How many times did you DTD during fertile window?

[coursesforhorses]

I'm pretty new to this TTC so please bear with me

Came off contraception last summer and thought we'd just see what happened.....but nothing did

So this year we've upped our game and I've been keeping track of my cycles (regular as clockwork 25 day cycle) and making sure we DTD during fertile window. Still nothing.

How many times do we actually need to DTD during fertile window? So last month fertile window was Tues-Sunday and we DTD once in the Friday.

Am I going to get pregnant this way?

Reason we can't always DTD more is both having jobs that involve being away from home overnight

[happybus28]

Hi courses

Are you tracking ovulation at all with temping or OPKs? Or are you just using a app? You need to be trying to DTD more than once around the time of OV really to give yourself the best chance.

I think in your situation with with working away a lot I'd try and use OPKs or temping if you aren't already so you can try and DTD at the right time as it's harder for you to do it regularly. Me and DH are aiming for every other day this cycle as I felt we weren't DTD enough. It seems to be working out more like every 2 days so far though!!

[IndianaMoleWoman]

Both my pregnancies were as a result of every other day from about day 6 to day 16 (so five times in ten days). I was tracking ovulation so know I ovulate around day 13-15.

Weirdly I didn't get pregnant when we did every day. It's very personal to you and your DP. There are so many factors to do with uterus conditions/quality of sperm.

Good luck!

[Writerwannabe83]

When I fell pregnant with DS me and DH had sex about three times over the course of 8 days surrounding my suspected ovulation date. I wasn't using OPKs or anything so didn't really know when ovulation was.

I fell pregnant last year and we had sex about 3 times around the five day period surrounding suspected ovulation. Unfortunately I had an early miscarriage though.

I'm currently pregnant now and we o my had sex once which was the day before suspected ovulation.

Unfortunately it's a lot more complicated than just having sex frequently otherwise every woman would get pregnant on their first cycle. There are so many factors surrounding conception that even with the 'perfect conditions' pregnancy is still only 25% likely to occur.

Don't get hung up on how often you do it. Some women have sex about ten days in a row and still don't get pregnant whereas other women have sex once and conceive.

Good luck in your TTC journey

[BertieBotts]

25 days is quite a short cycle. Do you know what day you typically ovulate? If your luteal phase is shorter than 10 days then you will have trouble getting pregnant no matter how much you DTD. The good news is though ou can get medication to lengthen it but tracking would give you a reason to ask your doctor.

[gincamelbak]

I had long cycles.
I used OPKs and when a line became visible we dtd every other day. I also used the clear blue smiley face OPKs and when they showed a face it was every day. And when my temp showed the expected changes and OPKS were positive it stayed every day until after the lines started to faded, smiley faces disappeared and temps went up. Then one day off and dtd again. So it was every other day for almost a week really then about 3-5 days every day.

I think it was pretty much the Sperm Meets Egg Plan.

We did this for the last 6 or so months TTC DC2. We had been trying 18 months when I finally got pregnant. The first 6 months were trying to be casual but following ovulation signs (eg cervical mucus) next 6 months were doing temps and using OPKS but not dtd as frequently, this was mostly down to work and work trips and other things. I also had long cycles so had maybe 10 periods in a year. When I saw the gp to get booked on with the midwife he said that I probably wasn't ovulating every month.

Anyway. If I were you I would try and dtd more frequently than once in a fertile window.

[RoganJosh]

We always tried for days 10, 12, 14 and 16.

[coursesforhorses]

What's OPK?
No I'm just looking at various apps on my phone to see when I'm likely to ovulate
I do get discharge for a few days around the ovulation week

[gincamelbak]

Ovulation predictor kit. Find them in chemists next to the pregnancy tests. Or buy online v cheaply.

None of the apps predicted my fertile or ovulation times correctly. The only way (for me) was matching OPKS with my temperatures (body basal temperatures - you can buy thermometers next to the OPKS in chemists). It could be out by as much as a fortnight because the apps predict based on a standard cycle and standard fertile window as well as using input data.

[Backhometothenorth]

We hit the jackpot both times doing it every other day for about twelve days or so from about Day 5. I am convinced though that the days when we actually felt frisky so wanted to do it anyway were the ones that resulted in our two gorgeous girls. So I would advise to get at it regularly but listen to your body!!

[NerrSnerr]

We didn't track anything either time. We just had sex every other day when I wasn't on my period. For us it happened really quickly both times (but understand we are lucky).

[BertieBotts]

If you use OPKs or start temping you can find out when your ovulation is likely to be. Timing isn't normally an issue, but only DTD once in the fertile period might be, they also say it's better to hit later than earlier, if that makes any difference to you. But yes, the apps tend to go by averages meaning they may not be accurate for you personally.

[Loxy4527]

OPKs (very cheap and effective from amazon) really are handy. An app will only guess at when it's most likely you ovulate based on the average, but you might be different! If you ovulated on Tuesday for example you wouldn't get pregnant if you only dtd on Friday as the egg has been and gone. Equally you might be a bit later than the app thinks.

When I use OPKs I try to dtd every other day a couple times before I think I'll ovulate and when I get a positive result we do it on that day and for two days after. I got pregnant last month doing that so it does work! Pregnancy didn't stick unfortunately but got my fingers crossed for this month :)

If you struggle to find time and only want to dtd once or twice then try testing with OPKs and do it on the day you get a positive, should be much more accurate than picking a random day in your fertile week.

Good luck!

[coursesforhorses]

Can I ask how long does ovulation last? Am I only ovulating for a day? Or several?

[OohNoDooEy]

We just did every other day from period finish to bfp

[gincamelbak]

Ovulation is the release of an egg. It happens on one day. Your best chances to conceive are in the 2 or 3 days before ovulation, day of ovulation and possibly day after but better is before. You can miss the egg if you dtd after ovulation.

OPKS test for hormones in your urine. The closer to ovulation the more of this hormone you have.

Cervical mucus changes in the lead up to ovulation. It becomes more egg white and Stretchy in consistency. This is a good sign of ovulation. (Although it turned out I would get this for a few days finishing before I ovulated)

Your best bet is really to just do it till your eyes bleed tbh. Every other day from end of your period, every day when you suspect you are ovulating.

[BertieBotts]

Ovulation is only a few minutes I think? But you only need to know the rough 24-48h it happens in. The egg lives for 24h and is then discarded (beginning the process of your period roughly 2 weeks later) unless it's successfully fertilised, then it will try to implant.

You can get pregnant from sex up to 5-6 days before ovulation because the sperm can live in your fallopian tubes and be hanging out waiting for the egg but yes 2-3 days before is best for sperm quality.

If your egg gets fertilised it will try to implant around 6-10 days later. If it works you'll begin to double hCG levels and get a positive pregnancy test. If it doesn't implant or it wasn't fertilised you'll have a period.

You have about a 20%-25% chance of conceiving in any month even when timing was perfect, so it can take some time.

[katielondon0419]

Coming to this late and I know nobody has posted for a few months, but I know how many times I stumble across old posts like this when I'm googling!

We had been trying to conceive for six months - had tried a combination of every day around fertile window and every other day, but no luck.

On the seventh month we ended up bding twice on day 10 (once in the morning and once in the evening) just because hubby fancied it (and I was never going to say no in my fertile window!) but then werent able to again until after I ovuated (day 13) as hubby was ill. I was convinced we'd missed our chance that month and was upset for days.

However, that was the month we got our bfp! I have read somewhere that you might have a better chance bding twice in quick succession, as the second time the swimmers are younger and fresher. No idea if this is what happened with us