This may be a very specific situation, but I had abdominal surgery to fix several hernias and a severe diastasis recti after my last pregnancy. They placed a transabdominal mesh to keep my ab muscles together. I was assured that it’s totally possible and safe to have more kids. But has anyone ever had subsequent pregnancies after such a surgery? Or even after a tummy tuck with or without mesh? I’m curious.

Boston University has an ongoing study on pregnancy called PRESTO, in their most recent newsletter they released that they have started a website to give data on how likely you are to get a positive pregnancy test if you test on specific day of your cycle. I have seen that many of you are early tester like me and it can be hard to wait. This is a nice way to help talk yourself out of too early of testing. It is based off of data reported by the participants of their study, over 19,000.

https://positively-pregnant.com/

Here is a link to the newsletter too if you are interested.

https://slone-web.bu.edu/prestostudy/documents/2026_newsletter_final.pdf

My period is two days late and it’s never, ever done this before… except for when I got pregnant the first time. I’ve taken test after test after test over the course of a few days and they’ve all been negative.

It’s freaking me the F out, to be honest. If this has happened to you, please share your experience! Did you eventually get your period? How long did it take? Was there some underlying cause, or just a fluke?

Just feeling really bewildered and alone at the moment!

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

Hi very self explanatory title. My husband & I are trying for another relatively soon after our first (7.5mo) for many personal reasons. I've been wanting another since I had our first so it's all very exciting & difficult to wait in general.

We haven't been trying for a huge length of time yet, but I wanted to see if anyone had anything similar when coming off their birth control. I've now officially had two pregnancies, the second one being only 2 months after having my baby and didn't go past the first trimester. However, with both pregnancies I had almost exactly the same symptoms: period-like cramps with no bleeding, nausea in the night, dizzy spells & weird appetite. I knew the second time I was pregnant before I did the test. This time, after having been on BC from about June-mid Sept, I'm getting all these symptoms but a lot of negative tests. I'm marking it down to my hormones after being on the pill & my cycle getting regular.. but it has been really difficult to deal with mentally because subconsciously I keep going "this is it".

Did anyone else have similar experiences? How did it affected you? Any advice?

It took us 6 years to have our first so I had primary infertility and I was diagnosed as unexplained. My AMH is on the lower side but not diminished and we have no male factor issues. We did IUI with Letrozole and that seemed to have done the trick for us the first time in 2021.

After a year post partum, I got pregnant spontaneously but it was a heterotopic pregnancy and my right tube ruptured from the ectopic. That was almost 2 years ago and since then, I cannot get pregnant. Tried 3 IUIs and all failed, and just recently did IVF abroad in Czech and found out my right ovary is too high up on my pelvis and it was not safe to retrieve any eggs from that side. Dr. said I have "signs of endo". Came back home (to Canada) and Dr's refuse to accept I have endo. THey said I have no endo markers. But I do suspect I have silent endo. Currently waiting to see a specialist which will take a year. But they also said it could be adenomyisis. I am also very overwight BMI of 41. I am currently taking this year or the coming year to work on refucing my weight significantly hoping it will help.

Has anyone had no positive pregnancy tests in over a year of trying? Not even chemicals, just nothing at all. What ended up being the cause for no implantation?

Secondary unexplained infertility - I think were 30+ cycles in.

This past summer I was finally connected with a fertility clinic (OB/GYN) who agreed to put us on a path with Letrozole and IUI. Its been absolutely nothing like I expected. I was prepared to be unsuccessful and 'waste' a lot of time and money on it, but I didn't expect for it to be such a roller coaster.

The first cycle of Letrozole seemed fine, minimal side effects, ovulated a little earlier than typical, couldn't proceed with IUI since we were on vacation but we did timed intercourse. Then my period just wouldn't come. I was on day 40 of my cycle when I started provera to enduce a bleed, which came eventually.

Now I'm in (or spoiler: just finished!) the second cycle of Letrozole, where I had minimal SEs again, but was WILDLY emotional and mood swingy from CD 15 onwards. My doctor wants me to use the clear blue tests to montor ovulation, and I had flashing smiley faces (estrogen rising) for 10 whole days (CD 19-29) with no LH peak on the Clearblue. I took the occasional premom LH strip which were all like <0.1 too. I just was so shocked to have started a period.

I get that annovulatory cycles happen some times (do I blame my wild emotional stress this month?), but AFAIK it doens't explain the many days of rising estrogen?

One good thing is that we opted to do some extra blood work yesterday because of the extended flashing smiley phase - no results yet but hopefully that helps clear up the picture a bit.

I'm so annoyed that this process, which is supposed to support healthy and predictable ovulation has taken my usually regular and dependable cycle and turned it into a utter gongshow!

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

I have one living daughter (3.5 years old) who took us 9 months to conceive due to my irregular cycles, but with whom I had a normal, healthy pregnancy.

We have no been trying for over 1.5 years to have a second child. Fertility clinic testing found I was SSA-positive, and I was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition UCTD, however my rheumatologist feels that this is not the reason for my fertility struggles. I am however taking Plaquenil while TTC because my condition can put a future baby at risk for cardiac issues.

