TTC #1, cycle 13 and fed up! Whose with me?

[Theawkwardblonde]

Hello. So AF arrived yesterday which means I'm officially on cycle 13 of TTC. I'm a healthy 28 year old with husband whose 33. We've had 2 chemical pregnancies in the time we've been actively trying. We are just waiting on our dates for blood tests and SA for husband.

Needless to say I'm bloody fed up! Had 3 friends announce pregnancy news in the last week, and one friend is due in 4 weeks. TTC is definitely starting to take its toll on both of us and the realisation that something may be wrong is starting to sink in.
Who else is having similar? Please feel free to share/rant!

@Rosie189 frustrating you were told conflicting things but glad you know now. Do you know how long until the consultation appointment? I'm glad ivf is an option.

I had a call with the nhs reproductive unit yesterday and they're putting funding through for us. Said it could take 6 months to be approved and a further 1-2 months to start. Have my amh test on Monday and Dh has his repeat SA. I think we might go private as we could start a lot sooner and still have the nhs round as back up. We're allowed two rounds before the nhs round is forfeited. We've got a consultation with the private clinic booked in March along with an afc scan to see how many eggs I have.

@notyetamumbuttrying 4 weeks till I see the consultant. My follicle count today was around 55 apparently. Which seems very high. Although I’m now wondering if I misheard. The nurse did say that sometimes bloods normal and scan shows different. She also said she expects my AMH will be very high.

I’m in two minds to just get started with ivf or to beg the gp for clomid. Had some massive work news today as well about an hour after my appointment. Brain cant quite seem to process information at the moment.

@Rosie189 do you know what the average is? So they've confirmed that you don't always ovulate then or you never do at all? Surely they'll give you clomid. Much cheaper than ivf! Take tonight to process today, your head will be clearer in the morning.

@notyetamumbuttrying google seems to say 10-20. I had day 21 bloods 3 times. Twice were not consistent with ovulation the third time it showed ovulation. I put this down to my cycles being irregular and that the timing hadn’t been right. I had hormone tests for pcos in 2019 and they were ok.

Great news about your funding @notyetamumbuttrying. Keep us posted on the AMH, I had mine done fairly recently.

Averages in follicles in a study attached. It seems quite variable tbh. I’ve been reading a bit about this recently @Rosie189 because I had a higher than average count for my age. I had 28 all in all and they didn’t say it was PCOS (or PCO minus the S) but I started reading stuff anyway to learn more about it.

I read a good article explaining why it shouldn’t be called PCOS etc and how there’s campaigns to rename it, which I’m sure you’re aware of, because cysts makes it sounds negative when really they’re follicles and the name is very outdated.

I’m sure they’d offer you clomid, but make sure you get monitored if they do that.

I’ve done a bit of research into it @thislittlebird but I’m not sure. I do have irregular periods but my longest cycle is 42days. The majority of cycles are under 35 days which would be normal. I have had spotting before my period for the past 8-9months which could fit. While I could do with loosing just over half a stone I’m not mega overweight or anything. Do have a few more chin hairs than I’d like lol. My blood work didn’t fit with PCOS. Looking at the guidelines you need to have 2 out of 3 of irregular periods, bloodwork changes, and scan consistent with pcos. Not sure my periods are irregular enough that I’d actually be diagnosed though. Definitely on a healthy eating and exercise kick from now on though. In a way I’m relieved have been convinced many times I had early menopause. The nurse said shouldn’t be any issues with ivf but probably higher risk of OHSS.

@Rosie189 that's interesting on your bloods. Day 21s should be 7 days before your period is due so it's not always day 21 of your cycle. I had mine day 17 or something as my cycles don't last 28 days. They're between 24-26 days. I'm glad ivf shouldn't be an issue tho! When's your next appointments?

@thislittlebird thanks will do! Getting amh tested Monday afternoon and usually takes two weeks for results. Dh gets repeat SA too and apparently we'll get the results same day! We've been sat chatting this morning about it all and going over scenarios. If all 3 parameters have improved to the averages then we'll try naturally for 3 more months, if they haven't then we'll push on with private ivf ASAP.

@Theawkwardblonde how are you doing darling? I hope ok ♥️ x

Yeah because my cycles can be anywhere between 25-35 days long it was hard to predict when to do them @notyetamumbuttrying. Had them day 21 one cycle but had a weird cycle that ended up lasting 42 days 😣. Then next cycle had them day 25 recommended by my dr were t consistent with ovulation but repeated them again day 30. That cycle lasted 36 days and the day 30 showed ovulation. Appointment booked middle of March with consultant. DH doing a SA with the private clinic too although his sample at gp was all ok. I think I’m going to contact gp and see if I can get copies of our lab reports. Always just get told normal and not numbers.

@notyetamumbuttrying hello. Doing better now thanks.
Miscarriage turned out to be quite painful in the end and lasses a lot of stuff (tmi). Generally one of the most painful experiences I've ever had in my life.
Doing a bit better today which is grand. Feeling a bit down if I'm honest though.

@Rosie189 good idea with getting the drs reports. U can look up the numbers for yourself then. Glad you have plans in place. That's half the battle sometimes!

