Thread 20 TTC #1 - We. Want. Babies.

[AlexiaB]

Hugh enjoys ISW and his love affair with Doreen. He watches out for skittle tits and weepyitis. Mrs Arseholey Fucknut (AF) shows up when you least want her but brings wine and soft cheese as a consolation prize.

We don't have rules as such but expect to be talked down from the ledge with kind and well meaning but firm words if you get too hysterical. But most importantly don't convince yourself you're pregnant in the tww. That is paramount! It messes with your head and makes you crazy crazier.

We don't get a lot of baby dust in these here parts. We want a fanny full of determined Doreen, not unicorn farts and gnome tears with extra sparkle. We've been going a while now so the novelty has somewhat worn off and we're slightly battle scarred and bruised in the cervix area.

Post your stats and add your dates. A more lovely, supportive group of ladies you couldn't wish to meet. We like it when the grads stick around too. No question is too daft. We have opk experts, temp experts, cervical mucus management teams and symptom spotters extraudinaire!

Morning everyone, sorry for all those who AF has got :(

I'm 7dpo today, 5 more days before test date... no symptoms to spot yet!

Thanks for the words of encouragement ladies. AF is a witch!

Onwards and upwards. DH is a taking me out for dinner tonight so not all bad. Much wine will be drunk!

Thanks mouse and alexia re thermometer. I did finally get my crosshairs and seem to be having a slow and steady temp increase as opposed to a jump. Better that than nothing I guess! Now 4dpo so between Jem and Mrs.

Jem you're the poster girl for the perfect FW! Wish I had done all that as then I would at least feel like we'd given it our best shot for the month. As it is we missed dtd on the day of O and the day after so I'm not 100% happy with our performance. But then that's something to improve on for next time! I'm also considering preseed as my fertile cm seems to run out a couple of days before O.

Alexia and Gee good luck with Clomid - hope it give you both a good, strong ovulation. When will you know whether it has been effective?

Mouse how was appointment this morning?

Kwik FX that this IUI is the one!

Sorry to everyone that has been hit by AF

So I went for my blood results meeting this morning.

Symptoms are joint pain, lower back and pelvis pain, stiffness, loss of mobility. Lost 2 stone this year with exercise and good diet.

Results came back, rheumatoid arthritis was negative. I'm on the edge of anaemia but it was in the normal range. Inflammatory levels were very high & I have an over-active thyroid - which actually shocked me as I don't have any of the signs. They've referred me to a specialist though as I may have an auto-immune problem or an inflammatory type of arthritis.

So I have to wait for my specialist appointment to come through, I mentioned fertility and he wasn't concerned. So no real answers but positives to take from it.

Thanks AlexiaB I temped for the first 5 months, but found that I was then focused on DTD around the time that I thought I would ov. Then, when I stopped temping and went on holiday, I got upduffed and due to the timing I must have ov'd much later than I would have been expected. So, overall I didn't like how monitoring my fertility changed my behaviour, and I felt overly pressurised to DTD at what later turned out to appear to be the wrong time.

Mouse that sounds like a bunch of good results, in terms of taking action and moving forward. I too have been lingering on the brink of anaemia for the last couple of months, but I've been drinking bone-broth/stock and eating warm, blood-nourishing foods and feel 100 times better, and my bloods came back normal last week. I have back/disc problems too, but not the joint pain, and manage that separately.

welcome back Fxskip !

Ooh fxskip how much later was it? Do you still have that chart to share? I think we should probably extend the time that we dtd. We generally keep going up until the temp rise but I have wondered how much you can rely on the whole thing!

skip oh that's interesting! Like Music said, how much later? Can you share your previous charts here? Did you use Fertility Friend? I think charts are pretty accurate but we aim to dtd every 2-3 days throughout my whole cycle to have everything covered, and because it's good for men to regularly cum.

Music yay for crosshairs! Feel free to share your chart It's been so long since I've been in a TWW, enjoy it!

