So you’ve decided to start trying for a baby. Fun! Welcome to the world of ovulation tracking, fertility apps, and googling “Can implantation bleeding be bright red” at 3 a.m. If you’ve dipped even one toe into Reddit or a pregnancy forum, you’ve probably realized you need a full-on trying to conceive (TTC — IYKYK) glossary just to understand what the actual fuck anyone is talking about.
Example: Is your DH BDing on your peak OPK day so you can POAS after your TWW? Congrats, you’re now fluent in womb-speak. This is your brain on cervical mucus.
That’s because, hi, the second you open any fertility forum, it’s clear: everyone speaks in code, and now not only are you trying to grow a human, but you’re also trying to become fluent in pregnancy forum spiral speak. You need a degree in cryptanalysis just to figure out if m0m2B_2025 is saying she’s a second-time mom or is having a cervical check when all you really wanted to know was whether or not anyone else had the same HCG rise at 3w5d, TYVM.
And while I might have barely scraped by in high school Spanish (lo siento, Señora Suarez), after four pregnancies, two miscarriages, and two offspring, I’m officially bilingual in anxiety-inducing, baby-making abbreviations.
So, whether you’re just starting out or already deep in the TWW, googling “sharp twinge left side??,” this list breaks down every abbreviation you’ll come across while trying to get pregnant and beyond. Also, fair warning: this starts with tracking your cycle and ends with terms like “MOTN feed” and “CIO method.” Because one minute, you’re unsure how to take an LH test and the next? You’re sending a bunch of internet strangers a picture of your CM and a 10DPO pregnancy test with the saturation turned allll the way up. Once you’re in this world, you’re in it. Hope you like analyzing discharge like it’s forensic evidence.
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The Only TTC/PG Glossary You’ll Ever Need
TTC: Trying to Conceive
The moment when ~just seeing what happens~ turns into a spreadsheet, six apps, and a fertility tea you found on TikTok.
TTCAL: Trying to Conceive After a Loss
Tender territory. Sending love, zero unsolicited advice, and a hitman to anyone who tells you, “at least you know you can get pregnant!”
WTT: Waiting to Try
You’re not *not* ready — but you’re definitely lurking in the forums like it’s your job.
BD: Baby Dance (to have sex)
If calling it “baby dance” doesn’t instantly kill the vibe, the calendar reminder to do it definitely will.
DTD: Do The Deed (to have sex)
Sex, but make it medieval and slightly clinical. Bonus points if you make eye contact or actually attempt to orgasm on day four of your fertile window.
SMEP: Sperm Meets Egg Plan (sex schedule for TTC)
Because nothing says romance like following a military-grade sex schedule created by strangers on the internet.
CD: Cycle Day (day of your menstrual cycle, starting with the first day of period)
Because when you’re TTC, your entire life revolves around what number your uterus is on. Technically, it tracks your cycle. Emotionally, it tracks how close you are to spiraling on CD22.
CM: Cervical Mucus
If you weren’t already fingerbanging yourself in the bathroom at CD14 then googling “stretchy vs. creamy” and hoping for the right kind of slime, you’re about to be…
EWCM: Egg White Cervical Mucus (fertile cervical mucus texture)
Looks like something that should go on avocado toast? Congrats. You’re fertile.
OPK: Ovulation Predictor Kit (measures LH levels to predict ovulation)
Basically a pregnancy test, but for when you’re about to start having performance-anxiety sex during your cycle and convincing your partner you’re just ~*magically*~ in the mood.
LH: Luteinising Hormone (triggers ovulation)
The hormone you stalk like it’s your ex’s new girlfriend. Spike already, babe.
BBT: Basal Body Temperature (daily tracking can pinpoint ovulation)
The thing that makes you sleep with a thermometer next to your fertility lube and seed cycling guide.
FSH: Follicle Stimulating Hormone
A number you didn’t know existed until someone on the internet told you it might mean your eggs are crusty.
AF: Aunt Flo (your period)
The nickname no one asked for and everyone resents. Especially when she shows up early and uninvited when you had plans not to see her for 10+ months.
LMP: Last Menstrual Period
The official starting point of every medical convo you’ll have from your first OB appointment to when you check into L&D.
L&D: Labor and Delivery (hospital floor)
The place you’re simultaneously dying to get to and lowkey terrified to walk into.
