Want to ask some of you successful ladies what helped get your BFPs (temps/OPKs/saliva)

[frustratedpants]

Hi ladies,

Can I gatecrash from TTC to ask you lovely ladies what you think helped you get your BFPs?

Did you chart Basel temp? Look for saliva ferning? OPKs? Or the JS method?

Can someone explain the temp charting one to me please?

We did the same as Gnocci

I came off the pill mid December, dtd around the time I thought I was ovulating in January - didn't really know my normal cycle length so it didn't work.

Couldn't really be bothered with charting temps and the like so after AF in Feb, we dtd every other day for 3 weeks then got our BFP mid March!

been trying for a year, tried op sticks as unpredictable cycles. Then we moved house and were focused on that, no alcohol, dh in loose boxers snd regular sex and am now almost 6 weeks!

Hi OP, just wanted to give my advice quickly before dashing off to work so sorry if this is a bit brief; i spent ages trying to determine my body temp, i ended up using 2 thermometers! but still couldn't determine the day of ovulation. sex was becoming a really stressful thing for myself and OH and BFN's each month were really upsetting.

then i discovered this book:
www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Reproductive/dp/0091887585/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343717920&sr=8-1
this book is amazing. it's huge but if you are TTC you only need to read about half of it. i got it from the library too - double bonus!

in the end i took my temp, used an ovulation predictor kit AND used the advice in the book. As it turned out all i needed was the book as it helped me determine not only when i ovulated but also my fertile days up to ovulation which are the most important for conceiving. i wish i'd read it years ago when we first started trying for our DS.

i hope this helps you, as it turms out it wasn't that brief, sorry.

Thank you ladies. It's very useful to hear successful conception stories.

I did pretty much everything once we decided to TTC and it didn't take us very long (second month). The main thing I was worried about was my cervical mucus - having been on birth control for a few years I just wasn't seeing very much. I started taking 1000mg evening primrose oil and drinking grapefruit juice in the first half of my cycle. I think it might have helped a bit but honestly I didn't have time to really find out. :)

We also used Pre-Seed which I highly recommend. It's a great lubricant.

Other than that, I'd been temping religiously and was fairly sure I ovulated right on time (I have a very regular cycle). And we had lots and lots of sex - daily around ovulation for about a week...

I also highly recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility (book) by Toni Wechsler. The TCOYF forums are great as well.

I spent five months following the advice of TCOYF - temping, charting, using Pre-Seed and OPKs - to no avail. It was stressing me out because i was always trying to work out what the latest temp or sign MEANT.

So I stopped for a while. DH and I decided that instead of trying to spot the signs of ovulation and having sex at the right time, we would just DTD every other day from whenever AF stopped to whenever she started again.

She hasn't started again yet........ I got my BFP 10 days ago.

So - in my experience - DTD every other day is definitely the way to go.

Good luck!

If you've had kids before with no problems and haven't been trying very long I would just have lots of sex all the time. It's great that fertility monitoring is possible for those who need it but I wouldn't stress yourself out unnecessarily if you don't have to!

If you're not having regular periods or you've been trying a while (more than a year), I'd get some blood tests from the doc in the first instance.

I got pregnant on my 6th cycle, this cycle I did a few things differently:
Stopped drinking altogether
Cut my hours at work
Took mumomega every day
Took Vitamin B12 for half my cycle
Had acupuncture Chinese medicine (well had been doing this for 2 months) and saw a homoeopath who prescribed a remedy
Used pre-seed

In the months before this I had started charting, using OPK's, dtd at least every other day but every day when I believed I was fertile, taking prenatal, extra folic acid and had dh on a well mans vitamin and some folic acid. I also had the TCOYF book. Then I got impatient (also late thirties which was on my mind a lot) and threw everything at it I could think of!! Anyway I am now 28 weeks, all is well, low risk pregnancy.

Oh you can do that fertility friend course if you want to get your head around the whole temping thing, I did, it is free and online you get a 'lesson' emailed to you each day for 10 days or something.

We decided not to try that month then we had a nice night out and got drunk...

This sort of story used to really annoy me when TTC but you asked so...... after 12 months, 2 chemical pregnancies and a lot of stress including dh refusing to DTD with me at the critical time the month before (cue huge rows) I gave up.
Stopped the accupuncture, vitamins, OPKing and thought I would just give it 6 months of shagging when we felt like it before worrying about it as it was beginning to ruin my marriage.

