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Since the last getting knocked up thread has been dead for a couple of years, but I'm sure there are plenty of us trying, I figured I'd build it anew. This way we have a space to post about our trials and tribulations in trying to get knocked up. Feel free to introduce yourself, tell your story, or if you do get knocked up, say what worked for you. First thread is here: Gettin' Knocked Up. Internet test strips are cheap and I like peeing on things. (Might require archives?) If you have any good suggestions for resources, let me know and I'll add them to the OP. I'm including a few from the prior thread, but e.g. for cheap test sticks I've just ordered from Amazon so I don't know if the sites in the prior thread still hold up. If you've used them, let me know! Resources: Websites: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/getting-pregnant/in-depth/how-to-get-pregnant/art-20047611 -- In case you do need to know how babby is formed. https://www.tcoyf.com/ -- The companion website to Taking Charge of Your Fertility, linked below. Fertility Friend -- A website/app for charting ovulation symptoms (BBT, cervical mucus, etc). Very helpful for making sure you know when you're ovulating. Books: https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Anniversary/dp/0062326031/ -- Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which is generally presented as the holy grail of the fertility awareness method. It helped a lot of people in the prior thread figure out how their cycles were actually working so they could time sex right. I haven't actually read this one, although I did take a look at the author's website. https://www.amazon.com/Expecting-Better-Conventional-Pregnancy-Wrong/dp/0143125702/ -- Expecting Better, a book by an economist that takes a statistical look at the evidence for various dos and don'ts of pregnancy. She doesn't say what to do, just presents the studies backing up various pieces of evidence so you can draw your own conclusions. A friend's wife doesn't like that the author discounts animal studies, although said wife is a lab veterinarian so her perspective may be a little biased. https://www.amazon.com/Mayo-Clinic-Guide-Healthy-Pregnancy/dp/1893005607/ -- Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy, what it says on the tin. It's been a handy reference guide for me. Taking a page from Aardvarklet's playbook, *****I HEREBY PROCLAIM THAT THIS THREAD SHALL CONTAIN NO STUPID ACRONYMS FOR SEX***** Emily Spinach fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Mar 3, 2020 |
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Mar 1, 2020 00:53
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I'll kick things off. I'm a 32 yo woman, been married for a bit over a year and a half. Got my copper IUD out last July and we've been trying ever since. I was peeing on sticks to test for ovulation from the get go, so I know all the unprotected sex we've been having has been well timed, but so far nothing. I probably ought to cut back on caffeine more than I have--I'm down to about 20 oz of caffeinated coffee a day. It really doesn't help that I'm on sertraline and sex does absolutely nothing for me anymore, so especially if I'm tired it's hard to get in anything approaching the mood. It also doesn't help that literally everyone else around me is pregnant or just had a baby, including my psychiatrist.  I'm excited for them, but it's still kind of a bummer because I want that to be me (and for some of them I was hoping we'd be pregnant around the same time so we could force our babies to be friends).
Emily Spinach fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Mar 1, 2020 |
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Mar 1, 2020 01:03
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Thanks for opening this new thread just in time for me to be relevant. I'm a 30 y/o woman, married since september and after our honeymoon this march we'll start trying. I've got a copper IUD (removing in april) and my cycle is pretty regular. We're approaching the casual angle of just having unprotected sex and seeing if it sticks. Gosh, I feel you. Everyone around me is either trying, already pregnant, or has a baby. I wish you the best of luck!
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Mar 1, 2020 09:59
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Hey, I'm not currently trying but struggled to get pregnant and eventually did with the help of Femara and the app/website Fertility Friend, which has a terrible name but is the best of it's kind I've found. Also took this supplement as I had PCOS and read it may help. I did get pregnant while taking it, but it's certainly one of those things that hard to know if it actually helped or not. I tried for many many months and worked with an OB for 4 months before we had success so don't freak out if it takes time. Good luck to everyone!!
