Please give me feedback on my plan....

[HopeandDreamG]

I would like to know if I should add anything, take anything away etc... Here is my plan:

My attempt is going to be next month (November). If I stay regular my cutoff will be November 24th (also happens to be Thanksgiving). We will being doing abstinence of at least 7 days- more if I can get dh to agree! If for some reason I miss cutoff and I get a positive smiley I think I will attempt 0 +.

I plan to take sudafed an hour before attempt. Dh will take a very hot shower or bath to soak his goods before DTD. I have replens, lime juice, distilled water, aci gel on hand to lower PH as needed before and after attempt. I also plan to use sylk-really want to get BFP quickly.

By time my attempt is here I will have been on supps 12 weeks, IG diet 6 weeks.
Dh: will have been on supps 8 weeks, IG diet 6 weeks. (His Ph is lower already). Mine seems to be higher-but will continue to check and may post about that later. (my PH was in the low 5 now it low 6??) However, I have barely any CM to test.
We both drink tons of crystal light with dasani/aquaphina, and in pitcher from tap water (should I not?), cranberry juice, and I have the occasional peppermint tea.

Supps:
Mine: Calcium Citrate 666mg (may up to 1,000), Mag 250mg, Vitamin C 500mg, Vitamin E 400 ie, Cranberry (can't find fruit equiv: called co. they said it was equiv to 8 glasses of cranberry juice), & folic acid. I may add acidophilus my PH seems to be higher then before supps and diet :(. I was not going to try acidophilus bc I have read it could lower or raise PH. How long would it take to see a difference?

Dh: Calcium Citrate 666mg (may up to 1,000), Mag 250mg, Vitamin C 500mg, Cranberry (can't find fruit equiv: called co. they said it was equiv to 8 glasses of cranberry juice), licorice root 2X a day.

Ions: I sleep with a humidifier on every evening- on warm mist and ion setting, wear ki-flow bracelet, hematite magnetic ankle bracelet, tourmaline ring, amethyst earing, wear north magnets on my underwear, have uncut rose quartz on my night stand, fan blowing while on computer, will spend lots of time out in yard (during attempt time) by our koi pond with waterfall, I burn lavender candles, beeswax candles, burn orange, lavender oil in my kitchen area-open to all rooms, use lavender body wash, lotion, dry my hair with ion hair dryer.
Also I have been using aerosal deodorant, nail polish remover, and during attempt will get mani, pedi and back rub!
Moon:
I should O in New Moon.
Concerns:
I feel like I am ready except I need to write down a plan to lower PH after DTD. I don't want to panic after and feel overwhelmed and not know what to do first. I'm going to test how I react to replens, lime douch, acigel this month.

Also not sure about doing lime douch before.. I don't want to lower chances of BFP. I know I should check CM PH at entrance after DTD but I always seem to need to go to the cervix to get any to test. What should I do then? I just ordered Diva cup to be better able to test in the coming weeks...don't know how that will go!
Would love any feedback! Thanks

[rainbowflower]

that sounds like a very traditional sway to me!
how long will your cut off be? even 3 days can lower your chances of conceiving each cycle to 10% without doing any swaying stuff
have you considered RepHresh instead of the douching? if you think you might stress about pH that could be a good option for you

[HopeandDreamG]

I plan to use my OPK's to help with cut off by using a fade-in pattern once they are almost positive but before digital was positive was going to be my attempt. Hopefully, the digital will turn positive the next night giving me a 2.5 to 3 day cut off. I heard Rephresh can possible raise PH so I was going to stick with the replens. Thoughts?

[Sunset]

sounds like a great plan!

where are you? You shouldn't be drinking tap water for your attempt and unfortunately i don't know what the bottled water that's allowed in the US is called? but if you're in the UK it's Evian water that's recommended.

After you have dtd you test the combined ph at the entrance of v which you won't have any troubles testing as it will be cm and sperm mixed together, so there will be plenty to test.

