Well any doubts that I had about making a decision were blown out the water today! Going to Lister was a great experience.

We made a day of it and went to Westfield for a spot of shopping and then to pizza express for lunch before making our way to the clinic.

The lady on reception was a little brusque and for a second I did wonder if it was Oxford all over again! But she was alright! We went to the waiting room which was lovely and there were newspapers and a TV - entertainment is not something I am used too!

Then at exactly 3pm on time our Dr came out to meet us. I can only describe him as the nicest, smilest man. So I shall call him Dr Smiles :o)

He reminded me of (and I am showing my age) the wedding planner’s assistant in Father of the Bride!

He went through our notes with us and asked us lots of questions. He showed us his stats on the fact that last year he had twenty ladies go through a fourth cycle - SIXTEEN ended up pregnant. TWELVE went on to have live births. Those are much better stats than Oxford.

People told me to beware that they might want to do 1000’s worth of tests. This is not the case. He wants me to have lots of blood tests which hopefully we can have done by our GP for free :o) He asked many questions that Oxford NEVER did. Apparently my past thyroid issues may be the cause of the failures as might my immune system (killer cells). He is also testing to see if I am a carrier of Cystic fibrosis as that can make the likelihood of implantation less.

He asked if they had done any genetic testing on the sac they retrieved from the miscarriage and was annoyed that they hadn’t.

It will take about six-eight weeks for results and then he is going to call us back in and explore my uterus to make sure all is well and then we are good to go for cycle four!

So I am going to enjoy the next two months off alongside @ivfdiary and @lilytaj taking a break and getting myself ready for it. I am going to look into my diet, exercise and well-being and give this a fabulous chance of finally working.

So thank you Dr Smiles for today and hopefully once Friday is out of the way, this can feel like a new beginning.

xxxxxx