Trying to Conceive 2016 onwards Chat Thread

Hi all! This is our 4th month ttc! I was on mirena for 4 years so it took 2 months for af to return so feel like we're just getting going now! I starting temping also just before Christmas as I was unsure when exactly I'm ovulating so fingers crossed we get lucky this month! Good luck to you all!!

Count me in.
Have irregular cycles and have been charting for the past six months to see if there is any structure to them and there actually is!

Officially started trying last month and was (quite arrogantly) expecting a BFP on Xmas day which didn't happen. I got pregnant straight away last time so thought it would be same again. Hopefully we wont be waiting long for good news!

Exciting times ahead....don't forget to start taking your folic acid!

Toots wrote: »

This time I'm 5 years older and have had a lot of health problems in the last couple of years, plus the meds I was on made my weight balloon, so I'm terrified my reproductive system is destroyed and it'll make it difficult. There's no way we'd ever be able to afford IVF if it came down to that.

Sorry to hear that but there's no point stressing yourself out until you have reason to. Enjoy 'the no pants dancing' and hopefully it'll all come together.

I know its probably a bit silly but I want to be unreg for this, not many people know that we are trying now and at the moment I just want to keep it that way!

Delighted this thread started, while other threads re good I find it hard to read about people going through IVF and other treatments as I am just not at that stage yet and want to talk about topics that the more advanced people are way past already!

Tyer Monkey, had you tried temping and mucus tracking before using the ovulation predicter sticks? I have just started that and think I have ovulation pinpointed but could I be wrong? did you find you were wrong after trying those or did you go straight to the sticks?

Typer Monkey wrote: »

Hi everyone..I'm actually 35 weeks pregnant with my 2nd but just wanted to recommend the clearblue digital dual hormone ovulation tests. I concieved the 2nd month using them but that pregnancy ended in a miscarraige at 10 weeks but after one period I concieved straight away again using the clear blue tests. I'd a 32 day average cycle but I wasn't ovulating until day 18 or 19 so without the tests we would've been having sex at the wrong times.

I know they're expensive if the conceiving drags on for a while but they're definitely great for pinpointing fertile periods.

Good luck on your journies!

Thanks for this info, I came off the pill when we got married in July but only making a concerted effort from December, my cycles are long and irregular, 38 - 41 days. I've been tracking the other symptoms, but can't get to grips with cervical checking (excuse the pun) and always forget to take a temperature so I'm wondering if I'm ovulating later than the apps are giving me the green light for!

It will be good to hear the man's opinion Business Cat! I'm trying not to wreak my husband's head with everything.

We started trying in September. Starting using the cheap ovulation strip tests last month and was so relieved when I got my positive result because my cycles are all over the place. Finding the whole thing really stressful if I'm being honest. I'm a control freak so the fact that I can't even control my own body is really hard.

Roselm, I'm using Fertility Friend and I'm finding it good. I never realised there was so many things to track before I downloaded it!

I saw this thread from one of the other forums, and when I saw Typer Monkeys post, I thought I'd echo what was said.I am currently 29 weeks pregnant with number 2, btw.

My cycle varies from about 30-35 days, it can stretch to 40 days.Baby no.1 was conceived after 4 months of trying.After 2 months, I started using the Clearblue ovulation kits too.I'm a bit of a control freak and just couldn't figure out my most likely ovulation days, even with tracking
apps.I just wanted a fairly certain
indicator.Month 2 of using the kits, no.1 was
conceived, she's now 18 months old.

Second time round, we conceived after two
weeks of trying!The dates barely add up, but I
must have ovulated early or something.(and I
know this because we actually stopped trying
after two weeks, due to job interviews
etc....couldn't believe a positive result a few
weeks later!!!).I wasn't using the kits but really, it
proved to me that my cycle was a bit all over the
place.I would have started using them the next
month when we started trying again, otherwise.

They are expensive but so worth the money.I
went straight to them because I wanted to
pinpoint when I was ovulating and try then,and
then if it didn't work after six months or so, I was
prepared to go the doctor amd see if there was
a problem.It seemed like the most
straightforward thing to me to do.

Business Cat....I had a d&c after the birth of my
first (to remove some remaining tissue).I was
quietly told at the time by my mother that it can
make you extremely fertile and to be careful if
we were having sex straight after our first was
born.It appears she was right!Mind you, I
thought she meant for a coupl
of months afterwards, not 14months
afterwards.....So hopefully you will get lucky
soon and have a positive test and a great
pregnancy.

Best of luck to you all and hope you get the results you all want.

Tunage wrote: »

Hi Everyone,


I'm a total pregnancy newbie even though my friends all have kids. I'm so new to all of this and some of the terminology and abbreviated words has me baffled (af? mc?)

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
MC: Miscarriage
TTC: Trying to conceive
OPK: Ovulation predictor kit
DTD: Doing the deed (ie sex)
BD: Baby dance (sex, again!)

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.

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.

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)

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 - 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........

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 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.

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!

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!