TTC and a teacher?! Join me!

Hi. Can I join? I am a secondary teacher. DS is 4 now; took us 2 1/2 years and 1 miscarriage to get him. Been TTC #2 since June 2011, had a m/c at 12 weeks in Dec 11, no luck since then.

I am convinced school stress is a factor, but I am sure my age is also against me now,(38).

Am due to have a laparoscopy (second one), on Jan 29th for endo. However AF is 5 days late but no BFP. I blame stress!

I read "The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant", simply because I'm not at a stage, yet, where I am worried about my fertility. My cycles are regular, I ovulate, I'm healthy throughout, not overweight, do sports, eat alrightish...I just think we don't dtd. Once we dtd regularly (which is planned for this year...I'll be dammed if we don't at least try a bit harder), I can start counting the months properly. Since I changed schools this year, the months we had a break don't really count as as "ttc", I think. I just didn't think getting pregnant without at least having done a year at my new school would be fair on them...especially in an Ofsted year.
(It doesn't help that I've got issues with having sex in general, but that doesn't have anything to do with my fertility as such. I'm working on that and hope that literally smothering my lady bits with pre-seed will resolve that while we ttc.)

I used 'Taking Charge if your Fertility' while TTC DD and think its great. I thought I knew it all about ovulation etc until I read the book! I charted temperatures and CM and I'm doing it again this time. I stick the thermometer in as soon I wake up and log the temp on the Fertility Friend iPhone app. I also read Emma Cannon's 'Baby Making Bible' which was good.

You've probably already seen these but they are UK based sites with evidence about TSH being below 2 while TTC and in early preg. Don't have the links at the moment but they're on patient.co.uk and NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries. GPs and specialists are more likely to take notice of them as they're from the UK/NHS rather than from America. There's also a massive Thyroid thread on fertility friends with some really knowledgeable people. That's where I got most of my info.

Thanks, doobeedee - I'll have a read of that site. My tests were fairly recent -last September then December. I'm seeing my GP soon as I have just had some hopsital investigations done that were all clear. Last time I saw her she said she'd refer me to an FS no matter what the hospital results were. I think I will do what you did and talk to the FS about thyroid. My levels were 4.6 then a 3.9.

Thanks everyone, will have to do another test tomorrow to really believe it!

It will Defo be a sign that you are all next and can keep me company

I have done the same investigations re. Thyroid. My TSH was 4.4 when my luteal phase was AF it's shortest. GP said it was normal but research told me it should be below 2 for conception. I asked FS and he agreed and retested Thyroid. It had gone down to 2.1 on its own and my LP has increased. If it hadn't improved on its own he would have told my GP to treat it. I was about to go back to GP armed with research from the NHS itself that I hoped she would take notice of when it normalised itself. How long ago was it tested? Maybe you should get it fine again. Also, I'm convinced lacking in vit D is a prob. I had my longest LPs in the summer after a holiday to Spain. I started supplementing with vit D and LP has lengthened again. This is a good site:

sites.google.com/site/miscarriageresearch/vitamins-and-miscarriage/vitamin-c

Congratulations Riskit. Lovely to have a BFP on the thread already. Let's hope it's a sign of things to come for the rest of us!

Oh...oops! Congratulations, riskit. Send me your mulled wine - I'll sort it out for you!

sparkle, I've not read any books - have found the Internet to be more than enough to get the information I need. I hear a lot of people recommending the 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility' book (mentioned above) for information about charting etc. but I've never bothered, personally. I probably would buy it if I didn't know what my problem was though! The mumsnet fora have been my classroom!

I've found this www.amazon.co.uk/BabyMad-Basal-Temperature-Ovulation-Thermometer/dp/B001CL2GIA/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358615459&sr=8-1-spell to be a perfectly good thermometer and then I just signed up for a free account on fertility friend: www.fertilityfriend.com/ very easy to use.

doobeedee I've had my thyroid checked twice. Both times I was just within the current accepted upper limit. However, having done a bit more research, I have found that this upper limit is controversial and other countries (such as the USA) have a lower threshold, which basically means I would be hypothyroid if I lived there! My progesterone levels have been OKish when checked (last one was 29.5) but 3 days later spotting starts and off we go again.

Congratulations riskit. Let's hope that's the first of many bfps on this thread

Ah congrats riskit

Hello, I am a teacher, secondary too. I wanted to join the thread. Went to m and s and bought many bottles of cut pricee mulled wine on Thursday, got home and POAS just in case before I started drinking said wine.... And bfp! Am still in shock. Anyways I was just dropping in to say good luck to everyone and if you create another threadfo graduates I will certainly join.

Boodle have you had your Thyroid checked?

Sparkle. Get "Taking Charge of your fertility" or just check out the website. You only need a cheap BBT thermometer from Amazon. You can log it all on Fertility Friend. If you have an iPhone get the app. It's free and does all the interpretation for you. When I went to see the fertility specialist he saw the folder I had with me and said "You must be a teacher. Teachers always bring me nice graphs to look at"!!!

I've been tested on several cycles. Progesterone always around 3 when it should be 30 to confirm strong ovulation. My problem is that with the short LP it's almost impossible to get the test at the right time (7dpo) as by then my progesterone has already started to drop! I'm under a fertility specialist now and he agreed with me and has given me Clomid. First cycle had to be abandoned after 3 tablets though as I got a positive preg test even though I'd had a "period" and was told to stop taking them in case I was preg. It turned out to be a chemical pregnancy which has happened to me before (I suspect 3 times now) which means we are conceiving but just not implanting.

sparkle9 - I suspect most people are naive when they first start out with TTC; I know I was! Most people never have to worry about this as they fall pregnant within the first few months. It was only when things didn't seem to be happening that I started taking things like OPKs and temping seriously.

Knowing what I know now, I'd probably tell people to start getting more sussed up with their cycles as soon as possible because it can't hurt! If pregnancy happens quickly and it was a waste of time well, so what? On the other hand, if TTC proves more difficult (and fingers crossed that it's not for you) then you'll be glad you started looking into it as early as possible.

doobeedee, have you assumed poor progesterone levels based on your temperatures, or is that something you have been 'formally' diagnosed with?

i suspect this is my part of my problem too.

That should have said "waited longer" stupid fat fingers!

I've been charting for ages. It works even though I'm a really bad sleeper. It's how I found out about my short luteal phase and rubbish attempts at ovulating. Although I do ovulate, it's not very strong and this causes low progesterone in the LP. If I wasn't charting, I wouldn't have known this and would have edited longed to go and get help. For this reason I love charting!

And anyway Bajas you may not have to see the doctor at all. Good luck!