The waiting game!!!

gakay i should say ultimately have to decide if you wanna get married in march-may maybe its worth waiting a few months before getting pregnant, just in case, but if you really want to start a family then don't wait, we all know how long it can take, its all down to fate really x

blankets sorry about AF what a cruel cow she is taking that long :( messing with your mind like that. how annoying! it is so hard when cycles change. I hope they don't all end up long. It could just be a blip

sarah Thanks - today has been worse so far - 3.5hr commute this am cos of an accident! not great at all! And I had my 6.30am conf call as well, which meant I was up even earlier than usual to be on that before leaving... all fun & games... still keeping positive for next week....

hopefully your DP will get a job quickly back home and then you can save for his course etc and he can get where he wants to :)

I agree never a good time but hopefully things will work out in the best possible way and he will be around for scans etc. Just go for it and see what happens, there are so may what if's in life and things can change so quickly :)

gakay you can take as long or as short a time wedding planning, i've friends who did it in 3 months and people that took 5 years... it all depends what is the most important part of the wedding - some people want a venue whcih is mega popular - hence the long wait, and some don't mind and get a cancellation/whatever is available when they want it. For a dress, there are loads of options, i brought my off the peg- it was the shop sample, was under half price and had it way before the wedding, but others don't want the sample dress and so have to take into account a potential 3-6month wait for their dress to arrive from when it is ordered - a lot of the time it depends on the type of dress- lace takes much longer than others, and also where it is made...there have been some gorgeous options on the high street as well... there are plenty of ways to make things cheaper/not essential things that you don't "need" to do just because that's what people expect...so don't go with what the books/forums etc tell you... anything is possible, just need to define the things you don't want to compromise on. :) and there are plenty of people who plan weddings and fall pregnant before, so I wouldn't worry, everything is adaptable - I just realised how crazy I sound about weddings - I loved planning ours, and helping friends to do theirs - if i really thought I would make money out of doing it as a job I would! :) haha.

london fx for you that your wine stays unopened till next year.

blankets sorry that the witch has come to visit. (Sorry, I can't rememver) how many cycles have it been since off pill? Sometimes people find their cycle length much longer in the first few cycles and will get shorter afterwards.

sarah that's good, it means it would give your OH plenty of time to find the right job.

FF has just confirmed I ov on monday. The study I'm on tells me to start pg testing from cd15 (today) which is stupidly early. Think I'll wait till next Monday.

I don't know what to do with wedding planning. We want to get married between March and may. If I'm lucky this month or next few months that period would be really bad timing. Any suggestions? How long does it take to plan a wedding? And wedding dress? I heard that you need to choose months in advance. Arrrggghhh. am trying to think about wedding to distract me from obsessing during this tww spent hours and hours yesterday googling various TTC related topics and did no work at all

soda glad you're feeling better. It's his job so if he comes back tomorrow he'll be unemployed...99% sure he'll end up back tomorrow. He's been applying for jobs today so fx he will get a new one soon!

bourbon sorry you've been having such a bad day! Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Yes i've had him applying for temp ones too. He really wants to go offshore sometime this year but we need to save for his course first

gakay fx for you! Yes it is tough, i suppose it's worse as the periods aren't defined too, we could cope better if it was "you'll be away on x date and back on x date" kind of thing.

london yes he's away for around 3 weeks at a time and back for 3-4 days :(

blankets sorry for AF! I know how you feel with long cycles, my app is telling me i wont ovulate until 22nd june now.

So now i'm worried that we're ttc at the wrong time (is there ever a right time?). I did the EDD thing, no idea why, but if i get pregnant in june it'll be a march baby. So even if he doesn't get a job like next week, i doubt he still won't have a job by march!

Also one of my main concerns before was that he would miss scans and if he's here i won't have to worry about that :) maybe we should just still go for it

Hi all, AF arrived this morning. 6 weeks after my last period. I was totally convinced I was pregnant with low HCG....but I guess not.
I'm so frustrated though as if all my cycles are this long I'll have fewer chances to conceive. I'm feeling so frustrated and disappointed :(

Soda sister says have to wait till friday and do it first wee... Im really hoping wine stays closed.

london - have you done a test? If AF due today you could test? Not like me being mad woman testing over a week too early!! Fx no need for wine!

Wine still waiting in the fridge unopened. Remember if af comes im having a glass. If not im shouting from the roofs and putting the bottle away for a year. Af still not come. Had small blip yesterday thinking she come as had a white blood clot. Still very light brown muscus spotting on and off. Bet af comes later.... This wait is awful!!!!

