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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Did it take you 6 months or more to conceive?

97 replies

JessieMcJessie · 16/03/2015 06:30

Have been ttc for 6 months now with no joy, getting more and more miserable. We've had a few tests and no obvious issues.

I'm curious to know if taking 6 months or more to conceive is actually fairly normal or whether I am already at the point where it's going to mean assisted conception for us. Does anyone have any encouraging stories of taking 6 months or more to get there but getting pregnant naturally in the end?

Thanks.

OP posts:
Mintyy · 16/03/2015 09:00

9 cycles for dc1 (I was 37)
6 for dc2 (when I was 40)

My gp was excellent and had already referred me for fertility investigations with my first - I suppose because of my age - but we got a bfp before the appointment letter came through.

I had a friend who was a lot younger than me, like 10 years younger, who took more than a year to conceive at the same time. She has since gone on to have another two children!

Good luck op, I think the professionals all say "anything up to 12 months is entirely normal".

ImpatiencePersonified · 16/03/2015 09:03

Almost a year here and currently 12+5 (to be confirmed at scan on Wednesday!).

I had the same frustrations you did but my hubs actually calmed me down; he reminded me that its a very complex string of chemical and biological chain reactions - everything has to align at just the right time!

BumWad · 16/03/2015 09:06

15 months first time and 9 months second time. I'm 32 have a blocked tube

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 16/03/2015 09:08

Number 1 took us 13 months, no fertility issues at all and conceived naturally on the 13th month. Currently pregnant with number 2, conceived while on the mini pill and breastfeeding!!

Impatientwino · 16/03/2015 09:12

14 cycles first time but only 2 cycles this time.

It becomes all consuming doesn't it.

In our circle of friends 4 of us started trying around the same time and no-one was pregnant within that first year.

Iloveonionchutney · 16/03/2015 09:20

My first took 10 months, I'm currently 10 weeks with No2 and this one took just over two years naturally.

JessieMcJessie · 16/03/2015 09:23

In our circle of friends 4 of us started trying around the same time and no-one was pregnant within that first year.

Gosh, that is an interesting statistic. You must have been quite supportive of each other though, did you all get there in the end?

OP posts:
jessplussomeonenew · 16/03/2015 09:37

More than 2 years in our case, natural conception though possibly helped by having a hycosy. If you're more than 35 go to your gp with your partner and start getting tested, it takes ages to work your way through the system and it's best to get started just in case you do need help ttc. If you're under 35 I think you can get tests done after a year. Think about healthy diet, alcohol consumption etc, and try to dtd every other day from the end of your period until a few days after a positive opk (lots of people start too late in the month for the best chance).

StoneBaby · 16/03/2015 10:52

9 months for 1st pregnancy. 2&1/2 years for this one with one year of fertility treatment

Bowlersarm · 16/03/2015 10:54

Ds1 took 9 months, it seemed to go on forever, I didn't think it would ever happen.

BeforeIChangeMyMind · 16/03/2015 11:13

Jessie would you consider giving up the ovulation sticks for a month or two?

I know they're widely used but for me, they just piled on the pressure.

For DS1:
Months 3-7, I used ov sticks, followed a special diet, tried to time DTD on the 'right' days, had acupuncture, took vitamins, abstained from alcohol, spoke to my GP about it and thought about TTC pretty much daily. It wasn't fun, and got less and less fun the longer it went on.

Month 8: gave up all that, went on holiday, drank wine, dtd for fun (had forgotten about that!) no ov sticks, no special diet. Bingo - BFP.

I know it's not easy but if you can possibly take some of the pressure off, that might help. Good luck.

reni1 · 16/03/2015 11:44

TTC#1 1 month TTC, preg, mc; next month, preg, dd
TTC#2 12 month so far (5 with opk + temp), no joy yet

mrsgoon · 16/03/2015 11:57

nearly 8 years here. Probably 2 years of actively trying, and 6 years of not preventing.

Finally got our gorgeous DD after 1 cycle of IVF.

GalindawithaGa · 16/03/2015 12:04

We've just had ivf, I had 11 eggs collected (so effectively almost a years worth of eggs) and of them we got four embryos. Some of the eggs are not viable, some of the embryos just stop developing after a day or two. Of those four it remains to be seen how many implant and then don't end in a MC. We'll hopefully get one live birth out of them though. So if you put it like that, it's not surprising that it can take many months to conceive and for the embryo to stick around. I'm pretty healthy and only 30, we started trying at 26.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you op, TTC can be utter hell. Thanks

DramaAlpaca · 16/03/2015 12:11

It took me about 10 months with DC1. I was starting to get very worried but then it just happened naturally.

It took just one month with DC2 and 3 months with DC3.

Sparrowlegs248 · 16/03/2015 12:20

It took me 24 cycles if I remember rightly. Got my bfp 3 days after my first fertility appointment! That month we dtd day 8 & 10! Currently 20wks .

CaurnieBred · 16/03/2015 12:23

Over a year of trying for us - I had just turned 33 when we started TTC. As we were approaching the 12 months DH was tested and was shown to have slow motability. I then went and had an investigative laparoscopy due to family history of endemytriosis (just in case I had any that was undiagnosed) and a previous history of chlamydia (thanks ex BF). The consultant also flushed my tubes. Within 4 weeks of this I was pregnant - in my mind my tubes were possibly a bit clogged and the flushing cleared them out a bit!

