TTC 6+ months plus, part 2

[skeletonbones]

New thread as the old one was getting to 1000. So, 4 BFP's in the last thread, lets see if we can up the total considerably on this one :)

MRsd - you made me laugh with the 5wk pregnant glow comment! I looked for a bump earlier. Are you on edge about them announcing their baby news...as I am...?! I can't bear the thought of all the papers going on about it. I don't think my can get much lower than this...worrying about people i don't know . Anyway I still stand by my predictions back in March on this thread that they will announce sth Oct/Nov time.

I am on edge about it too joycep which is totally bonkers seeing as I don't know them and I'm not even in the UK to be bombarded with photos , although the internet will be full of it. I don't know why it bothers me but I think it's because they are a couple of a similar age who get married and then wham, pregnant to order! Of course it might not happen like that for them but I suspect it will and then we'll all have to suffer the smugness and the photos and then the bump and then the baby photos, as though it was our best friend.

She must be very thin wine because I have a very thin friend (small size 8) who has one of the Reiss dresses she has worn and I saw a photo of her in the dress and she looks much bigger than Kate did. I don't know that I'm convinced that BMI is that big a deal, I know loads of example of people at either end who have had no problem conceiving.

I'm giving this all way to much thought for a Friday night, further proof that my social life has gone out the window. I think I might just have to indulge in a very large . After all I do need to get in practice for my holiday!

I agree she is very thin - I'm a size 8 and I know I look bigger than that. I think she's lost some even since the wedding :(

Agreed mrsden, is the answer. In fact, there are few problems in life where is not the answer, in my experience except perhaps infertility

Its a bit....nautical isnt it mrsden she does have that 'knackered and feeling sick look' in the photo but could just be an unfortunate snap I guess. Hope the swimming wasnt too bad, I hate swimming(wet! urgh, changing rooms, urgh! bacteria and naked people, urgh! I spend the whole time shrinking about like a victorian lady..) and combined with preg friend would be my idea of hell so you have my admiration!

pout I am rather amused by the pincer movement move your dogs pulled on you , please tell me they didn't drop you actually in the poo right?!

wine the monitor has a hatching egg rather than the smiley faces- all very dramatic and exiting!(I'm obviously a bit exitement starved for thinking this..) the thing that sold me on it is that it identifies the peak leading up to ovulation and then O day rather than telling you when it is happening/has happened like the sticks do? and the fact that I couldnt manage the not drinking for 4 hours and having pots of wee hanging about that the cheapies entailed. Amazon was the cheapest place I found on line and had a lot of rave reviews, its really my last ditch attempt to find a timing problem after 9 months i think, I've still got a little bit of hope that I ovulate v early or late or something and we've been missing it(even though i dont think we can have been...) the box says that it is 89% more effective than just shagging when you think the times right which seems a bit of an incredible claim!? still the clearblue thread on here seems to have loads of BFPs when I had a quick look earlier, so maybe it is that good (dont remind me of this optimisim if I am posting about chucking it out of the window in an AF rage in a few months time...)

Sounds good skelly - fingers crossed it works! But admittedly I'm questioning the numbers - as 89% better than zero BFPs is still - ummm - zero .

I think I forgot to say earlier, sorry about AF turning up. I'm so over having a period now.

Nearly at the end of the thread already, what a chatty lot :)

I suspect there are a lot of dumb/ill-informed people out there who have no idea when in their cycle they ov, so maybe the 89% makes sense that way. (I don't mean precisely, I mean roughly. And people with irregular cycles have to just guess or use a machine/pishsticks/temping so that will factor into the percentage too).

Anyway, I just dropped in to say a post-holiday hello. I didn't find the Maltese fertility shrine (I didn't look, tbh). I will catch up with the thread over the coming days.

