TTC blue in a few months - advice on my plan? :D

[LMSM]

Hi all,

Was hoping for some of your expert advice and input please for the newbie that I am – I have read a lot on here but just want to ensure I got it right
I am French but living in Australia and the popular recommended diet I am familiar with is the French one (Dr Papa)- for boys is very much potassium ++ (no dairy, no nuts etc etc) plus timed intercourse (so protected prior to O) so I find it confusing but I think the things you have put forward Atomic Sage makes so much more sense!
In advance, apologies for the lengthy epistle!! X0

History:
I have issues with ovulation (pretty regular cycles but low quality ovulation) and luteal phase defect (low progesterone). I also have endometriosis. I am pretty thin (about 54kg for 1.68m so BMI of just over 18.5 ish I think? – I am actually a few kilos heavier than when I conceived both my girls). Hubby has a few spare kilos (3/5 kgs he blames my pregnancies for those haha).
DH has ok sperm quality for his age (last tested in 2013 though, when he was 35).
DD1 conceived after close to 2 years of trying – once we got on Clomid. I had Metformin and Spironolactone as well. Was taking an array of vitamins and supps.
Was also taking progesterone pessaries from O’ as have low progesterone issues.
DD2 was conceived after a natural pregnancy (but miscarried at 8 weeks) and following a laparoscopy (for the endo) – used Clomid and progesterone (upon getting the BFP only not from O’ this time) that time too.
Both times I was temping vaginally +using dipstick OPKs and using Preseed equivalent: we BD’d on day of peak and following – plus had BD maybe a couple of times in the 4-5days lead up to O’.
Generally, I do get some EWCM but not heaps - so would like to increase that (ideally by getting better quality O that should follow suit??) – and if it seems too little still will use Preseed for sure (I have the pipette thing with it to get it in closer to cervix, is that a good idea?).

My cycles are now more regular (AF returned when I was only 8 weeks PP after my DD2 even with exclusive BFing – then stalled and came back again in August I think) but with late O’ – used to be CD14-16 before I fell pregnant with DD2 now more CD18-21 – but short luteal phase of only 10-11 DPO (I’d like to get to at least 12DPO consistently). We really would like a little boy this time – and are hoping to conceive naturally – so would like to do all we can to have healthy eggs & sperm (I am almost 32 and hubby almost 39 now) to help avoid Clomid and fertility treatments (bar progesterone pessaries once I get a BFP, this I can’t do without).

What would you recommend?
To give you an idea this is what we are doing so far/or will start asap:

Diet
Me – I take prenatals vits (includes iodine) + royal jelly + fish oil all cycle – and am thinking I will add B6 (to help with progesterone). Also intend on taking CoQ10 and add wheatgrass to the protein smoothie I wold like to make (which I will do with the coconut water).
I start the day with a big glass of lemon water and try to drink some more (a few more glasses at least, but can’t have too much or it upsets my tummy) throughout the day.
- Brekkie: cereals (plain cornflakes or oats) with a small banana and a bit of milk plus handful of almonds; coffee (would decaf be better?) with a little milk/sugar . On the WE I often do a couple of pieces of wholemeal toast plus peanut butter. At times we can have some homemade muffins.
- Snack: a few dried fruits (dates or apricots) – may want to do this as a smoothie (banana, dried fruits, my seeds (see comment on seed cycling), maybe a tad of yogurt or coconut water and the wheatgrass powder too)
- Lunch: pasta/rice/quinoa or potato with veggies – and most days chicken or fish (not big on meat alas,I know I need to up my protein intake).
- Snack: Fresh fruit (kiwi, apple or banana) / or dried fruits and nuts
- Dinner: Same as lunch – trying to integrate some protein but struggling to get that every night – I can have egg, chicken and fish easy – but struggle with red meat. Often have some biscuits for dessert once kids are in bed :P but would like to replace with a bowl of yogurt with blueberries or mango, which I love but don’t at this point satisfy this sweet craving! I have to stop chocolate and it’s just not easy ^^