Had a lovely weekend where it snowed and so we cancelled all plans and spent most of the weekend in bed. I thought it was too early as was CD10/11 ish but we had a lot of sex that weekend. I had given up hope for a bit and obviously that is when I got preggers, now 26 weeks.
i do think its worth getting to know your cycle but I went over the top with monitors, OPKs, a whole pile of vitamins, reflexology and acupuncture and I think in the end, I was doing more harm than good.

Coincidentally I did not drink very much that month but who knows if that made a difference (and again I highly recommend a galss of wine whilst TTC!)

Oooh another thing, I have a tilted uterus and the weekend we conceived we DTD a lot doggy style (sorry for TMI) which I have since read can help with conception with a tilted uterus.

I have also read that a man produces lots more sperm when he is turned on rather than DTD to demand so again, worth keeping ovulation a secret from DH?

We used CBFM, OH wasn't well so we only did it once, on the day I peaked and then a couple of weeks later. Pregnant first cycle we tried, if we hadn't used CBFM I wouldn't have been because I ovulate MUCH earlier than I thought!

I think temping, charting, using sticks etc. are useful to get a handle on what's going on with your cycle - especially if you have long or irregular cycles. But there comes a point where they stop being useful. It might even be counter-productive if you start only having sex when the tests 'tell' you to. Much better to have as much sex as you can manage throughout the cycle. We must have conceived this little bean at a much earlier point in my cycle than my track record of charting would have predicted.

Despite my clinical approach I agree that simply shagging everyother day is what, in reality, did it! Though I do get quite dry so the lubricant helped if anything just for that!

I was extremely lucky not to have the months of waiting and I know all the opks and charting would have driven me nuts but only did it that first month as a 'factfindung test' to check out my cycle. The pathetic 'weeeueeb' of the digital thermometer at 6 am was driving DH to distraction...

It took me 18 months and we did eventually try charting, OPKs, etc and they worked very well but I still wasn't getting a BFP! I had all the tests and they couldn't find anything wrong, but they did find a big fibroid which may or may not have been the cause of not getting PG.

However what I did do on the 18th cycle was have reflexology 2 days before I was due to ovulate and PING!

To hell with OPKs, what faff.

Key to my success was a Clearblue Fertility Monitor, and Pre-Seed Lubricant.

I have PCOS and very irregular cycles, so tried recording temps (borrowed a book from the library called Taking Charge of your Fertility) and got pg the first month of trying but had mc. Continued trying and charting after that, but nothing happened for a year and had just started talking to the GP about tests when I got pg again - now 38 weeks. Weirdly it was almost exactly a year since the mc and I was really miserable and not paying any attention to timing, in fact can hardly believe I was in the mood for the once we managed to DTD that month; I guess some things are just meant to happen.

Shagged three times in the week after my period, pregnant first month

Now thinking of trying again, we will see of it works again!

We tried for 2 years, in those 2 years we tried every month but some months were more determined than others, had tried the pre seed, on vitamins etc, saw fertility consultant the month before we got our BFP he said we were both good to go, so we went for it that month in a big way, every other day til I thought I was OVing then every day, poor husband
I'd also gone on a January diet the month we got our BFP

1st pregnancy (10 months TTC) we had a holiday which coincided with ovulation week. Lots of wine, sunshine and shagging did the trick.
2nd time around (NO chance of a shagging holiday with a 2 yr old), 4 months TTC then bought a CBFM. Worked first month. Pricey but great.
Temping is a nightmare, when I tried it made me a bit fertility mental, and didn't really identify my ovulation date.
Good luck! Have fun!

I really wanted to get pregnant in a specific month for job reasons so used Clear Blue Monitor for a few months beforehand to get a sense of cycle (my periods are like clockwork but discovered that my OV moved about a bit - useful info that a friend had tipped me off about with her cycle). Also used pre-seed and lay back for ten mins after we dtd with legs in the air (attractive! :o)

Anyway between those 3 things we got lucky straight away - in spite of me being mid thirties and overweight. So think there are things you can do to tip the odds in your favour...

Good luck :)

I was trying really hard for about five months and then went gave up booze and got pregnant that month. It was also my second month of using a Clearblue Fertility Monitor which gave me peak readings about two days later than my ovulation test strips.

Best of luck and hope to see you on the Pregnancy pages very soon .

We tried for 11 months (following MC) and then I got Agnus Castus and took it for one month before getting BFP. It did the trick for me! It's good for regulating cycle etc, but was too scared to take it after that as wasn't ready for another BFP!!!