The Official TTC Thread!

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Mousey, I would agree it could be that in some cases, but in my particular case I'm pretty sure it's not, based on the miniscule difference in frequency (thanks to DH being out of town so much for work). AF finished and I feel more like I did 10 years ago than any time in recent memory.

 

[4ever]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Hi all,

I'm not firmly in the TTC camp yet as we are planning to start trying in May, however I'm feeling a little anxious and don't have anyone to really talk to about this except DH so I hope you ladies don't mind.
CD1 should have been on Wednesday or maybe Thursday latest however it's now Sunday and no AF. Besides that since at least Wednesday I have been cramping so I keep think AF should be just around the corner but so far nothing. Only other pregnancy symptom I can confirm would be feeling emotional, when something tiny didn't go my way at work on Friday I really wanted to have a cry, I do get a bit teary when Af is in town but it usually takes a lot more to set me off.
I took a hpt yesterday afternoon and this morning but both were a bfn. I'm wondering if maybe because I have a short cycle (23 days) if I am pregnant it might take longer for a hpt to pick up?

Anyway, if AF is still MIA after another few days I'll test again and see if I can get a Drs appt this week.

 

[April20]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Hi all,

I'm not firmly in the TTC camp yet as we are planning to start trying in May, however I'm feeling a little anxious and don't have anyone to really talk to about this except DH so I hope you ladies don't mind.
CD1 should have been on Wednesday or maybe Thursday latest however it's now Sunday and no AF. Besides that since at least Wednesday I have been cramping so I keep think AF should be just around the corner but so far nothing. Only other pregnancy symptom I can confirm would be feeling emotional, when something tiny didn't go my way at work on Friday I really wanted to have a cry, I do get a bit teary when Af is in town but it usually takes a lot more to set me off.
I took a hpt yesterday afternoon and this morning but both were a bfn. I'm wondering if maybe because I have a short cycle (23 days) if I am pregnant it might take longer for a hpt to pick up?

Anyway, if AF is still MIA after another few days I'll test again and see if I can get a Drs appt this week.

Are you charting? If not, it may be that you ovulated a few days late this cycle and aren't actually late, just having a longer cycle. If you are charting, how long is your LP normally? It's not unusual to have a slightly longer LP from time to time.

 

[4ever]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Hi April, thanks for your reply.
No, I'm not charting. From what I've read I agree that it could just be a long cycle. In saying that I defiantly feel very off at the moment.
Anyway, it's just a waiting game now I guess. Not sure what result I want, but I'd really like to know what's going on.

 

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

4ever, unfortunately, without knowing definitively if and when you ovulated, you're right...it's a waiting game. Fingers crossed you get your answer soon! As for your wondering if it could take longer to get a BFP on a HPT because of a shorter cycle, that totally depends on when you ovulate. If you ovulate early and have a "normal" length luteal phase (12-14 days or so), then you would most likely get a positive before or soon after your missed AF. If your cycle is short because of a short luteal phase, then yes, it could be that your test might not be positive until more days have passed after a missed AF (since you could, theoretically, have a fertilized egg implant, have enough hormones produced to put off AF, but not enough HCG in your urine to be detected until well after AF was due). If the issue is that you just didn't ovulate this cycle, then it could also take a while for your cycle to reset. I would say if two weeks pass from when AF was due, and you have neither a period nor positive HPT, you might consider contacting your doctor. They can do a blood test, which is more sensitive, just to be sure.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Agreed, unfortunately it's a waiting game until you get AF or a + test. If it turns out to be a late AF you may want to try temping and charting from now on so you have a better idea of actual ovulation time and cycle length. I always assumed I ovulated around day 12-13 when I had my AF at cycle day 26-27 then I actually found out I ovulate around 14-15 and only have a 12 day LP. During one very stressful month I only had a 10 day LP, I only know any of this BC of temping and charting.

 

[4ever]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Thank you asscher and ladyciel for your replies.
Assuming I'm not preggo it sounds like temping and charting is a good idea. I wanted DH and I to give it a go without for a few months when we started TTC but I'm pretty impatient and can def see the benifits now of at least knowing there is a chance.
Oh well, still waiting!

 

[baby monster]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

4ever, it's definitely helpful to chart and temp so that when it's time to ttc, you know your best days to conceive. Besides, it doesn't take much effort beyond remembering to take the temp first thing in the morning and entering them. My thermometer even has a last temp memory function in case i fall asleep and forget the number.

