Yammed if you do, Yammed if you dont

[Owlpatrol]

Yammers thread 10!

Yammer rules:

A safe place for those of you who have been trying to conceive for 6+ months and even yams aren’t helping. Come and have a good ol’ bitch and a moan without judgement. Please read the rules before posting!

The Yam Commandments are as follows;

• Thou shalt not arrive one day and post BFP next day

• Thou shalt not give advice to others when TTC for one month only

• Thou shalt not participate in one-up-manship and realise TTC is shit for everyone in different ways

• Thou shall allow posters to be fucked off with the world and everything in it at regular points in the month

• Thou shalt not be offended by strong language

• Thou shalt not tell everyone to eat yams

• Thou shall accept being called a muppet for testing at 7dpo at 9pm at night

• Thou shalt not symptom spot during the two week wait and must be prepared for a telling off if you do so.

-Thou shalt not post pictures of positive pregnancy tests. We will be delighted to hear about it but no photos, please and thank you

@BGDino @NoseringGirl I've heard of the cup and the syringe too - my friend conceived her baby the same way. It's definitely worth considering. I wonder if you need specific cups / syringes ... I'm a bit embarrassed to ask my friend hmmm... definitely worth thinking about anyway. I'm also going to try and not tell DH when I'm ovulating next month.

Omg fingers crossed @NoseringGirl did you ovulate?!!! Xx

@todaywasafairytale I'd try that too tbh 😂 anything to take the pressure off really. Must be an odd sensation 😂😂 xx

@BGDino hope everything goes well tomorrow xxx

@todaywasafairytale we used a plastic cup from the kitchen and I’d recommend a 5ml or 10ml syringe

@cupcakesandglitter my temps have been going up so maybe! I've got a scan on Thursday for my PCOS so will ask then if they can tell if I've ovulated or not!

@BGDino do you syringe it straightaway? Also how far up do you need to put it? 😳

@NoseringGirl oh that's good timing!!! Fingers crossed, keep us posted xx

Hi everyone. I've been away for a while but feel like I might need some moral support after getting fertility blood tests back. Everything normal except that I tested positive for hep b- although they don't seem to know whether this is a current infection or that I had it in the past and my body cleared it. They have to do a further blood test. Apparently if its historical, it's no big deal and doesn't affect anything fertility wise but if it's current, then it will need to be cleared before we can access any fertility treatment. The GP seemed really relaxed about it which confused me when I did some reading of my own- 1) if I potentially have an active infection, I'm not sure why she didn't tell me to make sure my partner gets tested and that I should avoid potentially infected him through sex 2) usually hep b is tested in three parts so I don't know why they don't know if its current or historical 3) apparently hep b in males can lead to lower sperm count which again my GP didn't say anything about. It doesn't help that we are still waiting on dp's SA after almost three weeks- dp was told that it was best to wait until his GP comes back from holiday which again I don't understand. Surely any GP can interpret and explain the results to us? Anyway dp just accepted this without asking why.

Anyway I've been getting upset and panicking over all of this- had a fight with dp as his chill attitude is making me feel quite invalidated. It doesn't help that I am fighting a mammoth cold.

Has anybody got any wise words or had any experience with this? I will try to speak to my GP tomorrow to get some things clarified as well as get my blood test booked in. I guess if I can get a copy of the blood tests, I may be able to figure out what part of the hep b test they actually did?

Anyway I've also caught up on the thread-

@BGDino Good luck for tomorrow!

@NoseringGirl Good luck for Thursday, temps sound promising.

@cupcakesandglitter We have decided to have the cup and syringe option as a back up if needed- dp can struggle to finish at times and meant that we probably did not dtd enough this cycle. I think it would be good just to take the pressure off him- we've tried everything else! I brought a kit from amazon-
www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Deluxe-Fertility-Kit/dp/B00DECVL68?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Plus Preseed for the bottom of the cup to mimic fertile cm. Not tried it yet but my understanding is that you get it in the syringe right away and then get syringe to as close to your cervix as possible without going into the cervix. Then the good bit- orgasm and rest for at least 30 mins.

@goldflakepaint 1 and 3 I can’t help with but 2 sounds like your GP is doing your hep B testing in stages, to be honest I just order everything at once for my patients to cut the waiting. Either that or they forgot to order one of the parts (happens a lot here).

@goldflakepaint I don't have any experience but I hope you get clear answers/results soon!

My temp has dropped 2 days in a row so starting to doubt whether ovulation has happened. At least I should know for sure on Thursday at the scan.

I lost the pregnancy.

Will probably be off for awhile as my obstetrician also found a cervical polyp which needs removal before I’m pregnant again.

Words can’t even.

So very sorry @BGDino to read this. There are indeed no words except to wish you much love and to keep you in my thoughts.

I'm so sorry @BGDino

@NoseringGirl hope you find out on Thursday xx

@BGDino I'm so so sorry. Please look after yourself, we're all here for you whenever you're ready to come back ❤️

@BGDino I'm so sorry. Those words do not feel good enough. Take care and do whatever you need to look after yourself.

