Trying to Conceive 2016 onwards Chat Thread

LegacyUser

Toots, I have the ovatel kit which is a microscopic device to detect ferning.
I've been using it a month now but no ferning at all which is accurate I suppose as I haven't had AF since coming off micro lite in November. Not sure if I'd recommend it yet though until I could say I seen ferning..

We are ttc since November but as said above I've had no cycle since coming off the pill in November.
I've a nagging feeling at the back of my mind though we are going to have issues, years of irregular periods and irregular smears etc and now almost two months off pill with no cycle.

I was considering booking myself in to the beacon fertility unit so they could run some tests, has anyone been??

Love2love

Roselm wrote: »

AF: Aunt flow/Flo (Your period) Although when I first read it I guessed what it stood for and went for Aunt Franny and still say that in my head

I originally thought AF stood for Ah Feck! Which is exactly what I have been saying when the witch arrives!

I am on my 4th cycle TTC #3, I had a chemical in November.

greenttc

Hello all,

I have created a second new account to post in this thread, would rather not use my normal account as our efforts are not widely known! I tried posting as a guest but the post never came up so I hope it is okay to have created this second account, seems easier to me!

Delighted with the setting up of this thread, the other threads on TTC were a little intimidating as they are far too advanced into the world of IVF and other such treatments so my questions on the basics seemes a little out of place!

we have been trying properly since about september 2015 but had been off contraception since about last april. i am only on my second month now of temping and checking cervical mucus. I wonder, do those of you talking about ovulation sticks, have you tried tracking these already but didnt find them useful or did you jsut go straight to the sticks? I havent tried them yet but thought that I would have just as good information from being able to predict based on mucus and confirm ovulation happened (and then hopefully see a pattern) based on temping? what do you all think?

I have also started accupuncture just because I have also had health problems and feel that this will help with getting everything in order, anything to make this as successful as possible, right?? I have to say that aside from just the accupuncture itself, going to the practitioner really was like an education in how to conceive (desipite reading everything online, it was amazing what i learned talking to someone face to face and being able to ask lots and lots of questions, they should teach this stuff properly in school!)

anyway, glad to have a little forum here to discuss things with!

bee06

I went straight to the ovulation sticks. I didn't want to leave anything to chance really and my cycle is all over the place anyway.

Thinking of doing acupuncture as well. What I've read has been positive and even the relaxation benefits would be good alone for me I think.

sillysmiles

Can someone explain the mucus thing please

Love2love

Your cervical mucus is the most accurate natural way of predicting ovulation. During your fertile window, discharge changes to a stretchy see through mucus that aids sperm to reach the ovaries. It looks and feels like raw egg white. Often abbreviated to EWCF (egg white cervical fluid)

greenttc

bee06 wrote: »

I went straight to the ovulation sticks. I didn't want to leave anything to chance really and my cycle is all over the place anyway.

Thinking of doing acupuncture as well. What I've read has been positive and even the relaxation benefits would be good alone for me I think.

okay good to know, I am fairly happy with how the tracking has gone, obviously I only get the benefit after having done it for a month and seeing how it works but I am not sure that I need to go for the sticks yet. was just interested to hear why someone might have tried tracking first and then decided to depend on sticks instead.

sillysmiles wrote: »

Can someone explain the mucus thing please

ya know, I had read all about the mucus and thought I had it figured out. I was actually concerned cause I thought I didnt really have any, I would never have really noticed any in my underwear. Since I stared tracking though i am far more aware of it and can see patterns in what type of mucus there is and how it can indicate ovulation and I would also say that the only way for me (and a few of my friends it turns out) to check was to get a finger right up in there to collect a sample! This is where I might feel like I have to post "TMI" as a warning but I think one just has to be this open when talking about this topic!

greenttc

Love2love wrote: »

Your cervical mucus is the most accurate natural way of predicting ovulation. During your fertile window, discharge changes to a stretchy see through mucus that aids sperm to reach the ovaries. It looks and feels like raw egg white. Often abbreviated to EWCF (egg white cervical fluid)

I would say that I have alternating days of the egg white and just wetness for about five days before ovulation and then afterwards it can be much drier but not necessarily dry.

as I said in my previous post, I thought I knew it all after reading but it is mad how much more you are aware and understand once you start tracking it all.

the fertility friend app was great for this (as other mentioned) and it even had little daily tutorials for a while that, while you might know everything they say already, are very good at explaining everything as a kind of recap and at times a reassurance that you are normal.

