We are all jolly well going to get preggers this month in a nonchalant non-psycho way, and hang onto it, and there will be no brooking of any argument whatsoever!

[ScreamIfYouWantToGoFaster]

Welcome across Rat Smackers! Glad you found the place okay. This is THE MONTH when we get those deceitful pee sticks to own up to the BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS - we are all already preggers! After all; positive people get positive pee sticks!

I hope you all like what I've done with our new home

You'll note the updated title, courtesy of farfalla. Various healthy snacks have been set out on the coffee tables, to ensure our bumps are receiving the appropriate nutritional balance

Also, my personal favourite adjustment, you'll note the strategically positioned peephole, right here, providing us with a sneaky preview of the utopian delights awaiting us in the NO BROOKING vomitorium ante-natal thread.

So let's get to it preggos! Remember: see a rat - smack it!

AF is due any day now but so far have had none of the normal signs that she is on the way. Having now said this I'm sure they will start this afternoon :)

jen you kept that quiet! Are you gonna test? Are you gonna test?

Test test test test test test test ect etc etc cheering you on

Re opk's I was told by GP not to use them, but after reading up about them I thought i'd give them a go about 6 months ago. They worked fine for me however I think I started to get a tad obsessive/worried about the whole thing and realised I should have listened to the learned woman (GP) she knew what she was talking about, TTC gets crazy as it is so the less stress in it the better I think for me. I roughly know when I OV due to changes in CM so all i do is CM watch. But if you are having problems checking CM then perhaps give the opks a go for a month however I'm pretty sure you'll be confirming your bfp soon so you won't need them anyway!

Looking forward to all confirmations very soon !

Not quite due yet, next couple of days. Ordered some pee sticks from amazon yesterday (£2.80 for 15 but hope not to need them all) which will arrive next week so hopefully AF won't have made an appearance by then and I will get to use them.

Oh you chatterboxes! There are LOADS of posts that I need to catch up on!! Here goes.....

well.

I'm certainly no expert, but have read the charter's essential book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler.

it's very fascinating and explains all about how to get pregnant or not by charting your cycle. and about how everything all works.

i was totally scared of cervix checking before i read it, it's not as weird as i thought! your cervix is actually low, firm and closed and only becomes high, soft and open at your fertile time.

haven't bloody succeeded yet since i bought it, but was interesting anyway.

it has attractive photos of the cervix and various types of CM.

hope you enjoyed my summary.

didn't persuade DH on the SWI, was going to fit in a nap time one, but i think there's no time before work. boo! was out doing toddler stuff this morning so running a bit late.

Ooh Jen so you are next with pee stick confirmation!

Dream you could well be updiffed, don't lose heart. But if not, it sounds like you are on the way back to normal cycles anyway, so I'm sure it won't be long.

Hey dream re opk's. As you know I use the shag dictator aka Clear Blue Fertility monitor. I bought this when I used to have money (prior to DS) as I had no idea when in my cycle I ovulated and after months of ttc I was getting fed up with rat smacking more or less every day. Lack of CM for me meant I didn't get any clues.

With me being a bit of a stress head I knew I'd be worrying about not using opk's correctly and getting false readings. CBFM is great as you just poas every morning from day 6 until after ovulation and it displays from low fertility after AF, to high when it detects the LH surge, to peak when you actually ovulate. So you basically get told what 5 days are best to shag on.

As soon as I've poas I can forget about it then until the next morning and not be worrying about whether it's right or not. If you've got the money I would recommend it, but remember it's not just the machine you have to buy. It's £23 for 20 sticks which last 2 cycles for me, so it's quite expensive but a stress free way of detecting egg release. (You could probably buy them cheaper online).

If you get CM that's great and I probably wouldn't bother with CBFM if I had a clear sign like that, if like me you don't always and you don't fancy SWI every night for a fortnight I think either OPK's or CBFM are great depending what you can stretch to.

Ooooh can?t believe I missed the positive visualisation love in yesterday!! I have to say that I have trouble with the visualisation part ? I just can?t see myself with a baby. I?ve always been seen as the irresponsible/not-mature-enough-to-be-a-mummy-(but-in-a-nice-way) one out of my family/friends and I think I?ve been told that so many times that I actually believe it now! But am working on it a step at a time ? I can ALMOST imagine myself with a BFP in my hand ? so not long until I?ve cracked that first step!

Little now is the time for an ironic BFP if ever I saw one

Love the 2WW quiz idea ? can I join in even though I haven?t laid an egg yet? I am still pregnant, after all:

1. So when you get your BFP excluding hubby/partner who will be the first person you tell?

Probably whoever I cannot reasonably avoid drinking with the next time I go out!

2.When is it too soon to think about winter? The reason I ask is I went into a well known clothes shop last week in London and they were already selling winter coats & jumpers!!!

I?m already thinking about winter ? more specifically Christmas. Always like to start planning now to spread the cost over the 4 (only 4!!!) pay days before Chrimbo.

