Post Pill Party – The Garden Soiree

@TheDaydreamBelievers haha your GP must be a genius! Who would've thunk that you hadn't ovulated?!

Read a really sad post on reddit yesterday by a lady TTC in the UK whose ignorant GP told her she couldn't have fertility investigations until she had 2 years of no pregnancies?? I.e. she's been TTC 3 years and has had 2 CPs and each time he resets her 2 year wait. Madness!

@TheDaydreamBelievers My temp started to rise (from quite a low starting point) for 5 x days before I ovulated, so hopefully its about to happen for you xx

@Juno231 @Kay00 Yeah, I think I'm hoping I'm about to ovulate? Please body, CD33 is surely enough time to gear up into this.

I had bloods taken on CD 28 and all they show is that I haven't ovulated yet. No surprise here, GP.

@Nellieee congratulations on your BFP 💕

@TheDaydreamBelievers hm although if you had ovulated I would have expected your fertile mucus to have dried up straight after?

@Kay00 no worries lol I knew what you meant xx

@Tillybabs I meant BFN - Doh! Sorry xx

@TheDaydreamBelievers Hmmm, it could be that you have ovulated but missed the peak OPK, or that you body has given ovulation a go, but not quite made it. I have had both happen to me multiple times! Temps over the next few days should confirm either way x

@JT90 oh yeah! I was the same, I started my period late at like 15 and they were really heavy so my mum put me on the pill, and I've been jumping on all sorts of contraception until coming off in 2020, never understanding the complications contraception has until were adults now and start asking questions! It's crazy! I would say if the pain is next to the hip I would know I was ovulating but if it's on my back or sharp in my belly it's just AF related or I need the toilet haha but maybe everyone's ovulation pain is different?

My body is confusing me. I feel like I have all the signs of ?ovulation (temps up, spotty chin, bigger boobs, EWCM) but OPKs are like "nah" . Oh well, will just DTD anyways!

Chart for fun

Morning ladies x

@Tillybabs Sorry about your BFP Roll on the 2022 babies indeed!

@Nellieee congratulations!! That’s great news

@Kay00 sorry about AF but as you said, roll on a 2022 baby, we got this! It will happen!

I got a BFN this morning 13dpo. Don’t know why I bothered because I can feel AF is coming. But AF symptoms sometimes can be pregnancy symptoms.

Today and yesterday I’ve felt sick. But now I know it’s definitely AF!

@JT90 as your line went dark and then light, you’ve had your surge and so will ovulate 24-36 hours after.

Don’t delete any low readings, keep them all. It’s good to see and teach your levels going up and down.

I too get ovulation cramps. Some months worse than others.

@JT90 no, I stopped the pill in January, had a withdrawal bleed and periods been regular since then (up to now). Last period, I had a bit of a wobble about TTC and took two pills just before ovulation. Used my OPKs and got a peak, my DH gave me a pep talk and I didn't take any more pills and DTD during the peak. I had heavy withdrawal bleeding several days later, then it stopped for a bit, now I'm spotting (and this is when I would have had my next period if I hadn't taken any pills). So it seems like those two pills buggered up my cycle.

@Juno231 Tbh I just wanted to make sure I was at least ovulating, I honestly expected to wait the full 3 months for my periods to return, let alone ovulation. So for 8 weeks later for both to be happening that’s all I need to know for now. I don’t want to get caught up in BBT tracking quite yet, I think OPK’s will be helpful enough for now and maybe if I go through another 6 months and nothing seems to have caught then maybe I’ll try temping? I just think I’ll get too stressed too early else, and I want to have some fun with it. Don’t want to make my OH too concerned or not able to relax either! I’ll OPK next cycle too and see if my days peak on CD15 next month too! I would also absolutely pee on myself, haha. I’m not quite that A* quality yet! 😂

@Lovebug06 Yeah, I’ve also found the football is on too so I ain’t getting him away from the tele for a while yet! Haha. I’ll save it for my next cycle rather than just wasting it as the CB ones are a fair bit pricier!

