Thread 31, TTC1 | Jam and her dodgers still riding the bonking bus for that elusive BFP

[Jamon]

Calling all OPK-ers, Temp-ers, Clomid-ers, Femara-ers, IUI-ers, IVF-ers and anyone else on the TTC #1 Bus.

We've been going a while now so the novelty has well and truly worn off and we're slightly battle scarred and bruised in the cervix area. We don't get a lot of baby dust in these here parts, we just keep it legs spread and fingers crossed (LSFX). We love a baby bomb from a prior bus-mate but if we get told to 'just relax and enjoy it' ONE MORE TIME you will get a punch in the face!

Hop on board, post your stats and prepare to be dazzled by the wealth of TTC knowledge we long-timeys have to share...

Key:
HS - have/had sex
GOS - good old shag
ELH - enthusiastic lavatory happenings
LSFX - legs spread, fingers crossed

Sorry about AF Caz, Quiet, Kath. Totally sucks but yes my food feast helped a bit. DH was disappointed but reassured me that he won't run off and get a younger model with plump eggs so I allowed him to have a small portion of my food.

PJs so sorry this cycle is proving so difficult. Can't say anything except hoping for your miracle.

Skip I'm going to try the castor oil, just so I can lie on my bed with it.

Harriet glad you have a weekend off.

Poor Jam, I feel for you being so down, I can get myself in a right state and my face looks like a blotchy mess and my nose is red. DH will ask if I was crying and I usually say no then burst into tears again. I don't know what my hormones will do if when(please) I get pregnant Sometimes though a good cry helps. Glad you have the festival to keep you occupied this weekend.

Kwick it's horrible to see a city you love under attack. Hugs to you and all in Catalunya and Spain. I have family in Madrid. Who have given me some tips for Mouse which I shall pass on.

Friday positivity.
I've finished work already which is a bonus so going to have a drink with some work friends.

I don't have acupuncture tomorrow so I can stay in bed.

I still have some of my awesome food for later and I'm going to have a glass or three of the beautiful wine I bought yesterday.

skipper I go to MoreYoga in Finsbury Park - it is about 2 minutes from my flat you gonna come join me?
I could not sleep last night so I put on Adrienne on YouTube doing meditation- that did the trick😴

quiet

jimjams what a fcuker. The drugs dose thing is so hit and miss. I am 🤞🏼that you will have loads of juicy eggs collected.
I got better results on lower doses.

kathrino

I am round my cousins babysitting her twins. She is 5 years younger than me but already has 2 three year olds. I really hope my time will come....

Oh thanks JeNe Madrid tips are very welcome!! I really must start planning after this weekend.

And pyjamas, it only takes one, keep positive and will that juicy egg to encourage the others to catch up!! Come on, you can do it!!!! 🤝💪

Sorry af got a few of you. Sending bucket loads of 🍺🍷🍫

I've had a very weird week. Super busy at work and stressful all while trying to make my sister a birthday cake, and then meals out the last few nights. However, I had a really bad funny turn at lunchtime today, went very dizzy, felt sick, tummy ache, hot sweats so I think I might be coming down with something. 🙁 Right in the FW. I'm not sure I can stand to chugga chugga but I'm gonna give it my all to damn well try since I'm getting flashing smilies. Currently deep breathing through life. 😂😭

I actually heart you girls xx so many of these posts make me grin

Flash hope you enjoyed your steak and prosecco nice work 👌🏼

Skipper I love being in my 30s, nothing scary about the big 3-0 imo. Hope you have suitably fabulous celebrations planned

Caz I get IBS with AF and spend day 1 on the loo too /highfive

Jene loved your positive thoughts especially staying in bed instead of acupuncture 😂 😂

My dear kwick you are in perfect time ❤️

Mouse AMEN to deep breathing through life 🙌🏼🙌🏼 hope you feel better xx

Caster Oil Treatment
Supposedly improves all-round health of internal organs, in this case the reproductive organs and liver. Used with a self-fertility massage, it can help shed the old lining off the womb where the body might sometimes struggle.