But that crushing feeling every month when you realise you still aren't pregnant, and it seems like everyone you know is getting pregnant. I will never forget feeling like that. I am thankful every day I have DD, even when growling at her now and then!

Sparrowlegs248 · 16/03/2015 12:24

As a comparison, a friends husband had a vascectomy reversed, they had bfp and a 1 yr old daughter in the time it took me to get pregnant.

shelllike · 16/03/2015 12:49

With DD (now 3 yrs): 1st month
PG #2 (MMC@11wk): 9th month
PG #3 (MC @ 6wks): 1st month

We took three months' break after the second miscarriage, and we're now in month 8 of trying again.

Bloody frustrating.

EeekNumber4 · 16/03/2015 12:58

Dd1 1 month
Dd2 happy accident!
Dd3 24months
4th pregnancy (ectopic) 2 months of not actively preventing
Current pregnancy(32weeks) 1 month (not really trying!)

We had all the tests for Dd3 as it took 2 years, I was convinced the coil had done some damage but it happened eventually! It's all consuming and heartbreaking.

Good luck x

farfallarocks · 16/03/2015 13:03

13 months for DD with 2 chemicals beforehand.
18 months and counting for dc2 with one failed IVF and a chemical after a year
Sigh
Sadly, it's very common indeed to take up to a year or longer
Best of luck

minifingers · 16/03/2015 13:06

First one conceived accidentally.

Second took 18 months of regular, properly timed trying.

Third (at 39, while still breastfeeding, though not at the actual time of conception) took one shag. It wasn't planned.

misssmilla1 · 16/03/2015 13:17

We spent over 18 months actively ttc, had every single test under the sun, with no reason for not getting pregnant and finally conceived naturally, and I'm now 12.5 weeks pregnant with our first. OP, don't lose heart, some people take more time than others, altho I know that's no consolation when you're trying and nothing is happening.

My long story is below, not sure if it helps, but might give you some insight as to the ups and downs. My biggest takeaway from all of this is that you and your partner really need to be on the same page about what you want, and will and won't do, and you approach things. We had some pretty soul searching conversations when we first started trying about our opinions on stuff like our approach to IVF / donor eggs, what tests we would and wouldn't do, how long we'd keep trying, what if we got pregnant and we found out there was a problem with the baby etc. We kept revisiting this as we went through the 18 months, and tbh, it probably helped keep me sane when I was losing it.

Our road to get here was probably like a lot of peoples's who take time. The first 6 months was all "ooh, isn't this fun" lots of sex, trying to time it around ovulation and day dreaming about being able to pack away that seasons clothes and buy maternity wear.

After 6 months things got a bit more realistic; I was 36/37 and didn't think I had time to lose so I had the initial round of tests to check I was ovulating, that the egg reserve was good,that my partner's sperm count was fine etc. At this point I also went for the HSG (the tube flushing procedure) and that was a real smack round the face as the clinic staff (who had NO patient skills) basically went "oh, you're here because you're infertile, right?" in my head, I wasn't actually infertile, I was checking to see I wasn't!

The next 6 months were spent religiously peeing on sticks, checking cervical mucus (and sharing way tmi on the internet..) altering diets and starting to see an acupuncturist. It was also the start of me really starting to lose it mentally as everyone around me seemed to be getting pregnant, and whatever we did, it just wasn't working.

As a result, it culminated in us starting at a fertility clinic where we sent for another round of genetic and other tests, scans, endometrial biopsy, HSN and god knows what else. Again, the tests came back fine with no identifiable reason, and the clinic wanted to push for invasive surgery "to check that nothing was wrong" (even tho they couldn't find anything) and I started to get cold feet about their approach, and they were really pushing us for IVF which was not something we wanted to do. We were debating IUI (turkey basters all round!) but at our ages the stats for success weren't good.

For various reasons we decided to walk away from them; I had a total mental meltdown (bubbling snot and all Grin) in our kitchen one day with the OH and we decided that was it and that if it happened it happened but it was time to start thinking and planning for life without kids, as the whole thing had left us hanging. Two months later I got pregnant.

Who knows why; my mum's theory is "oh, you see, I told you to relax and it'd happen!" (coming from someone who'd also had problems conceiving is the only reason I physically restrained myself from smacking her) it could be all the messing around from the invasive tests helped (there's a theory that an endometrial biopsy helps an egg embed) it could be I upped my really low vitamin D levels, or it could just be timing (average time at our age to conceive naturally is 12-24 months)

There's some interesting reading and stats in the books 'The Impatient Woman's guide to getting Pregnant' by Jean Twenge on the average time to conceive.

Stinkylinky · 16/03/2015 13:30

It took me around 6 months after coming off the pill to fall pregnant. We weren't "trying" as such but we had a "if it happens it happens approach".

I know lots of people who were TTC for upwards of a year but fell pregnant naturally. All the best op x

Blueskies80 · 16/03/2015 13:32

2years 9 months for my first (started trying when I was 28, clomid and injections failed), finally conceived naturally age 30
Three months of not preventing for my second, and a bit of surprise given our history, age 32

It was so hard first time round but it made us stronger as a couple in the end although it took us to the limit. People got together and had a child in the time we took! And I cherished every moment with my first as had waited so long for her to arrive!