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!

@Kay00 thank you we shall see! We did take Nov off as I was getting too frazzled with everything ❤️ hoping having a fairly Q Christmas & New Year will help reset things.

Is anyone else crawling towards Christmas leave? I am shattered!

@ChinChilly I'm useless at maths, but does that work out to be the same amount of financial support? If one works out to be higher then I would go for that. I haven't even looked into this myself yet ha. OH was actually looking into it yesterday without me saying anything. I'm self employed so I didn't realise there was much in the way of support for me, but seems I can get some support from the government :) I was just planning on taking 6-8 weeks off unpaid and then going back to work part time, but seems I can get some help when not working x

@mrsmacmc oh yes lol, Its crescendo week in work... we pretty much have this week and maybe a little of early next week to complete the bulk of our work before everyone starts closing down for Christmas over Europe... so i'm really damn busy!

If I don't get pregnant this cycle then i will be coming into fertile week(s) over Xmas and i'm very much looking forward to a few glasses of wine!

@mrsmacmc I’m not sure why they over option 2, suppose it would be nice to have a lump sum but I’m leaning towards option 1 takes the pressure of OH aswell having to provid and cover pretty much all the bills

@MintGreenLife I think they work out roughly the same to be honest but I am also useless at maths so can’t say for sure! Ahh that’s good there’s some support for self employed I did wonder how that worked

@MintGreenLife thats some good news! Hopefully you can be a little more flexible with what you do when your little one arrives.

@Kay00 yep similar here too while all I seem to see on my newsfeed is folk winding down!

@ChinChilly I think it might be to do with if you are unsure wether you are going to return after your mat leave so you don't need to pay anything back if you do decide to take option 1 then tell them nah I'm not coming back - I had a look at my works policy and that's how the explained it although we do get a small maternity enhancement if we've been with them for a year. ❤️

@MintGreenLife check out maternity allowance you might also get the sure start grant as well. Give you local CAB a call too and they'll be able to assist you ❤️

@mrsmacmc thanks, will look into that :)

@mrsmacmc ahh yes that would make sense!

@Kay00 ahh partners can be silly buggers sometimes! Have you managed to convince him the tests are a positive thing? Mine thinks I am being completely over the top testing and buying OPKs etc. I think they think it just happens first time! But glad you are feeling better.

I see a few of you had AF show up ☹️ @mrsmacmc @Tillybabs . I am CD5 now (first cycle) so we can be in it together! No clue how long my AF will stick around. Had five days of spotting before, then she came, and disappeared all day yesterday, but back for bed! Great. At least there is hope that cycles are getting back to normal(ish).

@ChinChilly think I would go option 1 too so it evens out the money. Could you manage without your salary?

@Nellieee we could manage with just SMP and OH wages but it would be very tight, the aim is to save the difference for each month I’ll be one SMP but we’ve had a few household emergencies such as the oven breaking yesterday 🤨 that have wiped out our savings so it will be full steam ahead saving in the new year

@MintGreenLife if you're self employed it can work really well to be honest. I'd almost "return" to work ASAP and let your OH take full parental leave, as he'd then be entitled to all the mat leave pay through work. So eg if they offer full pay for 12 weeks or whatever he can take that as he'd technically be prime caregiver if you go back to work.

@kay00 I did my day 21 test at 9DPO if it helps! Doesn't have to be bang on 7 but better day 8 than 6 if that makes sense. I do also wonder if the results are affected by the storage of the vials in transit as that's obviously not in a nice fridge like in the nhs... How far off are you being able to take a day 21 test via the NHS? That's probably your best bet for an accurate test.

@mrsmacmc welcome back! I'm totally destroyed by work lol. My fitbit tells me I slept 4h 53 min last night and that's due to work anxiety...

Gonna check my mat leave policy now as I can't remember what it is!

@mintgreenlife a guy on my old team took the full year parental leave as his mrs was self employed - and another guy on my most recent team just took 6 months off as well as his mrs is a freelancer. Just for reference!