Would like to integrate a protein shake somewhere to help with blood sugar levels (and avoid the sweet cravings also) – I think I am getting too much sugar so need something to curb that. I want to have more sweet potato (standard potatoes have become super expensive over here in Oz!), and more green veg and meat into the diet as I think because I don’t have enough protein I eat too many carbs. I want to include some more juice in there too.
I have started Seed cycling i.e. having 1 TBS flax and 1TBS pumpkin seeds /day (AF-O) then 1 TBS sesame and 1 TBS sunflower seeds /day (O-AF) – it seems it helps regulate the cycle and better the ovulation and subsequent luteal phase- nothing to lose I guess!
Also was considering integrating brewers’ yeast (into smoothie)? (I have plenty left from when I was making lactation biscuits)
Since I am not yet eating enough protein, could gradually integrate a bit of red meat (thinking about buying a nice fillet and slicing it into fine slices that I could grill – that I could tolerate and manage every odd day) and add some more pulses (lentils etc) to up the protein ?
Re nuts: is peanut the best? I snack on almonds and sometimes walnuts – is cashew or others better or is it same same?

DH
He won’t take supplements as such but is happy to eat a brazil nut/day for selenium for instance – I have to get his swimmers in gear without supplements in the form of a pill – will start him on Maca when closer to TTC (in Feb for a March-April start)…not sure what else I could add easily and “hide” in foods ^^ he’s fine to do things to boost fertility but not to sway specifically (so bonus if it does both )
- Brekkie: He often skips brekkie with just a cup of black tea – may have toast with butter or peanut butter or some brekkie cereals /oats with dried fruits
- Lunch: meat and carbs with some veg – black tea
- Dinner: meat with carbs and veg also – in essence, same food as me – but will happily have a good serve of plain yogurt with honey at night and sometimes at lunch on weekends.
- He probably snacks some at work but no idea what – I often put a piece of fruit (banana/apple or peach) in his lunch bag ^^

Activity
Since having kids, have not had the time for exercise per se – hubby would like to get back to the gym but for me this is just not an option (too time poor with work & picking up the kids!) – I could try to do a little bit every night once kids are in bed but since we are on our own (no family at all), time is scarce!
I bought a skipping rope – is cardio a bad idea? I also have a kettle ball I could use but man I am unfit I may pass out if I tried lol

BDing
Usually every 4-5 days from AF and when positive OPK will do every 2 days or more with Preseed.
Must say I am still breastfeeding my 15 m.o DD (and still once at night usually - so tired!!! Hence not being able to BD as much as we’d like to or exercise as we are cooked by the time the girls are in bed!)
Once we are officially TTC (right now it’s more not trying but not preventing – we use condoms most times but not always) – which will be in March-April I’d say, hubby will not want to use condoms at all – so all BD will be unprotected starting from AF - which I believe is ok as long as am not fussed with timed BD (Shettles – didn’t work with the last two anyways haha )

Thanks a million all!

[Throwaway_panther]

My two cents right off the bat: be careful about the "not trying but not protecting." I got pregnant between 3 and 4 months postpartum despite doing a very cautious form of the pull out method and exclusively breastfeeding, and I still got pregnant. I ended up losing the pregnancy pretty early. But, I was glad to be preswaying all along just in case that pregnancy had been sticky, and the HE diet plan on here could have been a factor in my getting my period back at only 5 weeks postpartum.

Atomic will be able to take time to answer you thoroughly, but some of the things I'd say off the bat are -- you don't HAVE to eat red meat to sway blue. I think there's a thread somewhere on here dedicated to vegetarian blue swayers, so you could look there for ideas. Flax seed is sort of a no no, since it also carries some possible side effects if you were to fall pregnant.

ETA: A 10-11 day long luteal phase isssssn't too bad. There's some medical controversy over whether or not a luteal phase defect is even a thing, but 10-11 days is definitely in the range of being able to conceive healthily.