Still writing my dissertation and still bored of it so tiptoeing onto the oh so quiet weekend thread. CD3 for me now and I've been amazingly upbeat about the whole period thing this month. I haven't been mopey at all, much to the relief of dh. I am feeling a bit 'but what shall I do now?' as I have tried as many things as I can think of. Didn't do anything much over the summer. Thought would put this into a list, to avoid writing and to see if I can think of something new to do

Have done:
Acupuncture. Lovely, regulates periods etc and stops spotting if I go on the right day but, for me, I need to go weekly to see effects. And I can't afford it that often. So having a break for now.
Homeothapy. Made me feel less tired and have had no hayfever this year for the first time since I was about 8. But no baby!
Reflexology. Very relaxing. Only had one treatment.
Pre-seed. Yuk. Might try it again this month. Reluctantly.
Pregnacare conception/royal jelly/zita west remortgageable vits/epo/EHA
Have found that vitamins make my ibs terrible, google suggests iron to blame. Have stopped all vits except folic acid. No ibs at all. But worry that I should be taking vits. So massive healthy eating adopted to counteract it. Are you all taking vits?
Yoga. Love it, great for stress.
Pineapple/grapefruit etc etc. Not done that for a while.
Raspberry tea
Green tea decaf.
Legs in air!
Hypno cd. Found it very boring.
Cut down boox to 10 units a week. Painful, but have stuck to it.
Temping/cheap opks

Haven't done:
Aspirin. Anyone else?
Vitex - sounds a bit worrying.
The smep plan. We always try but get it wrong.
Tee totalism (can't bring myself to)
Cough medicine. DH bought the wrong kind.
Pricier opks.

And I can't think of anything else.

Not sure if to keep with Plan A. Live life healthily without ttc props
or adopt Plan B. Try some other things.

The only trouble is, that when I put in the effort to try things, I get a bit more disappointed.

And that is my long post of the day. Happy Sunday! Hope you're all out doing ace, non ttc things.

PS. A couple bought the house opposite earlier this year and have been doing it up. Just spotted her with an enormous bump as I'm writing this! I am a bump magnet!

Hi everyone

Welcome back euro, how was your holiday?

Love your post wine! We've done many of the same things. Its a bugger none of them have worked isnt it?! Im actually going to be on holiday when I'm ovulating this time (hopefully) so am going to be on the get-pissed-and-shag plan this cycle. I'm not expecting it to work, but I'm delighted I wont be dealing with AF on holiday, as has happened on my last three :(

I've been taking Pregnacare, DH is on Wellman. I'm also taking Vitamin E and evening primrose oil until ovulation. Also, I am taking Vitex/Agnus Castus, I've posted about it before (makes my hair fall out but definite improvement on the PMS symptoms and seemed to move my Ov day forward last month, although we'll see this month if that was a fluke).

I took low-dose aspirin for a couple of months. No ill-effect, but (evidently) no baby either.

Pre-seed, I get on with ok, but again, no baby. I do find it useful for those days when you really cant be bothered but you know you should - takes the pressure off seeming like you are enjoying yourself

Tee-totalling - did it for one month but wouldnt again - too depressing by far. There is enough stress in this process without the odd bottle glass of wine to get through it. I've cut back and now focus on quality rather than quantity!

Trying acupuncture when back from holiday, and would also like to give relexology a go. I have also been highly recommended a Reiki healer so I might give that a whirl at some pont.

When I get back from holiday, I've decided to focus on healthy diet and doing some kind of exercise most days, also doing more yoga. I do bits and bobs but would like it to be more of a routine. I think I eat pretty healthily but DH is another matter, he works long hours and eats rubbish at work. So I am going to have to start packing him off with tupperware boxes, which is going to annoy me but he won't do it otherwise.

I like trying new things but DH gets cross with me, he thinks I am obsessing, I have NO IDEA where he gets this idea from.

Glad you are generally feeling ok though wine, especially on CD 3, I'm usually still weepy at that point!

Hope everyone is having lovely weekends.

Welcome back euro was your holiday nice and relaxing?

wine I like your list and I've done most of them at some point but to be honest I've reached a stage now where I don't think that anything is going to help. I also think that there are a lot of people who are making lots of money out of people struggling to conceive which makes me a bit cynical.

