7th month TTC

[blueym]

Hello,

I’m in my 7th cycle of ttc No1 and feeling slightly impatient, I’m 27 and I get a positive OPK every month, get ovulation pains and have a very regular 28 day cycle.
I do feel positive that it will happen and I don’t feel too upset, I guess I’m just feeling slightly impatient and possibly a wee bit worried.
Has anyone got positive stories of conceiving after 6 months of trying? Is this normal?

Thank you!

@hopefully2021 Yes not telling people is difficult, it feels like I am not truly close to anyone as I am holding back the most important/ exciting thing going on in my life at the moment! Definitely glad to have the pressure off though and not to have to tell the world that we are spending lockdown having lots of sex and feel like they are on the edge of their seat waiting for good news just for me to tel them AF has begun. I am regretting not asking my mum how long it took her to conceive- really interested to know now.

@friendlyBadger I am seeing Dr Gudi. What about you? We haven't booked any tests, only the initial consultation. To be honest I didn't have a clue what to book at the time so going to see what he suggests. Kind of wishing I had booked one of the packages including the egg count now though!

@LondonladyTTC - I feel the same and constantly get asked when are you having a baby or told 'will you hurry up and have a baby' by my mum and mother in law which is so frustrating, sometimes I have to fight back the tears and just laugh it off. Sometimes I regret not telling my mum and I will if it gets to the point where we need say IVF or something but she suffers from mental health issues so I don't want to add any additional worry onto her mind & my mother in law can't keep a secret if her life depended on it! How old was your mum when she had you? Mine was 18 and I am the second child so she definately had no issues - I was apparently an accident lol xxx

Yeah they were normal @hopefully2021 :)

All my tests so far have been normal too (apart from slightly thin lining but nothing really bad) .. I guess these things can just take longer than we think!

@friendlyBadger - thats really good news Maybe your tubes could be blocked, I keep reading stories of that being quite a common cause too!
Have you had any sign of AF yet? Mine is due tomorrow and I just feel crap so I know it's definitely on it's way - I get lower back pain a few days before which I had yesterday so I'm just waiting now xxx

@hopefully2021 my mum had me at 31 and she has mentioned before that she was ready for kids earlier so makes me think she was trying for a while. I know that she had a miscarriage before me as well. I agree, if I have to go down the IVF route I will probably speak to her for support.

Sorry to hear that you feel rubbish today, Mondays are bad at the best of times! It is a lovely bright day though so maybe a lunchtime walk would help.

@LondonladyTTC maybe you should just approach the question and say your thinking to start trying this year and see what she says? She could offer some valuable advice or at least give you reassurance if it did just naturally take her a bit longer to conceive xx
I’ve woken up in pain to AF right on time as expected today so looks like I’ll be making my appointment today hopefully they still have some March slots available!

@LondonladyTTC @friendlyBadger
Hi Ladies, how are you both this week? Hope your both feeling okay & staying positive
I've booked my appointment at Fertility plus for early March, I'm actually quite excited as the reviews are just so good - I'm hopefully everything comes back okay for us but if something doesn't look right at least I know we will get the right advice etc there
So one more shot for us this month before our appointment - lets hope its a lucky month I'm just finishing AF now & ovulation currently predicted to be around 10/11th Feb
xxx

@LondonladyTTC @friendlyBadger - officially month 8 for us but cycle 7! Gosh time is going so quick

Hi both!
@hopefully2021 glad you managed to get your appointment booked, it feels so nice having that milestone to look forward to, which isn't very far away.
I have been doing well thanks, I actually bought an Ava bracket this week as wanted to temp but found it far too stressful. Really like it so far, it is so easy to use.
I got a positive OPK yesterday (CD 12) which is oddly early for me, so think I will ovulate today or tomorrow. My last cycle was two days longer than normal too so I am a little optimistic that my body is finally getting back to normal after the implant. I have been far less stressed at work recently so also wondering what impact my usual stressed state has on fertility... ☺️ Means I will be 6/7 dpo when I see Mr Gudi next week. It will be Sod's law if this month is our month (but lovely of course!)

Hope you both have a great weekend!

@LondonladyTTC thats good news about your positive OPK! Fingers crossed that its a good sign that this month is your month , how long did you have the implant in for?
I do wonder if stress affects our bodies more than we know, since lockdown has hit I've never worked so hard in my life - it has been non stop but I'm hoping my work stress will calm back down as I am finally getting my full team back from Monday with no further furloughing in the pipeline so I should be able to massively reduce my workload
Is it just an initial consultation you have booked with Mr Gudi? I said to my husband it will just be our luck that we fork out £450 then fall pregnant - our testing is booked for 2 days before my period so I'm hoping a FRER will be able to pick up if I'm pregnant before we go for the testing so it's not wasted money xx

Hi @LondonladyTTC how did your appointment with Dr Gudi go? I hope it went well xx

Hi @hopefully2021 hope all is well with you. My appointment is tomorrow. I am quite excited, but also not too sure what to expect! It is just an initial consultation so I expect he will want to do some tests. Tomorrow is CD 20 and I will be 6dpo so maybe I can get the day 21 bloods (havnt had any tests at all).

