• Term

• AF

  'Aunt Flo', your period

• BBT

  Basal body temperature - identified when predicting ovulation.

• BD

  'Baby dance', also known as baby sex or intercourse.

• BFN or BFP

  Big fat negative or a big fat positive. Refers to the results of a pregnancy test.

• Blast

  Short for blastocyst. An embryo that has matured past the point of 32 cells, 5 to 6 days after egg collection. 'Standard' embryo transfers usually happen 2 to 3 days after egg collection (EC) at around 4 - 8 cells.

• Cycle buddy

  Another woman who is having treatment at the same time as you and who is trying to conceive at the same time.

• Cycling

  Derived from 'treatment cycle'. A woman undergoing treatment can be referred to as 'cycling'.

• DD or DS

  Darling daughter or darling son.

• DE

  Donor egg.

• DH or DP

  Darling husband or darling partner.

• DR

  Down-regulation. Drugs that 'switch-off' a woman's hormones and put her in a temporary menopausal state before taking fertility drugs as part of her IVF or ICSI treatment.

• DS

  Donor sperm - not to be confused with darling son. The context should make the difference clear!

• EC

  Egg collection (or retrieval). Part of the IVF or ICSI process when the eggs are removed from the woman, under sedation and with pain-relief.

• Embies

  Embryos (fertilised eggs).

• FET

  Frozen embryo transfer. Where frozen embryos previously created as part of an IVF or ICSI cycle are thawed and transferred into the uterus.

• Follies

  Follicles on the end of the ovaries that contain a woman's eggs.

• Frosties

  Frozen embryos.

• FSH

  Follicle stimulating hormone. FSH controls the development of an egg in the follicles on your ovaries. Your FSH will be measured as part of your pre-fertility treatment baseline tests. Your gonadatrophin fertility drugs will contain FSH.

• HPT

  Home pregnancy test.

• LH

  Luteinising hormone. In a woman, the rise – or surge – of this hormone triggers ovulation. Your LH and FSH:LH ratio will be measured as part of your pre-fertility treatment baseline tests. Gonadotrophin fertility drugs may contain LH.

• M/C

  Miscarriage.

• O

  Ovulation.

• OPK

  Ovulation predictor kit.

• +++++++

  Positive result.

• PUPO

  Pregnant until proven otherwise.

• Stims

  Fertility drugs that stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs.

• Stimming

  Taking fertility medications to stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs.

• TMI

  Too much information!

• TTC

  Trying to conceive – ie 'we spent 4 yrs TTC'.

• TWW or 2WW

  Two week wait. The time between the embryo transfer and doing a pregnancy test.

• tx

  Treatment.

• u/s

  Ultrasound scan.