Preparing and TTC in 2023 - Thread 2

[DanisEndo]

Thread no 2 as thread 1 was so close to getting full!

As a reminder this is a positive support thread for anyone preparing and planning to start TTC in 2023 💖

If you join start by introducing yourself with your age. what no. you're trying for and when you plan on starting plus any goals you might have before then! for example:

@DanisEndo
Age 27
TTC No.1
Starting Sep 23
I want to:

• loose some weight (would like to get down to a healthy BMI by exercising and doing all home cooking, nothing to major or restrictive)
• do some decorating around the house
• get married (1st September woooo!)
• change job / company

I have endometriosis and PCOS, 2 surgeries down and hoping I'll still be all clear by the time we get to trying.

Theres a long list of us now so bare with me updating it as we go 😅

Good luck everyone!!!

@LeopardLover thank you!

Very early days so taking it day by day but being hopeful.

id like to hang around here though, i feel invested

@xTinkerbell You've got this 💪🏻 Definitely hang around and keep us all updated 🥰 I'm still CD3 😴

Congrats @xTinkerbell such lovely lovely news!

Here I am again! Feeling a lot better then I was about it all. I really was upset when I wasn’t pregnant last month and it spiralled to “I’ll never get pregnant”.

This month I’m focusing on keeping my cortisol low and adding strength training to my workouts. We also have an appt to move on to ovulation support drugs (due to the PCOS) which is positive.

Can I also make a plea to people not be so cavalier about saying “just relax”, “don’t test just have sex”. It’s all well and good to have sex every other day for 2 weeks a month, but for some of us that’s 5 weeks+ and it’s completely unattainable personally 😂 the tests mean we can focus our “efforts”.

@CRbear thank you!

Please don’t think I was being cavalier when I said that’s what we’ve done. I’m by no means suggesting that’s the right way to do it. Different things work for us all and for me personally testing was unbelievably stressful. That’s all I mean when I say that. Not that the same approach works for everyone

Hi ladies! Hope you don't mind me popping into the chat.

I'm just wondering if any ladies in here were previously taking desogestral contraceptive pill prior to TTC. And if so, how long after did your cycles return to normal. I tracked the month I came off with easy@home tests and imput them to the pre mom app never got anywhere near a peak. This month I've been doing the same since the day after my AF and I'm currently CD15 and every days been extremely low scores, some even 0. Nothing higher than 0.17 one day.

I haven't had any obvious ovulation symptoms beside slight lower abdominal pains but they feel more like very faint period pains.

Would be great to hear from anyone who's been on the same journey who could offer some reassurance. Feel like I'm seriously stressing myself out over it, feeling like their is something wrong with me! X

Hi All! Recognise a few of you from other threads.. can't believe I've not been on this one before. Currently in tww and desperately trying to find distractions so have read through pretty much the whole thread 🤦🏼‍♀️ So lovely to see so many BFPs!

About me...

Age: 37
TTC: no.2
Started trying: November 2022

Unfortunately had a MMC at just before 12wks back in April. Really shook me up but now trying to take the positives from it (e.g. got pregnant cycle 3) and from the fact that my body seems to be back into regular cycles again already 🤞🏻 Can't believe I already feel ready for going again but here we are and I'm longing to be pregnant again. Got a DS who is 2 and awesome 😁

@CRbear Welcome back! 💕 I'm always impressed by those who can do the SMEP but with toddlers, it's often impossible (or is with mine who is allergic to sleep haha). I'm certainly focusing all my efforts on my FW but I can appreciate how that can make things more pressured for some. Also, OPKs aren't always easy to understand for everyone and not everyone gets a peak.

We all have to take our own approach and do our best!

