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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

Bit of a stupid question, but....how when does conception actually occur?

26 replies

TrixieVix · 14/10/2008 17:04

I didn't know I was pregnant until I was 20 weeks with my DS, and we're now getting to the point when we're thinking about trying for another....

So, because I had (still have) irregular periods, I don't actually know when I conceived my DS - he was due on 03/12/06 (date from dating scan, not period) and was actually born on 01/12/06 - so what month was he conceived?

I'm also confused by the dates because my midwife said to me - when you're 8 weeks pregnant, you're actually only really 6 weeks or something....have I made that bit up?

We're not going to be TTC until at least after Christmas, but want to know when to start 'counting' TTC from IYKWIM.

I've also never understood about cycle length? How do I know how long my cycle is?

Sorry for the basic questions!!!

OP posts:
Flightattendant2 · 14/10/2008 17:08

Ok. Let's start from the easy ones!

Your cycle is how long it is from the start of your period, to the start of the next one. So the first day you bleed is day one of your cycle. Then if you count the days from then on, say you had your next period on day 28, your cycle is 27 days that month. And day 28 becomes day 1 of your next cycle, or month.
Does that make sense?

HeadFairy · 14/10/2008 17:09

following on.... if you have a 28 day cycle, you usually ovulate about 2 weeks in to your cycle, but it does vary quite a lot. I usually ov on day 16

beanieb · 14/10/2008 17:11

Basically what happens is a woman ovulates and if the egg is fertilised by the sperm then it takes a few days to travel to the right spot and then hopefully implants. This can take 2 weeks sometimes.

Because of this Doctors count from the first day or your last period (I think) and so even though you may have technically only been pregnant for say 2 weeks when you get the + pregnancy test, they will actually count it as 4.

Your cycle length is counted from the first day of your period to the day before your next one. How many days do you have between periods currently? Many women who are not TTC don't keep a note of this so it might be a good idea to start keeping a record so you can get an idea.

There's an assumption that a woman withi an average cycle of 28 days will ovulate on day 14 but that's not true for everyone. I had a 24 day cycle when I first started TTC and I ovulated on day 16, so as you can see it's not an exact science.

Are you on the pill? If not then count from the last period you had before TTC.

Hope that helps

memoo · 14/10/2008 17:14

I have a question, after you have ovulated, how long does the egg hang around waiting to be fertilized?

If I ovulate on day 14 will the egg still be able to be fertalized until I have my period.

Flightattendant2 · 14/10/2008 17:15

Ok the next bit. Working out when he was conceived.

Well, I conceived about 10 days after my period which started the 24th August. my baby was born 24th May the next year.

That's September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May. that's 9 months between my last period and giving birth.

Therefore if you gave birth on 3rd December, your last period would have been around the beginning of March - or possibly weeks before that, because you ovulate 2 weeks-ish (average) before your period, it doesn't matter how long after the last one it is - if your cycle is irregular especially.

So you wouldn't have known you were ovulating.

When would you like the next baby to be born?

Flightattendant2 · 14/10/2008 17:17

But what I meant to say is that you probably actually conceived (ie had sex, sperm met egg etc) in the middle of March. So plan about 8 and a half months forward iyswim.

beanieb · 14/10/2008 17:17

Memoo - no, you only have a small window of opportunity to conceive once the egg has been released. About 36 hours I think. So if you ovulate on day 14 at the very most you will have 2 days or so. On the other hand if you have sex up to five days before you ovulate there may still be sperm waiting to fertilise the egg once it is released.

HeadFairy · 14/10/2008 17:18

I think the egg is viable to be fertilised for about 24 hours after it's released, hence why it's important to have sex around that time when you're ttc.

Flightattendant2 · 14/10/2008 17:19

Memoo, no. Not usually. The egg usually only survives about 12 hours, maybe 24. However spoims can live about a week so if you keep having sex before you think you're gtoing to ov, then you should have some in there loitering about smoking and drinking lager when she makes her appearance. Does that make sense

Original poster
TrixieVix · 14/10/2008 17:20

Thank you all so much for those - has made everything much clearer!! I was going round in circles trying to work it out - you know when the more you think about it, the more confused you get?!

Hmm - think ideally, we would like the next one to be born December 2009 onwards (as that's when DS will be 3 and going to nursery/pre-school 5 mornings a week)....