What you need:
Caster oil (I got mine from Holland and Barrett)
Lint free cloth
Old Tupperware
Old towel
Hot water bottle
Plastic sheet (I cut a square out of a supermarket bag-for-life)

When to do the treatment:
Never during your period. Otherwise 3-4 times a week. If you are trying for a baby, you should quit after ovulation as it's not safe for pregnancy. I'm doing every other day until I ovulate at the moment.

What to do:
The caster oil is greasy as hell so make sure you are all set up before getting your hands covered. The caster oil can stain clothes and bed sheets so place the old towel down first, consider changing into an old t-shirt and pants or just get completely naked. Place the cloth into the Tupperware and pour the jar of caster oil over the cloth, do it a bit at a time as the cloth takes a while to soak it up. You don't want the cloth to be dripping. If you buy the Holland and Barrett jar, I used about 3/4 of the bottle. Make sure the cloth is properly soaked in the oil then lie on the towel and place the soaked cloth over your womb area. Carefully place the plastic sheet over the cloth and then place the hot water bottle on top. I normally lie there for about 30 minutes before carefully taking the pack off. The cloth can go back in the Tupperware and this can go in the fridge. You can reuse it about 30 times.

For 15 minutes after the treatment, I massage the oil into the area using a self fertility massage. There are loads of videos on YouTube to help you with this but it basically means massaging in clockwise circles from the belly button outwards. You should apply enough pressure so it's nearly uncomfortable.

PEACE!

mouse sorry you are not feeling well you will need to lie back and think of England...

Fanks jamon

Thanks skipper hope to start on this tomorrow

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Oh that's interesting about your response to lower dosage kwick - would you mind telling me how much you were on?

Thanks for the write up skipper! Really hope it helps 😊

Sorry you're under the weather mouse - power on through!!

Currently sitting in clinic waiting room (happy Saturday 😒) full of cold. Really hoping for some good news!

Thinking of you PJs hope today brings a bit of reassurance xx

skip that's a great write-up - am tempted by the massage part...something to think about next time.

[Sticks hand in the air] Am another AF IBS-er I particularly like it when it coincides with low blood pressure and then feel like will simultaneously pass out and crap myself. Maybe that one's just me.

Tried to leave early yesterday (failed) and tampon leaked, so treated myself to fish finger sandwiches and wine last night. So it's positivity Saturday for me - went for first run in weeks, nice breakfast and choosing to see leak as good sign that this month isn't super-light flow as in others (not sure why that's good, but let's not worry about that).

Sorry about AF kath hope you're treating yourself

LSFX mouse - you can do it! Hope you don't keep feeling off-colour though, can be unsettling - hope you feel better soon xx

Feeling a little anxious about next week re test results.

Kwick your time will come!

Saw DH sister and children at MIL yesterday. I find DH sister hard work as she is nice to your face but nasty behind your back. I now don't speak much to her. Just need to vent because she drove me crackers.

For background: she is insanely jealous of DH and I and will make digs accordingly. She says how can we afford a house( we bought a house three years ago) and she and her DH rent a lovely house.

She said I didn't look nice on my wedding day. She said my dress didn't fit and didn't look right. ( Also due to jealousy). We married before her and her DH but she had children young and had always been happy with her other half.

There is more but yesterday got to me:

Going on about how much we eat out and how much money we spend and how much time off my DH has had this summer. How he has had 17 days off this holiday but he works dam hard for it including weekends.

I did snap and say well actually he does work very hard for It.

Little digs.

Sorry for selfish post. Needed to vent.

bab she said you didn't look nice on your wedding day??? Does sound like a lot of insecurity/envy - do you speak to DH about it? I can understand the need to vent, sounds v frustrating to deal with

Quiet -yes she was my bridesmaid too. I think she has issues and says she had an awful childhood. She did have a difficult one but so did DH as they lost their mum at 6/9. DH is torn because he loves his sister and they were close but due to digs and her making comments both to you and to others.