I don't even avoid peas anymore . I do sometimes wiggle my legs in the air after SWI to see if that helps the swimmers and I try not to get up for at least 20 mins afterwards but I doubt it really makes a difference. I have tried grapefruit juice and I can't say that I noticed anything different but I have bought some more this month because I've grown to quite like the taste.

Re. vitamins. I buy a local brand here which seem to have the same stuff as pregnacare but I do stock up on pregnacare when I'm back in the UK. I have noticed that my cycles are shorter when taking it, I wonder if it's something to do with the B vitamins.

I have fertile neighbours too, they are all either pregnant or already have children. One of them is only 6 months but she has an enormous bump and she waddles about. I helped her with her shopping the other week because she was struggling to carry it into her house and then she invited me in for a coffee and of course I had to listen to her go on and on about the baby and I had to have a tour of the nursery (which is basically an empty room which they had started painting). A truly horrible experience. I've been actively avoiding her ever since, I have already turned into that bitter barren woman .

Evening all,

Went back to work last week and got all caught up in diy and busy stuff so haven't been on mn for a few days. So much to catch up on!!!!!

I liked your list too wine. I haven't tried nearly as many things. I've been taking those bloody vitamins with the pregnant lady on the bottle seemingly forever (surely they could make the picture different for the conception vits as opposed to the already up duffed ones?). Tried the tee total thing and tried to stop dh from drinking as well, but that didn't last very long. There's always a dinner out or visitors staying who would know something was up if my dh turned down a drink. I am always the designated driver so easier for me to get away with it :) Bought Zita West's book but got so confused about what I was supposed to eat when and for which problem that I gave up after about a fortnight. Oh, and I also tried to give up caffeine but now I just try to limit it to a cup a day and I have decaf otherwise. I was very gung ho at the beginning but I can't live my life for years changing everything in the hope that it will somehow get me pregnant. That's a recipe for marital breakdown I think.....

I'm about CD8 and wish that I was the same as you ladies who say that you don't get too hopeful anymore. Last month I bloody well convinced myself I was pg because my boobs inflated quite dramatically. They're always sore but I actually had to haul out my old (one cup size bigger) bras. Even dh noticed . Anyway, I'm onto the next cycle and gearing up for swi. Pupils are back at school this week so will be a challenge to manage work, diy and sex...... I am definitely getting too old for this!

And a belated congrats to Biscuits for your scan. Someone will definitely be joining you on that grads thread soon :)

Welcome back Euro - did you have a good time?

Tried most of those things Wine too and to no avail. My new thing is to try and get fit. I feel like I have become very flabby this year.

Well I have been miserable this weekend. I have got AF - just 3 weeks after my last one. Also since seeing my gynae, my LP has gone down to 8/ 9 days. I am so worried about my shortening cycle - now a week shorter than what it use to be and I don't really know what to do. I've spent the day desperately trying not to cry in front of friends and now DH. Sorry to be gloomy . I hope everyone else is more upbeat.

Oh joycep I'm so sorry AF got you and early too. Don't worry about being gloomy on this thread, we all know what it's like to feel so down about ttc. I've been feeling pretty gloomy too recently. It all feels so hopeless but it will happen for us at some point and then we won't even remember how awful it feels. Also, I know it's hard but don't read too much into a short cycle. Cycles do change and you might find next month is back to a longer length. I felt so bad about not ovulating last month but now I've told myself it's just one dud cycle.

I burst into tears yesterday because I got the referral letter to take for my hsg and in the section for reasons for procedure, the direct translation of what the gynae had written was "primary infertile couple" which I know is true but it really upset me to see it in black and white. We are an infertile couple

Thanks ladies, I did have a nice relaxing time (despite facing the crazy Maltese drivers in a shitheap of a hire car) but I was a little underwhelmed by Malta overall. It didn't seem to have any of the charm of the other Med countries. Still, it did the job of relaxing me, which was the main aim. It also took my mind off ttc pretty well. I carried on temping and taking my vits and supplements out there but I managed not to think about it too much. I'm off to the gynae tomorrow (the 2x lost referral appointment I have ranted about on here) and AF is due on Tuesday, so it will be back on my mind soon! I have no symptoms so I am sure AF will turn up as expected.