Mouse glad there were some positives today. You're definitely in the right place to get the help you need.

Was also meant to say, this is probably one for Jem...

Some good news on FF today. One woman whose OH had 0% morph is now 5 weeks pregnant (from one dtd) and another whose OH had 1% morph in a SA done 3 weeks ago just got a BFP! It can happen

My temp has rocketed again today but I don't know if its because I was a little bit restless this morning an hour or so before my alarm went off. Also didn't take my temperature yesterday as I was dead to the world with the worst hangover ever, stupid free table wine...

Ooh share Mrs! Another spike could be a good sign!

Here is mine. It's quite a weird one. My temp stayed high well into AF and after that drop seems to have been steadily increasing since then I went pretty overboard with OPKs to try and cover all bases and the two days I marked +ve are the closest I got - strong but not proper positives. Any thoughts?

Looks good though Music at least the temps are corresponding with the OPK.

Here is mine, it'll be interesting to see if it goes any higher!

Looking good Mrs - what temp did you get up to last cycle? Or is this your first?

Alexia wish we could also dtd every three days! DH just doesn't have the appetite. I have to admit that before ttc we were once a week at the weekend people!!

Music & MrsG - charts look good!

Music I think your BD is fine. I've heard statistically O-1 and O-2 have better odds than O because the sperm is there ready and waiting. And don't worry, it's a struggle for us too. Having our own business means long hours and almost 7 days a week. When we get to bed we don't have much energy, especially DH. That's why I often let him sleep and then wake him up around 2am hoping he can dtd. TTC is bloody hard work. Don't best yourself up because it just takes one strong swimmer :)

Hi ladies, sorry have been quiet last couple of days- AF has been a horror this time (late and heavy, what a joy ). Am keeping fingers crossed for you all with clomid, scans and blood tests etc- really think we are due some BFPs!

I have been a bit of a witch to my DH, and despite apologising profusely yesterday he's throwing a strop back at me. It drives me mad- it's very rare I get a grump on (I really try to keep level headed) and when I do I'm a mutterer, and just need to grumble for a couple of minutes then I'm over it (e.g. "I'll do the bloody dishwasher then.." and then 2mins later I'm back to normal and apology's given). But DH can't deal with it when I'm not 100%, and seemingly thinks he has exclusive rights to negative feelings in our house (if I've ever had a bad day his will generally have been worse etc), and whilst I carry on as normal and wait for an apology when he's an arse, he will hold a grudge against me for a couple of days even if I do apologise. ARGH!

I do love him and he's a great guy but he is doing my head in today (I blame his mum who cultivated his behaviour!)..good job it's not my FW hahahahaha!

Sorry for the long random non-TTC rant! Feel much better for venting- hopefully AF will be on her way soon bringing me back to being a normal human!

Music its my first cycle so don't have any data to go off unfortunately. I think at the start of the cycle the pill was keeping my temps high so will be interesting to see the drop when (if!) AF comes.

Before TTC we were also DTD usually max twice a week on a good week but coming off the pill has definitely increased my libido. Once every 3 days is a nice rhythm for us but will try to do as often as possible in FW.

jem good luck for 2ww - remember:

• laugh a lot
• eat fresh pineapple incl core for first 5 days
• keep feet and kidneys warm all the time

-take it easy

• PMA - including vusualisations of implantation - all the way!!

fxskip LSFX!!!!

I was once told that I was a good witch and that I have the power of magic... so as tonight is a special night in the witch world, I shall cast a spell:
Hence forth the lovely ladies on this thread (& the others I am on) shall recieve their heart's desire and be with child, they will have healthy happy pregnancies and will rejoice in their new found joy.

FYI I definitely did not mis-hear "bitch" as this was said to me in Spanish

mouse I do feel like you are getting somewhere - at least they have been able to eliminate some things. The thyroid thing - I think for fertility it should be below 2.

