The Official TTC Thread!

[AmberWaves]

LL, No AFF yet, which is bothering me. I''m feeling crampy still, but not like before. Although I reaaaally think the chances of me being pg are super duper slim, I''m going to POAS later when I get home. Yeah, not FMU, but I''ll hold it for a really long time.

Kind of "condense" it.

And if by some miracle I AM pg, looks like I was drinkin'' til it''s PINK! Whoops.

 

[happy in love]

Oooh Amber... I will cross my fingers for your long shot +

EBree- Good for you for waiting til you feel right... Can''t wait to start cheering you on!

Blen- I hate all the baby talk right now. It is all over the salon I work at, I just smile (through gritted teeth mind you) and say soon enough. Like I don''t already put enough pressure on myself! I think the most frustrating comments like you said are those advising to "enjoy married life for a while before adding kids" Um, thanks for your opinions on my marriage/family!

Mela (and maybe Amber)- get your knitting needles ready... we will have quite a circle going in a few weeks here.

LL- knit, knit, knit! Baby dust to you

 

[mela lu]

well I haven''t left yeeeet....glorious tomorrow!
amber I still have that shred of hope for you....and dont feel bad about livin'' it up ''until it''s pink'', as we know there is no blood share at that point - may as well enjoy your last days of freedom!
Lisa - you never dissapoint me in the funny dep''t. Keep concocting away you Mad Scientist - soon you''ll have a little Frankenbaby to show for it! YEY!

so funny story (funny-ish)...I had the conversation about doing ''it'' every two days. DH looks at me very plainly and said ''oh, i can do it one shot''. HAH! He has bloated self confidence b/c it happened like that last time...so I had to explain the whole 4 hr of egg life to him, and the fact that doing it more increases your odds. he was not convinced. silly boy! haha. I told him that i was going to dress up like different ''characters'' so that he felt like he was only doing it once (per person). Natch he like that one. MEN! haha.

I was kinda hoping for AFF today...but nothing yet. Stay tuned!

That''s all for now folks!

 

[AmberWaves]

Well, no AFF yet.

But I DID get a BFN. I hate being in limbo.

 

[mela lu]

so sorry Amber

any news this morning (one way or another)?

 

[lovelylulu]

amber: i hope you get some answers one way or the other today, but i''ll be keeping my fingers crossed for a BFP!!

HIL: are you still knitting?

Lisa: 3 follies is fantastic news. and maybe i''m confused because I thought that there was one - so did some more develop or have i missed a cycle somewhere?? in any event three is a great number!

LL: it''s at least a good step that your sister acknowledged her inappropriate behavior - though it''d be a much better step if she''d just refrain from it to start! good luck with the dreaded knitting phase of this process.

radiant: how are things going? are you in the waiting phase? good luck!!

ebree: you are so right to trust yourself and if you feel like waiting then it is the very best decision you can make. and with the way that summer is flying by - next month will be here before you know it!

mela: have so much fun this weekend!! hope that you are feeling in a *much* better mood - but i find that weekends generally tend to have an uplifting effect on my own mood regardless of hormone levels

blen/tiff: for some reason, though i''ve been married for two years now i don''t get the "when are you having kids" comments too much. i think it''s because most of my friends are a bit delayed in that area. that said, my mom was just cooing over my little baby nephew -he''s an adorable 7 months old - and then she says "i can''t wait until you and [SIL] have babies" i''m keeping her at bay with coy "we shall see, we shall see" responses...

so, time for a woe is me moment:

i was so d*mn optimistic/enthusiastic about this very first TTC attempt and things were going *swimmingly* well. CM was looking good on Monday and we BD on Monday and Tuesday. then on wednesday at work i started to feel not that well. by the time that night, some sort of stomach bug had set in and lasted through yesterday.

needless to say, no BD on wed/thurs. now i think that my CM is something of the past and i''m just terribly disappointed that we didn''t nearly *cover our bases* in the way that i was anticipating. also, though i didn''t have a fever, i did get sick more than a couple of times, so i''m wondering if one can even conceive when your body is going through that sort of a thing. bah! i guess that i''ll just have to wait it out and see if by some slight chance things were successful and if not look forward to next month. bah!

 

[radiantgirl]

Good morning ladies and happy Friday! Sorry I haven''t been keeping up with this thread lately. I am currently on CD 20 and 3 DPO according to FF. I was sort of bummed this morning when I saw a dip in my temperature, but once I entered it in, FF gave me solid crosshairs. Hopefully my temps will stay above the coverline. This TTC is pretty tiresome! When we got pg the first time around in January of this year, we had the attitude of "if it happens, it happens. if not, we will start trying in March or April." It was so much more fun that way. Now that we want it so badly, it feels like a chore and not fun at all. Wish us luck girls and please send sticky baby dust over. We need it.

