SMEP - feel free to join! :)

[danielasummer]

Hi everyone, just making this thread as it seems a few of us will be trying SMEP to TTC! Adding these lovely ladies in from another thread but I hope everyone feels free to join! All welcome :)

@Devgirl31 @fayy123 @NCON @MrsKJW19

Some stats about me:

TTC #1
27 years old, DH is 28 years old
Missed miscarriage in October 2019 at 7+2 weeks
Still in that cycle (no AF yet)
Long and irregular cycles, some anovulatory
Suspected low progesterone/hypothyroidism (I think this based on symptoms, not diagnosed yet!)

Hope we can all provide support for each other in this crazy TTC journey.

Feel free to introduce yourselves :)

Just had a little look back and it seems that on this thread, we have @TunnocksTcake @HE88 @Lucy5546 @NCON and @bluemoon2468 with BFP. That's amazing- fills me with more hope than I had this morning! x

@bluemoon2468 awww congrats!! How fabulous!!

Just out of curiosity ladies... would you say this is a positive OPK or almost there? Considering I’m feeling the cramps and very wet down there 🙈🙈
@danielasummer hello!! How are you getting on? I’m on CD10 at the moment and hoping This OPK is a positive one 🙈 X

@Shazzzzz that's great. And if it's been a good distraction from TTC, all the better!

@bluemoon2468 haha sorry to scare you.. personally, that would be incredible if it happened to me but I know not all people want multiples! How are you feeling? Really so happy for you and all of the others that have had BFPs :) I think you ovulated CD16 by your chart.

@HE88 bless you.. hope you're feeling better. How many weeks are you now?

@JoesM12 hi lovely, has AF shown for you? You're right, that's all we can do.. I was a little deflated then I tried to see it as another month of trying to nourish my body ready for my next cycle. Lots of baby dust to you!

@Pixielou16 hello, has AF shown up for you? I'm really irregular and long and although it's super annoying, I take comfort that I have been pregnant so I can hopefully do it again!

@fayy123 I think your OPK was either positive or at least close to positive. I hope you managed to BD anyway! I'm getting on OK thanks - CD8 for me, due to ovulate on CD28ish but who knows with me!

Just wondering if any of you have any advice - I've just had some blood test results back and been advised by my doctor to stop taking my Zita West Vitafem prenatals as they are elevating my B12 and folate too much. I'm kind of gutted as I'm worried I won't get pregnant without them (although I did manage to get pregnant with no supplements in August). Do any of you take them? Which supplements would you recommend? I've heard that Pregnacare can lengthen cycles and mine are already too long and irregular so want to steer clear of them. Doctor just said bog standard folic acid but I'm sure we need vitamin d3 and B12 too don't we? It's a minefield! Any advice and experiences welcome! :)

@danielasummer of course we would be so grateful for either one or two healthy babies, but I cant say that twins would be my first choice haha. Getting on well thanks, still over the moon and loving watching my line get darker by the day. I have very strong early symptoms though so I actually feel shocking 😬 but I can't complain!

@danielasummer i am not sure if i can help with the vitamins but i can share my experience (or lack of). While TTC i was not taking any vitamins or folic acid etc. Once i found out i was pregnant i start taking pregnacare multi vitamin. And my doctor said that was fine.
Sometimes we stress our selves out worrying too much about what we should do. I would take your doctors advice though and go with what they say

@danielasummer hey lovely! af hasn’t shown up yet but I’m 12DPO today and got a BFN this morning so I am expecting her on Wednesday when she’s due. I absolutely agree with you, it’s hard not to feel deflated when it’s month after month of the same thing.
I got the “oh well it will happen when it’s meant to” message of my best friend this morning which really annoyed me. I think I’m just overly sensitive from being annoyed that I’m not pregnant and pms Hormones 😂 So I’ll be joining you on the next cycle! We got this girl!!
I’m planning to reduce my caffeine intake I think, I usually only half 1-2 cups of coffee a day but I just wasn’t to give it a go.

As for vitamins, I take pregnacare and have done since October. My cycle are usually 30-33 days and I haven’t noticed anything change! I read we also need iron and zinc as well as the things you mentioned and pregnancare have all of those things in x

But obviously don’t try something if you aren’t comfortable with it xx

@bluemoon2468 hope you're not feeling too poorly! It is exciting seeing those lines :) be sure to keep us updated!

@Lucy5546 thank you for your advice. I am so worried about egg quality as I had a miscarriage in October but I'm going to strip it down and just go for folic acid. I have an appointment next Tuesday with a fertility specialist so will ask them then. Thank you x

@JoesM12 bless you, you're not out until she shows though. Keep us updated won't you? I'm the same as you when it comes to messages like that - it happens so often to me now though that I just totally ignore it. Smile and nod, as they say. Good luck for reducing caffeine, I'm going to try and reduce sugar and eat more fruit. You're right, we've got this!!

@danielasummer no AF for me yet, day 50 and counting 😭 just want to know that everything is working! Feeling rubbish because I've caught the lurgy too so in a general bad mood. I'm gonna try and eat a bit healthier. Did really well a few weeks ago and now I've reverted to whatever is easy. Need to get back on it. Also want to totally cut out caffeine!