@minipilling Are you waiting for your very first period post withdrawal bleed after stopping the pill?

Hi everyone. My heavy withdrawal (?) bleeding from taking two pills stopped last week. A couple of days ago I started spotting very lightly and cramping. Cramps stopped today but still some spotting. My normal period is due around today but it's either really slow to start or super light so far. I'm CD28 / 17DPO. Took a pregnancy test two days ago and today, both BFN. Not sure if or when I will ovulate if my period doesn't kick in properly, might take some cheap OPKs later this week!

@Lovebug06 thank you xx I ditched my plans to go running and I will run a bath instead... and eat lots of chocolate

@JT90 I think if you've gone low you may as well save the clear blue one for next month. Although I could be wrong as I'm not as clued up on opks as some are so the other ladies on here may think differently.

@JT90 it only helps a bit with sanity in knowing whether or not you've peaked or are waiting needlessly! Tbh I struggled enough with it that I added BBT tracking to it after a few months cause the stress over not knowing if my peak was coming, had been or just wasn't going to show up was doing my head in.

I see why you'd struggle if you're in retail though! My cup is tiny so maybe have a look around the house for things you could use (eg lid off of tooth paste)? The pros pee into the OPK sachets themselves but if I tried that I'd just have wee all over my hands lol.

@Lovebug06 Yeah you’re absolutely right. Why can’t we all just be the bloody same, our bodies are confusing things aren’t they! I just did today’s OPK and I’ve gone straight back to low. I completely forgot I had a CB digital test that I was going to do the same time I got my + OPK and only just remembered. Is it worth trying one now and seeing if I still have a slight surge for tonight or am I best waiting until my next cycle now?

Sorry for the thousand questions regarding OPK’s, completely new to them this week! 🤯

@JT90 I don't get any sharp pains more sudden twinges. Not as much as AF pains though. I think some people get sharp pains but then others don't feel it at all. Same as AF we are all different, which is no good when trying to find out what's going on!
@Kay00 sorry AF arrived. Look after yourself today ❤️ I also felt awful that I wouldn't have a 2021 baby now, but now I'm trying to think that I could be pregnant in 2021, and that's good too. 2022 babies sound good right?! 😘
Its great you are looking at positives from your last cycle. Its great you ovulated and got your appointment coming up. Sending love to you today xx

@Juno231 Hmmm, I’ll have to have a think. I work in a retail store so it’s difficult to disguise a cup in there with me (nobody at my work knows we are TTC). I may have to just pop a little ramekin into my sanitary bag and take that to the loo with me when I do want to test maybe.

Although even if my peak was in the late morning would it make a difference to my testing later in the day anyways, as we still wouldn’t be able to DTD until later that evening anyways?

@jt90 ah see I never got that problem cause I just do them at work as normal? I have a little cup that came with one of my OPK deliveries once and I just use that. It's not like anyone can see? I either pick a standalone loo that has a sink for clean up, wait until there's no one by the sinks if I'm in a cubicle or worst case scenario wipe it down with tissue. But I've honestly never had a problem with it.

@Juno231 Yeah, I’ll know when I do my test today I guess. It’s much harder now I’m back at work as I’ve usually left the house by 7.30 so don’t want to be peeing in the staff toilets with sticks when my second wee comes around! 😂 Then by the time I’m home it’s not until near 7pm. I have had a half day today so hoping to get a test done a little earlier, more around 5pm. I’ll find out then if I’m getting a lower reading which will obviously tell me if today is past ovulation and if yesterday was it for me. I’m still getting a few tummy cramps here and there, but nothing like yesterday as that was almost constant from the second I woke up to the minute I went back to bed! We DTD at almost midnight on Monday night though, so I’m hoping that if my peak was on Tuesday morning, I possibly may have caught it. It’s hard as I’m only coming towards my second AF since coming off the patch so just still trying to figure out my body.

What do you ladies do with regards to OPK’s when you’re working if not from home? Do you just test when you’re back like me, or am I missing a trick here?

