Home The Official TTC Thread!

[am04]

Date: 9/4/2008 12:40:20 PM
Author: Pandora II
I tested yesterday, today and intend to test every day until AF.


I have NO will power at all - and a house full of cheapy POAS tests.

My temps went back up today.


It''s a bit odd - I have 5 days left of this cycle and normally from about 7 days out my (*)(*)s start to get a lot heavier and a bit achy. I don''t seem to have anything like that at all. I do keep running to the loo though - and had to get up in the night which I NEVER do. I was panicking it would screw up my temps.


You just have to have 3 solid hours to get a ''real'' temp, right?


Anyway, I''m just not feeling it at all.....

Isn''t frequent urination often a pregnancy symptom?

 

[Pandora II]

Yup, but last cycle I had nausea, frequent urination, sore bbs, things smelt strange, over emotional, you name it - I had it!

So, I''m not getting my hopes up!

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 9/4/2008 12:14:22 PM
Author: peonygirl
Hi gals! Just wanted to let you know that I had my ob/gyn appt today and it went well! I really liked her! She''s really nice, gentle, and seems knowledgeable. I showed her my chart for this month, and she said that it looks great (I guess many of her patients bring in charts without a clear pattern). My chart is below. I didn''t really know who to pick because I recently went from student insurance to having a job, but DH asked his favorite ob/gyn prof for recommendations for someone on our insurance. She recommended two people and the other one wasn''t taking new ob patients. So yay! The only thing was that I was sooo nervous that I was having trouble getting out words. It was like, ''I''m trying to get um, um, um pregnant and here is my um, um, um chart.'' I do have a bit of a stutter, and it was acting up. Oh well. She was really nice about it, and she even said that she was impressed with how much I knew about cycles/charting.

Also, I tested this morning (8 DPO) and nada, but I was expecting that. I wish that I could be more zen about this, but it''s driving me crazy! I may test again on 11 DPO, unless you guys can convince me not to. Since the tests were so cheap and I have so many of them, it''s REALLY hard not to be tempted.

Peony, that chart looks really good!

Glad you liked your OB.

I will be very impressed if you can wait till 11DPO - oh to have your will power!

 

[lovelylulu]

peony that chart looks promising!!

From what I remember of the chart gallery on FF, CD11 was about the *earliest* that people seem to get a BFP . . .

amo4 - it''s completely normal to have a low at CD9! I think that O early. last month it was at CD 12. I also completely know what you mean by the end of Septmber being here before we know it - unfortunately, I also know that my hubby has to travel for work in October during what I anticipate will be BD time. boo.

pandora - lots of symptoms deserves lots of baby dust!

 

[am04]

Date: 9/4/2008 1:01:41 PM
Author: Pandora II
Yup, but last cycle I had nausea, frequent urination, sore bbs, things smelt strange, over emotional, you name it - I had it!

So, I''m not getting my hopes up!

Oops, I knew you had lots of symptoms last cycle, but I didn''t recall frequent urination being one of them. I thought maybe the lack of symptoms you had last time, coupled with a new one, could mean something. My bad!

 

[am04]

Date: 9/4/2008 1:21:15 PM
Author: lovelylulu


amo4 - it''s completely normal to have a low at CD9! I think that O early. last month it was at CD 12. I also completely know what you mean by the end of Septmber being here before we know it - unfortunately, I also know that my hubby has to travel for work in October during what I anticipate will be BD time. boo.





Hey Lovely! I know it''s totally normal to have a low on CD 9, just not for me. Like you, I''m usually an early ovulator! Boo for DH''s travel, as of now I''m scheduled to travel during Oct o time as well!

 

[lovelylulu]

am04- when do you normally ovulate? also, how long have you been using the CBE?

 

[am04]

Lovely- I usually o cd 12-14, most often on cd 13. I''ve been using the monitor for 6-7 cycles (yes, I started tracking early!). We will see what happens this cycle!

 

[drk]

Peony - Nice chart, and I''m impressed that you and Robbie can keep up with the BDing like you do. We cannot handle so many days in a row any more after nearly 11 years together and 3 years TTC. Of course maybe it''s being a resident that does it with all the early mornings and quite a lot of nights on call and being so tired all the time. I''m wondering if maybe you didn''t O until the day after your +OPK, since you didn''t get a temp that day and it might still have been low. Which would make you 7dpo. Just a thought so you don''t get too upset too early about BFNs when really it just may be too soon to get the BFP.

