The Official TTC Thread!

[Blenheim]

You can get them at the drug store, but you can probably find them cheaper online.

 

[sunkist]

Thanks Blen

I''ll go check them out tomorrow.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Sunkist,

I know what you mean about the market in Cali. That's one thing that helped to determine that we'd stay in GA for a while. The housing market is insane there. I'll be hoping you and your hubby (I'd forgotten his name til you posted the other day) find a great place for growing a family!!

Thanks for the compliments on our house. The left window upstairs is going to be the baby's room some day!

***
Ovulation predictors. I think I'll go ahead and order the 50 pack that Peony sent the link to, tonight. If they're from the pregnancy test place I ordered from back in 2008, they'll get here QUICK. $30.00 and 50 sticks. Hmm. Should be enough for a couple cycles at least (and by then, I'm bound to be pregnant, no?

)

***
Peony,

I showed Paul the at-home test you were telling me your hubby had taken. He wanted to know if your husband was "okay" with the way the test worked, and the way the results were displayed? Does he feel like he needs to follow up with a Dr., to verify? Also, when I was looking at the site, it made it look like the $89 test is for the male and the female, but I thought you said you'd not had your CD3 testing yet. So once again, I'm confused.

He's agreed to take the test *if* this new cycle isn't our cycle. I have a feeling he'll try to go to the next cycle after this cycle, though.

****
Natalina,

How are you feeling, lady?

****
Hoping everyone has a wonderful February!!

A short month, a short cycle for us longer cyclers? Wouldn't that be a nice treat!!!

 

[InLuv101]

Good morning ladies...

Fisher -- I''m so so sorry that this wasn''t your cycle and to hear of your fainting spell! I seriously think I am going to be more excited when you do get your BFP than when I get mine because I can hear in your words just how badly you want your baby. I know it will happen for you girl. He will give you the desires of your heart!

Natalina -- Congrats to you girly! I hope you have a joyous and healthy 9 months! Please do stick around as long as you''d like.

Festy -- I seriously can''t wait to see who your "alter ego" is!! Am I weird that I like GOF, lol

Shout outs to Sunkist, Novbride, BB, Mandarine, Sha, Amber, lulu, Peony, and anyone else I missed. ***baby dust to us all***


It''s CD10 over here...hoping for an earlier ovulation like last month (CD12). I hope you all have a nice day!

 

[Mandarine]

Ahh Fishy

I''m so sorry... It will happen, so hang in there. You guys will be such great parents one day!

Your house is beautiful!!! Congrats!

***********

Natalina - Congrats!!!! That''s funny you remember me

Best wishes for a healthy and happy 9 months!!!!

***********

This will be my first cycle trying. Since my cycles are on the short end (23 days) I will probably be ovulating very soon (even though I just got my period last week!). So I think by like Wednesday we should DTD/BD/GOF

Should we DTD everyday for a few days?.

I hope February brings many good news to all of you guys

 

[sunkist]

Happy Groundhog''s Day everyone!! (it''s just one of my favorite movies and I''m excited to watch it tonight

)

CD16 for me, I''m hoping we get a lot of BD in. I was hopeing to get hubby to go twice this weekend, didn''t work. Chart doesn''t look like I O''d yet, so I hope we can still catch it. K, off to the gym. Have a wonderful day everone!!

 

[Mandarine]

I thought I would share. My sister and I participated in the Race for the Cure this weekend. Her friend is very sick and we wanted to do something to show her our support!. Between my sister and I we raised almost $700!!!

My sister made cute matching shirts for her and I and we had a great race!. I''m so proud of my sister...she''s not a runner and ran the whole 3.1 miles (5K) and finished in 33 minutes!. I''ve been running since October and loving it so I''m hoping she gets into it with me!.

This is such a great cause. It was a very emotional day for us but it is amazing to see all the people that were there....grandmas, moms, sisters, friends, cousins as well as guys supporting the women in their lives! It is inspiring to see the strength these women have!. We have faith and hope her friend will be a survivor because she sure has put up a fight!!!.

 

[Mandarine]

My sister coming in!!!

 

[Mandarine]

Both of us back home showing the back of the shirts (with all the names of the people that donated for our team!)

 

[Mandarine]

Thanks for letting me share

Happy Monday everyone!

 

[InLuv101]

Mandarine -- Your pics are so great! What an awesome thing you and your sister did! It looked like it was a blast and best wishes to your friend!

 

[blushingbride]

Hi Ladies!

Fisher - Sweetie, I''m sorry AFF showed up! I really thought you may have been preggos esp. when you mention the fuller (*)(*). I''ve noticed though that mine tend to get fuller and heavier during the 2ww. Here''s to the next cycle! Baby dust, baby dust, baby dust!

Natalina - CONGRATULATIONS!!! Sticky vibes for your little bean!