Meubles

First two week wait of the year here! I'm 4dpo now! I have been using OPKs for 3 months and was getting positives - like strong very dark line positives for 3 days but this month just one day and my temp rose the same day as I got the positive opk so I'm a bit confused if it all happened quickly during the 24 hours since I last test! We got busy the night before and day of so here's hoping it worked! I'm def feeling more relaxed after Christmas I was worried about trying to keep it a secret (I know!) But also wanting that miracle before Christmas and now just feeling way more relaxed and positive.

Fertility Friend app has been brilliant in teaching me about my cycle as I was using Glow the first 2 months but it was putting my fertile days way off! Must say the 'pressure to perform' has been getting to us both before Christmas I know I keep reading to keep it spontaneous but how!? When you know you've only a short window to conceive the pressure is def on!

Wotzit

Meubles - sounds like we're in the same boat!! I'm 3 dpo now and this will be my 3rd cycle while TTC for the first time. One thing I'll say about that, I wasn't prepared for how disappointed I would be each time my period arrived (I soooo wanted to have a positive test to show my partner for xmas! would have been the best gift ever but wasn't meant to be). I feel like I'm very naïve on the whole fertility thing and just didn't have a notion about any of this stuff before I started.

I've used fertility app 'Ovia' for the last 3 months and found this spot on... although my cycle is very regular and going by the OPK I used for the first couple of months (they were the cheapy Boots version but I've found them quiet accurate, I got two dark lines for days 13 & 14 into my cycle which, from my extensive googling, is the norm!). I haven't temped or tracked my CM but this month, I did have a lot of that eggy white CM (sorry for the TMI) on what I suspected was the day I ovulated :-) ... we DTD the day before and the day of so I'm really hoping this is it!! It's going to be a long two weeks........

LegacyUser

Would be great to have feedback on acupuncture for both male and female.

Any recommendations and idea of costs? I'm Dublin area

I want to do it for myself as I can be quite stressed and I think it would be good. I also want husband to do it too as we have just had semen analysis results and he has low motility so hoping this could help both of us.

Have started to take wellwoman and wellman vitamins. Interesting on the TMI post on cervical mucus. I'm the exact same! It really has become am eye opener the last few months!

Meubles

Wotzit - I completely agree with the disappointment. I surprised myself at just how disappointed I felt when it didn't happen right away and the BFN right before Christmas was tough but we agreed new year new chance! It's only our 4th month so I know we need to be a bit patient.

I was a bit worried with opk testing at the beginning as I wasn't getting a positive until CD22 or CD24 of a 33 day cycle but this month it was CD17 which seems more 'normal'.

We watched a funny /informative documentary called 'The great sperm race' this always pops into my head when I'm watching for EWCM as it is crazy how hard their journey is!

The two week wait is definitely a challenge I've been keeping a record of symptoms and have basically had varying 'convincing' ones evey month so now I'm trying to just wait!!

mollybird

have seen a few of ye mention fertility friend app to check when your obv. ive been tracking mine with the M.cycles app for my period tracker. but guess it wouldn't hurt having this other app also. my neighbour said that your supposed to be obv 2 weeks from your first day of your period so by going by that im at my window. so me and oh dtd last night and will do again tommorow night. it's only our first month trying so not getting too ahead of myself quite yet.

bee06

mollybird wrote: »

have seen a few of ye mention fertility friend app to check when your obv. ive been tracking mine with the M.cycles app for my period tracker. but guess it wouldn't hurt having this other app also. my neighbour said that your supposed to be obv 2 weeks from your first day of your period so by going by that im at my window. so me and oh dtd last night and will do again tommorow night. it's only our first month trying so not getting too ahead of myself quite yet.

