CBFM Buddy

[DaisyQ]

Yay!!!! Go creative go! Go get that eggy!

Afm, have not o'ed yet. Temp is still down. Guess it will happen today. Had some cramping yesterday, which I've never noticed before. Read something last night about frequency of dtd. Someone who talked to a RE posted that he said to abstain from sex for 3 days before your fertile period, then when you get your + opk or peak, to do it once a day for 3 days. He said that doing it every day for a prolonged period ( like a week or more) will decrease sperm count. and guess what we've been doing? Every day for the last week, and twice yesterday, and haven't o'ed yet! Grrrr. Hoping we will still get prego this cycle, but if not, I think we will change BD strategy. I think we will try to abstain from cd 10, then every other day from cd 13 until peak, then once day. My only worry is what if you miss your peak? Or only get like 1 high? I wish there was more definitive info out there. Seems like a lot of conflicting theories.

 

[ttc_lolly]

Hi ladies :wave:

Sorry to jump straight in but was reading through and finding a lot of your posts really helpful this is my 1st cycle using the CBFM and I'm slightly confused (which honestly, doesn't take much )

I was having just low readings and then on CD11 it jumped straight to peak. Peak again on CD12, then it dropped to high on CD13 and then back to low CD14. Is this normal? I just assumed I'd get a high first I also started using soy this cycle to, took it CD2-6 and now panicking that it's somehow managed to give the CBFM wrong reads!

TIA for any replies x

 

[1cre8tivgrl]

Tia! You are completely normal! No worries..some women don't get a high before their peak, it happens all the time, and always after your 2 peaks you go back down from high to low. Hope you were able to catch your egg hun!

 

[DaisyQ]

Welcome ttc!

I've heard it's not uncommon to go straight to peak. What that means is that it missed your estrogen surge, but picked up your LH surge. I think it's unlikely that the LH surge/peak could be a false reading. Not sure how soy affects LH, would think it just affects estrogen??

 

[1cre8tivgrl]

Daisy don't sweat it babe...even if you don't dtd on your peak days but did before your still in with a very good chance, as long as you have fertile cm those little swimmer can live up to 5 days (in the really good cm). I wasn't using the monitor when I was ttc Kaiya and I was trying for a girl so we stopped bding 3 days before I o'd and well...she is here I usually have on my last 2 highs and both peak days, once a day. But it helps of course to know your cycle and when you usually o! I do wonder if you o'd last night, some women get cramps as o pain...me being one of them!

 

[1cre8tivgrl]

Ohh and how do you guys tell the difference between man goo and ewcm??

 

[ttc_lolly]

Thanks for your help ladies my mind is now at rest I'm very very pleased with the soy - my last cycle was 42 days long and I o'd on CD29 so to go from that to an ovulation around CD13 is pretty impressive! Just hope we did enough this cycle, but will jump on OH later just incase!

Man goo is a good one my OH's ''goo'' changes, not sure if anyone elses does!? Sometimes it can be really thick, and other times quite watery and similar to EWCM. I can always tell the differene though because of the amounts!

 

[1cre8tivgrl]

Thanks hun...we dtd at 6 this morning and up until just a bit ago I've had stuff running out of me, clearly it can't be all his fluid?? I hope not! I've felt very wet this morning, had to change my undies twice I did find some very stretch stuff in there so going to count it as ewcm!

 

[jchic]

WOW! 1 weekend of not logging on and I missed so much! LOL. How is everyone today??

 

[DaisyQ]

Hi Jchic! I missed you! How was your weekend?

Ttc, that's awesome that soy softened your follicular stage so much!

Creative you are the best. Thank you for the reassurance. I don't know what I would do without you ladies. I have to hope that even if his count is reduced by now, that a fresh infusion, albeit with less swimmers, is still ok... Really not sure if I o'ed last night or if it's yet to happen. My first + opk was late saturday, around 10 pm. It was negative earlier that day. I got a stronger + and a peak yesterday morning. i did another opk last night (clearly have become a POAS addict) and it was STRONGLY positive. Darker than control line. This morning, my CBFM stick had a darker LH line and light estrogen line than yesterday. So really not sure. Think I'm going to have to wait for that thermal shift to say for sure. I guess it could have been last night but my body needs more time to generate enough progesterone for a temp ruse...

I have a hard time differentiating my cm from "man goo". love it! If I find the stretchy stuff, it's the only way I really know for sure. Had some good stretchy last night! Prebding!

 

[DaisyQ]

Interesting article...

https://www.infertile.com/how-to-get-pregnant/htgp-chapter-1.htm

 

[DaisyQ]

According to this, ovulation happens 38-48 hours after beginning of LH surge.

 

[jchic]

so what was the concensus on the sex everyday vs every other day?

 

[new37]

Hey Ladies! I just picked up the CBFM from a friend. I've re-set it and currently in first month. I've been trying to read some of the posts here - to understand the machine.... its a bit confusing to me. I wonder if i could get your help interpreting a few things?

I definitely re-set it. In fact i did it twice I got a high on Day 6 and it stayed high until peak on day 14 and 15. Then it hasn't asked me for any more sticks. SO. This is a bit weird to me bc my cycle is usually around 35 days long.... is the first month using the CBFM a bit of a wash? Arent u still fertile a few days after peak? Mine went straight to low but wasn't asking for any more sticks...

