Best products from r/stilltrying

Hi and welcome. i don't think anyone here has any brilliant tips to avoid being disappointed and discouraged - we all are. What helps me most is community - having people like the people here to talk about the process with. Point her our way! The other thing that helps me is trying ot have as much information as I can.

Did you just start trying when you got married? Unfortunately, it can take a normal, healthy couple up to a year to conceive, even under ideal conditions. Things like coming off birth control can make the cycles afterwards irregular, if she was using hormonal birth control before marriage. Are you tracking her cycle to time intercourse with temping, OPKs, fertility apps, etc? If not, you might want to check out the sidebar and wiki at /r/tryingforababy or the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility.

If you know you're hitting the fertile window and nothing is happening, or something else looks wonky (no ovulation, super long or short cycles, etc) a year marks the point where you should talk to a doctor. They'll start with basic bloodwork and an examination with your wife and a semen analysis for you to see if anything looks amiss.

Sending you a lot of hugs.

For gluten-free baking, I have done a fair amount as part of my low-carb stuff. Almond flour baked goods are the best, and have a lower glycemic index. Just make sure you DON'T use the Bob's Red Mill brand - something in the way it's milled gives it a grittier texture. Honeyville or the almond meal from Trader Joe's are my favorites.

This cookbook/gluten-free blogger does really tasty things and tries to limit overall ingredients used between different recipes/keep the number of ingredients in any single recipe to a minimum. It makes it much easier to bake things when you don't have to go to 3 stores to get all of the ingredients, and have standard things you can stock your kitchen with! She also has a blog with lots of good recipes. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158761345X?ie=UTF8&tag=elanaspantryc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=158761345X

Edit: Worded things really strangely, fixed now.

TW: Mention of positive tests

I really like Pregmate brand tests. The ovulation tests are always way darker than any other brand I've used so you KNOW it's positive. When I did have positive pregnancy tests they picked the HCG insanely early. I got an extremely faint positive about 12 hours before a blood test that showed only 12 HCG, which meant repeat bloodwork until it was over 25 HCG. If you ever feel like testing again, [here's what I recommend](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GZ5B36K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) They have a bunch of different purchase options on amazon so you can buy in bulk however you want to... if you want to.

BTW, I totally get the constant testing. I felt like if I wasn't peeing in a cup in the morning to test I was forgetting to do something or wasting my urine.

Edit: IDK why my link formatting isn't working. :( but the link is good.

I feel your pain! Awhile back, I supported a kickstarter for at-home progesterone tests that confirm ovulation 4-5 days after ovulation (in accordance with the progesterone surge that occurs after ovulation triggers the formation of the corpus luteum). I use it in conjunction with OPKs. I estimate that I ovulate the day after my first positive OPK, and then around 4 or 5 dpo, I test for the progesterone surge. It's great for peace of mind.

These MFB Fertility 7 Urine Progesterone Test Strips are the originals whose kickstarter I backed, but these Easy@Home Progesterone Urine Test Strips are cheaper (though it sounds like a teensy bit less sensitive - they go positive at 6μg/ml instead of 5μg/ml like the MFB strips). If you decide to use them, make sure you note that TWO pink lines means NEGATIVE for progesterone and ONE pink line means POSITIVE for progesterone. It's kind of a mind fuck after spending so long looking for two lines. 😜

Well, chatted with husband last night. Told him how I want him to do some MC reading so that when we do go see the loss obgyn there's two brains rather than one at work. Because I think I'm going to be in tears within minutes of talking to this doctor.

I made him come for the last to appointment back in march and he did help by remember all sorts of things I'd forgotten or couldn't remember in the moment.

So now that we're on that page, I have to figure out what I would like him to read. Not Broken ( https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XTZW86Y/ref=pe_1086170_134824320_cm_rv_eml_rv0_dp ) was excellent and I think gives a good overview of everything....

Does anyone else have suggestions? What was a must read for your partner, for you??