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Mar 2, 2020 02:30
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Rocketwitch posted:Thanks for opening this new thread just in time for me to be relevant. Good luck to you too! I know plenty of folks for whom just having lots of sex worked, so fingers crossed! Marchantia, thanks for the links and recommendations. I've been thinking about supplements other than my prenatal, although as you say it's hard to know if they really help. On the other hand if they don't hurt, well... 
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Mar 3, 2020 00:17
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Hey friends. I’m glad to see this thread back. I’m 34 and the husband and I have been trying in a fairly casual way (just having sex whenever) for almost two years with no luck. I’m thinking that it may be time to get more serious about things so I installed an app. I thought things would happen right away, considering my two sisters were teen moms, but I am considerably older than them when they got pregnant. Hoping for the best for you ladies!
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Mar 11, 2020 22:27
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remigious posted:Hey friends. I’m glad to see this thread back. I’m 34 and the husband and I have been trying in a fairly casual way (just having sex whenever) for almost two years with no luck. I’m thinking that it may be time to get more serious about things so I installed an app. I thought things would happen right away, considering my two sisters were teen moms, but I am considerably older than them when they got pregnant. The app is a good plan, although unless your cycle runs like clockwork, be aware that it's only a rough guideline. My partner and I finally just got pregnant in January after 13 months of trying in earnest. We'd actually decided to take that month off of trying -- she was working through some childhood stuff and needed a break from sex -- but then we had sex once when she wasn't supposed to be fertile, and it happened. One other thing is ejaculation timing. Sperm production is apparently optimal after two days, so it can actually be better not to have too much sex (at least where your husband gets off). Also, yeah, it was kind of an emotional rollercoaster. The one upside was that after six months of not succeeding, my doctor gave us a referral to a fertility clinic for a checkup. The workup is covered under our provincial health care system (  ) so we got to find out that everything was working fine, and we should just be patient. They gave us a prescription for letrozole in case things dragged on too long and we wanted to try an intervention, but it ended up not being necessary.Anyway, best of luck!
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Mar 14, 2020 07:57
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remigious posted:Hey friends. I’m glad to see this thread back. I’m 34 and the husband and I have been trying in a fairly casual way (just having sex whenever) for almost two years with no luck. I’m thinking that it may be time to get more serious about things so I installed an app. I thought things would happen right away, considering my two sisters were teen moms, but I am considerably older than them when they got pregnant. It may be worthwhile seeing your doctor, if you can, just to make sure things are okay. And that's presuming you haven't already. Also, for everyone hoping to contribute to the covid-19 baby boom, remember to practice safe sex: 
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Mar 18, 2020 18:48
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We used 'The Stork' fertility device thing to help. No idea if it did much, but maybe it did? I guess we'll never know! What I do (thankfully) know is that we now do have a baby.
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Mar 28, 2020 14:30
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Angelwolf posted:We used 'The Stork' fertility device thing to help. No idea if it did much, but maybe it did? I guess we'll never know! What I do (thankfully) know is that we now do have a baby. Was it just an actual stork you trained to kidnap other people's babies? (But seriously, congrats!)
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Mar 28, 2020 17:53
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Yesterday I was at my ob/gyn and talked with him about family planning. He pulled my IUD and gave me some folic acid tablets. After that he asked if my vaccinations are up to date. Since I've lost my childhood vaccinations card some years ago and we can't be sure about my status, I'll get the MMR shot on monday. Now we have to have condom sex for 4 weeks, cause my IUD is in the trash. 
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Apr 15, 2020 13:15
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Rocketwitch posted:Yesterday I was at my ob/gyn and talked with him about family planning. He pulled my IUD and gave me some folic acid tablets. You didn't get the option to test your titers to see if you're immune? All my shots are up to date, but my doctor still offered the test. I didn't for MMR, but I did get tested for chicken pox (since I had a super light case when I was a kid) and toxoplasmosis (mostly because the test was cheap and it's an excuse to make my husband change the litter box if I ever actually get pregnant).