AFM, 10DPO but I don't "feel" pg so decided to save the tests for another couple days if I miss the start of next cycle.

ETA: fixed cause CD10 is kinda different from 10DPO

 

[Lilac]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

baby monster - Speaking of everyone saying (over and over again) about how great a sibling would be, over the weekend I was with most of my family and at least 6-7 people said the same thing again and again. I know they mean well, but it does make me want to bang my head against a wall when it's said in a pressuring kinda way! I did see my cousins playing together (who are only a few years apart) and they're so close, so in that moment I was very much hoping I get a BFP this week when I test!

ladyciel - That's a good point, I hadn't thought about it quite like that. Even if it's a hard adjustment for my son, it probably is better sooner rather than later for him to learn that lesson of sharing and not everything always being just about him, whether it's about toys or even our attention.

April20 - would love to see them! Next time I see the magazine, I'm going to try to take a look!

mousey and Asscherhalo_lover - Hard to not start preparing when all the baby stuff is so adorable! We actually didn't do anything at all before my son was born, and the day after he was born DH ran to buy blue paint and had someone pain the room (which then aired out while we stayed at my mom for the extra help for a week). We never really fully decorated it beyond that (we have baby furniture, rocking chair/glider, and just recently put some decals on his walls), but I'm the worst at making decisions and could never really figure out what I wanted to put in there! He doesn't know the difference, he just loves his new sports decals

4ever - my first thought also was maybe you ovulated later than you thought, and your period isn't actually late yet or it's too early for the HPT to be positive? I would keep testing the next few days and if AF doesn't come and you aren't getting any + then ask the doctor.

AFM, I'm now 7DPO and totally symptom-spotting. I don't even think I have any real symptoms (and my first pregnancy I don't think I felt anything at all other than extreme, insatiable hunger until I was about 6-7 weeks pregnant), but every tingle, twitch, or slight cramp I ask myself "could I be pregnant???". I took a test this morning (I know, it's way too early for it to be positive, but with my son I got my first positive at 8DPO at night, so I had some Wondfos that are due to expire next month so I figured, hey, why not?). Test was, of course, negative, and I think I'll wait till at least tomorrow night or Wednesday morning to try again. Or so I say now.

Where is everyone else - anyone testing any time soon?? baby monster, just saw your latest update - I assume you mean 10DPO? You have way more self control than me.......

 

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

I can completely see how even well-intended comments, on repeat, would quickly feel like intrusive nagging. I'm sure on some level they just want to soothe any anxiety you might have on whether or not it's a good idea to grow your family, but the truth is that good or not is for you, not them, to figure out. I wish I could give advice on how to quiet them without being rude. Has anybody found a good way to make it clear somebody's advice, especially played on repeat, is becoming tedious?

I'm CD10 here, so expecting to OV sometime this week. I'm thinking of digging through the medicine cabinet to see what we have in the way of expectorant. Has anybody taken it and noticed a difference in CF?

 

[Lilac]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

I can completely see how even well-intended comments, on repeat, would quickly feel like intrusive nagging. I'm sure on some level they just want to soothe any anxiety you might have on whether or not it's a good idea to grow your family, but the truth is that good or not is for you, not them, to figure out. I wish I could give advice on how to quiet them without being rude. Has anybody found a good way to make it clear somebody's advice, especially played on repeat, is becoming tedious?

I'm CD10 here, so expecting to OV sometime this week. I'm thinking of digging through the medicine cabinet to see what we have in the way of expectorant. Has anybody taken it and noticed a difference in CF?

My family tends to be pretty intrusive about these things, but I know they mean well. I just remember when it took a while to get pregnant the first time (in retrospect it wasn't that long, but it felt like it after a few months when I really wanted so badly to be pregnant) and they kept saying "Have a baby! What are you waiting for?? Why haven't you had one yet?? What's taking so long?!" and all I wanted to scream was I'M TRYING!!! I'm not at the frustrated point yet now because we just started TTC again, and I know they mean well, but it wouldn't hurt for them to back off just a *bit*

When I was TTC #1, the month I took Mucinex DM (I think that's the expectorant) and used Pre-seed, I conceived. Not sure I noticed a big difference in CM, and no idea if either one (or both) actually influenced me getting pregnant, but I figured it can't hurt, so why not?