DPO: Days Past Ovulation
When every cramp, yawn, and phantom boob twinge feels like a message from the universe (especially when you’re expected to wait 14DPO to take a pregnancy test).
TWW: Two Week Wait (time between ovulation and your period or BFP)
Also known as: the most unhinged time in a TTC person’s life when you’re either newly pregnant or simply coasting along in a symptom-spotting luteal phase of misery.
IB: Implantation Bleeding (light spotting when embryo implants)
When you convince yourself that the single brown dot you wiped at 8:42 p.m. is “definitely not AF.”
POAS: Pee On A Stick (take a pregnancy test)
What you’ll be doing at 7DPO even though literally every expert says to wait. You won’t wait.
FMU: First Morning Urine (recommended for pregnancy tests)
That super-concentrated golden stream of truth you guard with your life between 4–7 a.m.
FRER: First Response Early Result (brand of pregnancy test)
The one test everyone reaches for when *they swear* they have pregnancy symptoms at 10DPO.
IC: Internet Cheapies (bulk packs of ovulation or pregnancy tests)
Approx 400 tests for $12, so you can spiral every single time you go to the bathroom.
HPT: Home Pregnancy Test
A tool designed for at-home use, but best experienced while hiding in a Target bathroom and texting the group chat.
VFL: Very Faint Line (on a pregnancy test)
Is it a line? Is it an indent? Is it your imagination? You’ll need a flashlight, a second opinion, and at least seven filters to decide.
BFP: Big Fat Positive (pregnancy test result)
Two solid lines (or a +, smiley face, etc.) and the immediate urge to take six more tests “just to be sure.”
BFN: Big Fat Negative (pregnancy test result)
Also know as: Big Fucking Nope.
HCG: Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (pregnancy hormone)
The hormone that makes you “technically pregnant” and sends you into a spiral if it doesn’t double fast enough. Welcome to the numbers game no one warned you about.
PG: Pregnant
It’s real, but also somehow not real until you see a heartbeat, hear a heartbeat, and maybe even hold the baby. (Maybe not even then?)
EDD: Estimated Due Date
Calculated down to the exact day… which your baby will completely ignore.
3w5d / 6w2d / etc.: Weeks + Days Pregnant
Not a password. Just how everyone in TTC-land tells time now.
H&H9: Happy and Healthy Nine Months
A well-meaning forum phrase that somehow makes you feel weirdly defensive and a little annoyed.
MC: Miscarriage
The loss no one wants to talk about — and the one that changes everything. Be gentle here, with yourself and others.
CP: Chemical Pregnancy (very early miscarriage)
A blink-and-you-miss-it pregnancy that still wrecks you emotionally. Yes, it counts. No, you don’t need to justify it.
RE: Reproductive Endocrinologist (fertility doctor)
Basically a fertility wizard with a white coat and a six-month waitlist.
SA: Sperm Analysis
When your partner learns what it’s like to be medically evaluated for once (and suddenly has *thoughts* about plastic cups and old porno mags).
BT: Blood Test
Because peeing on sticks wasn’t invasive enough. Time to check those hormone levels, champ!
B/W: Blood Work
The umbrella term for the dozens of vials they’ll take while you will yourself not to faint.
DX: Diagnosis
What you’re hoping will bring answers, not more acronyms.
RX: Prescription
The official green light to spiral over side effects and google every pill’s success rate.
IUI: Intrauterine Insemination
The “less intense” fertility option that still involves a sterile room and more inner turmoil than you’re likely comfortable admitting to.
IVF: In Vitro Fertilization
Science, hope, injections, spreadsheets, and more money than you planned to spend on anything kid-related before college.
OB: Obstetrician
The third (and arguably most important) person in your relationship now. Minus the bebe, ofc.
MW: Midwife
Your birth bestie… unless you’re high risk, in which case it’s back to Team OB.
U/S: Ultrasound
The reason your fridge looks like conspiracy theory research at 38 weeks.
HB: Heartbeat
That fast little thump you cling to during every appointment, Doppler check, and middle-of-the-night anxiety spiral.
NST: Non-Stress Test
Spoiler: It’s actually very stressful. You lie there while a machine decides if your baby is chill enough to stay inside.
GD: Gestational Diabetes
The diagnosis that ruins snacks, forces you to talk about carbs, and somehow makes you cry over a banana.
