TTC first baby

[cwtching]

Hello all! DH and I are TTC our first baby, I'm 31, he's 32. We've only been trying for a month so it is extremely early days but I'm so excited at the prospect.

DH may have some fertility issues (picked up on a scan) but I was pretty convinced it was going to be a BFP straight away as I had so many symptoms - but that shows how much I know!

Is anyone else TTC their first baby? Please join and keep me company!!

And congrats to Sazza!

Wow all these shortcuts are confusing Could us newbies have a quick lesson please?

BPF = Big Fat Positive
TTF = Trying to Conceive
CM = Cervical Mucus
TMI = ?
ERCM = ?

Any others we need to know about?

TMI - too much information
EWCM - egg white cervical mucus

Somewhere at the top - I think its under "getting started" is the acronym list. Have a look there :)

Newbie - I was on Yasmin for 10 years and my cycle got back to normal straight away. But I think it really depends.

Thanks Kicking.

How do you all feel about exercising while TTC? I've given up my exercise DVDs because I feel like it might be too much with the weight lifting and ab work etc. I miss it though! I was thinking about buying a pregnancy DVD just so that I've got something to work out to.

Newbie - there shouldn't be anything that you change. You're only humping anyway.

Besides, the best time to get some training in is before you fall pregnant. You can carry on doing those exercises when you're pregnant.

But your muscles soften during pregnancy so as strong as you get them now, the more you benefit. You can do more during pregnancy as you won't be trying from exercise zone 0.

You're not pregnant. So go back to doing the exercises that you were doing before. Save the rubbish pregnant exercises for when you are pregnant.

Popinda that sounds really hopeful! I was on Yasmin for 14years but I did swap to micro for 4 of those years. I think I'm going to carry on with the sticks until AF arrives anyway. Nothing to loose apart from £££

Kicking you make a good point. OK I'll go back to exercising normally. I'm just a little freaked out because my mum keeps telling me I mustn't lift anything while TTC because that is how she had an early mc.

Fair enough we are all cautious after OV for the week maybe two weeks until we know for sure.

But the best possible thing you can do is go into a pregnancy as healthy and as fit as possible.

Maybe don't lift very heavy things until you know you're not pregnant but nothing wrong with doing lots of exercise until you know...

Ah yes I guess when I finally know my OV days it will be easier to be more careful on certain weeks etc.

The thing is that you can't pinpoint OV days. I should have (technically, possibly) OVed this weekend but I have no idea.

OPKs are a waste of money - they can detect the LH surge but not when the egg drops.

So I've no idea whether I am in the 2 week wait or if I am still to OV or when I should be due my AF because even though I am regular as all hell, if OV is punted out a couple days, everything is punted out a couple days.

Trust me - you'll go dilly. Eventually, its worth it to just DTD EOD for the full term - every day when your fertile week may be and a couple times on either side for good measure. It's the most accurate, relaxed way to do it.

I plan to continue my exercise I love cycling obviously might need to slow down later on as your not supposed to get too out of breath but figure regular exercise dill help for the big push at the end... Yikes! Oh that's another question... Would you ladies want to give birth or have a section?

C-section for me definitely.

Have very personal issues but also had a myomectomy a couple years ago so hoping that that means they won't force me to give natural birth.

Do we get a choice anyway?

Which would you do?

If OPK's detect that you're about to release an egg and it gives you evidence I'm not sure that is such a waste of money. At least you definitely know your body is doing something. I don't get how the OV calculator could be accurate for everyone. I think I'd rather see real evidence that my egg is about to drop regardless to when it happens as at least I know there is a definate window to work to. Once I know my cycle I might have a better idea of when to start using the OPK'S which will save time and money. Fingers crossed I don't have to wait that long though!

Newbie - you've not read my post correctly

NOTHING can tell you when the egg is about to be released. The LH surge is an indicator of ovulation. But the egg releasing is independent of that. You may not even drop an egg. Or it may drop a week later. You don't know. And they can't tell you when it will happen.

