Tell me all your helpful tips?

[octobersky19]

Hi everyone,

I want to conceive naturally, I need all the help and advice I can get!!

Before I start I'll just give you a bit of background:

Me: 27, reproductively healthy, good weight etc.

DH: 35, low sperm count and poor motility

We conceived our DS via IVF (2nd round)

8 months after he was born I fell pregnant naturally (massive shock to the system) unfortunately I miscarried on the 28th June at what should've been 8 weeks pregnant.

Now we know it's possible to conceive naturally, I'd like to try again. I can't fave IVF again and would like to avoid it if possible. I had some negative reactions to the treatment and the whole process was emotionally exhausting for me (albeit, worth it and gave me the best thing that's ever happened to me)

I'm taking seven seas conception vitamins and eating healthy, no drinking. I ovulate, I ovulated on 22nd July and we DTD

DH is having changes such as increased body hair, super increase in libido, spotty skin and increase in appetite so he thinks he's had a random increase in testosterone? (If that's possible)

Any advice on how to maximise our chances even more so? I was so happy to see a positive test naturally, so after our miscarriage I just really want to TTC with the excitement of knowing it's possible and hoping it wasn't just a one off

also, I know I am lucky to have a beautiful DS so I hope this post doesn't come across as insensitive

Hi @octobersky19 I'm so sorry to hear about your MC, that must have been very hard.

I am definitely not very experienced in this field but I didn't want to read and run. My one tip would be to relax. A lot of the time when people seem to get lucky and conceive it is after they have been trying really intensely for some time and almost given up, or when its not the most convenient time I think if you can both try to keep it light and enjoyable, that will help a lot!

Wishing you so much luck!

What's your OH doing to improve things on his side as best he can? Diet, alcohol, smoking, caffeine etc. Keeping his testicles cool, taking supplements like ubiquinol, omega 3, eating nuts and so on? I'd be focusing on him tbh if he was the limiting factor first time round!

@Juno231 he takes all his supplements, has done for four years.

He's stopped running (Avid runner) he feels this has helped things a lot.

He's already eating really well

Looks after his testicles, as in keeping them cool etc (has done this since we had ivf)

We both don't drink or smoke

We can't pinpoint why we conceived naturally out of the blue, only thing he does different is take iron supplements.

His issue stems from varioceles on his testes

I highly recommend the Sperm Meets Egg Plan (SMEP) - spermmeetseggplan.com/

My first child was a surprise. But my second 2 children were conceived within 2 cycles using this method. Definitely worth a go, you'll need some cheap OPKs off Amazon too. I always used these - www.amazon.co.uk/One-Highly-Sensitive-Ovulation-Fertility/dp/B006J6MO12/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=opk+one+step&qid=1595481662&sr=8-4

Good luck!

@Nic165 thank you!!! I'll order these OPKs as I'm using clear blue and they're so expensive!!

We had some similar issues when ttc OP, it took over 3 years to conceive DS who is now 3 weeks old. I have an underactive thyroid and DH’s sperm have borderline morphology so we faced some challenges! We were in the process of being referred for IVF when I fell pregnant naturally, but I had 2 mc around the 11-12 week stage before DS managed to hang in there. All very hard but so worth it.
We also used the one step OPKs as linked above, my best advice is to test with those from around day 7 of your cycle and then start dtd every other day as soon as you even get a hint of a second line, to be absolutely sure you don’t miss ovulation. I also used the Ovia app to track my cycles which was really helpful.

Thank you! I've just downloaded the Ovia app, seems great already