Join The First Time Frolickers, trying to conceive their first child. Plenty of moral support, fun, dietary advice and most importantly, BFPs!!

Oooh SantasCave - how brilliant you are doing all those thngs including the studying! You are inspiring ... Makes me feel I can do more :)

I am starting to think keeping busy can also help distract from the 2ww hideousness ... Admittedly i have not yet really experienced the 2ww since we only decided to ttc for the first time this month and i got all the dates wrong, but i can see that when one is trying properly the 2ww would be pretty tricky. . I expect it is worse in vacations like now since i didnt have daily routine to distract. Unless ogling the Radio Times and wrestling over the Rose's chocolate tin counts as a routine. ;)

SantasCave i have total sympathy - Christmas seems an especially sharp time to notice children and the lack thereof.

I kept getting choked up at Aptamil adverts! (the second time around viewing it i tried in desperation to distract myself by ogling the conservatory :))

Hopefully all of us have LOs or at least BFPs by the next one. babydust to all in 2012!

Hello Winter and Kalidasa, welcome to the madhouse!

As far as work goes, there are several threads on Mumsnet that deal with working mums. I too intend to return to work, I'm the only full-time worker in my office and I'm also someone who likes to be busy - as well as a full-time job and ttc, I am studying a distance learning degree, teach a weekly salsa class and am training for dance instructor qualifications!

Good luck to both of you, and don't be afraid to ask lots of questions - nothing is too trivial/silly sounding!

Thanks so much Kalidasa - that is how I feel too! It is great to know it is not an odd hope.

How exciting that you ditched it in Christmas eve. Hopefully by next Christmas you will have a little one to bat the tinsel about!

WinterMymble - this is my first post on this thread as we've only just ditched the contraception (on Christmas Eve!) but I too really love my job and definitely intend to go back to work. Like you there's not a lot of scope for part-time work (I don't know anyone who's done that in my field/at my level) but otoh it is quite flexible in terms of sometimes working from home and my partner does a similar job with the same sorts of restrictions/advantages so I'm hoping we can make it work!

hello all! I am new too :).

Just this month for first time started ttc, but was seriously clueless and misread opk so did it the wrong days. Thus unsurprisingly AF looms. Will try to get the basics right in the January attempt :)

Right now feeling rather discouraged nonetheless. Am quite old etc, so have to be realistic. And didn't realise it was so complicated and that the 2ww could be quite so torturous :)

This next question is a bit delicate but it would be wonderful to find some kindred spirits on it. Is anybody else ttc, but has a job they utterly love and does have a plan of eventually returning to work? Just lately i have seen quite a bit of the stress that can involve, but my job is a real vocation and hugely nb for me (part time is not really viable .... Famously works very badly in my sector and location).

Anyway, most of the ttc forums don't tend to mention adored work - in fact i couldnt find a single post on most of them which talked about loving one's job AND wanting to conceive. But those two feelings are not incompatible for me, so i would love to know if any of you feel the same way.... Or is it REALLY seen as a matter of one or the other?

Morning afternoon all! We've also just got up, though we both spent most of the night being pretty ill . I made turkey casserole with the leftovers from Christmas Day so am laying the blame on that.

I also has a mini-melt down in Boxing Day about not being pregnant/a mum yet. There were tears, snot, hyperventilating and everything . Christmas is a tough time for those of us ttc, particularly those of us that are having problems.

On a personal front I'm pretty sure I've ovulated in the last few days as my temperature has bumped. I'm having my Day 21 blood test tomorrow to confirm so will get the results back early next week. We got in much more sex this month, I'm just hoping it was enough!

Hello all dp and i decided 2 weeks ago to ttc for the first time so i thought id join you guys if thats ok :)
good luck to all those waiting for a bfp i hope all the christmas shagging helped xxx

Bleuch. Got the cold and AF just started - the upside is that my PMT vanished instantaneously.

Going on a skiing holiday in 2 weeks - perfect timing for ovulation shagging - hopefully we won't be too exhausted and sore from skiing!

Hello. I'm newish.

I had the most utterly perfect Christmas with my two stepsons and have been doubting why I'd want to rock the boat but then I saw the last episode of Coupling which ends on two characters becoming parents and was sobbing rather excessively.

If I'm this crazy now what will I be like pregnant or more than two cycles into TTC?

Sorry I'm getting the hang of this...slowly!!

Oh I would def be found out if shes on MN but then She won't be in this thread.... Mil was gonna buy sil a magazine sunscription for her birthday but she was told she doesnt have time to read magazines now she has a baby! Then she got a kindle for xmas!!! Its laughable really. So on that basis she wont be on here.... Although she always seems to be on facebook!
Another (wine) anyone? I'm only on my second which is very unusual for me.... Its just not going down like normal. Wondering if its a sign but then only 2 days now to AF and the usual signs are beginning to appear.

Hey all,

Rasp was feeling a lot better but this evening I've got coldy symptoms & feel sick. Just want to sleep!

I too have shed a few secret tears over xmas at lack of baby, how many more must i endure childless - yes it is a time for kids.