Soda you ok. Keeping fingers crossed or elle and bourbon. Sarah does dh work away alot as cant imagine how hard that is.

elle & bourbon have fun DTD in the next few days and fx for you.

sarah I can see your dilemma. Hopefully he will be able to find another job soon. It's tough doing a job you do not enjoy esp as it takes him away from home for such a period period and so frequently.

soda glad to hear that you are feeling better. Sorry about the bfn but it is way too early. Wait for a few more days before you test again.

bourbon sorry to see you're feeling down. Looks like you are under quite a bit of pressure. It's easier said than done but it would be great if you could keep an optimistic attitude towards the new job without getting too obsessed not that I'm any good at doing what I preach

So I had an epic temp rise this morning following yesterday's mini rise. I guess I have ovulated on Sunday/Monday.
soda I'll be joining you in poas soon

soda yeah it has been, didn't realise how much until then though I guess. Finding this afternoon really hard, can't wait to go home. I better get the new job or pregnant soon! Can't take much longer here!

haha! Don't worry! you are not mad! it happens to all of us :) only go in if feel better and that you can cope OK :)

Ah bourbon you ok? Is it work getting you down? Hope you're ok.

I'm officially mad. I just did a pregnancy test!! Why did I do that?! Obviously it was BFN it couldn't have been anything else!! Argh! I'm definitely going into the office tomorrow!!

I am having such a bad day... and then my parents called - as they are off on hols for their 30th wedding anniversary - I just burst into tears. No idea how it happened - my Dad just asked me how I was and said I sounded down... not like me at all. Luckily I managed to hide it a bit better than normal, but was strange! Now trying to listen to music on headphones so I can stop myself! haha....

I hope I get this other job so bad! But really don't want to get my hopes up! So hard!

sarah could he take on a temp role until he found something permanent?

soda am glad you are feeling better. keeping FX for you that you will get a BFP soon :)

here's to hopefully not crying again while in office today!

Hi everyone, feeling a bit better today. Antibiotics kicking in thankfully. I'm working from home today so I can be near a loo!! I quite enjoy working from home (no need to get dressed, VERY short commute etc!) But it is also very easy to get distracted - not sure Id want to do it every day.

Today I'm obsessing and symptom spotting! I've got very sensitive nipples but my boobs aren't sore whereas last month at this stage (7dpo) my boobs were extremely sore and then got less painful and were fine by the time AF came. So I'm now convincing myself this is a good sign! I was genuinely fairly relaxed until today!!

Commutes really make a difference - used to be over an hour for me and standing on public transport. It's now 35 mins and I get a seat. That's a huge difference and gives me back an extra hour every day!

sarah - so is this a contract he wants to leave? Or is he wanting to leave his job entirely? I guess the same thing applies for our men - if he's unhappy he should leave. However, good to try and have something lined up if possible! Especially if you're going to be on mat leave

gakay bourbon i used to leave at 6am so makes such a difference! elle that sounds great, i would love to work from home. If you dont mind me asking, what is it you do?

Fx for everyone! I have a slight dilema...well kind of. DP is busy texting me saying he wants to get on the train and quit this job. Which is great, he'll be at home however it means he needs to get a new job ASAP.

elle my fertile period starts today, with the peak over the weekend :) I have decided this month to not tell hubby when the peak time is, cos last time I felt he felt pressure to perform, so figure not telling him when it counts but DTD every other day will be good...hopefully...

you are totally right with the work stuff, I think just need to make sure qualify for stat mat pay, which I would, and that's all I would get here anyway, so have been trying to save while I am working to be able to extend that as long as I can afford really. My daily communte is 60ish miles each way... the new one would be a lot shorter :) so fx for that! I really want it, going to start my prep based on their job spec and get all my examples in my head for it.

soda i hope you are feeling a bit better today

sarah I am totally jealous you leave work so late, I have been in office around 30mins by then :/ can never tell what roads will be like,

gakay I think you did lol just read that post back and realised what I had said, it was of course suppose to say I will NOT symptom spot!

On the subject of work and commuting, my commute is about 40 mins, only 25 miles but all country lanes (I live in the middle of the countryside). I am also unhappy at work and very concerned about the fact that my current employers are very old school and not at all flexible so I have decided to go it alone and set up on my own working from home. Of course there are down sides but if I do manage to get pregnant it has to be easier not having to answer to an employer and working from home??

My advice is to just go for it, you have to do what makes you happy, we spent the largest portion of our life at work so we might at least try to enjoy it...good luck with the interview.

So I am CD9 of what is normally a 25 day cycle, AF finished on Saturday, according to Ovia today begins my fertile period so let the fun begin (well I will try to make it fun!).

elle did I see a Freudian slip in your last sentence revealing your inner mind? J/k. I had no idea how common it is getting obsessed during TTC until I joined mn.

