Lmao if only pregnancy tests were like this for me. Lit up within 1 min and it’s a 15 min window.
Eta just getting stronger as I wait.
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Oof. 
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I said the same thing when Swan first popped positive. The line appeared when it was still wicking up the strip. I was like daaaaayummm, why don’t my tests do that?
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We can appreciate a good positive when we see one lol.
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I’m feeling so frustrated by cervical mucus.
Before I started TTC, I had it. I got that ewcm on the toilet paper and that gross slidey feeling. Now I have nothing. And my cycles are less regular. I’m suddenly ovulating way earlier.
I feel like I started trying to conceive and my body stopped working.
I want the mucus back, man! I got it three days after ovulation last month. Totally not helpful, body.
At least this month I got a positive OPK the day after I started having sex, and I’m expecting to ovulate tomorrow even though my body won’t give me the mucus. Trying to get as much sperm in as possible to compensate and hopefully something will survive through my inhospitable cervix.
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Everyone’s different, but I never get ewcm, just “watery” kind of fertile mucus. I imagine it’s a bit harder to detect because it just feels . . . wetter? But not a texture change? Anyway, I’ve heard that some people switch between the two so maybe that could be what’s happening? It helped the sperms out at least three times in my case, so not a lost cause if that’s what’s going on.
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Cool e-mail I got from one of the fertility studies I did.
covid vaccines and fertility, Covid and male fertility
Dear PRESTO Participant,
We are excited to share new results from the PRESTO study. Using data provided by PRESTO participants, we investigated whether COVID-19 vaccination or infection had an impact on fertility.
We found that COVID-19 vaccination in either partner had no harmful effect on fertility. We analyzed PRESTO data collected between December 2020 and November 2021. Female participants who received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine before the first day of a given menstrual cycle had a similar probability of conceiving during that cycle compared with unvaccinated participants. Similarly, vaccination of the male partner was not related to fertility. Our analyses controlled for many relevant factors, including age, socio-economic status, stress, and irregular menstrual cycles. Our findings were the same regardless of time since vaccination, type of vaccine, occupation in the healthcare industry, and other factors.
We also found that COVID-19 infection in the male partner was associated with short-term declines in fertility, lasting up to 60 days after infection. Beyond 60 days, infection history was not associated with fertility. COVID-19 infection of the female partner was unrelated to fertility.
This is the first study to examine the association of COVID-19 vaccination with fertility among couples trying to conceive through intercourse. Our study is now published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and you can access the full article here: http://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwac011
We are currently studying COVID-19 vaccination and its possible influence on the menstrual cycle, and will update you when those results become available.
Here are some additional links that may be of interest:
. PRESTO COVID-19 resources: COVID-19 Resources | PRESTO (English Language Version)
. Information about other recent PRESTO publications: Publications | PRESTO (English Language Version)
. Invite others to enroll in PRESTO: Invite Others | PRESTO (English Language Version)
Thank you for your participation in PRESTO. We could not do this work without you.
Best wishes,
Lauren A. Wise, ScD
Principal Investigator
Amelia K. Wesselink, PhD
Co-Investigator
PRESTO (Pregnancy Study Online)
Department of Epidemiology
Boston University School of Public Health
(617) 358-3424
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I’m always confused when my temp dips, and then goes back up to normal levels but not up to high definitely ovulated levels before positive OPK. Did I ovulate the day of the low temp? Or the day before it goes above the highest pre-positive OPK temp? What signs do I rely on? Can I get a positive OPK after ovulation?
I really just gotta start having sex CD 8.
I keep ovulating earlier and earlier.
Speculation of reasons
I think it might be due to lower stress. When I ovulated CD 17 I was still doing IF. The last few months I’ve been stressed about potential health issues. This month I’ve been meditating, yoga-ing, and being forced into really long nights of sleep by metformin.
That’s not even taking into account potential influences by metformin and progesterone on my ovulation day.
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I’ve been doing some reading and am reasonably sure that I’ll get less monetarily fucked if I buy my IVF meds from a Mexican pharmacy. Given my history from the turn of the millennium of bringing across much less . . . legal . . . substances, this seems a piece of cake to me. I even have a dear friend (my first ex-h) who still lives in San Diego and would doubtless put me up for a night if I didn’t feel like making one super-long day of it. I’m reading that other people got for $1500–$2000 what costs $5000–$7000 here. My doctor specifically had mentioned that importing drugs from other countries was something that his patients have done before, so I don’t think he’d raise an eyebrow. It’s been a minute since I was in Tijuana. I used to go all the time.
