TTC first baby 1 year + thread 2

[Mrs71]

@KatBeCool @FlapJackered @Broodyaf @bunhead34 @RosettaR @MotherOfShihTzus @starkid @Lina365

I thought I'd start a new thread as the other one is full. Sorry if I've missed anyone out.

@KatBeCool I am sorry about the bfn lovely ❤️

Ovulated yesterday and we managed to Dtd 4 times in 48 hours 😂🙈 poor DH is exhausted! (I found research that frequent sex helps with the condition DH has)
If it doesn't happen this month then it is just not going to happen naturally!🤞🏻

@FlapJackered your DH is a rock star to manage four times in two days! Fingers crossed.

No AF for me yet but no bfp either. I'm going to give it couple more days before I stop progesterone.

You were up early @KatBeCool! Sorry about the bfn and that you are in limbo. Hang in there.

@Nattttt I get quite a lot of spotting too but like you no one has ever been interested in it. I sometimes get 2 days before af, sometimes none. It's after af where I get a lot, sometimes I'm still spotting on cd 9 and I have short cycles anyway so it does worry me. But when I've had scans they've always said the lining looks fine, so hopefully the spotting doesn't cause problems.

@RosettaR I have the same spotting after AF for ages. My actual full flow af only lasts for a couple of days, but like you say I suppose if the lining is ok that is what matters?

@FlapJackered yes, I don't know! I just generally feel we know so little about our bodies, about what is and isn't a problem. Science still has a long way to go with fertility...

Hi ladies,

Sorry to see so many of us still on this horrid journey, spotting right now 9 DPO, did everything right this month so have no idea why I’m spotting..this is cycle 17, convinced the spotting is holding back a pregnancy but like you all, the doctors just dismiss it. Every test is normal but the spotting is something obviously wrong. I think my day 21 progesterone test is normal because it’s just before my hormones dive...but if my hormones dive a day later (8 DPO) and implantation usually takes place on day 9 how will the egg ever implant? That’s something I asked my doctor and she said she didn’t know

So I just had a call and the hospital want to do an ECG and a load of blood tests on me before my polyp removal, because I'm on levothyroxine. Seems overkill for a polyp which is smaller than 5mm, I was going to ask them to do it under local anaesthetic anyway if possible but they say they prepare everyone for general just in case. Did you have similar for your cyst @FlapJackered - I think you are also on levothyroxine?

They've made me an appointment next week. It shouldn't delay the operation, but I'm worried they will find something and then not want to do it. Plus it's more time off work which I could do without ... I need to save my holiday for ivf!

@RosettaR that seems strange? I had a pre-op appointment where they took blood to check my tsh was normal, but that was it.
I was under general and had a laparoscopy where they pump you full of air. I didn't have the option of local.
Hopefully it is just the one blood test for TSH.

@RosettaR I also feel there's conflicting information about spotting. I trust doctors, generally, but I'm confused about how I hear so many different theories. Age, stress, endo, normal and can't help it... But my last doctor prescribed progesterone for my luteal phase (and Letrozole for cycle days 3-7). She thinks my ovulation is not strong enough. Then again, I've had lots of other tests done and complications ruled out, so go figure. We'll go with this.

@FlapJackered That's impressive, 4 times?!

By the way, have you listened to Natalie Crawford's podcast As a Woman? Lots of info about fertility by a doctor, explained in a way that it's easy to understand. Not sure if I've mentioned her before...

I'm also concerned about spotting but, like many of you, none of the doctors I've seen so far have been concerned about it. What @SeahorseWilderness has said has actually really made me think - my progesterone was also normal at my day 21 tests, but my day 21 tests were done on day 19 (6dpo) because of short cycles so there may well be a large dip for me at say 7dpo...who knows!

My spotting this month (early at 6dpo) stopped pretty much as soon as it started, but then AF started in full force 2 days ago, giving me a 10 day luteal phase this month. Sometimes it takes 12 days for implantation to happen so this also makes me think it's harming my chances 🤷‍♀️

We have just received a shitload of forms to complete for IVF "eligibility". It seems it's mostly to confirm we have the right to receive nhs treatment, plus standard bmi questions. Literally spent a full afternoon printing off loads of proofs of addresses. All these hoops!

Good going @FlapJackered. Fingers crossed for you!

So I had my appointment on Thurs - oestrogen and TSH normal which is great! They are now recommending a HSG (I think) as they think they may have seen something and just want to rule out Asherman's.

Lining was 5mm but the scan was about two days after ovulation so I don't think its at its thickest then - hitting google.