Thanks all for well wishes. Pain got so bad this afternoon I got an emergency GP appointment and got antibiotics - doc reassured me they're safe if I am pregnant. So will hopefully be feeling better soon.

gakay - I know what you mean about being bothered about DTD and OH being relieved about not doing it! My OH works pretty long hours so it felt a bit forced some days this month. Really conscious I want to keep if fun but really hard when there's a small window to aim for!

It's all about decent commute in my book. I deliberately got a new job in January because I knew it would be much better in terms of flexibility and commute so would offer better quality of life for potential motherhood. I'm all ready, just need a baby now!

elle - welcome back. Glad to hear you're feeling positive again. I think the nice thing about us lot is we're all at slightly different points in our cycle so hopefully there'll always be a couple of us in similar situation.

Hi all sorry not been on for a while, was really down when AF arrived and have been really busy completing on a buy to let property last week. But am in a positive place now and getting ready to start the TWW again. My apparent fertile period starts tomorrow and am planning on DTD every other day for the next 14 days (just to make sure LOL) Sorry to all those who got their AF and FX for next month and hello to all the new members! I have made myself a promise that I will symptom spot this time or even look to POAS till I am late (lets see if I keep that promise!) Good luck all

Time to focus at work or not

soda sorry about the cystitis. That's horrible. Remember the first time I had it I thought I was gonna die because of the pain. If the pain is bad I would take the antibiotics regardless if you may get pg or not. During these early days it probably won't affect anything - that's what my GP friend has told me.

bourbon I think you are right. All these OPKs and temping are driving me mad. Have spent all day at work googling. But they could helpfully reduce no. of days required to DTD.

Now I don't know what to do in terms of DTD. We DTD everyday during the wkn. DP was so relieved when I told him I have most likely peaked and to celebrate he had 2 lagers and a bottle of wine plus lots of smoking. I guess we are covered today for having DTD y'day. Will see what happens tmw wrt OPK and temp. Hope we really have entered tww as can't be bothered to DTD again...

blankets hope you get your BFP soon fx

sarah I'm really envious that you get to leave home at 8.30!

bourbon the job i'm at now i decided on due to commuting and it is so much better! I can actually sit and have breakfast in the morning and dont need to leave the house until 8.30. Considered going back to commuting just because i'd earn more money but with travel costs and planning a family i dont think its worth it. I'm sure you'll do perfectly fine at the interview, fx :)

gakay soda blankets thanks, he is thinking about looking for a new job in a few months which would be something like 3-4 weeks away then 2-3 weeks at home so would be much better than being home for a few days!

soda hope it clears up soon.
blankets i've heard of people not getting their BFP for over a week after AF was due. Is it a FRER you're using?

Fx for everyone

Bourbon-definitely go for the job!
Soda-cystitis is horrible-I hope it clears soon.
Sarah-Im sorry your DP is away.
For those of you starting the TWW good luck!

I've still no sign of AF but still no BFP-this is killing me! It's just a day shy of 6 weeks since the first day of my last period. I'm going mad not knowing! It's bad-but I've totally convinced myself that I'm pregnant. But then worry that I've no BFP so that something is wrong....

gakay soda thanks for the advice re the job. You are right never a good time, but fingers crossed. Everything happens for a reason, working closer to home would help so much. its a few mins walk from when DH works, and would make the situation so much easier for us if we do have a baby. So seems like with the job being based at a company I would love to work with it all seems too much like fate on my side... we shall see. I hope I perform the best I can at interview and then get a decision quickly! A week to prep now... :) eeek! And like you say they will manage without us when we do need mat leave, not like they don't have long enough to prepare for it :)

gakay I find the whole testing and temping thing so confusing, I was thinking about it before but decided I will give it a see what happens approach for a bit longer to save my head from everything else I am thinking about at the moment...

soda drink cranberry juice! its brilliant for it, and also if you can have a bath that helps. will help you relax a bit too, but not too much in way of bubbles, but essential oils and epsom salts should be good :) or just epsom salts - can get them from boots. its so hard knowing you need to drink loads to help it but its so painful having to drink and then go to the loo all the time :( I hope it starts to pass soon.

Currently distracting myself with hen weekend organisation! just realised I am running out of weekends to get things sorted out! when did life get so busy?!

FX for you both on yout TWW I think end of this week/weekend I will be starting mine, Friday/Sat/Sun are my pea days according to my app... so who knows...

Hi gakay I think our posts crossed. Lovely weekend thanks - I was on bridesmaid duties for my best friend on Saturday so that was great. But dreadful cystitis today! How was your weekend? Sorry you didn't see a peak. I've just got those cheap OPK strips and I got a positive tues evening and weds morning so definitely in the TWW now. Fingers crossed for BFPs for us both in a couple of weeks!