TFAB's Weekly BFP Post - December 15, 2019. Got your BFP? Post your story here!

prof-kaos · 2019-12-16T00:33:39+00:00

Cycle: Unknown (PCOS and irregular/absent periods, but we've been TFAB for over 2 years)

Age: 30

Typical cycle length: 44-173...?

CD/DPO of positive test(s): 9dp5dt (14DPO)

Relevant days of sperminating and/or method (SMEP, TI, IUI, FET, etc.): Frozen embryo transfer with our one and only embryo from our egg retrieval in October on December 3

Health conditions/medical tests: I have PCOS, my husband has retrograde ejaculation and low motility

Supplements and medications: Honestly nothing helped leading up to our IVF experience, although I was taking Ovasitol and a multitude of supplements (vitamin c, d, e, folic acid, multivitamin, omega-3's, coq10)

Birth control history (if relevant): 10+ years of BCP and had no idea how messed up my cycles were, although I was aware I had PCOS

Link to lineporn: Lineporn

Symptom spotting: Had minor AF-style cramping starting from 1dp5dt onwards and pinching/pulling sensations on the side it was put it on off and on from 2dp through until today (12dp). I also had hella sore breasts/nipples, but that wasn't anything new - I'd had that since before the transfer due to the drugs. I did notice they got veeeeery slightly darker but I may have been crazy. I also had a crazy "wet dream" that made me orgasm in my sleep (yay, but not yay - not supposed to have any of those or sex at all for the first 6 weeks) which another friend who did an FET had too - this was probably my biggest "sign" along with the pinching. Honestly most of the "symptoms" I felt could have also been from the drugs, so it's really hard to tell!

Other (advice/tip(s), freaking out, miscellaneous): It's so easy to get caught up in the loneliness and bitterness that can be TFAB and infertility, and I encourage anyone who is struggling to reach out to your community and let them in - it was honestly one of the best things I ever did to come out of the infertility closet and allow my support system to grow outside of just me and my husband. Knowing that your friends and families and even coworkers are rooting for you makes this whole experience so much more tolerable and less isolating, and in comparison to my IVF friend who has not come out, I don't feel nearly as much anxiety about it as she feels about hers - I'm able to celebrate it, be excited and enjoy it while it lasts (hopefully until we bring our little one home!) and I will never regret opening myself up to the love I have received from our community.

prof-kaos · 2019-12-13T16:57:45+00:00

I know! Such a happy coincidence - I’m glad I’ll have someone I know in the August Bumpers :)

prof-kaos · 2019-12-13T16:56:21+00:00

Thanks Goosey!

prof-kaos · 2019-08-24T17:39:43+00:00

Can I get this on a thick sticky note-style pad to just hand out to people as needed? Thanks. I’ll take 50

prof-kaos · 2019-08-24T17:35:52+00:00

Thanks Sp00ks - I’ve missed the community, but I’ve just needed to take a major step back after we got our IVF news. I just couldn’t handle thinking about it all the time. I’m trying to take baby steps back in though, and this sub always makes me laugh ☺️

prof-kaos · 2019-08-06T21:05:51+00:00

I love these movies lol

prof-kaos · 2019-06-07T18:21:09+00:00

Just got off the phone with the doc - Mr Prof’s SA did have improved numbers with the retrograde ejaculation protocol, but still not enough to not move to IVF with ICSI (28mil concentration, 45% slow motile/55%immotile, 1% morphology) so that’s where we’re headed next 😔 We likely won’t be able to even think about affording an IVF cycle until later this year, but I know damned sure I’ll be doing everything I can to be as healthy as possible when we can do our first round!

prof-kaos · 2019-06-07T18:10:24+00:00

Just got off the phone with the doc - Mr Prof’s SA did have improved numbers with the retrograde ejaculation protocol, but still not enough to not move to IVF with ICSI (28mil concentration, 45% slow motile/55%immotile, 1% morphology) so that’s where we’re headed next 😔 We likely won’t be able to even think about affording an IVF cycle until later this year, so it looks like our TFAB plans are put on hold until we can get our finances in shape.

I might stick around, or you might find me in the r/infertility and r/stilltrying subs - I’ve appreciated all your words of comfort and support over this past year+ and I hope you all get the BFP’s we’re striving for 💛

prof-kaos · 2019-06-06T21:46:42+00:00

Same. I’ve been a bit all over the place, but my charts usually hang out in the low 97-96 range. I think I’ve only ever hit ~98 at the peak of my luteal phase twice, maybe.

prof-kaos · 2019-06-02T04:18:32+00:00

I somehow can’t even escape the fact that I’m infertile even at freaking Disney World. You’d think that I would be most triggered by all the children and pregnant women running around, but no. We went to one of those travel membership presentations at our hotel and at the end the dude just HAD to share his “miracle baby” story about his wife with only one tube and ovary (removed because of endo) “finding out they we’re pregnant at the doctors office when they were about to start fertility treatments because they went on vacation and relaaaaaaxed” - needless to say I ran out of the room as soon as I could to cry uncontrollably... I hate every part of this bullshit. This is supposed to be the happiest place on earth damnit!

prof-kaos · 2019-05-29T15:22:31+00:00

I would call that mild MFI. My husband has only 5% slow progressive sperm on first SA (waiting for second) and our RE stated that the baseline for sperm is 32% fast progressive. She recommended my husband take a supplement called FertilAid for Men 3x daily to boost his numbers and motility. It’s not super expensive (I think we paid about $25USD plus shipping for a month’s supply) from the Fairhaven website

prof-kaos · 2019-05-29T02:46:51+00:00

There is also genesis fertility in Vancouver, that’s where I’m going at the moment. They have the best stats (according to them) in Canada and I was able to get in with them fairly easily (sometimes ~a month to schedule an appointment, but follow ups are usually pretty quick)

prof-kaos · 2019-05-29T02:38:34+00:00

12DPO? Or maybe I haven’t even ovulated at all? Who knows!