Robbie - Great marathon you have going on there! I was going to tell you pretty much exactly what Pandora did about the cervix check, though the sausage analogy didn''t occur to me. My cervix is definitely up the front wall, though I have a really anteverted (flipped-forward) uterus, so that may mean it points toward my tailbone much more than it would for the average person. I don''t feel like I have to reach in farther to feel it around O time (because of it''s angle), but it seems to me that it gets shorter and fatter and softer then, and the opening feels a little bigger. When it''s not fertile time, it totally is a long thin hard sausage. According to my RE, the CM is the best thing to go by anyhow, though I think it''s nice to chart to see the temp rise.

My RE had me go to some Creighton method training class to learn that method of charting. The same basic things are in the Justisse method: http://www.justisse.com/eBook.aspx This (if it''s the same one I looked at a couple years back) had some really good instructions on the sort of strict easy external way to monitor cervical mucus and consistently rate it so that you can really pinpoint your most fertile days.

Ebree - sorry to hear AF is knocking at your door. I''d probably give the clomid a rest next month too - I only ever produced one egg on it, and it played a number on my lining and cervical mucus after a couple cycles in a row. Since you have gotten pg before without too much delay, it might just be a matter of waiting for the right egg/sperm combo to come along and stick around, as painful as it is to deal with the losses. Heck, I got pg on my first femara cycle (clomid alternative), and that didn''t stick either, so it can''t have been a very good egg.

FebBride and BlushingBride and RadiantGirl - sorry to hear AF showed for you. Only a few days till your next BD fest starts. At least coming up to O, although I feel more stressed about trying to get my timing right, I still feel like I have a measure of control over things. In the 2ww, I hate sitting around just waiting and not about to do anything.

Mela - hope your premonition is right...

Amber - I read that book recently too, and enjoyed it. I can''t remember if I saw the film though. Did you ever see MaybeBaby? Mr Bean plays the IVF doc in it, which is pretty funny. Kind of stupid, but still funny.

Pandora - good luck with the testing!

Am04 - I only wish I O''d when you do! I''m lucky lucky if I O before CD18 or 19, and more often it''s CD20-21. With a long patch of fertile CM before that, which means we''re often all BD-d out by the time O rolls around.

AFM, I spent my due date night on call doing epidurals for pregnant women. I think I could have felt much worse. It''s a darn good thing I have lots of other stuff going on in my life right now (like the licensing exam prep stuff on top of work). Of course I totally wanted to take one of the C/S babies home with me he was so cute. One of the epidurals I did was at least for a woman who''d done IVF to get there, and there weren''t any 15 year old kids there with their total accident pgs giving birth, so that was a relief.

Time to do a little homework though before we head to a fancy fancy japanese restaurant to have a really expensive and delicious multicourse meal to celebrate DHs new job that he starts in 1.5 weeks. We usually save this for our anniversary or a birthday or something, but need to splurge for the job party now. Of course our normal dinner out is about $11 per person, so maybe my version of expensive isn''t the same as yours - we''re really into authentic ethic foods, which generally don''t cost an arm and a leg around here.

 

[drk]

And here''s my chart for the montt. Someone had asked if I charted. For years now. Of course some months I don''t bother temping cause I figure it''ll stress me out more, so I have sometimes just gone by CM in the past.

 

[Dreamer_D]

DrK that is a beautiful chart and your timing looks great! Are you dealing with PCOS? Someone implied that earlier... I should go back and read your past threads...

 

[lovelylulu]

dkr: i agree with DD - definitely a nice looking chart! and enjoy what sounds to be a very tasty meal!!

 

[peonygirl]

Thanks for all the nice feedback so far!

Drk, I didn''t know that you were a resident! This whole last month was during DH''s surgery rotation (he just started his M4 yr, but he''s still doing his last M3 rotation ''cause his schedule is weird), so you can bet that not all of the times we did it were fun. I will admit that and I''m sure he will too! I agree with you that I may have ovulated one day later than I thought. I had a 24-hr experiment that day, so I didn''t get enough sleep to temp.

Good luck to you! I think that you must be incredibly strong for TTC for so long. You can see that those of us on our first month are already going a bit nutty. Take care!

 

[littlelysser]

Hey ladies.

Just checking in.

Today has not been a particularly good day. I'm really sad. I've been cramping all day and I just started really bleeding.

