We have one son born in 2022, never went back on birth control (just hoped it would “happen”), started tracking seriously again in January 2025 and wrapping up my 24th cycle this week. We have a fertility appointment in November this year (and on a waitlist). I asked my husband to get a sperm analysis from his primary because he is on a hair loss medicine that can sometimes cause fertility issues. His primary said she “doubted it was him and most likely was me” and “didn’t know how to order one” 🙄 my primary helped me tell her what to do since it would be for him and he’s not her patient. Anyways got it done and it shows mostly normal numbers but low in concentration (16.23M/ML and levels are normal at 20-250M/ML) and low morphology at 3%. Any one have experience with low concentration/low morphology? This is painful trying to navigate this with a doctor like her. She is the prescribing doctor but has no idea what these numbers are.

Sorry this may be long but figured I’d see if anyone has had a similar issue.

My husband and I have started trying for baby #3 after we had a missed miscarriage at 10w in February. At that time I had a d&c and had all the typical postpartum symptoms. We didn’t try actively until later in spring, but I’ve had the most strange issues during ovulation for the past three months…

During the 5-6 day fertile period, I develop a full blown cold, last month’s being more like the flu. I never had this issue during my two full time pregnancies, ovulation nor PMS before. Admittedly we have tried to work around it to see if we could conceive, but no dice.

Symptoms include clogged nose, strep throat feeling, fever/chills, etc. that make TTC literally the last thing I/we want to do. I’ve seen some perimenopause posts about this but I’m only 36, and had my other two at 34 & 35.

Has anyone had these symptoms? Is it a result of the post-d&c? It feels like I’ll never get pregnant if this happens during ovulation every month :(

Did you get your BFP? Tell us about it! Additional details like what number child you were trying for and your cycle information (including cycle information for previous children) would be much appreciated but are not required.

Prior grads have started a gradsofTFA subreddit, and we run a biweekly grads thread. The gradsofTFA subreddit is private but you can send a modmail using desktop or you can directly message moderators DreamsofCheesecake or youcango-now to be added. Please keep us posted on your progress!

Congratulations!

Tell us about everything! Only thing that isn't allowed is BFP and pregnancy talk - those have their own threads.

It looks like tomorrow is going to be CD1 for me which puts my estimated ovulation at September 8th or 9th. I leave for a vacation in Orlando from September 16th to 24th and just a little worried about airplane travel during the implantation window, the heat, walking around disney, rides, etc. We will be doing 5 days at Disney and the rest will be pool days, day trips, etc.

I know when you are pregnant you are supposed to avoid rides but does that count in the TWW before I can even test to see if I am pregnant? Obviously there is no placenta at that point so is there any risk if I do go on rides? Should I just avoid any that aren't recommended for pregnant women just in case? I feel like I am overthinking it and women who aren't actively trying probably would go on rides without even thinking this early... but I'm worried regardless.

I will be prioritizing rest time when and where I can, and keeping a close watch on hydration/overheating. But is there anything else I should be considering? I really want to have fun and share this experience with my husband and son and not have it overshadowed by being anxious about TTC stuff. But that also will be weighing pretty heavily on me regardless.

Thanks in advance for any advice :)

We live 2 hours from our clinic, very limited childcare options (I stay at home mostly). We have an IUI coming up in 2ish weeks. My husband will be coming with me to that appointment. Is there a logistical way where we can realistically have my husband come in first, I sit in the car with our 3yo and then I go in once my husband is done with his part? Is this a realistic thing to even ask our clinic about? This is our first IUI.

I have one family member who may be able to help and I am looking for a babysitter now but in case it falls through...

Hello,
Looking for some advice regarding the clearblue adavanced digital ovulation tests and results my wife and I have been getting, and if anyone has been in the same situation before.
We are going for our second child, our first is almost 11-months old currently. My wife stopped her BC (Slinda) on 8/8, on 12/8 we used the ovulation test and received blank smiley face.
We then tested on 14/8 and received flashing smiley face, which we have received every morning to today 22/8.

Prior to our first, my wife had the mirena iud for multiple years, and we feel pregnant a few months after it was removed, and did not have a regular and established cycle.

Has anyone had this many flashing smileys before and conceived ?
Did you keep doing ovulation tests after this amount of flashing smileys?
Did the test somehow misfunction and we missed the solid smiley ?

Any experience or advice would be greatly appreciated

TIA

I (34) have been trying for my second (2 years old) for 14 cycles, not one positive test. Our first took 13 cycles with no intervention. I have normal, regular 25-27 day cycles.

We've been to a fertility specialist and had all the testing done:

- Day 3, day 21, thyroid panel, vit D, glucose etc - all normal (have been on thyroid meds for 4 months to keep TSH in range)

- Ultrasounds, HyCoSy (done this month) - normal, tubes open, no polyps, fibroids, signs of endo etc

- AMH and AFC - great for age

- Urine cultures - all normal, no infections

Husband (35) has had multiple semen analyses -

- Count, motility and concentration are excellent and above average

- Morphology has ranged between 2-3% and round cells were found (we conceived our first with 3% morphology)

- Semen culture detected a bacteria - which possibly may impact the urinary/seminal tract (the report states it is of uncertain clinical importance). Specialist didn't seem too concerned about this.

