Our first month ttc our first

[rosiej95]

As soon as AF disappears, which will be soon 🤞 me & my partner will be ttc :)
I've been keeping an eye on my cycles for a little while using the flo app & have been taking pregnacare.
Is there anything else we should know or do to help prepare ourselves? :)
Exited to go on this roller coaster of a journey & as no one knows of our plans would be lovely to hear off people ttc too :) xx

Hello all! Hope you don’t mine me joining this thread. I’m TTC this month - came off cerazette 3 months ago and straight into regular periods (25-26 day cycles). Last cycle I decided to try ovulation test strips - tested a wide window (day 7-18) and all came back negative. Same is happening this month with a different brand. I’m testing first thing in the morning (per the instructions), same time every day. Feeling very demoralised - any advice?! I’ve always had regular periods etc (when not on the pill).

@Amy259 omg you're so right I need to have this 'chat' right around the time my fertile week is, hopefully after this one I'll have a rough idea as I'll have 3 whole cycles to go off and it should give me an average as CD24 and then CD9 is too long a period. It'd be a bloody fertile 3 weeks and god knows DH does not have that in him!! 😂 Yeah I do wonder if it's his energy levels because he's always so tired after work and then waits til we get into bed to DTD and that's when he is most tired. But I'm going to say to him, look, if you manage to put aside a few hours every Wednesday night to play Xbox games with your friend, then you need to start booking me in every other night for 10 minutes too if that's how we have to play this lol.

Aww yeah that is pretty lucky! Well if I do O on CD24 we're both off work from Thursday so there's no 'tired' excuse to be used! He's at work right now so I can only message and he seems understanding but I still want to discuss this properly in person. Watch me get a powerpoint presentation ready for tonight. Sit down and LEARN boy. We're either all in or not at all!! 😂

@21Arwen Hey welcome to the thread!! Which ones are you using? I'm using the Easy @ Home ones you can get 100 of them for £19.99 on Amazon and you can test any time of day as long as you've held your urine in for 2-3 hours and limited your liquid consumption during that time. They're really good and you can upload them on an app that'll read the tests for you.

@meganlea I get most success at nights or mornings at the weekend but through the week my window is when he goes up to get changed after work 😂 before food so he’s not too snoozy! Sounds absolutely ridiculous writing it down, and we’re both quite fit and it’s not like I’m asking him to run a marathon! But after a day at work and a big dinner, I’ve no chance haha.

I also made it clear during one of our talks that I totally get that it’s strange to dtd down to timing not urge, and I am fully okay with a 10 minute quickie - it doesn’t need to be magical on a Tuesday night before the spag bol 😂 I think that helped, he was probably a bit terrified at the thought of a full on sesh every second night!!

@Amy259 I find myself laughing though as it's like your describing my life. If I hear 'I'm so full' or 'I'm so tired' after tea, I know DTD is out of the window haha!

Omg I can imagine the horror in his eyes when you first started TTC! Honestly it's not that big of a deal is it?! Just need you to get the job done in a timely manner and that's it, apparently if you do something for 30 days in a row it becomes a habit so it should be incorporated in the morning routine, brushed your teeth? check! DTD? check! 😂

@meganlea thank you :) As luck would have it, I randomly decided to try a midday test today (despite testing negative this morning) and it came out positive! I’m using clearblue digital and they seem pretty good. They say you can test first thing in the morning but I’m guessing maybe midday/afternoon is better.

@21Arwen maybe depends what brand you use so obvs always follow their instructions but the ones I have (easy @ home) say not to use FMU and to test between like 10am and 7pm and I think somewhere on here I read LH needs time to synthasise in your body in the morning or something.

@meganlea aww it’s the exact same here! I swear he tells me he’s full or tired to pre-warn me that I’m not getting any later 😂 he’s normally always game before dinner though so I take my chances!

@21Arwen welcome! CB digital cause that problem - it’ll be negative the morning you peak because they tell you to use fmu so you’ll probably peak in the afternoon (most people do) but not get the CB to go positive until the next morning. So really if you werent dtd anyway, you’ll have missed your peak and just know that you’re now at O day (which is a pretty unsuccessful day to conceive on, statistically). Just like the above two ladies, I use easy@home - much cheaper and you can test 2-3 times a day when you’re near ov ☺️

@Amy259 that’s super helpful, thanks!

Loved reading your convo girls @Amy259 @meganlea

My partner does have a high sex drive tbf. I think higher than mine. But he does not understand TTC at all. He thinks it could happen any time of the month and just doesn't really understand the fertile window. And it's typical that something happens around my fertile week (like a very stressful work week for him).

Our preseed just arrived! Not sure about the process 😅

@beckyBP I’m sure my sex drive sky rocketed when I got the coil out... husband must been like woaaah where has this come from 😂

I like preseed a lot, I need to order more actually. But a little goes a long way... on the syringes I wouldn’t recommend going past the 2g mark at the most, or it get a bit messy 🙈

@beckyBP you are very very lucky! I wish DH was up for it more I don’t even think I’m sex mad but once or twice a week wouldn’t go a miss! 🙈. He used to have a HSD but since getting our own place he’s just not been bothered and could probably go months if I didn’t moan. It’s not been easy adjusting and sometimes it’s really hard but he can’t help it and I’m in love with him and definitely couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. The past 18 months before TTC we managed to find some middle ground that works for both thankfully. I think I’m enjoying TTC a little too much and will probably have 8 kids just to keep it up 🤣

I think I must have saw a post from you @Amy259 or someone else maybe about pressed so I don’t go over 1g 😂

