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Pregnancy

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

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Original poster

Did you try to time your pregnancy and did it work out?

83 replies

Goostacean · 04/06/2021 13:06

Thinking about ttc for a June baby. Even May would be acceptable. Don’t want any July-Oct birthday, ideally. I am well aware that nature can have other plans!

Did you try for a specific timing? Did it work out?

OP posts:

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CTR1000 · 04/06/2021 13:46

I’m due my first on December 8th this year. Didn’t even cross my mind to worry about what time of year they’re born!

Chanel05 · 04/06/2021 13:46

Nope.

I just assumed I'd fall pregnant within 3 months. Took me 8 months, had a miscarriage and then another 8 months. I just wanted a baby.

I'm a teacher and my daughter was born in September. The amount of people that have told me it was well timed 🙄. I tell them, yes, my 16 months of ttc and miscarriage was very well timed.

Helenluvsrob · 04/06/2021 13:47

Yep timed no 1 for august. Turned up in July.
( to take advantage of the ending of a training post - if baby born before end of contract got paid mat leave but as long as enough training time - allowing that AL could be taken at the end , no need to return to post after mat leave - was many years ago )

Hdujsjdjdbru · 04/06/2021 13:56

Yes. I wanted a September onwards baby for schooling and got that (by a week!) We waited until December to start trying and were very lucky that it happened straight away. Currently just started trying for 2nd. I was going to wait until December again to start trying but I am aware how lucky we were last time and already worrying we won't be this time so starting now.

PinkMangoChristmas · 04/06/2021 14:02

We did, we wanted a summer baby but didn't take into consideration our own birthdays and now it's highly likely both myself, my partner and our daughter will share the same birthday week, this month is going to be expensive.

Chelyanne · 04/06/2021 14:28

Nope... hubby is military so ours tend to be conceived during his leave periods and we don't get much choice with those.

Chelyanne · 04/06/2021 14:31

@PinkMangoChristmas our eldest 2 share a birthday week just before Christmas. Our twins share a birthday week with hubby and our 3rd shares her birthday week with me. This one will be a summer baby though so only my dads birthday that month.

Original poster

Goostacean · 04/06/2021 14:53

Some great stories here, thanks for sharing! Just goes to show that Sod’s Law is alive and kicking... but thank goodness for those lovely babies, regardless of when they arrive, and for those who have had a difficult journey.

Absolutely agree that all I’d want is a healthy baby ultimately. But it’s fun to pretend we have some control One of mine has an 8th Dec birthday! So far so good, not too close to Christmas.

In answer to a question, I’m 30 and got pregnant very quickly both times previously, with no other issues in those pregnancies. Very fortunate. Slightly puts me off risking it again tbh, but that’s a whole other thread.

OP posts:

WolfMother326 · 04/06/2021 15:10

it took 8 months to conceive (age 36) so impossible to plan this! We wanted to take one month off ttc over Christmas so I could stop being careful about food and drink and ended up getting pregnant right beforehand. Baby coming in August, which is the one month we wanted a pass on. But it doesn't matter, and we are so happy.

irisheyesaresmiling7 · 04/06/2021 15:19

We wanted spring babies and we succeeded in having 5 spring babies so now we've got 6 birthdays (theirs & mine) all within a few weeks of each other.
2 in one week, a wee break, 2 in another week, a couple of weeks and 2 more in one week.. expensive time of year 😂

Original poster

Goostacean · 04/06/2021 15:22

Kudos to the mums of big families here, wow, I’m definitely stopping at 3- max!

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AnonymousXXIX · 04/06/2021 15:23

Lol no, due Christmas eve.

TheDamnFoolThatShotHim · 04/06/2021 15:35

I conceived easily with my first so naively assumed it would be simple second time round too so thought we'd try to 'time' our second. Similar reasons to you with reference to schooling etc so started TTC in Jan with the hope of a Sept/Oct baby.

Took the best part of a year (and lots of stress) to get pregnant, then had a MMC. Thankfully pregnant again now and the due date is the least of my concerns!

I don't think there's any harm in 'trying' to time it, as long as you're realistic about the fact that it might work but equally it might not.