I'm just not handling things well today. And I'm sure my wack-a-doo hormones aren't doing me any favors either. And I have to tell you, I'm not in any hurry to get back on the TTC wagon...We'll certainly be waiting at least the one month as per the doctor's orders...but this just stinks. I'm sure tomorrow will be better, but I think I'd rather have not gotten prego at all than to be prego for one stupid week and start to kind of really imagine having a kid and getting excited and giddy and buying all these prego books...only to find out it was all for not. So yeah.

I'm not doing great.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well.

I'm sorry I'm being such a downer. I just didn't want you guys to think I dropped off the face of the earth.

 

[Pandora II]

Oh Lysser,

I''m not suprised you''re feeling this way - your hormones will be having a fine old time at your expense right now.

Take some time to feel sad, upset, angry etc - it''s very justified.

Big hug and I hope you feel better soon.

 

[robbie3982]

Date: 9/4/2008 8:04:08 PM
Author: littlelysser
Hey ladies.


Just checking in.


Today has not been a particularly good day. I''m really sad. I''ve been cramping all day and I just started really bleeding.


I''m just not handling things well today. And I''m sure my wack-a-doo hormones aren''t doing me any favors either. And I have to tell you, I''m not in any hurry to get back on the TTC wagon...We''ll certainly be waiting at least the one month as per the doctor''s orders...but this just stinks. I''m sure tomorrow will be better, but I think I''d rather have not gotten prego at all than to be prego for one stupid week and start to kind of really imagine having a kid and getting excited and giddy and buying all these prego books...only to find out it was all for not. So yeah.


I''m not doing great.


Anyway, I hope you are all doing well.


I''m sorry I''m being such a downer. I just didn''t want you guys to think I dropped off the face of the earth.

I''m sorry, Lysser

. ::hugs::

 

[peonygirl]

Aww lysser, anyone would feel that way in your situation!! Lots and lots of hugs, and definitely try to do some fun/relaxing things this weekend.

 

[E B]

LL,

I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what to say other than it will get better. But you already know that. It might get a bit worse first, and you might cry on and off for a while (and don't let anyone tell you you shouldn't!) but it does get better. Big hugs to you.

Well, I thought AF would show today, but she hasn't yet. I had quite a bit of brown-tinged CM this morning, which made me grab a tampon, but when I went to change it, nothing. And nothing since. I'm still crampy, so I'm hoping she shows tonight, because its DHs birthday and I'd like to have a glass of champagne (or two!).

To be honest, I'm terrified to take a pregnancy test. So I'm going to wait, in denial, until AF shows or the cramping starts completely. If it makes any sense, I'd much rather think the cramps are AF on her way rather than, well, you know.

Ugh. I'll check back in later.

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Lysser- I''m sorry, really, really sorry that you are having to go through this. As I said before, it sucks. And don''t apologize for being a downer, you''ve suffered a big loss and have every right to be sad. I really can''t say anything to make you feel better at this point, but Ebree was right, you will feel better eventually. Take good care of yourself! And send your DH out for some sushi!! (which may or may not help, I think sometimes it made me feel worse to do things I hadn''t been able to before, rather than enjoying them)
One month doesn''t seem like long, especially given the emotional rollercoaster of a miscarriage. But hey, everyone''s different and some are ready to jump back on earlier than others. You''ll know when you''re ready.
Have you taken some time off from work (for some reason I can''t remember what you do?) I really don''t know if it''s better or worse to be at home or to keep busy.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Oh LL, I''m sorry today''s not been a good day. I know you''ll get through it and it sounds like your hubby will help you through it very well. Take care of yourself, sweetie.


I did do that thing you had mentioned, DD. I logged my temp. in at the lower number and I got a new thermometer today. Never noticed this, but it did have the little battery symbol flashing on the other one this AM (didn''t see it because it''s always dark when I temp and I hold my cell phone up to it to read it right before I go back to sleep for a little while). I tested it tonight to see if it was working. It is.

Ever since I learned where to temp in my mouth, I always put it in the same spot. Lesson learned last cycle!!

I''m trying not to be too excited, but my goodness, I put in another temp for tomorrow to see if I''d get cross hairs and I did. Eeek! I may be an ovulating lady!!

And what''s more, if I did ovulate yesterday or so, my cycle this month will likely be WAY closer to the average now. Hot Diggity Dog!