I have heard about using rephresh if you're doing a cut off, but personally i would stick to replens/aci gel and lime douching.. if you decide to use rephresh you need to try it out for a cycle first to make sure it doesn't raise your ph. Also remember that if you do use Rephresh you can't use anything else to lower ph, but will solely rely on Rephresh to keep your ph low.

Good luck! I'm sure you will do great :)

[HopeandDreamG]

Thanks sunset. Then I'm def sticking with replens. I live in NY- 45 mins from NYC. I know we can use Dasani or aquafina water. It doesn't come in big jugs so I make the individual bottles and was making pitchers of crystal light with the tap water for when I am home. Guess I won't anymore. Is the PH too high of the tap water? Maybe I'll test it! LOL (but I actually will ;)

[rainbowflower]

someone on here (forget who now) tested a small amount of RepHresh lining the inside of a shot glass and added a "deposit" to it to see how fast the pH would be lowered, and from what I remember it was VERY fast, within minutes! Even within 30 seconds or so the pH was far lower so it would probably react faster than douching/other gels especially if those have to be mixed in to work

I haven't spoken to anyone who had a pH raise from it, but haven't tested my own pH with it either, mainly because I don't have much CM. I figure that if it didn't work as designed it wouldn't be on sale as it wouldn't work - the whole reason it is desirable to those with infections and things (i.e. not swayers) is because it keeps pH down so if it didn't do that they wouldn't buy it. As long as you don't use it for the first time ever right at your attempt it wouldn't be a problem as that might be a shock to the body which might make it react unexpectedly. Personally I'll have been using RepHresh for about a week before this attempt and I do like the fact that it means I don't have to stress about the pH and know that the RepHresh will keep on working where douches won't!

[Lavenderlime]

Your plan looks really good but you could up your calcium to 12000mg and magnesium to 300mg. I'm taking acidiphoulous too, twice a day. My ph was 6 before swaying so am going to see how it is in a few weeks when i've been on the diet and supliments for longer.

Your use of ions is amazing I need to make more effort on that front.

All in all it looks like a really strong sway:)

[HopeandDreamG]

yay. maybe I will up the calcium now. My magnesium pills are 250mg.. I guess I'll have to look for different ones? Cutting another one in 1/2 would be too much mag. I am going to add the acidopholis bc the other thing I'm thinking is with all the efforts to lower PH I could end up with a yeast infection that would help prevent one and hopefully lower my PH. My PH doesn't seem to be lowering.. Should I start using replens, Lime douches, aci-gel to start lowering? I would only do that after ovualtion though so I don't mask CM bc I am still trying to pinpoit O.

[atomic sagebrush]

Your plan looks really good but you could up your calcium to 12000mg and magnesium to 300mg. I'm taking acidiphoulous too, twice a day. My ph was 6 before swaying so am going to see how it is in a few weeks when i've been on the diet and supliments for longer.

Your use of ions is amazing I need to make more effort on that front.

All in all it looks like a really strong sway:)

Do NOT take 12000 mg of calcium, that must be a typo.

Also, when I was on IG we had problems with people taking too much magnesium and getting really sick from it. People seem to be able to tolerate different amounts - some people were taking more and were fine but others were getting sick from just a little. I personally prefer that people take more like 200 mg of mag and get the rest from diet because your body tolerates that better. 300 is the absolute MOST mag anyone should be taking. 250 mg mag is ok so you don't need to waste any effort splitting a pill or anything like that to get 300. If you get diarrhea, you need to decrease your mag and don't just try to tough it out because it doesn't get better, only worse.

[atomic sagebrush]

yay. maybe I will up the calcium now. My magnesium pills are 250mg.. I guess I'll have to look for different ones? Cutting another one in 1/2 would be too much mag. I am going to add the acidopholis bc the other thing I'm thinking is with all the efforts to lower PH I could end up with a yeast infection that would help prevent one and hopefully lower my PH. My PH doesn't seem to be lowering.. Should I start using replens, Lime douches, aci-gel to start lowering? I would only do that after ovualtion though so I don't mask CM bc I am still trying to pinpoit O.

