TTC Thread 14 ... Santa knows what we want for Christmas

[hester]

Here we go! Thread 14 for the nicest bunch of women on Mumsnet

Thread 13 was very joyful and very painful for me, but what it has shown me is that even old warhorses like me can get lucky, so there's no excuse for all you nubile young honies not to deliver the goods! Come on now, Mama Hester expects you to do your duty by your fellow ttc-ers

Get ready now, 1 - 2 - 3, GO!!!

Okay - I think! So I need to look at that middle one then? Never heard of it!

congrats miaou & to your dh - bet he can't wait to get home now if you want to work out your dates, maybe try here ? I used this site last pg & enjoyed keeping track of the progress.

I finally got my AF yesterday - 9 days late & just in the nick of time, so next cycle will be able to start using my persona. Wouldn't have thought I'd be able to be pleased about AF coming, but after 9 days & bfn was relieved, plus wouldn't have been ideal month either, like you Mariella but obviously wouldn't have complained if I did get bfp!

runtus....

2 teas that help.....
2 parts chasteberry
2 paets false unicorn root
1 part blue cohosh
1 part rue

(3 x per day...I would recomend asking a herbalist to make up this for you!)

excellent tea for delayed period (only if not pg)
equal parts of pennyrpyal and tansy drunk 3x per day till af shows.

any herb that is an emmenagogues will help (try googling that E word to find a complete supliment instead of a yucky tea!!)

hth

hula- chasteberry = angus castus ...sorry should have said that!!

Eurgh!!! Sorry, but that tea sounds horrid!

So this Chasteberry is the thing to look at then?

Ah I see now. Heard of that! OL.

Cheers Geordie - I have a doctors appointment for Wednesday and I'll do another test before I go to make sure I haven't missed anything huge but if I don;t get any joy, I'll be off down the herbalists!

Sounds like a fab book you have there!

Just read through a Google search I shuld get a dose f 1000mg??? Is this okay to take throughout cycle, or is it just part of cycle?

there are conflicting opinions on that hula....some say only till o others say all the way through......how about starting a thread to see if anyone else has used it and how they took it...I'll google and try to find out what's best when ttc....the book is only useful for being pointed in the right direction!!

Cheers - will do!

can anyone asnswer a couple of Q's on taking bbt? can you use an electronin thermometer? Is there on that take it v. quick ie 1 second or something or do you have to use a mercury one that takes ages? Is it right you have to do it at same time every day? Is it right you shouldn't have been drinking night before? Thinking of doing it, but dh wouldn'y like it so would have to do it on the quiet, so no good if have to lie there with thermometer sticking out of mouth/armpit/bum for a minute or so every morning! Any other advice/tips on taking temp?

My BBT is electronic but it still takes a good 30 seconds or so to read, and then bleeps at me! Dh also isn't into all this monitor, but copes with this as I do it immediately on waking and it doesn't really impact on him. I also say that it is more for me to get used to my body and how it works, rather than as an aid to conception.

Oh, and alcohol can have an impact of temperature taking, as can several things - fever, disturbed night, etc. - but unless I have drank a lot of alcohol I haven't noticed much of a problem.

Vitex Angus (Also known as Chaste Tree Berries)
Vitex was used by the Greeks over 2000 years ago. By far it is the most clinically studied herb that has been known to help regulate hormones in the woman. The research that has been done on the herb suggest that it works on the pituitary to help create a larger LH surge (similar to how the drug clomiphene citrate works), which should help to bring on ovulation. It also has components in it that bind to dopamine receptors on the pituitary. This action is thought to help help lower prolactin levels (elevated levels of prolactin can inhibit ovulation as well). It is particularly useful for women w/ annovulation, irregular cycles, long cycles, and luteal phase defects (low progesterone levels). So far there have been no known interactions of this herb with other drugs but, as we note below, the use of this and all herbs should never be mixed with other fertility medications.

False Unicorn Root
Although there currently is no clinical data on this herb, there is much folklore about it as a female and male fertility promoter. It is said to contain "precursors of estrogen," which could be the premise behind it aiding both sexes. It has been claimed to be a uterine tonic, diuretic, and exhibit anti-inflammatory properties. It possibly also contains progesterone-like constituents, since it apparently is also useful to help prevent miscarriage, delayed periods, and painful periods.

How do you take herbs?
Herbs come in many forms - capsules, tinctures (an extraction of the herbs, usually into an alcohol base) and teas. Most good herbal brands come with a recommended dosage that usually involves taking the herb 3 times/day for several months to keep consistent concentrations of the herb in the bloodstream.

That is exzcellent Geordie; thanks so much. Looks like I will be popping in the herbalist in town too today.

AF symptoms more now - backache, feeling groggy, mild tummy cramps, that time of thing.

Hula- will post and let you know what my reflexologist says....she said that if my leutal phase isn't longer this month then she is going to get me to take angus castus to bring ovulation earlier in my cycle...as it's currently a bit late....

congratulations miaou

hello to everyone else. sorry about the AFs and the BFNs

nothing much going on here still - CD14 and first month of persona so weeing on a stick every morning. At least I'm hoping this will stop me testing early this month as should give me my fix of doing that! On a positive note, DH asked me to tell him what the dates were this month as he said it was very important to him. Made me

Morning all. Miaou, huge congratulations on your wonderful news. You must be so happy Can you send a special bit of babydust my way, please?

