Ad free! New features!
Topic: Sitetalk
We are now ad-free! The IVF Babies website has been upgraded tonight and several new features have been added:

-links page
-topics page
-forums

All of these features are new and will be added to over the next couple of weeks.

Site and shop
Topic: Sitetalk
I am behind in updating this site. But I have been working on adding new sections and in the middle of writing the first "hot topic" essay. I'm delaying uploading the pages until they are near complete as having dead links can be annoying.

I'm also looking into getting rid of the ads.

If you haven't visited The Store lately, then take a look as I've been busy adding new products and rearranging the store. I have managed to kill my Photoshop but am trialling some new software.

Baby proofing
Topic: Babytalk
Have been madly baby proofing my house due to a highly mobile and extremely agile 10mth old.

I am having no luck finding a successful toilet lock and as we've already had one toy-in-toilet episode I need one. The two that I have trialled so far claimed to work on toilets and yet they wouldn't stick onto the ceramic bowl as it is too slick. Seems to be a pretty stupid design considering toilets are, in general, made of slick ceramic.

The Wanker Design
Topic: Shoptalk
If you don't know much about the IVF process the division of labour between the two parties goes a bit like this:

WOMAN - may start by taking a birthcontrol pill (ironic, eh?!) then she moves on to either a disgusting nasal spray or self-injections. After about 2 weeks she adds more injections to stimulate the follicles for another 2 weeks or so. During this time ther are regular blood tests and the fun of vaginal u/s (aka dildocam). When it's time to harvest the eggs (or oocytes if you want to be technical) she takes an hCG injection (yep - the pregnancy hormone, if you pee on a pregnancy test it will show up as a positive result) and 36 hours later she goes in for an egg retrieval and depending upon the clinic this is done under sedation or general anaesthetic. After all this probing she starts using progesterone pessaries or gel every day. Progesterone is an evil drug that makes you feel like you are PMSing x 1000. It's also highly messy. After 2-5 days she goes back for the embryo transfer and gets to ride in the special chair so that the dr can replace the embryos back into the uterus via a catheter - all very romantic. Then it's another 2 weeks of progesterone - some women also have hCG booster shots - before her period arrives or she gets a positive pregnancy blood test. During this time there are all sorts of protocols to follow and you must remember to take the right amount of drugs at the right time.

MAN- has a few preliminary blood tests which often make him nauseous and then provides a "sample" on egg retrieval day. Some clinics even provide private rooms complete with alcohol and pornos to help him perform, others have to do it at home and have to transport it leading to all sorts of comical situations. The most important thing for him to remember is to give it to the right person. In our clinic handbook this was highlighted in pink and bolded so you knew it was important - although who else were you going to give it to? So as Tertiasays the man is, in essence, a wanker.

For IVF kids, they know that their dad is indeed a wanker. But at least their dads have an excuse LOL.

So, the "inspiration" behind this design is the wanker aspect. It's a play on words (obviously!).

Featured design.
Now Playing: Test cricket
Topic: Shoptalk


Today we were listed in the Best o' the 'Press Blog for this design. Check out John's designs - they are pretty cool.

Site of the day
Mood:  surprised
Now Playing: Australia vs NZ
Topic: Sitetalk
Just checked out Tshirt Wars and found that I am "site of the day' with the "My dad is a wanker" design. Feeling chuffed about that :)

A little overexcited
Now Playing: Noise from the ducted a/c
Topic: Sitetalk
Okay, so bear with me. I tend to get a bit - how should I say it? - obsessed with new projects. I haven't done any web work in absolutely ages and so this is a fun new project for me. I never really got into the scrapbooking thing that all my friends seem to be obsessed by (probably because it involves handing over $$ LOL) and so this can be my equivalent of scrapping.

So I resurrected Dreamweaver and made two pages to whack up quickly. I have a Mac that runs mostly on OSX but I still have a couple of applications that run on OS9 which is a real PIA because they tend to crash the whole system and I can't print from them. I am hoping to get a new version of Photoshop so that I can work on some designs. I have 5.5 which is good but I'm sure that the newer versions have some nifty tricks that I could use. I do have access to a new PC laptop with PSP8 on it but I actually prefer Photoshop.

I just had a look at my last big project Beckett Conference. Gosh, it looks so amateurish now! I hope I can do better - especially now that I know more about Photoshop. I made all the graphics without having a clue what to do other than insert text and crop!! BTW the main image is missing because our license to use it ran out.

Anyway, I'm not going to play with it too much until I've worked out the design and architecture. But it is fun playing!!

My ttc and ivf journey
Topic: Infertiltytalk
I thought I should explain how I came to have an IVF baby. I originally wrote this as a post on a thread for IVF pregnancies last year:

My ttc journey is pretty much outlined in my sig. This baby will be my second child, but feels like a first as it's been quite a while since I was last pg (my ds is turning 5 next week). We tried for 2 yrs and were in the preliminary stages of IF testing when I fell pg with him. When ds was one (in 2000) we decided to start trying again. We figured that it would take quite a while given our previous history. After 2 yrs of frustration I fell pg. Unfortunately I miscarried at 9 weeks and went through a difficult time. After the m/c we were referred back to a gyno for testing and her diagnosis was "unexplained secondary subfertility" and we were referred for IUI. We did one failed IUI cycle and then decided to switch to IVF just in case there were issues with fertilisation. Our first IVF cycle failed and it looked like we would have no eggs left over but 2 managed to make it to be frozen.

In Feb we went for an FET but really didn't expect it to work given the lower success rate. So I was completely blown away when I got the BFP.

This is a simplified version of events but you get the picture...

A new start
Topic: Sitetalk
Well, it's been a long time since I tried to launch my own site. I first started with a baby site for my first son back in 2000. It's still out there on tripod but I haven't updated it in a long time.

This week I had an idea to launch a range of products through Cafepress for IVF babies. As far as I can see, there isn't much out there for this market. It remains to be seen if anyone will actually buy the products but I'm thinking that people will want to celebrate their IVF babies like I do. You go through so much to achieve a pregnancy and bring that little tyke home.

Anyway, I have a basic shop with a basic design but need to work on some more. I'm also going to do another website which should be fun.