In 2008 business was booming and The Daddy and I found ourselves in the very privileged position of being able to indulge ourselves. In fact 2007/8 was a period full of what dreams are made of. But, as you will know from previous blog posts, life is not all about what you have and where you go.
In October 2007 we started down the assisted conception road, and it was agreed that we would have three attempts at IUI, before the clinic felt we should consider IVF. Not being desperate to have children I was thinking that IVF was a step too far for me so in all likelihood our three IUI's would be our only chance . Our first cycle went to plan, with a single dominant follicle maturing nicely, but was unsuccessful. Ditto the second. On our third and final attempt, things did not go quite so smoothly. At the first scan, I had one dominant follicle, at the second scan it appeared to be maturing, but at the third scan it had receded and another follicle had stated to grow. This follicle reached maturity and on 3rd Feb 2008 we had the IUI, only one day later than previously. I was convinced that it couldn't possibly work. The follice that matured was a 'last gasp' because the first one failed, and it didn't mature over the usual timescales. I put babies, and pregnancies out of my mind and decided that we would have to seriously consider our options at some later date.
On Valentines day we were in for a special treat. We had booked ourselves into Le Manoir Aux Qaut'saisons for the night, and would be enjoying the ten course tasting menu in the two Michelin starred restaurant. It's an amazing place, with fantastic grounds, and an extensive kitchen garden in which they grow much of the produce they use. It is all so beautiful that I cannot do it justice with the blunt tool that is my descriptive writing, but below are photos of both the hotel and our room (which even had a log burner in it!)
Needless to say the food is exquisite. As I clearly wasn't pregnant, I decided to make the most of the meal, and drink the wines which the sommelier selects to go with each course. That's alot of wine. I had also had a G&T on arrival at the hotel, and a glass of champagne before dinner. On returning to our fabulous room, I felt, rather 'squify' shall we say, but it had been a truly memorable evening. The food, wine, service, setting and company had all been first class.
The next day, we were collected and taken to Heathrow to catch our Virgin Upper Class flight to Dubai, where I spent five glorious days. Again I had a glass or two of wine with dinner each night, as my self imposed 'teetotaldom' that had lasted the preceeding 20 months was now over.
We arrived home, which was day 31 of my cycle, when I was under orders from the clinic to do the obligatory test. I knew it was a waste of a test, but I did it anyway, and as I'm sure is obvious to you, got the shock of my life. The first thing I thought was...OMG all that alcohol! The rest, as they say, is history.
