TTC after chemical - but not right away?

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Hi everyone,

I just had a chemical pregnancy/very early miscarriage last week at 5+3. I'm quite sad, but also keen to get pregnant as soon as I can (I have a son who is a little over 2 and I would like as small an age gap as we can manage). I have read a lot that you might be more fertile straight after a chemical pregnancy, and I've seen quite a few threads where people conceived the next cycle immediately after a loss. However, I very frustratingly have a bit of an enforced break from TTC, as I will be finishing my work contract at the end of September, and if I conceived this month (and it stuck), the baby would be due early October, which wouldn't really be feasible for starting a new job and getting maternity pay.

Anyway, those are boring work details! Key point is I don't think I can really start trying again until March at the earliest. I'm now worrying that this enforced break from TTC will mean I miss this mystical extra-fertile window!

Does anyone have any insights on this, or stories of successful pregnancies following a chemical/miscarriage that WASN'T the immediate next cycle, but maybe 3+ cycles later? Sorry, that is quite specific, just trying to allay my worries...!

As far as I'm aware, you'd qualify for Maternity Allowance www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/eligibility

There are conflicting studies regarding fertility boosts after a miscarriage, it really seems to depend on the individual. Lots of people do conceive quickly after a loss, and some people don't.

I had a loss last year at 6 weeks, then got pregnant immediately off the back of it, and that was also a loss, a missed miscarriage at 9 weeks. It took two months for my tests to go negative and for my cycle to even remotely return, and even then they weren't back to normal, so I definitely wasn't fertile immediately afterwards. I got pregnant again in June, but lost our little boy at 19 weeks due to unexplained premature labour and know I ovulated just fourteen days later because I had to have a scan due to some residual pain and it showed a corpus luteum on my right ovary. Period arrives 28 days exactly after I gave birth. The body is a weird and unpredictable thing!

I'm so sorry you've been through such an ordeal 😔❣️

Gosh, I’m so so sorry to hear what a difficult time you’ve had with all of this. Thank you for your reply ❤️

I suppose I’m just hoping that the spike in fertility isn’t just for the very first month after a loss (if there even is a real spike in fertility), and that I’m not missing my best opportunity to have another child. Does anyone have any stories of getting pregnant 3+ months after a loss and things turning out well?

I had a CP cycle 1 and then conceived my now 2.5yo daughter on cycle 4! So exactly the story you're looking for I hope!

I'm sorry about your recent CP and hope it works for you as soon as you start trying again 😊

I had a chemical pregnancy on my first cycle of trying, I had high hopes for cycle 2 but it didn’t happen - but I got pregnant six cycles later so it most definitely happens.

I got pregnant on cycle 3 after a MMC (having skipped trying cycle 2) and that was a successful pregnancy. I then had another MMC and this time got pregnant on cycle 5 (having basically skipped cycles 1 and 2 so mostly missing the extra fertile window). Don’t know yet whether this will be a successful pregnancy, but fingers crossed. :shrug:

The other thing to note is that I read that you are more likely to have abnormal bleeding in a pg that follows close-on a miscarriage - and indeed I had a subchorionic haematoma with my successful pregnancy.