I'm feeling a bit crotchety this morning. Had hoped that my cycle would resettle very quickly and that I might ovulate within a fortnight of starting bleeding. Of course it is ridiculous to treat a miscarriage like a period, and I know it may take my cycle a while to settle down, but I feel quite upset that I don't know when I can hope to get pg again. Not helped by meeting work colleagues for coffee this morning and having to sit through loads of happy baby talk; feeling very .

A quick question that I posted elsewhere but haven't got an answer to: I have an anteverted uterus. Does this make any difference to the standard bum-up-on-pillow advice? e.g. should I be lying on my tummy instead? I know this is very advanced standard ttc anorakery, but if anyone happens to know... jeddah?

Hi hester - sorry you're feeling low . Try not to be too hard on yourself, you have been through a very difficult time and your frustration about not knowing what's going on is completely understandable. Sending you a very big (((hug))).

As for the uterus question, I'm afraid I can't help there. Mine is 'hidden' but don't think it is anteverted. Have to say I always thought the bum on pillow thing was a bit of an old wive's tale - do you think it makes a difference? May have to start trying it out.

Hi hester - sorry you're feeling low . Try not to be too hard on yourself, you have been through a very difficult time and your frustration about not knowing what's going on is completely understandable. Sending you a very big (((hug))).

As for the uterus question, I'm afraid I can't help there. Mine is 'hidden' but don't think it is anteverted. Have to say I always thought the bum on pillow thing was a bit of an old wive's tale - do you think it makes a difference? May have to start trying it out.

Sorry about double posting . Spooky computer did it all by itself!

hester, sorry you're feeling down - although pretty obvious & understandable. Re the bum on pillow, I thought it was purely to aid gravity ie stop the spermies falling out & give them a bit of help swimming the right way, so wouldn't have thought it made any difference if your uterus was anteverted.

rudydudy - nice to hear of soome men being interested/supportive. like Mariella, now dh & I have made the decision, the rest is down to me. in fact I doubt I'll let him know I'm using persona & as for telling him it's a red day! He'd run a million miles! Just found out he's going to be away when I'll be due to be ovulating, so p*ed off - makes this month extremely unlikey, but if cycle sorts itself out, will be due to test on Christmas morning - I have been poring over the calendar in case you didn't guess!

oh and miaou, I'm, afraid I must complain, all that talk of raw onions made me fancy cheese & onion on toast, so now I realise I've got really stinky onion breath and have got a dental appointment in a couple of hours the shame of it

Afternoon all, just nipping in quickly before have to get ready for work.
{{{{hugs}}}} to hester, and Becki and Tania, lol x
Sorry about the BFN morningpaper
Marinda, hope your ds is feeling better soon, lol x
Miaou, I remember you, a fellow inhabitant of Scotland , fantastic news about BFP, will be watching out on Grampian news for the helicopter airlift birth story sometime at the end of Aug then?! .........all the very best, lol x

Hi everyone, Hi Hester,

I have the reverse of yours-mine is retroverted and I remember the fertility nurses at UCH hospital telling me that with an anteverted uterus like yours, the missionary position is good, with legs high in the air for half an hour.

I was also told that with retroverted, lying on the abdomen may help since this would tilt the retroverted uterus towards the cervix and semen. But I have only tried that once since the sperm seemed to all rush back out and it seemed like such a waste of valuable viable sperm!

But seeing as it has failed again and again with the missionary position, I'll be trying the lying on abdomen thing for tonight's insemination. It will not be v. comfortable since DH will be driving over road bumps and there are lots of corners on our insemination route.

BTW, you're not being anorakey- anything that helps right? I think you and all the mumsnetters on this ttc thread are strong and determined women. The sort our world needs more of!

I have a question which I'll post separately and on this thread which I hope I can get help on.

Hope that helps, Hester. xxxsfudge

Hi ladies, I need your opinions about cervical mucus and semen. Can you help? Here goes:

My cycles for the last 2 months have been 34 and 35 days long and are on average, 32 days long. Yesterday was the 28th day of my cycle but I got what looked like very fertile mucus late in the afternoon- clear, very stetchy and lots of it. Today, the mucus has all but disappeared.

I suspect I may have ovulated last night or early this morning. Otherwise, why would I dry up after only one day of having fertile mucus? My usual is to have increasing and then decreasing amounts of fertile mucus over 2-3 days. And don't women in general have fertile mucus over a few days?

My question is - do we stay fertile for a day or two after the very fertile mucus shows? All my research on the web shows that conception success is highest before ovulation, not after. Also, DH and I had sex last night since I had all this nervous energy and I wonder if semen can affect mucus levels.

I'm feeling bloody frustrated about it as our donor can only do an insemination tonight and for all the hassle it will involve with inseminating in the back of a van and lying on my abdomen to try and compensate for having a very retroverted uterus whilst driving over road bumps, etc...it might be too late and in vain!

Any advice on whether it is still worth inseminating tonight?

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate your opinions.

SF.