The Official TTC Thread!

[anchor31]

Date: 6/8/2009 9:46:31 AM
Author: blushingbride
...and I got this on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!

OMG - I''ve been freaking out alll weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I''m so excited for you!

 

[curlygirl]

blushing, holy crap, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

I''m totally a lurker on this thread but always felt the NYC connection to you and have been secretly following your journey. I am soooooooooooo excited for you! The timing is unbelievable! I was just catching up on your CRMI appt and was going to tell you some great success stories but it looks like you went and did it on your own anyway! You''re in great hands with NY Presbyterian--I delivered at the sister hospital up at Columbia since that''s where my doctor is but if I had my choice, I would have loved to have been at Cornell. Anyway, just wanted to add my best wishes and sticky vibes. Can''t wait to follow along with your pregnancy now! Enjoy every minute of it, you deserve it!!!

 

[Krissie]

Date: 6/9/2009 11:09:04 AM
Author: Loves Vintage
I guess I have another question -- is this normal? To have a 26 day cycle one month and a 31 day cycle 8 months later (and now possibly a 33 or more -- why are those tests all negative?!?!)? It seems like a big discrepancy. I haven''t used birth control pills for over 5 years, and even then, it was only for two months maybe before I realized I could not handle the side effects, so that''s not my issue.


Should I talk to someone about this? My regular gynecologist (who does not do obstetrics and who seemed relatively uninterested in my fertility type questions the last time I was there)??


Sorry that I freak out every month (well for two months now, anyway), and I rarely contribute to this thread otherwise. I hope that doesn''t make me seem like this:

.

Hi LV! I''ve had really wacky cycles lately. I went from 34 to 31 to 28 to 26 to 34 to 38! I''m going to put a couple of months into temping before I see a Dr, but it''s kind of bothering me because FF can only pinpoint a whole week in which I may potentially ovulate ...

 

[Krissie]

Congratulations, Blushing Bride! Wonderful news!!!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Krissie - Wow, that must be very frustrating for you!! I would be going nuts to have gone from 26 days to 38 days in such a short time period!! Have you been testing during these longer cycles?

I actually just called my doctor to see if she things it might be worthwhile to have a blood test!!! She can always tell me no, right, but I am really wanting to talk to her about it, I guess. DH thinks I'm impatient. And, he's absolutely right!!

Thanks for sharing your cycle lengths. It does help to know that this is normal!!

Fisher - Thanks for your post. You are right, looks like this will be quite the journey. Perhaps "will" was a poor word choice on my part. I guess what I was thinking is that I know that no AF is the result that I want, so somehow internally, subconsciously, unintentionally I am causing AF to stay away, even though I am not actually pregnant. As you mentioned, though, it could be some internal stress (that I am not even really consciously aware of) that is delaying AF, which in the end, is only delaying my objective, so perhaps I should just chill out!!

Update: Just received a call from my dr. She wants me to wait a week before taking an at home test again. LOL! Oh well, I guess I wanted to know how long she thought I should wait, so there's my answer. Ok, so maybe I need a new hobby . . . .

 

[melz]

Blushing CONGRATS! I just popped in to see what was happening and I saw people congratulating you .... I had to go back page after page after page to get to your initial announcement! Everyone is so happy for you and rightfully so. That''s fabulous. Enjoy the ride.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Vintage,

Too funny. I think we could be analytical thinker twins, lady! I put myself through that same line of constant thoughts so often about this baby business. Luckily, it tends to come in and then wane, and it''s always a relief when it fades a bit. My dr. office is used to my many random questions by this point in time, and I''m so thankful they''re nice and patient with me!!

Good luck to you getting out of this roadtrip to motherhood soon!!

***
Melanie!

How have you been? I was thinking about you the other day, wondering how things were going in your life. Hi, girl. You''ve been missed here!

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 6/9/2009 12:29:47 PM
Author: peonygirl
OMG Blushing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What great news!! I am so, so happy for you! *lots of sticky vibes* I can''t wait to see you on the preggo thread.

Vintage, have you gone of the pill recently? After I went off my cycles started at 31 days and kept getting longer and longer until they were about 60 days. I hope this doesn''t happen to you!! Cycles over 40-45 days can be a sign of PCOS, but there is nothing wrong with cycles around 35 days. 28 days is just an average.

Thanks Peony!!!!!!!!!!!! You most definitely know how long and hard the road of TTC can be.

You''ve been such a positive force for all of us here on this thread.

