TTC 35+ Thread 7

[sickofthisyear]

New thread- apologies for the unimaginative title!

@Noodella18 hey! Just saw your Q about OPK - did you use the CB from correct day or just once? Not sure you can trust result on it if you didn’t do all the days required to get correct baseline, as whatever the first reading of the month is it’ll take that as your negative. But eff knows as I’m new to them anyway!!!

@Noodella18 it’s sooo confusing I’ve read a couple of conflicted studies that advocate for either daily or every other day. But my consultant favors every other day except when nearing ovulation. Btw I peed this morning on the CB stick and my line is getting darker so might get my smiley soon. I’ll keep monitoring today and based on that we’ll either take a break today or not. Yes I’m guessing the pattern would be the same even for us over 35s!

@Noodella18 I forgot to add that I think you and I might be ovulating together this cycle and expecting today/tomorrow as well! In my case I’m hoping this delayed ovulation will push my cycle to its usual 25/28 days as it’s been a whacky 22 days the last two cycles. Fingers crossed for us!

@Geriatric1234 no I didn't do it from the correct day, but I actually don't think the reader is intelligent enough to do a baseline and measure from that. I know some people say that, but I can't see how that is true, and apparently you can use the same reader the next month with leftover sticks, which makes me think it is just reading individual sticks rather than measuring against baseline. I've heard some people say they get a solid smiley the first day they use them too. I'm not sure though because also a first time clearblue user, but I do wonder if clearblue might suggest you have to do that so you use more sticks...!
My reading went up to 0.85 on the premom cheapies later on in the evening and was still high this morning, so I'm pretty confident that I've finally had my surge, which is exciting! Had sex last night and have told partner to gird his loins for a final fandango tonight!
We were very lucky last time and got pregnant second cycle, hit it spot on in the second one. I'm wondering if we can hit the jackpot again this time!

@twelvestars sending positive egg-releasing thoughts your way! We had sex on CD 13 and then my surge was yesterday, CD 17 which isn't an ideal gap, but going to hopefully squeeze in another shag tonight. Please God tell me we don't have to do another one the next night

What CD are you on? How long is your luteal period normally? Sounds like you might be due on your period earlier than me...

@Katiekattty Me too with the takeaway sauce pot!
And why on earth would someone want to do the OPK with their partner?! I'm not sure either of us would benefit from that scene, particularly if I'm expecting him to dtd afterwards! Mmm sexy!

@Noodella18 loving the creaking geriatric mother's to be comment 😂👵 I used the chart for the first time last month and they tell you what day to test on mine as it's the connected ones that have the app so I did cd7 ⭕️ then cd8 flashing up to cd13 static then it said no more testing until next month, they should work fine with a gap

@Farfaraway1 that's lovely that you bake a cake to remind you of your mum! When we can my family all like to get together for a meal or bbq to remember my dad it's been tough the last year though

@Noodella18 basically my cycle ranged between 25-28 days but the last 2 cycles were a shorter 22 days with me ovulating CD11! But this time around I am already CD11 and haven’t seen a smiley yet (pink digital CB sticks) but based on the darkening line I saw today I expect a smiley within the next 24/36 hours. So I’m hoping my cycle is regulating back to usual and LP will be at least 10 days. I saw that beautiful follicle on US so I really don’t wanna miss on it 🤣🤣🤣 goodluck with yours and hope tonight will be the last night of dtd! I think you’ve got it covered! We need a rest haha I don’t know about you but my husband is having the best time of his life and I don’t think he would mind dtd most days of the month 😅

Which ov test do you use? How long is your cycle usually?

@twelvestars I've mainly been using premom but used the pink clearblue twice as a kind of double check, once on CD18 (blank) and once on CD19 (smiley) which also lined up with what I was seeing on the premom sticks. So pretty confident I've caught the surge 😎 my cycles are normally 28ish days so god knows what's going on 🤷‍♀️ hope your cycle is more reasonable this time round!

@Noodella18 could be the stress of ttc and everything bad going on in the world as it can impact cycles, either shortening or lengthening them.

@Farfaraway1 thank you for that, my Mum has cancer too, been a huge shock and knocked me for 6. She's only in her sixties too and we are very close. It's hard embarking on two processes at the same time over which I have absolutely no control and I have been worrying a lot about which bits might end up coinciding (and the stress too so glad to hear the midwife said that). I waited SO LONG to meet DH and gutted that this is happened now I'm finally in a place where we can TTC as I want Mum to be a part of all of it. Have even had wobbles about carrying on at all!

Sending you lots of love on your anniversary, I don't know anyone else who is in this boat so it's really helpful to hear from you and @Katiekattty, sorry you've lost your Mum too xx

I’ve just tested and I’ve finally got a high. So it looks like my bits are working. Although we got bad news today so I don’t know how DTD the next couple days will go. My DH has been in line for a promotion and huge pay rise since last year. They’ve just told him that they need to delay by a year because of the impact of covid. So we now have go back look at our financials.

