SMEP - anyone giving this a try this month and want to join me?

[Mum2DD89]

New to mumsnet 🙋‍♀️ and I've seen loads of threads where everyone is so lovely and supportive so thought I'd post. This is our 4th cycle ttc #2, 1st cycle giving SMEP a try as I've seen so many success stories. With our first, we got so lucky and ended up pregnant on our first month trying so this waiting is a bit of a shock, although I know out 1st was the exception not the norm! Would love to hear any success stories, or any other ladies that want to compare notes this month x

@LucyFraser1981 haha sounds like the perfect pairing! Call me cynical, but I think the advice to test with fmu is there to make money.... I took the tests apart and couldnt see how it measures the estrogen? The strip looks, and progressed just like the cheap strips. I dont know. Ill still use them

@allgoodthings84 it's a good call for you to speak with them. Are your cycles a good length or do those worry you too? I think in addition to bloods, they can also scan you to see whats going on. I read that the best procedure is a laparoscopy where they take a good gander inside you and even take a sample of your uterine wall to analyse.

@NSx how are you feeling today ?

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 thank you

@NatGee @fsr111 sorry that AF arrived for you both. Really hope this cycle is the one for you both. @NatGee sound like you've got a good plan for this month. Hope all the tests go well.

@allgoodthings84 I think using your HR is a good alternative. Mine seems to fluctuate more than yours but it did definitely go down for last period and now I'm pregnant it's trending a bit higher. Hoping you get a bfp for your birthday. You did dtd before ovulation though so that's the most important I think rather than actual ovulation day. Hopefully swimmers were there waiting. It's good you've got an appointment too to discuss the spotting. Hopefully they can help and do some tests

Those of you who track your bbt, do your pre and post ovulation temperatures tend to be around the same each cycle? My pre ovulation temps this cycle are higher than the last couple, I find it all very interesting 🤔

@Aurora81 @NatGee

hey girls 💕 sorry I’ve been a bit quiet in here, I’ve tried to take a step back a bit, because even though I’m so happy for everyone and their BFP’s it’s quite hard emotionally to see them when it’s not you, so thought it was best to take a bit of a breather…

how are you all? I’m on CD8 was going to do SMEP this month but my OH and I have decided just to try and DTD every day in my fertile window instead - so waiting on my flashing smiley which should be Thursday - so going to DTD cd10,11,12, should get static cd13 and ovulate cd14 🤞…

how is everyone doing ? xx

@NSx nice to hear from you. completely understandable, it's good to take some time off and to focus on other things rather than just ttc. To be honest, I am not doing strict SMEP but very much took your approach last cycle, DTD everyday during my fertile period. I will be doing that again this cycle.
Take care of yourself

@NatGee my cycles are 24-27 days. AF always comes 13dpo so 12 day LP I think. I ovulate between CD12-15 usually so I think that’s all pretty normal it’s just the spotting that concerns me in terms of ttc. I know it’s normal to spot before AF but surely it’s an issue when ttc if I start spotting 10dpo?

@EdinburghGirl1 i think my RHR really does seem to confirm ovulation for me the same way bbt would. The timing of it going up and then back down again slots in with ovulation and AF arrival. I wish I had records from when I was pregnant with my daughter but that was 8 years ago now. I found out at the end of September 8 years ago. Be weird if I get a bfp this month ha ha and expensive 😂 but no way am I stopping to avoid any month

@LucyFraser1981 i think that’s normal as long as the pattern is similar. My RHR can start off a couple non higher occasionally but goes up in the same pattern and @NatGee mentioned that her RHR and BBT followed the same pattern.

@NSx that sounds like a good idea. I surge so quickly I would only still get the 3 days but I peak CD11-14 so SMEP isn’t such a long slog

@allgoodthings84 I found out on 14th September with my DD she was born on 31st May so going to have 2 birthdays very close together

@allgoodthings84 @LucyFraser1981 yeah this is my chart from last cycle. As both hr and bbt dropped I knew it was all over haha

@EdinburghGirl1 thats mad! Our birthdays are same month if I remember correctly and so are our daughters. My daughters is 28th May. If I conceive this month due date would be 30th May but I have to have a c section so will be a week or so earlier I’m guessing

@NatGee when you told me that it helped confirm it’s ok I can’t do bbt

@NatGee I feel like you’re right, ttc has consumed me a bit and I’ve had to just take a step back because it was making my mood awful.
I figured if you ttc every day during fertile window and it doesn’t work, then there’s not much else you can do!
oh and I meant to say my bloods came back as normal - so atleast I know all is well in that department 🤞
how you getting on, where are you in your cycle ?

@allgoodthings84 tbh I’m tracking my bbt really closely and doing my RHR this month too, so hopefully I can pinpoint my ovulation- I have bloods for day 21 too so will know for definite then.
smep seems like a bit of pointless DTD at the start for me, so will just do the 5/6 days on the fertile week - ur lucky u peak fast

Can I just say one thing about bbt - i went down an absolute rabbit hole of analysing as many charts I could find on fertility friend. I found a good few where temperatures remained low and some even dipped below the coverline during the tww and resulted in pregnancies. They all picked up by at least the 14th dpo. So it's not an absolute science.