@SnookyPook So nice to see you over here too! 💜

@xTinkerbell - sorry I didn’t mean for it to be specific to anyone, and it’s just bad timing with a friend texting me pointedly about another friend who got pregnant “the month they just didn’t think about it”. Apologies for my prickliness! Obviously different things work for us all. @LeopardLover you’re absolutely right, whatever works for each of us. Sorry again.

welcome @Minnierose11 - haven’t specifically used desogestral but it can take up to a year for periods to return to normal after taking the pill. The Period Repair Manual goes into the whys etc and I found it really useful. gives some tips for how you can speed it up too. It’s just a brilliant book actually and I would recommend it to all!

@SnookyPook this is the best one, as you can see everyone is very tolerant and kind 🙈 I sympathise with the need for distractions in the TWW. When can you test? Everything crossed for you. Sorry to hear about your miscarriage but glad you’re feeling ready again!

Congrats Tinkerbell!

Welcome to everyone joining :)

My consent appointment at the clinic is next week and that is when I will finally find out when exactly we are starting the IVF! So excited but so many consent forms to read first 😂

@CRbear no, no need to apologise at all I just didn’t want you to think that’s what I was getting at or anything!

@Minnierose11 - I was on the combined pill and it took me 10 months to get a period but I believe with progesterone only it should return to normal quicker.

the easy@home tests def aren’t the easiest. I struggled with them. I used Clearblue advance (expensive but I bought from Amazon) and they’re easier as you use first morning urine and it shows you when you’re building up to ovulate and then when you get an LH surge. When I was using those, I could then work out when to test with easy@home and I did get an LH surge day before ovulation.

however I have 28 days cycles and ovulate day 18, so I wouldn’t be getting a surge by day 15 anyway. So I wouldn’t worry - it’s normal to ovulate past day 15! Hope that helps! X

@Hopefulhoney6 thank you for replying to me. I've had my first period since coming off the pill, I had a withdrawal bleed 3 days after stopping which lasted about 3 days and then I had my first proper period about 2 and a half weeks later, proper flow for approx 5 days. My biggest concern is since stopping the pill and tracking I haven't had a single peak on the easy@home tests, my numbers are really low. No higher than 0.17 but mostly ranging between 0.2-0.4 at the most!

I've opted for the easy@home ones mainly because currently I'm tracking right from the day after my period until my next, just so I can familiarise myself a little better with my cycles. But, of course, getting no results.

@CRbear I've just started reading this online after you recommended it - mind blown! So much that isn't told to us women when offered the pill or contraceptive!

@Minnierose11 could you try a different time of day? I wouldn’t worry too much, it might take a bit of time to settle. You could try the Clearblue as well from day 10 (or from now if you like) and see if it shows anything different.

I can get nothing on an easy@home like 0.1 and then next day have a blazing positive!

@Hopefulhoney6 I've currently been testing twice daily (sometimes 3) once with my second morning wee, then when I get home from work around 3.30pm and that's with limiting fluid intake for 3 hours prior and holding urine and then sometimes I'll do another around 7pm. I've been a-bit test mad but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything until I'd sussed my cycles out.

That's reassuring to know though that you can go from so low to a peak. I'm hopeful it's just not done yet as I'm currently CD15, or maybe I've had an anovulatory period because I didn't ovulate last month and so when I have my next period I will hopefully follow on with a successful ovulation.

How many months have you been trying now? X

@Minnierose11 I really struggled with OPK’s. Think I got a peak about three times and that’s over years. I don’t use them consistently but used them a few times when my cycles had me concerned about whether or not I was ovulating.

Strangely, used them the month I fell pregnant with DD and also this pregnancy and neither month got a peak yet fell pregnant. Tested twice a day too so I’m wondering if I have a short peak. Just another perspective in case you’re similar.

However, i’ve also heard of people peaking very quickly from very light test strips previously

@xTinkerbell oh really, that's interesting. Which tests were you using? My concern is they're literally all non existent, virtually no second line at all....
and I don't feel like I'm really getting any ovulation symptoms, no CM, very dry. Slightly elevated sex drive but... nothing of noteworthy symptoms.
Congratulations on your 2nd pregnancy though!!

