WTO Tuesday 6/29

fameonmain2 · June 2021

**This is a thread that welcomes all regardless of where they are at in their TTC journeys. Please be mindful of topics that are discussed that could be hurtful to those going through tough times. Mention of children or pregnancies of others should have a TW (trigger warning) and be in a spoiler if possible, and only be mentioned if it is extremely pertinent to the conversation. Thanks for keeping this a safe place for us all to engage!**

Month/Cycle:

CD:

WAYDTGKU:

R/R:

CS/Q:

fameonmain2 · June 2021

Month/Cycle: 13/1AL

CD: 3

WAYDTGKU: waiting for AF to be over

R/R: I'm feeling a lot better today. I'm glad I took yesterday to rest and process everything. I'm excited because I got a tutoring gig closeby so I'm meeting the person this morning! This is one of the things that I was hoping to do to supplement our income so that it will be a little easier on us financially next year as I'm finishing my dissertation. Hoping to get a good client base built up this summer! Otherwise, MH is having a hard time.

**TW**

The loss, obviously - it's messing more with him than I think he realizes. Even though he was cautious he really just doesn't know as much about fertility and the rates of losses and all of these things and he saw how sad I was yesterday. Anyways, that coupled with some career unhappiness was not a good mix yesterday. This year was tough on him as for many teachers. I keep telling him that maybe next year he will find his love for teaching again, but I have to start getting prepared if he doesn't to help him find a new career path.

abjm0325 · June 2021

Month/Cycle: 3/4

CD: 11

WAYDTGKU: OPKs, vitamins

R/R: DH is having second thoughts about conceiving right now and it is absolutely crushing me. He has always been the more hesitant one when it comes to making life changes, so it is sometimes hard to see if he legitimately has doubts or just needs a push to make what is (of course) a big decision. So I guess I am waiting to see how this all shakes out, but hopefully I will still be here. Hoping it is a momentary panic, but I guess I will give it a little time. In the meantime, I may switch to lurking.

CS/Q: Nope

@fameonmain2 I'm so sorry to hear about you and your DH having such a tough day yesterday. I hope you all are able to treat yourselves kindly today and take care of each other. Good luck with the tutoring meeting too!

mamanbebe · June 2021

@fameonmain2 congrats on the tutoring gig! What are you going to grad school for?

Month/Cycle: 2/2

CD: 13

WAYDTGKU: pnv opk kindara nac

R/R: We decided to get chickens last year and had a good go at it so that when we moved to an old farm, the opportunity to expand seemed like a great idea. I incubated hatching eggs and had a 100% hatch rate and since then it’s been awful! We have at least 4 but possibly 5 cockerels out of the 7. Two juveniles were almost killed by our older hens at 2 months, a third needs to go to that big farm in the sky because of leg injuries that won’t heal and our turkey and guinea babies are still living in limbo at six weeks old because their coop is being used as a hospital lol. It’s so ridiculous it’s comical but less so because I am the only person taking care of all of this. I should have gotten a cow instead

ETA because apparently I have no idea what CD it is and mobile bumping has deposited emojis everywhere in my post

mamanbebe · June 2021

@abjm0325 I’m so sorry you are going through that with your H. Maybe he needs the space to air out what his concerns are? My H is very similar in that. When he was on the fence I made a spreadsheet and tried to address all the areas where I thought he would have concerns and answered them with how we would manage them. And after that I pestered him until he agreed to go all in haha. I also use bribery

inthewoods23 · June 2021

@fameonmain2 that seems pretty common with the guys. I hope YH and you can find support in each other. And you know we're here to support you

That's awesome about the tutoring gig!

@abjm0325 that is always a tough conversation. We had the really tough conversation last year when we decided we'd go back to the RE one more time for a 2nd FET and if it didn't work we'd call it quits. I took it really hard because I knew I wasn't ready for that ending even though DH is basically fine with being childless. Life had other plans and we're back at it. He still feels the same but at least he supports me in trying all this silly stuff in the hopes of getting KU again. Perhaps partly because my beliefs for why we've struggled with conceiving for so long make sense to him so I think he knows if we can get things just right we can get a THB.

