10+ months TTC

[Kookie88]

I've just reached cycle 10 and I'm despairing. I've tried to stay focused and positive all this time but it's all gotten a bit much. Each month I've tried something new but nothing seems to be working. (This month is acupuncture month, last month was fertilitea month)!

I guess I just needed to vent I don't want to sound like a total debbie downer but today's been tough!

Hi Bugs, welcome! I use Ovia too, I am intending to use the OPKs again this cycle which is my first after my miscarriage last week - I’d stopped using them but I’m now suspecting that, like you. I am ovulating later. I know what you mean about baby news, three of my closest friends all had babies this year! I was so happy for them but it did hurt. Will this be your first baby?

Fingers crossed for you. Hang out with us and hopefully we will all be able to congratulate you before too long!!

Oh marriageoftrueminds so sorry you miscarried so recently. Well done on being so positive though, it must take so much courage to be able to start trying again but it’s the only way you’ll get your positive.

Yes will be baby number 1. We got married 3&1/2 years ago, had a big holiday in the summer then started the house hunt, spent a year finding the dream home and getting moved in and sorted. Decided to have a blow out holiday then come off the pill and start trying. That was Easter 2016! This summer as nothing had happened we decided to have a bit of a break and go on safari (we like our holidays!) but since then I feel like this is the only thing I’ve not been lucky with and it’s what we want so much!

Like this group have already said so many of the other threads and friends around me seem to just be able to start trying and have a baby without any real time trying. I know you don’t see the full picture but it’s good to know we aren’t alone!

Welcome bugs - I’m so sorry about the shite of ttc; it’s disheartening and frustrating, but we understand and hopefully can keep each other feeling not alone in this and seeing hope flourish in trying circumstances! Xxx

bertie welcome back, how are you? Xxx

I’m coming to end of 2ww. Feeling really hormonal this one, my PMS can be really crap sometimes and I’ve been eating a lot of crap with study and when doing assignments and I swear it’s made it worse. Which shouldn’t surprise me. But it does make me feel much more emotional about impending AF. Really have to get the healthy eating back under control to avoid this next month! Xxx

Hi all,
I was lurking on this thread until recently but never posted, was very surprised to recently get our BFP 11th time lucky (assuming it sticks) so just wanted to 'report back' to share a couple of things in case they were helpful to anyone - who knows if it made any difference but might be worth a look, I hope it doesn't seem like trying to teach anyone to suck eggs/come across as patronising. My friend recommended this book for the 'preparation phase' - I didn't have one as such which alerted me to the fact that there might be more to conception than I had considered..
www.worldofbooks.com/the-fertility-plan-a-proven-three-month-programme-to-help-you-conceive-naturally-by-jill-blakeway-gor002042626.html?keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjw-NXPBRB4EiwAVNRLKrcnj_2OxP4unWi5eMTn68xXmkopV_lYftD-LXYe_2ZXE85bwgNpJBoCSfgQAvD_BwE
Some of it is Chinesey woo, but I was particularly struck by the fertility checklist (pics attached) which covered more things than I had considered. In the last few months before conceiving I had changed /added the following things:

• Raspberry leaf tea to stimulate uterus (AF had been very light/short and seemed to 'kickstart' slightly in the month before BFP)
• Vit E tablets (taken a few times/week), pre-conception multivit
• Milled linseed/flaxseed on cereal etc. to boost B6 vits
• More regular exercise/'fertility yoga' exercises most days

eg. here www.momjunction.com/articles/yoga-asanas-that-boost-fertility_003039/#gref

• Using a Clearblue OPK instead of online cheapies, primarily to detect the oestrogen levels - I actually stopped trying to pinpoint LH surge & just focused on DTD 2-3x after flashing face over 4-5 days (in the event of BFP had a rotten cold & only DTD once, about 2.5 days before ovulation afaik) - so focus was on before rather than at time of ovln.
• Had occasionally done the 'legs in air' thing after DTD, but book says not to - just lie there at least 10mins after. If you think about the anatomy, this actually makes sense, as the cervix protudes into the vagina, there ends up being a hollow behind it, so if you go vertical it could unhelpfully collect all the swimmers in it away from cervix?!
• Lastly (and embarrassingly) I suspect the thing that may have made the difference for us is as per the story in pic 3 below - something I'd never thought about but very much applied to us!

