What Do All The Getting Pregnant Acronyms Mean? - Ava Bracelet

If you just dipped your toe into the world of online forums for women who are trying to get pregnant, you might be totally overwhelmed by all the acronyms. It’s okay—you’ll grow to love them, really. When you’re 7DPO and have to flush your FMU so your don’t POAS  and see the dreaded BFN, it’s really fun to talk in a secret language to other women who understand what you’re going through.

So don’t fret: here’s your handy guide to the most common acronyms. You’ll know them all by heart in no time.

2WW: Two week wait (before testing, not always 2 weeks)

AF: Aunt Flo, menstruation

BBT: Basal body temperature

BC/BCP: Birth Control Pill

BD: Baby dance. This means having sex for conceptive purposes, or any other form of insemination such as IUI or IVF. (The Ava community invented their own term for this. See entry for “GSD” below.)

BFN: Big Fat Negative (pregnancy test)

BFP: Big Fat Positive (pregnancy test)

CD: Cycle day

CM: Cervical mucus.

CP: Chemical pregnancy (a very early miscarriage)

DPO: Days past ovulation

EWCM: Egg white cervical mucus, the most fertile kind.

FSH: Follicle Stimulating Hormone

FMU: First Morning Urine

FP: Follicular Phase

FRER: First response early result pregnancy test

GSD: Get Shit Done, or do what you need to do to make a baby (sex, IUI, IVF…)

HPT: Home pregnancy test. Measures levels of the hormone hcG.

HSG: hysterosalpingogram, a test that looks inside the uterus and fallopian tubes.

HcG: Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. Hormone detected by pregnancy tests.

IUI: Intra-uterine insemination

IVF: In-vitro fertilization

LH: Luteinizing Hormone

LMP: Last menstrual period. The first day of your last period.

LP: Luteal Phase

LPD: Luteal Phase Defect

MC: Miscarriage

MFI: Male Factor Infertility

NTNP: Not Trying, Not Preventing

O: Ovulation

OPK: Ovulation Prediction Kit. OPKs measure luteinizing hormone, which surges about one day before ovulation.

PCOS: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

POAS: Pee on a stick

RE: Reproductive Endocrinologist

SA: Semen analysis

SMEP: Sperm Meets Egg Plan

TCOYF: “Taking Charge of Your Fertility,” a book by Toni Weschler about how to monitor your body’s natural fertility signs.

TTC: Trying to Conceive

TWW: Two Week Wait, the roughly two week period between when you ovulate and when you’re supposed to get your period (and when you can take a pregnancy test)

By Lindsay Meisel | Sep 28, 2017 Tags: trying to conceive

Lindsay Meisel

Lindsay Meisel is the Head of Content at Ava. She has over a decade of experience writing about science, technology, and health, with a focus on women's health and the menstrual cycle. Her work has been featured on The Fertility Hour, The Birth Hour, The Breakthrough Journal, and The Rumpus. Share this article

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