Sperm Meets Egg Plan

[nk1605]

Hi 😊

So TTC #2 (dd is nearly 3). I've just recovered from hypothalamic amenorrhoea and regained my period 16th Oct. We TTC that cycle but no luck.

Although I got a positive OPK on CD18, I suspect either I didn't OV or my luteal phase was too short as I had a 28 day cycle.

Now I'm on CD6 of cycle #2. DP and I are going to try the sperm meets egg plan. Has anyone else tried this? Would love to hear any experiences whether or not it worked.

Thanks!

[reallyorange]

It just tells you when to focus on DTD. Seems to make sense. Youre only on cycle 2 of ttc so good that you're reading about best approach but don't get stressed out this early!
We ended up needing ivf for male factor but it was good to know the problem want one of timing iyswim

[AJ89]

We are trialling it this cycle, I’m on day 15 currently and doing my opk every day and dtd every other day, reckon I’ll get my positive opk tomorrow as they have been getting darker. I’ve heard good reviews of it and it makes sense so we shall see!

[nk1605]

@reallyorange yeah I think I really need to stop being so obsessive about it and just take each month as it comes. It just seemed so easy with dd that it's hard to understand it wouldn't happen so quickly again! Cycle #1 we dtd pretty much every other day. So I figured it was just my body being out of whack after not having a period for so long.

@AJ89 how are you getting on so far? I've got my OPKs ready to go and just waiting about for CD8!

[AJ89]

@nik1605 good so far, hoping we can stick to it and hoping it will work for us, fingers crossed!

[CoconutGal]

We were unable to successfully do this plan because my shift patterns are so varied it meant that I wasn’t able to do my OPK testing at the same time each day so I wasn’t getting a correct reading. However, DH & I do see the logic in it & have decided to just DTD every other day instead.

[OurNextAdventure]

Hi ladies

What are everyone's thoughts about this (in context of the SMEP).....

My best friend is about to have a baby, she conceived using donor sperm at a London fertility clinic. She was told to use clear blue ovulation tests until she got the static smiley face (positive peak); then she went to the clinic to be inseminated (just with a turkey baster set up not IVF - sorry don't know the proper name for it)

So, the clinic must have been of the view that the BEST time to have sex is when you get the positive peak or when the SMEP says you should dbd for 3 days straight.

So my thoughts/question is.....is it really worth "trying" from day 8 of your cycle (every other day) or, medically, doesn't it seem to make more sense to really focus our "trying efforts" for those three days in a row instead of over an extended period.

I guess I'm just nervous of the pressure to "try" so often. Not that I don't love and fancy my husband to bits, but we have been together a very long time and we are not teenagers anymore lol!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings....I'm on the December bus so just trying to plan how we go about our first month of TTC next month.

X

[chevrechevre]

Adventure while CB static smiley shows your high surge that doesn’t necessarily mean you ovulate then, only temping can confirm. Some women get more than one high surge as body attempts to ovulate but fails so has another go, some ovulate earlier or later than the mid-point of the cycle so might miss the surge, some women ovulate very soon after their surge, and what if you don’t catch your surge until it’s been high for hours already? So I think by dtd throughout you’re more likely to catch the egg if you do ovulate earlier/later. But you really have to do whatever works for you and DH/DP. And maybe dtd with the flashing smiley too, because sperm can hang around.

But I haven’t got a bfp yet so am in no position to give advice, tbh. Just trying to maximise chances.

[nk1605]

@ournextadventure I had the same thoughts when I was reading about the smep. DP and I dtd pretty much every other day around what I believed to be my fertile window last month... It was really tough going and sort of felt like a task near the end! But I figure I'll give this plan a go and see what happens since I didn't conceive last time round. Could be that we stopped too early after my positive OPK

[FellOutOfBed2wice]

The only thing that worked for me was to throw a lot of sperm at the wall (so to speak!) with DD1 I had many months of trying the SME plan as I agree, it makes sense, but the month I actually fell was when we had literally as much sex as we could manage for pretty much the whole first two weeks of the month. Sometimes twice a day. It wasn’t pretty. When that worked we decided that was the way forward so did that first month with DD2 and I was pregnant first cycle. Could just be coincidence but DD1 took almost a year (with me tracking and reading up and doing my temperature) and DD2 took a month.

Basically I think have as much sex as you can manage and your schedule allows.

[nk1605]

@felloutofbed2wice I think I could give that a go for only one month! I was knackered doing it every other day 😅 out of curiosity, what CD did you start dtd as much as possible?

[hannknitted]

It's only my first month of properly TTC but I'd heard about the SMEP and we decided to give it a go since it seems fairly logical in terms of having sex at the right times etc. From the day my period ended we had sex every other day until I got a solid smiley face on CB digital OPK, then we did it three days in a row - the only bit we missed out was to skip a day and then try once more, just because down to circumstances there wasn't time for it to happen that day!

Still waiting for the outcome... currently 12 DPO and using all willpower not to test early! I put my info into two tracking apps just out of interest to see if they came out the same - there is some discrepancy between when they predict my period is due, Clue says Monday, Fertility Friend says Thursday, so we will see. I will test sometime next week if my period doesn't arrive first.

[nk1605]

@hannknitted wishing all the best of luck for a BFP!!

[AJ89]

Got a static positive smiley on Clearblue opk today so dtd every day for 3 days starts! Gonna be so tired haha.

[hannknitted]

Update on our SMEP efforts - two clear BFPs this morning at 13 DPO!

[OurNextAdventure]

@handknitted OMG Congratulations!!! So happy for you!!!

AJ - positive peak for me too today so we are in sync. Good luck with the 3 days of trying xx

[hannknitted]

Thank you @OurNextAdventure - still can’t quite believe it, doesn’t feel real!

Good luck with trying this month, fingers crossed for BFPs all round

[CoconutGal]

@hannknitted - that’s amazing! Congratulations!!!

[hannknitted]

Thanks @CoconutGal

[anothernetter]

I tried it and I'm currently holding my baby girl who was conceived as a result. Good luck!

[AJ89]

@hannknitted congratulations!!

@ournextadventure good luck to you also!

[nk1605]

Congratulations everyone who has had a positive outcome! Super news :)

I'm on CD8 so fingers crossed it works this month

[Gem173]

Hi guys I’m gunna try this for my next cycle :) so hopefully it will cover the correct days !

[nk1605]

@Gem173 good luck! I'm on cd9 so just started the plan yesterday. One thing I would suggest is maybe starting the OPKs sooner than CD10 as I have been getting quite strong lines since yesterday (not positives but very nearly). And I would have missed these if I had only started on CD10 as the plan says.

Saying that, my cycles are v irregular so I just started OPKs sooner!

[Gem173]

@nk1603 what day is CD1, day of period or day your period ends?

[Gem173]

I think it’s the day your period starts. So to be clear, I have to start doing the deed every other day from cd8 and start opk around the same time and then when I get a pos I dtd 3 days in a row then break one day and then have sex again the following day. What after ? Just break until 2ww ends? Xx