Post Pill TTC - Party Hard with a Vengeance

[TheHotelCalifornia]

It’s that time again, the 5th post-pill thread of ladies who are experiencing the highs and lows (mainly the lows…) of coming off the pill and TTC! Here you’ll find stories of delayed ovulation, crazy long follicular phases, crazy short follicular phases, light AFs, short luteal phases, long luteal phases, confusing temp charts and blindingly white OPKs, to name a few. Join us, won’t you? We're a lovely bunch and we'd love to help you make sense of post-pill life if we can!

Welcome back:

@mintgreenlife
@juno231
@kay00
@sperr
@mrsmacmc
@chinchilly
@curcurbita
@tillybabs
@ams19
@moocher90
@trying4one
@flowerbudd
@pumpkineverything
@tatty1987
@mancmama39
@elsie2021
@danielle2012
@spencer22
@charwils
@ftm94
@lobster8
@musicaljojo
@laurat94
@crabette
@moocher90
@cams50
@thedaydreambelievers
@K80AWE
@emmgrem
@MissC07
@MOL234

Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone, please tag them!

Well guys, I honestly can’t believe I’m sharing this but I’d like to start this thread with some positive news…this happened yesterday morning. I’m still in shock. It doesn’t feel real! After crying most of Sunday because I thought AF had arrived, I realized mid-afternoon that I hadn’t had any cramps and the bleeding had stopped. So I told myself I’d test yesterday morning if my temp rose just to have the chance to do so as my LP’s have always been too short. I did an IC first, freaked out, ran in to show DH who told me to do a FRER and I got a clear line. It’s actually a lot darker in real life which is weird. 9DPO. We laid on the bed and cried together. Did another IC this morning and the line is stronger. I’ll do another FRER tomorrow. Am I actually dreaming??? Is this real life?

@TheHotelCalifornia oh my godness this is the absolute perfect start to a new thread!!! Wow that an incredible week ❤❤❤ huge congratulations!!! Xx

@TheHotelCalifornia oh my goodness!!!! I'm so happy for you!!! @juno231 was right...it was implantation bleeding!! Eeeekkk. So over the moon. xxxxxx

@TheHotelCalifornia also that's a really strong line for an IC at 9DPO!! Mine was much much fainter, like honestly probably actually nothing really there xxx

Hey everyone, please can I join this crazy journey with you all 😌

Wooop!!! Thats such excellent news @thehotelcalifornia!! The perfect way to open a new thread - its great how we are getting some juicy BFPs this month!!

@jenlounic86 Welcome!

@TheHotelCalifornia wow!! The perfect and most positive way to get this new party started! ❤️ looks like real life to me! Though I bet it feels dreamy.

@Kay00 adding my FF chart and my RHR chart for you to see. Both seem to confirm ovulation but just need tomorrow's temp to be sure!

@meganchar1 we're over here now as the previous thread is nearly full.

Girls can you let Megan know how long it took you to get your first period after the withdrawal bleed as she's waiting for AF to arrive.

@meganchar1 just a reminder that pms and bfp symptoms massively overlap so we tend to say not to give much stock to "symptoms". It can be fun to symptom spot for the sake of it but just beware it doesn't have to mean anything at all.

@TheHotelCalifornia shut the front door!!! What a strong line too! There's loads of bfps on here then to set up an after party! Please give us a recap of your ttc journey so far!

@TheHotelCalifornia what a way to open a new thread! Let’s hope it’s a sign of more to come for all of us.

MASSIVE congratulations, so so happy for you 😘🎉

Please share your story 🙂 looking forward to reading yours and @MintGreenLife ‘s run down of how you came to your BFPs.

@meganchar1 I'm not much help as I've still not had a period! I came off the pill on the 18th October. I had a withdrawal bleed from the 20th-23rd. I'm now on CD37 and I believe I ovulated two days ago at CD35.