[quote SunAndSea37]@Farfaraway1 thank you for that, my Mum has cancer too, been a huge shock and knocked me for 6. She's only in her sixties too and we are very close. It's hard embarking on two processes at the same time over which I have absolutely no control and I have been worrying a lot about which bits might end up coinciding (and the stress too so glad to hear the midwife said that). I waited SO LONG to meet DH and gutted that this is happened now I'm finally in a place where we can TTC as I want Mum to be a part of all of it. Have even had wobbles about carrying on at all!

Sending you lots of love on your anniversary, I don't know anyone else who is in this boat so it's really helpful to hear from you and @Katiekattty, sorry you've lost your Mum too xx[/quote]
Hope you're all OK.

@farfaraway1 it's a lovely idea to bake a cake on the anniversary. I lost my mom when I was 18 and then my nan who I was extremely close to 5 years ago. Even though it was a long time ago I've found going through ttc and pregnancy loss without them so hard and very lonely. We light a candle for each of them on special occasions and a while ago we started having a family day out on my mom's birthday to celebrate. Thinking of you today x

So sorry to hear your mum is ill @sunandsea37. Wishing her a speedy recovery x

@Katiekattty @Farfaraway1 @KG1145 the loss of a mother will always feel fresh no matter how long ago it’s been. Life is so cruel. We all have to go through the cruelties of life but it’s a matter of when... unfortunately.

@SunAndSea37 I am sorry your mother’s not well. I hope she will be able to get through this. It always helps to talk about things in order to let things off one’s chest. Sending you all my love

Sending all the love to everyone with passed or poorly mums ❤️

Thanks for the clarification on the stick shapes @thislittlebird @Marvellouslymadmum - have almost taken the plunge on the spare sticks a couple of times. They wouldn’t have fit after all.

The time I conceived last time I had a weirdly late CD19 ov @Noodella18 (usually day 14/15) and I have had exactly the same this month so fingers crossed for you... and me!!

Just an update on yesterday's ultrasound - no cysts of fibroids 🥳

10 DPO and I've not even POAS yet, or even thought about it. Aren't I doing well? 😂

Great news @magnum99

Impressive restraint too!

@Magnum99 great news regarding your ultrasound!

Ladies I need your advice. So this month ovulation day threw me off with what seems like a 2 or 3 day delay. Anyways DH and I dtd yesterday and day before. Today did the CB ov test twice and I can see a darkening line but no smiley. However lots of ewcm!!! Since we dtd 2 days in a row, do you think it’s best we take today off and dtd tomorrow? Just worried I’d miss the window.

@twelvestars I'd take it off. Even if you get your peak tonight the very soonest you will ovulate is tomorrow (it's 24-48hrs after the surge) and then the egg will survive 12 hrs, so as long as you have sex tomorrow you will be fine, and probably the day after wouldn't hurt either.

[quote Twelvestars]@Katiekattty @thislittlebird totally understandable about CBT. I think it could also be the therapist perhaps? With interventions and therapies as such it’s a very personalized and individually tailored experience. I was fortunate CBT helped with managing my anxiety and also lucky with other traditional types of therapy - although at some point with the traditional psychotherapy type I had to change therapists twice until I found a good one.[/quote]
Yeah I just got the one I got on the nhs. It was very self-reflective but I feel like I’ve worked out more stuff about why I have anxiety on my own really. Because nothing ever came up about my childhood and it was all about work. It was odd and I remember wanting to stop but finished nonetheless.

Tmk they offer other therapies for infertility and I had thought about self-referring. I’ll wait until I’m further on, when I really feel I need the help if I decide to go.

@Farfaraway1 yeah I bet the time zone can be annoying but we are here all day!

Sorry to hear about your mums, it can’t be easy to go through. 💜
My mum figure (my Nan) died ten years ago and you never get over it really, although made somewhat easier by her age, I think. Less of a shock, I suppose. I know she would have been thrilled by me having a DH now, and planning kids.

@Noodella18 @Katiekattty I have a designated Gü puddings ramekin 😂

Good news on the test front @Magnum99

Decided to not dtd today, as next to no line on opk and no ewcm either, so must be ovulating later this month. Will keep every other day until either ewcm or a opk darker line 🤞

@thislittlebird I use a Gu ramekin too! 😂 they’re such useful little things.

@Pamparam I've got quite the collection of them, so it's good we can put them to use lmao

Now that you mention it, those ramekins would have made more sense. I got a high reading morning and night but I don’t see DTD happening. My DH is on his way home and some idiots decided that now is the time to be on the train tracks so he won’t be home for another hour after being up at 5am.