The Turkey Baster Gang (gobble gobble)

@eloiseislost that's super exciting! Fingers crossed for you 🤞🤞 and happy birthday for yesterday 🎈thank you for sharing what you did 😊
@Birchybirch welcome! My husband can't finish during sex either and has a low-ish sex drive. We haven't told anyone in real life we are TTC, let alone how! Everyone here is super lovely so it's a nice place to be. 😊 Goodluck trying the OPKs - they should definitely help with timing everything correctly!

4dpo for me today according my BBT. Not sure if I feel positive or not really. This is the first time EVER that I have ovulated on CD14! So that's an achievement on its own.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday!

@eloiseislost oh my goodness this is fantastic news!!!! I hope this is a sticky bean how exciting! This news has really cheered me up!! I e always wanted to try the soft discs but never have, I really struggled with the soft cup and thought i prob wouldn’t be able to use them! Do you have the link as to where you brought them??

@Birchybirch welcome to the gang! I haven’t told anyone we are doing this it’s just the people in this group! So it’s amazing to have people to talk to! Good luck on your journey! Xxx

Hi all, I hope you don't mind me joining this group.

Firstly, congratulations on those positive test results!

Please allow me to introduce myself. My husband has a low sex drive, and has never managed to "finish" when we dtd. At the end of the summer we decided to try for a little one - I'm 36, and he's 43, so it's about time really 😂 we've therefore been using the syringe method ourselves. 1st month we only tried it about 3 times, and I convinced myself it had worked (sore boobs, nausia), but here we are at the start of cycle 4.

Despite my age, we're both in quite good nick. We workout regularly, our diets are OK (room for improvement, but we enjoy our food), and alcohol consumption is low for me, moderate (and dropping) for him.

We normally track my cycle just using calendars, but when af appeared the other day, I bought opk's (both cheapie and the cb digital ones). Our plan is to check when I'm ovulating, rather than going off when my calendar says I should be, and then go from there. If there's no success in the new year, then we'll seek medical advice.

We tend to try every day during my supposed fertility window with a 5ml syringe and plastic cup. Just read a comment suggesting swilling the swimmers around a little before insemination, so might give that a whirl this time too! I think my favourite part of ttc is post insemination and O when I can just lie there and chill out for 10 mins or so, wort part of course is af coming. The physical and mental pains are grim, but hopefully will be worth it one day!

I'm so glad I found this thread! A couple of our friends know we're ttc, but only one knows how, so it's great to "meet" more people on the same boat! X

@primrosechill I'm cautiously optimistic, I hope it sticks! 💝 I have lower backache and slight cramps, I don't know if it's normal or not.

OK, actually I did a few things differently this cycle!

1. On the day of my positive OPK and the day after I took cough syrup to loosen the cervical mucus. It's supposed to be an old wives' tale but thought it would hurt.
2. We ditched the syringes this cycle and only used soft discs (the disposable menstrual cups, I think they used to be called Instead Cups). DH 'deposited' in there and within 2 minutes, I covered the rim with Conceive Plus lube and inserted it. Left me for 4-6 hours at a time. I believe that the fact that the sperm was not handled almost at all, might have done the trick. But who knows? 🤷🏻‍♀️
3. Kept taking Seven Seas prenatals but DH also started taking them. They're meant for women but he can't swallow tablets so I thought because they are mini pills, they are better than nothing.

In terms of symptoms, nothing out of the ordinary, apart from 7 or 8DPO when I woke up with a very sharp AF cramp. After that, normal PMS symptoms for me, although the constipation was more horrific than normal at this time of the cycle. I suppose I didn't get any spots on my skin and I didn't get more oily, but that's too vague to be an actual symptom. My stomach rumbles SO MUCH, it's really funny! That's it so far, still very early days! AF is due today because my LP is on the short side.

So excited for you @eloiseislost :) Now give us the mandatory "what did you do differently this cycle?" summary please! Haha.

And sorry for missing your bday yesterday - how's that for a belated gift, ey?! Not too shabby :)

@primrosechill My birthday was yesterday! What's really funny is I did a cheapie yesterday morning and I could swear I saw a shadow but I dismissed it. Then, in the evening, I went on to have half a bottle of wine and a block of cheese. 🤭 My DH thought something was up when I didn't want birthday cake or pizza. Literally all I ate yesterday was a block of cheese! 🤣

@eloiseislost OMG!

Also, do I remember correctly, is it your birthday today?! If yes then omg omg what a gift 🥰 (well what a gift either way!)

Can deffo see lines on both, funny that the cheapie is actually much clearer!

GUYS!!!!!!!! Did I get my BFP? Lines are so faint!
Tested this morning with SMU, first with the cheapie and I couldn't believe my eyes! I ran and woke DH up and told him to get me one of the FRERs he's been hiding from me. I used the same urine for the FRER. I'm either 10/11DPO. Can you see the lines? DH can see them and I can but I just can't believe it! Are they too faint?

