Preconception planners - still planning

I use a plastic shot glass to catch the wee for my OPKs!

I like to imagine that in a film of my life they will use this as a symbol to represent the difference between my 20s and 30s - tequila vs urine, one night stands vs TTC

@mackjm20 I'm actively TTC now and been using BBT and OPKs and also tried my sister's old CB fertility monitor last month.
What @TheNewMrsW said is correct. I tend to wake up a little later than usual at the weekend and use this website to adjust my temp:
www.whenmybaby.com/basalbodytemperature.php
I also use femometer OPKs. As you have no idea when you ovulate you could start using them when AF is finished...likely be no line to start with though so don't worry. I use a little Tupperware pot to catch wee and then dip...so much easier than trying to do it mid flow and you can't get it too wet. Once you open the pack it's not that hard to work out.
I would test once a day until you start to see a darker line then test a few times a day to try to catch your peak. They say not to drink for two hours to make sure you're wee isn't really diluted.
If you decide to hold off till Nov to actively TTC why not use next month bas practice with bbt and OPKs you should get a more concise window of when to focus on DTD. Oh and use fertility friend to track BBT but femometer app to read OPKs. Good luck!

LH surge*

@TheNewMrsW okay twice a day doesn’t sound so daunting :) Will do abit more reading about oh surge etc :) going to get that book and get onto it!

Have restarted weekly weigh ins and have worked out by nov I will be fully at target weight so the break to reassess - track and just try and naturally DTD abit more makes more sense than ‘ ntnp’ now thinking just use this time to prepare to ttc :)

Oh no what a nightmare with af! Really hope she makes her appearance soon for you- so frustrating isn’t it- they can say events can change your cycle so I’m sure it’s just a blip and will return to normal after :) hopefully she appears soon :)

@mackjm20 yep temp once a day on waking. I think with OPKs maybe everyone is different and it depends how long your LH surge lasts so maybe trial and error for a couple of cycles till you get it right? Yes it's a book and it is invaluable for understanding what the hell is going on in your body in my opinion lol!

Meanwhile, STILL no AF here but continued very light spotting. CD 42, WTAF?! She is toying with me, the minx. I am desperate to start playing with the fertility monitor lol. I'm definitely blaming the wedding for sending my cycles wonky as they have been fine for the last two years since coming off implant! 🤬

@TheNewMrsW thank you :) so basically I would only need to do one temp a day and one stick a day to get a good idea :)? Is taking charge of your fertility a book? If so I’ll have a look as think this is the one area I haven’t researched to death lol x

@mackjm20 your temp should be first thing when you wake up in the morning, you are supposed to have at least four hours of sleep beforehand. Taking temp is supposed to be very first thing you do on waking up as moving too much can cause a temperature shift, so I keep mine on my bedside table where I can grab it when the alarm goes off. You are supposed to do it same time every day which can make weekends a bit of a challenge, I usually get up to feed the cats though anyway then come back to bed so just try to keep that as same time as weekdays. I would really recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility for getting a handle on charting.

OPKs, the cheapie strips are supposed to be tested best in the afternoon. I haven't started then yet but was thinking of doing 2 a day, maybe around 12noon and then 4pm. I am going to need to get better at not peeing every hour 😂

So for anyone who is using opks and temp tracking and can offer some guidance that would be fabulous please...

My first cycle ‘ntnp’ (which I now believe if you know too much is not a thing lol) ended up even lower than expected with DTD once in the ‘flo app’ predicted window.

To be honest this doesn’t even feel like a tww it just feels like waiting for af to come So I’m using the time to re-evaluate.

I’m surprisingly okay as it honestly doesn’t even feel like a cycle really! Almost like I avoided the window given the lack of DTD lol!

I’ve explained to dh that we need to focus our attentions on a specific week and keep romance for the rest of the month and either he is ready or he isn’t so will just see what happens next cycle as we discuss over the next 2 weeks :) if he wants to wait I’m more than happy I just don’t think that mentally this half effort attempt is helpful lol!

So that brings me to opks and temp. I think that being able to pinpoint when DTD needs to be compulsory would be better than a prediction so going to properly give it a go after af...

So I have got the femometer opks going to download the app just ordered the thermometer too. How many times per day do you do the sticks? And how many times the thermometer? Does everyone have a set time that’s better?

I am embracing that knowledge is power and I already know too much to try and do this by ‘ntnp’ now as I’ve been planning since early this year haha! So may aswell give myself a helping hand :)

Any guidance welcome as last month I had the sticks and it all seemed so complicated I just didn’t bother lol! X

@bubblybrit thank you I hope so. :) would hate for it to just be because it’s required

@gems05 so sorry to hear about your bug are you feeling any better?

