♥TTCAL PLAYDATE♥

PinkCamino

I saw this on TTGP and thought it was a great way to get some of the newer ladies to get more involved and comfortable on the board. I remember when I was first on TTCAL I was insanely nervous to post a question because I was afraid of getting flamed.

So, here's the perfect place to ask your questions! Ask us anything: TTC questions, board etiquette questions, TTA questions, charting questions, OPK questions, timing questions, Dr Question (not about squinters or the possibility of you being pregnant of course).

rmpar29

Great idea Pink!

PinkCamino

So let's maybe start with a common question about using OPKs?

megrae12

Yay, I love this Pink!! 

PinkCamino

princessisadora

I'm a newbie. I don't really have questions about the TTC part just a question about how do you keep the dark clouds away. Today I feel specially vulnerable being Oct 15 and all. Some days I think I'm good then others not so much. What do you do on those days,the cloudy ones?

PinkCamino

princessisadora said:

I'm a newbie. I don't really have questions about the TTC part just a question about how do you keep the dark clouds away. Today I feel specially vulnerable being Oct 15 and all. Some days I think I'm good then others not so much. What do you do on those days,the cloudy ones?

I think this really depends on who you talk to. For me, I allow myself to be sad. If it means that I need to take a break from work, school and real life I do that. Be kind to yourself - whatever that looks like for you. Some ladies will treat themselves to something special, others will honor their angels in some way still others manage to pull through by distracting themselves. Whatever works for you in the moment is my best advice to you.

princessisadora

At the moment being kind to myself looks like staying in bed with my dogs. Perhaps I will get up eventually and work out.
Thank you for your replies.
I have posted occasionally and often lurk. You have such a great community and have so much strenght. Lately I have been feeling like I'm not connecting that much to my home board (IF) it may be due to the fact that currently I am not undergoing any treatment and I'm just waiting on a plan. It's hard to be still.

PinkCamino

princessisadora said:

At the moment being kind to myself looks like staying in bed with my dogs. Perhaps I will get up eventually and work out. Thank you for your replies. I have posted occasionally and often lurk. You have such a great community and have so much strenght. Lately I have been feeling like I'm not connecting that much to my home board (IF) it may be due to the fact that currently I am not undergoing any treatment and I'm just waiting on a plan. It's hard to be still.

Thinking of you and sending you ((((hugs))))

tigerlynx31413

More of a dumb question than a newb question. I've been sick this week, which includes a fever on Monday. I had all my temps in and FF thought I O'd the day before my fever which is not likely with my cycle length. My temps the next two days were still kind of high and I don't want to throw FF off. Would you discard all of them or just give up temping for this cycle?

ETA to add link to my chart

megrae12

@princessisadora The big thing is to feel what you feel. I know for me, I had to learn to let myself be sad or mad or whatever. Normally, I am a bottle it up person, but this is so much bigger. I will journal about what I feel if the need arises. I will cry and then I will pick myself up and go about my day. ((Hugs)) hun

princessisadora

Nieko0423 said:

More of a dumb question than a newb question. I've been sick this week, which includes a fever on Monday. I had all my temps in and FF thought I O'd the day before my fever which is not likely with my cycle length. My temps the next two days were still kind of high and I don't want to throw FF off. Would you discard all of them or just give up temping for this cycle?

ETA to add link to my chart

I would continue to temp. Mark that high temp as fever and are you just temping or using opk? If you were using opk as well ff will take all that info into consideration

tigerlynx31413

jj32 said:

Nieko0423 said:

More of a dumb question than a newb question. I've been sick this week, which includes a fever on Monday. I had all my temps in and FF thought I O'd the day before my fever which is not likely with my cycle length. My temps the next two days were still kind of high and I don't want to throw FF off. Would you discard all of them or just give up temping for this cycle?

ETA to add link to my chart

In FF app under the day you can click on "specifics" and mark that you had a fever, I *think* it will take it in to account for you. I mark mine drinking when I know my temp is elevated from that. 

Thank you so much! I never even looked at that tab before!

tigerlynx31413

princessisadora said:

More of a dumb question than a newb question. I've been sick this week, which includes a fever on Monday. I had all my temps in and FF thought I O'd the day before my fever which is not likely with my cycle length. My temps the next two days were still kind of high and I don't want to throw FF off. Would you discard all of them or just give up temping for this cycle?