I might peak my head into the preggo thread sometime soon.

 

[Dandi]

Just delurking to say a huge congrats to blushing!!!!!!! I''ve been following your story though this thread and am so so so thrilled for you!!!!!!

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 6/10/2009 10:46:59 AM
Author: curlygirl
blushing, holy crap, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

I''m totally a lurker on this thread but always felt the NYC connection to you and have been secretly following your journey. I am soooooooooooo excited for you! The timing is unbelievable! I was just catching up on your CRMI appt and was going to tell you some great success stories but it looks like you went and did it on your own anyway! You''re in great hands with NY Presbyterian--I delivered at the sister hospital up at Columbia since that''s where my doctor is but if I had my choice, I would have loved to have been at Cornell. Anyway, just wanted to add my best wishes and sticky vibes. Can''t wait to follow along with your pregnancy now! Enjoy every minute of it, you deserve it!!!

Thank you curlygirl!!!!!!!!!!!! You were actually the first person who gave me advice on the various hospitals in the city. Luckily, I couldn''t stand my OBGYN and needed to switch anyway. I''ll definitely keep you posted on everything and might have questions about raising a baby in NY!

 

[blushingbride]

Thanks to everyone who have been sending me well wishes!!!! I replied personally to some of the posters who I know or have had a connection with in one way or the other, but I truly appreciate all the congratulatory posts from everyone else!

I just had my second blood test this morning so, now I''m just waiting for the results and will find out my next steps.

Baby dust to all of you who are TTCing - I can not wait to see each of you post your BFPs!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXO

 

[Loves Vintage]

Date: 6/10/2009 7:53:34 PM
Author: fisherofmengirly
Vintage,

Too funny. I think we could be analytical thinker twins, lady! I put myself through that same line of constant thoughts so often about this baby business. Luckily, it tends to come in and then wane, and it's always a relief when it fades a bit. My dr. office is used to my many random questions by this point in time, and I'm so thankful they're nice and patient with me!!

Good luck to you getting out of this roadtrip to motherhood soon!!

Yes, Fisher, I think that sounds about right! Analytical thinker twins it is!

So, my temp dropped this morning. AF arrived this afternoon, so at least my temp accurately reflected what was happening physically. DH is now involved with my temping. He's responsible for recording my temps since I have only done so sporadically on my own!! So, I expect at least to have a good record next month!!

 

[mela lu]

Blushing - I posted in the Preggie thread too - but wanted to catch you here as well. CONGRATS girlie! You SO deserve this after your journey. Wishing you the stickies and healthiest little half-Croatian bean

Those little Croats are cuties for sure (if I do say so myself). xoxoxoxoxo to you!

 

[LAJennifer]

Hi Ladies. Time for me to join this thread (I think?). This month is our first month of trying (but I''ve been charting for a long while). I would post my chart - but I don''t know how.

 

[melz]

Fisher thanks for thinking of me! My next step was IVF and honestly, I just am so not ready to start taking all those drugs. So, I''m taking a few months off and actually have been having some acupuncture. Don''t know if it really works but I don''t think it can hurt. Much.

So I just stop in now and then to be sure I don''t miss any exciting (Blushing) news. Happy summer everyone!

 

[mela lu]

melanie - I did acupuncture the cycle before getting preggers with my DS. I''m not sure if if *helped* or if I would have gotten PG anyways, but I agree - can''t hurt!

Best of luck!~

 

[Loves Vintage]

That's really interesting. I hadn't heard of acupuncture related to TTC'g before. I've actually been thinking of going to a hypnotherapist (who I've visited in the past with great success in dealing with other issues) to get my head in the right place. I am absolutely convinced that I am delaying my own cycles because I'm somehow telling my body that I don't want AF to arrive. DH thinks that my theory is nuts! And, admittedly, it may sound that way to some. I really think that we can influence our bodies in ways that we are unaware of, at some subconsious level, even though we are not having actual thoughts in our conscious mind.

Since I haven't been very diligent about charting and timing thus far, I am going to give it another month on our own before going to see the hypnotherapist (who is also not a nut, btw, she's an actual therapist who helps patients to relax by deep, deep guided-meditation, which was wonderful to experience)!!

And, WELCOME LA Jennifer!! If you want to post your chart, I think you can 'right click' on it, save it as a jpg and then post on here as you would a regular photo.

