[forest]

For those of you that don't know I have had 3 miscarriages this year. Today I had my first appointment with a Reproductive Endocrinologist (basically an infertility doc). Thanks to charting he has pretty much confirmed what I thought, my luetal phase is too short. Without my charts I think the journey would have been a lot longer for me.

They will be taking lots of my blood over the next month just to rule out anything else, but my treatment will most likely be clomid and progesterone starting in a month. I'm so glad I have been charting.

For those of you looking at seeing an infertility specialist, it was a really positive experience for me. I have never had that much face time with a doc in my life! I think I got a whole 45 minutes with the doctor. They were super nice and are committed to getting and keeping me pregnant.

The only thing I thought was really odd is that I had to explain to him how my fertilityfriend chart was set up! I totally thought he would have seen a ton of those before!! I'll have to tell him more about it because I'm sure it would be really helpful for his other patients. I'm really surprised more people don't chart, especially hose with infertility problems.

[Spyctre]

Yeah, around forums like this, it's pretty common, but I couldn't tell you one person I know in real life that charts or has heard of it. I can't wait to go back to the doctor when I conceive my second, and be able to tell him the exact day we conceived. No mistaking the due date!

[Tammyms]

You know, girls at work laughed at one girl who talked about learning to temp and using it as a means of birth control because her religion didn't believe in any other birth control. None of the girls understood about O'ing, luteal phases, how hard it can be to get pg etc. I started talking about some of it and they looked at me like I was a freak! Everyone gets taught that it takes one time when they are teens and it seems like that's all they know... it's sad really! I'm glad I found this site years ago and have been able to learn about my body and what's going on. I also think it's very powerful to be able to go to a doctor and tell them you know what's going on rather than not having a clue and having to wait a long time for them to figure it out!

[sweatshirtgirl]

That's great news Cara. A lot of times, the doctors don't believe in charting, which is ODD to me since it obviously works. I had no idea what charting involved b/c my first 2 were conceived quickly. When I looked into it this time, I was fascinated by all the signs your body gives you and the fact that your temp can tell you so much.

Anyway, I'm so glad you had such a great experience at the doctor...hope they are able to help you quickly!

[bev26]

Yay, Cara! I agree that charting has just been an awesome experience just for the glimpse it gives you at how your body is working. I only know one person IRL who is charting and that's because she has hypothyroidism and PCOS, so the doctor is making her temp to see if she's ovulating.

[CandaceDianne]

I am so glad you have a positive experience with your DR. I hope that once you are put on your meds, you will get your BFP and in 9 months, will be holding your precious baby. KUP!

[Coley]

Charting does rock. I cannot imagine NOT charting now. My mom charted and called my sister's date of birth to the day and was off on mine by one day because I was waitin' on the weekend! LOL!

When she was pregnant with my sister back in '67, she went to the doc, pulled out her book with all of her temps and told him she was going to be due on March 25th. The doc was blown away by all of her temps going back YEARS!

He gave his prediction based on her LMP. When she went into labor on March 25th she actually said to the doc "I told you!" and he said "I gotta say... you were right."

So, yeah... these docs need to get with the program. People I've told think it's kind of weird, until I explain to them which hormones are dominant at different times of the month and what those hormones do. Then all of a sudden, it seems to make a lot more sense to them.

The human body will tell you everything you need to know, so long as you know how to listen... and because we know how, we're ahead of the game!!

So YAY for charting!! And YAY for getting on a path to a longer LP Cara!!!

[Admin-pattyandthemoos]

I think that is great. I plan to bring all my charts to my doc as well. I also really think the clomid/progesterone treatment will help. It should lengthen your luteal phase. Plus, I take progesterone when I am pregnant due to recurrent miscarriage and it made a huge difference with me.

[jenine]

I agree! I haven't really told anyone about charting because I get enough "it'll happen when you relax" that I'm sure ppl would freak out to see that level of non-relaxing about TTC! I have to say when I was pg none of the midwives or OBs I saw gave ANY credence to my chart. I mean you can see my chart from that cycle in my signature. The temp rise, fertility signs and OPK +ve were pretty **** clear about when I O'd...but it was on CD24. Try telling that to the docs. Every one of them kept insisting I didn't know the date of conception and trying to go by LMP, which of course meant gest. age was off by 10 days. Why do they discount charting so much? Next time I will LIE and tell them my LMP was 14 days before I O'd by my chart!