Trying to conceive boy since 2 cycles with PCOS

[Blue-dream]

Hi atomic,

I was just getting all the information I needed for my blue sway from other threads. But now after 2 failed cycles to conceive I think I am either not ovulating or some other issue. Let me explain what I did in the last 2 cycles:

DW age: 34
DH age: 37
I have a daughter who is 4 now. Before I conceived her was on birth control pill for 6 months and conceived the second cycle after stopping it. Doctor had then told me I have cysts in my ovaries but haven't had any scans lately. I also get few thick hair around my nipples (sorry for detailed explanation) and under my chin.
I don't temp just use CB opks to track ovulation and also my periods are pretty regular (30 day) cycle. And I only bleed for first 2 days and then it's light but goes on till 5 days. Ovulation as per FF is always on CD15. I also get lots of ewcm on that day.

DIET:
I am just trying to eat without going hungry. So my everyday routine is something like below:
I drink lemon with warm water as soon as I wake up.
Breakfast: bowl of cereal with full fat milk
Morning Snack: a slice of banana bread(home made with whole meal flour, honey, coconut oil, cinnamon, vanilla essence) and a glass of tea with little milk
Lunch: little rice with meat or vegetable gravy or spinach kale curry or 2 eggs
afternoon snack: banana / orange / apple and also will snack on some potato chips or some alomnds, walnuts and apricots
dinner: is same as lunch
Coconut water throughout the day (1 liter per day from AF to O)

DH eats pretty much what I eat but he eats 2 eggs almost everyday and banana milk shake with all dry fruits daily.

BD pattern:

BD every 3 days with husband releasing outside (AF to O) until I get positive opk. Then BD continuous for 4 days (CD13, CD14, CD15, CD16).
Then back to 3 days release inside me till AF. But in both the cycles husband released outside of me on CD11. So there was only a single day gap there. Not sure if this has affected sperm quality.
Also after BD I stay in bed and fall asleep. I also make sure I have O every BD attempt.

In my first cycle after ovulation had severe bloating and breast tenderness and thought I was pregnant but BFN. This cycle I didn't feel pregnant at all and today I am 11dpo and got a BFN. Don't have any hopes this cycle as no symptoms.

Medication:
I am just taking elevit and DH takes menevit (we both take it before going to sleep).
DH used to smoke (not a lot though) and now since 2 months he has reduced it though not completely cut back on it (I guess!)
I read about vitex in few forums so you think I should start taking them?
I am also thinking on taking Vit D and also give it to DH (1000IU per day)

Please let me know what can be improved!

Thanks a ton in advance for all the work you are doing.

[atomic sagebrush]

If your cycle is regular then the odds are all but 100% you are ovulating.

Please no vitex. That will sway pink and really cuts odds of conception, plus it can mess up your cycle.

Vit D is great! yes do add that in.

The main thing that's jumping out to me is that your diet is super carby and not as high in protein as I'd like to see for someone who has PCO-tendencies. Now, do I think this is preventing concepiton? No, I think it's only been 2 months and you just haven't caught the egg yet (not at all unusual). But it is something that would be easy enough to fix...ditch the bananas and dry fruit (I PROMISE there is nothing magically boy-producing about bananas!) and anything sweet. Even the banana bread may need to go in favor of something less sweet/carb dense. Don't go overboard, you do need SOME carbs to TTC a boy but just that there's no huge benefit to dried apricots, for example, so it's just sugars added in for no real benefit. Just have nuts on their own, they're already protein + carbs.

[Blue-dream]

Thanks atomic for the reply and your suggestions.
I am sorry if all this has been answered in other threads but just wanted to ask these questions directly to you and get an answer.

Would you mind suggesting me protein rich food (other than meat, chicken) that I can consume which is boy friendly and also reduce PCO-tendency?
Is hummus ok? I drink almost a liter of coconut water (AF to O) is that a bit too much?
Nuts what do you think I should consume?
Also should I take extra iron tablets? Any probiotics? Please suggest any other medications you think I should give a try.

Also I forgot to mention that I am a bit of a stress head and control freak. Could stress be spoiling my chances of conceiving? Just the word stress stresses me out :(. I also work full time.
I am planning on 20-30 minutes walk at work.

Also BD pattern do you think I have high chances of conceiving if I go EOD from CD10-CD24?? or follow the SMEP??

[atomic sagebrush]

Eggs, dairy, nuts. Legumes, soy, and grains are less good (due to carbiness) but are still ok in moderation.

Hummus is great, just be sure you're eating lots of other things and not just hummus as it's lower in protein and higher in vegetable based fats (too many veg based fats may sway pink).

Coconut water is fine at that intake.

I recommend all blue swayers take probiotics.

Unless you are anemic you only need 100% DRV of iron.

Are you doing 250-500 mg fish oil?

