If you could give your pre-TTC past self advice, what would it be?

[StellaDelMare]

Hi everyone, it's my first post here. I'm lurking around at the minute as I am a good few months away from coming off my pill.

Myself and DH are looking to stop the pill in July. I will be 27 and he will be 32, both our first baby.

As it's a good half a year away, if you could give your pre-TTC/ TTC self a piece of advice or a tip, what would it be?

If you're hoping to conceive as soon as possible from July onwards I would stop any hormone contraception you're using now and put up with the inconvenience of condoms for 6 months! It can take a while for cycles to settle down, far longer than I'd anticipated, so if you want to be ready to 'go'(!) it might be a good idea to stop a bit in advance. Good luck!

I completely agree I had my rod implant removed in the first week in October because that's when we were ready to go go go! My period didn't arrive until 7 weeks later my last cycle was 34 days long this is my second cycle and I'm only 9 days in and my body is all over the place I strongly advise coming off any contraceptive in the next month or so and track your cycles and ovulation to get to know them a bit better as ttc is so much harder than you think me and dh are both 20 and thought we are young it'll happen quick it's now been 3 months and we're still ttc baby #1!

I agree too. I came off last February and it took about 7 months for my periods to become regular.

I did the following (pregnant first try at 27 but I'm obviously aware it could've just been luck!):
-used condoms for a month after coming off pill to give my body the chance to get back to normal and have a 'proper period'
-pregnacare ttc
-gave up drinking and ate healthily, exercised regularly etc
-tracked periods using an app but tried not to get obsessed and just had regular sex without getting fixated on 'the fertile window'
-Laid down flat after sex for a bit
Good luck

Before we TTC I had planned to the month we would begin, with the thought that we would have a baby in September. It's been over a year TTC now so I would tell my former self not to expect to be able to plan so tightly!

Of course it's different for everyone though and a lot of my friends and family have been able to plan it to the month.

I tried to for 10 months without success. I was using ovulation sticks and an app. I was doing the deed between day 8 and 14 of cycle every other day.

After moaning to my best friend who had gone on and on about not having enough sex I finally gave in and told husband we were having sex every night.

We did, I fell pregnant that month. Had an early scan, turns out i had ovulated 4 days earlier (even though id used OPK's).

My advice- have sex every other day from the first day after period to day 16.