It was more of an introduction to the process than the beginning of the process itself. We met with Gillian Dawes, who is super sweet and you can tell she loves her job. She said that despite the disappointment and sadness of seeing unsuccessful couples, she still gets very excited when the outcome of the treatment is positive.

We were explained the time frame, the kind of medication I will need, how many times we’ll need to go to Southampton, that I will need to take time off work for some of the procedures, foods to ovoid, etc.

It was all very straight forward, and we were also relieved to know that our holiday won’t be affected by this procedure, as it looks like I won’t start the first phase (injections) until my next period. That’s if the funding approval comes in time (there’s nothing to worry about, we will most definitely get the funding, it’s just that it may take a couple more weeks than we were expecting)

I suppose as things advance and we get fully absorbed in the process we will become a bit more nervous and questions will keep popping up. But for now we are just extremely happy to have been given this opportunity

But no, of course not.

I always say that my period is very regular. Okay, I won’t get it on the 28th day spot-on, but it averages between the 26th and the 28th. That, in my humble opinion, is pretty regular (compared with other girls who will get it after two weeks, and then two months later again)

However, I am more likely to be a bit early than spot on. And this month I have been late by two days.  TWO days!!

I was ecstatic. I was about to go and run to the supermarket and buy one of those pregnancy tests that you can have done from the first day or your missed period. But thank gosh I didn’t hurry. Two minutes later I was in the loo looking all disappointed…

So, it was just a false alarm, my body playing games with me… And it looks like nothing is going to save me from the IVF

And today I got our first appointment. I contacted the clinic directly, as the consultant asked me to do, and it all was very straight forward. The lady I spoke to knew exactly what I was on about and knew exactly what to do. So she offered me several dates for our first appointment and I chose Friday next week.

This first appointment is only an initial assessment and also the opportunity for us to really know the steps and procedures that are going to happen. I already have a vague idea from what friends and the interwebs have told me, but it is always much better to hear it from the mouth of the professional.

I will be coming back as soon as I can to relate all the findings from that first appointment!

But here we are, ready to write this new chapter of our lives.

Jon and I have been blissfully married for three years now. And in this time, we have also tried -unsuccessfully- to conceive. We really want to start a family, and not being able to conceive naturally has put some strain on us. But here is where the story begins…

Jon and I finally got an appointment with the gynaecologist earlier this week. I had already seen him last year for other “lady” related issues and he suggested that if by July 2012 my husband and I had not conceived naturally, we should go and see him again and see if we could take advantage of NHS-funded IVF.

The thing is, when you’re trying and trying but nothing happens, and your desire to have a baby is so big, you can not wait. And I could not wait until July (yes, I know, what’s another 3 months in the big scheme of things?) So I pestered my GP until I got him to refer me to the gynaecologist again.

So, there we were, at 10 in the morning, waiting to be seen, and not knowing if we were just going to be turned around or be given the go ahead. To our relief, the consultant was very sympathetic with our case and realised that we are in an ideal situation: At this very point in time, we completely comply with the statutory requirements set by the NHS – I am 34 years of age, been trying for 3 years or more, non-smoker and don’t have any previous offspring. Tick, tick, tick and tick. According to the book, I am an ideal candidate.

So, the wheels are in motion. Now we have to choose a fertility clinic where most of the procedures will take place until conception (I believe after satisfactory conception I just go back to the normal hospital). We have several to choose from; unfortunately none of them are in Basingstoke and all require certain amount of travelling. Well, that’s not completely true. One of them has a satellite clinic here in Basingstoke where some of the minor procedures would take place.

The thing is, we have a couple of friends who went through this same thing a couple of years ago, and they swear that the clinic they used was fantastic, so we would like to use that one, as there is nothing better as first hand experience. Way better than anonymous internet testimonials! Plus, they have a beautiful child as proof that it worked 

So, Jon and I are super excited, and really looking forward to this journey!

So naturally, having just moved to Basingstoke we wanted to find a decent Indian restaurant. Now we’ve made some friends recently – Bev, Kanchen and Vaj who live just up the road, so we were treated to some proper biryani chicken which kind of spoiled us. We had a delicious (And spicy!) meal round there a few weeks back which was wonderful. So with high hopes and standards to match, we ventured into the Mango Grove.

What a disappointment.

The restaurant is on the first floor off the old high street, which is in fact, nothing but an old office complex. This fact becomes painfully clear when you go to use the bathrooms, and you are greeted with something reminiscent of the Office series of which we are all so fond.

Now looking at the pic it looks nice, marble floors, and pretty walls etc, and to be fair, the restaurant part is well decorated, and I could have overlooked the toilets if everything else was up to scratch.

We sat down, and looked at the menus, and ordered drinks + poppadums. 10 minutes later I had to ask where the drinks were. Then they turned up fairly swiftly. This was to become a common theme for the evening.

Poppadums turned up, with some “original” chutney selection which was frankly crap. No lime chutney, and what there was wasn’t all that nice; I was still wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt but the poppadums were very stale, and we were disappointed.

Poppadums - better anywhere else.

A little later we ordered (!) the dishes. I forget what we ordered, such was the nature of the meal. We began our wait……

We soldiered on, drinking and chatting, and hoped that things would improve.

20 minutes later nothing had turned up. I needed another drink, but had noticed my glass had something unidentifiable in it. I ordered another drink, and was forced to order another glass as well (as I like Cobra bottled beer).

A further 20 minutes later I had to ask where the hell the food was.  As if by magic it arrived, after a 40 minute wait. It was ok, to be fair, but I’d nearly finished my second beer which is pretty much unheard of  in Jon-Land, in an Indian restaurant. We ate, it was ok. Nothign to write home about, and nothing tastes nice once you’re pissed off.

Wishing to pay, we had finished our meals, and once again we sat there praying for service. There weren’t even half the number of employees they should have had working, they were struggling so much. We waited another ten minutes to pay and cleared out of there. For once in my life, I refused to leave a tip. It was very expensive – £40 or so for the two of us, and the experience was only marginally more enjoyable than a rare tropical infection.

I’m a generous guy, and Maria is too. We enjoy rewarding good service and make a point of it as we’ve both worked low paid jobs for minimum wages before – we know the score – tips keep you going basically.

We both agreed – we weren’t paying the damn tip!

We waltzed out of there annoyed, and sworn never to return. Sorry guys, but The Mango Grove just isn’t any good. Watch this space – if we find a decent indian in Basingstoke, you’ll be sure to hear about it!

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Stay tuned for some of the best recipes on the face of the planet! From Spain, to Italy, to India, Thailand and beyond, we love ALL FOOD! =D