[karen11975]

I am new to this and I am not sure the meaning of most of the abbreviations. lol

I am Karen, 33, been married for 1 year to my husband James (35) and we've been together for almost 3 years. I've been wanting a kid as far back as my teenage years and I refrained from doing the single mother thing. I wanted a kid as soon as we got married and he wasn't into the idea so he wouldn't "contribute" lol.

Well, he finally warmed up to the idea after I babysat 2 boys for 1 year. He would come and hang out with the boys with me sometimes. I watched him with them and I think he would make a wonderful father. He loves kids but he is just concerned about 1) our financial situation & 2) whether his Cyclothymia (mild bipolar disorder) would affect our child. I know that it takes money to raise a child but is my biological time clock going to wait? Most people have given us this advice "no one is ever financially ready for a child but if both are emotionally ready, it will be ok". I hope that they're right!

I started TTC in August 2008, it's hasn't consistent, I think we didn't try one of those months (schedule conflict & stress). I've only gauged my ovulation via ovulation calendars online up until this month. I decided to spend money on First Response Ovulation test sticks (20) in addition to the calendars. My last period was 12/28/08 and I started testing on 1/7/09. As of today, still no LH Surge, calendars show ovulation is supposed to be 1/12/09. A couple months ago, I tried the Answer Ovulation test sticks and it was always negative.

I wanted to come on here because I wanted some advice and for someone to share their stories with me. I want to know if this means anything ---- My period has always been pretty consistent, 28-30 days (ex: I had my period 11/1/08 then I got my next period 11/29/08 and my last one was 12/28/08). I never spot before my period, it just comes on the day that I am supposed to get it and it's the normal light to heavy to light flow. Well, last cycle, we tried a lot more than we did the months before. The last time we tried was 12/21 (in case I ovulated late) and on Christmas Day, I spotted the brown/pinkish that most site states as the "implantation bleeding". It spotted for 3 days on and off, sometimes I wipe and it's nothing. I thought I was pregnant for sure because I never spotted before my period. Unfortunately, I got my period 12/28. Does this mean that I am getting closer, that it tried to implant and it was unsuccessful? Everyone says not to stress about it or focus too much on it, how do you do that? lol Does the First Response Ovulation Kits really work? I mean given that I have tried 2 different brands (Answer & First Response) already and only seen the - sign. I am going to be positive because this testing cycle is no where near over.


One more question, I go to the gym 3-4 times a week, I take cardio kickboxing, total body conditioning and boxing classes (very rigorous, lots of cardio). While I try to conceive, should I stop exercise? Does it affect implantation?

Thank you for reading this, any comments are welcome!

[hopeful3853]

hi karen! your story sounds a little bit similar to mine. the whole debate with hubby over waiting or not, the hesitation from him about kids... also what sounds familiar is having a very regular period and then noticing all these changes to your cycle after you start ttc. like the whole spotting thing before AF. i only used to spot the day before and now it's three days before, a little each day. i think maybe we both are seeing all these things because we are looking so closely at our bodies now! but i've wondered if i were pregnant, too, but failed to implant. guess we'll never know. i have also doubted the accuracy about the OPK's. what time of the day are you testing? supposedly you should test mid-day or later because your LH surge won't be detected first thing in the morning... but i wish you the very best in your journey and sending you lots of baby dust!! hope it happens really soon for you!

[karen11975]

hi karen! your story sounds a little bit similar to mine. the whole debate with hubby over waiting or not, the hesitation from him about kids... also what sounds familiar is having a very regular period and then noticing all these changes to your cycle after you start ttc. like the whole spotting thing before AF. i only used to spot the day before and now it's three days before, a little each day. i think maybe we both are seeing all these things because we are looking so closely at our bodies now! but i've wondered if i were pregnant, too, but failed to implant. guess we'll never know. i have also doubted the accuracy about the OPK's. what time of the day are you testing? supposedly you should test mid-day or later because your LH surge won't be detected first thing in the morning... but i wish you the very best in your journey and sending you lots of baby dust!! hope it happens really soon for you![/b]

I am glad that someone shares the same story as me. This is why I signed up to this community. With the Answer Test Sticks, I tested all different times and sometimes twice and I didn't start from the beginning of the cycle. No wonder I kept getting negative result. lol That was 3 months ago. This cycle, I am just going to use the First Response OPK, I don't want to go all crazy and get myself stressed. I will BD every other day. Yesterday, I did get a faded 2nd line so I think I am about to surge. We'll see!

Thank you and good luck on your journey! Lots of baby dust your way too!