@mamanbebe lmao your story cracks me up!!

Month/Cycle: 8 AL

CD: 12

WAYDTGKU: temping, opks (I did one today!!), cm, gf/df diet, supplements, starting antihistamines at 4dpo

R/R: yesterday's work day went surprisingly quick (I might have wasted too much time on TB. No regrets lol) so I hope today does too. It usually quiets down around the holidays so I'm guessing both this week and next week will be light on activity. We are actually having rain today like the forecast said. Yesterday was supposed to be thunderstorms all day and that never happened. Boo. I like the potential for the power to go out during the work day haha. There might be some thunderstorms today too, not sure. Had a short one come through last night that poured buckets on us. It woke me up. But I'm okay with that because I realized my cat was hugging my leg in various ways and it warmed my heart. I didn't actually look to see how she was, but it felt like she was moving from being belly over my leg to just having her paws around my leg.

CS/Q: yay my OPK was HELLA negative!! haha

no surprise positives on the first test this cycle. Watch, I probably won't ovulate for another week instead of in 3 days.

fantasyflyte · June 2021

Month/Cycle: 8/8

CD: 13

WAYDTGKU: bbt, cm, opks, cinnamon supplements

R/R: have my obgyn appt in a bit, going to ask her to run hormones since she said back in Dec she would if we hadn't conceived in a few months. Yay PCOS! Also going to ask her if there's anything specific she recommends I do dietwise. Other than that, I'm finally working on the sewing I've been putting off because of school!

CS/Q: nothing exciting yet sure, nothing exciting, then I go and find EWCM 4 days sooner than I've ever found it, so that's a good sign. *fingers crossed*

fantasyflyte · June 2021

Sorry for posting and ghostinv yesterday!

@fameonmain2 hugs to you and YH. That sounds great on the tutoring gig, though!

@abjm0325 I'm sorry, I hope it's just a momentary panic and you guys are back on the same page soon.

@mamanbebe aww, poor chickens. I hope things look up for them and your efforts soon!

@inthewoods23 what do the antihistamines help with? My curiosity is piqued. And that's good on the opks, surprise positive is stressful lol.

mamanbebe · June 2021

@fantasyflyte I hope you have a productive appt today and find some guidance

SmashJam · June 2021

@mamanbebe man have I been there! We lived on a hobby farm for a few years starting about the second year we moved to VT. Chickens and goats first, then sheep, we had a llama for a hot second, and American Guinea Hogs as well. We ate well! It was fun but SO MUCH WORK.

@abjm0325 hopefully its just a momentary panic and you guys can talk it out! It's such a hard convo.

@fantasyflyte good luck at the gyno! And yay for EWCM!

@inthewoods23 glad for no surprises! I just started mine today too so I could remind myself what they look like fully negative.

@fameonmain2 sorry for the rough day. I'm also a teacher and this was a hell of a year-that coupled with other difficult things can really mess with you! What type of teaching does he do? I went back to intervention/coaching this last year and it made a world of difference for me mentally-it has different challenges from classroom teaching but IMO it's less stressful!

Month/Cycle: 2/2

CD: 6

WAYDTGKU: CM, CP, temping, OPK started today just to remind myself what a truly negative OPK looks like.

R/R: It's hot. So hot. But we have a lake beach near us and I went today, surprise meeting some old coworkers there! It was refreshing.

CS/Q: I'm curious about the antihistamines I've seen posted on various boards-what is the reasoning? And which ones do you take?

mamanbebe · June 2021

@SmashJam are you in the Champlain valley? I’m up in Central VT mountains and it’s still HOT despite being at least 10 degrees cooler here. I seriously LOLed at llama. How was that?? I went down that rabbit hole and then quickly backed out when I read that they can be quite brutal to dogs.