@Lollipop87 That’s really exciting! Hope you get an offer on yours ASAP :) do you have friends/ family where you are moving :)? How did it go telling your mum? Such a good idea re spicing it up before hand as if you are naturally wanting to dtd more you won’t feel it’s just to conceive! Think I’m going to pause next month with this ntnp malarkey and try that so that when we have agreed to fully ttc in nov it doesn’t feel so forced!

@CookieMonster3001 Oh god I’m still obsessed with the one born videos! Totally hear you on the weight loss it feels to counterproductive doesn’t it? I’m feeling the same about the bump and also feel closer to a healthy bmi the better chances of a healthy pregnancy. This week I’ve been really watching what I eat and adding in exercise as of next week :)

@IAmFourEels Omgosh I could not relate to this more. Covid has massively affected my weight loss plans too! I feel like summer is usually my thinsperation and spending most of it inside has felt like winter lol! Have you been able to get back to the gym and classes now? I’m only just finding the motivation to get back into exercise!

@Meke21 Welcome :)

@Bells3032 How are you doing? You have been on my mind lots x

@HeyDW96 I’m technically in my first tww now however we only DTD once in my window so basically just waiting for af to reset for next month so it doesn’t really feel how I know it will if I thought there was any chance... how are you finding it?

@Meke21 welcome!! It's exciting isn't it 😊

@sunflowersaremyfav93 I haven't properly looked through Zita West yet will look at it tomorrow and let you know. It Starts With The Egg was really interesting but it is very sciencey so if you like that I would recommend, if not you could probably get a summary of the main information out of it on her website and google.

Hi I was wondering if I could join? After a long conversation with DH we decided to start TRC, we believe this is the right time for us, this is a first for me, DH has a older child from a past relationship and we have been married 2 years, I’m new to this so please any advice or tips would be gratefully appreciated

As I'm on CD7,
AF has buggered off for another month, I know I'm poorly with a bug at the moment but I still want to get in the habit of trying out these opks.

The Femometer app reckons this is low

@butterfly5291 I wake up a lot in the night, so I would always worry that I hadn’t been asleep long enough for it to be effective. I think the natural cycles app said you need to have been asleep for at least 3-4 hours? It’s also less accurate if you’ve been drinking which was sometimes an issue before as I was using it to avoid getting pregnant... obviously that won’t be an issue when I’m actually TTC though!

I’ll see how I get on without it as I don’t want to add too much pressure to start with. I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to use the LH tests to start with, as I was trying to stick with the mindset that people were able to successfully conceive babies for years without tracking everything! I think it’s probably because I read an article that advised against it (at least to start with) as it talked about how some people get very stressed if they know they are having sex at the optimum time but not falling pregnant... then the stress obviously makes things worse! That would 100% be me (“We’ve had sex the day before ovulation and on the day of ovulation and the day after for the last 3 months and I’m not pregnant. There’s obviously something wrong!) so I’m trying to keep it low key for as long as possible

she says, naively

On the topic of losing weight, my plan was to do loads of exercise classes in the spring, spend summer and autumn having the time of my life being slim and fabulous at festivals and parties and on holidays ... to take my mind off the impatience of desperately waiting to TTC and also have a joyous last fling of being responsibility-free ... and then TTC in January.

Then Covid happened and royally buggered up my plans, gyms closed, parties and holidays cancelled, stuck at home snacking for months on end. I know people have suffered worse things due to Covid, and I’m very lucky this is all i have to complain about - but wanted a bit of a vent about my scuppered plans!

That's really helpful, thank you @butterfly5291

@TheNewMrsW do you Recxomendes both the books you bought? I'm thinking of getting the Zita West one?

@sunflowersaremyfav93 yes you should DTD the day after peak as ovulation may occur 12-36 hour after surge.
@MsQueenInTheNorth I just keep my thermometer by the bed so alarm goes off and thermometer goes in. It's the only way to prove ovulation happened.
I can't imagine TTC without taking it. Especially as I know so much about it now.

@butterfly5291 I did, so last night I tested again and it had gone from 0.88 to 0.85 and then I did another one just now and it's gone down to 0.74. So when I'm actually TTC if I DTD today and tomorrow I'd still have a good chance of getting pregnant? Is that right?