I've scanned through the posts I've missed. It looks like you have mostly been having a properly rough time. I think this thread needs a BFP to give everyone hope! I am glad Biscuits' scan went well.

To join in with the stats update:
Me 35, husband 36. Had PCOS diagnosis when I was 17 but latest day 3 blood tests didn't indicate it's still around. The symptoms have improved a lot since I started eating a lower GI diet. Day 21 progesterone test was a little low at 30 although seems to confirm ovulation. Husband's SA was normal. I'm having fertility acupuncture and temping while I wait for the NHS to do something (first appointment with gynae tomorrow). I'm also taking pregnacare, low dose aspirin and agnus castus at the moment.

Oh sorry joycep a week early is rubbish. And agree with mrsden that it's fine to be gloomy here, we all understand. I think that cycle disturbances are worrying. I've fretted about this months late and feeble ovulation. But I'm sure that if we weren't ttc, we'd just take it as an odd month. Thinking back, a couple of years ago I had a spate of short cycles and just remember being annoyed I was getting my period so often because it was boring. They went back to normal again. It just feels more panicky now doesn't it, but probably all ok.

Thank you for list responding! Mostly I can't be arsed with any of it lately. But today I just felt sheer frustration that I'm still no closer to being preggers and summer is drawing to a close. But I do feel oddly ok. I think I've run out of crying energy. For now anyway. I'm bored of it all! I do like the sound of the get pissed and shag plan popcorn I so hope it works, I'd like to model myself on it! And mrsden we planted peas before I heard about the no pea rule. I have eaten all of them! Imagine in family planning centres " well there's the pill, or the coil or you could just eat peas every now and then". Ha! Or "get up straight after sex and go for a wee, that should do it"

But. I think I'm going to take aspirin. On no medical grounds whatsoever. But you never know. And, for this months trawl of alternative therapies I'm going to see a chiropractor. Not for fertility at all but because at my yoga there is a lady there who said she could help me with a knee injury that is getting in the way of me practising as much as I want to. Thought it would be better to spend the money on something that might actually make a difference to me.

Just watching dolphins and bubbles on the telly.

Xpost euro glad you got to relax and good luck with the appointment.

Oh thanks girls, your comments always make me feel better. Wine, I think you are right. If I wasn't TTC, I would have just thought how weird and how annoying. I will hope for a better cycle next month. I have often wondered about the aspirin but i feel I have really tried far too many things now.

Thanks MrsD- just felt utterly hopeless today and spent the day with my pregnant friend who I had been ignoring. Really sorry about that letter you received. That's something you don't want to read. And in fact I wish they wouldn't use the word 'infertility'- because it sounds so final yet many 'infertile' couples get pregnant so how can they be labelled infertile? There are so many things to cry about in this process. Blood tests, scans, results, AF - I find tears are always around the corner.

We need to start a new thread - shall we continue with being 6+months or are we 10+months now??

Morning ladies. I've missed loads of posts over the weekend, hope that everyone is okay.

Welcome back Euro, I'm glad that you found your holiday relaxing. It's a shame that you couldn't find the fertility shrine.

I'm sorry to hear about the new spate of AFs. It is so rubbish and I agree that we need a BFP on here to keep our spirits up.

I'm sorry that you're so fed up Joycep & that your cycle length is still worrying you. I also hope that your day with your friend wasn't too filled with baby talk.

Seeing things in black and white like that in the baldest terms is never nice Mrsd. I'm sorry about the letter.

Madness How weird that your boobs grew a cup size. Even though mine get bigger I've never had to go up a size. I'm not surprised you got your hopes up. This is such a cruel business.