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh gees this is a little longer than I expected, can someone please bump this for me??? It's getting a little late here and I wouldn't be able to do it justice

[LMSM]

Sorry I do tend to babble

[dancingdiva88]

Thought I'd help a bit. Cardio sways pink - stick to walks 3-5 times a week and weights to build muscle with testosterone. I'm currently walking 3-4 times a week and I lift DD's pram up for weights and do repeated sets of these while walking hahaha.
Be careful as breastfeeding typically sways pink but a few people here have managed a successful blue sway while still bfing.
Almonds and walnuts are fine to snack for boy as well as peanut butter on wholemeal toast. Remember to have a carb with your protein. Try to aim for at least 2 eggs a day also.

[LMSM]

Thanks ladies, will respond in the morning my brain is cooked after a erm difficult night sô will go sleep and re asap tomorrow

[atomic sagebrush]

Sorry I do tend to babble

No, that's not it at all, people post things like this for me all the time. It is just that I'm a mom just like you and sometimes I only have a few minutes to answer a question and it's tough to do a long one in that scenario. especially at this time of year

[atomic sagebrush]

Re Papa's diet: You can do a kind of combo diet where you mix the two together, just be VERY sure you're getting a LOT of animal fat from somewhere!!!! Dairy is such a good source of animal fat and I hate to see people doing the FGD and eating margarine and veg oil because those things sway hugely pink. Also go easy on the sodium, focus on nutrients first. PLEASE no eating a bunch of junk food for "sodium" at the expense of nutritious foods.

Re one attempt on O Day - timing has not worked for us and most of us have 2-3-4 or more timing opposites. If you must do timing it's up to you, just be sure you have more than one attempt (3 or more is best) in your fertile window. one attempt got 70% for GIRLS and it really undermines blue sways to have one attempt. If you want to combine with timing then do OPK and have one attempt the night of positive OPK, again the next morning, and then again the following night. This is 3 attempts all in Shettles range.

I am at an utter loss to understand why you were prescribed Spiro and Metformin. Do you have PCOS?? You're so thin that I do not find either of those things justified given that your cycles are fairly regular. (if there is something I do not know about please fill in the gaps for me!!!)

If you do have PCOS, we have GOT to find better choices for you than the sugary stuff like cornflakes. Please no more cornflakes even if you do not have PCOS. They burn off immediately and will cause your blood sugar to crash.

You can get a boy doing chicken, eggs, and fish (no more than 2x a week on the fish and please make it salmon)

I think the seed cycling is very dangerous for your sway. The kinds of oils in seeds are pink friendly when eaten in higher amounts than you are ingesting animal fats, and since you're not doing dairy or red meat, I can easily see this ending up being much more vegetable-oriented fats. I would have you drop this practice right away.

No more flaxseed, period. It messes up cycles and may be harmful to the health of your future child. (do not start flaxseed again when you are pregnant, either. it's linked to premature labor!!)

Tea is "bluer" than coffee and I'd ahve you drop coffee all together.

Royal jelly and B6 are terrible for messing up cycles. I really do not think you should use either of them. I see people all the time start these things and their cycle goes berserk. Please stick with the prenatal and fish oil.

Are there any herbs or megadose nutrients in your prenatal?

10-11 days is an adequate LP to get pregnant with (especially since you're doing prog supplements!!). I am very nervous with your approach of taking things to "fix this" because the vast majority of people find that their cycle gets WORSE when they try to "fix" a short LP that doesn't even need to be fixed.

Brewers yeast can be good but i want to verify you are not taking megadose nutrients before you start it.

You don't have to stop chocolate, eat dark chocolate. A square of dark choc daily will satisfy cravings, help your sway, and is a million times better than cornflakes (seriously no more cornflakes)

Peanuts are actually the worst nut. Almonds and walnuts are best. Only eat them if you stop the seed thing, though. The kind of fat in them is the vegetable kind, and we have to make absolutely sure you are getting more animal sourced fats. Seeds + nuts will put you over the top with vegetable fats esp. without eating eggs and dairy!!!!

NO maca for DH. He's better off doing nothing. My husband never takes supplements and we have 4 boys. If you can get him to take a multivitamin, great, if not, let it go.

I don't want you doing cardio other than walking at your BMI. I think it would sway hugely pink for you. Do some walking when you can and then you need to do some form of weight training. Do not go straight for a kettleball, it will be too difficult. Even just 1-2 lb weights are enough to get some benefit. I would have you start very easy with weights and/or using your own body weight to grow muscle. Even if you can only do this 3-5 times a week for 15-30 minutes it will help.