Mandarine - your pics are so touching and heartwarming. What a wonderful thing you both did for your sister''s friend! Every little bit helps and just think, after your efforts we are one bit closer to finding cure!

As for BDing, doing it everyday will give you the best chances, but EOD also does the trick too! Good luck!

CD 8

 

[Festy]

Hi guys,

Fisher, what a great house! It looks like the newer version of ours. I love a front porch. Just for fun, and because I have no chart or BFP to post, here''s our place with DH and me on the front porch.

I''m also going to try out the OPK test strips I got from earlypregnancytests.com. Didn''t realize that they''re the kind that require a cup for your pee.

I think our juice glasses are out, so I''ll have to find an alternative! I''m hoping they correspond with my chart because I''m getting tired of charting. I went back to it this month and I am just not sleeping well at all.

Peony, thanks for the information on Fertell. I was going to ask for your advice on the OPK strips, but I think I''ve got enough to go on for now...

Mandarine, great photos of you and your sister! Congratulations to both of you.

InLuv, I have totally been thinking the same thing about Fisher''s future BFP. I am truly enjoying my time alone with DH and so I feel like I want this way more for you ladies than for myself!

CD 8

 

[mela lu]

Just popping in to say CONGRATS to Natalina!!

Can't wait to see you in the Preggo thread when you're ready!

Sunkist - great pics!! Love your PPB diaper bag

Fisher - so sorry about AFF. Really, I'm just waiting for "your ship" to come in. Thoughts and love to you for next go 'round.

Festy - you are now 'the curious case of Festymin Button'. WHO ARE YOU?

Mandarine- good for you girl!! Cute tanks you had and congrats on running for the cure

So worthwhile!!!

ETA: all y'all have SUCH nice homes!!!! I'm panging with jealousy a bit! WOWZAS!

 

[sunkist]

Mandarine, cute shirts your sister made! And congrats to you and your sister on the run. That is so great. And best wishes for your friend.

And, yay for your BD time coming up Since you don''t know exactly when your O is or how long your LP is, I think it would be a good idea for you to BD the week after your AF week. If your hubby can handle everyday, I say do it! If that seems too stressful, go for EOD. Do you think your O is like between CD10 & 14? Good luck!!!

Festy, ooo you''ve got a cute house too! Lucky duck. It looks great. Love your porch too.



So, if I get any bit of a higher temp tomorrow, FF says I O''d on Saturday. That would be OK I guess. I just haven''t seen what I think is fertile CM mucus yet, and I want to see it, darn it!

hehe, Ok, DD, now I''m becoming impatient

If my temp goes down tomorrow, I hope it''s a big dip cause that means I''m probably O''ing tomorrow. I''m going to the store to look for some OPKs.

 

[sunkist]

Alright, I just bought some First Response OPKs, took the test, and I thought it came up positive right away. But now I''m reading the directions and it says if the test line is lighter than the reference line it''s not an LH surge. So does anyone else want to take a guess? The Right line is the reference, so does the left line look a bit lighter to anyone?

(this is NOT a preggo test! I don''t want anyone to get too excited

)

 

[Sha]

Whew, sunkist! You had me there for a minute!! I was like, "Sunkist's PREGNANT?!!"

But I remmeber you just had AF too....

OPK's are so difficult to read sometimes...

That looks pretty close to positive to me. Some women never get a line that's as dark as the control line - so I've read. Is this your first time using them? I would probably BD to be on the safe side - probably in your next cycle (if you have one!) you'll be more familiar with how the lines shape up for you.

I'm starting my OPK"s tomorrow.

Peony - thanks for sharing your chart, and for explaining about the weak ovulation. I totally see what you mean from your chart. Is that how your temps look this cycle, too?
--------------------------------------------------

Cute pics of houses and races, Festy, Mandarine, and Fisher! Thanks for sharing!

 

[sunkist]

Sha, oops sorry, I was afraid it would excite someone

Ya, this is CD16 for me and first time ever taking an OPK. I realized that O should be here anytime (if not already) but I still haven't seen my fertile CM come in since I've been off BC. So I decided to try an OPK. I took another test an hour after this one and it looks mostly the same. I don't know if you can tell in the photo but the test line is slightly darker on the left side of it. And I think that small outline color matches the Reference line.

Hope i'm not confusing you all. I probabaly am.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Mandarine,

You go, girl! What a nice thing to do not only for your sister''s friend, but for all women! My grandmother died of breast cancer when I was six years old, and two of my aunts on my father''s side have battled the cancer and won!! So, I know it hits home for almost everyone, because everybody knows somebody who''s battled it out. Thanks for helping with the cure. I''ve often thought about doing the three day, but I''ve not got the courage yet.

And what a way to do the race and look good, too!

***
Festy,

What a pretty house! I love the color and the greens around it! I have to admit I was trying to squint my eyes to see if I could make you out and remember you from an earlier post as the poster previously not known as Festy, though.