 

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Thankfully both sides of our family are pretty quiet about us and kids. They all know we want kids but had to wait because of conflicts with school/work. I was finishing my PhD, and that in and of itself isn't a hard and fast barrier. However, I was doing experiments requiring I frequently handle teratogens, and that, regardless of how safely I worked, was too big a risk in my book. FFW to now, I'm sure they're quiet because DH is job hunting and they probably assume we're not trying yet because of that.

What ends up stinging, though, is that my little 10mo nephew is the ONLY thing my mother talks about. He's their only grandchild, he is adorable, and I understand why he's her whole world right now. However, it's hard not to be a bit jealous and to not blurt out that we're TTC. What if she doesn't eventually rave the same way about our kid? It's a silly thought, I know, but her level of enthusiasm is setting a REALLY high bar. Not helping the sting is that my brother is 5 years younger than me, they got pregnant within a month of thinking "maybe we should have a kid", and they're the only ones who still live near my parents (so their kids will be the ones doted on constantly). Trying not to let the green monster take hold, but it's so hard when he's literally the only subject my mom wants to talk about.

 

[baby monster]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Oh yeah, the novelty of grandchildren definitely wears off. DH and I both have older siblings who had kids before us so we certainly feel as if got shortchanged in the grandparents attention department. We've been getting a lot less help with DS than any of our siblings with our nieces and nephews. I don't begrudge the help everyone else got as they needed it but the it's pretty obvious that DS is not as close to his grandparents as older kids.

 

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

My consolation is that regardless of what attention our children get or don't get from my parents, they will get attention in spades from DH's family. DH has a younger sister who may or may not end up having children, but even if she does his family absolutely lives for their offspring and will readily share their affections. I really think they're the types where grandkid novelty will never wear off. DH grew up much closer to his grandparents than I ever had the opportunity to be. Only his dad's mom is still living, and she still (we're in our 30s!!) sends us a card every month with a check in it, in addition to cards for all birthdays and significant holidays. She also checks the weather every morning for every city/state her grandkids live in. Basically, she does whatever she can to take care of the whole lot of us, and it's how my MIL and FIL are, too. All the kids, from all generations, are the center of the universe in DH's family.

 

[Lilac]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

I do think for some people the novelty wears off, but not always right away. I would imagine after a whole bunch of grandchildren already, it's not as exciting for grandparents anymore, but I know a few people who were just as (or at least almost as) excited for the 2nd/3rd as they were with the first - hopefully your parents will be like that!

And if not, it sounds like your in-laws will still shower tons of love and attention on your kids!

 

[baby monster]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

How's everyone doing?

CD1 for me. Off to buy more opks.

 

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

I don't think you were holding your breath on this one, but still sorry about CD1, baby monster. Me, I'm CD12, but not using OPKs since I haven't bought any yet. The start of my window has always been marked well by my non-BBT signs, so my plan is to continue the shotgun approach for at least this and maybe next month before letting myself start an obsession with catching the positive OPK. Given where things stand today, I'm expecting that my TWW will probably start this weekend. Oh, and I picked up some pre-seed at Target, so giving both that and expectorant a try this month.

 

[baby monster]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

No, I didn't have high hopes on this cycle even though FF gave high marks for timing . Saved a couple hcg sticks.

It's interesting with opks as I didn't use them for ttc#1 and always thought that I O'd couple days earlier than what opks show me for this ttc. So either O shifted over time for me or I was completely off on my estimates for the first one. We still cover all bases but it's kinds hard to argue with clearly positive opks.

Post your thoughts on pre-seed. Amazon has mixed reviews so I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Boo CD1! Enjoy some wine! I'm CD12 also, I had a few OPKs left and used one today but it was negative. Either way we're on the every other day BD plan until confirmed O so it doesn't matter much. I've used preseed and the one thing I can say is I prefer to use it like a regular lubricant aka on the guy not injecting myself with it. They suggest waaaaaaaaay to much on the packaging and I use a lot less than they say happily. I should ovulate on Saturday so we'll see!

 

[4ever]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Urh, CD1 for me to. As inconvenient as a surprise would have been DH and I were both hopeful. I'll bow out for now and rejoin in May when the timings better. Best of luck for all you ladies, I hope none of you are here when I come back!

 

[Lavender_81]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Started posting a while ago but for certain privacy reasons needed to switch it up a little...

baby monster - sorry about CD1. Good thing you have the OPKs, I also used to think I ovulated about 2 days earlier than I did (although it's been a pretty long time since I consistently ovulated due to pill, birth of my son, etc) but those OPKs can be so useful when TTC!

