TTC whilst breastfeeding support thread - join me to share your ups and downs!

[smallblackflowers]

Hi!
A little about me - I'm pushing 34, have a 10 month old DD that I'm still breastfeeding and really want to conceive no.2 asap!
I am on my second cycle since AF returned and am temp / CM / CP charting using fertility friend and have OPKs!
I ovulated on day 29 of my last cycle, and am on day 21 at the moment.
Have been having fun and games with very fertile signs over the past week, so lots of BD, but no ovulation, poor DH is full of a cold and not feeling very energetic but I keep insisting that he perform until my temps go up

So anyway - hoping that there are others out there in a similar boat who can help to keep me sane and hopefully share some good news in the coming months.

Welcome Stargirl!

Dita - That sounds nerve-wracking. When are you going to do another test? Hopefully that numberplate was an omen.

I'm a bit fed up - Our attempts at SWIing were thwarted by ds (who sleeps in our room as we only have one-bedroom) constantly waking and crying becuase of his excema and teething. We did manage it the night before I got my peak on my monitor so there is a chance but I feel like we didn't give it our best shot this month.

Also I've had to cancel my acupuncture appointment as I just can't afford it this month.

How are things MissJackson?

Dita - hope that number plate was a good sign

Missjackson - congrats on your BFP and fingers crossed for you

Stargirl - welcome

Coconutfeet - I have to admit to wondering whether we'll actually be able to SWI without err.. interruption, and DS is in his own room!

stargirl I had painful nipples around ovulation, just when DS latched on. Def a sign I think. And now they hurt like hell, but I am always pleased, as that's a sign of continuing pregnancy.... 5 weeks today, still so ridiculously early and getting worrying af-type pains this evening, but I am over-analysing, I know. Just trying to get through the next 2 weeks and then I can have a viability scan.

coconut I felt the same as you, we only managed once around the right time, but it obviously only takes once, so fingers crossed!

dita fingers crossed that number plate was a sign of something good to come, if not this month then next.

Welcome Stargirl I used to get tender nipples as a pre-AF sign, have got them fairly randomly (it feels anyway!) over the past few months so not sure what's going on there Erm, could I be less helpful?

coconut and SES you have my sympathies - we used to do it in the same room when she was littler but it didn't really add to the atmosphere knowing she could wake up any minute (and frequently did). We are lucky enough to have a spare room, but means that there is absolutely no spontaneity whatsoever!

I'm going to try to wait until Sunday to test again - only have one test so don't want to waste it. I've (obviously) been googling evaporation lines and the internet seems pretty sure that they exist and I have a false positive, but it was pinkish rather than grey and I'm pretty crampy, so I'm cautiously optimistic

Have been a bit distracted by having the most pointless frustrating day - we completed on a house this morning and were supposed to spend the day there ripping out carpets etc (it needs a lot of work), only for the estate agents to lose the keys, so we've spent most of the day aimlessly waiting for them to turn up

Well, it turns out I don't have any pg tests in the house anyway, so tested with an OPK this morning and got a BFN Still crampy so will get some tests and test tomorrow or Monday if still no AF.

Thanks for your replies. THe nipples have been hurting like hell, poor DD has been having some very short feeds with me wincing!!
Dita, I hope it was a BFP, how many DPO are you?

missjackson - everything crossed for you x

missjackson - congratulations!

Dita - argh how annoying - no such thing as a false positive though!

coconutfeet - it is hard when you've got little ones. DS has his own room but we still find that we're just so worn out - he doesn't sleep through reliably yet!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this thread very well, I've actually been trying not to think about TTC too much incase it drives me completely round the twist.

So, this cycle - SWI on day 14 and 15 which is when EWCM was there. I am trying SO hard not to symptom spot, but.

Metallic taste - really strong.
Knackered - I had a lie in this morning and a nap, and yesterday evening I fell asleep on DH on the sofa - I never do that. Am still exausted and could go back to sleep now.
Lots of discharge (TMI I know, sorry!)
Crampy but not quite like period pains.

