HOW’S YOUR LIBIDO?

A few of us have been talking in the forums about how all of the sudden when you’ve made that decision to try for a baby your libido gets a great kick up the bum and your mind and body gets into baby making gear!!  Any guys out there thinking that having a baby might damage your sex life, you might want to do the maths, you may find that the extra lovin’ you get in the effort to make a baby actually outways the infrequency of sex after the baby actually arrives.

Have fun making babies guys and girls.

CERVICAL POSITION

The position of the cervix is an indicator of fertility but you need to try to touch your cervix regularly so that you can learn when it is higher or lower softer or firmer than normal.
Many women don’t feel comfortable doing this but it can act as a good indicator especially in conjunction with the other signs (cervical mucus and temp).

To find your cervix, you should use the same position each time. Always wash your hands thoroughly before inserting your finger.
The best position is to put one foot on the toilet seat and then using your middle finger reach into and to the end of your vagina until you touch a barrier, this is your cervix.

During infertile periods your cervix will be easy to reach and firmish, you may also find that there is a tiny opening.
While you are most fertile your cervix retracts to it’s highest point, infact you may not be able to reach it (at this stage if you sit on the toilet you should be able to reach it) and it will be softer and wetter than during your infertile stage and with a more pronounced opening.
I hope this information helps.
I should also say that during the 2ww when you’re no longer fertile it’s best not to touch your cervix too much because of the risk of introducing an infection if you are pregnant.

Also from all of my enquiries I understand that the after conception the position of your cervix really won’t give you any clue as to whether or not you’re pregnant as the position changes and is not typically fixed at this stage.

CHARTING…..What’s it all about???

Before I started charting I really had no idea what I was doing and even into the 1st couple of cycles I was fairly unclear as to how to read my results. 

Charting can be an extrememly helpful way to identify your fertile period (only a couple of days each cycle), to work out how long your luteal phase is and to interpret whether or not you may be pregnant.

An important charting rule to remember is to take your temperature using a basal body temperature (BBT) thermometer at the same time each morning.  I never realised how much my temp was fluctuating until I started taking it at the same time each morning and I got much more reliable and consistent results. 
And even more important is to keep your thermometer next to your bed within easy reach so that you don’t to get out of bed in the morning.  Take your temperature before any activity.

Start tracking your temp on Cycle Day 1 which is the 1st day of your period with red flowing blood that requires you to wear a tampon or pad. 

Typically your temperature will be lowest in the 1st half of your chart and when your temperature goes up and stays up over a period of 3 days or more you know that ovulation (usually around day 14) has occurred a day or two prior to your temperature rise.  Therein lies the problem, you see charting tells us once we have ovulated and we’re already past the fertile period, so the idea is to become so familiar with your cycle that you know from previous charts when to expect your temp rise so you can get in early being sure to have intercourse over the fertile period prior to ovulation.

Alcohol, lack of sleep, illness and medication are factors that may have an effect on your BBT.  It’s important that you make a note of these factors against the reading and take this into account when looking for your temperature shift.

Drawing a coverline will help confirm the temp shift. To do this, draw a line across your chart one space above the highest of 6 readings that you took before you noticed your 3 higher readings.  You should ignore any disturbed readings when drawing your coverline.

Observations of your cervical mucus (CM) should also be included on your chart as it is a big indicator of your level of fertility.

You are seen to be at your most fertile when displaying eggwhite-like cervical mucus.  This mucus is stretchy and sperm love it because they’re able to swim so well through it .  Observing and charting your CM will also help to confirm ovulation.

If your temperature stays elevated for 15 days or more, and you had intercourse within your fertile period and if ovulation is clearly visible on your chart, it’s a good indication that you could be pregnant.

Keep in mind that it is neccessary to use a basal body thermometre because the temperature rise is so slight.  My lowest temps are usually around 36.29 and highest around 36.89 but this will be different for everyone and is only intended as an example.

When to test?

There is some question to the reliability of early pregnancy tests and so we’re advised not to get too disappointed with early testing results.  The Fertility Friend site says that the average time between the first positive pregnancy test and the expected period is half a day.  So just hang in there ladies your negative may still be a positive. 
To avoid disappointment test from the day you miss your period.
If you do test early and get a positive then that’s fantastic news, there’re fewer false positives than false negatives and thank goodness for that!! 

TAKE A LOAD OFF, SHARE YOUR SYMPTOMS.

Hi ladies,

I find myself reading over and over the stock standard early pregnancy symptoms but looking for more.  They tell you to observe every little detail right up to the position and texture of the cervix to help identify ovulation, so what happens after that?? I mean surely there’s more to tell??

I hear rumours of a metalic taste in the mouth and whispers about cervical position and mucus but for those of us who’re yet to experience all of this with the knowledge that it resulted in a BFP, we’d love read a cross section of women’s early pregnancy symptoms. 

I’ve set up a discussion in the forum under the “Up the Duff” section and hope that you’ll get in there and start guiding us along this sticky path. 

Do hormones make you crazy??

Well over the past week we’ve been working very hard to make a baby, it’s very exciting, this being our 1st cycle ever trying for a baby after being together forever and a day and living happily without any interest in babies or the whole world of babies.  I mean, what’s going on?

All of the sudden all I see is pushers and pregnant women and baby clothing stores, is it one huge advertising campaign that’s actually got to me and convinced me that all I care about should be getting pregnant or are they drugging the water here in London?

It’s like this huge conspiracy to make me want a baby and to make me snap my head around to look at stollers, babies, pregnant women or any kind of child related item.  Who’d ever think I’d be interested in maternity bras and nursery furniture for goodness sakes!!

I never knew the power of hormones before this period in my life!!!!!

Welcome Gals

Hi to you all, and welcome to the site!

I’m sure you could all relate when you saw the pear and the line

“It’s all going pear-shaped”.

 
Personally I feel as though that gives me permission to look and feel a bit out of the ordinary and that’s kind of reassuring when coming from your husband.

Tim and I will be setting up some forums and I really encourage you to bring along as much of your personalities into the site as possible.  We want to get to know you and give everyone the best opportunity to get to know eachother so that this can be a sharing and developing site.

I’m extremely excited about this project and plan on putting into it the features that I’ve found to be important to those of us who are in this boat.

Any ideas are welcome,

Tricky Nikki.

THIS SITE IS GOING TO BE FAB!!!!!!

Thanks buddy, I love my present and I’m going to make this the best pregnancy site ever conceived!!!  Just you wait and see.

Any pregnant or wanna be pregnant ladies and/or partners of the afore-mentioned please bookmark this site and see what’s to come.  Just as a baby takes time to grow,  this site (my little cyber baby) is going to grow slowly but surely and I welcome anyone who wants to be a part of our new developing community.

With love,
Tricky Nikki the birthday girl.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

This is a birthday present for you and I’m sure it will be something wonderful. I know how you love writing and communicating, and this is a very special time for us, so please write down all that you need and want to. I love you, Buddy.

Happy Birthday!