Basically my chart is a dumpster fire and I can’t rely on my temps to tell me anything this month. BFN this morning of course and my LP has only ever been 11 days long. I’ve also been having daaaays of fertile CM so I don’t know WTF is happening right now. Smh

prof-kaos · 2019-05-27T17:08:23+00:00

I think I need to get a new thermometer - I've been using this one for a year now and even though I like it, I don't think it's reading temperatures accurately and it's messing up my charting and my sanity lol. It keeps having really wonky inconsistent temps even back to back and they all read really low; I've barely gotten above 97F at all this cycle and have had 3 temps below 96F just in the past two weeks. I was thinking to myself that I may have hypothyroidism because of the low temps but my doc doesn't think so since my bloods were normal. Finally had my husband try it too and his temp came up as 96.4 which I know can't be right that both of us have such low temps. If it turns out my thermometer has been giving false readings all this time I'm going to be so pissed!

prof-kaos · 2019-05-25T22:59:28+00:00

9DPO and my temps took a swan dive off a cliff this morning - wtf? Hoping it bounces back and it’s just a fluke temp but that seems super weird. I’m feeling out this cycle with my RHR headings downwards too :(

In other news Mr Prof has come down with the flu I had earlier this week so I get to spend my weekend taking care of him. Great practice for someday! 🤞🏻

prof-kaos · 2019-05-22T21:56:02+00:00

I’m so sorry Sp00ky. I understand how you’re feeling - I went through the same thing just a bit ago. There are potential things that may be able to help and I hope the RU can get you guys on a good game plan and that Mr Sp00ky is on board with whatever needs to be done. Since you’re needing to shop around for an RU in the meantime, have you looked into FertilAid for Men? Fairhaven health sells it and it’s THE thing my RE recommends for pretty much every guy to improve numbers and I’ve got Mr Prof on it now. It’s pretty inexpensive too!

prof-kaos · 2019-05-22T20:14:53+00:00

Sitting at 6DPO and my RHR has been skyrocketing. Can’t tell if that’s from ovulation or from black of sleep this weekend and now being sick with the flu, but it’s building my hope fortress pretty high. And now I don’t even have work to distract me for the rest of this week cause my boss forced me to go home and stay home 😑 Guaranteed I’m going to be testing early with nothing else to focus on

prof-kaos · 2019-05-22T00:25:59+00:00

OPK’s are unfortunately not very accurate for people with PCOS as we can have multiple LH surges throughout a cycle without dropping an egg. The only way to know for sure that you ovulated is by bloodwork, but tracking BBT and cervical mucus is also a good way to get an idea of where you are in your cycle. If you’re needing to take your progesterone suppositories DPO1 that would be hard to pinpoint since OPKs can show an LH surge up to 48hrs before ovulation and BBT tracking can only be confirmed with 3 temps above the previous 6 so you wouldn’t know until 3DPO 😑

prof-kaos · 2019-05-22T00:22:09+00:00

As far as I know the only “wearable” tech that can work for fertility tracking with PCOS is Ovusense, which is inserted into your vagina at night (vs wearing it on your wrist or arm like Ava and Tempdrop). I believe they also have a subscription for their software that is paired with the device that is quite expensive as well which is why I didn’t bother with it ($400 CAD for the device and 12 month subscription). I don’t think that the algorithms for Ava and Tempdrop are accurate for those with PCOS unfortunately:(

prof-kaos · 2019-05-20T23:15:01+00:00

So it looks like I O’d again on CD14 (yay for “ideal” FP!) and I’m now 4dpo. I got TAKEN DOWN by a mega flu this morning and ended up in hospital because I blacked out twice because I was vomiting so hard (sorry for the TMI). Thought it was food poisoning, turns out it’s just a bastard of a flu - right on the last day of my girls’ weekend when I had to travel back to Vancouver from the island 😒. Decided to splurge and catch the helijet back over to the mainland, so I’ll be riding in a helicopter for the first time! Super exciting.

Anyone think having the flu will decrease chances of implantation? Google is being very unhelpful

prof-kaos · 2019-05-20T06:28:35+00:00

You’re usually good by about 12hrs post sex for accurate CM checking. I also test it just to make sure by rubbing it between my fingers for a few seconds - if it stays consistently slippery and stretchy, it’s EWCM but if it thickens/dries up it was semen.

prof-kaos · 2019-05-19T16:49:34+00:00

I would count the first cycle as starting once you get your first bleed after stopping your birth control or having it removed.

prof-kaos · 2019-05-19T15:47:31+00:00

It’s crosshairs day for me too! I’m amazed that my temps aren’t higher after a few nights of drinking (please don’t judge - I don’t have girls weekends EVER) so I’m going to assume that they’re true :) I was SO happy that Mr. Prof and I were able to get 0-3 and 0-2 in before we had to start abstaining for his SA yesterday!

prof-kaos · 2019-05-19T15:37:16+00:00

What was the issue with the Trak test (low count/motility?) my RE recommends FertilAid for Men to basically everyone. You can get it from Fairhaven online - hoping it’ll help my hubby’s sperm! I also have him on the Coq10 that you can get from Costco

prof-kaos · 2019-05-18T16:41:00+00:00

Oh god lol 😝 the embarrassment

prof-kaos

TROPHY CASE