Angela
I really feel for you I really do. So some advice - not sure if it will help but you are getting it anyway!
First of all To say hello to my special Friend July Ann - a day hardly goes by when I don't think of you (don;t worry not stalking!

) and hope and pray your dream will come. It tests all of us doesn't it this IVF lark and I can't believe that you and Traci are still here - and Grace over the other forum - it is so unfair and it could have been so different for you and for me................ Keep your pecker up and look at DI - she is about to have hers and that was 12 attempts!
Angela I am sure you have read this anyway and does not mean much but July Ann is an inspiration.
You are not alone - I am pg at the moment on my 5th attempt with twins - I have wanted children for about 15 years - well always really and am now 38 this july! My DH has two step children - Katherine was 18 months when we started living together (known him for years) and Rachel was 5 - they are now nearly 10 and nearly 6 and each time I looked at them I could either weep or scream or both as it seemed so unfair that I could not have children. My first IVF was ectopic and then two and 3 failed - 4 worked and he died at 20 weeks totally unexpectedly and now 5 pg again! Hopefully.............. The whole time I felt life so unfair - I had a lap and dye and bam buggered tubes - she said "you are a mess and you will never have children" - great bedside manner. My whole life came crashing in as I had to face two step children once in the week and every other weekend for starters. All my friends had babies and none had problems - 5 people at work were pg and my brother rang me out of the blue the night I found out to tell me his horrid wife was pg with their second - he is younger than me!!!
I hated the sight of pg women and young babies and could not face going out with friends who had babies. I did not find this site until I was on the 2ww for my second tmt and it was and still is a godsend!!! As soon as I found out I felt I had to do something - I was getting to the stage where even fat men looked pg and I hated that too!!!

I was determined to get the ball rolling with ivf straight away. I did and it ended up ectopic just 2 weeks before my wedding - !!!!!!!!!! My inlaws kept saying dum things like "well it has worked" - do you see a baby I thought! I felt nobody understood really. The lead up to your first tmt is like a pressure cooker - I felt pleased and excited I was finally doing something and then scared it would not work and the roller coaster of emotions was enormous.
The advice I gave to July Ann (thanks for remembering) was something I decided on after my first tmt and the disaster and pain of the ectopic! WE unfortunately (or fortunately depending on which way you look at it, ) are in the hands of medical science (and today's results show it is not a bad place to be) and we have no control over most of our baby making at all. I like control and would try and sit in the same chair if it proved lucky for someone else and avoid other chairs - dum stuff like that just to try and help the process along. All along I would sometimes lose the plot and tell my DH it was alright for him as he had kids - I would sometimes scream and soemtimes cry............ you know the stuff and be brave on the outside for the whole world. I decided to take each little step at a time - a day at a time and manage that little portion of my life. It helps. I decided very early to park the physical side of the tmt as I would be able to hack it, bite the bullet on the money side as would work out somehow (????) and then concentrate on the mental side which is the hardest. Little steps Angela are the best - try not to do what I did and keep trying to find fences to leap over and hurdles before they are there - they will come along anyway and you are better to stand back and jump them properly than try and jump them before you have cleared the others.
Talk to people - I went to councilling once after my ectopic and found the woman useless (but it works for others) Talk to your partner - your family us , anyone that can listen and not judge. My husband and I are best mates and though he cannot ever be in the same place as me he tried and I had to learn to realize he was doing his best and nothing would make him in the same place. Tick little things off one by one as they arrive and go with your feelings. It is a roller coaster and it is a nightmare but learn to have some laughs along the way - if you can it really helps.
I must have had so many laughs on this site and made friends for life. I hopefully have cheered people up (I am completely mad and the things I have done whilst on tmt are just potty!) and chivvied them along when they are down the same as they did for me. Use us and anyone you can to get you through and most of all ACCEPT what you are and what is happening - don't worry if you cry and feel alone because that is what is happening to you that day - accept that that particular day is how you feel and move on for the next day and try and do something else like smile.
For most of us IVF works if we have the stamina and money and patience. It does work and most people do get sorted out. Dreadfully it takes some longer than others but who says it's fair? Don't worry or think about this yet and try not to think statistics etc - hard I know - set in your mind what you want and just go for it - go and live out your dreams because most probably at some stage it will come true and you will give advice like this.
Sorry to ramble on - pg brain (actually always like this)
Good luck
July Ann - good luck and may your special dreams come true
Love
Tracey
xxx
ttc 9 years. 38 yrs old, dh 8 hrs younger!First IVF in Aug 2002 and had ectopic.2nd IVF neg.3rd FET and negative.4th FET and positive but sadly lost our little boy at 20 weeks.5th FET and Alice Isobel and Emily Charlotte born 5th Aug 2004!