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Last month it didn’t happen for us. Moving onto next month and feeling good about it. I do have a question though regarding exercise. I exercise at least 5x a week between 70-100 minutes, usually running. However, I’ve noticed I’ve gotten flabby. What are your thoughts on lifting weights for arms? Just to tone them? In addition to running? Is it’a bad idea due to building muscle?
yes, it's a bad idea, and it may be good that you're a little less toned than you were. I found when I swayed unsuccessfully with my 4th son, even tho I'd lost quite a bit of weight, I was still muscular. With my 5th (successful sway) when I lost weight I was a lot less muscle and a lot more mush.
Would using some sort of sperm friendly lubercation like preseed undermine my sway if we still did 1 attempt, kept up exercise and diet? Basically just adding that in is all but not changing anything else. I feel like with breastfeeding I already don’t have much cervical mucus as it is.
Just use the tiniest amount you can get by with for comfy intercourse. We have had good results with using very small amounts of Preseed/CP/YB with pink sways. Larger amounts may sway blue, though.
I do want to mention that barely there EWCM is not always the dealbreaker for conception that people think it is. This is something people do often overthink. You don't have to have copious amounts of EWCM or even ANY visible EWCM to conceive. The semen acts like a "life raft" to keep the sperm alive and then there's often much more EWCM up inside the cervix than you realize. I got pregnant when I was testing my pH (using CM) 2-3 times a day and it never went up, I saw NO visible CM, and I didn't even realize I had ovulated till I was staring at a pregnancy test weeks later - and remember, I am supposed to be an expert LOL. So I really urge you not to think too much about this and start telling yourself you have to in effect sway blue just to get pregnant, since we do not even know that to be the case. :)
This makes sense. Thank you for putting it in perspective. I guess I just felt like I couldn’t get pregnant with no visible EWCM. I keep thinking maybe that’s why it’s not happening for us. Though I’m sure timing or who knows what is actually to blame. And really in reality, we’ve only been trying and not just “not preventing” for 3 months. I bought some pressed but we may or may not use it. Usually DH uses spit (probably a no no and, TMI) but I figured that isn’t probably helping our chances.
People contact me all the time worrying about it, though, and then they DO get pregnant.
Yes saliva is actually worse than nothing and has been proven to kill sperm. So I'd def. give that a pass and you can always use a teeny amount of the Preseed.
I kind of suspect a possible short luteal phase. I’m not positive though. Started BBT this cycle though to see for sure. Is this a side effect of swaying pink? I don’t ever recall having this issue in the past? And if so what can I do to fix it without totally swaying blue. I obviously know with a short luteal phase I can’t get pregnant though so I guess just trying to do enough to fix the problem without totally swaying blue in the process.
You actually CAN get pregnant with a short luteal phase though. This is something people overthink a LOT. 10 days or more is plenty, even 8-10 is still doable. 7 or less may need treatment (usually in the form of Clomid) but that is really quite rare that people have that short an LP.
Short LP can be a side effect of swaying pink. Drop fiber, add in full fat dairy 1 serv. daily, 4-6 eggs a week, a serving of salmon if you like it, red meat if you don't every week.
Can you give me a brief rundown of everything you did the last attempt?
Last attempt we did every 4 days so the Monday Thursday, etc pattern. Used a tiny bit of preseed. I’m breastfeeding, exercising 5x a week 60-90 minutes of cardio. 50-60g protein and same with fat. No snacking, 2 meals with just coffee in the morning.
The only reason I’m thinking about luteal phase is because I got positive opk on cd 25 and then started period 9 days later. So I started bbt this month to see if maybe it is short since I know opk isn’t always accurate and doesn’t tell when you did ovulate.
Ok. Your sway looks solid, I agree let's give it a month with BBT to see if that was either a fluke or if you Oed sooner than you think. :)
Ok I’m good with that. As long as luteal phase isn’t too short I’m not too worried about continuing on like we have been I just got worried about being able to sustain a pregnancy with lower progesterone. I’ve had lots of changes in my period since swaying, shorter period, etc.
Weirdly, when your LP gets short like that it's actually not progesterone that's making it short. About 7 days past ovulation, the corpus luteum starts to break down (and will continue to do so unless a newly developing pregnancy signals it to keep making progesterone) and so your body releases a surge of estrogen that sustains the lining a little longer to give a new pregnancy a chance to burrow in and send that signal so the CL remains and keeps making progesterone. So if you're not eating enough fat, that surge in estrogen doesn't happen correctly and the lining starts to come off before a new pregnancy can send that signal to the CL and your period comes early. So it's not just progesterone the way people think of it and so we need to be absolutely sure youre getting the raw materials we need to keep things working as they should. :)
Makes sense. Thank you for explaining it. So would eating more fat be the fix? I feel like I eat lots of veggies, and some fruit almost daily and the rest of my calorie intake is made up from carbs, rice, etc. Maybe just not enough fat with exercise and breastfeeding. My baby is 1 but not showing any signs of weaning and still nurses around 4-5x a day.
Yes, you need more fat. Full fat dairy 1 serv a day, 4-6 eggs a week, 1 serv of salmon/red meat, but beyond that you NEED 50-60 g fat a day in total when exercising and breastfeeding. If you're not eating fat, that will make your LP short and your O delayed. Your body can make do for a while with your stores of body fat but it will start shortening LP/delaying O at some point.
Ok adding in a few of those things. But adding those wouldn’t I be well over 50-60 goal?
Nope. 1 serv. full fat dairy is 6-8 g fat depending on what you're having (and I think butter is 11 g but don't quote me on that one) an egg has 5 g fat and a serving of salmon (that was supposed to be per week, not per day, messed up writing my previous post) about 7 g fat. You can have the eggs on different days than the salmon. Red meat depends on the cut but you can find some that are super lean, but you'd want a little fat on it and so that generally comes out to 5-13 g fat depending on the cut.