So what do we think? I am only on CD22 so it's far too soon to test. Finding it hard to remember how I felt last time, as we were on honeymoon (later found out that I was 3 weeks at our wedding ) and I wasn't looking for symptoms. What alerted me then was that I went completely off booze, so I tested and got a BFP on CD29 I think. (cycles were longer then, 35 days usually whereas now they are 28 days exactly)

Sounds really promising ali! Fingers crossed. What gave it away for me was seeing a little bit of blood every time I blew my nose! TMI, sorry, but I just knew something was up... and then two of my toes kept going numb, and my Mum said, poor circulation, and that rang a bell about blood being diverted to uterus area... such weird symptoms, but enough for me to test much too early!

dita I think opk needs more hcg to come up positive than a regular hpt but I could be wrong. Fingers crossed for you too!

thanks stargirl; when did you get your af back? any chance you could be pg already with nipples that painful? Mine are only bad when DS latches on.

I've only had 1 af since coming off the mini pill and I had the sore nipples for about 5 days (when bf) about 2 weeks before af so I'm optimistic that I'm fertile. The soreness seems to be subsiding now although still there after a week. I think it's pretty unlikely that I'm already pregnant but you never know! At least I think I'm fertile which is something consdering how much DD still feeds!

Alibaba - sounds promising to me!

Oooh Ali that sounds really promising! Good luck

stargirl not sure when I OVed this month but am on CD30 so sure I'll get an answer one way or another soon

missj you are quite right - I found some photos of HPTs/OPKs during my evap line obsessing research and it lookd as though an OPK would give you a faster answer, but peeonastick.com says not so.

Did a Tesco own-brand test this morning and I think there may have been the merest shadow of a line, the kind that makes dots appear in front of your eyes when you try to look at it but DH thinks I am a crazy lady No info on the box but I'm assuming it's about 25 mIU rather than the 10 mIU ebay cheapies. Will probably test again tomorrow because I have an acupuncture session booked so would be good to have an idea what's going on!

Arggh Dita, that must be driving you crazy! FWIW with ds, I found the Tesco tests gave me an early positive, with a darker line than my supposedly super-sensitive internet cheapies. BUT I noticed that they've changed the tests slightly so I don't know if the sensitivity has changed as well. Fingers crossed anyway!

Good luck Alibaba. Keep us posted!

I'm trying really hard not to think about things too much this month. I took dp out for a birthday day out on Saturday - went to the theatre and out for dinner. I was humming and haaing about whether to drink, but it's the first time we've been out on our own since September and it seemed a shame not to enjoy a few drinks as well. Work's really busy at the moment, so that should take my mind off things. I think that if it hasn't worked this month I'm going to have to think about stopping BFing. I keep hoping it's going to happen naturally but there's no sign of that happening. I've no idea where to start.

Thanks coconut Same mere glimmer this morning - I'm wondering whether it's just where the line would show up if it was a BFP iyswim. I think it probably is a BFN again this month but it's nice to think that it might not be. I am slightly obsessive about it but also quite cheerful. Probably won't be the same though once AF shows! Wish I knew when I OVed this month.

Remind me how old your DS is and how often you're still feeding. I think the advice is to distract distract distract, but this doesn't work with DD, she's a lady with a mission!

Okay, last bit of obsessing before I leave the house Just checked again and there's definitely a line, though it's very very very very very faint - but darker than yesterday. Obviously this is five hours after I took the test so could be another evap line, though didn't get one yesterday ... But oh I would so like to prove my mother wrong!

Ooh Dita good luck!

Coconut - it's a hard decision isn't it? We have really cut down on the feeding - we night-weaned in April, and now DS doesn't usually have a feed before bed. Sometimes he does, but most days he doesn't. The only regular feed now is first thing in the morning. This is all led by DS though, I don't offer but if he asks then he can have it.

Dita, I'm on the edge of my seat here. So was there a glimmer of a line in the timeframe or only afterwards? I started testing early (9 dpo) with ds and my bfp was very very faint to start with. The fact that it's getting darker sounds promising too. Good luck!!

