Getting pregnant tips

You definitely need to get to know your body - the stuff we women are NOT told about...like there are only a few days in the month when you are likely to get pregnant. I have used Natural Family Planning both to avoid pregnancy and to get pregnant. It gets a bad rap as a method but as a way to actually learn what your body is doing it is amazing. I don't bother with temperature charting (although this is recommended) I simply watch for the mucus!! You know how every month there are a few days or maybe a week when you discharge mucus? Basically that's your body gearing up to get pregnant. What you need to do is watch out for a few months and see what your mucus pattern is. You should find that you have one day in the month when you discharge the most mucus. That is the day that you have probably ovulated. It could have been the day before or after. But basically when you see that there is a pattern, you can plan when to have that romantic night in...and perhaps have a few of them in a row. If you combine it with temperature charting too you will really increase your chances. I swear by it. I have one beautiful baby who is a year and have been using the same principal to avoid getting pregnant since he was born (well that and rather a lot of BF'ing in the first few months!) By the way I have highly simplified it all here, but if you want to get more of a scientific viewpoint and just more information go to www.woomb.org/bom/index.html Best of luck!

Now that would be the ideal solution :D. I wonder if we could train ourselves to do a 'When Harry Met Sally' without waking up?!

There's always a turkey baster :D. I actually suggested that, DH was very unimpressed......next best option is seeing if he can do it without waking me. ......am still breastfeeding so the memory erase option is out :(

Hope the poor guy appreciates what he's in for - I can't remember the last time I went anywhere near DH for more than a cuddle or a foot massage! He seems to take awfully long showers these days.... :D. Yes indeed, #2 is due in a few weeks. After taking four years to conceive DS, this one was a complete accident and, as I told my doctor, the next best thing to immaculate conception (let's just say the bedroom action - or lack thereof - seen during pregnancy did NOT improve with a baby who didn't sleep!). It takes a while to get the hang of the charting thing but the TCOYF book and FertilityFriend website make it much easier. Working out your coverline is probably the most important thing early on, so you can establish when ovulation actually occurs each month. Then it's just a case of getting used to your body and what's normal for you. Hopefully you won't need it after this month because your ten days of horizontal jogging will have worked! :D x Ahh yes - DH often has long showers, but I don't mind that as a) it takes the pressure off me and b) at least he doesn't leave a mess behind. Ha! Although this morning he was showering and I marched in and told him to make sure it wasn't a long shower as he was still on babymaking duties tonight. And bless his heart, he said 'Are you kidding? I am NOT having a long shower, I'm almost getting to the point of soreness after this week!' At which point I reminded him to never complain about now having enough love in the future... Typical men - they can't get enough, and then it's too much! Wow, that's interesting that number 2 was the miracle conception. Similar story to my brother in law - he was classed infertile (less than 2% chance of natural pregnancy) after having the mumps when he was little and they had baby number 1 via IVF. And lo and behold, 18 months later they got pregnant by accident! Thanks again for the advice :)

There's always a turkey baster :D.

If I could remember the momentous occasion, I'd let you know! :D

I am on the pill now for going on 14 years.. GULP, keep meaning to come off and i really want to but now isnt such a good time as hubbie is in between jobs so wouldnt be ideal if i did manage to get preggers- tho id be secretly but not so secretly DElighted!! Hmmm, how long should i wait when i get off the ol pill before trying to get preggers..... i was thinking about 3 months and then going full hog into the charting etc. My plan is to come off the pills by Xmas, i dread to think about my hormones, i fear il resort to being the crazy hormonal 13yr old i used to be :( I have heard that you are extra fertile when you very first come off. However I was on the pill for over 10 years and it took over a year to get a period when I came off it, and another few months for them to become regular. LOL DC with the long showers, my poor DH is in the same boat, we are considering number two but lately DS has been in my bed and DH in the spare room.....how do I go about this immaculate conception business?......;)

Hope the poor guy appreciates what he's in for - I can't remember the last time I went anywhere near DH for more than a cuddle or a foot massage! He seems to take awfully long showers these days.... :D. Yes indeed, #2 is due in a few weeks. After taking four years to conceive DS, this one was a complete accident and, as I told my doctor, the next best thing to immaculate conception (let's just say the bedroom action - or lack thereof - seen during pregnancy did NOT improve with a baby who didn't sleep!). It takes a while to get the hang of the charting thing but the TCOYF book and FertilityFriend website make it much easier. Working out your coverline is probably the most important thing early on, so you can establish when ovulation actually occurs each month. Then it's just a case of getting used to your body and what's normal for you. Hopefully you won't need it after this month because your ten days of horizontal jogging will have worked! :D x