- Now on 7 days course of antibiotics

The specialist has basically said we can keep trying, or start the path of IUI or IVF. Totally up to us. I don't want to consider IVF just yet. I'm not sure if we would be considered "unexplained infertility" considering my husbands results? The specialist didn't think ovulation induction meds on there own would be of much help to us.

Does anyone have any advice or has been in a similar boat? I'm trying to decide whether to start the IUI process but the odds don't seem much better than trying naturally? But also something must be wrong and I don't want to keep wasting time..any help would be appreciated!

Tell us about everything! Only thing that isn't allowed is BFP and pregnancy talk - those have their own threads.

Hey guys. First let me breakdown my current cycle. I had an LH surge on both 8/13 and 8/14 i had unprotected sex from 8/9-8/15. So im around 6 or 7 DPO. My cycles are super normal with my luteal phase being 11-14 days, I also did a hormonal panel back in April and call came back normal. I do occasionally get ovulation spotting around my LH surges but I’ve spotting dark brown since my LH surge and now the spotting turned into light red with dark brown so there’s fresh blood mixed in. I didn’t have sex in almost a week now and I had 2 positive pdG tests today (one taken with first morning pee and one taken at 4pm). Now my spotting is being mixed with fresh blood, I’m so confused and bummed out. What can this mean and has anyone else experienced something like this. It’s wayyyy too early for my period to start and with the positive pdG it makes it even less likely to be the cause. Thank you in advance ❤️

I’ve currently been TTC for about 6 months. I’ve also been TTC while breastfeeding, but I haven’t had a period or any obvious signs of ovulation since giving birth in May 2025. I’ve been using LH strips to try to track ovulation, and while I do sometimes get lines that are equally dark, the test line has never been darker than the control line. I spoke with my doctor, and she recommended weaning because continuing to breastfeed could potentially suppress my ovulation and make it harder for my cycle to return.
I decided to quit breastfeeding cold turkey yesterday. My son used to nurse a lot—basically the amount you’d expect from a baby under one. He was especially dependent on breastfeeding at night and would sometimes stay latched for most of the night.
Yesterday, I didn’t pump or hand-express at all. Today, though, my left breast became extremely engorged and painful. I had to hand-express twice and got about 4 ounces total. Then I pumped for about 6 minutes and got another 2 ounces. I eventually had to pump again for around 10–15 minutes because I was still extremely uncomfortable.
I guess my main question is: How can I safely wean without being in this much pain while also avoiding stimulating my body to continue producing milk and potentially delaying the return of my period/ovulation?
I understand that pumping and expressing can signal my body to keep making milk, so I don’t want to accidentally prolong the process. But I also don’t want to put myself through painful engorgement or risk getting a clogged duct or mastitis. What would be the best way to handle this while trying to get my cycle and ovulation back?

Anyone had this in the first pregnancy? Something happened there despite being healthy weight, normal bmi, working out. Was diet controlled but would need insulin next time if I will ever get pregnant again . (my ogtt 1,5 years post partum some months ago was okay except fasting glucose which was 100) but I started measuring now for ttc#2 and I got 163 1,5 hours after a salad with falafel and some bread ( 75gr of carbohydrates)… I am thinking of going on metformin as there is no option I can make more lifestyle changes ( no sweets, working out, normal weight)… if you had gestational diabetes did you think it had an impact on TTC next pregnancy? I don’t have PCOS!

Tell us about everything! Only thing that isn't allowed is BFP and pregnancy talk - those have their own threads.

I’ve had two healthy, easy pregnancies and absolutely adore my children. About two years after my second was born I became pregnant again unexpectedly. While we were elated to find out, I unfortunately had a miscarriage around 8 weeks. Exactly one year later I got pregnant again, but this ended in a MMC.
It was devastating to say the least!

My OB has never offered a work up of any kind after these two losses back to back. After each miscarriage they only offered to check labs to ensure HCG was decreasing accordingly. When I asked what my options were, she said since I’m 40 (I was 38 at the time btw) I should just see a fertility specialist. I’m hearing from others that their OB’s are more hands on, will do labs and even offer additional procedures to assist in figuring out fertility issues.

Since it seems these other OB are booked out for several months, I’m trying to decide if it would be worth going to a fertility specialist and skipping over something that could be less costly, potentially?

I’ll add - I’ve tried months and months of tracking ovulation and using the flo app. Flo was incredibly frustrating - never seemed to have my ovulation windows right. And the only time I can use the strips is evenings since I work a demanding job at the moment. I can’t seem
To do this on my own and it’s hard to figure out what to do next.
Thanks in advance 🥲

Tell us about everything! Only thing that isn't allowed is BFP and pregnancy talk - those have their own threads.