To answer your question, Ds is 21 months and feeds morning at around 5, and then sometimes has one later morning feed when he wakes up again and before going to bed, so not much. I'm trying to cut out the later morning feed at the moment, but actually I'd love to stop the 5 am one as I find it really hard to settle back to sleep afterwards. I just feel like I'm not giving this whole TTC thing my best shot while I'm still feeding and, becuase of my age, I can't really afford to hang around. He's such a milk monster though and I've got no idea how to stop feeding him gently with a minimum of pain on both sides.

coconutfeet, what does your DS do if you just say no? I've been trying this with my DD. Sometimes she accepts it and goes back to sleep but sometimes she gets very upset, so obviously I give in! She still seems to need one night feed but can sometimes skip the others.

Lol, thanks coconut Found an ebay cheapie in the bathroom cupboard this morning (I knew I had one left!) so tested again. Possibly a glimmer after half an hour but nothing before then and that's on a 10 miu test again so if I got a faint + on Friday then I'd expect a proper one by now. So I'm assuming that either I've just got four evap lines on three different types of test despite not having one before in a year of ttc or I've experienced a chemical pregnancy since my hgc levels don't seem to be going up. Would prefer the latter, gives me a bit of hope!

DD is 21 months too and occasionally accepts being told that the milk is sleeping in the middle of the night, but not always. What happens if your DP tries to resettle him at 5 am with a cup of milk or water? It's really tough, isn't it - I have no idea where to start on the whole weaning thing

Hmm, just checked the test I did this morning again and pretty sure it's a BFN - these are the tests I've been getting accurate BFNs on for the past year so I'm going to assume it's right Poop! Won't be getting Tesco tests again (yes, the glimmer was within the right time frame but really was just a glimmer).

Hug for you Dita. Hope you get an answer one way or another soon xxx

Oh Dita, how frustrating for you. It seems very unlikely that you'd get that many evap lines doesn't it? I hope things are resolved for you soon. Are you feeling OK?

Stargirl - if I say no at that time in the morning then he cries and screams and then we're up for the day because he won't go back to sleep. I feel a bit more inclined to try that one once we've broken up for the holidays (I'm a teacher) and I've got more energy.

Dita - I think getting dp to settle him could also be worth a try. I'm also wondering whether I should cut out the bed time feed first instead. It might actually be easier. If anyone's got any tips, let me know please!

It would be lovely if all this wasn't necessary and I got a BFP this month, but I'm not feeling very hopeful. I'm going to TRY and hold out and not test until 14dpo, but I bet I crack before then. Will keep you posted, obviously.

Thanks ladies

Just found a thread from another forum saying Tesco tests are bad for evap lines so maybe I've just been unlucky. I have two more ebay cheapies now but will try to wait ... I'm on CD32 now so AF can't be far off, surely.

I'm feeling okay thanks coconut - just seeing a line has given me a boost, the same way a +ive OPK does!

Out of interest, which would you count as FMU - 4-5 am when I invariably wake up and need to pee or 7.30 am when I actually get up?

coconut - I'm a teacher too and had ideas about trying to night wean DD but now the hols are here I can't face it! I really don't think she's ready.
Perhaps in a few weeks when the mornings are not so light your DS might shift his feeding pattern a bit?

It's hard isn't it Stargirl.

Dita - I'd say the first pee of 4-5 would be better as it's going to be more concentrated.

Ds slept till 6 this morning so has only had the one feed, which is a start.

Hello again all

Welcome gingerbaby

Congratulations Missjackson

Dita - how frustrating! I would go with 4-5am pee, I did a test with DS at 5.30am as that's when I woke up and got a very positive test, so it makes me feel all nostalgic to think of doing a test at that time in the morning

An update on me... I have started using the oestrogen pessaries from the GP to sort out my scar, and despite being very sceptical, they seem to be making a difference I got slightly excited last week when I thought I was starting first AF in over a year until I read the leaflet for the pessaries again and discovered that breakthrough bleeding is a side effect However, on the plus side, DH and I are almost able to have sex properly, so I guess that's the first step to conceiving I'll just have to have my fingers crossed that I am one of the lucky ones who is fertile before AF reappears...