How high is high?? If your pH is say, 5, I wouldn't waste a second worrying about that. If it's 7, then you're right, you'll need to bring it down a bit. With 6, you can kinda split the difference. Have you/can you lose any weight? My pH dropped from 6 to 4.5 (as low as my sticks would go) just from losing some weight. Also, have you tried testing pH after taking an antihistamine?? Drier CM often lowers pH because the vag. secretions are more acidic and less CM = more acidic.

Did you know that calcium supps can keep your pH high?? Is it higher or lower since you started the calcium??

Acidophilus ~may~ cause your pH to go up at first but don't panic, stick with it for a week or two and then recheck once the buggies are readjusted because it takes some time for the good bacteria to move from your urinary tract into your vjj. In fact, if you are concerned that your vaginal flora is out of balance and it is throwing off your pH, you may also want to insert a tablespoonfull of plain yogurt with the natural cultures in it (like Mountain High brand) because that will immediately colonate your vjj with the healthy bacteria that will fight off the yeast bugs.

I would not use the Acijel/douches/etc (unless you're testing them) regularly until your attempt month. There's no point, the lower pH will just mask your EWCM pH and they are expensive to boot.

[atomic sagebrush]

Very nice IG style sway. I will throw my opinion out and you may take it or leave it.

1)Longer abstinence is better - 7 days is bare minimum. Altho abstinence will not help you get a BFP quickly!

2)I do not like Sudafed and prefer people take antihistamines such as Benadryl, Zyrtec, or both. Sudafed has been linked to strokes in young women, particularly those taking blood thinners like cranberry.

3)I like RepHresh WAY better with a cutoff because it continues to work for 3 days afterwards and combines with whatever it touches. Whereas with Replens and Acijel, they get diluted by whatever comes into contact with them so you ahve to keep checking your pH all the time. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/showthread.php?1066-Complete-guide-to-Replens-and-RepHresh You can also use BOTH RepHresh and Acijel/Sylk if you like, just use the RepHresh a day or two in advance of your attempt and then a dime of Acijel or Sylk an hour before.

4)That having been said, using TOO many douches, jellies, etc will reduce your odds of pregnancy too far.

5)The supps are of course at your discretion but I did want to mention the idea (Trivers Willard Hypothesis) that high nutrient intake sways BLUE, not pink. Taking Vit C, Vit E, Cranberry, even the Cal and Mag - those are all nutrients that your body takes note of and ~may~ undo some of the good you do by following a strict diet. The folic is of course non-negotiable and everyone needs to take that.

6)Are you doing anything to lower your blood sugar, like skipping breakfast? Have you lost at least a little weight??

7)I personally believe tap water to be perfectly fine for a sway.http://genderdreaming.com/forum/showthread.php?2159-Water-water-everywhere!-For-pink-and-blue

8)After DTD you are not going to be able to GET CM to test because the semen will be everywhere. Please just test the stuff that is at the entrance to the vjj because that's what you need to know about anyway.

[atomic sagebrush]

someone on here (forget who now) tested a small amount of RepHresh lining the inside of a shot glass and added a "deposit" to it to see how fast the pH would be lowered, and from what I remember it was VERY fast, within minutes! Even within 30 seconds or so the pH was far lower so it would probably react faster than douching/other gels especially if those have to be mixed in to work

I haven't spoken to anyone who had a pH raise from it, but haven't tested my own pH with it either, mainly because I don't have much CM. I figure that if it didn't work as designed it wouldn't be on sale as it wouldn't work - the whole reason it is desirable to those with infections and things (i.e. not swayers) is because it keeps pH down so if it didn't do that they wouldn't buy it. As long as you don't use it for the first time ever right at your attempt it wouldn't be a problem as that might be a shock to the body which might make it react unexpectedly. Personally I'll have been using RepHresh for about a week before this attempt and I do like the fact that it means I don't have to stress about the pH and know that the RepHresh will keep on working where douches won't!