Thank you both! Yes, it might be that it wasn’t concentrated enough. I do drink a lot (and I’m terrible at holding it ) so perhaps that’s it. I’ll have to make a conscious effort not to drink too much between now and 7/8pm! @butterfly5291 No, I don’t track bbt. I did in the past when I was using natural cycles but I found it too much of a faff so I’m trying to manage without it!

I used the strips before too when I was using Natural Cycles and I don’t remember this ever happening- oh well!

@MsQueenInTheNorth I have heard people say that sometimes the body can have multiple LH surges until the body actually ovulates so that might be the case? Or as @butterfly5291suggested your wee might not be concentrated enough? I have to hold my wee from 12noon until I test around 3.30pm to make sure its concentrated enough for the test.

@MsQueenInTheNorth I would say keep testing... especially if it was stronger again now. You might have had really diluted wee on the ones where it's barely showing anything. Do you track bbt too?

Is anyone able to give me any advice about hothead crazy LH test strips? With that nice strong line (probably even darker than it looks in the picture, but not quite peak) yesterday lunchtime I was expecting the one around 4pm to be even darker or peak... not to have almost disappeared! Then the one I did around 11pm (which I know was a bit late) was the same, so I assumed that I’d had an overnight surge between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and I was catching the end of it not the start... but then I’ve just done one now and it’s looking stronger again! What is my body doing?!

@CookieMonster3001 @butterfly5291 thanks that makes me feel better about bbt! I kept thinking the same about not getting up for a wee 😂

The gin was Strykk non-alcoholic, think I got it in Tesco. I thought it was really pleasant. Tonic and lime is pleasant enough but doesn't quite have that ooomph - if you add a couple of drops of angostura bitters it's enough to give it an edge though!

Anybody in 2ww? Hate this already!🤦🏼‍♀️

@Lollipop87 I'm feeling much better now thanks. Congratulations on the house move, that's great you had an offer accepted even without yours being on the market. The house we wanted went back on the market because we lost our buyer. I think it was a blessing now though. Are you moving out of London by any chance? Is it three hour drive? Must be a nice location you're moving to.

@sunflowersaremyfav93 did you test again last night or this morning to see if the line is reducing?
I did pay for the fertility friend because I really like the analysis it gives you post ovulation. I still use femometer to record my OPKs though.

@gems05 hope you feel better soon!

@TheNewMrsW I wouldn't worry about the constant sleep thing for bbt...think it's more in relation to a pattern, so if you have one night when you don't sleep at all or whatever. Loads of people say they wake a lot including me and you can still see a clear pattern. A little dip and rise post ovulation is typically too.
Can you remember the name of the non alcoholic gin? Although I found I like the slim line tonic with lime almost just as much on its own!

@CookieMonster3001 that sounds like s fun weekend...enjoy it whilst you still can. Lucky that it's this weekend and not next too!

welcome back @lollipop87. congrats on the house!!! Fingers crossed your house gets sold soon and then itll be moving time!!!

I defo think I am a sudden LH surge type of girl!! Kind of annoying but it is what it is!! Just need to be on it! October is going to be our 'practice' month, well thats how I sold it to OH, but who am I kidding, its going to be full blown TTC in my eyes! haha. Im trying to lay off the OBEM videos because I dont think its helping me and my impatience! I 100% feel like sometimes whats the point in trying to lose weight. Part of me thinks maybe I will lose a bit with morning sickness (I know I shouldnt think this way but easy way out and all) and as much as I am trying to be really good, it doesnt seem to be helping!! But one thing that really does motivate me (apart from being healthy for baby) but wanting a cute little baby bump instead of just looking fatter!

@sunflowersaremyfav98 im defo doing the pillow under bum and legs in the air thing!! Can't hurt to try and I defo think it will give me and OH a giggle!!

@thenewmrsw I felt like that with BBT, but tbh I think its more about the trend. I dont take it as seriously anymore. Before I was scared to go to the loo because I was supposed to be sleeping 3-4 hours solid before taking the test. Now I think sod that, dont want to wet my pants!! And generally I have the same looking trend every month. The only thing I do stick to is making sure I take my temp at the same time everyday. I have also been trying to really hide the fact that im cutting down on alcohol but it really isnt working!! Me and OH are going away with some of his friends this weekend for a glamping trip and I kid you not, we are taking around 10 bottles of alcohol and 3 cases of beer. And their plans are to play drinking games all day, really have no idea how to worm myself out of that one. Cant even use the driving excuse because we are staying 2 nights!!!

@gems05 that sounds awful!! I hope you feel better soon. I have had the stomach flu before and my gosh did it knock me dead for about 9 days (lost 12lbs too!) (put it straight back on after.. doh :( )