 

[drk]

Melanie - I just got through my first IVF retrieval without any drugs on board. It wasn''t so bad. The big hassle with IVF isn''t the drugs for me, but rather the incessant bloodwork and ultrasounds they do at my clinic. They really interfere with work. If I were working flextime like I did in my previous career, there''d be no problem at all. And then there''s the money factor. Luckily right now my drugs are all covered by insurance (for the next 3 weeks and then I''m out of luck), but the IVF fees themselves can be steep. Other than that, I''ve felt totally find on all the meds. I wouldn''t have know I was doing IVF if it weren''t for the ultrasounds and bloodwork telling me things were growing in there. Maybe I just got lucky that I wasn''t on a lupron at all, but did a short antagonist cycle instead.
I agree that you just have to save your chart as a jpeg and attach it as usual here.

Hope everyone else is doing well! I don''t always post much because it''s hard for me to get on here and see nearly everyone join and leave with their BFPs in fairly short order, while I''m still here and not pregnant. It''ll be 4 years of trying in September, and 3 years with medical assistance. I sure hope this IVF does the trick! We''ll get our fertilization report tomorrow, and I pray it''s a good one.

Kate

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Kate- glad the retrieval went well. I hope your report tomorrow is a good one!!!

 

[applequeen]

Hi everyone... I''m finally checking back in after being MIA for several days. Work has been insane and there really isn''t much going on on the TTC front these days. I''m basically just waiting to see what is happening with this first cycle off BC. If I stick to the 28 day cycle I was on with the pill then AF should arrive next Saturday (June 20). I''m just curious to see when it actually comes and to get started charting at the beginning of a cycle. I''m wondering what is going on with my temps since I I have yet to break 97.7 (although there was a pretty big spike to get to that point). It just seems that my temps are all on the low side. . I was reading in TCYOF last night that most of the time pre-ovulatory temps are below 97.7 so I''m wondering if I''ve ovulated at all (I am pretty sure I did last week). I did have a bit of a spike from 6/9-6/10 when it went from 97.35 to 97.70 and it was 97.63 yesterday and today. I really thought I ovulated last week but it doesn''t seem to be matching up temp wise. Any opinions? I tried to post the chart but I can''t get it to work.

I do admit though I am having the "what if I''m pregnant" thoughts... sore nipples and the smallest possible amount of spotting yesterday (could it have been implantation bleeding?).. but I''m sure that most likely all of this is just typical hormonal stuff and that''s what I''m telling myself. My goal is to wait until June 27 and if AF hasn''t arrived I''ll test.

I posted last week about my husband''s not so great response to my "I think I''m ovulating do you wanna..." approach. We talked about it and he said that he actually DOES want to know what''s going on but it just came as a surprise to him (this is our first month after all). He actually surprised me on Friday when he came to me with all sorts of "facts" he''d learned about TTC... he''d been doing some research on his own. I''m the one that usually does the research in our family and I loved the fact he''d been doing some reading on his own.

BTW... Welcome LAJennifer... great to have another newbie!

 

[melz]

Date: 6/12/2009 12:58:28 PM
Author: drk
Melanie - I just got through my first IVF retrieval without any drugs on board. It wasn''t so bad. The big hassle with IVF isn''t the drugs for me, but rather the incessant bloodwork and ultrasounds they do at my clinic. They really interfere with work. If I were working flextime like I did in my previous career, there''d be no problem at all. And then there''s the money factor. Luckily right now my drugs are all covered by insurance (for the next 3 weeks and then I''m out of luck), but the IVF fees themselves can be steep. Other than that, I''ve felt totally find on all the meds. I wouldn''t have know I was doing IVF if it weren''t for the ultrasounds and bloodwork telling me things were growing in there. Maybe I just got lucky that I wasn''t on a lupron at all, but did a short antagonist cycle instead.
I agree that you just have to save your chart as a jpeg and attach it as usual here.

Hope everyone else is doing well! I don''t always post much because it''s hard for me to get on here and see nearly everyone join and leave with their BFPs in fairly short order, while I''m still here and not pregnant. It''ll be 4 years of trying in September, and 3 years with medical assistance. I sure hope this IVF does the trick! We''ll get our fertilization report tomorrow, and I pray it''s a good one.

Kate

Kate what did you mean by "without any drugs on board?" I thought maybe you meant you did it with no drugs, but then you said later they didn''t bother you. The drugs are my main worry, so it''s good to hear they didn''t bother you. With clomid for the iui''s, by the second month I was getting really bloated and they were affecting my mood. I think it caused some weight gain as well but maybe that is a convenient excuse.

