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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.

How long did it take to get pregnant with your second baby?

12 replies

K0724 · 15/01/2024 12:27

Hi everyone, just after a bit of reassurance. I was lucky enough to fall pregnant with my little boy the first month of trying. So naively thought lightning would strike twice and when trying for my second baby the same would happen again .. how wrong I was! We have been trying since last May, which I appreciate is not as long as some people, but when you’re going through it, it feels like a lifetime.
I have been struggling with the constant cycle of disappointment every month and it’s just getting worse and worse and I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I have a really regular cycle (29-32 days) and am tracking my ovulation, but nothing seems to be working.
Has anyone had/ currently in a similar situation? Looking for positive stories to give me a little boost where people have felt the same and then had a sudden happy positive! Also, did anything you do help to boost fertility? Has anyone seen positive affects from cutting back on caffeine, introducing vitamins etc? Willing to do just about anything atm!

thank you x

OP posts:
squirrelnutkins1 · 15/01/2024 12:48

I was the other way round, took years the first time and then a few months the second time.
I used to HATE it when people said just relax (insert eye roll) but there is a degree of truth in that.
We were told the first time to dtd every other day throughout the month (not always sustainable!)
Are you both taking vitamins? I don't know if they help but somehow mentally it helps knowing you're doing everything.
Quite honestly I got pregnant the first time when I just blew all the healthy stuff I'd been doing for a month 🙈
Sending positive vibes your way!

K0724 · 15/01/2024 13:30

Thank you so much for replying! I could not agree more with people ‘telling you to stay positive’ or ‘stop stressing’ .. the absolute worst! The more it goes on the worse the stress gets. I’m currently on iron supplements but have been for a while now. I was taking vitamin d for a bit so I might start that again. But hearing you say ditching the healthy stuff was the month it happened for you is reassuring that that’s not always the cure! Xx

OP posts:
AnnieStar12 · 15/01/2024 14:02

I totally relate to your post!!

I have a toddler and a teenager both conceived first time trying, we naively thought we could plan the exact month to have the next one. How wrong we were! We've now been trying for almost a year, and find the monthly cycle of hope and then disappointment really really hard and consuming.

Over the past year, we have had one CP and one MMC, but most months nothing at all. We are now trying stimulate IUI cycles through a private clinic to give a helping hand.

Unless there is something specifically wrong that can be treated, then there is little you can do so it's just a matter of keeping trying. People will tell you so much advice about expensive supplement etc, but from all the research I've seen there isn't much evidence that any of it will boost your chances. As long as you're taking a good pre-natal multivitamin and tracking ovulation then there's not much else to do.

There is some evidence taking CQ10 supplement can help, so we do that too. And I recently brought the Pre-Seed lubricant and Ferti-lily cup to try out - again just to give us the helping hand - nothing is guaranteed despite what they advertise on the box, lol!

End of the day, it's all so random isn't it. Heard many stories of ppl doing years of fertility treatment and then accidentally falling pregnant. And then people who get pregnant easily and then can't ever have another.

Some useful resources other people on this site shared with me which I found helpful - Robert Winston's website - reading all the Q&As on fertility, also a video called "the great sperm race" it help to get perspective on why conception is actually quite difficult.

HorridHenryIsMyPal · 15/01/2024 14:13

Took 3 and a half years and 3 miscarriages to have my DC.

Thinking of how long that took we decided to start trying for DC2 but not put ourselves under too much pressure, so I was just keeping a note of my cycles. Last time I was doing OPK twice daily. We just DTD when we fancied.

I fell pregnant on the 3rd cycle.
I'm currently 9 weeks.

As crazy as it sounds I just think the stress and pressure I put on myself just didn't help. Although I appreciate in the thick of it, the worst thing you can hear is to relax.

Wishing you all the best!

poignant · 15/01/2024 14:18

I was breastfeeding dc1 and fell pregnant when he was 16 months old. No contraception whole time from their birth.

Chanel05 · 15/01/2024 14:48

Hello!

All 3 of my pregnancies were (coincidentally) conceived on cycle 8.

What was probably not a coincidence was that on cycle 8 I'd completely given up hope every time and boom.. pregnant.

L00k4m3x · 15/01/2024 16:43

My first took 10 months to conceive. Started trying for baby number 2 and had a chemical pregnancy during the second cycle. Naively thought it wouldn’t take as long this time but I was wrong, it took another 8 months so 10 months again. Just pregnant with baby number 3 and we stopped using contraception 2 months a go and thought ‘what will be will be’ but completely expecting it to take a while again. We were wrong, it took 2 cycles.

Impatient1987 · 15/01/2024 18:01

2 cycles here for #2, and we went belt and braces cycle 1, sex every day through fertile period, getting a full 8 hours sleep, cutting caffiene etc. I was absolutely gobsmacked when AF came 🙈 Cycle 2 fertile period was over Xmas, we were both exhausted so DTD every second or third day, drank coffee, drank wine etc and it happened! As difficult as it is try not to think about it too much. Oh and I know it's near impossible to do, but don't test early because that is the most draining part - thinking maybe tomorrow. The only way I lasted so long was no having any tests in the house 🙃

Olika · 15/01/2024 18:03

I mc our first that I feel pregnant right away with and it took us 2.5 years to succeed again. I started taking Ubiquinol and Proceive Max and fell pregnant 1.5 months later.

K0724 · 15/01/2024 19:55

thank you for replying 💕 are those prescribed by the doctor? Or can you buy them over the counter? Thank you x

OP posts:
Olika · 15/01/2024 20:38

You can get those in H&B or Boots or Superdrug etc. Proceive is a fertility supplement and Ubiquinol is a supplement that supports healthy egg and sperm production.

2or3whatsittobe · 16/01/2024 09:54

Took me 11 months which felt forever at the time! We used a fertilily the cycle I was successful but it was probably just fluke and would have happened sooner rather than later anyway. I think mentally it can be quite tough when TTC a second because you start obsessing over age gaps and questioning why your body can’t do something it’s done before.

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