Can I just tell you how excited I am to temp tomorrow? Very!

I do still have some fertile-style CM, but it seems (to me) to be a mixture between watery and creamy. Don''t know if that''s normal, but that''s what it looks like to me. Not sure what to log it as, so I''ve left it blank for today so far. Hope that doesn''t mess up the cross hairs thing.

I also got more prenatals today (Stuart, went with a different brand because they were buy one bottle get a second free. Hey, now I have a TON of them, should last through a whole pregnancy, maybe!!). Hoping they''ll help with the pukey feeling in the morning. Today was better than the last two, though, so maybe it was just a "wonky" thing.

I said "wonky" at work today. My friend looked at me like I was nutso. If only she knew the stuff that gets said in this thread. WONKY wouldn''t be the half of it!!

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Date: 9/4/2008 1:01:41 PM
Author: Pandora II
Yup, but last cycle I had nausea, frequent urination, sore bbs, things smelt strange, over emotional, you name it - I had it!

So, I''m not getting my hopes up!

Pandora, I have every *symptom* known to man, too. I don''t know why I do this to myself, but every stinking time, I do...

I peed like four times at work today; got to thinking, wow. Maybe I''m preggo. Then I remembered: I''ve not even confirmed I ovulated yet. Nerd!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Fisher al lvery good news! It is normal to have CF that is a mix of fertile and non-fertile as the fertile phase ends (say that 5 times fast!).

Because tomorrow''s temp is so important, tonight you should do a little experiment with your new and old thermometers. Sometimes, a new thermometer can be calibrated a little differently--it may be 2/10th higher or lower than your current one. So tonight, take your temp with both thermometers, one after the other, a couple times so that you know how close they are... ignore the 1/100th number, and see where they stand to the nearest tenth of a degree. If you take your temp 3 or 4 times over the period of an hour or so, even taken that close together, your temp will vary. Record the temps your current thermometer and your new thermometer display at each measurement point. THen, you can look and see whether your new thermometer is always the SAME as your old one (i.e., rounded to the nearest 1/10th), or whether it tends to be a little higher or a little lower, again rounded to the nearest 1/10th. I did this once myself mid cycle when I needed to switch thermometers, and found that my new one was consistently about 2/10th lower than my old one. Such a difference doesn''t really matter when you are in the pre-O phase or in the post-O phase, but when you are trying to see ovulation it can make a big difference!

So tomorrow morning I''d temp with both thermometers. If for some reason your old once breaks or is wonky, you can verify it with your new thermometer, just be sure to adjust the temp on the new thermometer by whatever you need to, in order to keep it consistent with the temps you have been taking so far this cycle (so if your experiment tonight shows that your new thermometer is consistently about 1/10th lower than the old, tomorrow morning you would ADD 1/10th to your new thermometer temp to keep it consistent with all the others taken with the old thermometer).

I know this seems a little crazy, but I really really want you to get good data so you can confirm ovulation! I''d hate to see something silly like a thermometer mess things up!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Lyser I am so so sorry you are feeling so blue! {{{HUGS}}} You take all the time you need to process this experience. I know you feel pessimistic and defeated right now, but as others have said, you will heal in time and start to feel more optimistic again. You seem like a strong and resilient woman, and you have a wonderful and supportive partner... lean on each other and let yourself grieve. Healing will come. I'm sending hugs, love, and strength.

 

[AmberWaves]

LL, I''m so sorry today is a down day. Just know that it''ll be an upish day soon. I have no advice since my uterus remains empty, but please know that I''m here for you if you need it. Watch some good tv and take care of yourself.

 

[snlee]

littlelysser, I''m so sorry. Give yourself time to heal. Take care of yourself. Hugs.

EBree, maybe it''s implantation bleeding? How many DPO are you? I had implantation bleeding (pinkish then brownish discharge) and cramps for two days. I believe I was 11-12 DPO. I am still holding out hope for you!

 

[TravelingGal]

LL, I''m so sorry...my heart aches for you, it really does. Hugs to you.

 

[E B]

Date: 9/4/2008 10:45:33 PM
Author: snlee
littlelysser, I''m so sorry. Give yourself time to heal. Take care of yourself. Hugs.


