What Nobody Told You About TTC

Hi all - I read this on a myspace group that I lurk occasionally and thought I'd share it with you all. I thought some of these were spot on, and some that others could probably relate to. I deleted some because I didn't feel like they were in the right spirit of my TTC journey on this blog. I tend to be an optimist and some were a bit negative. Hope you all enjoy this!

"What nobody told you about trying to conceive." (Edited)

• That unprotected sex doesn’t necessarily lead to pregnancy.
• That your sex life would start to resemble a science experiment.
• That you would see your OBGYN/RE more often than your DH at O time.
• That the longer you TTC, the more PG women spring up around you.
• That one day you wouldn’t mind checking your CM or CP to see if it is your fertile period.
• That I should have gone to medical school like my mom wanted, because I’ve had to do so much medical research by now just to figure out what was wrong with me, I might as well be an M.D.
• That I would know more about the female reproductive system and menstrual cycle than most of the doctors I go to.
• That living your life in 2 week increments would be the norm.
• That you never knew how much you wanted to see those 2 pink lines......until only one shows up every month.
• That simply relaxing will NOT get you pregnant. (your dh has to do some work too)
• That you have no control over some of the goals you set....
• That wishing really hard for something doesn’t make it happen, and staring at your chart doesn’t make it change!
• That a pregnancy doesn’t always equal a baby.
• That miscarriage is so common.
• That I would wish we had started TTC earlier.
• That my friends’ pregnancies would start to make me sad instead of happy.
• That I wasted ALOT of money on birth control pills!!
• That it would help bring a group of wonderful, caring, funny, empathetic women together like this.
• That I’d EVER be willing to stab myself in the stomach or @ss every day in the hopes that it will help get me PG.
• That it wouldn’t happen the first time you didn’t use birth control like we were led to believe in school.
• That you wouldn’t know how important a baby was to you until it took so long and you realized what you were willing to go through to make it happen.
• That family would act like getting pregnant was a competition between all the young couples in the family, and the first one to get pg "wins".
• That my DH is the most wonderful and caring man!
• That it is insensitive to ask people when they are having a baby!
• That women who do get pregnant are so very blessed!
• That had I bought stock in Clearblue Easy I’d have my mansion on St. Pete’s Beach in FL by now.
• That docs should prescribe Zoloft with Clomid.
• That it does not get easier, each cycle is harder than the last.
• That a group of "strangers" who I will probably never meet, have now become my "best friends" when it comes to ttc.
• That I would splash urine on my face while taking apart an hpt in the hopes there really was a 2nd pink line hiding in it.
• That talking about sex with fellow TTCers would be so easy.
• That infertility is more common than you think.
• That DH would get used to doing his ’thing’ in a jar.
• That one day all of this will make us stronger.
• That there is sometimes darkness (infertility) before the light (a baby).
• That infertility is not as rare as I was led to believe.
• That I would find it difficult to be happy for other people’s pregnancies and that I would hide my sadness from them upon hearing their news.
• That I would make so many new, wonderful friends who totally get how I feel because we all suffer from the same affliction of infertility.
• That there is nothing to aid conception in the water at work, despite what some may say.
• That I would know about other peoples’ BD, CP, CM but not know there real name, their DH’s name, or their occupation.
• That I could spend so much time and money on figuring out what my body is doing (or not doing).
• I had no idea your uterus could be misshaped.
• That a simple blood test costs $648!
• That sex could ever become a chore!
• That actually having a miscarriage would allow me to understand the loss that others have felt and that it would make me want a baby even more than before!
• That I would resent someone who has been trying less time than me telling me "I know how you feel...."
• That DH would be overly concerned that our BD positions were the most effective ones!
• That I would become addicted to POAS and not sleep at night because I couldn’t wait to POAS in the morning!
• That I would learn to speak in code - "I checked CM which was EWCM but when I will POAS who knows, DH won’t let me for fear of BFN."
• That you HAVE to have sex even though you don’t feel like it, but because your FM says high or peak.
• That I would hear well-meaning questions like: "Have you thought of taking your temperature?" (and this is after 20 months TTC...)
• That my brother, who started TTC at the same time we did and whose wife got PG three months later, would go on and on telling me how tough and tiring life with a baby is, and then finish with: "You have no idea what it’s like!"
• That we would have to schedule a BD session so DH could do it in a cup a few days later.
• That I might have to help DH do it in a cup.
• That my friends who started TTC # 1 around the same time we did would already be pregnant with 2 before we get pregnant with 1.
• That I spent years trying not to get pregnant, and praying for my period. Now I can’t seem to lose the witch!
• It’s good to know I am not alone.
• That sex does NOT ALWAYS lead to pregnancy.
• That you only have one 24-hour fertile time during the month.
• That you would be keeping it a secret from everyone.
• That you feel useless as a female.
• That you feel stupid and naive for thinking a pregnancy would occur "when it was supposed to."
• That I would meet such wonderful group of people that I can share my sorrow, frustration and fears with.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend. xoxo Yo!