats to a daily discussion with the gynaecologists and the view of the doctors was that they would treat me even though I am about to be over 43.  All I had to do was ask my GP to refer me as a private patient and we could get cracking straight away.  I was really encouraged by that, to be honest.  The clinic does sound good and it would be less stressful. However, I feel happy enough getting a follicular scan at a clinic here when I start the medicated cycle and then flying out to Copenhagen, so I'm not going to take it up.  I have researched the success rates and Copenhagen Fertility Centre still wins.  It's not so much gloom and doom over there for women over 40 either.  However, I have been really impressed with Complete Fertility Centre and it is affordable at £900 a pop after the initial tests.  For someone on an average wage it's possible to do this once very 2 months.  As I said last time, I would definitely consider it if I was under 43. It's the cheapest I've found in the whole of the UK.  If anyone can better it, let me know...