TTC first baby thread 26

[Annny27]

Hello all, setting up a new thread for us old timers to keep up and stay sane on the ttc journey!

** that should read hardest shittest journey. Definitely not shortest. We wish!

@orangeloo I am absolutely delighted for you ❤❤❤❤ a HUGE congratulations to you both! Must be so shocking to see a bfp after all these years!

When was your spotting and what was it like? As a serial spotter you must have thought oh great this is the start of normal period arriving! But I am so pleased it wasnt :D :D

Thank you @Annny27 ❤️❤️❤️❤️
It is shocking haha. Feel like I'm dreaming. I do hope you get your sticky baby real soon. Xx

Absolutely- I spotted from two days after transfer up to yesterday so I seriously had doubts our embaby could hang on. I also had a couple of old looking clots. Spotting was a bit of pinky red and dark brown and light brown.
Sorry tmi I just want to reassure anyone that experiences this.

No deffo not TMI! It will help me if I am ever in that situation. Spotting is so common in tww and early pregnancy but as you say, it's never bene positive for us before so you jump to the "oh it's not worked". But sooo pleased that it was a positive sign for you :D

Do you have any other symptoms?

I haven't been spotting as much recently but ita definitely a beige tinge to my cm only when wiping for a few days before period and then one day of proper brown spotting. If I wasn't investigating each wipe on toilet paper I wouldnt been notice! (My period arrived a few days ago so onto next cycle!)

@Annny27 Well it's good your spotting has eased even if it just helps you stay more positive each cycle.

I have felt quite dizzy and lightheaded the last 5 days. Felt nauseous. Hot sweats at night. I'm on oestrogen and progesterone so I couldn't rely on these and just kept putting it all down to the drugs. The most reliable symptom I did have I now know, was in the implantation window I had this pinching throbbing pain In The same spot for a day and a half.
X

❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️ I'm absolutely delighted for you @orangeloo xxxxxxxxx

@CycloGoose thank you lovely 🥰💜💜💜💜💜💖💖💖 xxxxxxxxx

@orangeloo woohoo that's great news FET worked first time for you. I was the same early on of not knowing which symptoms are down to the drugs or what was natural pregnancy symptoms. How long do you need to continue to take progesterone for? My clinic said to stop at 12 weeks but I had surplus and decided to slowly wean off.
Do you get an early scan with the clinic?

@Annny27 yes we're having a little boy which is super handy as I get all my sisters things for free!! Spotting is so random, some women I know had it for a while during early pregnancy and some didn't have any. I used to be a regular spotter but after IVF didn't have any, I wonder if that was down to the high level progesterone I was taking though?

@Kiza Thank you. I haven't spoken with clinic yet but will tomorrow as that's my OTD. I'm not sure when they will tell me to stop but I too will have surplus and will wean off gradually. I will be too scared to just stop and I'm surprised they actually tell people to do this. Yes I believe they will do an early scan around week 7 and then I graduate to GP

@orangeloo huge congratulations! I’m so happy for you.

We have received my DH sperm dna fragmentation results this morning. He has 33% which is outside the fertile range of 25% so another blow.

What is really frustrating is the nhs constantly told us his sperm analysis is normal which technically it is. I have researched it and it turns out those sperm analysis normal results are just the lower range for the 5 percentile.

So even though his results were above the lower limits he is still in the lowest 10-15 percentile of men. I cannot believe the nhs still use sperm analysis as it doesn’t show anything useful. People end up assuming sperm is normal when in fact it isn’t. It is giving false readings.

Thank you @XjustagirlX

Sorry to hear about DH sperm but it's good that you have funding approved and a way forward already.

@orangeloo oh I am over the moon for you!! Congratulations 🥳

@Kiza 22 weeks! Congratulations on your boy, they are amazing & so loving 💙

As always ladies, I forever have my fingers & toes crossed for you all xxx

We thank you @whatsthecraic91 X

Huge congratulations @orangeloo what amazing news, I have everything crossed for you! That must be so amazing to see those BFPs.