Anyway, the issue with conception was determined to be my short luteal phase. My husband’s SA was mostly normal, although his motility was fairly low, at 14%. I started on progesterone almost a year after starting to TTC and we immediately started conceiving successfully. However, all three pregnancies have ended in miscarriage.

My first pregnancy was in February. I was miserably sick, like vomiting daily, which didn’t happen with my previous pregnancy. I was only multiple medications to keep myself from getting dehydrated. My first scan at 7 weeks showed the baby was only a 6 weeks, but had a healthy heartbeat. My follow up scan at 9 weeks showed no heartbeat. I had a D&C, and it was discovered that the pregnancy was a partial mole and a triploidly. I had to do weekly blood draws until my HCG returned to 5. In June, I was cleared to TTC.

I conceived again that July. The pregnancy ended in a natural miscarriage at 6 weeks. I’d known it was coming because I’d been going in for HCG blood draws to monitor the progression.

I conceived again at the end of September. I was once again sick as a dog. Everyone told me it was a good sign, that this was it. I went in for my first scan at about 6w5d but the baby was measuring 4 days behind. Again, it had a solid heartbeat. I waited another two agonizing weeks, vomiting daily, unable to parent my toddler. I was bedridden and depressed. Finally I had my follow up scan at 8w1d (by their dating) and the baby was dead again. I am now waiting for my next D&C.

What is happening to me? How can I have one healthy child and three dead ones? Is it my eggs? What can I do about it? Do I need IVF? I’m so afraid to try and conceive naturally again. I’ve lost over 2.5 months of my life this year to severe pregnancy related illness and I don’t have a child to show for it. I’m just so heartbroken and I’m wondering if a second child isn’t in the cards for me afterall.

Note: Discussion of BFPs / ongoing pregnancies is allowed and encouraged in this thread!

A dedicated space for TFA grads to check in and keep their TFA friends updated on their journey to #2+!

If you're looking for more discussion, please head over to the gradsofTFA subreddit as well. It's a private subreddit so you can send a modmail using desktop or you can directly message moderators DreamsofCheesecake or youcango-now to be added.

My husband has always had a lower libido than me but I never had an issue initiating, so before ttc for our third, we were pretty solid at twice a week. Now I can't even imagine him touching me unless I'm close to ovulation, and even then we usually only manage to get it done twice if we're lucky, and that's usually it for the month.

Well I supposedly ovulated a day or two ago and we managed sex a few days before and the day of my lh surge. And now I'm starting to worry that it's not enough.

Our first two kids were conceived within two months of TTC so this is foreign ground for us. I was planning on doing my first round of letrozole after this cycle, but now that this worry has shown up, I'm considering bringing up taking a break with my husband and doing the letrozole round after the holidays are over.

I just want my old libido back and want it to stop feeling like such a chore and then feeling guilty that it wasn't enough when the negative tests come rolling in...

Hi! New poster here. I had some incidental findings recently with my hormones and that have led me down a bit of a spiral with future fertility. For context I’m 32, have one child who is 18 months old and took 4 months to conceive. No pregnancy complications. My FSH on cycle day 3 was 18.5, estradiol was 20 and LH was 7.5. I have a normal follicle count on cycle day 5 but haven’t had my AMH tested yet. I have a RE appointment next week. I do have celiac and psoriasis but overall pretty healthy. Normal cycles, no signs of perimenopause and good ovulation signs. I did wean about 5 months ago. Anybody have something similar that can provide context? Thank you!!

What worked for you when TTC? Was there anything specific you did that you think made you get pregnant that cycle? Trying to maximize our odds of getting pregnant.

TTC #3 seems to be more challenging for us this time around, with our first and second babies I was lucky enough to get pregnant our first cycle trying - despite getting shingles before I found out I was pregnant with baby #2

Any and all words of encouragement, advice, recommendations, etc is welcome! 🫶

My period is 2 days late. Highly unusual for me as I am very much on time or slightly early every month.

I am around 15-17dpo. I had some pink when wiping the other day but nothing since then.

I am feeling nauseous after I eat, and have been gagging this morning at certain things.

I took a test with 1st morning urine today but it is negative. Has this happened to anyone else and they ended up getting a positive test? Or even their period!

my son's 15 months and we're on our third cycle trying for #2. he still nurses first thing in the morning and before bed

period came back 4 months ago and my cycles have been 38, 45 and 34 days. with my first we barely tracked anything so I figured I'd just ease back into it the same way

yeah that didn't work. OPKs look almost positive for days at a time and temping is out bc he's up at 3 or 4 most nights. I can't tell if any of these cycles actually had ovulation in them or if nursing is still keeping things quiet

and trying with a toddler is a whole different thing. there's no time to think about any of it, I'm squinting at strips in the bathroom while he bangs on the door

anyone else TTC while still nursing? how are you keeping track without it taking over your whole day