***
Sunkist,

Now, I''m totally new to this and I''m still trying to decide if I''ll be doing the OPKs or not, but what I read on them in the past few days was that ANY portion of the line being the same intensity or darker than the test line is a positive. But I see how you''d be confused. I wonder if this is something that will help me or just add to my complete confusion.

Anyway, I saw on peeonastick.com a bunch of examples of the positives for an OPK, and a lot of them were lighter than the test line, but on the far end of the color line on the results side, there would be a DARK color. They''re calling this a positive.

Good luck figuring it all out.

Just in case, I''d BD, though.

***
Tums. Okay, my sister in law took two Tums every day that she was pregnant, for calcium purposes. I was thinking with the prenatals I wouldn''t need that, but it''s only like 20 percent of what I''d need daily. I do drink a glass of milk or have yogurt each day, but now I think I''ll start on Tums, too. Hmm. The fruity ones aren''t too bad. The mint ones taste like powdered puke, though.

***
It looks like we''re in a lull in the testing for babies growing in us stage. Ho hum. Hoping the best of the best for everyone!!

Paul started on his One A Day Men''s Formula vitamin yesterday. I have high hopes that he''ll keep it up. If for nothing else, he really, really doesn''t want to do that test on the little swimmers!

Hey, if it works....

CD4, oh the thrills. Period''s over though, so I still have the reliability of a 2.5 day period. Yay!!

 

[blushingbride]

Sunkist - it looks lighter to me. That''s the thing about OPKs, they are way too confusing in my book. That''s why I ended up buying the CBE monitor which takes ALL the guess work out. I was getting tired trying of trying to figure out if the line was dark, etc.

Wait and see what happens today.

 

[Mandarine]

I''m glad you guys liked the pictures

It''s really emotional to be part of these type of races...so even if you are not a runner and would only walk...I recommend you do it! it''s very rewarding

So today is CD 6 for me...and according to the ovulation calendars I have used online my fertile days start tomorrow (CD 7) until Sunday (CD11)...and I would ovulate probably Saturday. I know that won''t be exact since I''m not really taking my temperature or anything like that...but should I just use that as a guide?. I think that assumes my LP is 14 days, but with a shorter cycle (23) that could be a little shorter, right?

 

[peonygirl]

Sunkist, I totally thought you were pregnant, ha! That could be a positive (the cycle I got pregnant my OPK was exactly the same color as the control line), but I think that you need the context of other tests on other days to interpret the line. In my first three cycles (the normal-lengh ones!) mine would peak over 5 days and the last day would be darker than the control line. Then after it peaked it would quickly fade to nothing over the course of 2 days of testing.

I would BD tonight if possible, just to make sure.

And did you take it this morning, or yesterday? As you probably read on the package FMU is too early to take those tests (LH peaks in the early afternoon, like 11-12).

I'm in a rush, but I will respond to the rest of you after work!


ETA: I see you labelled it 2/2, duh! I do think that it helps to take them in the early afternoon because the few times I did one then and at night the evening one was always lighter. Then again, if you can't take them during the workday, right when you get back from work should be fine!

 

[Festy]

Sunkist - hm, having no experience with this, I''d agree with the others and say BD just to be safe. Next cycle you''ll have a much better idea how to interpret these lines.

Oh my...I don''t see how I can possibly PIAC (do we have an acronym for this yet?) at work! Thank goodness I tend to ovulate around the weekends. I''ll probably do my first OPK strip tomorrow after work.

Hehe...for all of you trying to squint at my photo...this is the first one I''ve ever posted on PS (other than my rings). Sorry...

I never posted in LIW or BWW under my other username. Really, honestly, this is going to be a huge letdown, I am already dreading disappointing you all! There''s going to be a collective "Who?" when I come clean.

I''ve already made more posts as Festy! Krikey, we need some baby news around here!

Love you guys!

CD 9

 

[sunkist]

Good morning everyone! Thank you so much for everyone trying to help me with the OPK. Peony, it was a late evening pee that I tested. I was going to try this morning, but now that you say afternoon is better I''ll try doing it at work (Sha I guess I''ll be PIAC at work too

)

Well we did BD last night, so we covered our bases! Temp went slightly up today, so now I''m confused. again

This is a very slow climb for me if I already O''d. But as always, we''ll see!

Fisher yay for a short AF

That''s always good news. I still think OPKs might be useful. I was looking at OPK progression pictures last night, where girls lined up their sticks from over a course of 5 days or so. You could usually totally see a progression of getting darker. I dunno. I''m going to test this afternoon and see how it compares to last nights.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/3/2009 9:22:37 AM
Author: Mandarine
I''m glad you guys liked the pictures

It''s really emotional to be part of these type of races...so even if you are not a runner and would only walk...I recommend you do it! it''s very rewarding

So today is CD 6 for me...and according to the ovulation calendars I have used online my fertile days start tomorrow (CD 7) until Sunday (CD11)...and I would ovulate probably Saturday. I know that won''t be exact since I''m not really taking my temperature or anything like that...but should I just use that as a guide?. I think that assumes my LP is 14 days, but with a shorter cycle (23) that could be a little shorter, right?