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Apr 15, 2020 14:23
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Emily Spinach posted:You didn't get the option to test your titers to see if you're immune? All my shots are up to date, but my doctor still offered the test. I didn't for MMR, but I did get tested for chicken pox (since I had a super light case when I was a kid) and toxoplasmosis (mostly because the test was cheap and it's an excuse to make my husband change the litter box if I ever actually get pregnant). No, he didn't offer to test my titers. I just looked it up and I think it's probably because the test costs money and the vaccination is covered by our universal health care. (I had chicken pox as a child and the toxoplasmosis titer test is covered in an early screening while pregnant) I don't have a problem with getting the shot, but it would have been nicer to get it with the IUD still inside. Instead I get to buy some condoms, which are still cheaper than the titer test.
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Apr 15, 2020 15:03
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Rocketwitch posted:No, he didn't offer to test my titers. Ah, got it. Look at you with your universal health care.
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Apr 15, 2020 19:56
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Timely thread is timely. Husband and I (both 33) just started trying in the last couple months. I've been casually tracking my periods and likely fertile periods in the Ovia app, but I just bought some ovulation strips since my cycle isn't regular (at least at this point--I've had a 23 and 28 day cycle since getting my IUD removed in February). Regardless, should be heading into my fertile period in the next week or so.
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Apr 23, 2020 01:22
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Can I just say anovulatory cycles when you're TTC suuuuck. Especially because (at least for me) they tend to be longer, assuming my longer cycles in prior years before I was tracking more than just my period were also anovulatory. I also hadn't had one of these long cycles for a couple of years, thought I was done with it. On a happier note, congrats remigious! Saw your post in the pregnancy thread.
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May 25, 2020 19:14
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Emily Spinach posted:Can I just say anovulatory cycles when you're TTC suuuuck. Especially because (at least for me) they tend to be longer, assuming my longer cycles in prior years before I was tracking more than just my period were also anovulatory. I also hadn't had one of these long cycles for a couple of years, thought I was done with it. Aww thank you so much! I’m so nervous because I’m 34 and so many things could go wrong...but trying to shove those thoughts to the back of my mind. Good luck to you!!!
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May 25, 2020 19:50
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Hi thread! Partner and I have started talking about timing and what not as far as having a baby. I'm early 30s and have never had a regular cycle, plus we both have close family with fertility issues, so I'm a bit nervous about how this is going to go. We aren't quite ready yet, but starting to look at starting prenatal vitamins, carrier screening, getting in better shape, etc.
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Jun 7, 2020 02:17
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veggiebacon posted:Hi thread! Partner and I have started talking about timing and what not as far as having a baby. I'm early 30s and have never had a regular cycle, plus we both have close family with fertility issues, so I'm a bit nervous about how this is going to go. We aren't quite ready yet, but starting to look at starting prenatal vitamins, carrier screening, getting in better shape, etc. Probably not a bad idea for both of you to have a check-up with a doctor, especially if you haven't had a well woman screening recently, if only to discuss your initial concerns and see if there's anything in your history that would make them want to start interventions earlier (and, if relevant, get insurance to pay for it). Good luck!
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Jun 7, 2020 02:25
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Definitely planning on getting a well woman check up and what not soon (new job so switching insurances, finally finding an obgyn). We do have a solid explanation on his side for the fertility issues, which are not hereditary, so that's reassuring. Hoping everyone in this thread can move into the pregnancy thread soon!
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Jun 7, 2020 02:32
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veggiebacon posted:Hi thread! Partner and I have started talking about timing and what not as far as having a baby. I'm early 30s and have never had a regular cycle, plus we both have close family with fertility issues, so I'm a bit nervous about how this is going to go. We aren't quite ready yet, but starting to look at starting prenatal vitamins, carrier screening, getting in better shape, etc. Honestly a ~day 18 ultrasound probably isn't a bad idea to do pretty soon with that history - just to get a lay of the land so to speak. I personally found that investigating early and finding out I did actually have fertility issues made it slightly easier to deal with the dud months - and the second the "stand down" period of trying with no assistance was over, we were straight into medication and the IVF waiting list.