I wish I got in with her as she is the only one in DH family I just don't get.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Wow Babi - sorry I know she's family, but she sounds like a total tool 😤

Better day at the clinic today - the mega follicle didn't grow overnight which is good and the others caught up a little. Am carrying on with injections over the weekend and going in for another scan on Monday morning. Looks like EC will be on Weds, but won't know anymore until Monday. So glad am working from home next week!

Quiet I get very light headed and dizzy around AF too. I never realised that was a thing, can it affect blood pressure? So yeah I'm with you on IBS and feeling faint.

Pyjamas that's great 😁 cheering your follicles on

Babi she sounds so insecure. I know it hard but try not to take any notice, let it wash over you

Skipper thank you for detail! I am going to sort this kit out

Festival going well but it's aimed at families and everywhere I look there are tiny babies and pregnant women. I keep wanting to say "I can't conceive" very very hard and taking all my strength.

pjs I took 225 of merional on alternate days from day 3

babi have you ever looked into the use of voodoo? Google Office Voodoo on Amazon - I am sure it will work for SIL

Great news jimjams you will be right you'll see 😘

jamon you CAN conceive- say that very loud and put that out into the universe

Think it's often low blood pressure or low/fluctuating blood sugar jam think both have similar symptoms (lightheadedness, etc). Haven't had it checked properly (apart from DH asking his GP mother when he got worried once & one disastrous attempt with an awful GP) but think a few women get similar symptoms - fun fun fun

Ooh pyjamas yay! Glad it was positive - good luck with the injections

Quiet - oh shit, I get the IBS thing and low blood sugar thing just before AF. I knew the IBS was related but didn't know he low blood sugar was! How peculiar, hormones really fuck up our bodies.

Pyjamas - oh, I'm glad things are looking okay for you. Hope you can have a relatively relaxed evening now. Xx

Babi - she sounds like a very spiteful and insecure woman! Pay her no mind.

Well it's a bit vague skip MIL had said it sounded like vasovagal syncope - basically fainting episode where blood pressure drops; some evidence it's connected with low blood sugar. But there's no proper info on it re periods - despite a whole bunch of women reporting identical symptoms (sudden onset of dizziness, sweating, IBS, etc) on forums, so presumably not uncommon :s

Anyway, we can talk about something else now - just a pet irritation of mine (why is there so little advice on periods/menstrual health?!)

Actually while we're (I'm) on the subject, I had a disaster attempting to use the mooncup a couple of cycles ago after previous chat here - any tips on folding? No worries if that's TMI. Basically the first time, was clearly pressing too hard (sprung out of my hand across the bathroom floor), second time it twanged out when not fully in and hurt like a bugger, and gave up

jam am curious about your festival - what sort of music? Hope you're feeling strong - it sounds like a lovely thing to do, am impressed. And like kwick says, you'll get there xx
And will now let people chat about non-AF related things...

Read kwicks message and that was it. Had to go for a cry. Got it all out told myself to get a grip and went for a boogie to a folk band.

I knew PMS made me light headed and gave me awful diarrhoea but just kind of accepted it and didn't really think about why, urghh being woman

Quiet I'm at the Just So festival in Cheshire. It's really beautiful but aimed at young families. We've been doing workshops for kids. I've been surrounded by babies toddlers mum's prams dads slings all weekend

There was this lantern parade earlier though which was spectacular

Sorry AF is here for you babi, flash,caz, baguette, kwick, quiet, kath hope you are all doing OK

Jamon know exactly how you feel about mourning the ability to conceive naturally. We've maybe got 3 natural cycles before IVF and I think when the last one is done I will feel quite sad. Hope you're feeling a little better? flora you've got a really good attitude about it. I also think knowing there is some kind of problem is better than the early days of TTC when I was convinced something was wrong but didn't know what.