Asscherhalo_ lover - I agree with you about the pre-seed, they suggest a ton on the box, not sure all of it is really necessary (especially if someone also uses an expectorant). Timing sounds great with every other day, so hopefully this is the month!

ladyciel - good luck with the TWW! Waiting to test has never been easy for me (I always give in by 7DPO).... see below

4ever - sorry about CD1 - even if it would have been inconvenient timing, I know it's always kind of disappointing when it doesn't happen when you were a bit hopeful.

AFM... so I started testing at 7DPO - which I know is way too early for anything - maybe I just like peeing on things? I'm pretty sure there wasn't much on the test, I thought maybe VERY slight indent or evap line on there, but didn't see any pink in it and also relatively sure my eyes could've just been playing tricks on me. Same with 8DPO - barely anything, enough that it didn't look totally stark white, but also very well could've been just me having "line eye" and seeing something that wasn't there. It was almost like there was the tiniest hint of something alone the edges of the test, but not a full line, so I assumed maybe just an indent or evap. Yesterday was 9DPO and I was on my way home from work and realized I hadn't slept well the night before or eaten much yesterday, but I didn't have a migraine (2 of my huge migraine triggers are no sleep and skipping meals - if both of those things happen, I WILL get a migraine.. but yet I didn't have one) - this might sound silly, but the only other time this happened (not getting a migraine when I know I "should've" had one) was when I was pregnant with my son. So I got home and tested again. Same thing... except this time I kinda saw a little more of a line. Now my thought was it could still very well be a nasty indent.... but then why no migraine? I waited till my husband got home and waited till after we went to visit his family (there was a death in the family this week) and then it was midnight and I finally told him I might be pregnant, but I don't know, and I don't have any FRERs, and what if this batch of Wondfos is just giving nasty evaps...I must have sounded like a crazy person. So we stopped at the drugstore in the middle of the night to grab some FRERs... and I think it's positive. He doesn't fully believe it, and I'm somewhere between overjoyed and completely terrified (of what this means for our family and our son, of something bad happening like maybe it's a chemical pregnancy or I'll have a miscarriage, and also a bit terrified of actually *being* pregnant again). So... that's where I am now.

 

[JGator]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Lavender, I think I see a pink line on the FRER. Congrats! It should get darker every day.

 

[Lavender_81]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Of course now that I posted that I'm starting to wonder if I imagined those lines because they really are SO faint. But I got the faint lines on 3 Wondfos and a FRER... really hoping they're real.

 

[April20]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Lavender, I see lines on both! Your 9DPO Wondfo test looks just like mine did and the FRER definitely has a line. I bet it's darker today. If you go back to page 792 you can see the line progression of my Wondos I posted for someone recently- you can compare yours. I think yours looks good!

 

[ladyciel]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Congrats, Lavender! That's definitely a BFP. Sending lots of sticky dust!

 

[JGator]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Lavender, it it's pink on a wondfo, you are pregnant.

 

[Lavender_81]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

JGator - ahh this is crazy! I almost can't believe it, and I've spent all day wishing I had brought some tests to work (but also knowing constantly peeing on sticks in the bathroom isn't the best thing right now). I just feel like the line will disappear, kind of scared to test again when I get home in case it isn't there anymore. Congrats on your pregnancy - I've been following your story the last few weeks/months and so happy for you! Happy and healthy pregnancy!

April20 - I went back and looked at yours, and mine look similar. I hope I see the same progression going forward! Hope you're feeling good!

ladyciel - thanks so much!!

Called my doctor and scheduled an appointment for a few weeks from now. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but my work schedule is a bit crazy and I don't want to miss out on a decent appointment by waiting too long to schedule. I just know I'm jumping the gun here and I'm just so nervous because it's so early and did not expect this to happen this month (very happy, somewhat terrified, not complaining at all though). Just still in shock a little and don't believe it's real until I see several more days of darkening tests (hopefully!)

I've been getting sharp pains all afternoon in my lower left abdomen, but I don't know if it's something to be concerned about or just me thinking about it too much. I see a therapist on Wednesdays for anxiety, so of course now I need to wait till next week. Love that at least I have PS to talk to about this, since I don't want to tell any friends or family for a couple months...

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

I see two lines as well! Sticky dust to you!

 

[amc80]

Definitely two lines, congrats!

 

[JGator]

Re: The Official TTC Thread!

Lavender, feel free to join me in JBP and we can commiserate with the worry and the wait.