Yes I agree about the medal! I've warned DH that once we are pregnant, that the marathon will definitely come to an end! Thanks also for the other info about temperatures and charting. All a learning curve I guess. A girlfriend of mine got pregnant on her 2nd month after coming off years of the pill, so I'm hoping we'll be lucky as well. I suppose only time will tell! Thanks for your tips though, much appreciated. Also I think you're due with your second one soon, so good luck and hope it goes well. It's a relief to hear that even women who struggle with fertility issues for years can be successful - and with more than one child! Well done xx

Every day for ten days?! Yikes, you deserve a medal. Not to mention a speedy BFP! My temp would always surge the day after ovulation, and take a couple of days to get to its highest point. It surges because the eggshell (for want of a better word) left behind in the ovary causes your body to make progesterone, which heats you up. You shouldn't see a dip again until the day before, or the day of, your period as this is when your body stops making the progesterone causing your BBT to drop. Unless, of course, you're pregnant and then it'll stay high because your body carries on making progesterone. Re the pill, I've heard advice at both ends of the scale. Some people say give it a good few months to get back on track with normal periods, some people say you're extra-fertile for the few months after you stop taking it so get at it straight away! I guess from a charting perspective you might find your chart all over the place for a month or two, if it takes your body that to get back to ovulating naturally, but then again it gives you a chance to get used to the charting process itself during this time so that can't be a bad thing.

Well, I've been charting for all of two days and this morning I noticed a surge in my temp and when I took my ovulation test it said I was ovulating! Yay! Yes, a small hurdle but I've been on the pill for 11 years so had wondered how long it would take me to get back on track. DH and I had a big fight last night so I really had to force myself to do the deed last night, but now I'm so glad I did. I think you can usually get pregnant in only 4 days each month, so I've been spreading my odds and we are doing it every day for 10 days which is exhausting! Of course, DH walks around with a constant grin on his face... Not sure if we'll end up pregnant but I feel like we're getting closer... And I have to admit - I was pleasantly surprised that the charting thing really does work. My temp this morn is definitely much higher than yesterday. Not sure how I'll feel if I see it drop in a few days though... Will report back! Am just a bit nervous as we're both under a lot of stress with work, and I know stress is not good for happy sperm. Hmmm...

have you checked your spine? woman who cant get pregnant have problems that L3 is not aligned.

A friend of mine swears by doing the 1950s-style upside-down cycling after the horizontal tango! I must admit I did it when we conceived DS but #2 was nothing short of an immaculate conception so I have no clue what worked this time. I know of several couples who conceived at the drop of a hat first time round and struggled for #2, whereas we were the opposite.

Sorry to butt in on your thread but has anyone experiened trouble TTc a 2nd after the 1st happening REALLY quickly? To the OP there are certain positions supposedly have a better gravitational pull if you catch my drift ;-) to get the swimmers to their destination..... good luck

Anyone who is prepared to do it every other day of the month deserves some sort of baby-making medal (perhaps free childcare for the first year). I like to avoid "the deed" at all costs and so am a big fan of the ovulater-predicting kits, to figure out when in your cycle you ovulate and then basically do it every second day between days 10-18 of your cycle (and twice on the day you think you are actually ovulating). As for old wives tales, I tried them all with DS (and we did get pregnant first cycle) so maybe there is truth in them. I took cough syrup, the kind for a productive cough which supposedly thins your cervical mucous and makes it more "friendly" to sperm. Also stayed in bed for half an hour after each "attempt" while DH had to go make me a lovely cup of tea and certain positions etc. We want a girl this time around though and so apparently are supposed to make things less "hospitable" so that the weaker boy sperm all give up and go home.

For ladies with PCOS - best advice is to switch to low carb diet and most importantly quit sugar completely! Give yourself one cycle and you will be P on the second one! Had examples of it, and represent one myself. Also OPK is great if you cannot be consistent in you temping. Also book "making babies" is great explaining what and how to eat depending on your fertility type. I also have heard accupuncture is good. And trust me stress does not matter! I was doing it with my hubby after OPK showed positive like a clock and doing shoulder stand after that and stressing till tears after that. Just believe and be consistent in whatever you do. Put up a plan and give yourself 6 mont for it to work!