This cycle I have felt the most relaxed- I think having the appointment booked has made me obsess and stress less which has been bliss!

Hope you have a lovely weekend! I will send an update tomorrow after my appointment to let you know how it went and what his recommendations are

Oops I never replied! Thinking of you and your appointment today @LondonladyTTC. Also how are you finding your Ava bracelet? I've been toying with getting one because of finding BBT so stressful!

Good luck @hopefully2021 also I hope this is your month :)

Hi @hopefully2021 and @friendlyBadger , the appointment went well! He wants to essentially track my cycle before trying any treatments (makes sense). He also was a bit concern about my long term egg reserve given how short my cycles are and said that knowing my long term fertility prospects will be helpful for family planning for future as I may have more limited time. I didn't realise that long term egg reserve could be checked by a simple blood test, sitting in the waiting room to get the test today, so it's all very efficient! I am also 7 dpo today so getting a progesterone test.
Another interesting thing is that he was very sceptical about the accuracy of home ovulation tracking .

Plan:
Progesterone and egg reserve results will be back Tuesday, if low progesterone I will get suppositories but to be honest no doubt AF will have arrived due to my short LP.
Assuming I get bfn this cycle and progesterone ok, I need to call the clinic on CD1.
Start tracking ovulation as usual from CD9.
I will get a scan CD 10-12 to check the short term egg reserves (the eggs which have started maturing for the next 12 ish months and the one which is ready to be released). This will very accurately tell him when I will ovulate and my shorter term viable egg count.
He said if not the corpus thingymajij, it will be the lining that they have to support.
Basically egg reserve blood test will tell me how 'urgently' I will want to get pregnant..
He was very friendly and explained everything thoroughly so you have a lot to look forward to! Just lovely to feel a bit more supported now, by a professional. 

@friendlyBadger I wish I had used the Ava bracelet before now to be honest- I also found temping so stressful and with the Ava you can totally forget about it! It is a bit different though as monitors average skin temperature- the fluctuations aren't to extreme and it's hard to compare with bbt charts. Way prefer the less stress though! I actually bought mine second hand from eBay so paid about 150 less than the retail price and works perfectly.

Hope you both have a great weekend, and wishing you lots of luck this cycle- am I right in thinking you will both be approaching fertile week?

@LondonladyTTC I'm glad your appointment went well - sounds like alot to take in but at least you've now got a plan and you should get answers quite quickly! I hope your relaxing tonight and putting your feet up I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you that your results all come back okay xxx
Oh yes, I've literally just come into my fertile week - I got my flashing smiley face this morning on my clearblue ovulation test but I'm not feeling that positive this month, just feels like we've been trying for so long so what will make this month any different to the rest... I know it's the wrong attitude to have but it is just so frustrating at times I'm really looking forward to having our tests and finding out if there is anything wrong!
@friendlyBadger I hope your feeling more positive than me this month how are you? Is your appointment this month or next?xxx

Ooh interesting @LondonladyTTC! Sounds so productive! Hope your tests go well and it sounds like you're in great hands! In what way was he sceptical about home ovulation tracking? Opks? BBT? Or just general? Does he recommend just trying every second day? And how short are your cycles? Good tip about the Ava thanks I'll have a look!

@hopefully2021 I feel pretty volatile tbh. Sometimes positive and sometimes super negative about it all... I feel your pain - it's so hard to keep positive but hopefully this month will be your month!

My appointment is booked for 19 march so not too long to wait. When's your appointment? How funny we're all seeing the same guy

Also do you 2 feel like you get lots of EWCM? I feel like I notice less the more BDing I do... so annoying and confusing and makes me worried

Also have you 2 tried anything different this cycle @hopefully2021 @LondonladyTTC? I'm trying softcups and proceive and new supplements for DH. I find trying something new helps me to feel more positive even though I reckon it's probably just down to luck...

@friendlyBadger he didn't specifically say anything about frequency of sex when he said there has been recently speculation about the home tracking of ovulation, it was more in the context of calculating the luteal phase so before prescribing anything he wanted to make sure it was a true defect. I guess it would also imply that it isn't wise to only BD at ovulation time though. My cycles are usually 24 days.

In terms of EWCM, I don't notice a huge amount to be honest, but it has definitely increased as the months go on post implant. Oddly, i don't tend to get it on ovulation day and have even had it a couple of days after what I think ovulation is!

I agree about trying something different! We had a lot of sex this month- every day for about 10 days around fertile week! Probably TMI but we also seemed to relax a bit more, I think because we had the appointment booked it took the pressure off so it was more enjoyable. DH has also been a lot better at taking his well mans.

