TTC novice!

[nickytwotimes]

ds1 was a happy accident. he is now 1 and we would like to have no.2. i really am ill informed about when it is best to try to concieve, what we should be doing to increase our chances, etc. can you offer me any tips or links to good info?
thank you!

No advice but will be watching as I'm ttc no2 after our little surprise dd

with any luck, we'll be on the pregnancy boards soon!

14 days before your period is due is the average time you will be ovulating.

Would say that you both make love when you both feel like it. Two or three times a week throughout your cycle is fine.

Rigourously timing intercourse is a mistake. Do not do this.

It is not correct to assume that women ovulate 14 days before the start of their next period. Women can ovulate earlier, later or not at all in ANY given cycle. The 14 day thing is just an average and a bad one at that; only 12% of all women have a 28 day cycle. Even normally fertile women have the occasional anovulatory cycle.

Lay off doing temp charts and such like; these measures can cause more stress over time. Also such measures can be unreliable at best.

Keep an eye on your cycles; if they start to lengthen or become very painful do visit the GP sooner rather than later.

If time is on your side still then I wouldn't worry about details and just go with the flow and it will happen.

Sometimes I think that the saying "ignorance is bliss" is the best when TTC because now I know too much info and start to think "maybe this is wrong with me" you know?!

I would say that if you haven't fallen after say 6-12 months of trying, then, yes maybe it's time to start thinking of charting your body signs to see if there's a problem. Until then, don't bother as it seems to stress a lot of women out going by some of the stuff I've read.

Personally, it doesn't stress me out - I like doing the charting business, it's become second nature to me and I don't get upset when my period comes as I am the eternal optimist, but not everybody can stand the stress of taking temperatures and worrying about different waking up times and temps and ovulation predictor kits and all that stuff. Depends on your nature.

And anyway, I have to do it because I need to know when to get blood tests done on certain days of my cycle.

So eat well, exercise regularly and have sex when you feel horny and enjoy it - that's how it happened for you first time round

Also - forgot to say - if your cycles/periods are regular then you're more than likely ovulating fine and it's just a matter of PATIENCE

Of course, if you're in a rush (and when women are TTC THEY WANT IT NOW!) then you might like to check out Fertility Friend.com or any of the TTC websites that will give you the low down on what signs to look for to show you when you're ovulating as this is what it all boils down to - having sex at the right time - and there is only a 5 day window every cycle.

A lot of people just have sex regularly throughout their cycle - say every 2/3 days -because generally that's how long sperm lasts (in fertile cervical mucus) and you need sperm waiting ready inside you for when the eggy pops.