EBree - So glad that you and your hubby are waiting until it feels right for you. We hope to see you on here very soon. Next month will be here before you know it. Take care of yourself!

Blen - It annoys me as well when people ask me all the time or make comments like, "oh how old are you again?" When I tell them I am 30, they will say something like, "oh it''s time. Get going on that." Oh duh...I am. Most of the people I am close to and my co-workers all know that we had a miscarriage and that it took quite some time for my body to go back to normal, so they don''t ask. It''s just the other people I don''t see often that make comments that irk me.

Amber - Did you retest this morning? Sorry you''re frustrated right now with no AF or a BFP. Hope you have some answers soon. I know how it feels like to be in limbo.

Mela - Have fun this weekend and hope AF shows for you soon too!

HIL - How are you doing?

Lisa - That''s fantastic news with your follicles. Hope this time will be successful for you. Keep us updated. BTW, not sure if I mentioned this, but I love your avatar. Your daughter is adorable!

lovelylulu - Do you know if you o''d already? Are you charting? You never know. The spermies could be waiting to catch the egg as soon as it is released. I have read best chances of conception is 2 days before O and the day of O. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[AmberWaves]

Hi everyone. Another negative result this morning. It's kind of sad seeing DH's face when I tell him I'm late- but the test is negative. He actually told me to "humor" him last night. I feel bad for letting him down! Sooo yeah, I'm 3 days late with no sign of a BFP or AFF (almost feel like adding another F! FAFF!). I hadn't really expected a BFP, as you guys know, but I also didn't expect my cycle to go all wonky after four perfect perfect cycles, kind of giving me a little hope- then taking it all away!

LULU: I hear ya on the sickness, I think that happened to us as well, stupid flu came out of nowhere! Then another month I badly sprained my ankle, it's like my body is setting me up for disappointment!

Radiant, sorry about the dip, but yay for crosshairs! I remember I was so glad when I got my first! Also, I have a radiant, too!

 

[radiantgirl]

Amber - So sorry for another BFN! Were you charting this cycle? Could you see a dip in your temp and know when to expect AFF? or should I say AFFF? Hopefully she will show her ugly face really soon for you. So sorry your hubby is let down. This TTC is stressful!!!

You have a radiant too? I don''t know many people who have this cut, so cool!

On a good note, my friend in LA (I''m in Houston) just had her first baby yesterday at 3:25 p.m. weighing in at 6 lbs, 10 oz, 20 inches long, Matthew Bejanmin. I am ao estatic for them and can''t wait to see them next month when we are going over there for a week. I got to talk to her very briefly yesterday and she told me she had an epidural, but it ran out so she felt everthing towards the end. I don''t think she was prepared for that. I remember she used to complain a lot about her pregnancy and she is one of the few who didn''t like it when he kicked. I told her that she needs to be appreciative of what she has because I lost a baby and would take any pain and discomfort to be able to carry a baby full term and have him/her. It makes me kind of sad though because she was 2 months ahead of me, and I should be on my 30th week and third trimester by now. So sad!

 

[mela lu]

Bye Girls! I''m off for my cottage weekend. GL everyone and stay strong!!!

Radiant - before I m/c me and my BFF were only 7 wks apart. It was so sad when I lost the baby because her and I share the same birthday and have been tight since childhood...it was our dream to have babies at the same time. We couldn''t believe that our childhood dream *almost* came true! Anyways, as happy as I am for her (she''s now 18 weeks), I have to fight off the thoughts of...."I''d be x amount of weeks now". It''s hard, but I try to stop myself from thinking those thoughts. It''s too painful

k, BYE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AmberWaves]

Radiant, yeah, this is my fourth cycle temping and all seems normal, just no AFF! Dang. Congrats to your friend, but I am sorry for how you''re feeling. I hope you feel better soon.

Mela: have a great time! I''m so jealous.

 

[happy in love]

Helllloooo Ladies.

