I'm home!!!! Vacation was fantastic. We were the only guests at the lodge for about three days. It was so nice being able to spend time with our friend Sandy (the manager) and some of the staff. We went out on a fishing expedition one day - walked a mile portage through the bush to another lake and I caught the biggest bass ever! I will post pictures later. Dh was more excited than I was, I think. Bad news is, one of the cabin boys stole a good bit of cash out of my purse. good news is, it's been recovered and will be returned to us. Bad news is, I feel awful for his parents. They are such wonderful people and I know they taught their boys well. I think it was just one of those really stupid teenage boy things to do. Hopefully, he will have learned a lesson from it. Like Steph told me earlier, this may have saved him from becoming a criminal later in life. I just hope his dad doesn't kill him!

We got our dogs home and OMG did I miss them!! They were bathed, nails trimmed and have patriotic bandanas around their necks!! They were SO happy to see us. Dh was standing outside of the fence and Nimosh just paced back and forth whining and crying. He must have thought we were leaving him again!!!

Now it's time to unpack and get back to reality. No work tomorrow, thank goodness!!

I haven't had time to read everything yet, so if someone could give me a recap, that would be great. If not, I will try to catch up later or tomorrow. I really need to go play with my dogs!

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Welcome back, Rebecca! Boy, I've missed you so! I'm so glad you had a good time, despite the hiccup with the boy. erg. My recap is I've been having a battle with my 3 month old OPKs versus a brand new pack of OPKs (old ones were Answer, new ones were Rite Aid brand) and I never got a + on the new ones, but multiple ones on the Answer. I got c/h this morning & I posted earlier, that although we got BDing in, I'm still irked b/ of the perfectionist I am, I always try and shoot for BDing 2, 1 day before and the day of O. Besides the digital, what other brand do you recommend? I couldn't remember if it was CBE or FR...or maybe I just have it all backwards. At this point, I'm clutching Answer OPKs with two hands!

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Mare - So sorry to hear that. I had been thinking about you this weekend.

Claire - Sorry you had to deal with my DH all weekend, ha ha no just kidding. But I think we all know about the stress on money right now. I hope DH was able to get out of his funk and have a nice rest of the weekend.

Rac - Welcome back. How nice to be able to have the retreat to yourself. That sounds great, and the biggest fish! Score! And bummer about the money, but people do make mistakes and I'm sure he will learn from this one.

Mel - I'm assuming the RiteAid brand is the store brand? I did use a Target brand OPK about six or seven months ago and never got a +, but then again I didn't temp and was clueless on most of this stuff. I'm with you the answer ones work fine for me.

Well my body is playing tricks on me. So last week all worried about AF coming before I could get the progesterone b/w done. And now she is hiding from me. I'm sure I'll start today or tomorrow. But what's up with me having a somewhat normal cycle this month. I mean cd 27 is great for me.

I can't wait to hear back from the dr today. I hope I don't call and bug too early.

We had a great vaycay, lots o sun, and lots o beer. I even was able to get up and wake board for a bit. Tubed a bit. And relaxed. We didn't get home until 9 last night. And I forgot to tell you guys before I left that Wednesday night we had a horrible hail storm. So today at lunch I have to take both car and truck to get an estimate. And I need to wash them both too.

Since I'm at 10 dpo, I had thought about going out and buying a hpt. So much for giving up on this cycle huh? Feeling a bit noxious right now too!

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[center]Mary

LOL, Mare just saw your chart, yes it does look like your trying to spell your name. Too funny!

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Melissa~I always used First Response and got good results with them. I switched to digital because that's what my RE wanted.

Rebecca~Glad to hear that your vacation was good, except for the cabin boy problem.

Not much new with me. Since the tenderness in my bbs never went away with AF, I'm expecting a short annovulatory cycle like the last time this happened. We're supposed to go camping/hiking next week, so I just hope she doesn't show during that.

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Melissa - Previously, I had always used the CVS brand. I used Answer, both the stick and the dip strip. Wasn't crazy about either. Now, the Clear Blues, I love and the digitals I love even more. They detect a smaller concentration of LH. If you don't mind spending $40 a month on opks (pack of 7), I'd get the clear blue digitals. No guess work.

I haven't loaded my pics in photobucket yet. I will work on that today and give some little narrations...... be prepared for A LOT of pictures. I only took 90.

Mary - Just wait till you see the picture of my fish. OMG they are the Granddaddy Bass! I'll also post dh's picture of his little Rockie... lol. it's almost as big as his lure.

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Good morning ladies - I'm going to try to remember everyone.... Still no AF for me but my temps are down to my c/l so its just a matter of time. Clomid has extended my LP so hopefully thats a good thing. I think I will just do 50mg again this cycle and see if my progesterone gets higher the 2nd time... Mare's comment about the 100mg affecting the line made me chicken out from asking for that. Oh and I got really good news this weekend - my aunt who the doctors told was terminal... isn't! They did surgery on her to put metal rods in her hips (since they thought she had bone cancer and apparently breaking your hips is very common with that)... while they had her open they biopsied and it was negative. She does still have pretty bad lung cancer but since it didn't metastasize into her bones there's a chance for remission so they're doing chemo and radiation.