BP: Blood Pressure
The number everyone suddenly cares about after 20 weeks (and the reason your OB keeps side-eyeing your cankles).
Pre-E: Preeclampsia
A complication that turns “just to be safe” into “you’re being induced tomorrow.” Watch the swelling. Watch the BP. Watch your stress. (And get yourself a home blood pressure cuff, pls!)
CS / C-Section: Cesarean Section
Major abdominal surgery, but with less recovery time than you’d expect and more opinions than you asked for.
VBAC: Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
High-stakes game of “can my uterus be trusted?”
PP: Postpartum
You’re sweaty, weepy, bleeding, leaking—and somehow expected to “soak it all in.”
PPA: Postpartum Anxiety
You didn’t think you’d be the mom who texts your partner “is the baby breathing?” but here we are. Very real. Very scary. Say it out loud. Get help.
PPD: Postpartum Depression
The cloud that shows up uninvited. You’re not a bad mom — you’re just in the thick of it. Also very real. Also very scary. Say it out loud. Get help.
D-MER: Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex
A real, hormonal thing where your letdown triggers a wave of dread. No, you’re not crazy. Yes, it’s awful.
EBF: Exclusively Breastfeeding
Just you, your boobs, and an emotionally loaded label you’ll question every single day.
BF: Breastfeeding
You’re topless 80% of the time and googling “clicky latch sound” like it’s your job.
FF: Formula Feeding
Feeding your baby with a bottle and zero shame. Or at least trying to. Someone will have thoughts.
EP: Exclusive Pumping
The worst parts of breastfeeding and bottle feeding, combined! Welcome to your full-time job as a dairy cow.
LC: Lactation Consultant
Will absolutely fix your latch. Might make you cry about it in the car. Worth it.
BLW: Baby-Led Weaning
You hand your baby a piece of avocado and try not to scream while they gag like they’re in a Shakespearean tragedy.
CIO: Cry It Out (sleep training method)
The sleep training method that breaks your soul while simultaneously giving you your nights back.
MOTN: Middle of the Night (as in feeds/wake-ups)
That special window between 1 and 5 a.m. when you contemplate getting in your car and simply driving far, far away.
WAHM: Work-At-Home Mom
Trying to take a Zoom call while hiding in the bathroom and praying no one hears Bluey in the background.
SAHM: Stay-At-Home Mom
Just you, the baby, and 10 hours of consecutive tasks no one sees or pays you for.
WOHM: Work-Outside-the-Home Mom
Somehow expected to act like you didn’t just cry in the daycare parking lot five minutes ago.
OH: Other Half
What the forums call your partner, regardless of whether they’re actually half the effort (or any help at all).
DP: Dear Partner
A gender-neutral go-to that covers everyone from your ride-or-die to your “we’re trying but not labeling it” situationship.
SO: Significant Other
The least cringe of all the partner acronyms. Neutral. Inclusive. No one will assume you met at Bible camp.
DH / DW: Dear Husband / Dear Wife
No one actually talks like this IRL, but apparently everyone in the forums does. Weirdly formal, aggressively hetero, and somehow always used right before a passive-aggressive complaint.
DD / DS: Dear Daughter / Dear Son
Because calling them “my kid” is too casual for the spreadsheet moms. Expect to see this one followed by their exact age in months and a debate about wake windows.
LO: Little One
The vaguely Victorian nickname everyone starts using for their offspring once they’ve been momfluenced into saying things like “our feeding journey.”
NP: New Partner
When you’re not quite TTC yet, but the baby name list has already been shared.
NM / NW: New Man / New Woman
Because “new partner” was too progressive and “person I met on Hinge” was too honest. Code for “I’m dating again,” with strong ’90s soap opera energy and zero acknowledgment that not everyone’s into the opposite sex.
MIL / FIL: Mother-in-Law / Father-in-Law
The people most likely to “just pop by,” offer unsolicited advice, and refer to your baby as “their baby.” Handle with boundaries.
TMI: Too Much Information
A thing we stopped worrying about the second we started texting pics of our LH tests to randoms on the internet.
WTF: What you’ll say the first time you try to decode one of these posts.
When your brain short-circuits after decoding five acronyms in a single paragraph. Because “DH wants to DTD but I’m 9DPO and EBF our LO” isn’t a sentence; it’s a cry for help.