So, its CD2 in my world. My cycle was 2 days longer than the one before, but only being 2 cycles off BC I'm not surprised that I'm not totally regular yet.
DH and I got into it a bit the other night about how focused I am on my chart, temp, CM, signs, etc... He can't wait to have a baby but is convinced that we can just "let it happen." I tried my best to explain to him about the egg's "shelf life" and our window, etc and also pointed out that we are not those newlyweds who do it like rabbits anyway, so by leaving it up to his methods we could be trying for a loooong time. I also tried to help him realize that every month, charting and paying attention OR not, I will still be disappointed when AF shows. He worries about me obsessing(his view) and getting my hopes up just to be depressed at the end of it all.
Last night I think he got it. I told him to open our last bottle of my favorite wine cuz we were drinking it all, AF's in town. He was very sweet and turned down a golf date because he wanted to be home with me (maybe he was just worried I'd drink the wine myself

) and told me that he can't wait to try again and he wants me to let him know when it is our "window" (last cycle he said he didn't want to know cuz it was too much pressure and just a turn off that it was so timed). He really is so sweet, sometimes I need to cut him a little more slack!
Anyhow, I have made a vow to jump back on the wagon and work at shedding the 5 lbs that have crept on over the last 3 mo. so that I'll have a little extra room in my pants when my belly starts expanding.

Amber- that sucks that your cycle is screwy this time around. I hope something happens soon for you... I need you to be knitting with me!
Mela- Have a great weekend... I'm hoping AF shows for you soon so we can have a Huge knitting circle in a few weeks
Lulu- Hopefully your illness won't have messed with things. My fingers are crossed for you! Hope you feel better soon.
Radiant- 3 days of waiting down, hope you can keep busy so the rest of the wait goes by quickly! Lots of sticky baby dust to you. How exciting for your friend, hopefully once you are pg again the whole "i'd be this far along" will subside. I can't imagine it is easy for you though.

 

[lisa1.01fvs1]

I am so out of the charting loop all!

I''ve read through all your posts and realize that I have nothing to offer since I don''t/have never temped in my life.

I recently made 2 feeble attempts to use FF and TCOYF but charted CM, infert. testing, moods, etc., oh and BD.

The whole temp thing intimidates me mainly b/c w/ a 15 mo old I never know when I have to get up & I think you
have to have a 3hr period of sleep prior to temping. Chaos.

I do know a lot about CM, TWW and analyzing feelings post AFF - oh and infertility testing & TX of course.

Lovely - Yes I had 1 follicle and was bummed but then it went to 5 or was it 3 and NOW it''s 1@21mm, 1@17mm, 1@16mm, 1@15mm & 2@13mm
all on left ovary

I''m probably jinxing myself but the RE said today "you just might have twins."

We all laughed and joked last cycle when I had 5 follies that we''d be the next "Jon & Kate....." then nothing happened and AFF arrived 2 days early!
So it''s really a crapshoot........follicles are considered mature around 18-20mm and they continue to grow after trigger shot.

Sat. is insem. #1, Sun. insem #2.
I gave myself the O trigger today and talk about gurgles and rumbles and twinges down below.

Radiant - thanks for the compliments on Miss Olivia, who btw is curently screaming in her crib and refusing to go to sleepies!!!! We got preggo w/ her after 2 months!
And I was 37!!

I was thinking today that feeling confident in your pregnancy takes a while. I mean 85% who get pregnant continue to deliver. Out of that group if you make it to 7-8 wks and get a heartbeat m/c risk drops to like 2 or was it 10%. And then you want to hit the magic 24 weeks for viability but obviously make it past 37 weeks which is considered term.

Whew!

Amber - so sorry about the BFN. I''ve come to expect them for myself these days. Your DH is too sweet. Here''s to getting through that pesky follicular phase & into BD mode!!!!

Everyone else do something nice for yourself this weekend. All this baby-making is such hard work!

Lisa

 

[peonygirl]

Hey gals! What prenatal vitamins are you all taking? I''ve been taking the Target brand for the last 5-6 months, but I just noticed that it lacks Magnesium and several other vitamins that my DH''s multi has. Thus, I''m thinking about switching to a more complete one. Any recs would be great. Thanks!

 

[AmberWaves]

Oooooh, Lisa!!! Yay! I hope all goes super well with the sem.!!

Peony, I an just taking the standard CVS brand, I think. I misplaced my bottle so I can''t see what''s in it!

 

[littlelysser]

Hey ladies! I'm currently CD 18. We've had lots of visitors and been out of town lately...so we haven't been super vigil about the BDing. And to be perfectly honest, we just started this trying thing...so I'm trying hard not to become all mechanical and stuff about it. know what I mean? I'll probably be singing a different song if I'm still TTC a ways from now...but for now, I'm trying not to get myself soooooo worked up and crazy. well, crazier. Anyway, neither of us was feeling very randy last night...so we just sort of let it go.