ETA to add link to my chart

I would continue to temp. Mark that high temp as fever and are you just temping or using opk? If you were using opk as well ff will take all that info into consideration

I won't be using OPKs this cycle because of personal stuff, but wanted to keep up on my temping so I did not fall out of habit.

forevermyfenix

Great thread!
I think the majority of my questions revolve around what medical interventions some ladies have to go through. like what is IUI and what does it entail? I often find it difficult to find the words to support because I'm not sure what they're going through. I need to Google these things, but I'm interested in our members descriptions and what they say would be helpful as wee support them.

[Deleted User]

Great idea PC! **TMI alert**


I have a hard time deciding if my CM is egg white or sticky. This cycle I had a lot blobby CM I put most of it as egg white. Is there something that clearly makes the 2 different?

PinkCamino

YorkieLove83 said:

Great idea PC! **TMI alert** I have a hard time deciding if my CM is egg white or sticky. This cycle I had a lot blobby CM I put most of it as egg white. Is there something that clearly makes the 2 different?

The biggest difference I notice is in the clarity of my CM. When I'm dealing with eggwhite or watery CM it's usually translucent and very runny and stretchy. Creamy CM is more opaque and thick.

princessisadora

@YorkieLove83‌ this is going to be tmi as well but for me if CM loOKs like snot when you have a bad cold but clear that's what I call egg white

eliida

Okay, I'll bite--and I'll throw in a little TMI, to boot.

Like many of us, my D&C did a real number on my cycle. Whereas in the past AF just started, now I have days of slowly building spotting. For the sake of FF/charting, how do you guys decide when spotting becomes light flow (hence, CD1)? Also, does anyone else mark CM and spotting at the same time? (I did promise a little TMI. Googling this same question was one of my more poor decisions.)

megrae12

sarcaztic10 said:

eliida said:

Okay, I'll bite--and I'll throw in a little TMI, to boot.

Like many of us, my D&C did a real number on my cycle. Whereas in the past AF just started, now I have days of slowly building spotting. For the sake of FF/charting, how do you guys decide when spotting becomes light flow (hence, CD1)? Also, does anyone else mark CM and spotting at the same time? (I did promise a little TMI. Googling this same question was one of my more poor decisions.)

For me spotting doesn't require any sort of protection. Its a wipe with TP and its gone. Light flow would be anything that requires protection like a tampon or a pad.  

This exactly. Also, don't expect this to be the same every month. I have just started spotting before AF comes, which is something completely new for me! You may go back to where AF just shows up, she is a sneaky biotch and tries to keep you on your toes

eliida

@megrae12 and @sarcaztic10 Thanks! It has been super sneaky and different every month. Totally inconsistent. (And even worse when I think I need protection and don't and then there's that whole mess.)

eliida

@medic7979 ((hugs)) I would have handled it exactly the same way-gotten out of there as quickly as possible. As PP said, sometimes these things come out of nowhere. Try don't to be hard on yourself for feeling the pain.

[Deleted User]

Thank you for clarifying ladies!

LizBlue

@forevermyfenix  re:  IUI vs. IVF vs FET

IUI stands for intrauterine insemination.  It's a relatively non-invasive procedure where they directly inject your partner or donor's sperm into your uterus via a flexible catheter.  The theory is that it gets the sperm where they need to go.  They also wash the sperm first so that you get the most mobile/strongest sperm.  This is usually the first step some couples will try before IVF.  It's also the procedure used to knock you up if you are using donor sperm.  I've had six of them, all unsuccessful.  Physically, they are a piece of cake.  Emotionally less so (especially by the sixth).

IVF is definitely a harder physical process to go through.  They pump you full of hormones to grow your ovaries so that they produce as many eggs as possible.  Then they go in with a needle through the top of the vagina to extract the eggs.  They mix those with sperm in a petri dish and hope that embryos develop.  Then they either transfer them back in a few days time, or freeze them for a future frozen transfer (known as FET).