EBree, maybe it''s implantation bleeding? How many DPO are you? I had implantation bleeding (pinkish then brownish discharge) and cramps for two days. I believe I was 11-12 DPO. I am still holding out hope for you!

snlee,

I think it may be too late for implantation bleeding. Depending on when I ovulated (either CD 16 or 17, so says my CBEFM), I''m 14 or 15 DPO. Last cycle, I had a 13 day luteal phase. So ideally, AF should have visited today.

I''m feeling pretty crampy right now though, so I think she''s on her way.

Thank you for the good thoughts, though!

 

[robbie3982]

And we have crosshairs!!! I'm doing a happy dance right now. The open circle is because I temped at 4 instead of 5:30 when I normally do since I really really had to pee. Thank goodness for the crosshairs because DH and I were spent and just couldn't DTD last night. I just searched for charts like mine based on BD pattern and 40% are pregnancy. So, at least all that BDing seems to have increased our odds a bit! Woohoo!

Let the knitting begin!

Fisher, I'm crossing my fingers that you'll be posting something very similar in a few hours!

Ebree, aren't you one of the ones who always says, "It's not over til it's over?"

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Okay ladies. I''m so super giddy right now. Hyper, in fact.

I did get the new thermometer last night and I tried to "calibrate" the two; however, the old one wouldn''t stay on the first three times I tried. Eventually, I got a temp. and the new therm. was reading .02 degrees lower than the old one. So, I still have the old one since you''re supposed to be able to change the batteries (but I can''t find where that is supposed to happen at), but I''m using the new one now. It''s the same brand, so I thought that may make it easier to have near the same temps from them. Just an idea, but not based on anything, really.

So, this morning my temp was 97.96. I dropped it by .02 for FF, to account for the difference. I think that I''ll just start doing the temp. I get from this new thermometer, though.

I couldn''t hardly sleep last night and I woke up twice (1am and 2:10am) to see what time it was, hoping it was time to temp. Nerd.

Anyway, so I temped 3 times back to back and got the same temp! Exciting!

And then I trotted my butt to the computer to log it into FF and guess what I got? Just guess!!

FF thinks I am an ovulating girl!!!!! That means one step closer to being a mommy some day. I''m so hyper excited. I cried. I told Paul, crying. He was like, Jen, that''s what we wanted, remember? Boys. They don''t understand happy tears.

Robbie, we are O buddies this cycle, it seems.

Here''s hoping my temps stay up and the cross hairs don''t go away!!

 

[Pandora II]

Humph, I am in such a horrible mood today.

I HATE my thermometer... how the heck is it possible that I take my temp 3 times, 10 minutes apart and I get 36.42, 36.63 and 36.74. I had the thermometer properly positioned each time, mouth closed, hadn't moved anything other than one hand to plonk said thermometer in mouth and fallen back asleep in between. Grrrrrrr.

It makes a huge difference to my chart which one I pick. My temp is either up, down, or very down. best course of action is probably to be pessimistic I think.

Add to that, I had possibly my first ever row with DH. I told him we were definitely not pg this cycle - I am just NOT feeling it at all. So he's says - ah well, back to the BDing.

TMI coming up... I tell him yes, but we have to use a different position. The missionary just does not work for him at all and so we always use 'woman on top'. I've heard that this is not the right one to use if you are trying to conceive. He tells me it's a load of rubbish and all positions are equally good. I basically tell him that if he's not going to cooperate we may as well basically give up because I'm not going to carry on all this palaver if he isn't prepared to make an effort for a couple of sessions. Left for work still annoyed and telling him if I'm not pg then he's going for SA as I know that my bits work fine.

Add to that I have a HUGE conference coming up where I am running 8 events, they still haven't appointed me a new PA since mine left in February

, I'm PO'd with my company for expecting me to run more events than previous years with no help at all. Something is going to go wrong and I hate that. But if it all goes fine because I have gone above and beyond for them (again) they will see no reason to get me someone new if I can do it all fine on my own...

Then the Chairman of one of the groups I am running 4 events for (where he is hosting) rang me last night to say his wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and has to go in for a mastectomy on Monday and won't be out of hospital until the Conference. So, not only am I hugely upset for him and his wife (who I know very well), but I'm now in dire straits for the Conference.

Oh, and we are still waiting for the sodding bank to confirm that we can go ahead with our house purchase. All our ducks are more than in their rows, but they are just messing about. Plus the Bank of England left interest rates at 5% yesterday for the 5th time in a row....

Hope everyone else is having a better day!

ETA: Yay Fisher - that is GREAT news! Welcome to the knitting club. Fx for you.