Hope all is doing well otherwise.

Amber - how goes the cycle? has AFF shown up?

Peony - My doc - who is my GP and my gyno - recommended the GNC brand of prenatals. I had low iron at my last dr. appt, and I told her were thinking about trying...so she suggested I get on a prenatal and said her pick was GNC. I'm currently taking the ones with Iron, in hopes of also combating my mild anemia...

Lulu - believe me, I was totally taken aback when the flowers arrived. SOOOO unlike my sister!

 

[happy in love]

Hi there all my TTC thread friends. Hope this Saturday finds you all happy, healthy, and resting

Lisa- WOW! Last I read you only had 1 contender, now you''re up to 6!? GL,GL,GL

Peony- I''m taking Nature Made prenatals. it doesn''t list magnesium though. My regular Dr. said to get ones from Costco. I haven''t looked into them though.
LL- Good for you to not get too wrapped up this early in the game. I think I should take a lesson from you

.
Amber- What''s happenin''? Any news yet?

I hope I didn''t miss anyone.

I just found out last night that my friend who has a 3mo baby is going off her BC to try for #2 already. I think it will be kinda cool to have a RL preggo buddy, but I can''t help but worry that I''d be *hangs head in shame* sad if they were preggo again before we were. Wow, I hate admitting feelings like that... I am not a jealous person usually.

 

[happy in love]

Peony- this might be more info than you were looking for, but my prenatal had its lable online, so I thought I''d post it for you incase you wanted to compare.

 

[littlelysser]

HIL - I''m still talking myself into this low stress idea of TTC...it just sort of hit me last night...that there was really no reason to get all freaked out! Although we aren''t spring chickens, I''m 33, I figure I''ve got some time...ya know? Again, talk to me a year from now though!

Peony - My PN vitamin has magnesium in it - I''ve been pretty happy with it. Anyway, I''ve tolerated it quite well, and they also have a low iron version. Here is a link, I couldn''t cut and paste the info.

http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2133883&cp=2618597.3118584&parentPage=family

Lisa - Yay for the follies!!!!

 

[peonygirl]

Thanks guys, looks like the GNC vitamins are most complete out of all the ones I''ve seen. I will buy those next when I run out of my current ones.

 

[AmberWaves]

Hey everyone... Still no AFF.

Another BFN. I''m just getting so fed up. I''ll be back later, I''m going to take a nap.

 

[littlelysser]

Amber - I was SOOO there last month. CD 32 FAFFFFFFF showed up. Rude rude rude.

And really, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that taking a trip like that (with the attendant travel hassles, sunburn, time zone changes and other stresses) your body may be a skotch confused? But it totally sucks. BUT but I would not be too upset about it in terms of your cycle, ya know? Might be a blip.

Just my .02.

ETA - Peony - Good to know they are good vitamins! I absolutely LOVE my doc...but she's my gyno and my gp...I have to find an OB once I get preggo. Anyway...I took her work for it and I'm glad to know it seems right on.

 

[lisa1.01fvs1]

This whole post is basically *TMI* I don''t mean to scare you ladies who aren''t on the IF path.........the UPDATE:

Had 1st insem. today and DH''s counts were phenomenal!

Tomorrow is 2nd insem. it will be interesting to see what his counts are about 24 hrs. apart.

I tested out the trigger last cycle and it was gone by 8dpiui. I used the generic HCG and the shot gave me a bruise both times.

I don''t know why I don''t get any s/e from any of the drugs except for some crazy moods. I mean I''m mildly sore, mildy crampy here and there but nothing major.

However, after prog. supp. last cycle I did have one 20 min. episode of tremendous pelvic floor pressure.

I wish I could tell what was going on in there.

BTW I got to see the sperm under the microscope both pre and post wash. It was very interesting. Pre they were sluggish and a couple were vibrating back and forth like psychos. Post wash there was more movement and they appeared purposeful if that makes any sense.

Onward to the wait..............

 

[AmberWaves]

LL, I totally feel better now that you said that. I really do. DH and I went to japanese food with some friends, and picked up a six pack of cream-puffs (anyone hear Beard Papa? SO GOOD), and I''m ready to steep in my sadness.

Just kiddin, but did I mention before how bad I am at being patient?

Anywho... That''s interesting about the wash, Lisa, hope it all works out great.