We had a mc last feb and just started TTC again. Last month we had a 'sex month' with just guestimates of when i might be ov. - which i've discovered, if CBFM is correct, is much earlier then i'm calculating.... did a preg test, neg. SO this month i got the CBFM.

I don't know how to do the charting... does anyone have a good website or anything to help learn how to do this?

 

[1cre8tivgrl]

Hi New37. The monitor asks for sticks in sets of 10, so if you get your first peak in those first 10 sticks it will stop asking for them after your 10th one. If you don't get your 1st peak till after your 10th stick it will ask for 10 more and then stop when you have used 20 sticks. Fertility Friend is a GREAT charting site! I went into it blind and just from poking around on there I figured it out pretty quickly. It really isn't as difficult as it looks.

 

[Mrs.B.]

So, doctors went well, I have been given Clomid, 50mg

She says I dont have to wait until my next cycle and just take it afte rmy bloods next week and count it as day 2 when I start!

She says I wont ovulate the first month but should the second

I'm excited!!

 

[new37]

Thanks Creative girl - will check it out.

Good luck Mrs B. Just gone back and read a bunch of your previous posts. I'm pulling for you and all the other lovely ladies on here! I think your attitudes are so great. I don't talk much to people about how frustrating TTC is, so this forum is so fantastic... reading your posts have made me feel really good that i'm not the only one feeling these things.

Xo

 

[DaisyQ]

Welcome New! TTC is a very confusing, frustrating journey for some, and it's great to have an outlet (aside from our OHs!) to vent, ask questions etc. What Creative said about the CBFM is exactly right. It's not asking you for more sticks because it already detected your peak within the first set of ten. The day after your second peak is also automatically a "high" day, regardless of what the stick reads (I don't think that stick is actually read by the machine - machine is programmed to give 2 peaks and 1 high day after peaks). So for future reference, if you use your 10th stick on your 2nd "peak" day, the day after should be "high" then it goes down to low for the remainder of your cycle.

Yay Mrs. B! So excited for you! You must feel so encouraged to be trying something new to help with TTC. Hope you'll be one of the ones who falls pregnant 1st month on clomid!

Hi Jchic. Still don't really know what the concensus is on frequency of BDing. A lot of sources say every other day is best, others say every day (as long as SA is normal). I think we are probably overdoing it with 2 times a day! But I can't find anything definitive. My husband says it doesn't feel any different, doing it that often, it doesn't feel like there is "less" ejaculate or anything. Although, I guess it could be mostly just semen, and very little sperm. Apparently there is a new theory that frequent sex (or ejaculation) helps promote a higher sperm count which is 100% contradictory to previous theories. Ahhh! I realize this is TMI (and thank goodness OH can't see me writing this) but he is "used" to ejaculating frequently, like more than once a day, so I wonder if this makes any difference. The days we abstain are a real challenge for him. So Jchic - really don't know the answer! Answer seems to depend on who you ask!

 

[DaisyQ]

Jchic -

Here is something I found online about how everyday, or even more than once a day is OK, especially for men with LOW sperm counts... what to believe??

In men with normospermia, sperm counts decrease significantly with frequent ejaculation. In men with oligospermia or asthenospermia, the effect of sequential ejaculation was generally assumed to be similar or even greater. Thus, in order to “save up sperm,” the usual recommendation to couples trying to conceive was to have intercourse every 48 hours during the time of expected ovulation, as stated by Howards in his recent review of the treatment of male infertility.

However, recent results from different laboratories suggest that this is a myth.1-4 We recently demonstrated in a cohort of 576 men that, in contrast to men with normospermia, most men with oligospermia or asthenospermia have a different response to sequential ejaculation.4 As compared with the first ejaculate, in most of these men the second successive ejaculate, obtained after an interval of 1 to 4 or 24 hours, contained a similar or an even greater number of motile sperm. Therefore, pooling sequential ejaculates can significantly increase the total motile-sperm count by 67 to 233 percent of that of the first ejaculate.

The current trend in the management of severe male infertility is to use assisted-reproduction techniques with or without gamete micromanipulation. These procedures involve some risks, are psychologically stressful to patients, and are expensive and time consuming. Although it is not clear how many sperm are needed for a man to be fertile, higher sperm counts are associated with an increased chance that an infertile couple will conceive and with increased success rates of in vitro fertilization. On the basis of these recent studies,1-4 we suggest changing the usual recommendation made to infertile men who try to conceive.4,5 Men with oligospermia or asthenospermia may increase their fertility potential, as assessed by the total motile-sperm count, by having timed intercourse every day or even twice a day at the time of expected ovulation.

Ilan Tur-Kaspa, M.D.
Yasmin Maor, M.D.
Jehoshua Dor, M.D.
Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel

 

[DaisyQ]

OK, just did even more reading. Found out that although sperm counts DO decrease (and seemingly, moreso for men with normal sperm counts) with each subsequent ejaculation (especially if these are spaced within hours of each other), it's OK because the total number of motile sperm still increases, which can only help your chances. So I've decided I'm not going to worry about it, and MY official take is that every other day is sufficient, every day is just as good, and more than once a day is OK too.

I think next month I will do 2-3 days of abstinance before fertile period (CD 13 on). So assuming ovulation will still be sometime between CD 16 and CD 18, no sex CD 11 or CD 12, then CD 13, CD 15, CD 16 (maybe twice), CD 17 (maybe twice), CD 18, and maybe CD 19...

That's my plan!