In a moment of desperate sadness, I ordered my husband some Fertilaid. He hasn't started taking it yet because I want to run it past our RE, but everything I've read about it online is pretty favorable and the mix is slightly different/more potent than the multivitamin he takes, so might as well try it.

Navigating the Land of IF is my go-to recommendation. The main focus is infertility, but it really covers all aspects. I haven't picked it up in a while, but I believe it talks about adoption too (i just can't remember how much).

Also, I just started (and by started, I mean I'm already halfway through) Instant Mom. I'm enjoying it so far and think it might be of interest to you.

I had to read the summary of that article like three times before I could even process what they were saying...

But that insanity aside... We're willing to try just about anything right now, so my husband has been using these to ice for about an hour a day. Can't say if it'll do any good, but it's cheaper than the "Snowballs underwear," and he says it's actually pretty refreshing 😂

13dpiui. Probably 12dpo. Bfn. I'm having a giant frosty glass of digits blood orange ipa in a much to hot bath. I've got my laptop set up so I can watch something. I've got a face mask ready to go. I've got a candle and some fairy light on.

Today, I did some of the activities in this book which made me feel relatively okay. For good measure I briefly wrote in my actual journal. I've listened to a book on libby which I picked over the ones I've been reading bc I needed something fluffy and mindless and dramatic. It's called "Sometimes I Lie" and I've just gotten to the bit where pregnancy is mentioned but the girl needed 3 rounds of ivf to get there and the other has unexplained infertility (she didnt use those words) and seems to have just decided to stop trying. So I may have chanted "one of us" a few dozen times which was weirdly cathartic. Its semi nice to read something and the characters dont accidentally get pregnant even though they're missing both ovaries just by accidentally rubbing up against a man on train.

We leave for Savannah tomorrow. I'm really ready to be home. When you grow up by the ocean sometimes you need to just be back in proximity to recharge. I've also 100% talked Mr Ghost in to going to Universal too for a couple of days afterwards in exchange for him getting a couple of days at the beach doing absolutely nothing.

I've decided that when I come home I'm going to dye my tempdrop band AND maybe the Harry Potter shirt I've packed for this trip bc its stark white and I know I'll end up messing it up.

So theres my random thoughts for the day. lol Hope yall enjoyed.

I bought the off of amazon for like 13.00$ for a five pack. I love them for at night especially. I may try another kind for daytime though. And I just wash them by hand with Castile soap, but I have run them through the washing machine. I just don’t like letting them sit dirty haha.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B017D8IVJ8?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

We try! She is one of one of my closest friends, and we talk on the phone 2-3x per week. Even though we live 3 hrs away from each other we still see each other every 6 weeks or so.

I found the cutest book while looking for books for other peoples babies. So I bought it. My future little one already has quite the book collection.

I highly recommend these pants. Super stretchy and comfy!!

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01LBSHJ58/ref=twister_B01LBSHG0Q?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW. Expensive, but it doesn't make me nauseated so I consider that a win.

TW: Loss

Definitely to early to test.

But as for success with cheapies, the wondfo FRER dup shows a positive when I had an hcg level of 14 and was negative at 8. So overall i'd say pretty sensitive

This is an option on Amazon. Good luck with it!

Do you mean these???

Because those would also be perfect for some ankleless booties that I have!

6000IU is a random dose. I’ve seen 5000 but I can’t say I’ve seen 6000 specifically unless you’re just supposed to take multiple of a smaller dose? Or maybe that’s the total in case your prenatal already has Vitamin D in it? I did find 10000IU on Amazon. My doctor wrote me a prescription for mine, it’s a 50000IU pill that I take once per week.

We haven't tried that one yet, but I've heard of it. He's taking FertilAid for Men and MotilityBoost, plus additional zinc, selenium, and maca root supplements :)

I'm reading Navigating the Land of IF and it's really good but holy hell the stuff about IVF is intimidating. (The book does mention some stuff about how to manage overwhelming feelings/practicalities if you're interested -- like breaking down your meds stash into baggies and hiding them so you don't have to look at the whole thing all the time).

A lot of people do it and get through it just fine though! And hopefully it's not a thing you'll have to do over again.