SmashJam · June 2021

@mamanbebe I'm not I'm in the Upper Valley, near the NH border. I was up at my MILs in Central VT yesterday and it was way cooler! We ended up with the llama because we bought 12 sheep, all of whom were preggers, and the llama "was free." It was also sick and died a week later and I dug a hole to bury it in the pouring rain. It was a BIG hole.

mamanbebe · June 2021

@SmashJam what! That is insane and sounds like something that would happen to me haha. What kind of sheep did you have and why did you decide to stop hobby farming? (Aside from the exhaustion)

inthewoods23 · June 2021

@fantasyflyte you're taking the cinnamon supplements to help regulate your cycles right? Seems to be doing a heck of a job if you're getting EWCM already!

Regarding the antihistamines @fantasyflyte and @SmashJam (don't quote me on this, I might not remembering everything correctly) -
Histamines cause an immune response (like hives, allergies). Apparently they are also present in the uterus and can hinder implantation if there's too much. So the point is taking them is to aid in implantation. However, if you don't have excessive amounts taking the antihistamines won't do anything for you. The protocol says to start taking them at 4dpo to at least 10dpo. I haven't found if it should be continued beyond that but I believe most do and stop around 12 weeks or so.

I believe the proper protocol, taken 4dpo-10dpo, uses:
10mg prednisone (prescription) 1x a day -OR- 25mg Benadryl 3x a day
10mg Claritin 1x a day
20mg Pepcid AC 20mg 2x a day

The Benadryl takes the place of the prednisone since doctors likely won't prescribe it just because. I've read some will do only 50mg at night since it makes them sleepy. Others will do 25mg in the AM, 50mg in the PM before bed.

Also, you need the basic versions (as in not Claritin-D). If you google antihistamine protocol for fertility you can read up on it and see discussions in some other forums about it. Some people have had success only taking the Benadryl.

I feel like 4dpo cuts close since implantation can be as early as 5dpo, but Benadryl is fast acting so it's probably fine. Just don't start it too close to O as it can dry up CM.

I wanna say, buying boxes that only cover the 7 days the total wasn't even $30 so you're not breaking the bank doing it for multiple cycles.

fameonmain2 · June 2021

@abjm0325 oh man, I think we have all gone through something similar at one point or another in our ttc journeys. As others have said, hopefully it's just temporary and you both will be on the same page soon.

@mamanbebe oh my that is a lot of animal drama haha! MH is desperate to get chickens but I'm trying to hold off a bit (it's not really my thing and he doesn't exactly have a coop yet so I have asked for basic housing for them at a minimum haha). I'm working on my phd in education!

@inthewoods23 awww sweet kitty. Thunderstorms are so hit or miss. I feel like we constantly have thunderstorm warnings and they end up passing just south of us.

@fantasyflyte woohoo EWCM! Hopefully the labs give you some clues that will help. Keep us updated!

@SmashJam agreed on the heat. SO HOT. MH is a history teacher so a coaching position would be a tough transition (nothing really around here in that subject area). He's a really good teacher. I hope he finds the love for it again. Also cannot believe your llama story (poor llama!!).

pajamstagrams · June 2021

@fameonmain2 I'm sorry YH is having a hard time. Everyone grieves in their own way, and sometimes I think we forget men have feelings too. I'm glad you're doing better today.

@abjm0325 TTC is a stressful process, and maybe that's affecting his thoughts. Regardless, I hope you guys can talk it out ❤️

@mamanbebe sorry you're having a tough time with the chickens! I hate when things seem easy and then trick you!

@inthewoods23 but, if the power goes out at work, how long is it before they'll let you leave? What if you have to muster by the stairwell without AC???

@fantasyflyte woohoo! Gotta love early EWCM.

@SmashJam midweek beach day sounds fun!

