Our forever home

bellevie

Had our initial assessments, nurse said she'd expect me to be on short protocol, our appointment with the consultant is Friday so will know for sure then hopefully.

That could mean this is all done and dusted end of April/ early May. That's the dream anyway. I will have placement starting mid May so definitely don't want it to be chaotic with appointments left right and centre.

Submitted one piece of work today, I will start towards a second piece later well hopefully get a first draft done at the very least. Then I will feel a little more in control.

We done a 2 week shop last week, planning a top up of fresh this weekend. Hoping this way it starts to bring our spends down.

Our gas & electric dd is increasing from 133 to 233, our contract ended 1st march, such a bummer. 

Wondering now if we should have gone ahead with a log burner, DH brought one from a client when we moved in but it was a couple of inches too big when we got the old fire out. He gave up then and put in an electric fire fake log burner look, it is only a top up for quick heat when needed and looks lovely but I wonder if a log burner would have been more affordable with prices rocketing as they are.

Even more reluctant to change my car now  it does so well on fuel its just a bad time to think of increasing spends in any way.

Kakiste

It's all up in the air with price changes isn't it? Hard to know what to do when you're making changes.

Congratulations on handing in the work and on getting through the initial assessments, I imagine it much be very stressful.  

Aimingforthegoodlife

Have just read your diary, I am so pleased that moving schools has suited DD so well, I hated being a teenager and would never go back! Best of luck with the IVF, I have everything crossed for you! Amazing OP's, and I love that you have different pots for everything, this is what I am trying to do at the moment, take care

bellevie

Thank you, she has settled in very well, it's been such a relief.

I do like my pots, make me feel more organised!

bellevie

Consultation went well, scan and bloods so far all good my side, DH is good too.

It appears it is just an issue with tubes, so based on initial results consultant is optimistic.

A couple more health related blood tests, they are booked in for next week. If results are back in time for our apt on 24th March we may well be in a position to start in April. 

He didn't recommend any extras and believes I'll be on moderate medication so hopefully should come in within our forecasted spends.

One step closer!

bellevie

Had some further information emailed through, and at this stage the medication has come back at £700 less than I had estimated - I had put myself at worst case in order to be prepared.

It might change a little depending on our health blood tests but I would hope not drastically. 

Productive day yesterday made some headway with one assignment, got most of the washing done and managed a fair bit of housework.

I am going to read over anatomy notes, hopefully bake a fresh loaf and really take it at a chilled pace today. I should also update my spreadsheet actually put in the increased bill numbers.

bellevie

We paid for our IVF meds yesterday and had them delivered today. Likely to start Monday or tuesday!!
It was horrible parting with so much money, and I had a little freak out when I received a message to say delivery had failed as no one was home - I was at the window most of the morning...turned out to be a generic error we should have gotten an 'order is delayed' message. 

Still they are here now safely stored. I have watched the videos, read the information leaflets.

Final outstanding results back from GP - no issues. 

Everytime we tick one thing of the list my optimism creeps up - I know its crazy, we have at best a 35% chance of this working - top of the end for my age but there's so many links in the chain which at any point could cause a change needed or worst case cancellation.

I am praying with every part of my soul, knowing we only have one shot at this that it works. I was going to register on a forum to talk to others in the same situation - but seeing other peoples stories - happy, sad, confused I think would just make me worry more. So for now this is a bit of an outlet without taking on too much of anything else.
 

MSE wise, I have this morning created a new spreadsheet, I have always used one as an advanced bank statement, so I can see all regular bills and any other spends I insert as an when - I can then see the impact that has week -months even later.

However with lots changing over the next few months in terms of depleting our savings, then my placement which might cause more travel costs, and of course the rocketing bills I decided to break it down to a page per month so that each month starts afresh on a clean budget - not reliant on the month before. My idea being 50% of the money left from the month before is moved into savings. This spreadsheet will come in very handy if IVF is a success and maternity follows in 2023, with varying monthly pay for 9 months I need to see a very clear picture quickly.

That really is in attempt to keep within our budget rather than spend more and confidently believe things will be ok next month. We have been ok but it's been a while since we have been regularly at our minimum balance threshold and all the price rises have freaked me out. This month I forgot our breakdown cover was coming out so had to move money over to prevent going overdrawn we were that low in the main account.

I need to find way's to keep our foodshop low it's the only thing at the minute I have some control over well less control due to rising prices but the only adjustable thing in our household that we sometimes go over budget.

bellevie

Payday came yesterday,  I was pleasantly surprised if a little nervous to see quite a chunk more than usual.

I quickly checked my wage slip only to find it was a back pay as when our payrise was agreed last year it wasn't uploaded. I don't know if I'm the only person it happened to or not, but I felt silly for not realising sooner! 

I recall when I had wage slips posted or given to me in my hand I regularly checking them but as these are online through a work system it's finding 5 minutes through the day to remember and download it. I will have to take more care in future!

Still for now it's a welcome boost to our savings pot 😀 

And I look forward to seeing a difference each month now, small when broken down monthly but it all helps doesn't it!!

bellevie

With our savings cleared out its now time to restart our saving pots.

What was the IVF pot will now be our main joint pot aim to save in no set target just as much as we can, if IVF works it'll become our baby fund for all that's needed, if not ongoing housework & camper.

Our increased bills went out what a depressing sight! I'm going to have to transfer savings at the end of each month to be safe.

We done a £90 lidl shop Saturday, planned a £20 top up shop next Saturday if that comes in on budget that will have pushed our spend down from £70pw to £55, the difference will be swallowed up by bills but I am hoping we will have something to save each month.


I'm on my 6th day of injections, to date seems to be going OK, icepack to numb then it's over pretty quickly. 2 scans this week to see if I'm responding as I should be. If I am, the next steps are tentatively pencilled in for beginning and end of the following week meaning it should be over by Easter Sunday. I say over, it won't I will be on a 2 week wait to see if it has worked, but no more injections or scans (hopefully)

Today I will be revising for the spoken exam tomorrow. Once that's out of the way aside from the scans I can try to wind down a little and enjoy a few calm days.

bellevie

Sleepless night, very nervous for my spoken exam this morning.

I had DH read out the questions yesterday, I was able to answer all but aside from psychology where I used up my time on the anatomy side I had time remaining, I'm hoping I was just speaking too fast. Need to pace myself.

Going to get the jab done then have a couple of extra hours reading before my slot comes up.