Stress isn't fantastic for chances of conceiving but it's fairly rare that anyone is sooo stressed out that they aren't conceiving because of that. 2 cycles is realy not a long time at all to have been trying so please don't overthink that.

I don't want any blue swayer to do ONLY EOD. This is because with EOD it's easy to end up with O-4, O-2 and O Day attempt (which is realy only one good attempt, the O-2 one, since O day is often too late) or O-5, O-3, O-1 which is even WORSE. Do SMEP or the 3 attempts at or around positive OPK with EOD or every two days unprotected sex, or just the 3 around pos OPK if you can't stand giving up Shettles.

[Blue-dream]

I got the probiotics and fish oil and starting from today for both of us. But fish oil is 1000 mg so can we take it once every two days?

Also is paneer considered as animal fat?

What cheese and v8 juices do you recommend atomic?

Again thanks for your help and patience.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes take every two days on the fish oil

Yes paneer is animal fat unless it's skim - full fat only

Any cheese you like that is made with full fat dairy.

I prefer the regular old V8 juice made of tomatoes and vegetables.

[Blue-dream]

Thanks atomic. I am doing all that now.

But I am having cold and headache since Sunday. Not taking any meds though. As per FF I ovulate on Tuesday. I also have a party happening on Sunday at our house. So very busy with the preparations.

So do you think I can still go ahead with ttc this month? I am planning to squeeze in an attempt this week and then BD Sunday (after positive opk), Monday and Tuesday.

[atomic sagebrush]

If you'll live 1000 lifetimes of regret if you try this month and get a girl, best to skip the month, but the thing is for all we know, it's a great month to get a boy for you and next month will be worse! We just cannot know what month is better than any other month really, and when I don't know, I have to leave the decision in your hands. :)

[Blue-dream]

Hi atomic,

This month has been so weird by not getting solid smiley. I have used digital CB opk kit for few months now and it was just on spot to get solid smiley on O-2.
As I was busy with preparation work for the party took CB test after just 3 hours sleep and got a flashing smiley (was expecting solid smiley) but the same day ewcm started.
So we have BD'ed on O-2, O-1 and as per FF ovulation is today. But all I see is flashing smiley no peak yet. But have other symptoms like lower abdomen pain, slight boobs pain and very gassy.
Have always had 30 days cycle and quite regular.
I am not sure if I missed the surge as I started my test on O-2 assuming I used to always get static smiley then.
Does lack of sleep also alter LH surge?
Do you think I should continue BDing today too? Now the CM has changed to watery. Yesterday and day before had very stretchy ewcm.

[atomic sagebrush]

I do think you need to keep BDing! Watery CM is fertile and many people notice a change to watery CM prior to ovulation. The CB can be wrong, of course, or the surge may not have happened yet. Either way, keeping going with the BD will be best for blue.

[Blue-dream]

Hi Atomic even last month was not mine as I got my periods 4 days delayed. I just wanted to check - can Fish oil cause delayed ovulation? Last month I was totally busy so not sure if it was the fish oil or stress that caused delay in ovultaion.
Thanks in advance for your inputs.

[atomic sagebrush]

It shouldn't - please give me a recap of everything you're taking.

stress can absolutely delay O by 4 days or so but I just wnat to be sure we're not taking anything that may be working against us.

[Blue-dream]

I am taking fish oil 1000mg alternative days, probiotic everyday, elevit prenatal everyday.

[atomic sagebrush]

None of those things should delay ovulation, so I think we should operate under the assumption that this was just from stress and roll on to next month! FXFXFX!!

[Blue-dream]

Thanks for the reply atomic. I have ran out of ovulation CB test strips. As I can't just buy test strips have to buy the kit again. Which one of the below two do you suggest? I was using advanced digital before.

40480

[atomic sagebrush]

If price is no object the Advanced is handy becuase it gives you the warning, but either will work.

[Blue-dream]

Hi Atomic,

I got a solid smiley on Saturday. But we BD'ed on Friday and as I got positive on Saturday we have BD'ed straight 5 days since Friday now. I stayed in bed after BD and went to sleep all days. After solid smiley I raised my leg at least for an hr with a pillow under.
But I wanted to know is it normal for a bit of semen to come out after sex? I also saw some when I woke up next morning.

I am hoping this is my month!

Also can I stop taking fish oil tablets until either I get a BFP or move on to next month? I will continue with the pre natal and probiotic.

[atomic sagebrush]

Perfect!

Yes it's totally normal for some semen to come out after sex. That mostly contains dead and dying sperm and is your body's way of getting rid of the icky stuff.

Is there a particular reason why you want to stop the fish oil? I don't really like people going off and on and off supplements, fish oil in particular. So what I'd have you do instead is drop to every other day or even every 2 days for now. If you get BFP then please continue weaning off gradually. If you don't, resume it daily.

[Blue-dream]

Thanks for the reply Atomic. Sure will continue taking Fish oil once every 2 days then.