OP posts:
HeadFairy · 14/10/2008 17:21

With my ds, the first day of my LMP was the 15th Dec, and I was getting strong implantation pains on 31st Dec/1st Jan (nice new year present!) so I think I conceived him on the 29th Dec. So it just goes to show that cycles vary quite often as I used OPKs to work out when I ov'd and it was on day 16 for months and months on end, so we were having sex around then. Then, because it was Christmas I guess, dh and I had sex every day for about a week which is lucky because I obviously ovulated a bit early that month.

NoNickname · 14/10/2008 17:24

Have you tried charting your temperature? It helped me conceive my last pg. There's a free trial with Fertility Friend and you don't ever have to actually sign up unless you want to use the advanced features. When you take your temperature, it can help to tell you when you are likely to ovulate or have ovulated.

As far as I recall, the egg will only last for about 12-24 hours. The sperm can last up to about 4 days.

Good luck!

NoNickname · 14/10/2008 17:25

I gave birth to an early December baby, and he was conceived about 5th March. My previous period was 12 days before this.

TinkerBellesMum · 14/10/2008 17:39

The best thing you can worry about is just having sex! Every other day is best as it gives the sperm enough time to mature, but if you are doing it regularly there will always be some inside you waiting for an egg to be released.

I could never be bothered with temping and charting, my sleeping patterns aren't really compatible with it, anyway we quickly worked out that I am fertile on day 14 and (so far) am guaranteed a pregnancy if we have sex day 13 or 14. If the alternate days thing doesn't work, then think about the temping and charting.

HeadFairy · 14/10/2008 17:43

I tried the alternate day thing too, and to be honest the only thing that's worked (twice now) was having sex on four or five consecutive days starting around day 12 of my cycle. I tried for 18 months and then got pg with ds doing it every day. Again, did it for four consecutive days last month and have just found out I'm pg again.

AbstractMouse · 15/10/2008 03:10

The day I ovulate seems to vary, I have bd'd on the day I have ovulation pains 3 times and I have concieved 3 times (1 mc). So for me that works, although if you don't get ov pains obviously not helpful. You could go by your cervical mucous (have sex when it is clear and stretchy, this is quite a reliable indicator of ovualtion/fertility).

beanieb · 15/10/2008 09:04

Headfairy - did you get pregnant the first month you had sex everyday?

sammysam · 15/10/2008 09:44

Wow-you learn something new every day!! I was counting the last day of my cycle also as my first day-ie dc1 was also cd 32 (my last day) whereas should I be then making it cd31 and the next day cd1 (that really doesn't make sense-sorry!!) so in my diary xday had 2 dates on it-cd1 and the last cd.....that is wrong is it?!! I'm just confusing everything in my head now !!

TinkerBellesMum · 15/10/2008 13:02

The first day of pregnancy is your body having a clear out of everything it doesn't need and then spending the next two weeks making the place welcoming for the new baby. If the baby doesn't come, it cleans up and starts again. Like a hotel, they start the first day by cleaning the room, changing the beds and throwing out anything the old guests left behind. If they don't get new guests they go in, freshen the room up, change the sweets and prepare for a different guest.

Flightattendant2 · 15/10/2008 13:37

Sammy, it just means you have a 31 day cycle in that case.
You'd start off day 32 as day 32 and then if you started to bleed that day you would call it cd1 instead. You wouldn;t know until you started your period.

So you would say your cycle was 31 days.

If you didn't start bleeding on day 32 it would stay day 32 and then the next day would be day 33 unless you started.

Does that make sense?

Flightattendant2 · 15/10/2008 13:39

Sammy sign up to Fertility friend - it is very helpful to have all this on a chart!

You can mark all your symptoms and CM and aches and pains etc. it is very interesting!

(I wish I was still TTC)

Flightattendant2 · 15/10/2008 13:40

Here you go!

Free to get your own chart etc. It's only the fancy stuff that costs $$$

sammysam · 15/10/2008 15:54

Thanks flightattendent! Can we swap-i wish I wasn't TTC
I've just signed up-but it all looks very confusing
It will prob take me months to work it out

HeadFairy · 15/10/2008 15:57

Beanieb... sorry for the delay in replying! Yes I did get pg immediately both times I tried doing it every day... most recently this month, just found out I'm pg again at first attempt because we did it four days on the trot over when I was due to ov.

Flightattendant2 · 15/10/2008 16:49

It's fine Sammy - if you go to the forums there, they are a lovely bunch (Americans!) and will help you along. you'll soon get the hang of it!

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