You mentioned you had tested and got a BFN. I would say wait 48 hours and test again if you can. HCG levels double every 48 hours in the beginning so in that 48 hours you'll either get AF or something will show on the test!

Sorry I can't be of much help other than that! Are you tracking temps or OPKs etc? They might give you a better idea of where in your cycle you are x

Just want to reintroduce myself!

I posted on here a few months ago when I was first starting to track but wasn’t yet TTC, however currently waiting for AF to arrive to start out first month trying!

A quick overview of me, I came off the pill around 8 months ago and was having very long cycles. Around 40days long.

I started tracking and temping to confirm if I was ovulating which showed that I was around CD30-32ish but LP was short around 8-10days.

We decided we would start TTC in December and this month I would have a month off tracking. I had lots of EWCM for a few days around CD 18-22 and so I took an OPK and got a peak reading for two days so think I ovulated around CD 22-23 (which is a big win for me!). I didn’t temp so I can’t confirm, but all the signs were there so if I did I am currently 12dpo (which is also a massive win!).

I have been ALOT less stressed this cycle without temping which may have helped. I have also stopped running as I was worried this might be ‘stressing’ my body. It could also simply just be down to the fact my body is finally starting to settle after the pill.

So all in all a much better cycle which has made me feel a lot more positive going into next month when we start TTC.

So excited! Congratulations to all the BFP on the thread so far, and baby dust to all!!

@Elsie2021 yay happy to have you back! And I'm glad your body seems to be slowly coming back to a normal range cycle wise!

@kay00 thank you ☺️ I came off the pill in August and have had a period every month although short cycles, 23, 21 and 14 days apart. Not sure if I am actually ovulating and never know when to test with the cycles being so short. I guess I am in my TWW now although can’t be certain. It’s my first time TTC at 34 so hoping I have not left things too late!

@Elsie2021 hi! 👋🏻 sounds quite similar to me. I was hoping AF was due at the weekend so I could start trying in December... Turns out I was only just ovulating so we jumped the gun and DTD 😂 my hormones made me do it!!

@JenLouNic86 welcome! Are you temping or doing any other monitoring that might help you work out of you're ovulating? I think it might be quite hard to monitor with such short cycles. I know there's a few things people have used to try and lengthen their cycles so I'll wait and see what they have to say!

@MancMama39 come join us here!

@LauraT94 thank you, I’ve been tracking cycle days and CM but nothing seems to be showing anything conclusive really.

Hey again girls.

Omg @TheHotelCalifornia that's amazing news!!! So pleased for you!
I'd love to know how the implantation bleeding was for you? As I think it's something every struggles to determine the difference...

For my own journey.. I've woken up this morning to light red blood when wiping. Not brown and only seems a small amount so far but I have period like cramps too.
However I'm only CD19! What is going on? I came off the pill at the start of this month, had short withdrawal bleed and then possible ovulation on CD7 (EWCM, cramps, a positive OPK and temps started rising but FF never confirmed OV).
At first Femometer confirmed OV on CD7 but later switched to CD13 because of a small temp rise (which didn't really make sense as no other signs and dried up CM).

Now I have bleeding, so either period... which would make my cycle 18 days long?!! Or implantation bleeding? Or body is just screwed up having just come off the pill and I should ignore everything until after my first proper period?

@JenLouNic86 those are very short cycles. Are all your bleeds heavy period bleeds or could they be mid-month (ovulation) spotting? I would highly recommend you start temping if its a possibility as it will help you identify whether your are ovulating or not, and if you are then we can tell whether you are having short follicular phase or short Luteal phase.

On the whole a B-Complex vitamin with high levels of B12 and B6 can help lengthen your LP (this worked well for me!) and potentially push back your ovulation too.

@Emmgrem There's also ovulation spotting, imo this is more likely to be that?

@TheHotelCalifornia AAAAAARGHHH OMG HOW DID I MISS THIS?!?!!! 😂🙈 Congratulations!!!!