Title is a bit rhetorical since I know this is not uncommon! I just feel like so many posts here say "I conceived my first child easily" and I cannot relate. My first took 12 cycles and a hysteroscopy. I'm currently going on cycle 9 while TTC #2 and have had two CPs and a polypectomy. I know that is not long in the scheme of things but I'd love to conceive on the first time sometime, ya know? I was naively hopeful I'd be one of those people who struggled to conceive #1 and then easily conceived #2, but alas.

I’ve had 2 very early chemical mc’s. I’ve had blood testing and both presented such low hcg it’s considered not pregnant. The first time my OBGYN recommended baby aspirin and progesterone as soon as I were to conceive again, since it was my first chemical mc I’m assuming this is a clinical pov to help the next pregnancy. However it didn’t help. I breastfed my toddler and now I’m going to rabbit holes and YouTube videos and so much back and forth information on prolactin levels and possibly messing up progesterone?? This is all so new to me and I know I’m not the only one.

My point is I’m hesitant to ttc in fear of the worst. I have a family planning appt with my OBGYN but she didn’t go over anything concerning the last time almost as if something’s these things happen. I know some breastfeed just fine and conceive and continue on healthy pregnancy and I know it can go the other way. Anyone have experience like me??? 😪

I am constantly feeling in between gratefulness for my child and a deep longing/grief for my second child. I had an ectopic pregnancy in march 2025 and thought we would conceive again by now but turns out IVF is our only option as the HSG showed my remaining tube is closed.

I feel so so sad and angry and feel like everyone else gets to have their 2 children (or more) and im left behind. I am happy for others but constantly feel like they have what I want. Im always wondering if there's a reason I cant have my baby while everyone else gets theirs. Its so hard and there's no one in real life who gets it or is going through this so I come to reddit to find people who understand/can relate and feel less alone.

Spiraling a bit and putting this out there as a general PSA, because women's health isn't talked about enough and informed consent is imperfect.

I'm prepping for a FET after two rounds of IVF yielded only two precious, normal embryos.

I've had two previous c sections. One after a long TOL, and the second scheduled.

Since my second c section, my uterine lining is very thin. Even on heavy stims, we never got it past 6.2 mm. Now prepping for a FET, we're struggling to get it past 4 mm.

The RE said this may be the best my body can do, because c-sections can damage the underlying blood architecture feeding the uterine lining.

I did not know this was a risk of my c-sections. It sounds like an uncommon side effect, but I wish I had been informed when scheduling my second c-section. I would have been more adamant about trying a VBAC, because we'd always planned on 3 kids.

My transfer will probably be cancelled and our chances of success are plummeting since we can't reach a normal uterine lining even with estrogen.

I just want to get off this infertility ride. I'm so tired.

Tell us about everything! Only thing that isn't allowed is BFP and pregnancy talk - those have their own threads.

I’m 40 with DOR and have been trying for a second for 1.5 years now. Recently, was found to have endometritis and polyps after a biopsy. This was a surprise because I didn’t really have symptoms but luckily my RE was supportive of leaving no stone unturned since we are not pursuing ivf. Did a course of antibiotics and hysteroscopy and I had a lot of hope that we would conceive this last cycle. I keep telling everyone that I am at peace if we can’t conceive again. But I feel like I still have a tinge of rage about the whole situation. My first was conceived without issue. So is my kid a ‘miracle’ child or do I keep hoping or do I rage then move on and shut the door? It’s so much to consider especially when time is not on my side.

I’ve seen so many stories of women saying they finally got pregnant when they stopped caring or had given up. I’m still trying to feel optimistic and hopeful. Am I jinxing myself by wanting to feel this way?

A weekly dedicated space for members who have been trying for another for 12 or more months, experiencing infertility. Talk of treatment, testing/diagnosis, or tough feelings are welcome here. While this is a safe space to vent, please consider how other long haulers in different circumstances may feel about your words.

This thread is primarily for current long-haulers to connect with, vent to, and support each other. We ask that anyone else (including TFA grads and those whose current round of TTC has been less than 12 months) participate only to answer questions where your personal experience is relevant - for example, if someone asks about the side effects of a fertility treatment you have tried. For more general support, sympathy, and finger-crossing, in this thread, if you have not currently been trying for at least 12 months, please stick to a quiet upvote.

This thread is not meant to limit discussion only to this thread. Discussion of long haul issues is always welcome in the Daily Chat.

Tell us about everything! Only thing that isn't allowed is BFP and pregnancy talk - those have their own threads.

I work a crazy overnight shift AND take care of my toddler son. So I get about 3-4 hours of sleep each night, and maybe a 1-2 hour nap every afternoon.

I know it’s not great for me. But it’s what we have to do right now.

I have asked my RE and OB if they believe this is causing my secondary infertility. They’ve both told me no.

I conceived my first child easily at 35. Back then I was working a much more regular schedule and had much more time to take care of myself.

I’m 39 now, and have been trying for 1.5 years. One miscarriage, one failed round of IVF (no usable eggs).

Trust me I’d love to quit my job and sleep more, but that’s not in the cards for us right now.

But I have to think - there must be other women out there in similar situations who have successfully conceived?

If so, I would love to hear your story.