The Official TTC Thread!

[blushingbride]

Date: 1/2/2008 11:27:00 AM
Author: janinegirly
hi everyone,

i''ve been off bcp for 2 mo''s now, tracking on FF (temping only really) to get a sense of my cycle. Things seem pretty regular. Exactly 27 days for 2 months in a row. So I guess we can officially TTC at anytime now.

MY TMI question of the day is should TTCin''g couples be BDing every day or EOD once in the predicted fertile period (which is 5 days on FF). Does anything change if using an OPK? Thanks...I''m still learning

How''s everyone else doing?

Hey Girlies - Happy New Year to all of you!

I''m pretty much in the same boat as you janinegirly - I''ve been off BC for 3 full cycles. 1st cycle was 37 days, 2nd was 33 days and this last one was exactly 28. DH and I are still planning to start TTC this summer - I can''t believe it''s 2008 already. I''ve been saying next year, next year, next year and now it''s here! Kind of scary...

Our married friends are also all planning to do the same, or at least most of them so, it will definitely be an interesting year! DH would love to try now, but still planning to wait things out a little. I am hoping to start charting and temping next month since my AF is appearing to be back to normal now that I''m off BC.

I''m looking forward to this chapter of my life and I''m so thankful all of you are right along side me for support. Baby vibes to all who will be trying in 2008!

 

[curlygirl]

janine, I''m excited for you!! It''s great that your cycles are so regular. Regarding the frequency of BD, I think it is recommended to do it every other day. Of course, as you know, we did it every day to try to get that girl! I think the reason for every other day is that the man needs time to replenish his supply--plus every day can be a bit of a strain on both parties!

About OPKs, they never worked for me! The month I got pregnant, I tried them and got negatives every day. So I don''t have much advice on those except that I believe they measure the LH surge which comes before ovulation so once you start seeing that line, you should probably dtd. I feel like you said you did purchase the VIP FF membership, right? I think it''s really helpful--it gives you much more analysis as long as you keep inputting information on your chart. Good luck!!!!

anchor, you should be able to buy a basal body thermometer at any drugstore. I don''t know about specific brands, but I''m pretty sure they are all digital and cost around $10. If not, you can probably fine one online...

I hope you all have 2008 babies! Lily and I send you tons of baby dust!!!!

 

[sunkist]

My hubby and I are finally on the same page. We have a TTC date!! I feel so much better now that we finally have a plan for starting our family. We''re going to start trying in June, so only 6 more months! Of course now I''m wondering about getting off BC and how long it will take for me to ovulate. I want to get off it in May so that we can start in June. It seems like a lot of women wait to get regular periods before they start TTC. It''s not really necessary to do this though, is it? I was going to do the temping, but I''ve decided to just start out by observing CM. Is anyone else just observing CM and are you feeling comfortable with it?

 

[gongjoo143]

Hi - I''ve been a PS member for years but I just discovered this thread. I''ve been having fun reading the pregnancy thread but since we are gearing up to TTC in a few months, I figured this would be a more appropriate place.

My hubby and I have been married 1 1/2 years and are going to TTC starting in March. I''ve been taking my pre-natals and just started charting this month. Been off BCPs for over a year too.

I''m actually an acupuncturist that specializes in infertility and women''s health, so while I think I should be comfortable with all of this, it''s still quite exciting/nerve-wracking as we start trying for our first!

 

[janinegirly]

thanks curly! yes, i did sign up for the VIP FF and it''s a great tool--although a litle addictive! I haven''t temped since Xmas though since we were away and it was the end of one cycle/beginning of anothe. I also figured temping was most useful the week before O and after anyway. I bought the OPK to see if it confirms when FF says I o''d. Past 2 mo''s it''s been 27 day cycle with O on 13 or 14 per FF. But i''d like to see a + to confirm what I''m interpreting. I have heard that they are notoriously unreliable and some people test 2x a day so i''m not so sure about that!

this is just the beginning for me, so i''m prepared for the journey (ie not expecting any quick results), but i''m excited and appreciate all the feedback! I also have enjoyed the learning process. Like many have said, it amazes me how little we really know about our bodies (or WHY things happen like they do) until preparing to TTC.

sunkist: it''s not necessary to wait for regular periods before TTC''ing but it''s a huge plus. First of all it helps you to identify your typical cycle length which is needed to identify your most fertile period. Of course you could also just come off bcp and wing it which could work out too, but if you''re someone who wants sooner rather than later (for whatever reason), being able to pinpoint your ovulation period is a big help. There is also a lot of variation for how long it takes women to regulate after coming off bcp (ie return to natural ovulation and regular cycles). that''s what ive learned so far at least!!