Month/Cycle: 1AL

CD: 12

WAYDTGKU: benched

R/R: car emissions light went on today. The same car we need to take on vacation soon. 😩 Hopefully it's a quick fix, but having a car in the shop is a huge PITA and now we have to think about whether I need to get a rental for the time being.

CS/Q: see opk thread

mamanbebe · June 2021

@fameonmain2 Hahaha I will say, they are at the very least entertaining but they can be a lot of work at first. Get it in writing that he has to take care of them

@pajamstagrams Oh no! I hope your car is fixed quickly and without a big unforeseen cost.

fantasyflyte · June 2021

@inthewoods23 I know, right? I've noticed a trend of gradually shortening cycles, which is great when I started at 40-50 days!

I just had my appt and it was a mixed bag but I think overall good. She really, REALLY wants me to lose weight before I get pregnant, but she gets that I kay not want to bench. So she prescribed metformin, and we have plans to do CD3 bloods and an ultrasound just to check on everything in there, and start ovulation induction in August if needed. She also gave me the stuff for a SA for DH even before I could ask about it so that was great. So I'm basically waiting and seeing and keeping trying in the meantime, but I feel good that we have a plan. Also that the metformin should help on the weight and the O. I'll have to start regularly hanging out in healthy habits and stay accountable.

SmashJam · June 2021

@fantasyflyte yay for the plan! That sounds great!

@fameonmain2 ah yeah that's a tough jump. I've got a math and science background, so it wasn't too bad for me. And also history teachers are so so so important. My fave teachers were all history teachers, I still talk about every single one of them.

@inthewoods23 so is this something that you know you have or are like, "meh, can't hurt!" ? I take antihistamines often because of flippin allergies so this wouldn't me out of the realm of normal for me anyway, lol.

inthewoods23 · June 2021

@fantasyflyte glad you had a pretty good appointment! Love having a game plan.

@SmashJam I think the answer is yes and no. Testing done by a reproductive immunologist would be more definitive if it would help or not but it also doesn't really hurt to try if you've been at it for some time. Some people just try it out on their own (like me) but I've also been dealing with IF for 4 years without even a hint of implantation from IUIs and a chromosomally normal embryo transfer. My RE puts her patients on a gluten and dairy free diet for at least 3 months after doing a basic RPL panel and a lining biopsy that all come back in normal ranges because "it works for 100% of her patients that have all tests come back normal". Covid put our plans on hold for another transfer so we tried on our own as you can read all over the interest about how women go gluten free to help them get pregnant by reducing body inflammation. And since I got *tw* a surprise natural BFP back in Sept that ended in a MC *end tw* I'm inclined to believe there's some kind of inflammatory or immune response that is preventing implantation. So that's why I'm trying this protocol. I don't believe it's true that if you have allergies then you'll definitely need an antihistamine protocol in order to get pregnant but it can't hurt to try it.

There are some women who realized that the only times they do get pregnant is when they were sick during the implantation window. Somehow the body provides the right immune response that allows implantation when they're sick. I think it will require a lot more investigation, but my only success was in the cycle I got the MMR vaccine after finding out I wasn't actually immune to measles (found out when I got a 2nd opinion). Apparently the first RE I went to only really checked for rubella - to which I was immune so I was never aware I'd need the MMR again. And the only reason I can guess that they do it that way is because the vaccine has the lowest effectiveness rate for rubella (like 88%) while measles and mumps have an effectiveness rate of 95+% or so. They must assume if you're immune to rubella then you'd be immune to measles based on effectiveness. So I've also been wondering if vaccines somehow get my body's immune system to respond properly to allow implantation. The antihistamine protocol gives me something to do this cycle since the plan is to get the first covid shot during the next cycle.

Sorry that's a lot. Conception and pregnancy is so complicated. It's a wonder how some can have it so easy while others need a perfect storm of things to make it happen!

SmashJam · June 2021

@inthewoods23 thanks for the response! That's so interesting about some women noticing that they only get pregnant if they are sick during the implantation window.

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