Ohh @eloiseislost I didn’t realise you were so early on in your journey! Very exciting :)

In march when the pandemic hit, we said “if it doesn’t work this cycle, we will pause for now” - but then it did work! After we MC’d we didn’t even think about covid anymore - there’s something about realising how complicated and time consuming TTC can be that makes you stop thinking about the overall timing 🤷🏻‍♀️

@primrosechill Early days for us
3 cycles
0 pregnancy
0 miscarriage
Took 5 years to convince DH that having children will not ruin our lives (I hope I was right 😂) he said he is completely on board in late 2019, then the pandemic hit and thought let's wait a few months, then the pandemic kept growing stronger so we thought we are just going to do it anyway!

We started properly ttc in August 2019 so this is our 16th cycle. We were just having sex the first few months then husband started to have performance anxiety and was getting worse each month so we started SI, feel like it’s taken year a year and a half just to figure it all out! My cycles are around 31-32 days so feels really long! Only now am I feeling ok about SI, hated it at first! But we have a routine now on what we do xx

@Lori23TTC so sorry AF got you. You're coming up to the exciting part of your cycle now though!
Good to hear about your fertility doctor visits 😊

Sorry for you too @bigsweetpotato! ❤️
@eloiseislost I hate pregnancy announcements and am behaving like a spoilt child every time I hear one! It makes me feel better than even my hubby is sick of hearing about people getting pregnant 😂 so I know I'm not being too dramatic.

@primrosechill that sounds really positive about your husband's results and good to have some tips from a professional!

We started TTC in September 2019, using sperm deposited in a menstrual cup and popped up there and hanging around upside down 😳😂 but didn't start the syringe method until Feb this year (roughly). It's a hard one to sort of put a number on, especially as I've had a couple of cycles with no confirmed O and longer than normal cycles 🙄 so. That's me!

@eloiseislost @Lori23TTC thanks lovelies! I know that IUI doesn't technically have a significantly higher success rate than at-home insemination, but the combination of knowing they "fish out" the best swimmers + the fact that they can really pinpoint ovulation does sound appealing. Anyway, I had a chat with the doctor today: She was actually very happy with my husband's improved results. She suggested that for our next at-home go we let the sperm liquidate a bit longer - she also suggested that we hold the specimen cup in our hands to keep it at body temperature and that we slightly swoosh the sperm around - apparently this somewhat mimics the mechanical procedure of preparing sperm for IUI and might increase motility. Who knows, eh! Worth a shot. Plus she recommended we only inseminate every other day this cycle rather than doing as much as we can during the fertility days. So that's what we shall do.

I realised I don't actually know how long everyone on here has been TTCing! Do you mind sharing? So for me: Started this January, got pregnant after three tries but miscarried. MC lasted for a long while so didn't insemindate for at least two months. It's been six cycles since then. So:
9 cycles
1 pregnancy
1 miscarriage

Go on body, surely cycle 10 has got to be the one?!

I was thinking IUI possibly but my doctor did just say IVF so maybe I’ll bring it up next time. I have to have a tube test first then they will decide what next step to take. @primrosechill I hope you have some more positive results back from the doctor today for your husband. My husbands sperm are normal and we still haven’t got pregnant this way so who knows, like Eloise said it surly takes a good sperm to even get as far as the egg I would think the bad ones would have not made the journey... a MC can be a million different reasons bless him for beating himself up about it. I brought the vaginal applicators on a recommendation on here and the lube that was mentioned so hoping as I’m changing this cycle up a bit it might work xx

@primrosechill I have considered IUI but we decided to give it a shot for a year with home insemination before going further with any medical interventions. There is a chance we will change our minds within that timeframe but at the moment we have too much non-TTC stuff going on in our lives, plus the pandemic of course! 😷

My GP has said that home insemination is only slightly less likely to result in pregnancy in any given cycle (due to some swimmers getting unavoidably damaged). In IUI though, they use "washed" sperm directly in the cervix, so you do get the best ones up there, very close to the tubes. The success rate is still not as high as intercourse, but it is decent nonetheless.

In terms of your husbands anxiety that bad sperm caused the miscarriage, yes, it is a possibility -it always is regardless of how the sperm got there. However, the thing to remember is that when you have intercourse or when you inseminate, the sperm is placed in the vaginal canal. It still needs to enter the cervix and travel all the way up to the tubes. And then it has to meet the egg and manage to penetrate it. If a non-optimal sperm managed to do that, it's not due to insemination, just bad luck I suppose.

Having said all that, there are no right and wrong answers here. If you both feel IUI is right for you, then I'd say go for it! 😉

@Lori23TTC that's great to hear about your hospital visit and your high egg reserve! Also nice to hear from an actual medical professional that it does work :)

Happy Friday everyone! Chatting to my doctor later today about my husband's latest results, my shorter cycles and general recommendations.

