7 months ttc (cont of 6 months ttc)

[Twinkletoes85]

Hi ladies,

Following on from our 6 months ttc thread, for anyone wanting to join in it’s just a group of us who have gone past the 6/7 month mark ttc looking to chat and support each other. All welcome 😊

@notyetamumbuttrying I’m a bit of an over thinker and planner, so from around 6/7 months I started reading up on stuff as I started to panic (and watch all my friends get pregnant around me, usually first time!). I’m on my 10th month this month... you?

They were strict with me @Fifol! I have to wait 3 more months and I'm 34!
I'm on my 9th month @jessmcg. Are you over 35? Is that why you were able to get tests done already?

I think we've managed to create a group of people who are all in exactly the same mindset. It's so nice to hear the same thoughts from everyone. My OH and I started the journey with a 'let's see what happens' approach and the more it doesn't, the more stressed I become. I'd really like to go to the fertility clinic to see if there is a reason but OH isn't even keen for that.
My acupuncturist also told me to do castor oil packs for the first half of the cycle. I'm terrible at remembering and I now have an oily stain on the sofa but it is really relaxing. Is anyone else doing that?
Fingers crossed for us all this month 🤞
And I do know 2 people who conceived as soon as they 'gave up' so the relaxing thing must be something to do with it. Just blooming hard! 1 was told by drs she'd never conceive naturally and then got pregnant next month. Other tried for 2 years, gave up and changed career and got pregnant first month. No help to us but also hope that it can happen when you really don't think it will!

I got my tests after 6 months because of my age.

And I know we're all massive symptom spotters, right from 1dpo for me actually! Has anyone read the thread 'something moved in my stomach . . .'? It has to be the complete opposite story from us!!

Hi ladies, you all seem to be doing absolutely everything you can do, fingers crossed everything goes well for this getting tests done and those waiting on af hope she stays away!!
I just moved house and started a (really) stressful job at the beginning of the year, just when we decided to start trying. So I can imagine that those things combined haven't helped my stress levels much, even if I don't see them physically I know mentally, im super stressed. Now there added guilt that I haven't been able to conceive which is.putting yet more stress/pressure on myself. Goodness this road is not an easy one!!

@Hoping41 you're so right about symptom spotting! Af came for me yesterday but now I'm super confused because (sorry if tmi) but it's a really dark colour and sortof sticky and it's very light which isn't something I've seen before, it's completely out of the ordinary for me! But then with the weird late ov maybe this cycle is just a complete freak!
Because this cycle has been different I can't stop worrying about it! Has anyone had any experiences with dark periods? What does it mean?

@Hoping41 I use castor packs, I really like them but never sure if they are doing anything and they can be messy!

@Swifty2 I've had a month or two like you describe. I have a tilted uterus and apparently you need to do lots of yoga (cat and cow poses are best) and moving generally to help the blood flow straight out and not pool in the tilt. Any brown blood is blood from months before so it's good to get it out. Maybe try that and see if it changes?

@hoping41 @Seafrontsky what are castor packs?

@Seafrontsky ahhh thanks! I do have a tilted uterus- they told me when I had my ultrasound for pcos. I didn't know that that could cause anything! I'll give some yoga a go!

I read that thread @Hoping41 "something moved in my stomach", I've heard of so many stories like that as well! Madness! My sister got pregnant whilst on the pill and she had diarrhoea so it didn't work...

@twinkletoes85 it's just supposed to help blood flow etc. I had been really good at doing them but got a bit lazy so they're back on my list of things for next month.
There's lots of articles on the internet like this one: raisedgood.com/five-fertility-secrets-wish-id-known-sooner/
I use the pukka castor oil.

Sorry, I don't think the link worked. It was a website called: five fertility secrets I wish I had known sooner.

@Hoping41 thank you I will have a look 😊

@notyetamumbuttrying it was totally crazy. It makes me wonder how many of these symptoms I'd spot each month if I wasn't actively looking for them. Plus, I was on the pill for so long, I don't really know what normal af symptoms are for me.

@seafrontsky after you mentioned yoga this morning I have just done a lovely restorative yoga practice that had lots of cat/cow in it. I thought I'd do some googling of yoga for fertility and just found this:
"In 2000 Dr Domar created a fertility program at the Benson-Henry institute for mind body medicine at Massachusetts general hospital and then researched the women who participated, which was published in the study 'Impact of group psychological interventions on pregnancy rates in infertile women'. She found that 55% of infertility patients became pregnant (and had a baby) within 1 year of participating in her 10-session program compared to a control group of 20%. This and many other studies indicate a positive relationship between yoga and other mind-body activities and fertility health"

Thought that might be interesting to some of you! I'm certainly going to do yoga more often!! I'd recommend an app called Down Dog which I have used before and it's currently available for free because of COVID-19!

Very interesting @swifty2, I also second the downdog app. It's great.

Thanks @Swifty2 I like yoga so Im going to look into some fertility yoga! Worth a shot!

Im also going to order some fertility lube today, it's expensive but I thought well I need some lube in anyway so? Might as well just go for it!

I've also just read a study that suggests "indeed a scientific paper has cited 77 clinical studies and articles arguing that male fertility can be effectively boosted by specific male fertility yoga poses"
Apparently some yoga poses affect blood flow in a way that can stimulate sperm production and improve sperm count! Get OH involved too!!

Ooooh interesting!

Has anyone tried having sex every other day throughout cycle (between periods)? I feel like maybe I need to give this a go.

@gypsywater I'm going to try that this cycle coming. If I've learnt anything about my body so far is that it doesn't do what I expect it to so I think I can't really rely on opks and bbt so dtd every other day sounds like a reasonable thing to try!

Very interested in the yoga!! I workout a fair bit but I never make time for yoga. I'm quite impatient so always get really bored doing it. I should be more mindful and keep practising. It's on my list now for next week. Include yoga sessions!

Away for a nosey of 5 fertility secrets I'd wish I'd know- will give it a google and also the 'I felt something move thread!'

@Swifty2 Gotta be worth a try. I do worry that fertility apps could lead to completely missing the right days! Every other day sounds exhausting tho

@gypsywater I want to try and do it every other day but when it’s so regimented it turns into a job rather than doing it when we want to. Honestly I’ve found the hardest part of TTC (obviously apart from not getting pregnant) is just trying to DTD regularly without it becoming a chore! DH really struggled with it last month and said he feels like a see him as a sperm factory rather than me wanting to DTD just because.

@gypsywater gonna try that this cycle too, we were doing it every day last cycle, very tedious! Just bought pre seed there too and trying for first time tonight, fingers crossed