TTC: What all those trying-to-conceive acronyms mean
If you find your head spinning trying to understand those fertility message boards, here's a breakdown of all the terms and acronyms you'll need to know.
When I first began struggling with my own issues four years ago, I found myself scouring online message boards and reading other people’s personal accounts of their own fertility journeys. The problem was, I couldn’t understand half of them because the accounts were peppered with acronyms like BFN (big fat negative) and TWW (two-week wait).
If you’ve been recently thrust into the world of infertility, chances are that you’re suddenly dealing with a lot of new medical terms and acronyms. To help you keep up with the conversations, here’s a handy list of the acronyms most commonly used on message boards and in articles for those who are TTC (trying to conceive).
AF Aunt Flo, or menstruation (not the other AF that’s popular right now)
AMA Advanced maternal age (refers to women 35 and over)
BCP Birth control pill
Beta A blood test that measures levels of beta hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), which is commonly known as the pregnancy hormone.
BFN Big fat negative (indicates a negative pregnancy test)
BFP Big fat positive (indicates a positive pregnancy test)
CD Cycle day (cycle day one is the day you start your period)
DE Donor egg/embryo
DH Dear husband
DPO Days past ovulation
DPT Days past embryo transfer
DW Dear wife
EWCM Egg white cervical mucus
FET Frozen embryo transfer (this is done after a cycle of IVF in which the embryos are frozen)
FX Fingers crossed
HCG Human chorionic gonadotropin (this is the hormone produced by the placenta after implantation, and it’s what pregnancy tests detect to determine a pregnancy)
IF Infertility
IUI Intrauterine insemination (the process in which sperm is placed inside a woman’s uterus with a catheter)
IVF In vitro fertilization (the process in which eggs are extracted and fertilized outside a woman’s body to make an embryo, which is then transferred into her—or another woman’s—uterus)
LMP Last menstrual period
MC Miscarriage
OPK Ovulation predictor kit
PG Pregnant
POAS Pee on a stick pregnancy test
PUPO Pregnant until proven otherwise
RE Reproductive endocrinologist (a doctor who specializes in fertility and hormone treatments)
TTC Trying to conceive
TW Trigger warning (meaning the post or article may contain trigger wording about a loss or even a pregnancy)
TWW Two-week wait (the amount of time between when you ovulate and when you can take a pregnancy test)
US Ultrasound
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Nicolle Weeks is a Toronto writer, mom to 7-year-old twins, and the creator of the Human+AI newsletter. Nicolle has twenty years' experience reporting for the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, CBC, and Today's Parent. Her site, ailiteracyguide.com, is where parents can go to figure out how to talk to their kids about AI.