While I do think breastfeeding sways a little bit pink, it's easily overcome by diet and exercise. No one ever needs to stop nursing for a sway.

Sweet potatoes are great for blue, if anything much better than white potatoes.

Yogurt and berries are great and I got 2 of my boys eating that!! Full fat yogurt only though - no skim or even part skim!

RE BD unprotected, I think that is the best way to get boys, but do be careful between now and then having unprotected intercourse because the one attempt has been sooo pink-friendly for us. If you end up conceiving unexpectedly with one attempt, you would be kicking yourself!!

Once you actively start trying, you can BD unprotected every 2-4 days while doing OPK and then once the OPK goes positive, have attempt that night, the next morning, then again the following night and continue with regular BD even after you think yo'uve ovulated. The trick to this, is that if you fear your husband cannot perform that much, you may want to err on the side of more like every 4 days to be sure he has enough "gas in the tank" for the OPK BD which are the most important. We want to avoid a scenario where he ends up unable to "complete the transaction" and you end up accidentally getting one attempt in your fertile window and inadvertently swaying pink that way.

Please let me know if I missed anything!

[LMSM]

Good morning ladies,

Apologies for the very late response – so wishing you a belated Merry Xmas and Happy new year – hope 2017 if off to a good start for you all


I had some issues over the last few weeks that took over our lives – bottom line is being on the PC was the last thing on my mind so again apologies for the late response, now life seems to be back on track - phew!

@Throwaway_panther
Thanks for your input
Re the not trying not protecting – it was only a few times right off AF, not after: and I am very sub-fertile and ovulate (when I do) quite late (CD18-21 - even on meds I ovulate at CD12-13). But I have been enforcing the condom after CD 6-7 ^^
With regards to the luteal phase issue, it actually has been tested and confirmed I have a LPD – progesterone testing confirming this over multiple months alas. 10 days seems to be the max I can stretch the LP without supplementation – and thought not impossible it’s probably not ideal as it is an indicator of poor quality ovulation (which is why I’d like to help with egg/ovulation quality to hopefully have a flow on effect on progesterone ).
I am looking at weaning more so because I’d like a break between the two (I fell pregnant 2 years ago to the day and have since been pregnant or nursing so I want a break before being pregnant and then nursing again) also to hopefully allow my fertility to be at its max I actually got my 1st PP period at 8 weeks after DD2, then only random periods, and have started getting regular cycles again as of late August but we used no contraception at all until say October (so almost a year) and still no pregnancy so being cautious now should avoid any surprises prior to being TTC actively and having done all I want to sway first ^^

Re vegetarian diet – I did eat a fair bit of meat (for me that is, once a day at least) over the holidays and it’s actually fine – I just realise I need to be able to prepare it well in advance so that I can have it the way I like (given it’s summer here, BBQ /hubby are on duty – which is the way I prefer my meat - so win win for me ha!)

@dancingdiva88
Thanks for your ideas too ^^
I like your way of thinking re exercising haha I have looked up re exercise plans, and start tonight! Will do bodyweight exercises, i.e trying to build muscle ^^ will avoid cardio and just aim for my planned routine 3-4 times a week. Plus bonus hubby just joined the gym today and he will therefore be exercising (which for him is mostly weights not cardio) – assume that is ok for him
I do eat eggs already but will integrate some more I think.

@Atomic
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond in so much detail, really appreciate it!!
Will try to respond in order of your post ^^

Re Papa's diet: Actually do not want to do Papa diet, was merely saying that was the only one I knew of – but that was before landing here!!

Re attempt/BD - not set on Shettles at all (didn’t work for me anyways haha) : will do as you say – every 3 or so days after AF and then 3 attempts when I get peak on OPK. And will then continue BD every 3 days or so after that just in case. Hubby would probably run out of steam if I required more of poor him :P
I have being stricter with hubby and enforcing the protected intercourse until we start TTC as such – so only once we start TTC will we drop all contraception.

