TTC After Stopping the Pill

[MintGreenLife]

Hi all ☺️

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else - this is my second cycle after stopping the pill, but first cycle TTC.

I'm using OPKs to track ovulation, which I'm getting very frustrated with as haven't had any increase in the very faint lines that I get and am on CD17 now.

After I stopped the pill my withdrawal bleed came a few days later and AF exactly 30 days after, which I took to be a good sign my cycles were returning to normal.

Three days ago I got pretty excited as I had EWCM so assumed this meant ovulation was coming, but am still getting negatives on OPKs.

This seems quite late for ovulation. I've also been checking my cervix and it's low and hard which means am not in the fertile window.

Has anyone else had cycles/ovulation all over the place after stopping the pill? Especially after AF coming back quite promptly?

Thanks in advance x

@TheDaydreamBelievers didn't tag you in my reply earlier and this thread has got going since, so just in case it got lost am copying and pasting...

OH (other half) that's brilliant!! So happy for you. From what I understand your cycle length etc shouldn't impact your ability to conceive, so hopefully in a few weeks you'll get your BFP (big fat positive) of AF, which either way is good news for you overall ☺️ Gives me hope I'll get a positive on OPKs soon, just got to keep going.

Also update from me: still negative on OPKs, line is even fainter than the last two days and never really got going in the first place. There's always tomorrow ☺️

@Lady1066 ah brilliant! Yep looks that way, you're in the TWW. That's the issue I'm having as I have no idea where I'm at in my cycle - CD17 and no ovulation or increase on OPKs yet. I'm just going to keep testing everyday and keep my fingers crossed. Let us know how you get on 😀

@Alargeoneplease - I've been using the cheap One Step ovulation sticks off of amazon uk. Good practice peeing on a stick! Or rather, in an old cleaned out hummus tub then dipping .

@MintGreenLife thank you so much and you absolutely will get a smiley face. Everyday testing and it will definitely come xxxxxxx

Thank you ☺️ I really hope so! You really can catch from just one ovulation, so want to be on the ball when it does happen, especially if my cycles are long or irregular x

@Lady1066 message above, I always get this with tagging 🙄

@MintGreenLife - that's exactly what I had to do/am still doing, just keep testing OPKs on the daily. Im allowing myself a weekly pregnancy test too (again, cheapies). If it goes over 3 months with no AF then you can approach your GP to say "wtf?!"

Thanks @MintGreenLife and @TheDaydreamBelievers... very much appreciated. Feel totally out of my depth here and have no idea about what I should be doing.
I was convinced I was pregnant. Been exhausted, thirsty, sore (and huge boobs), nauseous, vomiting and had pink spotting last week. But I wasn’t sure if this was hormones after coming off the pill?
Thanks for the recommendations. I shall order some ovulation sticks from Amazon and await AF xx

@TheDaydreamBelievers thanks for the advice ☺️ I'll keep doing just that then. I think I'll wait until AF is due to do a pregnancy test, but seeing as I haven't ovulated yet this cycle fully excepting it to be late anyway. Once again so glad you got your positive OPK finally. Bet you wanted to dance around the bathroom 😀

@Alargeoneplease it's probably worth doing another test if AF doesn't arrive ☺️ Good luck with the OPKs! I've done them everyday for a little over two weeks now, so think I've got to grips with them, 14 tests later 😂

I will do. Will leave it a few days. Think I need to test first thing in the morning too!
I’ve just ordered some from Amazon which will arrive tomorrow so will give them a whirl. Do you do them at the same time every day?! X

@Alargeoneplease - they say you should do them between 11am and 4pm. I've mostly been doing them on lunchbreak but not strict about it. I've seen a few folks talk on here about not drinking too much before (so as not to dilute pee too much) but to be honest I drink a lot of water and mine worked today in detecting the hormone, and it doesnt say that on the instructions, so it might not matter.

@Alargeoneplease yep ideally same time everyday, and always after 2pm. I was doing mine around 2pm but now around 4pm as you need to hold your wee for a few hours and that fits in better with my day - I usually workout around lunch time and always need a wee straight after from drinking lots of water. It's better if your pee is more concentrated, although obviously don't dehydrate yourself. I use the Premom app to record my results which tells you whether it's low, high or peak x

Ah @MintGreenLife - I didnt know they were meant to be that late.

Im using natural cycles app

@MintGreenLife ha! I'm conforming for once in my life lol. It was frustrating but then in some ways much easier not to be because then you have the two week wait after ovulation and then the 12 week wait for a scan... it's never ending!
Someone said to me which I thought true was that you wouldn't expect to use a car after 18 years and it to start straight away, you need to give it time and I suppose that's what our bodies are doing too.

@TheDaydreamBelievers ah that's fantastic! Good luck and fingers crossed for you xx

@Foreverblowingbubbles18 well that makes a lot of sense, I'll have to remember that one ☺️

@TheDaydreamBelievers I'm just going on a book a read in which the author said she never got a positive before 2pm. It's 'the impatient woman's guide to getting pregnant' if interested at all ☺️ I found it very helpful when starting from scratch with absolutely no knowledge of TTC!

@TheDaydreamBelievers @Foreverblowingbubbles18 I feel really silly but someone in another thread pointed out I could have missed my surge. I got watery CM on CD12 and EWCM on CD13 and looking at my OPK chat again I had an increase on my OPKs on CD15 and it's been going back down ever since, so I think I possibly got my surge on CD14 and just caught the tail end of it on CD15. I've been looking into it and apparently the surge can be as short as 10 hours so easily missed if just testing every 24 hours. I feel silly as I was so obsessed with my app and sure ovulation would come on the predicted day of CD17 (today) that I didn't even consider the fact I could have missed the surge ealier in my cycle. Should have probably paid more attention to my physical cues. Luckily we DTD on CD12, 13 and 15 so hopefully have that pretty well covered.

If that's not right at least I now feel a bit more relaxed about the whole situation. Will keep testing anyway and DTD every other day to be on the safe side while I wait out the next couple of weeks. This is my first cycle TTC so still getting to grips with everything.

*meant OPK chart

Thanks for all the tips ladies... I shall try and hold out for a wee and test a bit later In the day. When should I start testing after AF??
X

I just used the Clear Blue - smiley / non smiley, I needed them as simple as can be but they are expensive x

@Alargeoneplease I started from CD5 - basically straight after AF ended, because I didn't have a clue what my cycle would be like. I think this month I actually may have missed my surge, so might be worth testing twice a day once you get closer to CD14, or if you do start to see the lines getting darker/get a 'high' result in the premom app x

Ok that makes sense. I shall start testing before I finish AF then. I’m the same, have no idea what my cycle will be like. I’ve been on the pill over 20 years. So the darker the result the closer you are to ovulating?
What’s premom app? Xx

I came off the pill mid September 2018, it took me until the end of November to get any sort of bleed/period whatsoever, after that my period came exactly 28 days later. I never got any positive results on any ovulation tests but got pregnant that Christmas!