To ask if it took you a while to get pregnant, what helped?

[Egghatcher]

We’ve been trying for almost a year. Have tried SMEP, both take prenatal vitamins, have really cut down on our drinking and track ovulation. We’ve still had no luck. I have a teenager and got pregnant last year but sadly suffered a late miscarriage so I know I can get pregnant. It just doesn’t seem to be happening for us now.

Does anyone have any top tips? TTC is hard work and were not getting any younger. (We’re both late 30’s)

Thanks in advance.

Losing weight did it for me, and going away for a weekend where we both drank and ate too much.

I think in hour later 30s if you aren't willing to do IVF then unfortunately it's more of a case of time - statistically more like 2 years.

I'd swap your prenatal vitamins to Proceive Max for both you and your partner

Another vote for reflexology here. We had been TTC for over 2 years, had 6 weeks of reflexology and got pregnant. Been TTC No2 for 6 months now with no luck so I'm gonna book some more in the New Year to see if works 2nd time round.

I came off the pill last December, took until April for my periods to regulate, then months of no luck. In September we bought Ovusense, which is an internal ovulation tracker. Used in in September, then used these dates in October and got pregnant on the first go! I’m now 13 weeks.

Turns out that my ovulation sticks and app were both out by a few days, so I defo recommend Ovusense. It cost £90 total, which is a bargain I think for that BFP!

Losing weight definitely helps. I tried for years, IVF, everything. Then I resumed life, lost weight, thought about finding an egg donor and then I got pregnant naturally. I had a ovulation tracking machine where I weed on a stick every morning. On the successful month I had sex the night before supposed ovulation day and didn't get up just went to sleep. I also took royal jelly, vit D, CQ10 and vit c and I became pregnant. But I dont know if was just losing weight? Unfortunately I lost the first at 21 weeks due to an unknown medical condition but I have had 2 children since. Good luck!!

We tried for 14 months before getting pregnant. To be honest I was very stressed out and became obsessive with tracking and dtd on certain days and holding my legs up and everything like that. At 11 months we went to the gp and started getting tests and discussed what we would do if we didn't conceive naturally. I think that took the pressure off me a bit and I stopped tracking and inevitably fell pregnant. Probably a coincidence but I know my body doesn't respond very well to stress so could have been a factor. I think it will be different for everyone though. Dd2 was conceived second month of trying.

My partner isn’t the father of my teenager (but is of the baby which we lost last year). He is having his checks in a couple of weeks and then we will have a doctors appointment to discuss both of our results.

@ivfbeenbusy It’s not that I’m not willing to have IVF, we’re just not at that stage yet. At this point, I think we’d do anything at all if it meant we could have a baby.

I bought the book ‘it starts with an egg’ just before Christmas so will definitely be giving that a read. Thank you.

Again probably a coincidence but I had an internal scan (to check for problems) a few days before falling pregnant.

Fertility hypnotherapy. I’d been doing everything else, including all the stuff in ‘It starts with the egg’, supplements, acupuncture etc. Saw a lady who specialises in fertility hypnotherapy, and discovered that for some reason I had a deep seated belief it was going to be difficult to conceive. She helped me release that and voila! Pregnant next month at 40.

Losing weight definitely needs to be my focus now I think. My BMI is around 32 so I’m considered obese. I conceived last year after 1 month of trying and I was a similar weight but haven’t been so lucky this time.

I would book a (GP appointment to get your bloods tested). I had to go on levothyroxine (due to thyroid issues). If levels are too low this can result in taking longer to conceive and miscarriage is also more likely).

I would also get partner cutting down alcohol
avoiding baths showers which are too hot or wearing restrictive underpants.

Thank you for sharing your success stories too, it’s so hard when you start to lose hope.

I do feel like there’s a constant ticking in my ear as I approach 40 which I’m sure doesn’t help.

We had been trying for 18 months and I mentioned this to a friend. She told me after sex to lie on the bed with a pillow under my bum and my legs in the air for 10 minutes. It worked! I fell pregnant twice by doing this (although could have been a fluke)

Agnus castus
Evening primrose oil
Lost a bit of weight, if you're too thin try putting on a little bit

Go and get checked with your gp. Ovulation doesn't always happen every month as you get towards 40. There is a simple blood test they can do which checks if you are ovulating.

GP will see you after 6 months of trying and you can ask about help - doesn't always have to be ivf.

I saw a private gynae after a miscarriage and she prescribed letrozole which stimulates ovulation.

That has worked for me.

I think a year or so is really normal once you get to your late 30s. I read theres a 15% chance of conception per month at my age (35) so I guess that will just take time. Now its been a year you could have some tests to rule out any problems?

Oh yes its 6 months after 35 isnt it - defo get some tests through GP just to check things out. I'm sure it will happen for you soon tho.

ovulation tracker, acupuncture and we both took proxeed.
We'd been trying two years, and it was actually after starting the proxeed we feel pregnant. Unfortunately, the first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, but three months later I am pregnant again (using the above three to support) so fingers crossed for this time!

Wishing you the best of luck egghatcher. It can be such a hard journey x

Tried for 2 years. As cliche as this sounds, the one month we didn't 'try' it happened lol. Don't know if it's a coincidence or if it's because it's genuinely because I wasn't stressing over it!

I gave up trying.

I think it helped not getting to stressed about it all and losing abit of weight Xx

Defo work on BMI if that's high

Just remember, OP, if you're going to try acupuncture check that they have done fertility and pregnancy acupuncture before and are registered with the British Acupuncture Council or similar regulatory body.

Acupuncture, especially during pregnancy, needs to be done by someone who knows what they're doing.

But I agree, when it's done well it is amazing!

metformin and inositol. Turns out I had insulin resistance and had no idea (no usual PCOS symptoms) Got pregnant straight away both times when taking them