Chlo I also get those moments when it hits me how long we have been trying and I can't believe this is where we are. I'm trying to take positives from it - like I am calmer and cope better with things now, I will be a better mum, but it is still hard. Our poor partners get the worst of it sometimes, bless them.

sk1pper I feel a bit with my clinic that they just push everyone into IVF so they don't really care that much about fixing problems that IVF will overcome...e.g. your periods. Maybe it's just because IVF is the best thing but it would be nice if they would acknowledge it!

Pyjamas huge fingers crossed for some good growing over the next few days

Kwick I love a bit of yoga with Adriene - think I have a bit of a girl crush on her!

babi your SIL sounds horrible! What a horrible thing to say about your wedding dress. I would just ignore her!

Think I've ovulated this weekend - typically the husband has been away on a boys weekend. Made sure we dtd before he went on Friday morning, but annoying we didn't get another shot this month! Chlo interesting to know morning sex is better!

I've just bought the Emma Cannon Fertile book, and It Starts with the Egg. After our holiday in September I'm going on a proper health kick...

How are we all this Sunday?

Monday I am going to start with my mega lifestyle check.

After starting TTC I have put on so much weight partly because I stress eat. I know it's a bad habit.

I need to ge back swimming.

Jamson - being surrounded by young families is really hard. Chin up one Day you will be there with your young family. X

Hope everyone doing ok. I'm clearly getting more emotionally stable as yesterday spent the day with my best friends in London, two of which are sporting substantial baby bumps and today off to see my 8 month old niece. No tears yet! Said friends and family are all fully in the know about our situation which really helps as it's normalising it.

Although ivf is now firmly in the diary I'm still slightly in denial and still hoping I'll be one of those who gets pregnant naturally just before their first ivf appointment. Still doing the acupuncture and Chinese herbs and will continue for at least another 5 months I think despite the expense.

Stay strong jam - it does sound like a great festival, but I can see why it feels so difficult.

Despite feeling full of cold and like crap, I went to Sunday Assembly today with DH (has anyone been? Like church but without any religion) and it did loads to cheer me up. The cold took over though so DH has gone to his niece's bday BBQ and I've come home to sit on the sofa in my leggings and fart all day (yep, still bloated - the joys of IVF 😒). I've never felt so attractive - bloaty, farty, and snotty - DH is a lucky man...

Great resilience winging!

On the moon cup quick - do you fold one side in and down so it turns the round opening into sort of a point? That's how I get mine in!

Afternoon ladies. Day 4 of flashing smilies here. CD13. If I get a static in the next few days I'll be mega chuffed. Then I just need to hope and keep allllll the fingers and toes crossed the vit c has worked a miracle. And if not, I have enough OPK to go again next month. I'm feeling mentally really good.

Physically though. Wow lol. Had another moment yesterday. Weirdly the symptoms you mention for AF dizziness, ibs, etc is what I've been feeling. As well as headaches and aches. I think mine is just a bug or maybe the vit c sorting me out. THANKFULLY didn't stop me going for a full flush (bar yesterday) of BD sessions since I've been getting flashing smilies. 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

DH looked at me last night and said "could you be pregnant? Is it too early?" To which I replied. "My name ain't Mary and we've been doing this for a year, I've not ovulated yet this cycle lol" he said "oh I thought this flashing thing was it - so we've just been having fun then?" 😂🙈 I plan on having "fun" for the next week and just rolling with it.

I'm hoping this week is less stressful than last. Feeling zen today. And I lost 1lbs despite eating out twice. 😂🤔

Sk1p wow. That is dedicated. Hope it makes a huge difference for you.

Pyjamas told you!! Keep the PMA. Juicy one will stay juicy and the others will follow. Repeat!!!

Babi sorry but SIL sounds like a twunt. Ignore and you do you!!

Jam don't worry, you'll be there next year with your family!! Focus, achieve!! Don't be frightened to dream!!

Quiet Periods... mystical things. I'm 33 and still not figured out what the hell my body is doing.

Struggle FX this cycle was a good one for you. Let's invoke Sod's law!!

Wingingit Fx for you too. All it takes is one good egg.

I have a weird feeling we're going to be lucky in the next few months. Feels like a few jigsaw pieces are falling into place for you all. X