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Jun 7, 2020 02:37
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Thanks, Tamarillo, I didn't even know that was an option!
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Jun 7, 2020 02:55
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Checking in from the men's side. Wife (31) and myself (34) have been trying since last fall -- at first once/twice a week or so while missing some weeks, since March have been trying to ramp it up. Wife has been actively tracking using the built-in iPhone app for the last two-ish months. She's been feeling down because it's taken so long (in her mind), she's worried about being too old, has stress from work, etc. Having a mini baby-boom amongst my friends and some of her colleagues isn't exactly helping either. I'm trying to do research on any supplements or other signs we can do. I'm trying to focus on patience, but she's not handling that part of it super well either
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Jun 16, 2020 03:13
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harperdc posted:Checking in from the men's side. Wife (31) and myself (34) have been trying since last fall -- at first once/twice a week or so while missing some weeks, since March have been trying to ramp it up. Wife has been actively tracking using the built-in iPhone app for the last two-ish months. I realize you posted this two months ago, but (if she's not pregnant yet) good luck! I know exactly how she feels. It doesn't help that not getting pregnant just adds to the stress and can create a bit of a feedback loop. Has anybody tried Mira (miracare.com)? Saw an ad for them. It's an opk that supposedly gives you your exact level of LH (and I guess eventually other hormones) and uses an AI algorithm to predict your cycles, supposed to be good for folks with irregular cycles. Seems like it could be interesting, and the sticks don't seem to be any more expensive than the clearblue sticks I'm using now. I'd ask my doctor, but I'm in the process of switching hospital systems for obgyn stuff since we decided it'd be better to deliver at a different local hospital if I can manage to get pregnant. I have an initial appointment scheduled for late September. What really sucks is I'd been hoping to take advantage of the extra at home time to make getting enough sex in during the fertile period easier, but after the first month of quarantine, my cycle has decided it wants to gently caress off. Last cycle was 58 days, and now I'm on day 61 with no blood in sight and no positive pregnancy test, and no LH surge detected for either.
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Aug 8, 2020 19:17
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It took me a long time to get knocked up. It's a super hard process so I feel for you! Happy to talk about my experience if it would be helpful. I used these tests that work just fine and were way cheaper than anything in stores. I think that other stuff sounds like a waste of money tbh, but if it gives the peace of mind then it may be worth it for you? Read some of the reviews on the Amazon link to see how people use the cheapies. It gets darker and darker until you hit peak and it starts to go back down. If you aren't squeamish, I honestly had the best luck tracking my cervical fluids. It takes a while to figure it but once you know what ovulation secretions feel like... It's hard to miss. marchantia fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Aug 11, 2020 |
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Aug 11, 2020 00:45
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Just found EWCM for the first time in my life! We've been trying for a month and it's been such an eye-opening experience. I've had an IUD for almost a decade and never really knew much more than that I bled monthly before. It's honestly a bit embarrassing.
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Aug 18, 2020 02:14
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Had an appointment with my new PCP, just to establish care. We were talking about medication options and I told her that we were going to start trying soon. That was the first time either of us has told someone who knows us (outside of internet anonymity) about our plans. Anyone else feel weird about telling family/friend about pregnancy plans? My family is very open about a lot of things, so part of me feels like it would be normal to mention we were trying (once we start trying), part of me really doesn't want to deal with people. Here's how I see this going down if we tell them: My mom is very eager for us to have kids and would tell all of her friends, even if she were sworn to secrecy. My older sister would make akward sex jokes whenever possible. My younger sister would start throwing any conception/pregnancy/parenting advice at us, whether wanted or not. My partner's parents would intellectualize and would probably bring up timing/frequency of trying a bunch.