@NSx I don’t think I would even consider SMEP if I didn’t ovulate when I do as would seem a waste so early on knowing there’s no chance. I’m a bit nervous for my docs appointment in case she tells me I’m being silly or something.

@NatGee i think I read on a few websites that bbt alone is only reliable in around 50% of people so should follow other things too like LH tests or cervical mucus etc l. I guess none of the methods are reliable on their own

@NatGee did u also notice that not all of them DTD 101010 times before ovulation - a lot were like once or twice

@allgoodthings84 when are u going? don’t let them make you feel any type of way.
tell them it’s affecting your mental health, that you would be reassured having your bloods checked to ensure there’s nothing strange going on with your hormones … that’s what I said.
my bloods came back as normal for my day 3s & I have my day 21 on 19th - which i should hopefully ovulate on the 12th 🤞 …
atleast if they check ur bloods it’s one less thing to worry about ✨💕

@nsx that is so reassuring, good you went to get them done. Are there any more tests theyll run? Do you remember what markers they were looking at?
I have an appointment with my gp this Friday to discuss fertility investigations. Dont want to keep ttc if there's something up. My DH has already had a seminogram done

@nsx I did! One of them only dtd once the entire time haha
Apparently the best time to conceive is days -4 and -2. After that, not as good.

@NatGee so from what I can remember she checked for LH, FSH and one other thing I can’t remember the name of it, I’ve asked them to print them for me so I’ll give them a ring and get a copy but said all fine, then on day 21 those bloods will confirm ovulation .. So hopefully that will let me know one way or another if there’s any point in DTD if I’m even ovulating - but my bloods at the min would suggest hormones are fine for ovulation .
how did your DH seminogram go?

yea I did notice that they only DTD few times the days leading upto ovulation 👌🏽

@nsx I’m not sure how easy those bloods would be for me unless they wait until ovulation to know when to do the 7 day post ovulation ones as day 21 won’t necessarily be 7dpo for me. It would be some cycles but not always as my cycles are 24-27 days. I can tell them right away when CD3 will be though 😂

@NatGee it’s Thursday. It’s only on the phone though which is ok to be honest as can’t imagine it matter for the first chat and to book in bloods and anything else.

when I got pregnant with my daughter we was only dtd once a week or even once a fortnight sometimes! So it would 100% have only been once in fertile time. But I was 29 then I’m 37 now

@NatGee that’s interesting about -2 and -4 days as those are 2 of the days we dtd this cycle (and day before ovulation so -1). That’s all we did. We missed ovulation and day after. I’m wondering if it’s worth it tonight at 3dpo as I have read a few things suggesting that dtd a few days after ovulation may help with implantation. Something to do with the semen

@allgoodthings84 id say anything is worth a go :D good luck with the appointment, mine is only over the phone too but I'm going to ask for everything to be done haha I have insurance through work as well so if I need to do that, so be it.
I'm also starting to look into acupuncture and chinese medicine, in case all tests go OK
Good point about the 21 day blood test. Not every woman ovulates at the same time but it feels like they take a same method fits all approach, which doesn't seem right?
@NSx FSH is the one that apparently gets really high as we get older which isnt great. Good to know that is within the normal levels

DH's seminogram went fine - his boys are within the normal ranges, although morphology was on the low side, but he hadn't aheim, released the beast for a good few days which i now know can affect it.

@allgoodthings84 they take an average so ur lowest value for example my cycles vary between 28/29 ish - so she took 28 as the number to determine the day 21 bloods.

@NatGee it was LH FSH and prolactin. I think my FSH level is 7 and I’m 35 so I think that’s pretty normal based on what Google said 😂😂
I will ask on the 19th for a bit more info …

how did ur OH get tested? I think my partners GP would turn him away because we’ve already been pregnant - he’s 35 too and we checked his sperm at the start of the year with a at home test which I believe came back normal - so who knows 😂😂😂

@nsx thanks for saying what tests they did as I’m armed with some info now. I think my LH must be ok as I always get a a peak on opk’s but who knows about the rest

@allgoodthings84 no problem, I think day 21 is maybe progesterone levels but I’m not sure I can tell you once I’ve had it done, but whatever they check it will allow me to know if I’ve ovulated or not. Good luck, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t check your bloods for you, it’s an easy way to eliminate anything that may be off balance to begin with. 💕✨
let me know how u get on x

Hey everyone, just catching up. I also have a GP appointment tomorrow. I called them yesterday hoping I might be able to get a blood test booked in time for day 3, but they couldn't so guess I have to wait for that. Initially they couldn't get me an appointment with a GP for a couple of weeks, but then I burst in to tears and now it's tomorrow. 🙃 Will let you know @allgoodthings84 how it goes. Just a phone appointment for me too. I've already had a pelvic ultrasound, and a few other checks so just want to know what might be next. We already have one so guessing options are going to be fairly limited. Hope you're all doing ok. Been a bit down these past few days, feel like I was all consumed by TWW even though I told myself not to me and then the arrival of AF was so disappointing. Feel better this afternoon, just got to keep plodding on I guess.