:agree: :agree: :agree: Some people on other sites really hate RepHresh for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. Acijel and Replens are both notorious for causing people's pH to spike. Whereas RepHresh is designed to react to continue lowering pH for up to 3 days afterwards and will react with everything it touches including additional CM and semen, to lower the pH to 4.5-5. Acijel and Replens don't do that, they are just a big burst of low pH that then can get diluted over the course of time and stop working. And since some people's bodies don't like the Acijel/Replens, they start to make a lot of CM to try and wash it away, hence the pH spike that people sometimes experience.

Plus, never underestimate the effect of sway stress. It can totally raise your testosterone in a big way, so even if you have the "perfect" sway, you can undermine it if your testosterone goes through the roof. Sometimes in swaying, it is best to give up the illusion of control (because at the end of the day NONE of us have control with swaying anyway) that is embodied in pH strips, temping, moon phases, etc and just go for it because the more control-freaky you become, the higher your T will go.

[HopeandDreamG]

My PH seems to stay at 5.7. Will continue to take the acidophilus see if that makes any difference. I've been taking one a day. Do you recommend 2 a day as I've seen on other sites? Will use acigel etc. as experiment then wait to actual time of attempt that makes sense.
Yes I am doing the IG diet and need to lose weight and CAN lose weight. It will be intersting to see how that effect PH..I'll keep track. Haven't tried the antihistimine yet. Have it on hand was going to use it an hour before attempt. Suppose I can try it after I ovulate this cycle to see what happens.

[HopeandDreamG]

Oh wait..just saw your posts above. When I have alittle more time later today I will look at your ideas and possibly refine my plan. The kids I already have need my attention!!! I think people go the replens/acigel route bc they believe if you use rephresh you CANNOT use anything else. You are saying that you can as long as you use rephresh 3 days before? Thanks for your help... Also looks like you prefer cutoff to O+. Is that accurate? And do you recommend any supps?

[atomic sagebrush]

My PH seems to stay at 5.7. Will continue to take the acidophilus see if that makes any difference. I've been taking one a day. Do you recommend 2 a day as I've seen on other sites? Will use acigel etc. as experiment then wait to actual time of attempt that makes sense.
Yes I am doing the IG diet and need to lose weight and CAN lose weight. It will be intersting to see how that effect PH..I'll keep track. Haven't tried the antihistimine yet. Have it on hand was going to use it an hour before attempt. Suppose I can try it after I ovulate this cycle to see what happens.

Yes that's fine, 2 a day. :agree:

The antihistamine may not tell you anything except at O, because if there's no CM, there's nothing to dry up.

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh wait..just saw your posts above. When I have alittle more time later today I will look at your ideas and possibly refine my plan. The kids I already have need my attention!!! I think people go the replens/acigel route bc they believe if you use rephresh you CANNOT use anything else. You are saying that you can as long as you use rephresh 3 days before? Thanks for your help... Also looks like you prefer cutoff to O+. Is that accurate? And do you recommend any supps?

We tested RepHresh with Acijel and Sylk and found that they continued working just fine when used together. The only combos I would avoid is RepHresh with douche, because Rephresh is designed to keep pH at 4.5-5 so it reacts with anything super low in pH and will make the pH of the lime douche rise (maybe that's why they don't like it on IG, because they are lime-douche-fanatics over there.) and also anything with Preseed - don't use Preseed with any of these jels, it's bad for sperm.

Yes, I am not a fan of O+12 at all because it's very difficult to get pg that way, and the amount of obsession and dedication it takes to figure out is very much the kind of thing that raises people's testosterone levels through the roof.

[HopeandDreamG]

I will take zyrtec instead of sudafed. Will take 2 acidophilus instead of one. Will have dh abstain longer then 7 days. (do you believe abstinence is better then frequent?) Will order rephresh to test it out... Already looked on amazon does it only come in prefilled applicators?
A timing question for you: I am planning my cutoff (the Babydust way) my fade in pattern hasn't been so predicitve though. Last 2 cycles I got +digital on CD 14, this cycle CD15. I want to DTD the day before the smiley. If I miss it and smiley shows up before I DTD...Is it too close if I DTD the same day as a smiley if I catch it super early?

