Hello...(I'm new!)...my TTC journey

[MrsM2017]

Hi everyone,

Not sure this will be in the right place or if I'm doing this right(?!) but a friend suggested mumsnet to me for a bit of support and as an outlet for sharing my ups/downs/feelings through TTC our first baby 🙂

After being on ovranette since my early 20's my husband and I got married last summer and decided to come off contraception. We knew it could take a while but weren't in any rush to have baby no1 so I stopped taking the pill around august last year. Due to a change in jobs etc we were having sex around twice a week on average so weren't surprised when we talked just after Christmas and nothing had happened up til that point, however we made a conscious decision to try and actively TTC from then on.

I'm pretty lucky and have a regular period (every 27 or 28 days) and have been using an app to track my fertile days. My first window (do you guys call it cylce 1?) was 2nd/3rd/4th Jan but aunt Flo came as predicted on 18th Jan. We weren't too fussed as with Xmas etc we just thought we might not have caught the right days.

Next window was 29th/30th/31st Jan and this time made more of a conscious effort and DTD on 27th, 28th 30th Jan and 1st Feb. For the past couple of weeks I've had tender breasts and a little acne (which is not usually a symptom for me for my period) so after googling (which I know I probably shouldn't do!!!) I was hoping for a BFP this month. However aunt Flo came today, 1 day early and I can't help but feel upset and disappointed. I know we haven't been trying long at all but I just figured, rather stupidly I guess, it would be easy to fall pregnant.

Sorry for the rant but just wanted to share with someone x

Fyi: I'm 28 and have been taking multivitamins and extra folic acid daily for the last 4 months and also eating a healthy diet (no alcohol and limited caffeine) whilst exercising at least 2/3 times a week. So trying as best I can to me in peak fertility condition lol.

A few points: it can take a healthy couple up to 12 months to ttc after coming off birth control. You have a 25% chance of conceiving every month if you are having sex on your most fertile days. Symptoms in your two week wait are progesterone related, not pregnancy and can come and go and change every month so don’t get hung up on your boobs suddenly being sore or feeling nauseous etc. Get some opks so you know when you are ovulating and if you haven’t conceived after a year of proper trying (so not including the months you were off birth control but weren’t actively trying) speak to your doctor and they can get some tests sorted. Good luck!

Thank you Bubblegum89 - that's really helpful - can I ask, what are opks?

Ovulation predictor kits :) you can buy fancy digital ones but to be honest, I use the cheap strips that are about £3 for 30 on Amazon. In your fertile week, you have a surge of luteinizing hormone as your body prepares to ovulate. The opks are designed to follow that surge until it reaches its peak and when it’s at its peak, you tend to ovulate around 12-24 hours later. The strips work kind of how a pregnancy test works. You pee into a cup, dip the strip in and wait for the second line. You always have some degree of LH in your system throughout your cycle so most of the time, a second line will appear but as your surge begins, the second line will gradually get darker by the day until it gets positive (the second line is as dark or darker than the control line) Ideally you should have sex the few days leading up to your surge but dtd on the day of the surge and the day after is recommended too.

I will stress though, opks don’t work for everyone. Some women never get a positive but they do still ovulate and some women always get a positive but don’t ovulate. So no positive doesn’t necessarily mean bad news and monthly positives doesn’t always mean good news. You can have an LH surge but not be ovulating. I realise that’s a lot of info in one go lol but it’ll all be one second nature to you once you’re properly into ttc lol

I'd recommend OPKs too and look into tracking your temperature to help you see when you ovulate. There is loads of info on the Internet and I bought a thermometer off amazon which works great!

It's my first cycle trying and I'm in the 2 week wait- I plan to test a week tomorrow when my period is due.

I don't think I realised how challenging trying to conceive can be- especially emotionally and mentally. Since reading posts I'm trying not to get my hopes up as your very lucky getting pregnant on the first cycle.
xoxo

Also just to add, I’m on month 17 of ttc and I’ve got nothing physically wrong with me that should be affecting my fertility (and I’ve been pregnant twice naturally very easily before) so none of this is straightforward by any means!

Thanks Bubblegum89, I've just purchased some opks from Amazon so will get to grips with trying these once they arrive

Good luck with testing gossipgirl28 - fingers crossed for you xx

Join the thread called '2ww: solidarity & symptom spotting' - it's turning into a lucky thread! An unusually high number of bfps being announced (think I'm the only one so far with a bfn sigh)! Good luck 🍀