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!!!

Hi ladies! I was an original poster back in January when we found out we were expecting. We were due 20th September but our identical girls were born 26th July at 32 weeks exactly as Ava had stopped growing. Ava & Amelie are now 12 weeks! 😱😍🩷🩷 time flies!! Hope you are all doing amazing! Xx

Lovely names and big congrats

Hello Everyone,

Looking for some hope/success stories please.

My husband and I have been TTC our second for a year and have just experienced 3rd chemical pregnancy in a row which was 3 out of 4 cycles over the past 6 months (mine average at 40 days).

The consultants keep telling us how common this is and the positive sign is we can fall pregnant but I’m starting to lose hope it will ever happen. I’ve been seen privately and prescribed clomid as I ovulate days 27-30 which a consultant believes could be an issue as late ovulation can effect egg quality but I’m starting to lose hope it will happen. Can anyone share success stories and particularly experiences on clomid?

I had a pregnancy of unknown location before falling pregnant with my son 3 months later and I had hoped this would be similar but the miscarriages just seem to keep on coming.

Also tips to help boost chances would be appreciated. I’m currently on high dose folic acid and have cyclogest, prednisolone and low dose asprin which I started this time from first positive but unfortunately this time still unsuccessful.

xx

@cats1990 so sorry for your losses and that you're going through a tough time. I can't speak to everything you've asked about but I did have three losses last year: a MMC in April, a CP in Sept and a MC at 7wks in Oct (had caught straight after the CP). I had planned to give myself a break over Christmas while we waited for a referral to fertility to come through. We stopped tracking after the last MC and I chilled out, had some alcohol, hot baths etc. Realised on the day of my work Christmas party that AF still hadn't appeared after my most recent loss. Decided to test just as a precaution before my night out. Low and behold, it was positive. Tbh I was absolutely terrified and so worried I'd have another loss around Christmas etc. However, 3 scans in now, currently 10wks (dated at last scan) and all is hopefully looking good. We got a little wave 🥰 Still slightly nervous but getting more hopeful by the day. This pregnancy has made it further than my three losses by a good couple of weeks now.

In terms of what I did differently, I suppose technically I'm one of those annoying people who stopped trying, stopped tracking and let my hair down a bit!! I really thought we'd avoided ovulation as we didn't dtd in my normal fertile week (when I got my typical ovulation spot on my nose!) - we only dtd twice a few days after my usual fertile time (I'm normally very predictable) so I must have ovulated late after my most recent loss. I then of course had an extremely chilled out tww because I genuinely wasn't expecting to be pregnant. The though literally only crossed my mind the day of my work do. So it was all very relaxed. I know none of that is necessarily overly helpful.

The other thing I did that might be worth considering, particularly if you're over 35, is that I started taking a CoQ10 supplement in September. Meant to be great for egg quality. Supposedly takes about 3 months to impact eggs due to how they develop and mature... Which would mean this little one I conceived would have been an egg that matured since taking the CoQ10. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I wish you all the best. It's so disheartening when you keep having losses. I know it's not a great comfort right now but it really is positive news that you keep conceiving - at least you know that part of the process is working ok and that you are ovulating etc. Hopefully with these tweaks to hormones and things that you have in place, and egg quality boost, you will get there. It's a numbers game at the end of the day and it takes one healthy egg and sperm. Obviously takes some of us a bit longer but I'm hopeful you will get there soon. 💗

@cats1990 meant to say, I conceived my DS on 4th cycle with no issues so like you, the repeated losses trying for DC2 were so unexpected and frustrating. I knew my body had done this before! Unfortunately it seems to happen to quite a few couples that DC2 isn't as straightforward. Really hope it happens for you soon. X

My sister had clomid
They told her she wouldnt have her 2nd child but hes now 1

Have u tried daily zinc?
( helps cycles)
Also b6 - 50 percent reduces miscarriage risk

It starts with an egg book
Is good and i highly recommend

Are your vit d - b12 and feretin all good ?