SillyBry · 04/06/2021 15:39

Kind of... we vaguely thought a spring baby would be nice and had our first on 26th April. Fab timing!
When it came to number 2, we weren’t too fussy... due to Covid I couldn’t get my implant out until July... so we started trying. And ridiculously I fell pregnant straight away and my due date would have been 24th April!!! Ridiculous timing... unfortunately, the pregnancy was ectopic and ended in surgery, so I had to take 3 months to heal. The only thing we didn’t want was an august baby as our family has SOOOO many august babies in! And I then fell pregnant, due early September!
I would say it’s easier to avoid months you don’t want than to plan for months you do want!

MoreAloneTime · 04/06/2021 15:41

We just avoided Christmas so March and April, didn't want to make it much more complicated than that

allfurcoatnoknickers · 04/06/2021 15:48

@AnonymousXXIX I was due on Christmas DAY AND my Mum kicked off and managed to get a C-section at 37 weeks (you could apparently do that in the 80s) so she didn't have to spend Christmas in hospital.

OP. I was aiming for an autumn baby, but DS was born on June 7th. I have PCOS and Endometriosis and the doctors and I thought it would take forever to conceive and I'd probably need at least IUI, if not IVF, even though I was only 31. I was knocked up within 2 months of being off the pill.

Dinosaurus86 · 04/06/2021 15:51

Yes and no!

Tried to time it to be least inconvenient for my work contract. Ended up needing minor surgery to conceive so now just pleased to be pregnant whenever!

Justbetweenus · 04/06/2021 15:56

Yes (for financial reasons around the way maternity pay was calculated and when annual bonus was paid) and yes it worked. I was 34 and it was DS2.

Miljea · 04/06/2021 15:58

I would have definitely had done so if I had time on my side. I would have aimed for mid Jan; eldest in Australian school year, middling in English one.

As it is, they're both May.

Regarding school years, you'll always get people asserting that it doesn't matter if your child is late August as their's is 'flying through Y2' or similar.....(always measured in academic achievement, rarely maturity).

The stats stack up in favour of an earlier in the school-year birthday. The advantages often don't become evident before at least puberty.

ShowOfHands · 04/06/2021 16:00

I put off ttc to avoid a July/Aug due date for academic reasons and conceived the first month of trying. I was rather surprised as it took 14 cycles and 2 miscarriages to have my first. I was due on Sept 23rd and my midwife was convinced he'd be an August baby for various reasons. I hung on and hung on and my waters broke at midnight on Sept 1st!

Ironically, my summer baby was and is top of her class and was so ready for school and my Sept baby is bang on average and wasn't ready for school.

My eldest started school 4 days after her brother appeared and it was perfect. It gave me 6hrs a day with just the baby and dd felt special and excited because she was doing something new too.

Original poster

Goostacean · 04/06/2021 16:01

Agreed re school year, although I recently read a whole thread about how everyone’s August babies were thriving and not disadvantaged at all. It’s obviously not the end of the world, but I’d prefer to avoid that. Also tbh to make my own life easier as my eldest goes through the transition to school!

OP posts:

rhowton · 04/06/2021 16:14

Yes, I tried for a September baby and got a September baby.

SnowyPetals · 04/06/2021 16:22

We didn't for first, wish we had done as Igot pregnant straight away. We did for second as I didn't want a summer or Christmas baby, and conceived quickly again so that worked out for us. If you are lucky enough to be able to choose, I recommend it.

MissChanandlerBong90 · 04/06/2021 16:38

Not exactly, but I did avoid months. So we didn’t start TTC in March because I worked out my due date would be be between Christmas and New Year, and I didn’t want that.

We started trying in April working on the basis that it would take at least 6 months and we were very lucky - happened first time and I’m due in January (but only 7 weeks, so anything could happen).

But the more I’ve learnt about fertility and parenthood the more I’ve realised nothing is guaranteed. You could struggle to conceive; you could conceive at the drop of a hat and then miscarry; you could suffer an ectopic or molar pregnancy; the list goes on.

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 04/06/2021 16:38

Sort of, but accidentally!! So we decided that it would be good to have another when our DS got free nursery hours when he turned 3. So got coil out last Nov, so give it a 6 weeks for cycle to regulate, then new baby in late sept.

Then various things happened, we postponed TTC, then learned that the nursery hours kick in in the January term. Once the various things were fixed we got back on it, and now 9 weeks, due early January, when tge free nursery hours kick in after all!

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