What's everyone up to this weekend?

I'm visiting my friend and her twins (who were due two days after my baby would have been....wish me luck). I'm looking forward to it though!

Gah!!! Apparently it should be thicker then that at that point.

Roll on the HSG so I can work out what's happening!

I am also keeping Holland and Barrett in business with the number of vitamins (now B complex and CoQ10) and raspberry leaf tea.

When was everyone told about their lining thickness? I had an ultrasound scan and wasn't given that information.

The sonographer only said that my lining looked 'okkaaayyy'. My consultant told me at my follow up my follow up appointment. I'll be requesting a copy of the scan results for my GP and it should say on there.

Urgh I have got norovirus 🤮 2 days of spending half my time in the bathroom. Just started getting over it now but feel like it has totally ruined our chances this cycle after trying so hard. 😩 Very frustrating.

@starkid I was told during my ultrasound appointment, it should be on your medical notes, you can probably ask your Gp?
Mine was 7mm which I was told was fine.

@zoomies1 that's great the tests came back normal!

Well I rang the consultants secretary last week asking for copies of my results from most recent tests and to see where my referral to the fertility clinic had got to. I didn't hear back though, so will chase next week and ask about the full results for my scan too. They only said about my scan at my appointment and in letters I've seen they sent to the GP that there was tubal swelling on the left, a fibroid, and I had a retroverted uterus.
Annoyingly, because the hospital arranged all these tests not the GP, it's not uploaded to my online doc records where my others are e.g. the blood test the GP organised.

@FlapJackered since it's so early, viruses don't tend to affect the chances in the TWW. I'm sorry you aren't feeling well though.

@zoomies1 while I'm not sure why they were doing a scan after ovulation because it's pointless, 5mm is very thin and, for the most part, inadequate. There have been cases where women got pregnant with only 4.5mm but that is rare. The two most important scans for your lining are on days 2-4 to make sure it's thin (needs to be thinner than 3mm), and just before ovulation when, ideally, you want it to be 8mm and above.

So AF has reared her ugly ass yesterday and with no warning. Normally, I get at least a few hours of spotting but not this time. We decided to skip IUI this month as well. I'm going to try only letrozole. Back to all the things I was doing before to help my lining and make more follicles.

@KatBeCool sorry to hear AF got you too xx

@KatBeCool thanks for the info. I'm on the raspberry leaf tea from this month then! All other tips gratefully received.

Sorry AF appeared.

@starkid sorry you're having a tough time chasing stuff up. Did they tell you about the fibroid and other things when you had the scan? If not it's really bad you've had to find out this way. I would have thought you'd need the fibroid removed, similar to what I'm having with the polyp. I don't have any experience of fibroids but in all my reading about polyps it seems the two are usually grouped together.

@KatBeCool I'm sorry af arrived. Af isn't far off for me now either, I'm due Friday or Saturday. I've got all my usual symptoms, all of which I've noticed for the first time in a previous month and hoped was a symptom of early pregnancy. The weirdest one is a dry mouth, and water tastes horrible. Never noticed that before ttc! I sure am learning more about my body!

@PineappleC that sounds hard with all the forms. Thanks for the heads up about the proof of address, I will make sure I'm on some of the bills if it looks like we will be applying for an nhs round! I am a little light on proof of address currently.

I worry the same as you about my luteal phase with spotting. Interesting that you've been prescribed progesterone @Lina365 - do you mind sharing how long your luteal phase is and how many days spotting? Or was it because your progesterone was low on day 21? Mine was through the roof on day 17 but what much lower on day 21.

@RosettaR - they mentioned the fibroid during the scan and when talking to the consultant afterwards, but both didn't seem too worried about it. They were more concerned with the tubal swelling/water around tube at the time, but not hugely. Not sure if they'd see more regarding that during the HSG, I'm presuming so?

@zoomies1 I found out my lining was on the low side. I started taking 540mg vitamin E before ovulation and half of that after, also going to the gym at least every other day up until two days before ovulation, fertility yoga poses several times a day (just Google which ones, they're easy to find), moving around every hour, pomegranate juice, fish oil every day, CoQ10 only until ovulation. And it worked, it so worked! Didn't help me get pregnant but my lining went from lingering around 5.5mm in previous cycles to 9mm when I actually tried all that stuff. Your goal is to increase estrogen and to increase the blood flow to the uterus. I tried raspberry tea, somehow I didn't have ewcm that cycle so I ditched it. Good luck!

@KatBeCool sorry to hear that dickhead got you! X

I've my hopefully last scan and trigger today before ivf. It's a relief, really