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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

What helped get you pregnant?

95 replies

Superstorefan123 · 26/12/2022 11:28

Hi all,

Ive been TTC my first for 8 months following an ectopic pregnancy with no luck. Just had another unsuccessful month and feeling really motivated going into the New Year.

I’d love anyone’s tips for what has helped in the past/what you are doing to help you get pregnant.

Currently doing the following;

  • taking pregnacare pre conception (any tips for better prenatal vitamins?)
  • taking optibac for women (doctor recommended)
  • have had a HSG/blood testing done and all looks normal
  • tracking ovulation and hitting my fertile window (I have PCOS and a slightly irregular cycle so this is essential for me)

My doctor has prescribed me clomid but I am holding off on taking it - not sure why but will start in a month or two if nothing works!

OP posts:
BanjoVio · 26/12/2022 11:33

I’m sure being relaxed about the whole thing helped us. Stress is the enemy of conception. We DTD every day because we wanted to and it was exciting, didn’t track any of the things that it’s possible to track because I knew I’d obsess over it and tadaa! Pregnant :)

1000yellowdaisies · 26/12/2022 11:35

After I had my last miscarriage the nurse in hospital told me to take baby aspirin. I did this and got pregnant with DD in 2015 and was a successful pregnancy.
Also after everytime DH and I had sex I would immediately lie with my legs up in the air against the headboard. I mean thats probably stupid of me but made me feel like I was doing something to help the process! But im adamant the aspirin helped (lost 2 babies prior to DD)

Original poster
Superstorefan123 · 26/12/2022 11:36

@BanjoVio Unfortunately I was super relaxed at the beginning but it didn’t work so now looking for more proactive things I can do, especially with the miscarriage and PCOS

OP posts:
minipie · 26/12/2022 11:37

Sorry about your ectopic.

For me it was going on thyroxine. Tests showed my TSH as “normal” but it was 4.5 which is the very upper limit of normal and for TTC under 2.5 is recommended. Luckily my GP had an interest in this area and was happy to start me on thyroxine even with a supposedly “normal” result. Got pg 6 weeks later.

You say all your bloods look normal (assume this includes thyroid) but it would be worth asking for the numbers and doing rsch yourself as borderline “normal” can be enough to prevent pg. Apologies if you have already!

I also used Pre Seed and OPKs oh and that thing where needles get stuck in you (forgot the name!) but am sure it was the thyroxine that did the trick.

minipie · 26/12/2022 11:38

I also have PCOS and believe low thyroid often goes with PCOS so definitely worth paying close attention to the thyroid results.

Confusedivf · 26/12/2022 11:38

@minipie o interesting, I have some pre seed but have been nervous to use it as have heard it can affect sperm! Might do some research

minipie · 26/12/2022 11:39

And anyone who says relax about it can do one. If I’d relaxed and not got tests I’d still be TTCing or have had multiple mcs by now

minipie · 26/12/2022 11:40

Confused really, I hadn’t read that but this was 10+ years ago. I don’t think we used it all the time tbh.

Confusedivf · 26/12/2022 11:41

@minipie thank you! Nothing more scream-worthy than ‘just relax’ or ‘go on holiday!’ Like there is any science to either of those haha!

CinderellaFant · 26/12/2022 11:42

Starflower oil tablets! I was trying for 6 months with no joy and read that these help with cervical mucus. There was a definite increase that month and I got my bfp.

ToBeOrNotToBee · 26/12/2022 11:43

Myoiniositol, 4g a day is meant to be really helpful for pcos

PennyPencils · 26/12/2022 11:44

We were TTC almost 2 years. I was 38 by the end of it.
DTD every other day in fertile window.
Took D and B vitamins plus folic acid and magnesium.
Tracked temp.
No alcohol, low sugar, loads of veg and whole foods.
Yoga daily.

Some of this is what I do anyway and no way to know what, if any of it contributed to our success in the end.

Perfect little DD is now two weeks old.