Don''t count on those counters, and don''t count on 23 days being your typical cycle length, which can be wonky coming off the pill! I think you need to cover from CD 6 until CD 21 to be completely safe (longest cycle minus 10 and shortest minues 16). I know that is a longish time, but you could do EOD. Or try every day for CD 8 to CD 16, the most likely fertile window.

If you can manage every day during that most likely time, you will optimize your chances, but many/most couples find that a little... ummm.. tiring!

 

[natalina]

Hi guys! Work has been CRAZY for a couple days so I''ve been MIA, but trying to catch up this morning.

First of all, I have to say to Fisher, I am SO sorry to hear you news and I feel bad that I am a couple days behind in telling you how much I feel for you. I was just sure that this was your month, and had been thinking about you daily. What a scary episode in the grocery! It sounds like you are feeling a bit better about it now, and I''m happy to hear that you are ready to give it a go again this cycle. Big hugs to you.

Sunkist- your bag and litle dog are so cute!

Festy and Fisher- ooooohhhh...I just love both of your homes. They look like they would always be warm and cozy and happy inside.

Mandarine- Thank you to you and your sister for your work in supporting such a great cause. Hugs to your friend.

Thanks to everyone for the congrats! We are so excited. Still waiting for it to really feel "real". DH is still too nervous to talk about names, nurseries, etc., which I think is sweet. I think he will feel much better after my first dr. appt next Tuesday. I know we still won''t be in the clear, but I think visiting with the dr will make it feel much more official. I don''t feel much different at all. (*)(*) are a little sore, mostly just nips. I still feel a bit crampy, but nothing much else.

I''ve attached my chart for Jan. It doesn''t have too much info, since I was still really figuring out CM, didn''t add other stats, only logged BD''ing around O, and stopped charting after BFP. We didn''t do anything unusual, this was really our first month really giving it a shot

(that''s hard to say because I feel like that just isn''t fair when so many of you have been trying for so long- I''m sorry). DH travels A LOT, so I think we were just really lucky that he was home at O time this month. Kinda of fun, I O''d on Jan. 12th, which is DH''s birthday

. I sneaked a test in on the 26th even though DH didn''t want me to because I was dying to know, but I wasn''t sure it was positive. It was a VERY faint line and I just wasn''t confident. So I waited a couple days and tried again on the 28th and it was a lot darker. I know I posted on the 27th that I hadn''t tested yet, but I just wasn''t sure enough of the results to count on it. I will try to attach both tests. Pics are a bit fuzzy because I took them with my phone.

Thanks too to the ladies that have invited me over to the preggo thread. Hopefully be over there soon. And I really hope lots of the ladies here can make the move along with me!

 

[natalina]

Okay, having trouble resizing phone pics and need to leave for work. Will be back tomorrow to give it another shot.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[natalina]

Couple stats I just thought of that maybe I should have put in the post with my chart

I''m 32. DH just turned 38. Was on BC pills for years and Sept. ''08 was my last month. Started charting a bit in November. Got serious about it in December, and started trying in January. I''m a vegetarian and have been taking prenatals for about 2 1/2 months.

 

[Festy]

Natalina, thanks for posting your chart! There is absolutely no need to apologize for getting KTFU right away! It''s very sweet of you to be sensitive but please know that there are never any bad feelings about anyone getting preggers. Ever! Thanks for posting your pee sticks too! (Never thought I''d type those words in a sentence).

 

[InLuv101]

Good Afternoon lovely ladies!

Natalia -- Thanks for posting your chart! I can imagine it doesn''t really feel real yet but I''m sure it will soon! Please don''t be sorry that you got KTFU so soon, we really are happy for you girl!

Festy -- Beautiful house and yes I was squinting to see your face, lol.

Sunkist -- Man, those things look confusing

Maybe that''s why I''ve never tried using them. Sorry I can offer you any help with those

Mandarine -- Good luck with the BD marathon. Do you think you will go for every day or EOD?

Shout outs to everyone else...I think most everyone is waiting to O so happy BD!
********************************************************************
It''s CD11 here. I *think* I may have O''d yesterday since my temp shot up today and that only ever happens when I''ve O''d. 2 more high temps & I''ll get crosshairs. We''ve had well timed BD so that is a plus! If I did in fact O yesterday, it would be on CD10 which is so so early! Last month it was on CD12 and every previous month was CD15-17. I guess I shouldn''t complain really, it''s just weird how it moves around like that.