After successful sway, I need some help again please!

[mrsellis127]

Hello, I haven’t been on here after a successful boy sway back in 2016. We are ttc our third and haven’t been having any luck. We’ve only been trying for a couple months so far and I just turned 37 last month. My first two were both conceived on the first month of trying so I am not used to this and panicking and wondering if my age has anything to do with it. I was 28 and 32 when my two were conceived. Now that we have one of each, we’re not trying to sway either way, just trying to get pregnant! Although, my diet is pretty much still HE, which hasn’t really changed over the years since my sway in 2016. The only supplements I’m taking is prenatal gummy vitamins. Please tell me if I need to add anything else, like folic acid etc? I am still nursing my boy on occasion who’s almost 4 now 🙀 trying to get him off but I don’t know if that is hurting our chances as I was nursing my daughter when he was conceived.

Thank you for any advice!!

[mrsellis127]

Just want to add that this month I really thought I was pregnant and AF was 3 days late but just arrived today. My cycles are usually 27-28 days so I’m not sure why I was late this month.

[treens]

Hello! I am 40 and 15 weeks now.

We did a sway for boy and i just tried to be healthy and help my eggs. I started sups and eating well 5 months before and it took us 5 months of trying. I know how you feel i started to panic. Just thought I would say hi and tell you what i took. I also had 27-28 day cycles :)

We both took probiotics, fish oil, CoQ10, i took prenatal and husband mens vit., I took extra folic acid.

I really think our last month had to do with preseed. The months before we just used a bit more like lube the last month we used it as directed and inserted it. I think it could have helped.

Good luck to you!

[atomic sagebrush]

Tell me what all you're doing when it comes to trying?

What brand gummies?

Nursing at 4 years of age is unlikely to hurt your chances of conceiving.

It takes 3-6 months average (without swaying) to conceive so it may be you just haven't had luck yet, but if you fill in what you guys are doing to try I can help suggest tweaks to make. :)

[atomic sagebrush]

Just want to add that this month I really thought I was pregnant and AF was 3 days late but just arrived today. My cycles are usually 27-28 days so I’m not sure why I was late this month.

So if your period was late that means you ovulated a little late too. Did you keep having attempts past when you thought you were ovulating?? It may be you missed ovulation.

[mrsellis127]

Thanks for responding Atomic!! And sorry for the vague post. I’ve been tracking with the smiley clearblue. Our January month was off, as we didn’t dtd until two days after a static smiley. February was a 27 day cycle (my period started January 10 and February 6) So we dtd on Feb 17 (CD 11) and Feb 19 (CD13) which is the day I got a static smiley. I had flashing smiley on feb 18. So I thought we were good as far as timing. We used preseed both times. I’m using Equate brand prenatal gummy. Would ovulation be late even though I had a static smiley? I have no idea why my period was late this month other than me stressing about getting pregnant! Thanks again!!

[mrsellis127]

My diet has stayed consistent since our sway for our son. Breakfast is usually avocado, spinach and fruit smoothie with toast and coffee, sandwiches, big salad or pasta for lunch, and red meat, fish or chicken for dinner. Snacks are fruit or protein granola bars and leftover smoothies. I have been drinking more coffee as I’m homeschooling my daughter these days ��

[atomic sagebrush]

A static smiley doesn't guarantee ovulation, you can still ovulate late even if you've had a static smiley. If your period was late it generally means you ovulated late. "stress" doesn't make your period not come. Nothing stops a period other than pregnancy. What happens with stress is that your OVULATION comes late, and then your period is tacked onto the end of that.

I would try to have more attempts. So when you get a flashy I'd start having an attempt every day through till when you're certain you've ovulated. To use February as an example I would have had you have attempts CD 11-15 or thereabouts. CD 12-15 would have worked too that month.

Now, if you're wanting to still sway blue we can work that in too but my impression is that you just want to get pregnant, right?

[mrsellis127]

Yes, just trying to get pregnant. I was completely relying on the opk as I did the other two pregnancies. I did not realize stress could cause ovulation to be late but that makes sense! Are there any other supplements I should be taking?
Thanks so much!

[mrsellis127]

My husband had to work out of town and we couldn’t have more attempts. I thought sperm hangs around for 3-5 days. Is that not always the case? If my period started March 8, does that mean I ovulated around feb 22? Thanks!