JJ - I hope its not an annovulatory cycle... but at least if it is, it will probably be short and you can move forward.

Rebecca - I'm so glad you had a great vacation. That sucks about the money but it is good that he got caught now and hopefully it will steer him on the right path going forward. I can't wait to see pics of the fish... and show them to DH... he's in a striped bass tournament in a couple of weeks and he hasn't been so lucky with catching any so far this year...

Mel - if the Answers work for you, stick with them... but I still don't think the expired ones are completely accurate. I'm glad you're moving forward and that you won't be held up by having to get that extra b/w.

Mare - I am so sorry to hear that your blood test was negative. I was really hopeful since you implanted so early. I'll have to check out your chart to see your name...

Mary - glad you've made it to 10DPO!!! thats great news. Its possible that the stress of temping jacked up your first couple of cycles... I think that contributed to my superlong cycles last fall. I can't wait to hear what your progesterone level was.

Bina - yay for the 1WW! Just one more cycle and you get to TTC again! It does suck to have had 3 BFPs and no baby but you know that it can happen since you have Avery... I really hope everything works out next time.

Claire - GGGGRRR to another fight about money... its so common for couples to fight about it when really you have to work together... I hope you and DH work through it. This economy sucks!!!!!

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Rebecca-welcome back! I missed you but am so happy that you were able to get away and enjoy. If you stalk my chart you will see what is up with me. I basically started temping out of curiosity and am glad because at least I know when to expect AF etc., temping is pretty stress-free when you aren't TTC.

Melissa-if do you switch to the digi OPKs, I have found them on ebay for about $20-25 a box. Target has them for $30.

Mary-maybe AF isn't here because you are PG!!! Did you start taking any vitamins/herbs to help with your LP? If so, that could be it too. Either way it is a good thing right?

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OK - pictures posted in the IF pics thread.

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Does anybody work today? LOL I just called four different clinics to find out their ivf pricing and what it includes, and one didn't answer and the other three said that their financial person is out of the office. So I left voicemails and we'll see what they call back with.

Rebecca~Nice pictures. I don't think DH and I have caught any fish in the past two summers that were worth keeping.

Irene~That's good news about your aunt!

Bina~You are right about temping being stress free when not ttc. During my three month wait, I temped and loved that I knew when AF was coming. I told dh I was going to keep it up even after having a baby and not ttc, just for that reason. That idea flew out the window after the second month of ttc temping. LOL

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Bina - Oh boy do I wish. Know wouldn't that be just it, the cycle that I'm forsure a no go with I'd get pg. No I haven't started taking anything, RAC had a good point to not start anything until after I did the b/w.

I just called and left a message with Sharon the nurse.

I'm excited, but nervous. I keep thinking I feel cramps coming, running to the rr every five minutes to see if AF is here yet. What if it comes back normal? Where do you go from here?

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Good morning, goils!

Mary ~ 10 day LP is good, but I hear you on the stressing out part. My analogy is your car is making a noise and as soon as you bring it to the mechanic, no sound, LOL. I'm very eager to hear your results and I think that if AF doesn't show in 2 days, maybe take an HPT...

Irene ~ What a relief that your aunt is not terminal!

Bina ~ Thanks for the tips about eBay and Target!

JJ ~ I've made a note of your OPK preference, these next couple of months will be experimental on my part.

Rebecca ~ You know there isn't a CVS in my neck of the woods, but they have them in So Cal. I'm just really tired of having to pee in a cup for those Answer dip sticks. I just want to pee on a freakin' stick! I did also make a note of your preference. Maybe my RE will have a recommended brand. I'll be sure to ask her when I see her next week.

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I'm not sure how to feel right now, my progesterone level at 6 dpo was 19. I guess that's good, but then again all I want to do is cry. I'll hold off on crying until I get home. Stupid me thought it was a good idea to go get a hpt at lunch, and yes it was negative. WTF? What's the next step?

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[center]Mary

Mary - 19 at 6 dpo is fantastic!! My progesterone at 7dpo was only 11. What next?? Nothing yet. I'd say just wait it out and see if you get a bfp or af. Your chart looks good and your temps are nice. Hang in there.

Melissa - I forgot to ask..... what were the results from Cap'n's SA?

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Mary - Sorry about the BFN but your progesterone level is a good thing - even on clomid mine was only 13.5!! I know we thought it was "obvious" that you had a progesterone problem and we were happy because it would have been an easy fix. But now it seems like you don't have a hormonal problem at all! And since this cycle is going really well so far lets hope that it continues that way!! I really do think that stress plays a big part in messing up our cycles just when we start really paying attention to them... now that you've gotten the hang of temping hopefully your cycles will stay more regular...

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Where is Claire?? How about Lindy? Has she checked in?? I guess Ashley hasn't resurfaced yet, either?? Who else am I missing??

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