Just been catching up on the chat @Amy259 my sex drive went through the roof when I had my implant out, I was never really bothered about dtd for the last 8 years 🙈 husband is definitely not complaining now lol We just need to time it better, we tend to dtd pretty regularly until fertile week then don't get round to it. I've told him it's every day from Tuesday this week lol 😂 he's only working Xmas eve and Xmas day so hopefully shouldn't be a problem 🤞🏼

@21Arwen I've tried a few different brands of test strips and found the easy@home ones the best, I haven't tried clear blue as they're so expensive especially when testing twice a day. I usually test when I get in from work about 6ish and if testing twice try to do it around lunch time at work

@meganlea I can’t possibly have read that right - you’re enjoying ttc?!? 😂😂😂 yeah 2-3 times a week would be delightful. When we talk about it DH always says he wants that too so I’m not really sure why it never really comes to fruition...

@DNpink82 fingers crossed for a Christmas conception! My birthday is 25th sept (9 months after Christmas Day..) and I spent my teenage years being embarrassed by mother telling me all she’d ask for was a puppy that Christmas 🙈😂

@Amy259 Haha both my MIL and Mum are late September too so we know when they were both conceived 🤣

@Amy259 how funny that having the coil out changed it so much. Tbh mine has increased from TTC. I genuinely enjoy it more atm.

@meganlea there's defo always some complacency isn't there. We certainly don't do it like we did when we were first together!!

@DNpink82 it must be a thing with the implant/coil! How strange! You're spot on there.. I think sometimes you can peak to early with all the DTD.

We just used preseed for the first time. Just to test (not in my fertile window yet) and just a small amount on him. I'm a fan. Certainly no complaints

So I didn’t manage to hold out until Christmas Eve to test, so I tested this morning at 12DPO and this is what happened...

Can you see it?! Does this mean what I think it does?!

@beckyBP yeah I definitely feel a big difference after the coil removal. I think I would be enjoying dtd more during ttc too if my DH was embracing it as much - if anyone knows how to stop him feeling the pressure of it all, please let me know!

@Rice1992 certainly looks like it to me!! Congrats 🎉🎉🎉 what a brilliant Christmas present! Xx

@Amy259 that's so interesting! Yeah you're right. Maybe try and mix it up a bit like from the normal routine if you know what I mean. Do something different.

@Rice1992 that looks like a real good one! Huge congratulations 🥳 xxx

Thank you @Amy259 @beckyBP I can’t quite believe it! It’s still early days so praying that everything is ok. I did get quite a few symptoms but was trying to convince myself that it was nothing as I didn’t want to get excited 🙈

Sending all my love for your journeys 💛 xx

@Rice1992 so so amazing!!

What were your symptoms and did you do anything special this month 👀 tell us your secrets 😂

@beckyBP it’s weird though, if I put too much effort in that’s when his head makes him stress out. So say something like lingerie or an outfit, which would normally be a holiday or occasion thing... I randomly bought stuff in the Black Friday sales and wore it, and he loved it, we had lots of fun, but then when it came to the “ending” (tmi?) he couldn’t... which is so not like him. And we talked about it afterwards and he explained that in his head he was like “right this must be baby time (which it wasn’t even, I was just having fun!) so come on now..” and the pressure of it got to him. Feel a bit guilty sharing that but worth it if anyone has any ideas!

It’s almost like because my sex drive has increased at the same time as ttc started, with getting the coil out, his head is telling him I’m only initiating it more because I want a baby not because I want sex?? No matter how much I explain you can realistically make a baby like 3 days a month so there’s no way every time I want to dtd that’s what I’m up to! I think he believes me but now it’s happened once, it worries him it’ll happen again. It does get me frustrated at times but most of the time I just wish I could take all the stress away for him.

Yes @Rice1992 give us all the details 😂

@meganlea still no af yet... no idea what’s going on, as if I ov when I thought I did I would currently be 15dpo and normally my luteal phase is only 12 days. Bfns though. So strange, maybe I did ov really late... no idea.

@beckyBP I must admit I feel so so incredibly blessed & lucky because this was our first month TTC. My cycles have been between 30-32 days since I came off the pill at the end of Aug, and I’ve been tracking using flo. I didn’t use temperature tracking or ovulation sticks, just went by the app and when it told me I was (which I know isn’t possible for a lot of people because their periods are so all over the place - so again, feel incredibly lucky). It told me ovulation was on Thursday and we DTD every day Mon-Thurs (we were going to go for Friday too but we were both too tired😅). I’ve also been taking seven seas for the last 2 months.

My symptoms weren’t bad/really obvious, just small but lots of them i.e 6/7 days after flo said I’d ovulated I had sharp pains which only lasted a few second but a couple of times throughout the day which I assume was implantation? I’ve had mild cramps which have felt more like heaviness and dullness. More erect nipples, more spots, slight nausea, hot flushes, bloating, struggling to sleep, vivid dreams, waking up really hungry but not having much of an appetite, feeling emotional and finally a really weird one - I’ve been so clumsy! I’m never clumsy but this last week it’s been so bad! To the point where I’ve been like what is wrong with me!

Obviously everyone’s differ so much and what worked for us when TTC might’ve been luck or it could’ve been the right thing to do - who knows. And lots of people don’t have any symptoms which must make it really hard!

But I really do send you all the luck in the world with your journeys. Even though it’s been short for me, I can see how tiring it can get so I’m sending you lots on baby dust and keeping my fingers crossed that this BFP stays for the journey! Xx