@Theawkwardblonde glad you're doing a bit better and so sorry to hear how painful it was! Totally understandable for you to feel down. Allow yourself to grieve. How's your Dh doing? X

@notyetamumbuttrying we’re in a similar boat. Going to redo his SA, see where we’re at with the referral and try for a few more months I think. I know my low progesterone might be an issue but I’m convinced much of that is being caused by high cortisol from the stress of all this. Will try to chill and take supplements to help in the meantime. I’ve seen threads of people conceiving with low progesterone so just trying to carry on while we wait, I guess.

Glad to hear you’re feeling a bit better @Theawkwardblonde

@Rosie189 I think you can be PCO without the syndrome part, so get your results and so a bit of reading on them, you might find some helpful info out there. I was looking into whether or not to try Inofolic Alpha, might be worth a google. You aren’t alone on the healthy eating front, I need to try it myself, been really lazy since December and my mood has been so low.

@thislittlebird good plan! 👌🏾 how you spending tonight? We've just finished the Cecil hotel documentary on Netflix and now onto the night stalker 🙈 it's a true crime night tonight!

@notyetamumbuttrying Oh I want to watch the cecil hotel thing. I’ve heard about it, and it sounds so different to what I originally saw and heard about what happened. Hopefully it’s good! I saw the night stalker, that was good.

I’ve had an impromptu migraine all day (thinking my acupuncture might have brought it on maybe? Dunno) so I’m recovering and my husband is trying to convince me to sort the wedding album photos we want to print, I keep putting it off lol.

@thislittlebird it was really good! Now starting night stalker with a takeaway Nando's 😋
Ah sorry to hear about your migraine, that sucks! Oh good I've not printed out wedding photos either 🙈 we have one album that's a Photobook and I spent money on a nice personalised one to put one photo per page in and just haven't done it 😂 so you're not alone!! 😉

@notyetamumbuttrying omg me too, I bought a personalised “MR&MRS blah blah” embossed album with one photo per page, it’s still sat looking at me .

The husband made a pizza which was nice, just in time for me to feel like eating again.

@thislittlebird exactly the same as me 😂 had our date down the side too 🙈 mine is sat in our tv unit so I see it every time I reach for the iPad 😆
Ooh yay to pizza! Glad you felt up to it. Nothing worse than no appetite. I live for my food, hence my stone n a half weight gain since the wedding 😬

@notyetamumbuttrying wow we’re such queens of the wedding album lmao

Yeah I love my food too, I’m lucky I don’t gain weight super fast but I still have about a stone to lose really and I find it hard to lose it. No sign of me attempting to lose it yet, not sure how to convince myself at the moment. If I could book a holiday that would help motivate me I think.

@thislittlebird haha yup 👑
Ooh you are lucky! I put on weight quite easily now, can defo feels the effects of getting older now boo 😒 yeah a holiday would be great motivation. I'm getting weighed by the nhs tomorrow, that should be my motivation 😂 I need to have a bmi lower than 30 for ivf which I do, but it's still pretty high at 29 🙈 luckily I'm tall so I don't actually look too fat (I think) 😅

Oh god I’m the opposite @notyetamumbuttrying. I’m short so I can’t get away with it really. Think my bmi was 26 the last I checked and it needs to drop a couple of points to get back to “healthy”, which isn’t a mammoth task but it feels like one when you haven’t got the motivation. An official weigh in might be a good kick! I don’t want to weigh myself in case I’ve gained again lol

I definitely put on weight quicker now than I used to since mid 30s ish, it’s such a pain.

@thislittlebird yeah mines in the overweight category 🙈 need to lose two stone in an ideal world but stone and a half should put me back into a healthy range. You're right that an official weigh in should kick me into touch. Especially if we go ahead with ivf through the private route as that'll start so much sooner, probably next month and I need to be in good shape for it! 😬 now that I'm approaching 35 I can defo see the difference in weight creeping on. Suppose being in a lockdown for practically a year hasn't helped matters either! 🙈

Yeah @notyetamumbuttrying I’m just the in overweight bit but need to get back under. Hopefully the announcement today will inspire me with holidays to come in mind lol.

Weirdly I lost weight in the first few months of lockdown. I think I was snacking more at work than I realised and sitting at home for a few months resulted in a loss of a 5lbs or something like that, I only realised when I started doing personal training in July ahead of the wedding.

@thislittlebird god I hope this announcement inspires me too!! 🙏🏾
Oh wow, that's amazing! I defo didn't 😂 was getting takeaways galore and drinking more. Curbed the drinking tho, don't miss it when I'm not in a social setting anymore.

We’ve got a little trip to Center Parcs in March booked a while back that we have had to reschedule already, but I’d love to even be able to do that just for a change of scenery @notyetamumbuttrying

We were really good in first lockdown actually. Not a lot of working out but a decent amount of walking and cooking. We aren’t big drinkers anyway but I definitely drank a bit more just because I was home and might have had a couple more drinks in the week after work, but not loads.

@thislittlebird yeah I bet! I've booked a long weekend off over my birthday in March with the small glimmer that we'd be able to have a spa day or something. But doubtful 😂 hope you get to go away 🤞🏾
It's so easy to drink more when at home out of boredom but we just don't include alcohol in the shop now so it's been ok reducing it.

Looks like we’re both delaying our trips/plans @notyetamumbuttrying. Hoping my break will fall into self-contained accommodation