[atomic sagebrush]

No, it doesn't usually hang around that long. Living sperm can sometimes be retrieved but that sperm is very unlikely to fertilize an egg. The majority of conceptions happen O-2, O-1, and O Day.

The most likely time you ovulated would be Feb 22 in that case but it could also be you ovulated even 23 or 24 and had a 12 day LP.

[mrsellis127]

Thanks atomic! I think we are going to skip this cycle and try again in April when my husband won’t be working out of town. Are there any other supplements I should take besides the fish oil and prenatals that would boost overall fertility?

[atomic sagebrush]

Are you taking probiotics?

[mrsellis127]

No just prenatals and 1000mg omega 3 from fish oil

[atomic sagebrush]

I would have you take the fish oil every other day. 1000 daily is too much.

I would add in a probiotic.

[mrsellis127]

Hi atomic! My cycle started on April 5. I am on cd13 today. My husband has to leave town for work again so we are going to have an attempt today and when he returns on cd15. Do you think that would be good enough this month? Thanks!

[atomic sagebrush]

Well, it depends when you ovulate. Like, if you O CD 18 that would not be enough.

Go ahead and attempt when he goes and when he comes back, but I'd be doing the OPK too to know when ovulation happens, so if it's later you can have attempts.

[mrsellis127]

Hi atomic,
We are still not having any luck with conception, unfortunately. I would love any advice on how to improve conception odds. I am quite disheartened as my first two were conceived on the first month of trying and think that my age now is causing a problem (I am 37). I have been taking prenatals and off/on with probiotics. My diet has generally remained the same since I conceived my son. Basically HE diet. I do drink about two cups of coffee per day.

Our attempts have pretty much been 1 time during the fertile period because he works quite a bit out of town and is not really into timing sex. I want this 3rd baby more than him, if that makes sense. Last cycle, we dtd the night of my first flashing smiley on the clear blue (cd9) and the night of the static smiley (cd11). My cycle was 26 days last month (May3-May29). This month it was 27 days (May29- June24). Our attempts this cycle were on June 6& June 8 and my period started on June 24.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Well, if you're having sex just one time that's the most likely issue. Fertility does not drop off the way they make it sound, and if you had kiddos in the past the odds are good you are still fertile at 37 and we just need either a lucky month or better timed sex.

So in May, you ~probably~ had just one well timed BD on CD 11. I would have liked to see one more or even two attempts in there but you did have some chance of conception.

In June, only the June 8 attempt had a chance. Again, one attempt, with some chance of conception. I would have liked to see more attempts just before or for a couple days after.

But that having been said, if you have even a slightly shorter LP than 14 days, your attempts in both months would have been too early, too. If your LP was even just 12 days (which is still totally normal and very commmon) you would have likely missed ovulation totally.

I mention that not to make you feel bad, but to reassure you because these just weren't great attempts. So please don't feel like you're menopausal or any such thing. You haven't even started giving it a shot yet! In future months you may have better timing and better luck.

[mrsellis127]

Thanks for your response Atomic! How do I find out how long my LP is? I’ve always used those clear blue smiley opks, and timed sex during flashing and static smiley and was successful both previous times. Are there any supps I should add? Thanks again!

[atomic sagebrush]

Temping is the best way to know how long your LP was. But you don't NEED to know that. My point wasn't to then have you start temping to track your LP, it was to reassure you that not only were you having just one attempt in the fertile window, even that one attempt may have been too soon. So please don't panic about not conceiving yet, it doesn't mean anything dire.

[mrsellis127]

Hi Atomic! Still ttc here! This last cycle, I kept testing using the clearblue opks and had regular ovulation symptoms, but the tests kept being negative. I tried testing several times throughout the fertile week, CD 10-15, and they were all negative. Do you know why this would be? Also, my hubby is finally in town and we are going to put all efforts into ttc the next cycle by trying the sperm meets egg method. Could you please advise of any supplements I could take to boost fertility? I already have a HE diet, taking folic acid, probiotics and prenatal. Thank you!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Is it the Clearblues with the sticks?? Or the digis?