With regards to PCOS – my initial specialist diagnosed me with PCOS and put me on that regimen – having said that, being thin is not exclusive of PCO but my following specialist (whom I trust fully contrary to the 1st!) said that I just have lazy ovaries (and he thinks those meds were not warranted). I do have poor quality ovulation, which is the one thing I think is key to improve for me (and would like to avoid Clomid again, though it is efficient for me as pregnant on 1st Clomid cycle both times).
I do have short luteal phase and progesterone deficiencies (confirmed via progesterone series blood testing) – though I am NOT taking the pessaries until I do get pregnant and find out: so about 12-14DPO onwards only if and when I get that elusive BFP - so want to ensure baby can be sticky until we get that supplementation happening ^^ For mucus, I tried grapefruit juice a few days before O’ this cycle and actually got no mucus so not too sure if I started it too late or if it can make things worse before they get better – not sure if I will continue but will see, I have very little mucus so I do need to ensure my diet helps too…
Still nursing at this stage, as I have a boobie monster :P but she is getting more and more distracted when nursing so I thingkwe may be able to wean slowly in coming weeks so that I am well and truly not BFing any more in the weeks leading to the 1st attempt (which we have said will be in April, depending on when AF shows up).

Re diet:
- Cornflakes: I occasionally (and only at brekkie) eat the plain ones with yogurt/milk and banana or other fruit (but they are not coated in sugar just plain corn). Happy to forego them though if even the plain ones are an issue
- I left out the seed cycling thing anyways – so that’s no longer a concern: I won’t sweat if I get a few seeds in bread or in salads but won’t purposely eat them – same for flaxseed
- To clarify: I am already doing dairy and some meat – intake of which I am gradually increasing for both (especially red meat) ^^
- Great for sweet potatoes – they’re cheaper than plain potatoes here at the moment too – and delicious, low GI – and the whole family likes them so happy about that!
- Fish: I only eat salmon or barramundi anyways and usually 1-2 week max anyhow – easy!
- Prenatals: am taking this one – Buy Blackmores Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Gold 180 Capsules Online at Chemist Warehouse® - don’t think there are any megadoses in it ? Fish oil, just taking one tablet (1000mg I think?)) – and because it doesn’t have the same stuff as the prenatals, will probably start taking Ovaboost (Reproductive Support Supplement - Improves Egg Quality ). Will stop the royal jelly and not start the B6 then.
- Chocolate: only do 70% dark chocolate, so again, am actually not doing too bad on that front haha
- Is decaf coffee better than black tea? Or is tea better than coffee whether decaf or not? I put FF milk in either. If decaf coffee is a deal breaker then it’ll be max a tea/day then
- Nuts: snacking on walnuts and almonds , only getting a bit of peanut butter here and there on wholemeal toast. I do eat eggs (daily actually) and do dairy (not heeeaps but do have some, like a cup of milk and a cup of yogurt/day at the moment ^^). I actually brought in a big tub of blueberry yogurt at work today so I can have that as my go to snack – I can put some almonds in it and voila! ^^
- Snacks and protein: would you say a protein shake is a good idea to up my intake? And I had found a powder that was pea and coconut based without unnatural sweeteners but am I better off getting a basic dairy based one? Or should I avoid altogether?

Exercise
- Hubby starting the gym again today (yay!!) – so that’s a good thing, right? He lifts weights mainly and will go twice weekly more if he can. Will just get him a multi, he is fine with that ^^
- Am starting a program today too – will aim for 3-4 times /weeks doing bodyweight exercise : when I am a bit more at ease and stronger will add in some small weights and gradually increase weights ^^ I will continue my normal walking which is limited anyways – just when we go to the park with the girls etc.

You have no idea how excited I am about this sway – I know nature is the final decider but I feel good about it, and will do my best to stick to the sway – and hope I can too have my little blue bundle! My SIL had her second son a month ago and am sooo clucky (she gave him the name hubby and I had agreed on so a bit gutted but I guess I may have a chance for my favourite name even though hubby still says no haha).

Thanks again!

[LMSM]

Bump! Just in case anyone has more feedback on my updates