Anyway how did it go? My understanding is that they would get as many good eggs and then try to make a number of embryos. Two would be implanted and the rest frozen for later tries. Is that what you did? I''m taking notes re your no lupron short anatogonist cycle instead. I don''t know what it means, but if it''s less drugs I''m all for it. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 6/11/2009 5:44:27 PM
Author: mela lu
Blushing - I posted in the Preggie thread too - but wanted to catch you here as well. CONGRATS girlie! You SO deserve this after your journey. Wishing you the stickies and healthiest little half-Croatian bean

Those little Croats are cuties for sure (if I do say so myself). xoxoxoxoxo to you!

Awe, thank you Mela! I responded to you on the preggo board, but wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to you as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Romeo is just DARLING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Croats DO make adorable babies - Romeo is definiely proof of that!!!!! I can''t wait to watch him grow!

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 6/12/2009 12:58:28 PM
Author: drk
Melanie - I just got through my first IVF retrieval without any drugs on board. It wasn''t so bad. The big hassle with IVF isn''t the drugs for me, but rather the incessant bloodwork and ultrasounds they do at my clinic. They really interfere with work. If I were working flextime like I did in my previous career, there''d be no problem at all. And then there''s the money factor. Luckily right now my drugs are all covered by insurance (for the next 3 weeks and then I''m out of luck), but the IVF fees themselves can be steep. Other than that, I''ve felt totally find on all the meds. I wouldn''t have know I was doing IVF if it weren''t for the ultrasounds and bloodwork telling me things were growing in there. Maybe I just got lucky that I wasn''t on a lupron at all, but did a short antagonist cycle instead.
I agree that you just have to save your chart as a jpeg and attach it as usual here.

Hope everyone else is doing well! I don''t always post much because it''s hard for me to get on here and see nearly everyone join and leave with their BFPs in fairly short order, while I''m still here and not pregnant. It''ll be 4 years of trying in September, and 3 years with medical assistance. I sure hope this IVF does the trick! We''ll get our fertilization report tomorrow, and I pray it''s a good one.

Kate

Drk - fingers and toes crossed for you during the IVF process! I truly hope you get the BFP you''ve been waiting for - I wish you all the best!!!! Prayers and dust by the truck load being sent your way!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Hey Melanie- good to see you around! I can''t answer for Kate but I can chime in with my experience with the injectables. (so far). This is our first month with follistim, and so far I have had no side effects. This is so much better than the clomid in my opinion. Anyway, I do the ovidrel (hcg) trigger tonight and the IUI is Sunday. I''ll see about side effects after that but so far this is a cakewalk compared to clomid. It is quite a bit more monitoring but I sort of like that better anyway.

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Applequeen- regarding temps, I think everyone is different but my pre o temps are usually around 96.8-97.2 or so and post o temps are usually about 97.8-98 or so. My coverline is usually about 97.6ish. For some women, their temp rise is only about 0.3 degrees or so, mine is usually about 0.5. I would love to see your chart if you can figure out how to post it!

 

[applequeen]

Ok so let''s see if this works... again... I only started this late last week so there my not be enough data to really see anything. Since this is my first month off BC I''m thinking next month will be easier to see a pattern.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/12/2009 3:24:10 PM
Author: applequeen
Ok so let''s see if this works... again... I only started this late last week so there my not be enough data to really see anything. Since this is my first month off BC I''m thinking next month will be easier to see a pattern.

Looks like you ovulated somewhere around CD 14 and the spotting the other day was mid-LP spotting.

 

[applequeen]

Date: 6/12/2009 3:50:38 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 6/12/2009 3:24:10 PM
Author: applequeen
Ok so let''s see if this works... again... I only started this late last week so there my not be enough data to really see anything. Since this is my first month off BC I''m thinking next month will be easier to see a pattern.

Looks like you ovulated somewhere around CD 14 and the spotting the other day was mid-LP spotting.

Thanks! That''s actually pretty good news for me

If that is the case then it looks like I''m on track for this cycle to end and a new one to begin! Can you tell me why you think I ovulated? What should I be looking for? I guess if that is the case then (since I only started charting on CD 14) there wouldn''t be any pre-ovulatory temps to compare it to.

The spotting was strange though... I''ve never spotted (seriously...never) either before I went on BC or the 3 years I was on it...but given the hormonal adjustments I''m sure my body is going through this month I''m sure anything is possible.

