Preconception planning - anyone want to join?

@mackjm20 I would probably wait until I‘ve got the confirmation from a doctors office (from what I’ve read 6-8 weeks pregnant) and then tell my mum. Although this plan may be hijacked by the fact that I have to tell my boss as soon as I know from a positive home test as I wrote somewhere before..) And I think it would be strange to tell my boss but not my mum :D

@CookieMonster3001 My app predicts my ovulation wrong too I think it’s just pretending like it reads all the info I give it and does the so called „normal“ 14 days lutetal Phase thing anyway ..

@CookieMonster3001 I've got the one step ones too, although they dont always give the same readings as the femometer ones...even on the same sample..no idea which one is more true!

You could try taking a picture on the femometer app with the one step ones?

I would definitely have liked to know what my cycle was before I started trying so you are doing the right thing I think.

oh and forgot to mention, I am using Fertility Friend and I have downloaded femometer but I am not using their OPK strips, not sure if that makes a difference

@butterfly5291 I picked up the onestep ones from ebay because my whole family uses my account on amazon so couldn't buy from there. Its either that or my urine is too diluted (I drink a lot of water in a day!)

Tbh I wasn't even going to track this month, so I might just do it properly next month instead. Glad I decided to start tracking in advance though. If I had to do this in the first month of TTC, I would be going batty!

@CookieMonster3001 what OPKs are you using? Which apps? I have the femometer OPKS and the app - its free and you can log everything in one place. I've not had a full cycle yet so I am still totally in the dark....had a few faint lines on OPKs but not consistently so I dont think I have ovulated yet.

@mackjm20 I think I would tell my sisters and my sister in law, but then tell everyone else at the 12 week mark. My older sister is going through the same journey as me and it will be nice to have someone to confide in. And I cannot tell my older sister and not my younger (we tell each other EVERYTHING!)

My ovulation this month is really confusing me! I had ovulation pains yesterday, but my app is still saying its not due till 25th. I did my OPK just now and the LH surge has definitely gone down, which is leading me to think the OPK I posted the other day could have potentially been a positive, which would have meant I ovulated yesterday (corresponding with the pains) and now the LH has dropped. Not to mention my temp has gone up this morning which usually happens the day after ovulation.

If that's the case, the apps really have my ovulation dates all wrong (by probably a week!). I am going to keep an eye on my temp over the next couple of days to see if it stays up and I think that will probably confirm it. Either that or I am reading everything completely wrong!

@Lollipop87 I had my mmr when i was a kid in Brazil and luckily i was still immune. I used VisitHealth for the rubella igg as I didn't want to use my gp or go to a hospital. My stepsons nanny is 60 and we've been trying to avoid any risks to protect her. Results came within 24h. And i was refunded by my insurance.

@queenatom my thoughts exactly. DH is set on keeping it just us until 12 weeks but I can barely keep it quiet what I had for dinner let alone a baby! If it happens by Christmas I know I’ll be bursting to tell people.

@Lollipop87 yes my DH is exactly the same but think what you said about the support is so important my mum and sister would be top of my list too! I get excited even just thinking about it!

@stepmumSW5 oh yes I’m not worried about not having another one, and my smears since my treatment have all been normal and I was put back on 3 yearly ones a good few years ago now with no further problems 😊 Thanks for the tip about the rubella test (and to the other person who mentioned it), just done some googling and it says even if you had the MMR vaccines as a child there’s still a 1 in 50 chance that either the immunisation didn’t work or that the immunity has worn off so I’m going to ring my doctor’s surgery and ask if I can have the blood test to check if I’m still immune. Did you just have yours at your usual doctor’s?

@Lollipop87 Sorry to hear about it - but if you've been having it regularly then there's nothing to worry about. My last one had been 3 years ago. So I rushed to do it just in case.

@mackjm20 ooh that’s a good question, I don’t know how I could not tell my mum and my sister! We’re very close and my sis even sent us a photo of her positive test being like “I think that’s a line?!” and then the digital one afterwards. I doubt DH would want me telling them though as he’s quite private, will have to wait and see I guess! Someone once said to me that you should tell people you’d want to know and support you if you had a miscarriage, and they tick that so I probably would tell them but not friends (maybe my best friend as she told me straight away with her first).

@CookieMonster3001 I’m loving the planner!!

I’m afraid I can’t join in with the smear as I had mine in Nov, but I really admire you all for getting them / trying to bring them forward to before you TTC. I had an abnormal smear at my very first one when I was 25 and had to have pre-cancerous cells removed so I always go religiously!

@CookieMonster3001 OHHH that gives me so much organisational happiness!! #proudofyou

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Regarding TESTS

I suggest you guys have a smear and a rubella IGG when planning to conceive. That was my GP's main suggestion in terms of health checks. I've now finally received both with good news!

@mackjm20 Nah, I know what I'm like and I definitely won't be able to keep it entirely to myself! I have a couple of close friends who I expect I'll tell fairly soon after finding out - they all told me before 12 weeks when they were expecting, and they're also the sort of friends I'd want to be able to talk to if anything went wrong (which I think is key). I might tell immediate family if the opportunity was right - my family live at the opposite end of the country so I only see them in person a few times a year, and I'd rather tell them a little early but in person than do it by phone. I also think they'd probably guess if I was avoiding the wine all weekend!

Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind about all of this when I get there - I don't think you can ever really know how you'll feel until you're dealing with the reality.

@CookieMonster3001 Omgosh I love how organised you are! That has literally made me want to order a new planner!!

You ladies have made me think loads about timing and things to avoid about telling people? Are you all planning to wait until the 12 weeks to tell anyone other than your partner?

Recieved my planner today yay! The organisational freak in me has started recording (see image). Sometimes the neatness just gives me immense satisfaction LOL.

@queenatom hope your smear goes well

@CookieMonster3001 I am also predicted for ovulation on Saturday - very in sync! Second line on the OPK today but quite faint. Hopefully heading in the right direction. Fingers crossed for us both!

We’re like a hive mind in here - I have my smear this afternoon! I get a health check up every two years through work which includes a smear and a breast check as well as blood and urine tests and a blood pressure check. Will be a good MOT in advance of trying and will hopefully pick up any other issues that might be a problem (cholesterol, anaemia...)

@MsQueenInTheNorth no you didn't patronise me, my aim really is that bad!! haha! But I managed to pee in the pot today and not make a mess. Key is to not pee so hard!! LOL result looks pretty much the same as yesterday so will go again tomorrow and see what it says. Fertility Friend has me at ovulation on Saturday.

@Anniemabel literally planning to ring the dr's this week to book in my smear test! always hate going for a smear as the nurse always has difficulties getting in if you get my drift. So often a lot of fumbling around down there (not my idea of fun) but I am very religious about getting it done regularly and it just so happens my next one is due this August, so perfect timing.

For those wanting to watch ovulation journey on youtube, I have been watching 'An Expat Mommy in Sweden' who was documenting her OPK journey whilst TTC last year and really enjoyed watching her videos. I was amazed at how many were on youtube!

Ahhh, sorry @CookieMonster3001! Didn’t mean to patronise... or insult your aiming skills

That sounds like a good idea, and you were so close with that last one that at least you know vaguely which day would have been ovulation day. I probably use an unnecessary amount of strips (I have the same ones that you do), so I wish they had slightly more environmentally friendly packaging than those little foil packets.

Excellent news on your husband quitting the vape, and everything that has led to... long may it continue!

Thank you for the advice @Anniemabel, that’s a good tip. I’m due a smear test in January so I wonder if I could have it shifted forward a month to December? Then at least it would be out of the way!

@MsQueenInTheNorth yep that was me peeing in a pot and still managed to pee all over my hand. Definitely need to up my aim game! haha. Even though I said I wouldn't start testing till Aug, I basically screwed myself by testing yesterday because now I do want to carry on just to see a pattern, but to save on the strips, I am only gonna do 1 a day for now, and then pin point it closer to the time of day closer to October.

I dunno if hubby quitting the vape has caused this (he has been vape free for 9 days now! So proud of him) but we have DTD 4 times this week (instead of our usual once a week situ) and 2 of those were in one day! I was pleasantly surprised. Lets hope this is here to stay!!

I’m hoping to try for a fourth! I need to lose some weight first and take some vitamins but I just checked on to see whether there was anything new people were doing since my first pregnancy when I researched everything but it was a long while ago now!

@Lollipop87 and @Nate1 I think not trying but not preventing is the route we're going to go down. I actually really like this idea and hopefully it'll mean I don't get to the point of being too obsessed with dates and OPKs. I think that would just stress me out.

@Anniemabel I asked when I had my coil out about having my smear early as mine is due in November but the nurse said that they couldn't od it earlier unless it was only about a month before.

Is anyone else here trying for a second or third baby? From what I've read, I get the impression that it's the first time around for most on here.

I haven’t read the full thread so not sure if someone has already mentioned either of these things but two random things I think it’s worth doing before trying to conceive are having a smear test, because if you’re due one when pregnant you have to wait till, I think, 3 months or so after the birth so you can end up going a year overdue. The other is having a rubella immunity test. Rubella is part of the childhood vaccination programme but isn’t 100% effective so if you’re found not to be immune you can have another vaccination before TTC. They test for it as part of normal pregnancy bloods but at that point I think they won’t vaccinate you if you aren’t immune.

@CookieMonster3001 that looks almost there to me! In the past if I have got one that ‘close’ I’ve tested again 8-12 hours later, even if that means doing 2 in the same day. Fingers crossed!
I would wee in to a pot or cup and dip it in though, if you’ve got something to hand. I think (unlike pregnancy tests) it can affect the testing strip if you get urine on the wrong bit, which on those ones is above the black line?

Good Morning :)

@queenatom happy to hear that your fine :)

@Pebbleinthesand I feel you :D I just asked my dh to start trying in late August because I‘m that eager to try and have a baby..So don‘t expect me trying to talk you out of it :D Go for it and just enjoyable this month I think it’s great that you can just relax a month and not be set on getting pregnant immediately! :) I will try to do that in case we decide to start in August.

@CookieMonster3001 exciting! Love YouTube although of course I know that some information might be even more speculative. @wrensandrobins try it you’re in for a treat :D it’s really fun to watch all the girls talking about their experiences :)