And that concludes LizBlue's IF lesson of the day. I feel like I've had to learn all this crap, I might as well be useful and share it.    I hope you never personally need it!

megrae12

@LizBlue You are my favorite

ctk181

Thank you for sharing @LizBlue. I had the general idea of what each of those procedures were but did not know the details of how it all worked. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in such a clear, concise way!

eliida

@LizBlue Thank you for sharing your knowledge. ((hugs))

sunflwra

medic7979 said:

How do you guys handle what I call "The public outburst"?  I recently went to a baptism and seriously started crying hysterically (as quietly as I could) but I knew so many eyes were on me.  Literally sobbing. I feel so embarrassed...it was for my neighbors son.  I told DH I hope I never see them again, although I know that's impossible since we practically share a yard.  One lady (maybe in her mid to late 40's) came over, gave me a hug and said "I saw you crying and I'm not going to ask you your story I just wanted to say I'm sorry and I hope you feel better soon"....she let go and walked away.  I couldn't even say thank you since I was still trying to stop crying.  I of course snuck out shortly thereafter.

Ok, so I just started crying reading this lady's comment. If only she could teach the world!!

Km380

@medic7979 there need to be more people in the world like her.

Can I ask a dumb question? What is a WTF appointment?

Km380

@medic7979 there need to be more people in the world like her.

Can I ask a dumb question? What is a WTF appointment?

PinkCamino

Km380 said:

@medic7979 there need to be more people in the world like her.

Can I ask a dumb question? What is a WTF appointment?

wtf appointment are not good appointments. They are what the fuck appointments that happen after failed medicated cycles and losses.

forevermyfenix

Thanks @LizBlue‌ fir the explanations! I really do appreciate your willingness to explain things to noobs like myself.

I just thought of this one - when do we stop calling ourselves noobs?

LizBlue

Also, I don't believe the medical community refers to the WTF appointments as such, but I was about a half a second away from asking my IVF nurse, "when do I come in for my what the fuck appointment?" 

I caught myself in the nick of time.  

Km380

PinkCamino said:

Km380 said:

@medic7979 there need to be more people in the world like her.

Can I ask a dumb question? What is a WTF appointment?

wtf appointment are not good appointments. They are what the fuck appointments that happen after failed medicated cycles and losses.

Thanks for clarifying, I thought maybe that's what it meant

MSU_Girl1202

LizBlue said:

Also, I don't believe the medical community refers to the WTF appointments as such, but I was about a half a second away from asking my IVF nurse, "when do I come in for my what the fuck appointment?" 

I caught myself in the nick of time.  

This seriously had me laughing so hard! I actually have to call and schedule my WTF appointment ...think I should call my office and see if they understand when I call it my WTF appt?

flyoffeve

Thanks for the good information to read so far.

How do I get my dr to find out if my B12 and D deficiencies are related to the mcs? What do I need to ask? Apparently, I am no longer anemic, but I wonder about MTHFR or I dunno. Am I being a hypochondriac?

PinkCamino

flyoffeve said:

Thanks for the good information to read so far.

How do I get my dr to find out if my B12 and D deficiencies are related to the mcs? What do I need to ask? Apparently, I am no longer anemic, but I wonder about MTHFR or I dunno. Am I being a hypochondriac?

Speak to your doctor about your concerns. I had an RPL panel done after my first loss and I was found to be heterozygous MTHFR. My cocktail includes a prescription prenatal, 5mg extra folic acid, B12 vitamin, B-Complex vitamin and baby aspirin. I would caution you from starting any regimine without speaking to your doc first.

PinkCamino

momentomori said:

This is a little late...sorry!

We've all heard that lots of time in the hot tub can be bad for sperm.  What about seasons?  MH is a particularly hot/sweaty guy (he is a big guy).  He has a lot of trouble cooling his goods.  Would that impede our fertility in the summertime?  

Thanks!!!

I have no idea!

tigerlynx31413

I'm curious, and I'm sure it's posted somewhere in the TOU, but I can't find it. If someone is banned from TB and have their avatar changed to the "keep calm this person is banned" red photo is it a permanent ban, or a temporary one?

PinkCamino

Nieko0423 said:

I'm curious, and I'm sure it's posted somewhere in the TOU, but I can't find it. If someone is banned from TB and have their avatar changed to the "keep calm this person is banned" red photo is it a permanent ban, or a temporary one?

Not sure! @wickedsugar or @petrastonegirl might be better suited to answer!

TheAerialist

I'm a newbie so I will post this here: If you just found out today that you had your second loss of the year, do you drink ALL of the black box of wine leftover from the house warming party, or just a little bit?  Extra details: It IS only thursday and I guess I probably I have to go to work tomorrow.

Real question: What should I expect on my first appointment with an RE?  I already made the appointment and it's in a week and a half.