CD24 / 1 DPO

Well, I think I did ovulate last night when I was having all that cramping. My BBT this morning was 98.1ºF! That's way higher than it's ever been since I started charting on CD1. My charts won't confirm ovulation until the temps stay high for 3 days, so I'll have to wait and see. I think it's definitely promising though! :-)

I have 2 charts - one on www.fertilityfriend.com and another on www.countdowntopregnancy.com. I prefer the latter, the website is much nicer! They both do the job though. I guess it's kind of pointless to have 2 charts but I'm interested to see if they both agree on my ovulation date.

Here's my chart from www.countdowntopregnancy.com:

Here's my chart from www.fertilityfriend.com:

They show the same information, just in a slightly different way. I had to really tweak the first graph to get it to show up properly, I guess they don't want you copying and pasting it elsewhere! Oops :-)

Last night we DTD again, despite already having done it yesterday afternoon. Hubby was really horny for some reason and I wasn't going to say no! Anyway, if I did ovulate yesterday, which I really think I did, then I'm sure it couldn't hurt.

I feel good about this cycle, I'm glad I've been charting because if I hadn't then I probably would've assumed that I ovulated a week ago and that's clearly not the case. I think we've timed DTD well, too, twice on O day and once 2 days prior to it.

As I said to my gorgeous hubby last night, if we're not successful this cycle then it's certainly not for lack of trying! :-)

CD23

This morning I used both my old thermometer and my new basal thermometer. I used them both in exactly the same way, before I was out of bed. The old one said 97.0ºF and the new one 97.5ºF. Now, I know that ideally you shouldn't change the thermometer during your cycle, but I'm inclined to believe the new thermometer. The reason being, that I used both yesterday but that time I used the new one after I was up and about, and the reading was 0.2ºF higher than with my old one, which I used before I got out of bed. So for there to be a big difference under the exact same conditions seems odd, right? So I'm gonna start using the new one as of tomorrow. I recorded the temperature from the new one today, too.

We DTD last night but didn't finish, hubby was really tired. To be honest, so was I. Nevermind! We DTD when he finished work this afternoon, so it's all good. Since about an hour after that, I've been having pretty intense cramps. They're nowhere near as bad as period cramps, but they're worse than they have been. I've been cramping mildly for several days now, and I figured it must be my body getting ready to ovulate. That correlates with my CM, too. My CM today is very watery still, so it's still classed as fertile. I think I might have ovulated today, because of all the cramping. Of course I could be wrong, we'll see in the morning I guess when I take my BBT.

My skin feels horrible and greasy, I've got what I would call a 'breakout' (3 zits - my hubby was like, "really, that's a breakout?!" - um, for me, yes!). I've also been really sleepy today, I kept falling asleep on the couch when I was trying to watch a couple of TV shows. I'm guessing it's all down to hormones, which again would tie-in with ovulation. :-)

We went to Target today and I bought a 3-pack of First Response Early Result HPTs. I had a coupon for $2 off, from the last pack I had. It was $9.99 for 2 or $12.99 for 3, so I got the 3-pack for $10.99. I have 49 Wondfo tests left, so I'm hardly about to run out, but I want to confirm any potentially positive result I might get on a Wondfo, with a FRER. I now have 4 of those, I had 1 left from last month. Knowing me, when I do get a BFP I'll rush out to buy a digital HPT too, just to see the word 'pregnant'! What can I say, I'm probably not going to believe it right away!

Speaking of BFPs, I really hope that this will be our cycle! If I have just ovulated today or yesterday then I'll have to wait a while to test. When O is confirmed on my charts, I'll probably decide to test on 8DPO, 10DPO, 12DPO and 14DPO. At least the Wondfo tests were only $0.19 each! So even if I do test 4 times, it's still less than $1 wasted (or, hopefully not wasted!)

I'm feeling fairly optimistic this cycle, even though it's CD23 and I still don't have a confirmed ovulation date! When it happens, it'll be better late than never, right?!

CD18

Today is CD18. According to my BBT chart I haven't ovulated yet, maybe it's going to be like last month and it'll happen around CD20. I just hope that I do ovulate!!!

We DTD today and yesterday. Wednesday and Thursday we DTD but didn't finish. I was pretty upset at the time but seeing as I haven't ovulated yet anyway it doesn't matter!

We went to TJ Maxx today and I caved and bought a really cute baby blanket. It's really soft and it's a beige-type color with giraffes on it! It's totally gender neutral so that's kinda how I justified my purchase... Plus, it was only $5.99 so that makes it OK too, right? :-)

Intro

My husband and I are trying to conceive our first baby, so I figured I'd start a blog to chart our journey!

So far we're in the very early stages of 'trying' - I came off my birth control pills on May 21st. At the moment we're just having fun seeing what happens - we're hoping that I'll get pregnant of course, but not doing any crazy charting or temperature-taking or timings... The reason for that is mainly because my cycle is still messed up from being on birth control, but also because we don't want to get really stressed about baby-making. We figure if we relax about it then maybe it's more likely to happen. Of course we don't know yet if our theory will work, but it does mean that we can make love without it feeling like a robotic act! :)

I've been having cramps on and off for the past couple of weeks, which I figure is part of my body getting back to 'normal' after birth control. I suspect I may be ovulating around now, because since last night I've had lots and lots of cervical mucous (gross, I know!) and apparently that's a sign of ovulation. If that's the case, we could well be making a baby this month! I don't really expect to become pregnant this quickly but I'm hoping that I will, even if the chances are relatively small. If I'm ovulating now, then I should get my period in about 2 weeks (give or take a couple of days). I'm working on the assumption that my cycles should be 28 days but they could be shorter or longer, I have no idea! My periods used to be really regular before birth control but that was quite a while ago, so I don't know what they'll do now.

We're not anticipating problems with our fertility, but you just never know. I've never tried to get pregnant before, I've only ever tried not to, so now that we're trying to conceive it feels a little strange I must admit! I'm both excited and nervous at the same time, which I assume is natural! :)

One thing I'm finding hard is not telling people we're trying to get pregnant... On the one hand I want to tell everyone, but the sensible side of me knows it's not a good idea. I mean, it would just add to the stress if people were always asking if I'm pregnant yet. I know for a fact that we can't tell my in-laws because they're so looking forward to being grandparents and I know my mother-in-law would ask about it all the time! Hubby and I agreed not to tell her that I've come off birth control, so she won't be tempted to enquire about my pregnancy status constantly!

The only person I've told is one of my friends who had a baby 6 weeks ago, because she'd emailed me and said at the end, "If you're thinking about having babies I'd definitely recommend it!" - so I told her. I kind of want to tell my own parents but again, I think it could potentially add to the stress. I think it's better to tell them when there's actually something to tell them - when we have a confirmed pregnancy. I think we'd tell our parents as soon as it's been confirmed, by blood test and/or ultrasound. I know a lot of people wait until they're at least 12 weeks along before announcing it to people, and I do agree with that, but when it comes to your parents it's a little different. I'd want their support if, God forbid, anything were to go wrong. Hopefully we'll never be in that situation, but you never know. As for everyone else, I'd want to tell 2 or 3 friends I think, but that would be it until later on. The friends I'd want to tell are friends who already have their kids, not the ones who don't. I don't know why but I'm thinking it's probably because they'll understand more and I'll probably be able to get good advice and support from them. Somewhat ironically, they're not my best friends either, but they are very good friends.

Of course all of this might change once we actually are expecting, I might want to tell my best friends too. Judging by how I feel now, wanting to tell people we're just trying, I probably will! What can I say? It's an exciting time! :)