 

[steph72276]

Just thought I would pop into this thread and say hello. My husband and I had our first little guy 3 years ago and are thinking we are going to start to try for baby number 2 in the summer so i thought it would be a great thread to join. We had really just started thinking about it and now our son keeps asking for a baby sister, so I think the timing is just right! Anyway, I still need to go back and finish reading all the posts and everyone''s story, but just wanted to say hi

 

[ljmorgan]

Date: 1/2/2008 4:16:05 PM
Author: sunkist
My hubby and I are finally on the same page. We have a TTC date!! I feel so much better now that we finally have a plan for starting our family. We''re going to start trying in June, so only 6 more months! Of course now I''m wondering about getting off BC and how long it will take for me to ovulate. I want to get off it in May so that we can start in June. It seems like a lot of women wait to get regular periods before they start TTC. It''s not really necessary to do this though, is it? I was going to do the temping, but I''ve decided to just start out by observing CM. Is anyone else just observing CM and are you feeling comfortable with it?

Sunkist you might want to consider getting off of birth control early. My husband and I had originally planned to start TTC this month. I went off of birth control at the end of October... and after the immediate bleeding from coming off of it, I haven''t had a real period yet! It''s been 2 months. So if you''re sure you want to try in June, you might want to think about quitting BC earlier.

 

[E B]

Date: 1/2/2008 3:33:22 PM
Author: curlygirl
About OPKs, they never worked for me! The month I got pregnant, I tried them and got negatives every day.

curly, this is such a relief to hear! I haven't had a positive OPK yet. I haven't been testing all the time, though (just here and there), and I hear if you test as much as once a day, even, you can miss your surge. I've got a couple more temps to go before I (and FF) can really see if I ovulated, but I think I did between days 11-13. Hopefully.

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/2/2008 6:42:44 PM
Author: *Lindsey*

Date: 1/2/2008 4:16:05 PM

Author: sunkist

My hubby and I are finally on the same page. We have a TTC date!! I feel so much better now that we finally have a plan for starting our family. We''re going to start trying in June, so only 6 more months! Of course now I''m wondering about getting off BC and how long it will take for me to ovulate. I want to get off it in May so that we can start in June. It seems like a lot of women wait to get regular periods before they start TTC. It''s not really necessary to do this though, is it? I was going to do the temping, but I''ve decided to just start out by observing CM. Is anyone else just observing CM and are you feeling comfortable with it?

Sunkist you might want to consider getting off of birth control early. My husband and I had originally planned to start TTC this month. I went off of birth control at the end of October... and after the immediate bleeding from coming off of it, I haven''t had a real period yet! It''s been 2 months. So if you''re sure you want to try in June, you might want to think about quitting BC earlier.

Thanks Janine and Lindsey. So, Lindsey did you guys use another form of birth control while you were off BCP and still waiting for TTC date?

 

[ljmorgan]

We''ve been sort of lazy, using condoms and sometimes nothing. If we had planned to get pregnant in a few months, it wouldn''t really matter to us if it happened a bit early

However, we found out we''ll both be traveling for work for 2-3 months each to different places this summer. I don''t want to be 6 months pregnant stranded in Alaska by myself for 3 months

So we''ll be a lot better about birth control in the next few months! I''m not going to go back on the pill though, because I don''t want to have to come off of it again.

 

[robbie3982]

Date: 1/2/2008 4:16:05 PM
Author: sunkist
My hubby and I are finally on the same page. We have a TTC date!! I feel so much better now that we finally have a plan for starting our family. We''re going to start trying in June, so only 6 more months! Of course now I''m wondering about getting off BC and how long it will take for me to ovulate. I want to get off it in May so that we can start in June. It seems like a lot of women wait to get regular periods before they start TTC. It''s not really necessary to do this though, is it? I was going to do the temping, but I''ve decided to just start out by observing CM. Is anyone else just observing CM and are you feeling comfortable with it?

I agree that you should get off of bc earlier if you want to just observe CM. Hormonal bc can mess up your CM. This is my 3rd cycle off of the nuvaring and CM didn''t match up with my O date for the last 2 cycles. (The only reason I know when I o''d is from temping).

We''re using condoms until we''re ready to start ttc.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Sunkist, plus doctors like you to have at least one period OFF the pill to flush all the hormones out. I stopped the pill last November and got preggo at the end of Jan. I only had one true period in all that time (I believe I was having 40 day cycles). If there is a reason you cannot get preggo until June however I would suggest using SOME sort of BC. We couldn''t get preggo until 1/1 (for insurance reasons) so we were very careful. I also agree with curly, every other day is ideal for baby making

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Just stopping in to say hi, although possibly a little late, since I'm due in May!

I wish I'd found this thread earlier, as I was always quite anxious that I wouldn't be able to conceive.
I'm 33 and kind of thought it might take a while. I was very overweight (although I lost most of the excess over the last two years) I was a smoker and my mother had real fertility problems - she needed a lot of treatment and I'm an only child. I just had it firmly in my head that I wasn't going to be able to conceive easily.

