TTC #1 over 35

[Clara202]

As the title suggests, if you’re over 35 and TTC your first, I’d love to hear from you! Would be nice to hear from a few of us in the same boat 🙂

@FlyHighSky72 everyone is welcome here, over 35 and TTC #1, that’s our only criteria! It’s been a bit quiet here of late but there’s a few of us always lurking! I’m having a bit of a confusing time with clear blue advanced opk so I’m unsure if I’ve ovulated or if it’s still to come

Thanks @Clara202- what’s going on with your OPKs?

@FlyHighSky72 they don’t seem to line up with other symptoms, ie temping and cramps. If I was to go on other signs I’d believe I’d have already ovulated but the opks are still flashing, no static yet.

Ah how annoying @Clara202- I’m using strips (first month) and I haven’t had a peak yet. According to the apps I ovulate today - have EWCM so I’m going to assume it’s correct. Levels are slowly rising but I def don’t think I’m going to have the huge peak some others have!! Haven’t tested yet today as travelling right now

God I've been so despondent with clear blue! And everything else to be honest. I hope everyone else is having better luck. I have been successfully reducing my BMI though.

Just in case it's useful to anyone, the NHS will not fund IVF if your BMI is above 30. So if it is and it's a route you're hoping to take, invest in that early!

@HollyGolightly4 well done on reducing your BMI. If nothing else you’ll feel better for the summer months ahead! Mine and my husband’s BMI is fine, we are one of those unexplained cases so far. Unless clear blue has just had us dtd at the wrong time every month, who knows!

Hi all, all good thanks. How are you? I’m taking a step back this month as it’s all too consuming. Due to ovulate later this evening as I got my peak last night and had buckets of EWCM over the last few days. Just been dtd every other day, not as much as normal but I just cba this cycle. Cycle 5 and giving up slightly x

@Thisisouryear2025 I know what you mean. I think today might be the day for us, based off the cheapies, clear blue still hasn’t gone static. We dtd Tues, Thurs, Sat, will do the next 3 days in a row as per SMEP if we can.

@Clara202 I wouldn’t get to hung up on the clear blue, it malfunctions a lot. My cousin never got her peak according to her clear blue yet here she is 6 months pregnant. I use the cheapies and can see when I peak. I tend to do two or three per day once I’ve had one day of EWCM to make sure I don’t miss it, if you haven’t had your peak yet I am sure you will soon. I normally get 5 days of EWCM and always ovulate on the 5th day. Do you get ovulation pain? That tells me I’m ovulating I find it helpful despite a little painful lol. I have that pain on my left side now. I gave up with SMEP, sometimes I think having too much sex can be detrimental. I had my chemical pregnancy from sex on ovulation day and only that time in my fertile window, we had a 3 day gap in between, all the other times I’ve had sex daily or a few days in a row it’s not happened. I think luck is required and science for it to happen. I don’t expect to be lucky this cycle as we haven’t had luck before. Trying to tell myself none of this matters and I’m be ok if I can’t have kids

@Thisisouryear2025 I haven’t had ewcm this cycle or last cycle so it’s harder to tell unfortunately. I get mild cramps but I’ve been having them for days so it’s hard to pinpoint.

@Clara202 Ah that’s hard as the EWCM helps tell you when to DTD. My pain is bad this cycle. Really strong pain I actually want it to go away now. It normally lasts a few hours then goes. It comes quite sudden. Remind me is this is your 9th cycle? This is my 5th and I am struggling to be positive. But we are still well within normal time frames. I guess we have to just hit and hope x

@Thisisouryear2025 Yes it’s my 9th cycle now I think. My cheapie opk looks fairly ‘peak’ now. I’ll try clear blue again in the morning just to compare.

@Clara202 normally the LH surge happens at night, so you may miss it. If you can have a cup in the bathroom and if you pee at night try to catch it. I normally find it’s very late or very early

@Thisisouryear2025 clear blue is meant to be done just once every morning, whatever way it works! I did the cheapie there half an hour ago. I’ll attach a pic. It’s saying low likely because it’s the only one I’ve uploaded onto that app.

@Clara202 that’s a peak test, mine looked exactly like that first thing this morning, I’ve had ovulation pain this evening and il most likely see a small rise in bbt tomorrow. These apps and expensive sticks are rubbish, they give people duff information. I use those strips but not the app. As I said my cousin never got a peak using the clear blue and she’s due in July with a little boy so I wouldn’t use them again. I had issues with them too. Looks like you are about to ovulate. Do you track bbt?

@Thisisouryear2025 I did temp just this week and I had a dip on Friday, which doesn’t line up with this opk does it? It’s all so confusing!

I think the temps were off, as I did a cheapie today and it was even darker than last night’s one and a clear blue which was finally static.

@Clara202 You will ovulate today / tomorrow so just keep DTD and you won’t miss it. Temps are hard and mine are off sometimes but there are so many variables I don’t take too much notice. As long as most of my post O temps are above the cover line then it’s ok

@Thisisouryear2025 we dtd last night around 10:30pm. Will do again today hopefully earlier in the evening and once more tomorrow. Dreading the tww already, I’ve been looking into what I can take to reduce how down I feel during that time. I don’t remember ever being so hormonal and irritable before coming off the pill.

@Clara202 Yeah then you will
be covered! I know I hate the TWW. It drags and it’s boring and feels like it lasts a year! I struggle to be hopeful because of the previous months of disappointment

Hello ladies, been lurking because nothing to report but have just finished AF. Will start DTD every other day from I think today.

When I got pregnant in November for the MMC I didn’t use clear blue mainly because I always forget when I get up and go to the loo at 6am when I wake, but we did DTD straight after period until around ovulation so will try that again.

Flo says I’m due to ovulate next Weds but I haven’t found that ever to be accurate.

Don’t forget sperm can live up to 5 days yet the egg only lives for 12-24 so you need the sperm to have travelled up. Front loading the best option!

Puppy has gone downstairs, things are a bit calmer and feeling hopeful. With the luck of the gods isn’t it. Sending luck to all.

@Toppstileslover good to hear from you! Yes I use flo also and it’s never correct re ovulation. I didn’t realise Clear blue was to be used first thing, I try to use it first thing but like you I sometimes wake early 5 or 6am to use the loo so clear blue might not be used until 10 or 11 some mornings.
I genuinely can’t believe they haven’t invented something that pinpoints ovulation within an hour at this point, they seem to have come up with everything else!

Yes, definitely first toilet of the day for the clear blue smiley tests! Which is why I absolutely can’t, I just forget 😂 it’s when the concentration of hormones is highest, otherwise you shouldn’t have fluids for 2 hours prior to testing.

honestly it’s a complete mystery, I genuinely don’t know how there are so many people on the planet! Imagine Henry VIII, definitely wasn’t worrying about sperm mobility 😂

Sorry for tmi but my nipple's are so sore and I'm starving hungry. I'm massively overthinking this.

What soo are you @HollyGolightly4 ? It’s so hard not to overthink! I have a bit of a cold now so i
feel like I’m already out because that’s going to have prevented fertilisation 🫣