Things you (quickly!) learn when trying for a baby
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Kelly Rose Bradford
Netmums contributorThere's a lot to learn when you are trying to get pregnant - and lesson 1 is, it's not just about the nooky!
When you make the decision to come off your contraception and try for a baby, you probs thought that was that – not that you'd suddenly enter a world of acronyms, stealth moves when out with friends, and secret little smiles between you and your partner when you get to hold your friend’s newborn (or even just spot one when out and about).
It’s fair to say, the trying for a baby phase can be pretty hard work in its own right - but the Clearblue® Advanced Digital Ovulation Test is here to help. Easy to use and with unmistakably clear digital results, means no more guesswork and you can DOUBLE your chances of getting pregnant*.
*In first cycle of use vs not using ovulation tests
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Abbreviations will become your mother tongue
From the trepidation as you POAS, the frustration at seeing AF arrive, and the euphoria of a BFP, TTC is all about the abbreviations!
If you’re thinking, ‘you WHAT?’ (or maybe YW? If you’re in the zone!) let us explain – the chat around trying for a baby has its own unique language, and you’ll quickly discover there is absolutely no need to write or say entire sentences when you can just use letters!
As previously mentioned, there’s the good old TTC – trying to conceive, but other timesavers you’ll need in your texting or chat forum repertoire are:
LMP: last menstrual period – when you're TTC you will know that date down to the very second you came on!
OPK: an ovulation predictor kit because there ARE ways to give your chances of falling pregnant a bit of a boost. There are actually only a few days a month you can conceive, so using a product like the Clearblue® Advanced Digital Ovulation Test can really help you identify down your most fertile day.
Clearblue® Advanced Digital Ovulation Test are easy to use, too, and work by detecting a surge in luteinising hormone (LH) and identifying your two most fertile days, so you can get some baby making plans on the calendar! (or, you know, rush home at lunch time for a quickie on the sofa).
POAS: pee on a stick. In other words, taking a pregnancy test or ovulation test!
AF: meh, no one wants to be dealing with this one when they’re TTC, but yeah, AF is Aunty Flo (otherwise known as your period)… oh well, there’s always next month. When maybe it’ll be a…
BFP: You POAS and get a Big Fat Positive!
Soap-star style stomach concealment will be your ‘bag’
You know how when soap stars are pregnant in real life, but not in the show, and suddenly they are only filmed with a GIANT shoulder bag across their front, or sitting behind a desk?
Well you may have mocked these scenes in EasEnders and Corrie etc, but trust us, as soon as you get that BFP you will be CONVINCED everyone will be looking at your tum in a different way, and going out of your way to conceal it.
And, to be fair, if you suddenly take to wearing an oversized sweater in the middle of August, they might start to wonder…
The ‘I’m on antibiotics’ lie will fall effortlessly from your lips
Ah, the old ‘Sorry, I can’t drink, I’m on antibiotics for a bad tooth’ line will undoubtedly fall from your lips at some stage in those early days when you are trying, and you think you may have hit the jackpot.
But trust us, the second you DO make your big reveal, all your mates from Lauren’s hen party when you were ‘on antibiotics’ and the works do when you were 'still on them' will be screeching ‘We SO KNEW you were pregnant.’ Ha!
You'll not be able to look at baby clothes without welling up
As soon as you decide to try for a baby, not only do you start seeing pregnant women and newborns EVERYWHERE, you also start having the most ridiculous responses to things that you previously wouldn’t have noticed or given the time of day to…
Tiny baby socks? There to be CARESSED while tearfully muttering ‘oh but they are SO small!’
Diddy little onesies in super-soft plush that you just want to rub against your face (and do so) while wiping tears from your eyes?
Yep… this is your life now, TTC lady!
You’ll become a master of deception
‘I’m just popping to the bakers, anyone want anything?’
Look, you’re not fooling anyone with this sudden desire to do the office cake run on a regular basis at the bakers that just happens to be next door to the pharmacy where you stop off to top up your supplies of ovulation predictor kids.
Just make sure that in your excitement to get all your baby making supplies you don’t forget that doughnut for Jill and custard tart for Liam!
Clearblue is here to help
The Clearblue Advanced Digital Ovulation Test typically identifies 4 or more fertile days^ in your cycle. It does this by tracking the 2 key fertility hormones: estrogen and luteinising hormone (LH).
When you’re at your high fertility days, a flashing smiley face will appear on the test. And when you're on your peak fertility days, you will see a static smiley face so you know it’s go, go, go!
^In a study of 87 women, 4 or more fertile days were identified in 80% of cycles using actual cycle length.
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