@BGDino i am so sorry to hear this! I hope everything goes smoothly x

Af got me! I am sad!

@cookielove Sorry to hear about af, maybe treat yourself in some way if you can. Chocolate tends to be my go to when af arrives.

Thanks everyone for their responses. I did get a print out of my blood test results today which was sooo much more helpful than just speaking to the GP. There are some really helpful websites which explain the hep b results. Essentially I tested negative for an acute or chronic infection but positive for a past infection- the extra blood test is just to check viral load to make sure that I don't have a low level current infection not picked up by the other tests. But that is quite unlikely and most common result is a distant fully resolved infection. So feeling better about that- I have my test booked in for a couple of week's time and after some advice from sexual health, am pushing dp to get tested for hep b just in case.

But also got dp's SA results- all in normal range except morphology which is 2% (recommended is >4%). The GP on the phone (not his usual GP) was quite causal about it and didn't even really explain what it was. He just said that a subset of the test came back slightly low but that it was probably 'just experimental noise'. I asked my partner to get a print out which is how we discovered what his result actually was. The comments on there state 'consider referral to specialist fertility clinic if appropriate'.

NICE guidelines state that if any element of the test is suboptimal, he should get tested again in three months. Apparently the GP neither suggested this or said he shouldn't- he's left it up to us which I find a bit weird. The whole point of going to the doctor is for some expert advice. Anyway I'm assuming the best next step would be for dp to go to GP again and discussing having another sperm test in three months time? Dp is being very non-committal about it and seems to just want us to keep trying but I think this needs to be investigated further- whilst we keep trying of course. I think dp may be feeling overwhelmed by all the extra tests and wanting to put his head in the sand to a certain extent. Which I can understand but I'd rather know what we are dealing with so we can make an informed plan. Any thoughts?

Sorry for the essay again!

@goldflakepaint i believe they are several things you can easily change to help improve sperm quality. Things like changing diets and eating supplements. Probably worth a shot?

I have eaten chocolate 😂

@goldflakepaint my DH had 2% morphology when he was tested. We were told that as his overall count was really good that it wasn't a big issue as it meant there was still a decent number of normal form sperm. He did get retested though (with a similar result). I've been pregnant 3 times since then (that was back in 2012) so hasn't been a huge issue for us. My PCOS causes a lot more problems!
Glad you've got more clarity on your blood test results!

Just had my scan. It was very quick and all abdominal which I wasn't expecting as they've always needed to do TV scans in the past. She just said the results would be at my doctors in a week. I asked if she knew if I'd ovulated and she said "oh I can't really tell from a scan"

Off for ovarian reserve test this morning and an AMH blood test (not entirely sure what that is). Trying to stay calm...

I'm at CRGH in London if anyone else goes there!

@nosering I guess if it's abdominal maybe it wasn't as clear as TV then. Bit frustrating for you...keep us posted

@goldflakepaint glad you got some more clarity on the tests. Maybe give him a few days to get his head round it then discuss again?

@cookielove Thanks, is there anything specific you've heard is helpful? Do is currently taking Well man vitamins but has been stubborn about making any other lifestyle changes- he does live relatively healthily.

@Noseringgirl Thanks for sharing. I've heard and read so many different experiences with lower morphology in the last 24 hours- it feels like such a grey area. That must have been annoying with the scan but sounds like you'll get some further info soon. How are your temps?

@Doris19 Yes, that is exactly what we've agreed to do. He's denied feeling concerned about the result, just stressed by my reaction. I don't know. I just want some sense of a plan and some guidance- I thought getting tested would make things clearer but it only seems to be bringing up more questions. But I also know I need to manage my anxiety around this as we may be in for the long haul. I sounded off to my mum today but have agreed with dp to wait to talk about it again on the weekend- I've booked us a meal out tomorrow and ttc talk will be banned! Hope your tests went smoothly, when do you get the results?

@goldflakepaint watching with interest on how you get on with dh, I am having similar issues even convincing my dh to book his SA test! Although he was encouraging me to go for mine ASAP!! 🙄

Tests went ok thanks, I had severe endo previously. Sonogprahper said egg reserves look ok and I had a good surgeon. They wanted me to do follicular tracking and then get the day 21 test but we will be on holiday so that's another month's wait!!

@NoseringGirl how are things today?

My temps have dropped right down today so I think it's unlikely I've ovulated. I've been doing OPKs though and they're getting close to positive so my body will probably attempt to ovulate soon. Just got to keep on trying and hope my ovaries manage to pull it off!

@Goldflakepaint a friend messaged me a while back with what she changed in her husband's diet. I will search and post it tomorrow!

@NoseringGirl sorry to hear that 😩 hopefully you ov soon. Annoying that they couldn't just tell you at the scan 😒

DH has his SA in may so I'll be reading how to improve those too!! I found an ebook all about low testosterone and I'm convinced DH has it, he has pretty much every symptom but I guess we'll see until his results are back.

@goldflakepaint I'm glad he's not feeling concerned, fx he works on improving them and you'll get your BFP soon x

@Doris19 glad your reserve looks good xx