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Aug 21, 2020 22:44
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veggiebacon posted:Anyone else feel weird about telling family/friend about pregnancy plans? My family is very open about a lot of things, so part of me feels like it would be normal to mention we were trying (once we start trying), part of me really doesn't want to deal with people. We're about 6 months into trying and I'm not telling anyone. My mom has flagrantly broadcast things I've told her in confidence in the past ("Well if someone asks about [sensitive topic], what am I supposed to say? Nothing?"), so as a rule I now don't tell her anything I'm not OK with her entire social circle knowing. We've had a couple socially distanced family get-togethers, and she's made a big show of inviting me to "grab a drink," then watching like a hawk to see if I get something alcoholic or non-alcoholic. It's super obnoxious, and one of the things I hate about this process is feeling like I'm in a fishbowl. That said, I suspect most people can probably put it together--they know we want kids, we've been married for a bit, bought a house a year and a half ago, etc. Luckily the vast majority of people in our lives are too polite (or just don't care enough) to badger us, which is nice.
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Aug 21, 2020 23:41
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MistressMeeps posted:Just found EWCM for the first time in my life! We've been trying for a month and it's been such an eye-opening experience. I've had an IUD for almost a decade and never really knew much more than that I bled monthly before. It's honestly a bit embarrassing. It's funny how exciting that stuff is when you start tracking. I learned soooo much about my body and cycle trying to get pregnant. If you aren't squeamish about tracking mucus I found it the most reliable sign for ovulation personally (outside of a lot of OPK tests). Just a forewarning that for me at least, residual ejaculate can sometimes feel like EWCM so... something to be mindful of!
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Aug 22, 2020 00:28
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JaneError posted:That said, I suspect most people can probably put it together--they know we want kids, we've been married for a bit, bought a house a year and a half ago, etc. Luckily the vast majority of people in our lives are too polite (or just don't care enough) to badger us, which is nice. Or just considerate? I mean, imagine if everyone in your life was hyperaware of your pregnancy status, and you had a miscarriage at three months. That would be a whole lot of repeating the same uncomfortable conversation. It's kind of accepted (at least around here) that until the end of the first trimester, the only people you tell are those closest to you. And veryone else just waits for the announcement.
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Aug 22, 2020 10:22
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I feel like, at least in my social circles, it's split pretty equally between people who share that they're pregnant as soon as they know and people who wait until they're in the second trimester to share the news. My sister started telling us as soon as they started trying for a baby, and then told us when her husband's sibling started trying. So the family is definitely not going to here anything other than "at some point" from us. If the time comes, I'll be tempted to wait until the end of the first trimester to say anything.
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Aug 22, 2020 13:51
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Yeah, luckily my parents and my in laws are both good about not pressuring, but we're not telling them until there's something to show for it. We're not really telling folks in general, other than I told some friends who were also trying, and some goon friends (who are literally going to have their baby any day now, so excited for them) saw some posts of mine on the topic. I have so much trouble telling if my cm is really egg white-ish or not. On the plus side, I finally have another cycle to try. Here's hoping it's a somewhat normal cycle unlike the last two sixty day cycles I've had. Only another month until I can get in to see my new obgyn.
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Aug 23, 2020 05:31
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After trying for over two years to have our first (one nearly immediate pregnancy that miscarried right after things got ‘safe’ to tell, then nothing for twoish years before we finally diagnosed and fixed the problem), I’d recommend only really telling the people in your life that you would feel comfortable talking to about the whole ride, no matter how it goes. Not saying that everyone you tell needs to know the nitty-gritty of your reproductive status, but people naturally ask for updates and it can feel really lovely when things aren’t ‘normal’. Things can get really emotionally complex really quickly, and you don’t need looky-loos who are only in it for the gossip or a half-hearted ‘oh sorry’.