I've read that on a few things as well but it only applied if you have a standard 28 day cycle. It's actually 14 days before you start your next period so this month my cycle was 40 days and I ovulated on day 26 (got a positive test). That's why I use the ovulation sticks. My cycle is so irregular that I never know how long it's going to be so can't predict when I'm going to ovulate.

Tunage

I've been using Period Tracker for a few months now just to keep on top of my cycle as it's quite irregular. When I wrote it all down in my little journal, my last periods have been 5 days, then 4, then 5 again and the last one was 4.

I wasn't sure of Period Tracker accuracy regarding ovulation and being fertile but when I downloaded Fertility Friend and put in all the info from Period Tracker it all matched up perfectly. According to FF we dtd on exactly the day of ovulation (and the day before ) which wasn't exact on Period Tracker. I'd been keeping an eye out for ovulation pain and my own usual symptoms so I had a rough idea.

This week i've been peeing a whole lot and been totally drained even after 6/7hours sleep at night. It's the first go and I know not to get too excited but sure we're only human and can't help getting excited at the prospect of a new human's creation! Ahhh! Hurry up testing time!!

Neyite

bee06 wrote: »

I've read that on a few things as well but it only applied if you have a standard 28 day cycle. It's actually 14 days before you start your next period so this month my cycle was 40 days and I ovulated on day 26 (got a positive test). That's why I use the ovulation sticks. My cycle is so irregular that I never know how long it's going to be so can't predict when I'm going to ovulate.

Just a small point here - the ovulation tests detect the LH surge, which occurs about 36-48 hrs before ovulation. So when you tested positive on day 26 it meant that you would ovulate around day 28 or 29. Similarly when you get ovulation pain, this happens before the egg is released. The pain is caused by the follicle being stretched by the developing and maturing egg. There is no pain when the egg actually gets released. On a monitored cycle, I had ovulation pain on Sunday and Monday, had a scan on Wednesday, took the trigger shot Wednesday night to bring on ovulation which would occure 36hrs later, so conception happened either Thursday night or Friday night.

The egg lasts 12 hours, so the test ensures that you will have sex so that sperm is waiting for the egg.

greenttc

Neyite wrote: »

Just a small point here - the ovulation tests detect the LH surge, which occurs about 36-48 hrs before ovulation. So when you tested positive on day 26 it meant that you would ovulate around day 28 or 29. Similarly when you get ovulation pain, this happens before the egg is released. The pain is caused by the follicle being stretched by the developing and maturing egg. There is no pain when the egg actually gets released. On a monitored cycle, I had ovulation pain on Sunday and Monday, had a scan on Wednesday, took the trigger shot Wednesday night to bring on ovulation which would occure 36hrs later, so conception happened either Thursday night or Friday night.

The egg lasts 12 hours, so the test ensures that you will have sex so that sperm is waiting for the egg.

Okay so I actually had pains (which I have now figured out must be ovulation pains) last night (thurs) and a milder version of the pain the day before (wed). The pain was kind of there this morning but is gone now. We DTD last night (thur) and two nights ago (tue). Are you saying that tomorrow night might be prime time to DTD then? I have it planned that way anyway but it would be good to validate my plans!

its funny, I have tried so hard not to be expectant for the two week wait and try not to analyse every twinge I think if I let myself do that my disappointment would be even more extreme. it just feels like it will never happen!!!! I dont even test early, I have made a rule for myself that I wont test unless I am a whole week late. twice in the beginning I have made it as far as five days late (which is strange for me!) and I was strong about not taking a test but turns out I didnt need to on those occasions anyway :-(

anyway, maybe this month.......! wouldnt that be nice! take away those january blues!

greenttc

I thought I would also post something my acupuncturist advised me on that I had not read anywhere else or thought about.

She recommended that, for about an hour a day you should hold a heat source like a hot water bottle or one of those things you heat in the microwave against your lower tummy. you should do this is the first half of your cycle to promote blood flow and blood circulation in that area. you should not do this in the second half of your cycle (after ovulation) as you obviously would hope that the lining etc would remain intact for implantation.

also related to heat, she warned me off drinking very cold water (or other drinks) and recommended more hat food rather than just salads etc which I would have had most days. of course you can just drink room temperature water etc!