The reason I ask is that the Clearblues with the sticks are meant to be started early and used daily, and if you start them too late the monitor will not detect the change in hormones properly and will keep registering negative.

It may have been that you surged sooner (not very likely) or later (totally possible).

Or, it may have been that you were testing at the wrong time of day or that your urine was diluted and you surged but the test didn't pick it up.

I already tell you everything to boost fertility. I don't hold anything back to take at the last minute, I tell you everything to take right from the start and there is no secret supplement I only reveal if you ask me the right way LOL. If you want, you can use guaifenesin to make more EWCM but you don't have to.

PLEASE just continue taking what youre taking. 99.9% of everything sold online to "boost fertility" is worse than nothing, messing up your cycle and possibly causing actual harm to new pregnancies. Just stay the course.

[mrsellis127]

Would it be possible to not ovulate and not have a period during a cycle? Since my opks were negative, and I am 4 days late, with a bfn. I’ve never missed a period and can always tell when I’m ovulating. I was surprised my opks were negative since I was having ovulation symptoms. No idea what’s going on with my body!

I mainly want to know, if my period doesn’t come this month, will I ovulate in a week or so like normal? I’ve read about anovulatory cycles and wondering if this is it? Thanks atomic!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Anovulatory cycles are far less common than people think. What happens in the majority of cases is that you will simply ovulate later than you expected.

What happens in many cases is that you will gear up to ovulate, your hormones will rise, you will have symptoms (because hormones cause the symptoms) and then for whatever reason your body just decides "maybe not just yet" and shuts it all down. This can happen repeatedly before an egg ever is released, sometimes weeks or even months apart. So having symptoms, and even a positive OPK, does not mean you have ovulated. You can even have a complete surge and then your body does not release the egg because it's detected some signal that it's not a good time for conception.

No, you won't ovulate as normal "this month". You're still in the previous month's cycle. So while you may ovulate, and it may even come at roughly the same time as you might have ovulated had you gotten your period as normal, it is NOT a continuation of the pattern you're used to, it's not happening at that point because that's what happened in the past, it will just be coincidental if it were to happen at about the same time of the month.

Whenever your period comes, you should think back about 2 weeks and see what happened at that point. Most likely by far is that you ovulated then, and your period has come tacked onto the end of whenever ovulation occurred.

Less likely, but still possible, is that your estrogen may drop for a variety of reasons and then that triggers your lining to slough off without having ovulated. The good news is, though, that this still acts like a hormonal reset just like a true period does, and you'll start a new cycle. It is entirely possible to ovulate normally after having an anovulatory cycle.

Long story short, no matter what, your body is acting as normal, this is not unusual or uncommon at all, and it's not a permanent state. This happens to people, happens to pretty much everyone at least a few times over the course of their lives, and doesn't have any bearing on your fertility in the general sense.

[mrsellis127]

That makes me feel better! I will wait it out and see if my period shows up in a few more days! Thanks again atomic!

[mrsellis127]

Ok Atomic, you’re right again! Turns out I was actually pregnant. I was quite shocked when I took the in early January after my period didn’t show up again. I seriously thought something was wrong with my cycle. I guess the opk test was wrong or I ovulated late and we dtd at the right time. Thanks so much for all your expertise! We are waiting on the NIPT result and I’ll update with gender! Thanks again!

[atomic sagebrush]

Aww great news!!! Huge congrats and let me know how it's going!

[mrsellis127]

Hi atomic! Update on gender: NIPT results said girl! I was surprised at this too since I’ve been on the HE diet for such a long time, I was sure it was a boy. Do you think my ovulation being off caused my body to decide a girl was better this time around? We are happy either way that this little one completes our family, I would just like to know for my personal understanding since I thought I was an expert after that first successful boy sway LOL. Thanks agaín for everything atomic! You’ve helped our family in so many ways!

[atomic sagebrush]

Huge congrats on your new baby girl!

It isn't so much that ovulation being off swayed, it was whatever REASON your ovulation was off probably swayed. This could be for a variety of reasons, so I can't pin it down more than that. I can't tell anyone why their sway produced an opposite, but that would definitely be my first inclination if I had to guess.

[Walkerbabies]

Hello congratulations on your new baby girl! She was conceived naturally right? Sorry haven't read the entirety of your thread. How far along are you?