[HopeandDreamG]

On PL we had a thread of pics of fade in patterns. I can post my recent ones and next month I can post as I go and get some feedback. Would be great for me and I think others would benefit too to get a real visual!

[atomic sagebrush]

On PL we had a thread of pics of fade in patterns. I can post my recent ones and next month I can post as I go and get some feedback. Would be great for me and I think others would benefit too to get a real visual!

That would be FANTASTIC!!! Great idea! I'm assuming you would start a new thread and once you do I will sticky it and also add it to the new FAQ thread. Thanks for thinking of it!

[atomic sagebrush]

I will take zyrtec instead of sudafed. Will take 2 acidophilus instead of one. Will have dh abstain longer then 7 days. (do you believe abstinence is better then frequent?) Will order rephresh to test it out... Already looked on amazon does it only come in prefilled applicators?
A timing question for you: I am planning my cutoff (the Babydust way) my fade in pattern hasn't been so predicitve though. Last 2 cycles I got +digital on CD 14, this cycle CD15. I want to DTD the day before the smiley. If I miss it and smiley shows up before I DTD...Is it too close if I DTD the same day as a smiley if I catch it super early?

I think abstinence and FR are both pretty good at lowering sperm count. Abstain may be slightly "better" at lowering sperm count, because it also makes sperm lower in quality so you have less sperm and worse sperm. On the other hand, FR has the added benefit of keeping sperm fresh and healthy and you will prob. get pg a lot quicker with FR as opposed to abstain. I don't like or advise abstinence for anyone where the DH is over 35 because there may be a higher risk of birth defects (slightly higher - no one need panic if you've already gotten pg with abstain, it's just erring on the conservative side.)

When choosing abstain or FR you have to take into consideration your husband's past history with BD. Some guys can BD or release on their own every single day and conceive boys, while others can't do it but once-twice a week with a lot of coaxing. So for the guys who habitually DTD every day without fail and still are able to father tiny blue armies, it may be better to have them try abstaining because in order to do more frequent release than they already do, it requires almost a super human effort (check out Zanacal's sway because her husband is a machine!!!) And a guy who simply can't do it more than once or twice a week, obviously CAN'T do frequent and so you have a choice between doing abstain or else compressed FR. The prob with abstain for guys with lower sex drive is they may not be producing tons of sperm to begin with and so abstain for them might just reduce the odds of pg too far. (Anyone who has girl(s) and is swaying for another girl, your husband may fall into this category, since they may have lower testosterone/lower sperm count to begin with.)

I personally think FR works best for guys who usually DTD every other day or two and any guy over 35 AND couples who are doing a lot of other things to sway that kill off sperm like douching, jellies, etc. I feel that ~most~ dads of blue tend to fall into that category and so as a general rule I think FR gets the best results for the least amount of making it impossible to conceive.

[zanacal]

:giggle: He would love that - if I told him, which I won't :wink:

[HopeandDreamG]

Zanacal: LOL!!! Thats hysterical
Atomic: You may have missed the other part of my question. Would really love your opinion: about the fade in pattern.
A timing question for you: I am planning my cutoff (the Babydust way) my fade in pattern hasn't been so predicitve though. Last 2 cycles I got +digital on CD 14, this cycle CD15. I want to DTD the day before the smiley. If I miss it and smiley shows up before I DTD...Is it too close if I DTD the same day as a smiley if I catch it super early?
Also: can you look at my ovualtion chart. Did I ovulate yet? Got my smiley CD15 (as I said above)- FF hasn't said yet. Maybe CD 17. CM is difficult to interpret I think bc of supps etc

[atomic sagebrush]

Sorry about that, I even had a response planned in mind and then someone must have needed a diaper or something LOL.

I am assuming you want to do a cutoff with one attempt and not FR or compressed FR with the potential for more than one attempt (which is fine and whatever you feel good about is best). I personally put zero stock into timing (if it sways, it sways in ways that are totally unreliable and that we can do better in other ways anyway) and in fact I think it's one of the best ways to get pg while swaying pink, to DTD when you get a pos OPK/smiley. So YES, I think it is fine to DTD the day of the smiley even if you DON'T catch it early. I do suggest to everyone and I think I rem. you are doing this, to take an antihistamine to dry up your CM and maybe a jump and dump to get rid of some of the semen/sperm.