I too, have a strained relationship with one of my nephews due to future sil - with the others & godchildren I'm really close & have great fun with them, but with this one just doesn't really come near me. He rarely leaves her side or he drags her with him to play with the others. My sister got bawlled out once for giving him a crisp & he's not allowed fruit juice or the same sweets as the others. There's more but I'm sure I'd b found out!!!

Ha yes we do try to wind her up a bit but the problem now is the DD is so absolutely gorgeous we'd be cutting off our own noses!!!

MIL took DD to a coffee morning at her old work with adults with learning disabilities and let one of the women with downs look after DD all morning and take her for a walk round the grounds! If SIL knew there'd be blood! That said, I half laughed cos not sure I'd be over the moon but then I know Mil is not stupid and she could see woman at all times. I (think) I'd be able to let go!!

As for no Santa, we are all distraught. I've read all the threads on here and other sites and see no viable argument for that being anything other than cruelty. DD has a very unusual name so they not helping the poor girl at all! SIL had no worse childhood than anyone I know and everyone in our family knows if anyone is allowed to play a woe is me card it's me but I never do cos life's just too damn short x
I like it here! Anyone want a glass of wine?

I just lost a big post

Had a good xmas, slightly sad due to lack of pg again and forced to spend lots of time watching DH playing and having enormous amounts of fun with his nephews, wondering if I'll ever be able to give him that for real. But was fun and santa was good to me. Trying to spend lots of time JSing. Back at work too, 'tis alright but no better than when I went off, although my confidence isn't as low as it was. Receptionist is back off maternity leave and keeps going on about how she wants another baby, cos apparently it's that easy for some people, someone else who has just come back off mat leave is pg again and someone else is suspected of being pg again [not impressed face]. Got another couple of counselling sessions then I'm considering hypnotherapy as I've had fairly good results in the past (should maybe try it for getting pg .

Anyway, catch up properly soon

P.S. hi to the newbies

Ha Winkly! The f bomb would work here too!

It's taken us this long to ttc (together 15 years) cos DH has major concerns about bringing children into this horrid world.
But as the song goes... Children are our future. Teach the well..... All we can do really x x

Puggy your SIL sounds like, erm, words you couldn't use during a board game.

Raspberry - thank you. I actually felt better just for writing it down. PMT wasn't helping either. Well done on your bike ride, enjoy your drinks and best wishes for Friday.

Well as you ask rasp... SIL (On DH side)... She is one of those women who could have an argument with herself in a mirror. You never know what kind of mood she will be in before an encounter so everyone is on tenterhooks! PIL live 250 miles away and BIL and SIL are round the corner from them.... So we only see them occasionally. But that is enough for me!! We are staying at PIL all over Xmas/new year! Get on very well with them.

B/SIL have a DD and SIL is the only woman who ever had a baby and follows every new fad and idea she reads. Can't speak to niece in a baby voice, no such things as Santa, she doesn't volunteer a cuddle off the baby either and I'm not comfortable to ask.... Friends kids - I'm the crazy auntie who throws them in the air etc until I can't breathe! They cry when it's time to say goodbye!! I've always gone straight up to friends kids' and played with them but just daren't with niece???

They arrived on Xmas day and poor FIL asked where DD was and was she asleep in the car... Quite innocent comment and she ripped him to shreds! I also dropped the f bomb while playing a board game (rock n roll) and she tutted and stormed off into another room as baby cant be exposed to language like that!! She's 8 months old!!

That's just one encounter!!

Appreciate you shouldn't really swear near kids but BIL said a few naughty words before I did! FIL also said a couple and when BIL challenged him BIL was reminded whose house it was!!! Fraught!!

Don't feel pressurised into using ovulation tests. Some people do, some don't. I'm in the don't camp at the moment but I do take my temperature every day. Temperature charting and checking your cervical mucus (sorry!) are generally the most reliable indicators of fertility.

As far as PG tests go, someone once posted the statistics on here as to how accurate they are, and it was pretty shocking! Even as much as 11 days after ovulation (dpo) most are still only 70% accurate. You can easily waste a fortune buying sticks to pee on

Thanks for the welcome Dessie

I have bought 10 (!) cheapo pregnancy tests off eBay and I'm waiting for them to arrive. They claim you can test up to 7 days early, not sure about that one though!

But what are ovulation tests?? I thought you just worked it all out from from dates? Should I be doing a test for this?

< goes off to Google>

Hi raspberry. There's been a few things really.

We had quite a nice Christmas, no money worries, good night's sleep. I wondered "why rock the boat?" We both work shifts, childcare will be a nightmare. To have any amount of space we are having to move to a town where we know nobody.

DH's dad has Alzheimers and this is the first year it was noticeable. He will have no relationship with any child, and I feel we are being selfish making ourselves unable to help MIL in the future. My parents are also a long distance away.

My nephew was unwell over Christmas - I dread the worry, the sleepless nights, the bedlinen covered in vomit. I am terrified of bringing children into a cruel world and being unable to protect them.

Sorry for being so miserable everyone :-(