What's the most unexpected advice or tip that has helped you during your trying to conceive journey?

[KentishDreamer30]

Hi all, I'm 29 and have been trying to conceive for a year now. It's been an emotional journey, filled with hope and anticipation and I've spent many hours dreaming of baby names. I'm curious to know, what's the most unexpected piece of advice or unique tip you've received during your TTC journey? I'm sure your stories would provide some comfort and possibly new strategies for me and others in a similar boat.

Sounds like the weight thing isn't relevant to you but hopefully it's just a chance thing

One of my friends was telling me that she worked out her fertile window was less than 12h (based on tracking ovulation etc) so she started DTD in the daytime as well as nighttime on her fertile day. I mean I have no idea how most ppl could achieve that unless it happened to be a weekend lol but could be worth a try too

By chance thing I meant luck! Typing too quickly and not making sense lol

It's not really advice I've been told, but I do think a lot of it is down to chance/luck, and giving it time to therefore increase your chances. Thinking this has helped me feel less pressure, and know that there's only so much I/we can do. The points around being a healthy weight etc are valid, and generally being healthy and active as well.

Also Google the sperm meets egg plan. it's a free download able guide on amazon. I tried that too. basically a pattern of when to have sex

@bedtimestories oh fk off with your bullsht

@NewNormalLife what was it about you BBT chart that helped you know you were pregnant even before a test?

I'm tracking bbt!

Soft cup 😊

Use pre seed. We were 'infertile' but this hot me pregnant 3 X

@miniworry eek I'd have to read up on it again now. something like you temperature dips after ovulation then goes high and stays high if you're pregnant. it drops back down if you're not.

Good luck. it really helped me track when my fertile days were

Old sperm hanging about until you ovulate are the best - I read that somewhere. So sex in advance of ovulation.

Worked for me at 43!

She really, really didn't

I got my ferritin levels up from around 15 to 50. I had read that ferritin below 30 can prevent ovulation, and I'd been trying for a couple of years. Was under the fertility clinic who said they weren't confident I was ovulating and there was no clear reason.

Also pre seed lube. I got pregnant first time using it. Another friend with years of fertility troubles, also got pregnant the first time she used it

Currently pregnant now after trying since a loss in December/January 2020/21 and being referred to fertility (but still waiting on the appointment) there were a few things different the month I conceived (just last month) which makes it hard to pinpoint what it was!

• I’d recently (about two months ago) stopped doing heavy lifting at the gym and took up walking (so had more fresh air/cardio, my body wasn’t under strain)

• I’d been eating more meat

• I’d recently stopped taking pregnancy tablets. I’d been taking the ones I had left over ever since the loss and then just kept buying more as I was convinced I’d surely get pregnant and wanted to be on them ready. I gave up believing this would happen and stopped taking them about two months ago. Obviously now I’m back on them 🤣

• Actually had less sex, in fact this was probably the first month we fully didn’t try. I kept “not trying” leading up to this as people had recommended it 🤣 but this month we really didn’t as we had no time, we did it twice in 6 weeks and the time we conceived was actually the time I stood up straight away after dtd and had a wee - something I’d never do when trying!

• Spent time with other people’s babies recently

It may be fluke, in fact it probably is, but they’re just some of the factors around it happening for me after trying for over two years!

Honestly no advice helped me, though I did get some comfort from reading stories of people online who had struggled and eventually conceived after many years/rounds of IVF.

For me what helped was having a plan of next steps and keeping doing proactive things to help conceive. But that is very in line with my personality, I always like to take action quickly and try to find a solution, not so good at dwelling on the emotional side of things.

As a PP said, find a doctor you trust and that's approach aligns with yours. For me that was a very matter of fact doctor who wasn't afraid to discuss negative outcomes with me and future options. Some of the other doctors I worked with were very "don't worry, you're young, this will work" which I found dismissive and frustrating.

If you're looking to start fertility investigations I can highly recommend Dr Jyoti at The Evewell.