Hi @MeganChar1 👋

I think I was about 5 weeks after my withdrawal, but you'll see it's really common on here for it to be much much longer, and for your cycle to be irregular for quite a while.

I've been off the pill since July, and my periods are relatively regular now but still ridiculously light - and I'm ovulating later than is typical in each cycle. It can take some time for the pill effects to wear off, hence this thread!

The best way to track is using a basal thermometer to check your temperature each morning when you wake up - it can give you an idea of when you are ovulating once you figure out the pattern. There are other signs too - you'll see us on here talking about LH/OPK tests (ovulation predictor tests) and tracking EWCM (cervical mucus!) Annoyingly though, a lot of early pregnancy symptoms are similar to both symptoms of ovulating and also pre-menstruation. So it's all fun and games, and best not to take too much stock of the symptoms, though we're all guilty of a bit of symptom spotting now and then!

Welcome to the party 😂 And of course, some folk do get pregnant right away!

And @Kay00 - sorry, I replied to you on the previous thread I think before I realised we'd moved 🙈

Your chart looks (kind of!) similar to mine. Very low BBTs, so a slight rise looks promising - FF actually gave me crosshairs a few days ago too, but I know from experience my post ov temps are higher than this, so I adjusted to fix it.

Funny you've had EWCM though, that's the only thing that would make me go, hmmm!

I've been ovulating I think around CD20-22 in the past few cycles, so see how the temps go for both of us! I'm still LH'ing too but getting nowt.

@crabette Haha, I saw it and tried to respond but it was closed :D

Hmmm... yes, we are in a very similar boat! My body was certainly having an Estrogen surge resulting in more EWCM than I have ever had... but my OPKs were flat at between 17% and 33%. I would have ignored my OPKs and got excited if my temps were higher, they they are so low!

My low temps, no LH surge and it all happening on CD16 makes me think nothing is really happening - haha! I'm going to wait to see if my temps rise again tomorrow and i'll keep testing with OPKs (another low at 20% this morning) to see if I can make head or tail of it.

I have bought a new thermometer in case my current one is calibrated wrong (my temps seem to be slipping lower and lower and were a lot higher a few months ago... and I have switched the battery, so its not that).

I have also ordered a progesterone test and a thyroid test online, so i'll keep you updated with the results... I will get to the bottom of this!! :D

@ams19 thanks lovely! Our due dates must be close!
@mintgreenlife 😊 😊 my cycle/pregnancy twin! It’s so crazy!
@kay00 thank you my love! Yes I really think our threads are lucky!!
@laurat94 thank you so much! It really does feel like a dream! I wonder when this feeling will end!?
@juno231 hahaha shut the front door cracked me up!! Thank you so much! Ahh that’s interesting that you think it’s a strong line! And yes, you were right about IB I think!! I think I must have implanted pretty early, 5 or 6 DPO! Crazy, crazy times.
@Elsie2021 welcome back and thank you so much! Sending you lots of baby dust 😊
@emmgrem thank you so much! Yes no probs I’ll share everything I’ve noted down!!
@crabette hahahah thank you so much lovely!! Can’t bloody believe it!!

Thank you so much everyone for all your lovely messages!! You’ve made me fully brim haha!! I just can’t believe it, honestly! Just trying to stay really positive while remaining cautious (which is VERY difficult!!)
I really hope this gives you guys some hope though as I really have had a blimmin nightmare since coming off the pill and feel so so so lucky and grateful that we have got a BFP. I will for sure do a full TTC journey recap don’t you worry about that! Got all my notes and still taking them each day so I’ll share in a few days! I’m only 3 weeks 3 days so INSANELY early. Still having sharp, needle-like twinges all over so hoping that’s a positive sign.

I won’t be going anywhere yet though if that’s okay, you guys have all helped me so much and I honestly don’t think I could have got through the last few months without this support system. Hopefully I can continue helping where I can!

OMG! @TheHotelCalifornia what a fantastic start to the thread!! Congratulations!! ❤️

So many BFPs on this thread recently 😝