Thanks so much for the warm welcome and the support! I really do appreciate it! It makes this whole transition a *lot* less scary.

I've been having acupuncture for a while now - I've just returned from an appointment now, in fact, and I feel immensely better for it. She didn't even need to hit the spots she normally uses to calm me down (which always seem to hurt like hell!), but we did spend half an hour just talking over everything that was said yesterday. The fact that the acupuncturist I've grown to know and love and rely on heavily in all this agrees with the FS on all things except for the varicocele repair is comforting and makes getting my head around the whole thing much easier. We're taking a slightly longer term view with the varicocele repair... use the IVF+ICSI to get somewhere now, but long term the aim is for me to continue to work on the PCOS and insulin issues so that I will continue to become healthier not only through the IVF process and pregnancy, but we've got to look at this as a lifestyle change for the rest of my life... the hope is that with the varicocele fixed and me getting everything sorted out, that in the future we'll be in a better state to attempt natural conception once again.

Hollybolly, thanks so much for all that information - it does make me feel a whole lot better about my ability to cope with it all while working.

Dreambub, as much as the logical, sensible side of my brain could see the reasoning behind going back on the pill for a bit, the more emotive side of things was just screaming about it! This is the same one that I was taking before (I took a slightly higher dose for most of my 13 years on the pill, but the last few were on this lower dose one), and I did notice that once I went off it, my weight was so much harder to control, so I can certainly see the advantages of being on it during this time when we're trying to get everything sorted out to start. It's also a bit of a relief to give up the temping for a bit - it's second nature to me now to reach for the thermometer as soon as I wake up, so I will have to put it somewhere else so I actually stop... but I'm looking forward to just ignoring it for a while.

Boo... matey. I'm glad there's some familiarity here at least!

BW