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Aug 25, 2020 17:07
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Not sure if this is the right thread but you may have some suggestions. Is there a period tracker that can like... predict a pattern? I came off the pill about four months ago and don't really have a solid cycle yet. I'm using a tracker that only counts the days between logged periods and assumes whatever the most recent gap between periods was will be the same next cycle and just plonks in a random ovulation date. I guess I want something that will try to average it out over time so it's a bit more accurate as time goes on? I have absolutely no idea if such a thing exists, though.
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Aug 25, 2020 18:34
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I just lurk this thread, but I use a tracker thats just called Period Tracker, has a cute little red flower as an icon. It keeps track of my cycle and gives me a guess for when to expect a period based on the average cycle length, and dismisses weird outliers like if I skip a month. I've been using it for years and when I was trying to conceive last year it gave me a spread of time each month as an estimate for when I would be fertile, which helped me gauge when to start peeing on the ovulation strips.
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Aug 25, 2020 20:31
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BadSamaritan posted:After trying for over two years to have our first (one nearly immediate pregnancy that miscarried right after things got ‘safe’ to tell, then nothing for twoish years before we finally diagnosed and fixed the problem), I’d recommend only really telling the people in your life that you would feel comfortable talking to about the whole ride, no matter how it goes. This came up in our prenatal class the other day. There are couples there who didn't tell anyone other than close friends and family until sometime in the third trimester. One woman works in HR, and hasn't told her employers yet. All her work is remote now with COVID, so all they see is her head.
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Aug 25, 2020 20:49
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SavoyMarionette posted:I just lurk this thread, but I use a tracker thats just called Period Tracker, has a cute little red flower as an icon. It keeps track of my cycle and gives me a guess for when to expect a period based on the average cycle length, and dismisses weird outliers like if I skip a month. I've been using it for years and when I was trying to conceive last year it gave me a spread of time each month as an estimate for when I would be fertile, which helped me gauge when to start peeing on the ovulation strips. I also use Period Tracker; it's pretty easy to use and generally accurate when my cycles aren't being all fucky. It also accounts for various methods you may be using to detect ovulation and adjusts predictions accordingly (at least for the pee sticks (LH only or the LH+estrogen clearblue monitors)). I've tried others but didn't like them enough to make the switch. Admittedly part of that was that PT has like 7 years of my data already, so there is some inertia there.
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Aug 28, 2020 16:49
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Had my appointment with my new gyn today. I really really like her! We talked about CF and SMA screening, but I'm opting for a wider carrier screening genetic panel. So we'll see what, if anything, pops up I guess.
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Sep 14, 2020 23:12
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Hi folks, My wife and I (both 31) have been trying for most of this year. At first not super seriously, but then we started using a tracking app and ovulation sticks to time everything properly. About three weeks / a month ago my wife had an appointment with a fertility specialist and started doing blood tests every second day or so to track her hormone levels. It looks like she's had a weird cycle this time and only had a few days in the luteal phase, and her blood test today showed she has a low progesterone level All that, combined with general stress from my mother since we started dating (Italian mother; I'm her only child), and us having a bit of a rough patch atm means she's not feeling super confident it's going to happen this month On my side, I've got a semen analysis and a bunch of reading to do this week, and a whole lot of foot/back/head rubs and support to give out!
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Sep 22, 2020 08:54
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X13Fen posted:Hi folks, Good luck! Hopefully we'll be in the same situation soon (if I don't get pregnant this cycle)--saw my new gyno today and we got a referral to a reproductive endocrinologist for a month from now. Honestly the benefit of support can't be overrated, especially if you're getting pressure from outside sources. Other people probably have better advice on shutting that down, since we've at least been blessed in that regard and none of our parents are pressuring us. Edit: Also, the health history form for the endocrinologist asks for my husband's total number of sexual partners but not mine. He was very uncomfortable with giving a number and would only give me a range, which is great. I really needed the laugh right now. Emily Spinach fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Sep 24, 2020 |
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Sep 24, 2020 18:36
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