CD23 of Cycle 10 – 10DPO, in limbo land

Usually by 10DPO I would have given in a done a sneak HPT (even though I know full well that it’s too early to test), so I am very proud of myself for not giving in so far. It’s possibly got more to do with the fact that I have ZERO confidence in getting a BFP this month than my willpower though.  Even so, being 10DPO means I am on the home straight to the witch making an appearance.

I’m actually surprised she hasn’t arrived yet. I used to have a 10 day luteal phase, and was taking 100mg of vitamin B6 every day in order to lengthen it. This worked - I managed to get to 13 days on the first month and 11 days on the second month. This month though I was away for 2 weekends in a row and didn’t really fancy carting bottles of strange tablets around with me so I haven’t been taking the tablets as religiously as in previous months, so have my suspicions that my luteal phase is going to be short again.

It does make me think, us girls with shorter luteal phases are kind of stuck in a limbo at this point in the month. On one hand, if the witch hasn’t arrived by 11DPO then she is already classed as late. But it’s probably still far too early to take most HPTs until about 14DPO. Even the super duper early ones that say you can test 6 days early only work for a small percentage of women.

So I am just going to wait it out this month. Absolutely, categorically not going to test. Unless by some miracle the witch hasn’t arrived by Saturday – then I will test. I really doubt that though....

CD16 of Cycle 10 – Sperm & stuff

I can’t believe 6 days have passed without a blog post from me! Oh deary me. Note to self: must be more committed.

I’m pretty sure that I ovulated on either CD12 or CD13; I’m hoping it was CD12 as we “baby-danced” that day but actually I think it was CD13 which is very annoying as there was no dancing at all! That will put me either 3/4dpo. There are not many symptoms I think I could possibly spot at such an early stage even if I was looking for them. Only thing worth noting was a spot of thrush at 1/2-2/3dpo which has gone now.

www.ruh.nhs.uk

Mr.Sian went to see his GP last night as I had been googling the medication he’s on and found that some types can affect sperm production. He came home with a form and a little pot, so looks like someone is off for a semen analysis to see if the medication is affecting him. I’ve seen on forums some people call this a sperm analysis. Mr.Sian is going for his semen analysis next week and of course I shall update on the outcome. His semen will be tested to determine whether he has a low sperm count, low sperm mobility, or abnormal sperm. Hopefully none of the above!

His GP also talked about lifestyle factors. The usual suspects came up: don’t smoke, cut back on the booze, don’t wear tight pants. But surprisingly he said that caffeine can have a huge effect on sperm, and Mr.Sian drinks literally litres of Diet Coke every day, so looks like we will be switching to decaf tea and caffeine-free Diet Coke from now on! 

CD10 of Cycle 10 - Some Good News....

I’m feeling in a bit of a better mood today, and feeling slightly ashamed of being so self-pitying yesterday. Ah well, we all deserve a bit of a whinge now and then!

I actually had some good news today. I had CD3 blood tests done last week, which was to check FSH, TSH, ESR, glucose and full blood count. The week before, I had an ultrasound scan to check my ovaries, womb and “surrounding structures”. I was just going to assume that if I didn’t hear anything then all was okay. But my mind got the better of me, “what if they have written to me and it’s gotten lost in the post...”

 So I made a quick call to the surgery this afternoon. The receptionist could see my blood test results and said they were all “normal” – yay! She said she couldn’t delve into the report from the radiologist but that the Doctor had noted to file it, which she said meant that it was also “fine” – double yay!

Doug Savage

On the one hand it’s good that nothing abnormal has cropped up. But on the other hand it means I am feeling frustrated because if nothing’s wrong, then why aren’t I pregnant?! I know, I know, I just need to be patient. To be fair, the Doctor did say that we should keep trying until after Christmas as we will have been trying for a year by then and he reckoned we would get pregnant by then. He told me to go back to see him in October, just for my reassurance I guess as there is nothing else that can be done as such an early stage. I think he was concerned that I was getting stressed out by the whole TTC journey so just wants to see me next month to make sure I am still sane haha!

Oh yeah, I am still taking the “relaxed” approach this month, however being aware that I am probably going to ovulate in the next 2-3 days means I am getting tempted to do an OPK or check my temperature... Must... Resist......

CD9 of Cycle 10 – Grumpy Bum Day

As the title of the blog post says, I am having a grumpy bum day today. I picked up a cold last week which is not the end of the world but being asthmatic it means I always end up suffering really badly. Cue hacking coughs and wheezy breaths. Yuk. Feeling very sorry for oneself today...

I don’t know if being poorly is having a particularly worse effect on my mood but my PMA has gone right out the window. No PMA to be seen! I’m on month 9/cycle 10 of TTC and have convinced myself that it is never going to happen. Mr.Sian’s children stayed over all weekend so had lots of cuddles from them both but it made me start to wonder if that’s as good as it will ever get for me: getting cuddles from other people’s kids.

There was an episode of One Born Every Minute (the US version) a few weeks ago where a woman was giving her up twins for adoption to a couple that had been trying for a ridiculous amount of time, like 10 years. Understandably it was a very emotional episode and I cried my heart out. The faces of the adoptees have really stuck in my mind, you could really see the pain and emotion, and now I’m thinking, is that going to be me one day?!

I know it’s ridiculous to be thinking like this when 9 months is not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things.  My GP has already said to give it a year and that NHS policy is to try for 2 years but it’s very difficult when getting pregnant is ALL you can think about! Anyway it’s my blog so I’ll be self-indulgent if I want to ;-)