On the hope front I have pretty much given up on thinking it will happen. I think it was you Wine who said that you've run out of energy for it all. That's how I feel really. Even during SWI this cycle I was feeling defeated and thinking that it was pointless. I'm 6dpo and haven't boob prodded, bothered with cervical mucus or worked out when AF is due because I know that the cycle will follow the usual script & end in failure. whispers I don't even care all that much that Wills and Kate might soon be upduffed!

We did a car boot at the weekend and there were a couple with two under fours and a newborn. I looked at her and the gorgeous baby and just felt so abnormal & felt like I'm on the edge of most peoples reality and just looking in. I also sold the baby clothes I had been hanging onto (they were supposed to be a gift for someone else a few years ago) which was sad and cathartic at the same time.

I take the pre and post pregnancy multi vits from Tesco with the big bumped lady on the front which also gives me the pippin' hump. Every time I take one I just roll my eyes and think yeah right, like I need these.

Skeleton your monitor sounds great. That is quite some claim on the box! Good luck with it, it will be interesting to see whether it correlates with what you thought you already knew about ov times.

On the HSG front, I remember being all full of optimism that I would be upduffed within 3 cycles afterwards. Like you Joycep it didn't work out - surprise, surprise!

I am so fed up with it all. I have surreptitiously been crying in the loos already this morning because a friend, who I know is TTC and has been for a while, is showing some promising pregnancy signs. So now I am jealous of promising signs, even though I've had plenty in the past year and I know it may be she's upduffed or it may be nothing... But it is definitely lowering my standards, I have never felt this way before. And I had fooled myself I was okay about it all emotionally and I could cope. Well obviously not. How pathetic is that?

Sorry, bit upset and no energy, so very me me me. I am sorry :( I'll pop back in once I've calmed down and respond to a weekends worth of your posts, lovely ladies!

I'm sorry you are upset lemon. I hate the promising signs too because IME the person always does turn out to be pregnant, whereas my signs turn out to be nothing. Also, I always think that for someone to tell you about their signs then they are probably fairly certain. I know how upsetting this sort of thing is. I got upset today because I found out the friend of one of my pregnant friends is also pregnant. I don't even know this woman, I've met her a couple of times at my friend's house but now I feel jealous that the two of them will become so close because they're due a few weeks apart. And I'll become less important to my friend as we won't have anything in common any more. Gah, I'm pathetic aren't I?

The next thread maybe should be 10 months plus because I feel in a very different place to what I did at 6 months. But I don't suppose it really matters. There were quite a few people who joined the thread at the beginning but then haven't posted since, I wonder if that's because they got BFPs? Have we had 4 BFPs?

Lemon - sorry you 're feeling like this. It's a really horrible feeling isn't it. I am always convincing myself that I feel ok about everything but i know I am not really. My friend mentioned that I was depressed at the weekend which I thought was exaggerating a bit as I'm not! But you can see how people do get depressed, I would rather look at it as feeling miserable all the time. I balled my eyes out this morning after DH left the flat. So much so, I was convinced people walking down the street could have heard me wailing! I then started crying during my run to work.

Pout - I so know what that feels like about looking in. DH said this weekend that people are just in a completely different world with kids. I just desperately want to be in that world.

Mrsd - i fear this with friends too...i don't want to really be around the ones who are pregnant or with kids but i don't want to feel left out either. But i will feel left out as they go and get their lives perfect.

Sorry for the very low post. I will try and perk up. I shall create a new 10+months thread and see you in there. x

Hello everyone. Long time no post. Just started a new term after a lovely relaxing holiday. I had the results of my CD21 test. I have high levels of prolactin and am now waiting for an oppointment with the specialist. I have done some 'investigoogling' on the subject and am a little concerned to asy the least. I just wanted to know if anyof you out there are having difficulties because you're in a similar situation or have concieved after treatment.

Love and hugs

LadyM

Hi LadyM. This thread was nearly full so we started a new one over here a couple of weeks ago.

Come and join us there, as I don't think anyone will be able to post on this thread now it's nearly at 1000 :)

Hello!

There is a part 3 now (although the title is over 10 months, to acknowledge teh time that has passed since this thread was started!). You might have better luck posting there as this one is just about full!