3.Which bad habits of your DH or DP drive you crazy?

Opening cupboard doors and drawers and then leaving them open. Why does he do this?? It?s surely no more effort to close them again???

4.Hubby (although he fell asleep 3/4 of the way through) and I watched The Green Mile last week and I was blubbing away so badly that I blubs actually woke hubby up and he was terrified something bad had really happened so what movies have you watched that have moved you to tears?

Hmmm, I always cry when I watch Ghost!

5.What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

Cactus ice cream in Japan. Was tres delish!

Jen, Dream, Generic and Scarlet - SOOOOOO excited re: the impending news of your BFPs!! You preggos, you!

Well little baby Fedex is clearly sitting on my bladder today ? have been to the loo 6 times this morning! Love having pre-ovulation pregnancy symptoms ? just gives me practice for the real thing (not that my current pregnancy isn?t the real thing, but you know what I mean).

Are there any cornflake cakes left, by the way?

Yes Imps there are 2 left which I saved for you. Enjoy.

Cactus ice cream

Enjoy your cornflakes imps you clearly need the fortified cereal in your condition.
Well dp was the one who initiated the shagging last night! I was rather surprised that he managed it after such a long day at work but he did (and was snoring within about 30 seconds after). So the shagathon has officially begun and he moaned at me for not poas! an ov stick that is but none the less, I'm finding the role reversal a little odd.
work is very boring today, i am the only one in the office from 1.30 to 5.15!

are cactii tasty then? what do they taste of?

imps i'm sure we can do some more visualisation this afternoon! Picture yourself in some maternity gear that is effortlessly stylish, very sexy yet completely comfortable...

Have to say I can't stop think about food today! I'd even go for the cactus ice cream! Is that a pregnancy symptom (even though i'm only on CD4)??? Did someone say they were putting some buns in the oven this afternoon??

Well done to your DP for initiating Ninja, that happened once(!) with my DH but it was a few days past OV - they can be thoughtful sometimes :)

scarlett, i think the shag dictator sounds like a great idea, and much less hassle than opk's. This month is meant to be THE month which was why we put so much effort into the shagathon. If it turns out, as i suspect strongly, not to be the month quite yet, i think i will try opks for a month then bite the bullet and cough up for the shag dictator....

and ninja, where is this maternity wear to be found?!? certainly not in my cupboards. mine was 99% hand-me-downs and i can't say i ever felt effortlessly stylish. More like whale like, and large enough to have a gravity force of my own...

And I wish to add the following to Question number 3:
3.Which bad habits of your DH or DP drive you crazy? not flushing the loo after a wee, leaving the toilet seat up, leaving all dirty clothes mixed in with clean-ish in a pile on the floor not 10 steps from washing basket, believing with absolute certainty in the washing fairy, not shutting the door from porch to hall-totally draughty (drafty?), being totally annoying at ttc "well, you can't expect it to happen quickly" oh yes I can...

solars, that is indeed a pregnancy symptom

you are just having a premonition of whats to come this month

dreamfeeder those type of clothes must exist somewhere. My maternity stuff was mostly very comfy but didn't really stand a chance on the stylish/ sexy list. Remember this is visualisation we are talking here, if we want to see it, we can (honest!)

oh... now i see it, myself, bloomingly preggers, wearing.... a floral wrap dress that emphasises my bump but makes my arse and legs look petite and elegant, big sunglasses, clean, loose hair, just radiant

see, its easy when you know how!

Dreams you look stunning!

Ninja these dresses are beautiful! Mine is a black maxi dress with a gathered detail at the front above the bump...

you look stunning solars it really suits you.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to rub/hold your belly in public without people thinking you are a weirdo?

why thank you Ninja :)

Jen my reflexologist actively encourages this, albeit in the privacy of your own home, it helps with the whole visualisation she tells me. I have done it in front of DH who thought I was clearly do-lally and he knows we're TTCing!! So perhaps not in front of public, but I think your safe to rub belly hear :)

sorry, really rubbish with spelling today, i meant here...

Hmmm, how to describe what cactus ice cream tastes like....a bit like cucumber I suppose. It was very nice, but I think that had more to do with the cream and sugar, rather than the cactus.

I can't wait to venture into the world of maternity fashion! I am a bit of a frump comfortable yet practical kind of dresser most of the time - my aim is to be bang on trend when I am with bump! I'm thinking Ugg boots, leggings (), long tunics, chunky jewellery, amazing hair do's etc etc. More likely though, I'll just settle for the classic fat frump look.

Good work on encouraging OH to initiate the nooky Ninja (rather proud of the alliteration there). My OH surprised me with a shag this morning - very rarely happens on a weekday, but he's in his notice period so I guess he's not hugely bothered about being late for work at the moment. Don't suppose there's much of a chance of any of his swimmers holding on up there for another 7 days is there?