@hopefully2021 I think my emotions have been a bit like yours- very up and down. I just don't want it to take over my life for too much longer! And it feels like evening is having babies. It is also hard to plan ahead as our lives might look very very different by the end of the year.

How weird @LondonladyTTC I'm 2dpo today and also seem to have EWCM (although mine is never fully clear. More kinda cloudy or pale yellow). Very confusing and I've never seen this before at this stage.

No such thing as TMI! 10 days! Good on you. You must have been exhausted by the end... Glad you were able to relax and enjoy it more.

Couldn't agree more about not wanting it to take over your life anymore. I find it so draining and mentally exhausting and always there in the back of my mind.

Well ladies, I think that's me back at cycle day 1. Woke up to spotting this morning, which I usually get a few hours before AF. 23 day cycle Haven't heard back from the clinic about my blood results yet but hoping it will be today.

Hope you are enjoying fertile week!

Ergh sorry to hear that @LondonladyTTC ! The good news though is that you're with the clinic now and they sound amazing so i'm really hopeful they'll be able to help. Hopefully you'll get your results back today! Maybe give them a call to chase if not... Let us know how the tests go!

Are they charging you £500 for the natural cycle monitoring this cycle? Trying to get an idea of how much the investigations etc are gonna cost. That'll be super interesting to get a good idea of exactly what's going in your body! Is your partner getting a sperm analysis too?

I'm 4dpo and already feeling so negative about it all obsessing over my fitbit resting heart rate and telling myself I'd already have symptoms if I were pregnant! I know this is v likely irrational but I've never had a BFP so have nothing to compare it to.

I had another ultrasound a couple days ago due to some irregular periods and the good news is my lining seems to have thickened and they could see I'd ovulated this month so that's good at least.

@LondonladyTTC @friendlyBadger Hi both, sorry I've been a bit quiet we got our mortgage in principle agreed so have been really busy trying to decide on what area to move too and trying to arrange some viewings - we are moving out into essex as our budget isn't great but the reviews on the areas we've chosen are not great at all so it's just stressing me out!
I haven't ovulated yet, I'm on my 5th day of a flashing smiley face on my clearblue ovulation test which is a bit unusual but expecting to ovulate in the next few days as I normally follow a 30 day cycle, so far have managed to DTD 5 times since Sunday (sorry for the detail) so fingers crossed we have a good chance this month - well I hope anyway....
London Lady - do you think the spotting could possibly be an implantation bleed? keeping everything crossed for you - remember your not out until your AF arrives! when is your next appointment?
Friendly Badger - we have our tests scheduled for 2 weeks time, then actual appointment is on the 3rd March! I'm really hoping we can go together as their policy currently states only one person allowed to an appointment but as we are both having tests done I'm hoping there is an exception to this rule. Good news on your ultrasound - did they find anything else? I suffer from PCOS and they are always able to pick up on ultrasounds xxx

@hopefully2021 congratulations on getting your agreement in principle sorted! Buying a house is so stressful but it will also be very exciting. Have you found some you like? I am not looking to buy at the moment but still spend so much time browsing Rightmove to see what is out there  well done for fitting in 5 DTD sessions so far while house hunting!
My spotting is now full on period so definitely not implantation sadly.

@friendlyBadger if I am being honest, I am not quite sure what I will be charged for this scan.. I assume it won't be any more than the £500 but he never actually said and awkward me never asked... I will let you know though! That's great that you got a scan, you definitely ovulated and your lining had thickened. Not long until you will be able to test, although I know how long the tww always feels!

I got my results today and they weren't great (or at least I don't think they were from googling, I literally just got the numbers but have a follow up appointment on Friday 19th for my CD10 scan) so hoping he will be able to interpret them for me and indicate how concerned I should be. My progesterone was 27.3 which isn't quite enough to guarantee ovulation took place (that is over 30) but under 5 means no ovulation it is a bit of a grey area. More worryingly my AMH was 13.7 which is on the lower end of normal for my age range but also seems to be in the 'low fertility' category.... basically a waiting game until 19th until I see what Mr Gudi recommends. I am feeling very relieved and positive that I got the tests and can more forward with the help of a good doc, despite the worrying numbers.

@LondonladyTTC Thank you it's so exciting but stressful at the same time as our budget doesn't get us what we want in our preferred areas, we have found a really nice 3 bed house, driveway and garage in our price range but it's in grays which honestly does not have good reviews from people online so it's sort of putting me off but we are going to view it anyway and judge the area for ourselves - I think most people are not used to antisocial behaviour and council estates which is completely normal to us as we live and have grown up in Hackney....
I'm sorry to hear about your AF, try not to let it get you down at least your next appointment isn't too far away and your in the best hands to get some answers and help Your progesterone result doesn't sound bad at all if under 5 means no ovulation at all, what day in your cycle did you do the test again? Have you read much online about the AMH test? There are articles online questioning how true it actually is so try not to worry too much but I know it's easier to say than do, I'll be having the same test in a few weeks too so will share my result when I've got it so we can compare xxx