@Pixielou16 has AF shown yet?☹️ i thought mine was a pain being 34 days! Hope youre feeling better now xx

@Shazzzzz unfortunately not! Did a FRER yesterday morning and that was a BFN. Starting to get a bit worried, although I went to the docs last week on an unrelated thing and the doc just said come back in a month or two. Male doctor- clearly doesn't understand the worry! How are you getting on?

@Pixielou16 clearly not! Can you not see a female doctor? Im doing ok CD16 today and quite relaxed about everything at the minute, last month i was an opk, symptom spotting loonatic, completely different this month, just think it will happen at the right time 🤞 xx

Hi all just wondering if any of you have had to have an early scan do you need to drink loads of water before it like you have to do with your 12 week scan?

@Pixielou16 has AF reared her ugly head yet? Hope you're feeling a bit better. How's cutting out caffeine been? Also, I now always request a female doctor - they seem to empathise a lot more with fertility-related issues, I've found.

@Shazzzzz I'm feeling strangely relaxed this cycle too! Let's hope this is our month!

@HE88 hello, when I had my 6 week I didn't need to drink as I had an internal. I hope you're ok?

@danielasummer hopefully! Im still tracking everytime we dtd and were doing it nearly everyday. Ive not gone loopy yet anyway i did nearly do an ovulation test but i couldnt find them so 🤷🏽‍♀️

@danielasummer ah I'm not sure if it's an internal I'm going to guess not though I'm having it because I had my laparoscopy so they just want to check everything is OK. Xx

@danielasummer hey hun, no, no AF yet- though she'd be very welcome! I've been reading a bit about trying to regulate your cycle so I'm going to try and eat better and maybe look into the supplements more, see if there's a benefit to magnesium or evening primrose oil. Has anyone tried acupuncture at all? Heard good things about that but not sure as I've never had it before! Cutting out caffeine hasn't been too bad actually. I have one proper cup in the morning and decaf the rest of the time, hoping to try and cut out the caffeinated one soon! How are you getting on? Have you tried anything weird and wonderful in the name of fertility?

@Shazzzzz I like the sound of a more relaxed approach. Not sure I could keep up with every day though! Does it kill the mood at all, doing it so often?

@HE88 hope you are ok! X

@Pixielou16 no we have always done it regular anyway and we have been together 5 years. Its hardly planned to be honest it just happens🙈 x

@Shazzzzz doing it nearly every day is great. Definitely covering all bases then! Wishing you luck. Keep us updated x

@HE88 hi, how was your scan (if you've had it)?

@Pixielou16 Has AF come yet? I'm reading 'It starts with the egg' and she has some good supplement recommendations based on scientific research. It's a good read! I've also looked into acupuncture but was told by the lady that I'd need to wait 3 cycles to TTC when I start acupuncture..that scared me so I didn't reply! I can't wait! Glad cutting caffeine has been ok. So I'm just cutting out refined carbs and sugar (as recommended in the book) so no pasta, bread etc, no cakes, it's actually going ok. Just reaching for fresh and dried fruit and nuts now. Also eating organic fruit, veg, meat, dairy and eggs (but I have been since November anyway) all in the hope of creating the perfect egg! I'm also taking 400mg folic acid and 1000iu vitamin D a day. What about you? Which CD are you on? x

Hi everyone, I really hope you don't mind me jumping on here, I just have a question and thought you ladies would know...if you did SMEP successfully, when in your cycle did you start dtd? and then when did you do it until?

@biscuit13 hi, of course not, the more the merrier! (Although we don't want you here for too long as we want you to get your BFP!! :D ) so if you had a regular 28 day cycle, you begin DTD every other day from CD8 until you get a positive on an OPK, then you do it every day for 3 days, miss a day and BD once more I believe. I personally have an irregular cycle ranging from 35-50 days so l would ideally BD every other day from around CD14. Last cycle I got a bit excited and we BD most days of my cycle (didn't work, I'm not pregnant). This cycle will BD every other day from CD14, doing CB digital ovulation tests then every day from when I get a positive until I get 3 confirmed temp rises. Hope this helps x

Hi ladies, hoping to join in as we're planning to give SMEP a go this cycle. We have been TTC since we got married last summer but so far no luck. I've heard great things about SMEP and you all seem like a lovely supportive group!

Currently only on CD2 after a strange cycle that was all over the place (period came exactly on the day expected but was preceeded with almost a week of spotting) so happy to have a fresh start. Wishing you all a lucky cycle!

@danielasummer thankyou, so my cycles vary between 30 and 37 days... that seems like so much compared to what we would normally do, once maybe twice a week... haha!
so im using the clear blue ovulation digital ones too, was thinking about dtd every other day from when I get a flashing smiley until a couple of days after my peak? gotta be realistic haha! im hoping that will give us more of a chance. im going to use preseed too this time.

Hiya all I'm new to all this but so many woman seem to be in similar situations I figured would be good to talk. I have been trying for our second since Novemebr so not long. I had spotting 2 days before my period was due and this has now stopped. I am 3 days late and I have been using cheap test I bought online but all have said negative so far. I was thinking may have ovulated late due to spotting so close to period? Any advice would be much appreciated x

@Mummy2wannabe2020 have you considered taking a FRER? If you're 3 days late and you are pregnant then it would tell you for sure. At least then you'd have your answer either way?

@bluemoon2468 yea i was maybe going to leave till end of week and get other test as was wondering if I had ovulated late whence the spotting 2 days before I was due x