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I haven’t gotten pregnancy dreams in a long time but I’ve been getting dreams about my period starting recently. It’s easy enough to shrug off earlier in the cycle but around 10-12 dpo where I’m at now it’s not fun. I’d rather opt out of any fertility or pregnancy related dream content entirely.
My luteal phases tend to be short but not consistent length across cycles. I think I’ve only had one other cycle get to 12 dpo. I resisted testing today because I need to focus on work things but I’ll test tomorrow if my period doesn’t show up. I’ve had spotting on and off for days so I keep thinking my period is about to start and then the spotting goes away.
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Pregnancy test update
I have no patience or chill, so I took the early pregnancy test as soon as I could: 6 days before expected period/8 days post IUI. Negative. Obviously it’s super early, but the box says it’s 75% accurate at this point, so I’m accepting that statistically this isn’t my month. I’ll take another early test Saturday because I’d like to have a drink or two at our lunar new year gathering, and then see what happens from there.
I did learn that it’s normal to have weirder periods after IUIs, so it makes more sense why I thought my last period could have been implementation bleeding. TIL!
I wish my normal hormones that I must not notice normally or placebo pregnancy symptoms would chill out, though: I almost never get up to pee in the night, and was up at midnight, 2 am, and 4 am. If I’m not pregnant, I would like a good nights sleep.
Plan going forward
Looking at the calendar, my best guess for coming inseminations would be 2/14 (romantic), 3/11, and 4/5. I’ll skip 2/14 so that I’m not TWW-ing at Mardi Gras. I’m thinking I’d like to shoot for 3 unmedicated, unmonitored IUIs (first one doesn’t count because of bad timing) with my OB/GYN to see what happens, and I’ll set up an appointment for a fertility clinic in mid-April. This potentially complicates our sperm situation but all we can do is keep moving forward.
Oh, and: how do you guys feel about expired pregnancy tests? I have some cheapies that expired in October 2021, but I could plan to use if the expiration date is more of a suggestion.
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I got mine from Israel. Ivfpharmacy was literally the name lol. I had to do a slightly sketchy wire transfer because the US gov was blocking payments 
but it all worked out.
I’m team foreign meds if your clinic allows.
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Question: do you get exhausted the week of ovulation?
- Yes, I am a lump
- No, I am a buzzing with energy
- IDK/unaffected
0 voters
It might be the only time I have any energy? Lol
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I hesitate to say this because it’s such a TTC cliche, but it’s still early and could easily be positive in a couple of days. 8dpiui is very unlikely to be positive even if you are pregnant, and I think it’s pretty irresponsible of the test to imply that level of accuracy so early.
Yes, sure, most people who have a negative test at 8dpo aren’t pregnant, but most people who test aren’t pregnant! The important stat is that most people who are pregnant and will eventually get a positive will still test negative at 8dpo. 10dpo is when I got a positive in 3/3 pregnancies, and 12dpo is when I would be pretty confident in a negative.
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Double post, so sorry, on phone.
I would not use expired tests due to hearing about false negatives, but I never had any expired ones to have the question about.
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That’s a nice point, @frogger. In IVF-land, I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone testing 3 days after a 5 day transfer, which would be 8dpo. I will hold some hope for @Bernadette but I know IUI is almost as much a crapshoot as trying for a free sex baby in an egg-and-sperm relationship, so I’m glad you have a plan going forward!
I was also always a day 12 tester. Most people who are going to wind up with a take-home baby test positive by then (later positives are more likely to be chemicals/early losses). And I also got a positive from my last transfer at the equivalent of 10dpo (fully programmed transfer), but I didn’t test any sooner than that.
Good luck Bernadette!
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I dunno, but I DO become an irritable asshole. 
seems counter to making a baby…
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You are blowing my mind: that makes perfect sense! A little embarrassing for me, who basically went to grad school for “being able to make decisions with straightforward statistics,” but, of course: thanks. It’s almost like I should wait to test, like every single person has been telling me?!
I just googled since I didn’t know that, but of course you’re right. Do you have a sense why, then, someone my age (under 35) would be advised to try for a year at home before escalating, vs. stop IUIs usually at 3, sometimes at 6?
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IUIs are timed correctly. The assumption with at home sperm/egg sex is most people don’t track well/time well every cycle, so in 12 months they’re only hitting 3-6 well timed cycles.
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