How wrong I was! I've never been able to use hormonal BC because of a family history of blood clot and my own severe migraines. So, first time we didn't use a condom, I was pregnant. We had decided to start a family (um, earlier that same day!) but I wasn't hopeful and I really did think at the very least, it would take a bit of time. Took about two and a half hours, as it turns out!

Good luck to those TTC now. For those who're planning to TTC soon, let me be a lesson to you - BC until you're absolutely and totally ready! LOL!

Jen

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/4/2008 10:33:04 AM
Author: robbie3982

Date: 1/2/2008 4:16:05 PM

Author: sunkist

My hubby and I are finally on the same page. We have a TTC date!! I feel so much better now that we finally have a plan for starting our family. We''re going to start trying in June, so only 6 more months! Of course now I''m wondering about getting off BC and how long it will take for me to ovulate. I want to get off it in May so that we can start in June. It seems like a lot of women wait to get regular periods before they start TTC. It''s not really necessary to do this though, is it? I was going to do the temping, but I''ve decided to just start out by observing CM. Is anyone else just observing CM and are you feeling comfortable with it?

I agree that you should get off of bc earlier if you want to just observe CM. Hormonal bc can mess up your CM. This is my 3rd cycle off of the nuvaring and CM didn''t match up with my O date for the last 2 cycles. (The only reason I know when I o''d is from temping).


We''re using condoms until we''re ready to start ttc.

Thanks Robbie and Tacori for the info and your experiences. I personally would love to get off BC earlier and I don''t mind taking the chance of getting pregnant sooner. He just doesn''t want to start TTC until June/July. But what you''re saying is my body probably wouldn''t be ready to start TTC in June unless I''m off BC for a few months before that. So I guess I would probably have better chances of getting pregnant in June/July if I get off BC in the next couple months rather than waiting till May. I need to talk to hubby!

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/4/2008 1:59:10 PM
Author: Mrs Mitchell
Just stopping in to say hi, although possibly a little late, since I''m due in May!


I wish I''d found this thread earlier, as I was always quite anxious that I wouldn''t be able to conceive.

I''m 33 and kind of thought it might take a while. I was very overweight (although I lost most of the excess over the last two years) I was a smoker and my mother had real fertility problems - she needed a lot of treatment and I''m an only child. I just had it firmly in my head that I wasn''t going to be able to conceive easily.


How wrong I was! I''ve never been able to use hormonal BC because of a family history of blood clot and my own severe migraines. So, first time we didn''t use a condom, I was pregnant. We had decided to start a family (um, earlier that same day!) but I wasn''t hopeful and I really did think at the very least, it would take a bit of time. Took about two and a half hours, as it turns out!

Good luck to those TTC now. For those who''re planning to TTC soon, let me be a lesson to you - BC until you''re absolutely and totally ready! LOL!


Jen

Wow, Jen! You were a quick one, haha! Congratulations on the up-coming baby

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Sunkist I got preggo the same month we started TTC so it can happen. I would get off BC a few months before (which your doc will want you to do) and use condoms until then. Really a month sooner or later won''t matter in the long run. Good luck!

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Thank you Sunkist! I hope it happens as easily for you when the time is right.

Jen

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/4/2008 11:56:10 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Sunkist I got preggo the same month we started TTC so it can happen. I would get off BC a few months before (which your doc will want you to do) and use condoms until then. Really a month sooner or later won''t matter in the long run. Good luck!

Thanks Tacori! I hope we have such luck. I''m getting excited and having all sorts of baby dreams

Last time I was at the doc for my check up he asked me if I was thinking of getting pregnant soon. I said yes probably sometime this year. The only thing he told me is that after I finish my last pack of BC pills my first period I get means that I''ve ovulated.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Sunkist, it is so hit or miss. In *perfect* circumstances you only have a 20% chance of getting preggo. It amazes me there are any accidental pregnancies at all! Just take it easy, relax, and have fun. It will happen when the time is right. Start a prenatal a few months before.

 

[ljmorgan]

Just as soon as I mentioned I haven''t had a natural period since coming off of BC two months ago... AF arrived today. I have never been so happy to get my period, ha! I was starting to worry that it was taking too long. So this month I will be using the ClearBlueEasy Fertility monitor to get a really good idea of my cycle, and I''ll be using that with charting/cervical fluid. I think we are aiming to TTC in either April of August so we''ll see how it goes

 

[ljmorgan]

I just posted a long post about this article in the Weekly Workout Thread, but I thought the information is definitely relevant here.