Last night we've decided that we're going to give it our all this cycle but if we're not successful, we will look at IUI in December - COVID permitting. My husband said something along the lines of "this clearly isn't working for us" last night which slightly threw me off if I'm honest - I didn't realise he was feeling so pessimistic about the method. Even though we've managed to get pregnant once, I guess he is concerned that I MC'd - because his morphology is below average, he's worried chances of "bad" sperm reaching the egg are higher and apparently has been stressing out about another possible MC from this method. I suppose IUI helps here because they pick out the "best swimmers" for the process...

It made me a bit sad last night - I'm usually the one who's freaking out and he's the one with the "let's give it time" attitude, so this Freaky Friday moment gave me a bit of anxiety. Anyone else on here ever considered IUI?

@bigsweetpotato also so sorry AF got you but good that you are in a different frame of mind and more positive 🤍

@primrosechill @eloiseislost I can’t even cope with Facebook or Instagram it’s all it is so I try not to look! Xx

I have 3 friends due to give birth any day now I just feel like everyone is pregnant!!

@bigsweetpotato the bbt is amazing isn’t it... I don’t tend to do pregnancy tests as my bbt temp always drops on day 13/14 and when it does I’m 99% sure AF is coming and I can deal with that slightly better than trying to see a line that clearly isn’t there!

I went back to my fertility hospital this week and the doctor said everything is fine with me and for a 32 year old I have lots of good eggs... she did say that SI would be lowering my chances but not massively and to keep going as it works... so here’s hoping this is a good month xx

Aww man you guys are so great.

Well AF did get me so it's CD2 now. Still marvelling at how my temp did go down on my graph!! Such a nerd lol. I'm surprisingly calm this time round and not had a total breakdown like I do usually, just ready to start the next cycle. Fingers crossed.

@eloiseislost i know what you mean about the few days before AF! It is the absolute worst to get all my usual pmt symptoms... :(

@eloiseislost @primrosechill my Facebook is just infested with babies and pregnancy announcements too! My two cousins also just had babies and they are super cute but also make me super sad. ANd my best friend is due in Jan which will no doubt be bittersweet.

Come on ladies, we can do it!!!

@primrosechill That's very true, you never know if/how much a couple struggled to get pregnant, you only see the end result. But still, when you are still within the struggle, it hits hard!

I just realised I don't hate the 2WW as much as a hate the 2 days before AF! The 2WW can seem like 2 decades, but at least the hope is there. 2 days pre AF, I start getting all my usual symptoms and I feel like my heart is slowly being crushed… 💔
Not to mention, THE INSANITY!
So 7DPO I woke up in the middle of the night with a sharp cramp type pain -which to be fair is highly unusual for me- and that got my hopes up a bit. So, I cave in and test at 9 and 10DPO and it's BFNs, white as snow. The cheapies I used are supposed to be 10mlU so I should know it's over! And as I get more and more AF symptoms, I feel depressed. Yet, I want to test with a FRER tomorrow! Literally I want to pee on a fiver. 🤦🏻‍♀️
I'm an intelligent woman and yet I act like a complete clown!
Sorry for the rant, I'm having one of those days!! I'll pour myself a drink and go to bed early I think. 🍸

Oh my god @eloiseislost I think our Facebooks must have synced up almost as much as our cycles LOL. On two different occasions today I was slapped with a photo of a scan and 100+ comments underneath it. I keep trying to remind myself that people only share positive news - so you never know how easy/hard it was for them really - but fuck me it really is everywhere and everyone at the moment! Gah.

@Lori23TTC lovely to hear from you! CD7 is exciting though - good luck! :)

Hi @Lori23TTC 🙋🏻‍♀️ Sorry AF got you, I know the feeling very well…! But new cycle, new opportunity, that's how I try to look at it!

I just opened Facebook and was slapped in the face with another pregnancy announcement! Has EVERYONE gotten pregnant during lockdown but me?! 😱 What a horribly selfish way to react to such a sweet moment in my friend's life, but I'm PMSing so that's the best I can do at the moment!

Hey ladies.. I’ve not been on here as AF got me and you know how it is... I’m CD7 now so will start SI next week. It’s so lovely reading all of your messages to each other ❤️ @MrsKin90 I’m so sorry to hear about your mum that must have been so hard, she will be so proud of how you are dealing with everything that has been thrown at you. I also get excited about months and plan things in my head it’s so heartbreaking.

@primrosechill sorry AF got you 😢 bath salts and candles sound like a good start to making you feel better though.

@eloiseislost I really hope your AF doesn’t turn up fingers crossed 🤞

I hope everyone else is ok 💙 xx

@eloiseislost you and hormones just got me right in the feels

(wipes away an elegant tear from a slightly pink cheek, definitely not ugly crying)