To ask how long it took you to conceive?

[SummerMeadows20]

Now I know the answers here are going to vary massively but if you didn’t have fertility issues, how long did it take you to conceive your first child?

I’m 33, DH says we should ‘get on with it soon’ as neither of us are getting any younger. Whilst I know that’s true, I still don’t feel ready. I still feel like I’d resent being pregnant and having a child, especially at the moment with all the Corona stuff going on.

But then I keep thinking, what if one, or both of us has fertility issues that we don’t know about and we end up having to try for years?!

Is there an average amount of time to conceive before it’s classed as a ‘problem?’

Are most people months or years?! The few friends of mine that have children didn’t seem to take long at all but I’m pretty sure that can’t be the norm?!

My stats are no use to you because we have fertility issues. But I did loads of research so maybe this helps.

On any given cycle if you have sex within the fertile window you have around a 20% chance of conception. So if you take 100 hypothetical couples who decide to try for a year and assuming they give it all their best shot.

20 couples (1 in 5) will get pregnant the first month.
In month two there are only 80 left so if 20% get pregnant that's a further 16.
Therefore, a total of 36/100 (more than 1 in 3) are pregnant by month two.
By month three, a further 12 get pregnant, for a total of 48/100 couples. Nearly half of couples will be pregnant by the third cycle, but still slightly more won't be than will.
By month 4, 58/100 - it's now more likely to have happened than not, but there is still quite a big group who haven't.
By month 5, 66/100 - two thirds will be pregnant by now.
By month 6, 73/100 - nearly two thirds.
Month 8 - 78/100
Month 9 - 82/100

It doesn't go up very fast after that, and you start to approach the point at which it levels out. The overall chances of conception resulting from one year unprotected shagging are about 85%. Bear in mind, this includes couples with infertility and also, most people don't have a run of perfect months especially after you pass the half year point. You will have months that one or both of you is ill, travelling, you are arguing, you're tired, stressed, you just miss the fertile window for one reason or another. So general advice is to try for twelve months. That gives plenty of time for nature and chance to do its thing, a couple of months off for those months it doesn't work out and an extra couple in case you're really just unlucky. But after that if you still haven't fallen pregnant, it's worth seeing your GP to see what they suggest. Taking a long time to conceive doesn't mean there's definitely something wrong, you might just be unlucky. But the longer it's taking, the more chance that something is blocking things and if there's a way around that, it can help. If either partner is over 35, the time to try is lowered and you can ask for investigations after six unsuccessful months trying.

6 months baby 1 (31 when I got pregnant) and first month TTC baby 2 (34 when fell pregnant).

Up to a year to conceive is considered normal (under 35) and generally how long your GP would expect you to have been trying for, before they will launch any fertility investigations (this drops to 6 months TTC if you are 35 or older).

I believe they say that taking up to a year is perfectly normal...I was determined to have my first dc before I turned 30 (I don't know why!) we said we wanted to have 2 children and we didn't want too big an age gap between them. It took 2 months to fall pregnant with DC1 (we were surprised as expected it to take longer!) he arrived in July and I turned 30 in the Nov. With DC2 I was 32 and it took 4 months.

Don't feel you have to rush into trying now, you should do it when both you and your DH feel ready.

Straight away, both times. I was 32 and 37.

12 months with DS1. I was 22 when we started ttc.

First time, one try (30yo). Second avd third pregnancies took several months each, ended as early MC. Fourth took 2 years (age 35yo)

Its hugely variable. I wouldn't want to me pregnant at the height of a pandemic, but it's a balance. No harm in waiting a few more months, but fertility really is on a downward trend from your mid 30s, just bear that in mind.

YABU

Why aren’t you asking people who have fertility issues? You might have them. You won’t know until you start trying. It could take you days or it could take you years. It’s pointless asking the question. What do you hope to deduce from it?

4 months for us. I was 22, my husband was 30

First child 11 months, second child accident (don't know how it happened!), third child 18months. You need to weigh up the risks, accept that the longer you wait the more you reduce the chance BUT that needs to be weighed up with not being ready. Having a child changes every single thing or at least it did for me. It's the hardest thing I've ever done but also the best.

First dc 8 months, second dc IVF after 2.5 years trying, still waiting for dc3 after 3 more years trying

I came off the pill, waited until I'd had one period and then found out I was pregnant the day I was supposed to start my next one. I was expecting it to take a while, but we were very lucky!

3 months and then 2 months.

Had been using condoms for years. DH and I decided since I was 36 and he 37 that we'd better crack on and it'd take us months to get pregnant due to our ages. Nope. Got pregnant the first month. Panicked a lot when I found out

First month of trying. I think it helped that we were both 28, ate a healthy diet, did regular exercise, I had my copper IUD removed a year prior so my body wasn’t effected by contraception and have only been on the pill for a cumulative year over my lifetime.
Also, massively lucky we had no underlying fertility issues.
I know plenty of younger people who have discovered a low or practically non-existent sperm count, scarring due to undetected chlamydia (really common) and PCOS without ovulation.

It’s such a lottery so I don’t think you can make your decision based on a random sample of women’s experiences on the internet!

I conceived straight away..in the first month of trying with both my DC...but I knew my fertile period. I was 29 and 31.

First month of trying, I thought it wouldn’t happen for months 😂 I was not on any hormonal contraception and DP took Wellman supplements beforehand. Me 30 and DP 45.

One thing to add is with some ppl I know, they're clueless about their cycle and fertile time..not knowing is just hit and miss.

If it took a year I would have seriously been panicking.

Came off the pill and got pregnant the next month. I was 29 at the time.

I was 32 when we stopped using contraception. No known fertility issues. Took me 8 years.

Wish I'd never opened this thread.
2.5 years trying for baby 1 and still haven't conceived I'm 31.

4 years and were both tested and confirned no physical issues.

80% of couples with no fertility problems will conceive within a year
90% of couples with no fertility problems will conceive within 2 years.
1 in 8 couples will have ivf.
1 in 6 of those having ivf, the issue will lay on the Male side

If you are worried about fertility can can pay privately for test. I would suggest a sperm analysis first if everything seems on with you (ovulate regularly, pretty standard cycles bleed etc)

3 years it took us 18 months of trying and 18 months of ivf treatment when we found out we are the 1 in 8 and the 1 in 6 when DH swimmers are lazy shits and not many of them!

I stopped taking the pill early 30's after being on it since mid teens.Doctor had advised it may take some time -periods returning/cycle getting back to normal etc but didnt even have a period in first 10 weeks of stopping pill so went see doc and she did a preg test & there it was-Jackpot-Preggers!! Had to go for a dating scan and was roughly8 weeks.To say i felt lucky is a massive understatement..Good luck conceiving OP.

I (well, we!) started trying When I was 28. After a about 3 years we had it investigated as we just didn’t conceive (it was unexplained) and I managed to become pregnant twice -with the help of clomid- but lost both pregnancies. We had successful IVF when I was 32 and we had another baby in 2010 (again with clomid).

It really is different for everyone - I’ve known people in their early 20s with fertility problems and also people in their 40s who have conceived no problem.

7 months of actively trying - using ovulation sticks etc aged 31