I've attached some photos of my tests to give further explanation to what I mean. X

@Minnierose11 I’m sure your cycle will take a few months to settle down and you’ll eventually get that peak :) Like I said, my sticks tended to look like yours and I suddenly got the surge. You might just have a longer cycle this month (esp if you don’t have cervical mucus etc). Try not to worry too much :)

My “trying” journey is a bit of an odd one. Started trying last May (14 months ago), got pregnant in October (5th cycle). Then had a MMC, had a D&C for it in December. Periods didn’t return and I was diagnosed with Ashermans (uterine scarring which means that your lining can’t grow, so you can’t conceive). Had surgery for that in April and just waiting to see if it’s worked - seeing surgeon on Monday. So we haven’t been able to try since October. So all in all we agreed to try 14 months ago, but 5 months actually doing it all! It’s a game of patience I find xx

@Hopefulhoney6 oh I'm sorry you've had such a hard time of it - makes me feel a little pathetic to be moaning like I am when you hear about the trouble other people of had.

I think I always just assumed when I stopped birth control things would resume as normal, because let's face it, that's what we're all told!
I was put on the pill at 15 because I used to have such bad periods, I'd throw up, be ghostly white and spend the first two days in bed. They never investigated it further and just chucked the pill at me and at that age I never looked more into it. I'm just hoping the pill hasn't been masking a deeper problem that the drs ignored.

X

@Minnierose11 thank you!

From what I’ve read, your periods in your teen years have no representation of what will happen in adult life, so I’m sure it won’t have hidden something. However, if you go on the pill within five years of starting your periods (as I did) it can take time for your body to adjust when you came off as it doesn’t know what to do! (see photo for explanation from a book I read).

As you were on the progesterone only pill though, I think 40% of people ovulate on it so it could be a bit quicker for things to get regular as your pituitary gland needs to learn to talk to your ovaries (unless there’s something else underlying), so I’d wait six months or so to see a GP.

I’ve just finished taking progesterone as part of my Ashermans treatment and I’m not ovulating yet and it’s day 17 (and normally my Clearblue would be gearing up for it).

@Hopefulhoney6 that's so interesting. Between reading that and the book recommended below the other day, it kind of makes me angry that more education isn't given when offered these birth control methods at the time! Nothing was ever communicated with me about the risks. And it still isn't to this day, I think a lot of women would make different decisions given the correct information.

@Minnierose11 that’s exactly how mine were. I did have fertile cm this month but when I got pregnant with DD i don’t remember any. I was certain there was no way I could have been pregnant that month.

I do also know though that when I came off the pill to conceive DD my cycles were everywhere. Some months very long & others very short. I hope they settle down for you soon.

I get so angry about the lack of education around the pill. I decided not to go back on it after DD because of the mess my cycles were when I stopped taking it. Since then i’ve heard so many people say similar

@Minnierose11 actually just reading your first post again we were on the same pill. I conceived DD on month 4 after coming off it but my cycles hadn’t regulated by then. The three months before had all been different lengths between 22 & 38!

@xTinkerbell oh really! You were on desogestral? So how long after stopping did you see your first peak on a ovulation test?
And can I ask, how often were you having sex? When you fell pregnant and weren't getting any obvious signs? Was it everyday 2-3 days throughout the month.

So since coming off I've only had the one period so far, that was about 3 almost 4 weeks post pill. I had the withdrawal bleed 3 days after stopping but that only lasted about 3 days then had my AF about 2 and a half weeks later which lasted about 4/5. Since I've been testing everyday and nothing. I have a feeling I'm going to have my period again before I do. I'm due to have another in just under two weeks. Which means even if I do, I wouldn't have a long enough phase in between to conceive I don't think.

And I don't think I'll go back on afterwards. I've done so much reading about birth control since stopping and I'm honestly shocked. A lot of the symptoms caused by the pill I had! And never linked them and ether did my GP. Depression and anxiety, which was odd for me! Hair loss... bad skin.