Preconception planning - anyone want to join?

@sunflowersaremyfav93

“The luteal phase is one stage of your menstrual cycle. It occurs after ovulation (when your ovaries release an egg) and before your period starts. During this time, the lining of your uterus normally gets thicker to prepare for a possible pregnancy.”

So for me my cm would suggest I ovulate late in my cycle and then my af comes quite soon after. So benefit to longer is higher chance of implantation :)

I’m going to give opks ago this cycle too just to try and see if my ovulation prediction is right!

@butterfly5291 Oo I didn’t know about the pineapple :) good luck for the test :) Keeping everything crossed for you :)

@sa222 I think there are certain foods you can eat which are good and cutting down on caffeine :) try not to panic not long to wait now and your wedding will be wonderful I’m sure :)

Xxx

@sa222 when are you due to get married? I'm meant to be getting married at the end of December but decided to just start trying now as it might take months anyway and didn't know what the wedding situation would end up being.
You could get him some well man vitamins for reproduction, the zinc and selenium are good for sperm.

@butterfly5291 @mackjm20 hello! Thank you for the welcome :) I did not know what temping ovulation is, but have looked it up. The reason for waiting is that I am not yet married, but want to plan ahead to be able to start right away. I already feel old and wish I had been sensible a few years ago about this, instead of felling so panicked! Thank you for the book suggestion, I have just ordered it! I have noticed that my usual multivitamin has 100% serving of folate, so I will order folic acid drops, I think, separately. I assume there is no specific way to take these? Full disclaimer, I am very new to this and am already learning lots, But have no idea what most of the terminology means! A question though: my partner is 42. Aside from getting checked for sperm count, should I be getting him to do anything else to prep? Thank you!

@mackjm20 well I pretty much started tracking using bbt and OPKs as soon as I got my coil out 4th July. I did eat pineapple this month, including the core which is meant to help with implantation. Might do a test on Wed/Thurs.

@sunflowersaremyfav93 luteal phase is after ovulation and before period. If your luteal phase is too short then could cause issue with implantation, because this doesn't normally happen till 8-10 days post ovulation. Glad you've had a lovely weekend

@butterfly5291 so exciting that you are actually ttc now have you done anything different since starting :)? X

@sa222 Welcome! I'm 33 and in my 2nd month of TTC. You absolutely need to start taking folic acid and vitamin D but lots of other options too. A lot of us have read impatient women's guide to conceiving. Lots of info in there about vitamins and diet etc.
Is there a reason you're waiting for a few months?
If you've not been on hormonal contraception, I would start tracking your cycle straight away so you have a good idea of when you ovulate and length of luteal phase. That will give you a good starting point.

@TheNewMrsW yea I feel like ntnp will be no stress! Crazy though to think that’s actually potentially going to be happening 🥰

@queenatom it’s so nice isn’t it :) that’s a good idea re the caffeine etc. I haven’t been actually using opks yet but based on cm I think mine is quite short too so please let me know how it goes :)

@sa222 welcome :) think a lot on here are using folic acid and vitamin d :) also a range of ages :)

Are there other women on here in their mid-30s? (Please say yes or I might cry!) :D

@queenatom thank you! I have never been on contraception of any sort. Thankfully, no medical conditions either (had a low vitamin D count last year). Should I be combining coq10 with a prenatal? Is there anything else I should be taking? I was going to go for the MyKind Pre Natal Gummies (since I cannot swallow pills).

Morning, ladies! Love catching up on this thread - as @mackjm20 says it’s like a little family 😊

Welcome @sa222! I think where you’re at is a great time to take pre-natal vitamins. Are you on hormonal contraception?

Decided I want to try and do something to see if I can improve my luteal phase length so am going to start supplementing with higher dose vitamin C and a B vitamin complex to see if that helps. Also going to be a lot more aggressive about cutting out booze and caffeine post-ovulation.

Hello,

I would like to join too, please! I am 34 and want to start trying in the coming 3 months- any tips on how to maximise conception chances right away? Should I start taking pre-natal vits? I am really anxious about my age and wanting a baby right away! Any advice would be appreciated and congratulations to all who are expecting :)

@Pebbleinthesand at least Covid has some silver linings then, I think it’s made a lot of people reevaluate their lives and priorities! Fingers crossed you get a sibling for DD quickly once you ttc 😊

@mackjm20 ntnp sounds like a good compromise for a couple of months! 👍

@Pebbleinthesand also how funny that they suddenly have opinions NOW (if there was an eye roll emoji I would use it) hopefully once you have had your surgery it means he will be ready

@Pebbleinthesand Omgosh it’s crazy isn’t it! I think DH has got it in his head now what I’ve been saying about it probably taking a while and is like all over getting started. So I’m just going with it ntnp until nov and then if nothing start actually ttc in nov when work has settled :)

@mackjm20 I know what you mean with DP being ready all of a sudden. Now that we've held of DH has said he understands that I want to get my eyes done and he's happy to support me in that but he really wants another baby and is impatient to start trying. After months of me going back and forth about what to do and him saying it's up to you when/if we have another, he now suddenly has an opinion on it when I've pushed it back.

@TheNewMrsW you're definitely right about covid putting things into perspective. Not being able to see her friends and cousins make we realise how wonderful our DD would be as a big sister and how much I want another child, not just a baby (if that makes sense).

We're going to this cute fairy trail at a nearby village tomorrow which DD will love but tbh I think she's more excited about the fact that we get to go on a bus 😂

@TheNewMrsW I know it’s so hard isn’t it. DH is adamant he doesn’t want to tell anyone until 2nd trimester but I am such a bad lier so think we will have to have a very low key social life to avoid any questions lol! Xx

@sunflowersaremyfav93 after watching it my DH wanted to put Connell on our baby name list and I was like yeah love the name but I bet there are a million lockdown babies with the name Connell this year and next 😂

@mackjm20 you could def do those things whilst ttc! As you say chances are you won’t catch first cycle anyway so it’s just giving yourself a head start 😊 I think Stoptober is a good excuse 👍 I was saying to DH last night if and when I fall preg I reckon we will have to tell our parents quite early on cos we see them quite regularly and if I don’t even have one glass they will be on to us anyway unless I have a good excuse like dry January 😂

@sunflowersaremyfav93 yes I think they do say not to drink in the tww my plan will be to keep faking antibiotics and early work starts once ttc lol! That or I considered the other day a sponsored ‘no alcohol’ like stoptober!

@TheNewMrsW jump on it HAHA I’m actually laughing out loud! All the reasons were basically linked with how busy I am ally work so feeing stressed etc. Get the last bit of debt cleared and lose a few more lb all of which I can do whilst ttc I guess. Eek very torn but strong chance even if we started ttc now we wouldn’t get a bfp until November onwards anyway :)

Not sure how I would hide a 10 day staycation without drinking If by miracle we did get a bfp first cycle Guess I would have to claim antibiotics lol!

Oh and also - I def wouldn’t hold off on anything due to other people’s wedding plans, the way things are going I’m very doubtful it will all be back to normal by next year at this rate. After the experience of having to call off our own big wedding then in hindsight I wish we hadn’t put anything off because of it, and that was our own wedding, let alone someone else’s! Covid sure put everything in perspective.

@sunflowersaremyfav93 what kind of books do you like? I could recommend loads probably but depends what you fancy. I was obsessed with Normal People on the telly during lockdown, have bought the book and another by the same author but not quite got round to them yet.