@HRHXO I definitely know what you mean about reading other ladies symptoms, all makes it seem a little less stressful. Else I find myself Googling everything and come across too many horror stories! 🙈 The wait for my first AF I was convinced I had everything under the sun, then she appeared and I wondered why the bloody hell my brain decided to put me through such stress!! 😂

@HRHXO hang in there and keep testing. I have multiple 'surges' of LH before my body finally ovulates, and this is really common coming off the pill. Ovulating early can indeed happen, but its rarer. My advice is to keep testing once a day, and to keep DTD every other day.

@Emmgrem Thank you for the write up! There is certainly a lot to be thinking about and a lot to try for the next cycle And another big congratulations from me x

Hi all, having similar to @JT90

I have been using easy@home OPKs this week firsttime after coming off the pill last month. I'm CD 12 now and my results are getting lower... had low 0.31 then low 0.16 and today low 0.11, wondering if I ovulated really early and I missed it? I did have a weird ache/twinge on my left side last week and wonder if this was ovulation pain? Just seems too early though? Maybe I've not ovulated due to first month off the pill.

I'm probably out this month and will try again next month.

Good luck everyone I love reading about your symptoms and comparing to my own it makes me feel normal! X

Thank you so much for all the congratulations! 💖

Someone asked me to share my story and I did a lot differently this month so hope this helps...

I'm 30 and stopped Microgynon BC pill on 31st October (I had been taking this for 13 years and ran pill packs back to back) and from then it took me 6 cycles to get my BFP.

I had a withdrawal bleed 5 days after coming off the pill and then a weirdly short 18 day cycle. My temps were really high so I think I potentially ovulated really early. I then had two 33 day cycles and on the second one of these in January I got faint lines at 10dpo which faded at 11dpo and returned at 12dpo. My cycle was then late and really painfully heavy so I knew I'd had a chemical pregnancy from reading others' experiences on here.

The CP messed my cycles and hormones up completely and I went on to have two short anovulatory cycles (25 and 18 days).

Up until this point I'd just been taking folic acid, DHA and Coq10 and drinking a glass of pomegranate juice everyday (to help with blood flow).

So in an attempt to regulate my hormones and throw everything at it for cycle 6, I kept doing those but also added the following and it was the cycle I got my BFP:

• Started fertility acupuncture once a week - really recommend this for relaxing you and regulating hormones
• Drank raspberry leaf tea from CD1 through to ovulation to regulate hormones
• Seed cycling to regulate hormones (pumpkin & flaxseed pre-ovulation and sunflower & seasame post-ovulation)
• Cut out alcohol and switched to full-fat dairy
• Took vit. B complex to lengthen my LP
• Added ubiquinol, folate, seven seas trying for a baby tablets
• Ate pineapple core and took 3 brazil nuts a day in my LP to help with implantation
• Took evening primrose oil and grapefruit juice to increase EWCM around ovulation

I used easy@home OPKs and temped using FF - I got a triphasic chart the month I had my BFP and paid for FF premium for £20 (which I'd totally recommend).

Symptoms wise.. I generally think that 'symptoms' this early are just the progesterone and are the same whether you're pregnant or not but just to document them for you..
I had a stuffy nose and sinus pressure during the 2WW, on 6dpo I had a brief sharp flash of pain in my tummy and period type pains on 7dpo on the same side as ovulation which I think must have been implantation. I also had creamy/watery CM throughout, and by 10dpo I had back pain on the side I'd ovulated on and twinges in my boobs.
I tested on 11dpo and got obvious positives including on a CB digital - I think I knew by 10dpo I was pregnant due to my chart turning triphasic and I also took an OPK for fun which came up as 0.8 high on premom (and some say that high LH is a sign of pregnancy).

Anyway that's just my story! I enjoy reading other people's so hopefully that helped a few of you :) It still feels surreal and hasn't sunk in yet.

and @Nellieee congratulations to you too! We're BFP day twins! Let's hope the luck spreads throughout this thread!