Good luck, hopefully you manage it soon. The wait is hard. I'll never forget it and always be grateful for my daughter.

anotherscroller · 26/12/2022 11:45

There needs to be a public information campaign to stop people saying “just try and relax!”
it’s so offensive and infuriating! And insensitive.

Original poster
Superstorefan123 · 26/12/2022 11:45

Thanks everyone for the tips! I’m going to look into it all now!

OP posts:
bravotango · 26/12/2022 11:50

I have a 5 week old after TTC for 19 cycles. Blood tests normal, reasonably regular cycles. Has your DP had a sperm analysis? My dhs was normal. The month we conceived the only different things I did were raising my legs up afterwards, and we DTD every other day from the day my period ended for about 18/20 days I think (before we'd tried to time it to hit my fertile window). The other things we always did were use conceive plus and I stayed in bed for 10/15 mins after.

bravotango · 26/12/2022 11:52

Oh also I didn't adjust my diet or take supplements or anything like that, but I will go against the grain here and say the month we conceived was the month I put down the OPKs and just DTD every other day instead of trying to track/time. Not quite "just relax" but a bit of pressure off! Best of luck x

minipie · 26/12/2022 12:17

OPKs are notoriously unreliable for women with PCOS iirc so an every other day approach may be worth a go.

ChloeN · 26/12/2022 12:22

I wasn’t ttc overly long but had a mmc so after that was desperate to concieve again. We dtd every other day of fertile window instead of everyday, and I’d just started taking COQ10 and dha as well as my normal folic acid and vitamin d, no idea if they did anything at all as hadn’t taken them long but I’d heard really good things about them so thought it was worth a try!

RuthW · 26/12/2022 12:33

I stopped trying. Agreed to have three months off. I fell pregnant within weeks. We had already had failed fertility treatment.

Exasperatednow · 26/12/2022 12:35

Went on holiday with really boring and entitled people.

IwishIwasSupermum · 26/12/2022 12:42

Not sure this will help as you have already proved you can achieve pregnancy but I became pregnant with DC2 after visiting a chiropractor, had back trouble, diagnosis was an out of alignment pelvis, had a couple of sessions then had back pain of a different nature, chiropractor suggested I could be pregnant and to get a test on the way home which was positive.
DC1 took 6 years and was a successful IVF (2nd go). DC have 4 year gap and contraception was not being used. We had resigned ourselves to one child so maybe we weren’t ‘stressed’ but also seems odd that I achieved pregnancy after chiro treatment. Maybe my pelvis being out of alignment meant the little swimmers couldn’t get to where they were meant to be.

TheBirdintheCave · 26/12/2022 13:03

I used the Ferti-lily. Seven cycles of nothing following a MMC in April and we have male factor fertility issues (motility). In November I bought and used the Ferti-lily for the first time and boom, I was pregnant. No idea if it'll still this time or not.

Also, I totally agree that anyone suggesting that people should 'just relax' need a good shake. No amount of relaxing could have improved my husband's sperm quality.

Lemonade1990 · 27/12/2022 07:34

Just got pregnant on 7th cycle. Had sex every other day instead of everyday- was sure I missed ovulation day. didn’t put any pressure on it- carried on as normal didn’t early test. Didn’t obsess- pregnant. The same happened with my 1st pregnancy too- got pregnant the month we took a ‘break’. I think I must be (along with others) very sensitive to stress so I’m sorry but I honestly think there’s something to the whole ‘relax and it will happen’ as patronising and infuriating as it sounds!!

Reilop · 27/12/2022 07:51

Acupuncture
The best preconception vitamins I could find (Nua fertility)
No caffeine
No alcohol
Baby aspirin 75mg every day
No excessive exercise (just walking or swimming)
Make sure vitamin D level are high, add extra on top of conception vitamins
I take methylfolate instead of folic acid as I have MTHFR gene - it's a common mutation, worth reading up on

I'm 35 and got pregnant first time after four months on above regime. (This was after a loss)

Reilop · 27/12/2022 07:52

I forgot to mention coQ10 and omega 3! I took those too to help egg quality!

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