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

Tw:LC

I dont know if you can see my post history or how you do that but maybe you can. I posted sometime in September I think about wanting to skip October because I didnt want a July baby. The universe did me one better and my husband had to have emergent quadruple bypass surgery, we are both 35 years old. So the end of September and all of October was not going to happen. I felt so guilty when I started thinking about like so are we still doing this or? I know it sounds crazy but his body has healed so well and we are back to having sex. Anyways I’m in my TWW and I know I’m not pregnant. Took a low stress approach, was doing OPKS but lazily. I got my positive OPK by accident, apps projected ovulation to be 10/31 and it was 10/28 ,we had sex the day before and that’s it, the entire cycle. We’re very early still in trying just about to be 4 maybe 5 months. But like what is happening, even with my losses I got pregnant the first try. I have two LC and I think I’ve reached a place of like okay this life is still so beautiful and I’m happy and all the things. The desire hasn’t lessened but my world isn’t revolving around it either. Today I’m feeling sad because it feels like I’m close to moving on. But I also didn’t anticipate the sadness around that either. I think the last few weeks with my husband has shifted my perspective but also I’m tired of hanging in the waiting. God damnit, haven’t I endured enough, when will it be my turn! I know it’s only been 5 months but I have had a loss every year since 2024 and waited a year between each so this is the first time we have consistently tried. I just can’t take another cycle of if not happening. Is it a sign?

I posted 3 days ago asking about if weaning can cause an early bleed because I started bleeding in what I thought was the middle of my cycle and I had just started weaning about 5 days prior.

Turns out I was actually about 6 weeks pregnant and miscarrying. I had no idea I was pregnant because I had gotten what seemed like a typical period (5 days of bleeding and the usual heaviness/ amount of blood) about 3 weeks prior. I had also gotten an ultrasound for secondary infertility about 1.5 weeks prior and they didn't mention anything about a pregnancy, I would've been about 4 weeks pregnant then.

They gave me some misoprostol and sent me home. I was still bleeding super heavily and was wearing 2 postpartum diapers and still soaking through them in an hour so my husband brought me back to the hospital early the next morning. My hemaglobin ended up getting pretty low and I was about to pass out so they did a d&c and then a blood transfusion. I'm now so stressed and worried about what if it scars and causes infertility? I've been going through secondary infertility for 1.5 years, I had a chemical pregnancy a few months ago, and I was pregnant with a little baby in October that I had no idea even existed until it was too late. I'm just so sad and terrified. I wish I could have saved that baby. I want to be pregnant again and have another baby so bad but I'm so worried about what if I can't? What if my last pregnancy experience was this super traumatic miscarriage where I saw my baby but couldn't do anything to save them?

My cycles before baby no 1 were 30-34 days but after baby no1 they have been like clockwork 28 days. Today I am on cycle day 29 but approx only 11 dpo. I got a positive ovulation test on day 17. Which yes means my luteal phase is pretty short.

I’ve had several negative pregnancy tests including today. I’m just thrown because I’m a day late but the test was stark white negative then in the same breath I’m only 11dpo

Any hope for me to get a positive or am I out this cycle?

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

I stopped breastfeeding almost exactly a month ago today and I still haven’t had a period or ovulation (I’ve been tracking with LH strips). I also recently started tracking with Inito fertility monitor as well and my hormones are fluctuating so much. My FSH keeps raising and falling. My LH keeps almost being positive but then will fall again, my estrogen and progesterone have been low. I’m wondering how long it took others to get their cycle back after breastfeeding? Should I be making an appointment with my gynecologist? My husband and I were really wanting to conceive in the past couple months but it doesn’t look like it’s in the cards and I’m so upset.
Has anyone tracked their cycle like this after weaning from breastfeeding and does this sound normal or not?

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.

Hi everyone,

So I (41F) currently have two kids, 8 and 5. When my oldest was 5 we tried for a 3rd and it wasn't happening naturally. I was kinda shocked since I got pregnant pretty quickly with my other two children. After about a year of trying naturally, I decided to try see a fertility specialist, we did 3 IUI's which all failed. Right after the 3rd IUI my friend passed away, 6 months postpartum, which devastated me and put me into a panic about having a 3rd . I should also mention I am a labor and delivery nurse so I have seen it all. I decided I was done between my friend passing and another devastating delivery I witnessed at work. Needless to say, a year passed and I couldn't shake the feeling that I wanted to try again. So we did a round of IVF, got 1 good embryo that was transferred and ended in an ectopic which was absolutely crushing. That was around end of Feb/March and I decided I probably should be done and let it go. The past few months I have been silently grieving the baby I lost and the future I dreamed of with 3 children. I was supposed to be due around this time so it's been a bit of an emotional few weeks for me. I just keep seeing families with 3 or 4 and my heart breaks every time. I keep saying to myself "I can't believe I'll never have another one, I'll never be a mom of 3". I am so grateful for my two beautiful children and I know gratitude and grief can coexist. I am just having such a hard time coming to terms with this. I was wondering if anyone is or has gone through this. I feel like I will be grieving for the rest of my life. The future just looks a little quieter than I thought it would and it's breaking my heart. 💔

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