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Conception

When's the best time to get pregnant? Use our interactive ovulation calculator to work out when you're most fertile and most likely to conceive.

Original poster

prediction of ovulation vs just regular sex

55 replies

wannaBe1974 · 31/03/2006 12:51

Since I’ve been on here I’ve noticed several threads with people who are all temp charting, or using persona, or isis scope, or some other method to predict their fertile times. Having looked at these threads and the threads where people don’t use any means of predicting their fertile times but just have sex at regular times to ensure that they are “caught” at their fertile time, it seems to me that by using these means, people don’t appear to get pg any quicker than the ones who use no means of prediction. So is it really useful to predict when you’re ovulating? Or is it just a means for persona, clearblue etc to make more money?

OP posts:
3catstoo · 04/04/2006 16:13

My typing is awful I know.

Piffle · 04/04/2006 16:45

Well ok then lets see this month - we just bd'd all the bloody time, do was working from home as dd was so ill...
That damned egg would have had several hundred million sperm dying to meet her.

Ha!

fresco · 05/04/2006 04:36

wannabe - i like what you said.society/people have changed!

eldestgirl · 05/04/2006 05:56

Our mothers were probably much younger when they TTC.
I conceived the first two without a hitch, and pray that I haven't made anyone feel bad, because I am sick of people asking me "Do you want to have another one?" and if I do say, yes, but it's not happening, being regaled with the usual "Oh I never had any problems, two shags and two pregnancies..." NOT very helpful.
Like many others, I started ttc by just listening to my body, and after 6 months, started using Persona to see if I could get a better guide. It showed that I don't ovulate very regularly. So I have gone from the ttc threads, to Persona, and now the Clomid gang.
BUT it's true that without Persona, I could have conceived during a month when I did ovulate, and knowing "when" hasn't worked yet. I suppose at 36, a woman likes to feel she is doing something actively to get pg. Reduces the rising panic slightly!

Piffle · 05/04/2006 10:21

eldest same as me, 1st 2 babes were so easy to conceive - I'm just hitting the need to know exactly what my cycle is doing - have fertility clinic appt in July, but in the few months I am going to closely monitor so I can best choose what is right for me...

BelleFleur · 05/04/2006 11:24

Hello. I tried to get pregnant with ds for about 12 months after dd was born; it did not work. Within 2 months of using clearblue ovulation testers, I became pregnant. Will use them again to get 3rd baby. To minimise costs, it is useful to have some idea of the week where you might be ovulating, so that you test during that time.

BelleFleur · 05/04/2006 11:32

By the way, we bought 2 different saliva monitors, and they are useless.

Gemmitygem · 05/04/2006 11:39

I think you can tell from your body, without buying stuff (if everything is as it should be and you don't have medical problems or irregular ovulation).

Just do it every day for 5 days starting about 10 days after day 1 of your last period. I think that as a general preparation for preg it's quite useful to get in tune with your body, and if you watch for a couple of months you get to feel the signs of ovulation approaching (more sexy, feel a bit swollen (sorry), lots of CM (sorry again).

My only other tip, which my Mum told me, and seems to have worked because we conceived in the first month of trying, despite only doing it once on days 9 and 10, is the good old hips up in the air afterwards for 20 minutes. Dh thought I was mad, but it worked!

Wish you lots of babydust!

coggy · 05/04/2006 11:48

Gemmitygem - this would not (and did not) work for us.
We tried the 10 days or so after etc. etc. and then after well over 5 years found out that I ov. around day 18 or 19!!
No experts told me any different, no-one suggested it maybe later - I only found out because of opk - hurrah for them I say!!! :)

curlygirl · 05/04/2006 12:02

I stuggled to concieve for two years then concieved using ovulation predictor test, I am now expecting baby number two from the same method. I just think we weren't doing it enough to catcha t the right time. With the ov predictor I concieved 4 times (I had 2 misc)all within a few months of using the tests.

Original poster
wannaBe1974 · 05/04/2006 12:15

Bellfleurr it's interesting that you got pg when starting to use clearblue, but did you have sex on different days than you did for the preceeding 12 months? It's possible you could have become pg anyway? I guess that unless you change your habbits drastically because of purchasing opks, no one will ever really know.

I'm afraid I've recently also heard that saliva monitors aren't very accurate as they are so sensitive to various other things as well. I did actually buy an isisscope but it's still sat in the box after I decided not to use it. And don't think the isisscope thread has had a bfp yet which isn't good advertising for them imo.

OP posts:
blueshoes · 05/04/2006 13:04

wanneBe1974, my first attempt at ttc, I read up obsessively, used every trick in the book (temping, grapefruitjuice, eggwhites, monitoring cm, cough mixture, legs up, evening primrose oil). But somehow, not opks, because they sounded expensive and a bit of a rip-off. I conceived on the cycle I thought was least likely - temps off due to cold, bd at the wrong times.