Hope no-one finds that offensive or blatantly obvious, I certainly wasn't as clued up as I could have been. Good luck to all!

Thanks for the advice, Schnapps and congrats on your long-awaited BFP, hope all goes well for you!

I have ordered the book, thanks Schnapps
where is everyone at the moment? I've got another week before fw starts and i've eaten so much crap since af arrived feeling

Hi ladies. I’m cd2. Had a very hormonal, pms filled few days this AF so I’m glad it’s arrived as the day I get AF, poof, all the lowness and mood just lifts, so today I feel like me again! I’m gearing up for the lap in just over two weeks. Feeling so weird about it. Kind of hoping they find and treat some endo. Not sure I how I will feel if it’s “all looks fine” because it’s two years and not a whiff of a bfp and I’d really appreciate a why if you get what I mean!

How is everyone? Hopefully well xxx

Well my first month on clomid failed so having a lovely week of period pain and looking forward to the clomid side effects again in a few days... the blood test I did last cycle was a waste of time as I ovulated so late, so I have to do 2 this cycle on day 21 and 28. Which of course are both Saturdays! Hope you are all doing ok xx

Hi sunshine I’m so sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed for the next cycle. colabottles good luck for the lap!

I’m still miscarrying, it’s just going on forever. Actually ended up going to A&E as think it might actually be an ectopic. Got scan tomorrow to check what’s going on. I’m still gutted because not only have I lost baby but also, because we’ve moved house (we had no choice, husband’s training programme) the doctor said we will have to join the back of me queue again for our referral 😭

Oh Marriage I’m sorry to hear what you’re going through . I hope you get though it soon. Be kind to yourself!

Sorry to hear the clomid wasn’t successful sunshine. Fingers crossed for next cycle.

I’ve been trying to stay off the boards this month in an attempt to not think about ttc. It hasn’t worked though! I am confused about where I am in my cycle which I hate (I’m such a control freak!). My opks indicated that I ovulated on cd12 which is early for me so I don’t know what’s happened there. 12dpo today so I’ll see what this week brings.

Fingers crossed betsyboo! You never know!

Sunshine, are you temping or doing opks? The “day 21” test is meant to be 7 days past ovulation so so if you track ov you can just add seven days and get the test that day

Got to dash but back later xx

Thanks Marriage. I struggle to get my hopes up nowadays! I completely know what Cola means about feeling like herself when af appears. I hate the uncertainty and anticipation of the days before af is due and feel like I know where I am once she arrives.

marriage that sounds horrible, I hope it's over for you soon so you can move forwards.

cola yep I did opks and bbt last month, but I was told clomid should make me ovulate on day 14, and everything online says you should ovulate 5 - 10 days after the last pill. Which should have been by day 16 but it was day 22 for me! I have to book weeks in advance to get a blood test on a certain day at my surgery so I'd thought I was safe going for day 22.

Have been investigating acupuncture tonight, going to give it a go. Has anyone on here tried it?

sunshine I do it and it’s been good for relaxation and sleep, my cycles seemed to get more regular but that could be conincidence. Mainly helps me with stress.

Can you go to your local hospital for bloods? Same with booking at surgery for me but I can just take the letter to the hospital and get the tests that day

betsey I swear more I try not to think of ttc, more I do! Hard to not isn’t it!

So sorry to hear what you’re going through marriage, hope youre getting lots of support xxx

Sorry have been absent for a bit - was lying low and trying not to think about things. Have seen consultant today and we have our IVF referral now. Apparently my ovarian reserve is excellent for my age (I didn’t ask what it was as I’m trying not to think about numbers - there’s nothing I can do about them so I’m just trying to go with the flow). She couldn’t say how long we would have to wait, but a friend who was referred earlier this year waited about 3 months so hopefully that will be similar for us. Feeling resigned and a teeny bit excited, but I am scared to hope really.

I will prob go quiet for a bit as I’m going to try to give myself a bit of time off from thinking about ttc at least until Christmas, but I’ll try to pop in when poss.