You look so lovely @Lozzlepop congratulations to you both. I'm sorry to hear not so great on the TTC side of things. I hope that will improve for you both soon.

Wow 22 weeks and a boy! That's amazing @Kiza - if you feel comfortable would love to see some bump pictures when he start to show 😊

@MIW01 I didn't want to upset anyone here as I know how hard I found it seeing and hearing pregnancy announcements and journeys- sometimes I would even say nasty stuff in my head it got to me that much!
24 weeks tomorrow and this was the bump photo from the weekend, I still feel eternally grateful to be in this position and think of you ladies often, sending sticky and positive vibes

Thank you @Kiza that's a beautiful bump! Is he moving around in there now? Bet he's lovely and cosy 😊 I know what you mean I always feel so happy when it's anyone on our thread though as I know it's been such a long journey and so well deserved and I just love a good bump picture! Gives me hope and warms my ❤

Morning ladies :) approaching ovulation for me so all systems go 😂

@kiza absolutely gorgeous bump! A little boy sounds amazing :D however you feeling in yourself?

@miw01 fantastic news about ivf funding. Did you say your husband was having some dna test done?

@orangeloo how are you feeling lovely and when is your first scan?

@xjustagirlx what does that mean for your ivf now?

Thank you @Annny27 we are very excited! I am hoping things go more smoothly from here. My fiancée is getting a COMET test to check for DNA fragmentation. He's getting lots of pain in his testicle and because they're asymmetrical it suggests he may have a varicocele which may cause DNA fragmentation and infertility. We get the results week beginning the 5th July. Our appointment woth the fertility consultant is 30th June and we'll discuss with her. He wants to sort it out regardless, i.e. surgery if it os a varicocele as he's in a lot of pain with it atm. And it's been getting worse over the years!

@Kiza what a beautiful bump ☺️

Thank you @MIW01

@Annny27 hey my first scan is in 11 days, nervous! I'll be 7+1 then. I feel very tired a bit sick on and off. It's scary when I feel okay tbh as u worry about symptoms going. Good luck for fertile week 😘

@Annny27 we have decided to start ICSI at the end of July instead of end of June to give my husband an extra month to improve his sperm quality and we are seeing a specialist in London next week. The DNA frag issue was such a blow for us. I got really upset because my husband would not accept the results for a few days. I’ve bought him extra supplements following threads on here to improve his sperm dna.

What’s upsetting is that his result is bad and for 2 years he hasn’t had a bath, doesn’t drink and he has never smoked. Just think what the fragmentation will have been like 2 years ago.

And i read a study that showed Women with recurrent miscarriages partners had double sperm dna fragmentation compared to the test group.

@XjustagirlX can I ask what his frag results were? My husband’s are due back in early July and I’m certain they’ll be bad.

It worries me, we will be moving to ICSI once we have his results and have met with the two separate consultants. I’m so nervous of it not working because of high dna fragmentation.

Sorry @XjustagirlX, I just saw the answer when I scrolled up. I wasn’t sure what the acceptable range was but I suppose anything 25% and under is ok from reading your message.

@thislittlebird yeah I’m the same. I’m worried that the dna damage will cause ICSI not to work or fur me to miscarry again.

They give you three numbers. One is for % of high dna damage, % of low dna damage and then an average number.

My husbands average was 32% and the fertile range is 0% - 25%.
His high dna damage was 2% and the fertile range is 0-4%.
Low damage was 63% and fertile range is 74-100%. So he is outside the range for two of the tests.

Interestingly it also gives the fertile ranges in which they expect ivf and ICSI to work. He falls outside of those ranges too. I saw that and really panicked thinking ICSI wouldn’t even work. But hopefully his result will improve enough before I need his sperm in 6 weeks!

Here are the fertile ranges