Haven't read through all the replies (apologies if someone has mentioned this already)... A specialist advised us on the following: 14 days backwards from your cycle length e.g if that month your cycle was 28 days. 28-14=14. So your most fertile day is then day 14 counting your first day of your period as day 1. If next Month your cycle is say 30 days... 30-14=16 so you are most fertile on day 16. So go according to the length of your cycle each month. Worked for us like a charm. Oh and she also advised to start 2 days before that day. So example, Your most fertile day is day 16, try on day 10, 12, 14,16 and 18. Good luck! This would only work (as far as I know) if you had a 14-day luteal phase and every woman is different in this regard. For example, my luteal phase might be 12 days and yours might be 16 - both are within 'normal' range - so obviously we may not have the same fertile days, depending on day of ovulation. If my luteal phase was 12 days, I'd have to count back 12 days from last day of the cycle to work out the most fertile day. Your own individual luteal phase should never vary more than a day at most so you'll always know, once you've pinpointed ovulation for that month, when your period is due. You watch for signs of ovulation each month then make sure you concentrate your efforts on the days you see the signs and get a good sleep on the other days ;). Every other day would make my DH the happiest person on earth too. And make me tired and grumpy :D.

So basically every other day of the month would help a lot!!? I think this could just make my DH the happiest person on earth!! ;)

Haven't read through all the replies (apologies if someone has mentioned this already)... A specialist advised us on the following: 14 days backwards from your cycle length e.g if that month your cycle was 28 days. 28-14=14. So your most fertile day is then day 14 counting your first day of your period as day 1. If next Month your cycle is say 30 days... 30-14=16 so you are most fertile on day 16. So go according to the length of your cycle each month. Worked for us like a charm. Oh and she also advised to start 2 days before that day. So example, Your most fertile day is day 16, try on day 10, 12, 14,16 and 18. Good luck!

Well remembered! The only recommended lubricant I know of is Preseed but I'm not sure if you can get it here. I know we've talked about it before on here but I can't remember what the general consensus was - a quick search should let you know (if the search function's working properly, that is).

one thing i know would harm the sperm are lubricants. if anyone uses them u should stop when trying for a baby has anyone had any success with ovitrelle injection?

one other thing i forgot to post before that multiple docs tolds me (i had to see multiple doc to figure out why i wasnt getting pregnant) was to treat your body as if you were already pregnant... taking prenatal vitamins was a big one that they all said was importanat... also no drinking smoking trying to eat a bit better.. etc... anyways just wanted to add that in there :) good luck.

Wow thanks for the great advice DubaiCat, very useful! We've just started properly trying and as excited as I am, I can't help but stay awake at night and think 'what if it doesn't work, what if we have infertility problems' etc etc.. And then I think to myself about how bad stress is meant to be for babymaking and drive myself up the wall! Argh... Have only had one period since coming off the pill after many years, and have bought a Clear Blue digi kit for ovulation. Think I will start charting as well! Altho part of me wonders if we shouldn't just relax and see what happens for the first month, and then worry about all the technical stuff next month? Hmmm going crazy! :\: Most welcome. I know the feeling - when it just wasn't happening for us, I spent ages worrying if something was wrong and wondering why it wasn't working. Me being cabin crew and on the other side of the world at the 'right' time probably didn't help! I did have one stage where I was desperate for there to be something wrong, so it could be fixed with magic pills or something. My doctor said to me that four years of no contraception and no conception indicated some kind of subfertility, and that was my first minor breakdown over the whole thing. It turned out I did have some hormone issues - a couple of tests showed low progesterone, so I maybe didn't ovulate all the time for one reason or another - but in the end I was actually pleased nothing was majorly wrong as I could then tell myself it'd work in the end. Apparently in the UK something like 80 per cent of TTC couples will conceive within the first year of trying, 90 per cent within 18 months and 95 per cent within two years. I guess there's two ways of looking at starting TTC. You can either take the happy-go-lucky approach for a while and see what happens - with good odds if you look at the statistics above - or you can take the 'cover all bases' approach and go get a full work-up before you start so you know where you stand. I guess we were in the first category for a good couple of years when we were happy either way whether it worked or not, and then in the second when we started realising we really, really wanted to conceive. Charting won't do you any harm either way. In fact, if you do end up seeing a doctor, charting will give you a wealth of information to take to your doctor so you can have him or her look at you as an individual, and not as your 'average woman'. Knowing what's normal for you and what might be a concern is a great place to start for any ob/gyn. Best of luck to you too and I hope you're on here with an announcement soon! PS I know there are plenty of ladies on here who've used the ovulation kits so they'll probably be more help to you than I can be if you have any questions on those. I did consider them, but at 300dhs a pack from Boots I was somewhat put off! Apparently it's very easy to miss the hormone surge, especially if you get it in the middle of the night, and you can often go through several packs to get your smiley face. A friend of mine in Canada had a digital fertility monitor that she says worked out to be far more reasonable but I'm not sure if you can get it here. If you have anyone visiting from the UK, a monitor called Persona (allegedly originally designed for those trying to avoid conception!) might also be an option.