 

[drk]

Tiffany - hope your IUI goes great on Sunday! I feel pretty bad for my DH with all of this, as he hasn''t always been good at overcoming his performance anxiety for semen analyses. I never really had side effects on clomid, aside from it drying up my CM after the first couple months. Femara was much better for that.

Applequeen - I was never sure how much DH wanted to know about ovulation timing when I was charting. After a few months of me ending up in tears because he didn''t want to BD when the time was right (because I hadn''t told him, just tried to jump his bones), things evolved into me just telling him he''d be needed every other night for the next few days to cover our bases. Somehow that seemed to stress him out a little less.

Melanie - I meant I did the retrieval without any sedation. Just local where they were putting the needle through. The stimulation drugs didn''t bother me at all. No side effects. Then again, I don''t tend to notice many side effects with any meds. Some people seem to claim they get weight gain from the injectibles, but I haven''t gained anything at all.
Retrieval was ok. I''ll know more about how it went tomorrow through Wed when I start getting the fertilization and growth reports. I think my doc was aiming for 10-15 mature eggs. I''ll find out about how many of the 16 eggs we got today were mature when they call tomorrow with the fert report. I''m praying a good % will have been mature and fertilized with ICSI. The plan is to transfer 2 day five embryos on Wed next week and to freeze whatever else of good quality is left over. I hope I''ll have some frosties, since frozen embryo transfers are a lot easier on you than a fresh cycle is.
I think lupron is a GnRH agonist. Lots of people end up on it to downregulate everything for their long agonist IVF cycles. You take it in the luteal phase of the previous cycle to shut down your pituitary and let the stimulation drugs take over entirely. It gets continued throughout the stimulation phase (I think at a lower dose) in order to prevent your body from trying to ovulate prematurely from the high levels of estrogen that develop with the stimulation. I think a lot of women have side effects from the lupron, because it effectively puts you briefly into menopause. Some talk about headaches, irritability, hot flashes etc. Those usually go away as soon as the stimulation phase starts and your body gets some estrogen on board again.
My protocol was an antagonist protocol, where we checked my bloodwork and ultrasound to be sure things looked reasonably suppressed on their own at the start of the cycle (I did birth control pill downregulation last try, but then didn''t respond well to the stims). Then I started the stims, and a few days into that started a GnRH antagonist, timed to rising estrogen levels and slightly larger follicles developing. The antagonist then prevents you from having your own premature LH surge by shutting down the pituitary. I''m not sure why some people get put on the long protocol, and others are put on the antagonist, but that''s what my doctor thought would work best for me. I hope he was right!

Enough babbling for now.

Thanks for the good wishes BB!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/12/2009 4:03:32 PM
Author: applequeen

Date: 6/12/2009 3:50:38 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 6/12/2009 3:24:10 PM
Author: applequeen
Ok so let''s see if this works... again... I only started this late last week so there my not be enough data to really see anything. Since this is my first month off BC I''m thinking next month will be easier to see a pattern.

Looks like you ovulated somewhere around CD 14 and the spotting the other day was mid-LP spotting.

Thanks! That''s actually pretty good news for me

If that is the case then it looks like I''m on track for this cycle to end and a new one to begin! Can you tell me why you think I ovulated? What should I be looking for? I guess if that is the case then (since I only started charting on CD 14) there wouldn''t be any pre-ovulatory temps to compare it to.

The spotting was strange though... I''ve never spotted (seriously...never) either before I went on BC or the 3 years I was on it...but given the hormonal adjustments I''m sure my body is going through this month I''m sure anything is possible.

I guess that based on your marking for CF, and also based on average times to ovulate. Also, it is not unusual to have spotting mid LP. There is a secondary surge of estrogen mid LP that can cause a little bit of utering lining to slough off. That type of bleeding is often called "implantation bleeding" but it isn''t always associated with being pg. The surge or hormones mid LP also can cause a dip in temperatures abd bleeding. Anecdotally, high levels of estrogen and thus a large mid-LP surge, are associated with becoming pregnant -- because of the high estrogen -- so a temp dip and mid-LP bleeding are often taken as possible signs that one is pregnant.

Next mont you will get a better idea of your temps! Also, when you get your period your temp will fall into your usual pre-O range, so you can compare that to the temps you have for the last couple weeks. Most people''s temps are in the same range pre- and post-O each month, which is useful because it can help you to detemine if you have ovulated.