Second attempt at ttc, I got pregnant at the first go (before I even had time to take folic acid). Third attempt at ttc, gave up on doing all those things beyond monitoring cm and sex every other day during fertile period, conceived within same timeframe as first time, without the stress.

Not sure if that helps, but to me, conception is pure chance, so long as you are bd-ing 10 days around your estimated fertile time.

jabberwocky · 05/04/2006 13:16

We are currently ttc. I never thought I would use an ovulation predictor, but if we are not successful this month, I probably will do so. My reasons:

  1. at 41 time is definitely not on my side
  2. with a 2.7 year old it can be difficult to just cross our fingers and bd like rabbits for a week
  3. I've always in the past felt like I knew my body well enough to tell when I ovulated but at my age I don't have as much cm as I used to and some months it is more difficult. For instance, this past month I am really not sure if I ovulated or not which has significantly increased the stress of the whole ttc issue.
Piffle · 05/04/2006 13:24

GemmityGems (btw congrats on your pregnancy hope the sickness is ok now :)) would not work for me either as I have little fertile CM -( going to use pre seed next month) and ovulate on cd 18. I also have a variable luteal phase, all of this stuff I only know from charting.

Piffle · 05/04/2006 13:25

wannabe! the isis thread only started on 7th March!!!!!!!! Give us a bloody chance to have one or two cycles first eh before panning it!

Hopecat · 05/04/2006 16:44

What is preseed? Is it like KY?

I read somewhere that KY can kill sperm, although I was suspicious as it was on website advertising a much more expensive lubricant that claimed to aid conception.

I was interested, as I'm a generally dry person - hair, skin: you name it - and have never had much CM (TMI? Sorry).

I mentioned it to my GP, and she said there is no reason to suppose that KY kills sperm as it's just water-based, and that in her opinion it was a bit of a rip-off. Anyone had any success with this stuff?

(This still counts as 'conception aids: rip-off or god-send' doesn't it?)

Piffle · 05/04/2006 16:47

look up pre seed on google - it is sperm friendly lube, that aids the sperm to survive for longer. I know a few people on here have had some success with it. 6 tubes cost about £12 off Ebay or Access Diagnostics or from ovusoft.co.uk
Hopefully I'll be the next one!

Angsthase · 05/04/2006 18:29

I'd been ttc for 18 months. My dh works away, so "doing it" at the right time was v. important. However, the ovul kits I spent a fortune on didn't work for me (even though tests showed me to be 28 day normal cycle). Never showed once that I was ovulating. We reverted to every 48hrs from around day 10 to day 24 (if dh was around).
I found it really hard not to obsess even though I wanted to be "que sera sera" about the whole thing, still found myself obsessing about it especially as I approached 39.
In the end I became pg on holiday, when I was v. relaxed. I think that's the biggest factor - relaxing by being distracted! Having a great time and great sex and not just thinking about ttc.
I recommend doing something every now and then to take your mind off it and then hopefully it'll happen without any planning! Good luck Smile

Piffle · 05/04/2006 21:34

WE're off to the USA for 10 days on the 19 April
So you never know!

coggy · 05/04/2006 23:13

Hurrah - maybe this is the answer... we are off to Germany over Easter.
Perhaps all this holidaying will mean bfps for us eh piffle?!
Let's hope so!! :o

Hopecat · 05/04/2006 23:19

Af just arrived for me today. This means I should be ovulating when we’re on holiday in Devon. Maybe this time eh…

coggy · 05/04/2006 23:38

Hurrah for all of us who are hoping for bfp's whilst on Easter hols!!

I am going on holiday AWAY from Devon!!
Where are you coming down to Hopecat?

Blush (Sorry, just nosey really!)

BelleFleur · 06/04/2006 00:35

Hi. Dear wannaBe1974, we tried to do it from day 10 until day 18 every other day and even that did not work. I did have irregular cycles though; sometimes 20 days sometimes 35 days! Dear Hopecat, we tried preseed; I had a miscarriage afterwards; I am sure we conceived that day but the preseed must have prevented implantation of the egg. Would NEVER USE IT AGAIN.

skerriesmum · 06/04/2006 04:14

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
wannaBe1974 · 06/04/2006 08:12

There's another marketing opportunity there! there is! there is! :O

Conception Holidays! "need to conceive? Why not do so in a relaxed, stress free environment. Leave the pressures of work and home life behind, and choose one of these fabulous locations from our brochure. If interested, call now on 0800 conception." lol.

OP posts:
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