Congratulations @SnookyPook and really lovely to hear a successful story after multiple miscarriages. It’s ridiculous the toll all of it can take on your body.

Can I ask what strength of the CoQ10 you took?

I did a fertility referral last week and it’s between 220 and 400 days for an appointment. Luckily my health insurance at work covers miscarriage investigations so I am going back there in a few weeks. This is really helpful! Xx

Thank you @worldwidetravel2017. I have been taking high dose vitamin D since end of October/November and floradix which has all the b vitamins and iron and a 5mg of folic acid. I haven’t been taking a zinc supplement though, is there a minimum dose of that to take?

I’ve had all my blood work done which is fine, vitamin d was on the lower side but that should be normal now.

thats also really encouraging to hear about your sister!

@cats1990 of course! I took the 100mg one, although there is also a 200mg (think I selected based on cost tbh!). The 100mg one is currently on buy 1 get 1 free. That's great that your work insurance covers miscarriage investigations! Hopefully this will turn out to be a good year for you 💗

Everyones different
But personally for me - floradix made no difference to my iron / feretin levels
( my body doesnt absorb oral iron from tablets. I legit eat blue berries - peas - dried apricots and wheatabix every day 4 iron )

Zinc - 15 mg.
In the words of my gp " wont do any harm '.
Drs who specialise in fertility shout about it.
Good 4 cycles / regularity.

Have you had your prolactin checked ? My mate with miscarriage history had high prolactin that they are now sorting

Some females dont concieve til good feretin - i like my feretin to be at least 80

@SnookyPook thank you for this. I will give this a go. It’s definitely worth a try if it’s for improving egg quality!

@worldwidetravel2017 ive had that checked and a lot of other things and all coming back ok.

I have checked and my iron/ferritin and folate levels haven’t been checked recently so I’ve requested that be added to my blood test form as my AMH has also not been checked so may as well add it to that.

it’s crazy all the different things you have to consider!

Is the 5mg folic acid due to bmi ?

I took coq10 last year

( had an early miscarriage in sept )

Im not taking coq10 right now as i now have a diagnosis of a liver condition ( linked to my weight gain over the past 2 years )

We are going to try again from March

Im just waiting on prolactin results

My amh was v good last summer
Feretin is 87

Sending you all the luck

I bought an indoor exercise bike recently
They told me the best thing i can do is lose some weight..

People with a higher bmi often have low progesterone / progesterone issues
Thats a good one folk with higher BMI need checking

@worldwidetravel2017 to be perfectly honest I am not sure, the consultant I saw privately prescribed it and told me to take it whilst trying. Again I don’t know if it’s something to do with my egg quality.

sending you lots of luck with trying again. My aim is to start my first cycle of Clomid in March but only doing this if the two week wait falls after our trip to Disneyland as I don’t want that hanging over me whilst we are there!

Makes sense re not having it hanging over u
Best of luck
Enjoy disneyland

Hi Everyone,

hoping someone can offer me some words of encouragement.

I’ve had 3 chemical pregnancies since August last year. My husband and I started clomid this cycle in January, all signs were pointing to me ovulating early. My period started on the 19th January, had a scan on the 31st showing a 18mm folicle in my right ovary and a 12mm in my left. The doctor suggested I had likely already ovulated or was about to. I tested 2 weeks later after cramping for and no period - negative. I tested multiple times within that week and still negative on 18th feb.

I then had very light spotting on the 19th and 20th feb and no show period on the 21st so I tested on Thursday 22nd and positive test, digital and normal. I decided not to contact the EPU or tell anyone because we have been burned before but whilst my lines are getting darker I did a weeks calculator test today on clear blue and my heart dropped to see 1-2 weeks again which means low HCG. According to my period and when I believe I may have ovulated I’m between 4-5 weeks but I’m so worried this is another chemical and I’m on progesterone suppositories so I know this delays bleeding.

Has anyone else experienced this with the clearblue weeks test and it been ok?