I think from a chinese perspective there is a lot of value around heat when it comes to fertility.

might be an easy to implement tip that others could use so I thought I would share it with you all.not sure how much I believe in all of it but none of it does any harm anyway!

Neyite

I think so Green, that's the understanding I got from my nurse. When I got the pains, I was gutted because our appointment wasn't until Wednesday, so fully expected to be told I'd already ovulated. But I hadn't, we could see from the scan. (And also the resultant child 38 weeks later!) So I guess, get busy tomorrow night? - it can't hurt!

Also my fertility nurse on the controlled cycle stressed to us that we don't go at it like rabbits during the fertile time, to just have sex once before estimated ovulation and once afterwards. Any more was likely to result in poorer quality semen apparently. So as the ovulation was 36 hours after the trigger shot we timed it for 24hrs and 45 hrs. The TSI with Ovulation induction was pretty specific but I learned an awful lot more about the process of ovulation during it.

Edit: Sorry I should say that the once before /once after means that you should aim for every other day rather than daily to replenish stocks of swimmers, except around ovulation, when you might do it two or three days in a row. But the likes of several times a day is not going to give you any better odds, and might actually decrease them.

greenttc

god, I dont think I would have the energy for multiple times a day!

my husband always says that he doesn't think he produces the same volume if we were to go more than every two days which matches your advice!

Thanks for the info, always good to validate what you are doing!

Liam McPoyle

greenttc wrote: »

god, I dont think I would have the energy for multiple times a day!

my husband always says that he doesn't think he produces the same volume if we were to go more than every two days which matches your advice!

Thanks for the info, always good to validate what you are doing!

He would be right, takes a day or two to replenish, a lot of expended energy for little biological payoff. Best to wait for a day or two and make it count!

Fagashlil

Planning #2 this year. Currently on cezeratre, coming off that the end of the month. Still BF baba #1 during the day, so no idea how my cycles are going to return, or when they will, fingers crossed it doesn't take too long,

Hopeful2016

Just a word of warning to anyone taking any medications to double check if they are safe when trying to conceive. I had no idea that the Difene I take for joint problems can suppress ovulation and cause abnormalities.

mollybird

just tried to sign up to fertility friend on the web page and it said i had to have a friend refer me. has this happened to anyone else?

Roselm

mollybird wrote: »

just tried to sign up to fertility friend on the web page and it said i had to have a friend refer me. has this happened to anyone else?

No but I am using the app on my phone...

Toots

mollybird wrote: »

just tried to sign up to fertility friend on the web page and it said i had to have a friend refer me. has this happened to anyone else?

No, that's really weird. Does their help section say anything about it?

mollybird

i ended up re setting my ac girls so have it sorted now thanks

yellow hen

geez wrote: »

We are also trying to conceive this year. Very excited. I had surgery last June where they found endometriosis so I do not know if we will be able to conceive naturally but will give it our best shot!

I've had endo twice along with ovarian cysts and surgery both times and although it took a while and I was on clomid, I have managed to get pregnant twice and have one boy and another due in April. Best of luck to you!

geez

yellow hen wrote:

I've had endo twice along with ovarian cysts and surgery both times and although it took a while and I was on clomid, I have managed to get pregnant twice and have one boy and another due in April. Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the positive story yellow hen. I do try to stay positive sometimes I get worried regardless. May I ask how long it took you to conceive? My gyn wants to go straight to ivf if we haven't conceived by June. Thanks again

yellow hen

geez wrote: »

Thanks for the positive story yellow hen. I do try to stay positive sometimes I get worried regardless. May I ask how long it took you to conceive? My gyn wants to go straight to ivf if we haven't conceived by June. Thanks again

It took about 18months each time. We tried on our own and then went onto varying doses of clomid. IVF would have been the next step. I used to worry a lot too....it seemed so easy for everyone else. Just take it in stages and try to stay positive.