How many cycles did it take for you to conceive?

[FlyOnTheWall89]

There seems to be so many people who become pregnant in the first 3 months of trying.... or it takes much longer. Intrigued by actual statistics from you ladies on here.

How many cycles did it take you?

(I am trying for baby number 1 and moving into the 8th cycle of TTC)

Wow. That's... depressing

I'm cycle 3 TTC and according to those statistics it's not looking good

DC #1 took 2 cycles
Recently found out we are expecting DC #2 and it took 6 cycles. I have had irregular periods and a couple of months of no ovulation since af came back this Spring. I do feel very lucky and was prepared for things to take longer.

@ElleFreddie It is... but it is also a very very small scale sample. I am cycle 8!!!! I had just noticed so many people mention that it either seems to happen quite quickly or take a while....! Lets change those stats this month (gulp) .... trying to be positive. x

Three pregnancies, all of them after the first cycle so I appreciate I was super lucky. I was in my 20s with the first and 40 with the last.

26 months and counting ☹

I have suspected endometriosis so waiting for a laparoscopy to investigate.

Good luck.

I got pregnant on the first try. We had no idea what we were doing , had no idea when I ovulated etc and obviously just got extremely lucky

@FlyOnTheWall89 Agreed! Positive vibes and buckets of baby dust all over the place.

But also, let's hear from more of you 2 - 9 cycle BFP's to keep our spirits up please 😅

It takes time, it's not the same for everyone. For me, 7 cycles for DS, and for the 2nd one after more than 2 years of trying we're doing our 2nd IVF cycle on Jan.

6 to get DD, had a chemical cycle 3 and an early loss at cycle 5

Hope it's not too much longer for you

@flyonthewall89 @ellefreddie I always found the same whenever I looked on here when TTC#1! That's why I'm always posting about DD taking 10 cycles/13 months - all I ever saw was 'first cycle' or '2+ years followed by IVF'. We are out there, I promise

@FlyOnTheWall89, @ElleFreddie, @Dollywilde - same for my 10 cycles for DD.

I would say that if it's been 6 months, it's worth getting some tests done (sperm analysis, thyroid check, do some OPKs to check ovulation seems to be going ok and you're having sex at the right time) simply because there might be something to investigate or a minor fix that can boost your chances, or at least give you something to explain why it might take a bit longer than others.

But ultimately, bodies are weird and nowhere is that more apparent than when trying to have a baby. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[quote FlyOnTheWall89]@ElleFreddie It is... but it is also a very very small scale sample. I am cycle 8!!!! I had just noticed so many people mention that it either seems to happen quite quickly or take a while....! Lets change those stats this month (gulp) .... trying to be positive. x[/quote]
It's consistent with actual statistics though - I think I mentioned on the first page that the first cycle is by far the most common to conceive in.

First 'proper' cycle since removing the implant as I waited for my first period.

I did temp tracking via an app which gave suspected days of ovulation, although turns out it was out by a week anyway! Only had sex a couple of times as well, DH was bitterly disappointed with that!

@Shortmamashortcycles yes I am starting checks now. Tomorrow I have bloods taken. I started using OPKs a few months ago but we have very regular sex throughout my cycle so timing shouldn’t be the issue - annoying really because they do say it is often a timing issue but that can’t be the case for us. The problem with OPKs is they don’t actually confirm ovulation… they just confirm presence of the hormone so a blocked tube for instance would still mean I am getting positive OPKs but the egg never arrives. I’ve been reading quite a bit about Soy Isoflavones but hesitant to start meddling too much without medical advice. X

@Juno231 seemingly so! Which is depressing and ….. so unfair. The whole journey is so unfair and so different and individual.

30 cycles for me, no reason for why it took that long, IVF failed cycle and we conceived naturally 2 cycles after that.

Most people I know conceived in the first 6 months x

I’m on month 19. I already have a DS and DTwins: I suspect my age (37) isn’t in my favour this time.

1st child, 1st cycle

2nd child (new partner) 24 cycles
3rd child 1st cycle after having 2nd child...didn't think we could have any as partner had MFI

This time...well DH has had the snip so looking into IVF

First time round, 4 cycles. Ended in MMC, then immediately got pregnant again with DS1.

This time, 3 cycles. Another miscarriage, then pregnant on 3rd time afterwards and now 22 weeks with DS2. But my cycles are really long (I apparently ovulated on CD 31 for this pregnancy!), so both times it'll have been about 18 months from starting to try to baby being born.

@FlyOnTheWall89, good luck with the tests! I really hope you get answers that lead to a healthy pregnancy. In my view, knowledge is power and pushing for more knowledge is worthwhile. Is your partner getting checked too?

And yes, the whole thing is astonishingly unfair. You are allowed to be pissed off and frustrated and depressed and sad. TTC is a real mindfuck when you aren't one of the lucky ones, especially when you're turning your life upside down to try to get pregnant.

A study in the BMJ (link) found:

• 30% first time trying;
• 75% within 6 months;
• 90% within a year;
• 95% within two years

So yes, 'conception is most likely to occur in the first month' but that doesn't mean that a majority of people conceive in the first month.

Also age obv affects this: "For women aged 35-39 years the chance of conceiving spontaneously is about half that of women aged 19-26 years."

You'll find people that conceived quickly or slowly are more likely to respond, hence why there isn't anyone in the middle!

I'm lucky to have conceived really quickly.

Pregnancy 1: second cycle
Pregnancy 2: second cycle
Pregnancy 3: first cycle (only DTD once).

Baby number 1 took ten cycles
Baby number 2 first cycle
Baby number three took 12 cycles

Just to think about the study a bit more, it would mean, if 100 women were trying to get pregnant, the number of women getting pregnant over two years would be for example:

Month 1: 30
Month 2: 14
Month 3: 12
Month 4: 10
Month 5: 5
Month 6: 4
Month 7: 3
Month 8: 2
Month 9: 3
Month 10: 2
Month 11: 2
Month 12: 3
Months 13-24: 5

There would be 5 women who did not conceive naturally after 24 months.

Also, of the above pregnancies, sadly 25 would end in miscarriage.

That's a really interesting breakdown, @cunningplan101, I think I'd seen those numbers before but they're always surprising.

One point to consider I guess is that 'Month 1' stats also include those who became pregnant accidentally/without trying, which I imagine is a not insignificant amount. So the stats for those who are actually TTC are probably going to be a bit more evenly spread over the early months (given that if it's an accidental pregnancy it's only going to show up in Month 1, whereas intentional pregnancies are spread across all the months).