Taking a look at your chart, if your temps start to rise FF will (sorry if I'm stating the obvious here) most likely say you Oed on CD 17. :agree: Just wanted to poing out that if you get a smiley CD 15 and O CD 17, that is a 2 day cutoff anyway and I would feel good about that even for the most traditional sway.

[HopeandDreamG]

Atomic:
Yes my plan was to do abstain with one attempt with a cut off of 2-3 days. Good to know I can still attempt when I get the smiley, also good to have it confirmed that CD 17 is most likely O day and the cut off would have been 2 days anyway. We will see soon.
If I DTD to early and don't get the smiley the next day, I guess I can DTD again the next night and will have DH release himself that morning anyway to make sure (He can handle) and DTD that night if still neg on digital? Is this all correct and is this what you mean by compressed frequent?
Now I am also going to put more thought into abstain vs. frequent. DH is 37, but releases often- probably daily already (need to get the full disclosure from him later... but I know he can do it himself in the morning and DTD later.. I want to get preggo quickly but have 2 boys already and abstainence would be opposite which is why I'm leaning that way. Make sense?

[zanacal]

Getting the 'full disclosure' from my DH (also 37!) was what made us decide to go for very frequent release! Your DH sounds similar so it's something you could consider - DH would deal with himself every morning then again in the evening (sometimes I'd get involved in the evening but I pretty much left it up to him!).

[HopeandDreamG]

Atomic: when you get a chance can you look at my post above. Thanks. Am I supposed to say "bumping" don't really know what that means...LOL

[zanacal]

Atomic: when you get a chance can you look at my post above. Thanks. Am I supposed to say "bumping" don't really know what that means...LOL

Atomic doesn't get a chance to log on during the week due to family commitments.

I agree that if you DTD early and don't get a smiley the next day then you could do compressed frequent release and have another attempt the next night. Your understanding of compressed frequent release is correct - your DH would release (once or twice) without DTD then you'd DTD as soon as possible after these releases. Just one thing to consider with this plan, if you get a wonky cycle and don't O when you expect to then you could end up with several attempts. If you're set on having just one attempt then you might want to consider having that attempt the night of your +OPK instead of trying to get it in before the +.

[HopeandDreamG]

Thanks very much Z. Which do you think would b a better sway? Waiting for +opk (smiley). It seems I O 2 days later and this would give me one attempt? Versus too early and multiple attempts. Which sway is stronger?

[zanacal]

It's up to you what you feel comfortable with and all about getting a fine balance between lowering fertility enough to sway pink whilst still having a chance to get pregnant. If I were you, knowing your DH is a frequent releaser anyway, I would go with one attempt and I would be comfortable doing that on the day of the +OPK knowing that gives you a day or two cut-off also. It also seems pretty stress free which is good for your T levels. You could try this for a couple of months and add in more attempts and/or lose the cut-off if you're not getting pregnant.

[HopeandDreamG]

Thanks. Also I got the "full disclosure" and he is like your dh! He also told me he was releasing everyday when I got pregnant "oopsie" which I unfortunately lost but it was a girl :(. So I decided we will do frequent and day of attempt morning and night as the attempt. My only decision left is rephresh vs. Replens/acigel/douche. Just ordered rephresh to try it out/experiment before attempt. I think my only reservation with it is I can't use lime douche if I really needed/wanted to.

[atomic sagebrush]

H and D, Zana already said everything I would have said! I'm sorry that I can't get online as much as I like and then, boy howdy there were a lot of q's this week to get through! o.O I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. :(

Personally, since you KNOW you can get a girl with releasing every day, and releasing every day is the safest option, I would go with releasing every day. I think that with FR (and actually with abstinence as well) that it's easiest and less stressful to DTD at the pos OPK just like Zana describes.