Trying to get pregnant - any tips?!

[ThreeCeruleanElk]

DP and I have recently made the big decision to start trying for a baby!

We are both 32, no kids or previous pregnancies, DP smokes (trying to encourage him to quit!). I am a few months off the pill now and were using condoms until recently, my cycle is not quite 28 days but not overly irregular.

I'm not at the stage of tracking ovulation yet, maybe further down the line but is it completely necessary? Right now we are aiming for sex every other day as I also don't want sex to become a chore just to get pregnant when I'm ovulating.

I also really want to aim for a healthy conception journey and hopefully healthy pregnancy so please send me any tips! Please include lifestyle, diet, exercise, practical, the lot!

if school sex education lessons are anything to go by then unprotected sex once will lead you to pregnancy straight away

I think officially you could talk to your GP for advice? But in any case taking the pregnancy multivitamins, specifically folic acid, when trying to conceive is helpful. If you have certain risk factors (high BMI etc) you would need a larger dose.

Generally healthy lifestyle. This does mean potentially reducing alcohol use. (Assuming you do drink). While there won't be any connection to your blood supply until a little while after conception, alcohol can impact on fertility. The amount that it does depends on lots of things, like how your liver processes alcohol, so while many women won't have a problem, for others it might slow the process, or interfere with conception and implantation, and all those other issues.

If you don’t want sex to become a chore then tracking your ovulation can be helpful - it really is a small window you’re aiming for.

Otherwise just the obvious things - try to improve your general health (regular sleep and exercise and less alcohol, junk food, caffeine etc), take a conception supplement (it’s recommended to start folic acid while trying) and I know it’s easier said than done but try not to stress if it doesn’t happen right away.

Thank you. I have had a pre-conception check up with the GP, am taking prenatal vitamins and do not drink but was just hoping for more anecdotal advice from women on the same journey or recently conceived and what they found helpful along the way

Do you track your periods in an app? I found this helpful as the app will give you an indication of when you’re likely to ovulate based on your cycle length, but without the pressure of actually ovulation testing. I got pregnant the first time doing this.
I’d say if you’re having sex around your fertile time then you’ve as good a chance as anyone else. If you find after a few months you’ve not had a positive test then ovulation testing will be helpful to pinpoint when you ovulate, especially if your periods vary in length at all. Some people ovulate earlier or later than average so testing will really help with that.
Try to keep relatively active, take your prenatal vitamins, drink plenty of water, eat decent food. That will all set you up in the best way.
Your partner could also take conception type vitamins. Especially as he smokes, it might be beneficial for him to take something as his sperm quality and motility can be affected by smoking, which will obviously make it much harder to conceive.
I’d also say don’t have too high expectations. It’s really normal for it to take months and months for a healthy couple to conceive. You have a couple of days a month in which you can get pregnant, so go into it expecting it to take time. Then if it happens quickly it’ll be a lovely surprise!

Hi OP, first of all good luck on your journey !
Whilst you might not want to track ovulation yet, this is probably my best recommendation (ovulation strips) as the predicted ovulation on apps are based on 28 days cycles for people with regular ovulations but turns out every woman can ovulate at different date and sometimes irregularly. However if you have enough energy to DTD every other day I guess you would cover all bases !

Pumpkin seeds! (Zinc)

I was 31 when I started trying, No previous kids, DH was 32 and a smoker. Both non drinkers except for special events (maybe once a year). I was on the pill also beforehand for years (since 16).

I tracked ovulation (using Premom and the app), which I found super helpful. After a couple of months I found that my cycle was pretty much exactly the same month to month which made life easier, that being said, it still took us 10 months to conceive. Oddly, the month we did, we only had sex once during my fertile window because I was suffering from the flu.
We both took the pregncare conception tablets daily, and we used preseed conception lubricant in the last few months of trying.
Nether of us changed our diets or up'd our exercise or anything like that.

I'm now having my baby boy tomorrow! 💙 Via CS due to breech position!

My advice, don't stress, acknowledge it can take a while to conceive and be ok with that but can also happen straight away (it only takes the one time after all). Try to enjoy the process x

Google sperm meets egg method . It worked first time for us.

Congratulations and thanks for your tips! I pray all goes well for you and how exciting this time tomorrow evening you will be holding you new bundle of joy!

You'll think you're pregnant the first month......you probably won't be......welcome to what we call the two week wait where every symptom feels like it means your pregnant 🙈 reduce caffeine, eat well, exercise and get sleep. Plenty of dtd snd expect it may take up to 12 months and that is classed as normal and good luck 😁

My mother told my neighbour to drink a bottle of sherry and have sex ont he wardrobe. Both said it worked

Ovulation testing isn't necessary but I chose to do it, just to be in with the best chance from first cycle (depends how much of a rush you're in!). I was lucky to fall pregnant first cycle with my son. Second pregnancy was on 3rd cycle.

Honestly I would say for the first 2-3 months don't try to track ovulation or put too much pressure on yourselves. Take the folic acid and have sex as often as you can (ideally every 2 days) from the end of your period for the next couple of weeks. In a few months time you could start looking at tracking ovulation but it does take the fun out of it a bit so if you can hold off, do.

Good luck on your journey OP.

I think your initial plan of regular intercourse, every other day, over the whole month is spot on.
Try that for 6 months, no pressure, no overthinking, no tracking.....just see where it takes you.
If no joy after 6 months, then that's the time I'd start thinking about tracking and moving it up a gear.

With our first, we weren't trying but not actively preventing either and I fell pregnant the second cycle. I was 36 and DD1 is now 4.

Good luck OP.

Sleep well, avoid too much caffeine and alcohol. Use cheap ovulation sticks to track.

You will mostly read stories of people that fell pregnant on first or second cycle and that may well be you too. Assume it won't, have fun and keep in your head you may well be at this road for the next 9 or 10 months.