Go on holidays with your husband around when you are ovulating (ideally a week before and a week after). No alarm clocks, no mobile phones, tonnes of good food, loads of sleep and practise at least once per day. If that is too much, leave a day in between. The target is that you always have swimmers alive inside. When you are not practising or eating read a good book, watch a nice film or go for a walk, don't drink too much alcohol for dinner, just enough to enjoy your dinner. People are generally too stressed, do not get enough sleep nor practising enough. You need to enjoy yourself and both of you need to be relaxed. This is very difficult in our daily lives!

Wow thanks for the great advice DubaiCat, very useful! We've just started properly trying and as excited as I am, I can't help but stay awake at night and think 'what if it doesn't work, what if we have infertility problems' etc etc.. And then I think to myself about how bad stress is meant to be for babymaking and drive myself up the wall! Argh... Have only had one period since coming off the pill after many years, and have bought a Clear Blue digi kit for ovulation. Think I will start charting as well! Altho part of me wonders if we shouldn't just relax and see what happens for the first month, and then worry about all the technical stuff next month? Hmmm going crazy! :\:

dubaicat, yes that's me :D thanks, thought we'd never get there! speak to plumie, she's got the lowdown of what's been happening. we're actually meeting this weekend ;) I shall email her now :D. I love good news like this!

good advice everyone - the only thing I think abour charting is that if you are trying to put it all to the back of your mind, it is very difficult when having to chart every day. As it is the first thing you have to do every morning (after you turn off that ****** alarm clock :) it is the first thing of the day that you think about....if you have been ttc for some time, and its yet another month that it hasnt worked when you see that temperature dip, then it can be quite demoralising.... if you know what i mean. I COMPLETELY understand and appreciate the advantages of it but if you are ttc for some time then it can be a little depressing :( Yes, definitely. You can get to the stage where you're utterly sick of the sight of a thermometer and just can't be bothered to check the state of your cervix :D. But the upside of it is, you won't waste time hoping for a BFP at the end of the month if you've charted. Once you've established the length of your luteal phase and worked out the date of ovulation for that month, you know when to expect your period so you know whether to bother getting excited or not. And, if it's really getting you down, you can just chart for the ten days or so it'll actually give you meaningful information (although of course this isn't entirely as reliable as charting for the whole month, especially if you experienced stress or another external influence during the follicular phase). We had been prescribed Clomid in the September and had decided to postpone starting it, taking a break from TTC until after Christmas. I figured one last go wouldn't hurt, though, and forced myself to jump his bones when he got in from work (and when I say forced, I mean forced - we'd fallen out the night before and the last thing I wanted to do was speak to him, let alone go anywhere near him naked). I carried on charting for the rest of the month, convinced nothing would happen as usual. On the morning I got the BFP I woke up to the alarm, practised a few swear words, and decided if my temp had dropped even slightly I was off out on the randan that night with the girls. My usual luteal phase temp was around 36.73-36.79 and that morning's reading was 36.59. Gladrags on and vino in the fridge, I thought. Then something made me check the thermometer again before I turned it off and I realised it actually said 36.99. I have never flown out of bed so fast and I almost fell off the loo when I saw the lines.

I am not a doctor so I don't know if I can write it here, anyway a mix of inositol, folic acid and melatonin can be of great help, particularly in case of "advanced" age, PCOS, and in general in those situations in which the body might have been stressed by other factors (diseases, heavy therapies, etc.). This is not a fertility therapy, it is just a mix of integrators that is recently being prescribed more and more often to slow down the ovarian ageing process. Anyway do not take anything without talking to your doctor first, of course, even integrators. Good luck!

Patrick Holford has put out a book about getting pregnant etc. He seems to be very intune with how the body works and what supplements etc can help prepare the uter us etc. If anything, it really makes you realise what you put into your body affects the outcome in many different ways.