Hi ladies!
I'm new to mumsnet but am so glad I found this thread as I have been panicking! I came off the combined pill in mid October having been on it about 12 years and have not had a hint of a bleed since! Was starting to worry there was something seriously wrong, but now that I know it's more common not to have a period quickly I wish I'd stopped it earlier!
I don't really know anything about charting or cycles (or mumsnet acronym's!) - just never thought about it on the pill. Now trying to educate myself! Have downloaded fertility friend...

Does anyone have recommendations on the best/easiest temp monitors to buy - I presume just amazon it?

And any advice on whether it's worth trying to chart before I've even had first AF? I'd sort of like to start so I get to know what I'm doing, but the app seems a bit confused that I don't know my LMP.

Paranoid I won't get AF for another few months now and I'm 34 next year so so worried! eeeeeek!

@Juno231 not 100% sure that would work for us as we are both self employed. Will look into all the options though ☺️

@Juno231 just spotted your second message, so yeah don’t think we could do that with both being self employed, but sure there are ways of maximising the opportunities ☺️

@abi555 Welcome to the party! I'm sure your AF (period) will turn up soon (at least it will eventually!), so don't fret too much.

First step - you downloaded Fertility Friend (FF) which is great! It is the best app for tracking temps

You need to order a Basel body thermometer sensitive to two decimal places, I use the easy@home brand for about £15 on Amazon... its pretty quiet, has recall function and good battery life.

I would suggest you start tempting before your first proper AF as it takes a little getting used to and once your AF arrives you should be in the swing of things. If you haven't ovulated yet then you might still catch it!

@MintGreenLife ah sorry, didn't realise you both are self employed - ignore me!

@abi555 welcome! And yes totally normal! I use the femometer bbt thermometer from Amazon - I think it was £9-10? Have you had a breakthrough bleed at all? Doesn't hurt to chart as soon as you can, if you're lucky you might still ovulate before your first AF arrives!

@Juno231 thanks for thinking of us anyway :)

@ChinChilly argh so annoying! Hate unexpected expenses, especially when you are saving towards something specifically. Hopefully you can get on track to where you need to be. Another stress that women have to worry about more than men!!

@abi555 Hi! I still consider myself new here too. Sorry to hear you are having to wait! I would defs start temping now - you can spot trends. I only started yesterday and am excited to see how the patterns go. Bought mine off Lloyds pharmacy next day C&C. Was on offer. I am only on my first cycle post-pill, so early days too, but similar to you, am turning 33 next year and want things to hurry along now. Completely wish I had ditched the pills six months or so ago, but oh well.

@abi555 welcome!! I'm not a pro at temping or OPK's as I haven't started yet but I'm sure I will in the next few months. Have you had your usual withdrawal bleed when you stopped your pill? I've also just come off the combined pill (Rigevidon) in mid Nov, have had my withdrawal bleed and now waiting what seems like forever for my AF. I'm 32 so worried I've left coming off my pill too late, wish I'd done it sooner! Wishing you luck on your journey!

@Juno231 thank you it's good to be back 🙃 I feel like a hamster 🐹 on a wheel just now with work. Got a wee day off tomorrow so that'll be split doing uni work and getting the gutter lights up - tree doesn't go up here till 19th Dec as it was my grans birthday and we were forbidden when I was growing up to put the tree up before her birthday!

Ive put my Fitbit in a 'safe' place but shudder to think what it would say about my sleep / general everyday ness! Stay strong Christmas break is coming ❤️

Hey @abi555
I’m day 74 since taking my last pill and no cycle yet. Had my withdrawal bleed but nothing since.

The ladies here have been amazing calming me and reassuring me so I’m now happily charting my temps and taking ovulation tests hoping to catch it but mainly just playing the waiting game

@Robyn101 I'm glad the ladies here have helped! Gosh day 74 can't be any fun - I'm crossing my fingers for a Christmas miracle for you though!