Wishing you all well x

Sunshine I’ve done acupuncture too and found it really relaxed me which I detonated needed. I only stopped as the lady moved away.

Cola yeah I know what you mean. It’s been on my mind all the time!

Trying completely understand you wanting to lie low for a bit. It’s great that you’ve taken a step forward and had your appointment and 3 months will hopefully fly by with Xmas etc. I hope you can relax over the coming weeks. I feel much more relaxed since we’ve taken the decision to start more investigations in January. It’s like the pressure has come off.

I'm still here too. Lots of distracting things until Christmas and then our appointment with the geneticist is FINALLY here in the new year.

trying every step another closer - totally understand the tuning out too. Have a good run into Christmas and take care xxx

bertie wow finally, it seemed like so long ago and now January seems just round the corner! Hopefully the time flies xxx

Hope you're ok marriage, sorry to hear that. Hope you've got support and people looking after you xx

Good to hear from bertie and trying. Glad appointments are not too far off now.

How's the job going cola?

We had our appointment yesterday and basically we can either start next week or in January! We said we wanted to think about it but had a long chat last night and think we're going to go for it. We've waited all this time so what's the point in delaying further? It is a bit quick but I just don't want to wait around anymore and I've been doing a fertility diet for the last 3 months anyway so feel like physically I'm ready. I think if we wait until Jan, I'll drive myself mad researching everything and over thinking everything when really, I just need to trust the doctors and crack on with it!

Yay chlo, so excited you can start to get moving! I think you’re right to go for it. So much waiting is hard and hope you’ll have great news before Christmas xxx
February for us, gives us two cycles after lap and means if it works I can still finish masters. Work going well just life is well busy! Xxx

Hi Ladies
Hope all is ok with everyone?
I dissapeared off here very shortly after joining as had things going on and more recently have been trying to take the focus off ttc and thinking about it while waiting for definitive news .

When i last posted i was about to go to intial consultation appointment for fertility treatment. It was, as someone had said, a nurse's appointment first. Form filling and form for bloodtests. Did blood tests then booked in SA for OH which thankfully came back as Normal. Blood tests all fine.

Waited about 6 weekd for next appointment to see consultant who was very nice and practical. Scanned me internally to check if any developments all normal. Reviewed past tests and history discussed recent blood tests and SA.

Said all normal no known cause for not getting pregnant so diagnosed with unexplained infertility.
Then said i was being refferd for Ivf!

So shocked and elated. And terrified and overwhelmed. Choice of 2 hospitals given to have ivf treatment based in hackney or London. Chose london. Refferal sent off with request for blood tests for hep b ect. Then Waiting (impatiently) for a date.

Now have heard and Appointment is in a couple of weeks. Its an all day appointment as most of investigations and consultations are done on the one day. Will see doctor and nurse to advise on commencent of treatmeant. Cant quite believe it.

Hope everyone is keeping well and things are coming along for Trying and Colabottles who welcomed me to thread ( havent been able to read back through thread that far!) dont know if you can remember me.

Wishing everyone the best of luck strength and sanity (!) in their journeys
xxx

Thank you Marriage, sorry to see you've been having a tough time :( Hope you (& everyone on here) get a luck break soon

Hi ladies, just popping back on to ask if any of you have any info you can give me RE NHS referral times and fertility clinics etc? GP has sent a referral off for me today and I don’t really know anything about it or how long I’ll be waiting. I’m preparing myself for it to take a long time :(

Hi hopefully, sounds like things are really getting moving for you now! Good news and hopefully appointment goes well

bubblegum it really depends on where you are as wait times vary wildly area to area - for me we got an appointment with fertility nurse in about two weeks, six weeks after that had consultant appointment and scan, four more weeks til the hsg and once I decided to go ahead with the lap, 3 months to op. As we already have a kid, we won’t get any ivf etc, but hopefully that gives you at least one reference point. It does depend on your area though and unfortunately I know others have had to wait much longer xxx

I’m in a total no pressure fw now as lap coming up but feeling very emotional. Feel like we have a lot riding on getting answers from it. Arranging for DH to have a dna fragmentation fest in December so that if the lap shows no issues, we’ve confirmed whether best off to go ICSI during IVF. Looking forward to the day all this is a distant memory!