So your best chance is to DTD EOD or every day from the closest possible time at the end of your AF, right up until the next AF.

Newbie - buy ov sticks from amazon 50 for under £8! Much cheaper than high street prices!

Really? Is that really true? I thought the point of the sticks was to tell you when to start DTD like mad? How pointless if you might not even release an egg! So the sticks will just tell me that I'm ovulating which means i may or may not drop an egg at some point in my cycle? Well that's useless information!!! I want my money back :(

Definitely giving birth for me if possible. I am a massive wimp (passed out once having a mole removed - it was on my back, I was lying down, and I didn't see or feel a thing. Still fainted .

The only thing that scares me more than the thought of childbirth itself, is the thought of an aneasthetist sticking a needle into my actual spine and then being sliced open whilst still awake. I actually feel a bit queasy just thinking about it!

Thanks Popinda that's a good tip! Not sure it's worth it though as I'm not interested to hear if I'm ovulating if it's not going to help me determine my best days for TTC :(

HA HA yep that's it. My DH has told me to stop buying OV sticks and we just concentrate our efforts into making sure I always have fresh swimmers up there.

You can also drop two eggs in one cycle - but you won't know when or if you do.

That's the biggest thing to understand with this process: no one knows anything. They know how it should work, but we are so very different and there is nothing that is set in stone about TTC. Nothing done on the internet is correct. 70% of people OV before day 10 and after day 17 - they can't even give us accurate timescales then!

Once you think you have all the information, I promise you will have a couple cycles where you are so sure you're pregnant, you would run out and buy a baby room. And you crash back to earth when AF arrives 10 days late or 5 days late and all it was was that the egg was released later than you thought.

Then you will remember me telling you that nothing is certain and that the only thing you can do is to hump like effing rabbits from the end of AF to the beginning of the next AF.

Baby making is hard work. It's rare that you will just catch the egg. Surround it in swimming juice rather

They will stick the needle into your spine for childbirth as well...

All the fun bits that tell me I can't have kids are fair enough, but I also think that the first 2 weeks are HELL. Now imagine having 2 weeks of HELL after not sleeping for 3 days?

I've already had the cut - not a big deal. Not that sore. Then it's in for an hour or two and a snip snip and there's your baby.

If something goes wrong in labour, you could be in hospital for two or three days, labour is hectic....not sleeping for 2 or 3 days. And THEN the worst is if they decide to section you and you've laboured and been cut - it takes even longer!

What I want to know is this: If natural is so much "safer", why is it that c-section is what they do to save the baby?

OV stick do help in theory but not for everyone. All they do is measure the amount of LH in your system which is generally a sign that you will ovulate but it doesn't mean you will. You can have an LH surge and not ovulate or you can ovulate without the OPK detecting a surge.

The only sure way to determine ovulation is by taking your temperature and then you'll only know for sure after the fact as your BBT rises (and stays high until you menstruate). Some women get a dip in BBT right before they OV so that's also a good indicator to swi like crazy.

Kicking is right though, if you can dtd every day around your fertile times and every other day throughout your cycle you don't have to worry about all this nonsense.

The trouble with BBT and temping is that when you notice a temperature rise, you have supposedly OVed (which means the egg may drop or not). BBT and temping is good to get an idea of which day you should OV but it's not great to work out when to DTD or SWI.

So it's good to get an idea of how your body works, but it's not good to use it for OV since you will miss it by the time you record the elevated temp

There shouldn't be any reason to stop exercising while TTC newbie. As some of the others have mentioned, you need to be as healthy as possible before being pregnant. I plan to carry on exercising as much as I can once I get there, I worked really hard to lose weight to get pregnant so want to keep as much off as possible! Safely though of course, I have been looking at the unsafe exercises on the NHS website. They are very extreme! No scuba diving or exercising at more than 2,500m from sea level!

I am not sure of a preference over natural or c-section. I think at that stage I will want to do whatever it takes to get it out! Friend had a c-section and really suffered after as her movement was restricted. Not keen on the injection in the spine thing either kitten. No, no, no!