Last month Newsweek ran a huge cover article on "The Fertility Diet" -- food studies they did on women trying to conceive, and dietary advice that can help/hurt your chances of conceiving. You can find the article here. Thought a lot of you would find it interesting reading

 

[msb700]

sunkist: Dont post much on this thread, but thought Id chime in on this one. I was off BC in Feburay and got preggo in August. But to be honest, we only really TTC in June and were successful on our second try. A friend of mine who was on the same BC as I was, got pregnant the first month after she stopped her BC .

So it really depends on your body type. Normally it would require a few months for your body to get rid of all the hormones and have a regular cycle again, but some bodies are just ready to go immediately!

 

[janinegirly]

Date: 1/5/2008 4:10:32 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Sunkist, it is so hit or miss. In *perfect* circumstances you only have a 20% chance of getting preggo. It amazes me there are any accidental pregnancies at all! Just take it easy, relax, and have fun. It will happen when the time is right. Start a prenatal a few months before.

tacori, it''s funny but now that i''ve really educated myself on how things work, it amazes me as well how any accidental pregnancies happen! especially when you hear about people missing a pill--i mean that seems close to impossible (with the BCP still in your system, how can just one missed pill result in anything at all?).

 

[sunkist]

Yes, I''m realizing that I do need to relax and just have fun. I know I''m just obsessing a little because I can''t wait for this all to start

I know all bodies are different, so I''ll have to wait and see how my body reacts off BC. I had no negative effects going on or being on BCP. I must admit that there have been several times I have missed my pill though and still had sex. No pregnancy obviously, I just immediatly start spotting whenever I miss a pill. Like I''m getting a second "fake" BCP period. I''ve been reading stories online at FF to see what other girls'' experiences have been in TTC , and it does get very daunting realizing how many women to face difficulty getting pregnant. But then there are thousands of other women who have no problem and that''s probably why they''re not stressing and writing about it online. My husband and I are both healty and haven''t had any problems related to our reproductive systems so I guess I just need to relax and go with the flow.

 

[TravelingGal]

Sunkist, if you are wanting to get preggo and don''t mind if it happens early, I''d just get of BC now. That way you''re not officially trying, and having all the stress that seems to inadvertently come with it. If it happens, great. If not, you can start your official trying in June.

And I was one of those people who thought I needed to get BC out of my system. I was off for two weeks and got pregnant..and that''s after being on the pill for 15 years. I don''t even know how long my real cycle is! But I''m not complaining...I''ve gotten used to the idea of TTot. Took my several months, but I''m finally ready as I am ever gonna be...

 

[sunkist]

Oh, wow, TGal! You got pregnant after being off the pill for 2 weeks? That is quick. Really quick! I think this body reacting to getting off BC is all so random. You don''t know what to expect!

 

[blushingbride]

Can anyone shed some light on how some women who aren't on BC can get their periods every month and not ovulate? I'm a bit confused on how this is possible. I was always under the impression that if you have a regular period and a normal amount of days in your cycle (and obviously off BC) that you should be ovulating.

 

[cellososweet]

blushingbride, here''s my half a$$ed attempt at answering your question.

i don''t want to get super biological, but one common reason is. . . well your uterine lining builds up and is sloughed away during your menstrual period (that''s the bleeding, which i''m sure you know). . . when the corpus luteum breaks down nearing the end of your cycle, there is a decline in progesterone, which helps to signal menstrual bleeding. with no corpus luteum (because no egg was released), there is no progesterone and you may bleed because the estrogen in your system isn''t able to handle increased growth of your lining. *phew* basically they work together and without one (progesterone), the other (estrogen) can''t handle what is going on and has a break down.

there are other reasons, but that is the one from bio that i remember. i do remember that there are other reasons. i hope that helps.

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 1/9/2008 6:12:08 PM
Author: cellososweet
blushingbride, here''s my half a$$ed attempt at answering your question.

i don''t want to get super biological, but one common reason is. . . well your uterine lining builds up and is sloughed away during your menstrual period (that''s the bleeding, which i''m sure you know). . . when the corpus luteum breaks down nearing the end of your cycle, there is a decline in progesterone, which helps to signal menstrual bleeding. with no corpus luteum (because no egg was released), there is no progesterone and you may bleed because the estrogen in your system isn''t able to handle increased growth of your lining. *phew* basically they work together and without one (progesterone), the other (estrogen) can''t handle what is going on and has a break down.

there are other reasons, but that is the one from bio that i remember. i do remember that there are other reasons. i hope that helps.

Thanks Cellososweet! That was definitely helpful - I''m pretty clueless with all this stuff and have just started researching on this topic. I did get the book TCOYF, but so far it hasn''t mention this subject. You''ve been very helpful!

 

[janinegirly]

hi! just wanted to check in and see how everyone''s doing since it''s been awhile.

anyone actively TTC and how''s it going?

we''re chugging along, still figuring out the ropes and I''ve been doing a lot of reading/charting/obsessing.