My God!! First day back in the office for a week and the day just flew by - so, so, so behind!!! Tried to stay on top of things last week but very hard when I was in back to back meetings all day, every day.

binky hang in there!!!!

I didn't think to ask of the number kwick he didn't seem to concerned about that but more so my inflammation. Will see when this specialist appointment comes back. Knowing the NHS it will be ages. Once I know what it is I have a health package at work I can take advantage of. X

Spice - thanks for coming out of your long time lurk to tell me that. I also drink raspberry leaf tea to tone the uterus and the brand I got from Holland and Barrett also has hibiscus in it as an infusion. I was a little concerned after your message so I emailed the team at naturalfertityinfo.com to see what they thought and they came back with this:
We have no evidence that Hibiscus sabradiffa, the genus and species of hibiscus we suggest considering as a flavoring for some herbal infusions, works as birth control. This is especially true in the amount that it would be in in an herbal infusion. There are studies of other species of Hibiscus that may, but this evidence is inconclusive.
I'm emailing the companies who produce both my teas to see what genus the hibiscus is, but I recon it should be ok.

Jem - fingers crossed this is the one. I don't envy your 2ww!

Skip - welcome back and great news about your cycle returning to normality. I wish you all the success in your next pregnancy xx

Mouse - so they don't think it will impact your fertility? That's really good, I don't know much about thyroid problems but seems like you could of had worse news? I hope it's something you can recover from quickly, how much pain is it causing you?

Kwick - lovely spell :) don't forget to cast on yourself too.

I echo everyone else sentiments, sorry to all those the witch got. Imagine getting a BFP on Halloween though, I'd be worried it would have fangs and claws .

Love the spell Kwick - thank you!

Binky hope you're okay. I think you need to have an honest chat with DH. I wouldn't stand for that. In my house it's known "I'm a hypocrite" when it comes to these things and DH accepts it. We don't fight much but he has to listen until I've got it "out of my system". Girls should rule

Anyone else really jealous of all the cute baby Halloween photos on FB? Ah it's killing me. I keep thinking in my head 'please please please let me have a cute baby for next Halloween'.

Sk1pper I asked if it would make an impact TTC and that I'd come off my pill and was still waiting for my AF. He asked if I could be pregnant. I explained about the negative test and he said to test again 2 weeks after the negative test to make sure. He said if my AF hasn't arrived in another month to come back in to see them. He said he didn't think my hyperthyroidism would effect fertility as it could be to do with my inflammation.

On another note. Just had a mini freak out. The cod liver oil I've been taking have multivitamins included. My mum got me some iron + multivitamin tablets today and on the label it says, contains vitamin A, do not take if pregnant or likely to become pregnant.

My cod liver oil contains vitamin A. Soooo. I'm just wondering what do people take. I also take Folic Acid. But I'm not sure what I should take along side that.

Mouse yes you shouldn't take vit A. I take folic acid, vitamin d (you should take these two at a minimum as you're put on both if pregnant) omega 3, vit C, vit E and b-complex (for LP).

Aww Alexia you've made me feel lots better about our dtd efforts this cycle, thank you! What do you and your DH do if you don't mind me asking? I've always thought having your own business sounds like an amazing thing to do - I'm in awe!

Mouse sounds like your appointment was useful. Hope you can get some more clarity soon with your specialist appointment.

kwik loving the tww tips. I had pineapple today but it was purely coincidental!

Mrs please don't stress out too much for your first cycle. You might get a happy surprise but it wont mean anything if you don't this time. Great to have the temps logged though!

Mouse - Check the pot and make sure you're not exceeding the recommended dosage of vitamin A for pregnant women. I know youre not pregnant but you need to safe guard yourself as Vitamin A can be toxic at high doses.

I'm taking per day:
2 x bee propolis capsules (you don't need this)
1 x fish oil
1 x pregnacare multivitamin (with follic acid)
And 1 x EPO capsule from AF to ovulation

Apart from that trying to have 10 portions of fruit and veg a day and drink lots more water.