 

[Blenheim]

Date: 7/19/2008 11:56:40 AM
Author: littlelysser
HIL - I''m still talking myself into this low stress idea of TTC...it just sort of hit me last night...that there was really no reason to get all freaked out! Although we aren''t spring chickens, I''m 33, I figure I''ve got some time...ya know? Again, talk to me a year from now though!

I went through this over 4th of July weekend. I think I had really gotten my hopes up because there''s something in TCOYF that says that using all of those methods brings the average time to conceive down to something like 2-3 months, and I was starting to freak out that we were approaching the end of that. But - we''re going to have our baby one day. It could be this cycle, it could be that we adopt in a couple of years, but we''re going to have our baby. For some reason I find that incredibly reassuring and it takes the pressure off. Hubby thinks I''m being incredibly weird though, having these thoughts before we''ve been TTC for a long time.

HIL - The majorly fertile coworker had gotten married at 18 and had her first kid at (I believe) 19. She went to college quite a bit later. The other one had her one child at age 20. I know that their comments are based on their experience, and that in their cases, waiting to add kids would have a lot of advantages. But we''re in our mid-twenties, we''ve been living together for 2 years, and we''ve very much thought through all of the emotional/financial/time-consuming aspects of having kids. We''ve been doing reading about things like child development. We''re not going into it blindly.

Lovelylulu - We''re in a region where people have kids younger (see above), so that''s probably driving some of the questions.

I''m so sorry about the stomach bug.

I think that the major ways that sickness effect fertility are delaying ovulation and making you not want to dtd, you know? So if you O''d, you can probably still conceive if you dtd at least 5 days beforehand.

Radiantgirl - Have your temps stayed up? I''m sorry about how you''re feeling about your friend. That has to be hard.

Amber - Hopefully something happens soon.

Lisa - That''s great about all the follies! How does the washing work? I''m not on the IF path, but I find this fascinating rather than scary.


O pains and CM point to me being 3 dpo, while temp and cervix position point to 2 dpo. I think that Ovusoft would give me 2 dpo tomorrow, assuming my temp stays up. And if that''s the case, we covered all bases except the most important one (day of O). Oops.

I''m thinking of temping tomorrow to confirm O and then quitting until maybe 13 dpo, so that I don''t think so much about whether or not my temps are triphasic, what dips mean, etc. This is cycle 10 charting, so I feel like I have enough information about my cycles for if I need to consult my midwife about my fertility or something.

I went ahead and told my mom this week that we''re TTC. At this point at least, I''m glad I did. She talked about how emotionally hard she found it (took 6-12 months each time), and she brought up the fact that she wouldn''t ask anything and just expected me to tell her things if/when I felt like it. I know that she''s going to be supportive.

 

[Independent Gal]

Amber! how many days post ov are you? Do you know for sure? I got my verrrrry faint BFP on cycle day 16 I think. Of course I now know the ov date was off, but! It ain''t over till the fat aunty sings!

Crossing my fingers for ya.

For all of you!

Keep us posted.

 

[AmberWaves]

Okie dokie. Today marks 17DPO, on CD31. All previous cycles had cycles 27 days in length and a 15 day luteal phase. I tested this morning, and again a BFN. What bothers me is the slight crampiness I''ve had over the last couple of days. Nothing like period cramps, and nothing painful. More like food poisoning! My only other hope (other than pregnancy) is that all the traveling and basic unwell feelings during the trip have equated in a missed period. Booo.

 

[Blenheim]

Amber- if this luteal phase is already 2 days longer than normal, that''s really positive. Sometimes it just takes a long time for hcg to show up in urine. If you know for sure that you ovulated 17 days ago and you still don''t have AF or a positive pee stick in a couple of days, it may be worth getting a blood test done.

I think I''ve read that a luteal phase that is 18 days or 2 days longer than your previous ones almost always indicates pregnancy or a cyst.

Hang in there!

 

[mela lu]

wow! I''m back with a nice deep dark tan! ....tans are zexy, and will come in handy when we BD in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, AFF flow came to visit Friday night - hooray! Now i''m just going to ''read the signs'' and give it the ol'' college try again! HEE!

amber - I completely thought I''d come back to some news from you, one way or another. So frustrating for you!!! Hang in there.
Lisa - I love all the info you post. Keep it coming! Major GL with these follies of yours.

Everyone else - I''m looking forward to some knitting this month! We could make a quilt with the amount of us kniting

 

[AmberWaves]

Thanks Blen and Mela! I have to make a doctor''s appointment for some new meds and a glance at my still-not-perfect ankle anyway. I was spoiled with the first few cycles that were textbook! Do you think it''s better to go to my GP or my gyno for a blood test?