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Lifeslurper resides in a big brown land called Auuustralia. Her early years remain a mystery cloaked in a veil of depression. Age 42 Lifeslurper meets the vague but gorgeous Wobbles. “What took him so long to arrive?” She asks. They make their way together in the world just fine, but are not fine to make a baby – not without some outside help. Enter ART and 2008 the year of 4 IVF cycles & one lousy big fat negative. Lifeslurper is now 46 years old! Time for a baby is running out fast, so too is her sanity. Now it's 2010 - Lifeslurper and Wobbles are getting serious about this baby making business. Donor Egg Cycles are the way of the future and the future is NOW!

Along the lines of IVF

A second line on the ubiquitous pee on a stick (POAS) home pregnancy test soon takes on mythical proportions in the mind of the long term IVFer.

Yet there we were late on a Saturday night looking at a sight that seemed as unlikely as seeing a dodo sitting on a pot of gold, situated at the rainbow’s end on the far side of Brigadoon. Continue reading Along the lines of IVF

Post Cycle Anxiety Disorder?

Teddy Lifeslurper wondered if the Crinone brand extensions had been a wise choice.

Teddy Lifeslurper wondered if the Crinone brand extensions had been a wise choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is there such a thing as ‘post cycle anxiety disorder?’ If there isn’t already then I have just coined a name for what is probably a common condition.

Five spectacularly unsuccessful IVF cycles down and some strange things have been happening. I feel different to what I did before, and here was me priding myself on my ‘superior’ knowledge of self. I am at a loss to really describe the situation with any clarity.  

 I have become vague, worse than what usually occurs a few days in on a stimulation cocktail of FSH injections and Synarel nasal spray. I am word searching all the time. I speak and not only the words but the entire topic goes completely from my mind. A mind as empty as my womb. What is happening? I have seriously been wondering if I had some kind of breakdown or if I am heading straight from IVF to Alzheimers.  

Sure, I live with depression, but this is something else. I have a sense of panic in most things I do, even the most simple of tasks. Feelings of being overwhelmed when deciding what to cook for dinner, which lane to drive in, and which supermarket register to line up at. Actually, I feel a complete loss at most things these days. 

It is easy to blame IVF for everything. I know I do blame IVF for most things. Here at the Lifeslurper Spa Resort it has become a favourite comment; borrowing from the old ‘letters to the editors’ featured in newspapers of yore, before the days of online comments when it was popular to include the line; “…of course, I blames the government” somewhere in the body of the letter. Here we say; “I blames the IVF!” as a response to any event such as when the tea bag supply runs low, or when a light globe blows. It is quite convenient to have a handy scapegoat ready. 

Yet something more seems to be amiss.  Continue reading Post Cycle Anxiety Disorder?

Two Days and counting before IVF Liftoff

    

The ancient society of Hormonia - Sailing down the Progesterone River, by the Temple of Syneronium

The ancient society of Hormonia - Sailing down the Progesterone River, by the Temple of Syneronium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here we are.

 

It has taken a very long and arduous effort, but we are back. Round Five of IVF is about to dawn.

 

In the last few weeks there has been the inevitable lead up.

 

Suspecting we have been numbed by all ART has brought us so far, other big important life events such as the long overdue release of Wobbles’ book got kind of lost in the maelstrom that is life immediately prior to a new cycle.

Continue reading Two Days and counting before IVF Liftoff

Baby or Highway

It was never supposed to happen like this.

 

Today as my state and country observes a National Day of Mourning for the victims of the fires three weeks ago, I find myself launching head-long into a different kind of grief.

 

Perhaps it is something about disaster that makes us turn our thoughts to new life? However, here thoughts of a baby predated the fires, along with all of a dealings with fertility clinics. The fires helped me to feel that various daily concerns were petty and unimportant. Yet there is one unshakable truth. Our quest for a baby is an important.

 

This week has brought a stark reminder of how fraught with difficulty the desire to have a baby is for the aged and fertility challenged.

Continue reading Baby or Highway