How long did it take you to conceive?

[sunja]

Just that really. DH and I are TTC our first and we are surrounded by people who got pregnant first time trying. It's making me feel really stressed, as if there's something wrong with me.

DH has had a sperm check (because of a family issue) and everything came back great, which just makes me feel like it's me.

Can I hear your stories of how long it took you to get pregnant each time you help manage my expectations please? Thank you!

First month - Only had sex one time that cycle.

5 years.
Was worried about becoming too old and had IVF, worked first time.

Try not to stress about others! I did this and caused really unnecessary stress and worry,
Dc1 it took 3 years a lot of fertility tests a lot of stress then my little miracle came naturally after we stopped " trying " so hard
Dc 2 2 years and the month he was conceived we'd only had sex twice
Dc 3 to our shock one month !
It really can vary !
Lots of prayers for you to have your little baby soon!! Xx

DC1 unplanned

DC2 took 9 months of really really trying

DC3 unplanned

DS1 3 months
DS2 9 months

1st child it took 18 months
2nd child 1 month hence only 12 months apart 🤪

Dc1 4 years, fertility tests, 6 months of clomid and then conceived first ivf, dt were 6 rounds of ivf plus one stopped halfway through. I was young (in my 20s).

First pregnancy, fell pregnant first month of trying, ended in early miscarriage. Then fell pregnant with DD 4 months later. Currently pregnant with our second who was conceived the first time of trying.

What I will say is we were tracking ovulation. Beforehand we’d been having unprotected sex in a what will be will be sense, but were really surprised by how off we’d been in terms of timings when we started tracking things.

18 months first pregnancy - end up a molar pregnancy
Then only 4 months once cleared to try again

Hi OP

DC1 - One month, planned and tracking ovulation.

DC2 - One month, unplanned, no tracking. 😂😂

Please be assured that for every two of my friends who have fallen relatively quickly, I have another friend who it has taken up to two years. Another two of my best friends have had IVF for unexplained fertility. What I’m trying to say is - there will be a lot of posters who will respond with quick times. But so many take a lot longer and it’s common too.

Decided to TTC in mid-2021. Came off the pill, my period didn't return for 6 months and continued to be highly irregular for a year after it finally came back. I reported it to my GP before the first visit from AF 6 months post-pill, who instantly sent me for fertility testing and put me on the IVF waiting list. He did this despite us only just having started TTC as he was concerned about my cycle and age (I had just turned 35 at the time I reported it). Thank goodness he did, as we didn't have so much as a sniff of a BFP until we made it to the top of the waiting list for IVF 2 years later. We started a cycle of IVF in September 2024 which worked first time and I'm just shy of 24 weeks pregnant now at 38.

FWIW none of our tests came back with any issues and my cycle did eventually go back to normal after just over a year off the pill, but despite that, it just never happened naturally. We ended up with a diagnosis of unexplained infertility.

You didn't say how long you've been TTC or your age, but regardless of your situation, best of luck with it all.

One cycle for 2 of my kids. The other 2 took around 5 or 6 cycles though that was with another partner.

First pregnancy - 2 years. Pretty sure we conceived the day we had our first fertility consultation. Ended in early miscarriage a couple weeks later.

Second pregnancy - 11 months. Fertility investigations confirmed what we'd suspected from the start. I had PCOS, and rarely ovulated. I needed to lose weight to get to try Clomid, which took the 11 months. First dose of Clomid did the job. There were two mature follicles, but only one was fertilised. A little over 8 months later DC1 was born.

Third pregnancy - 5 months. A bit of a surprise given we were expecting to need Clomid again. The key difference (other than having extreme baby rabies) was taking inositol. Apparently it works the same as Metformin, but while Metformin worked to regulate my periods, I still wasn't ovulating. I firmly believe Inositol (along with taking Metformin) was the trigger for ovulation. We even only DTD once that cycle, but once was all that was needed apparently. Eight months later we welcomed DC2 into our lives.

First one, a very long eleven months.

Second one, literally the first time we tried. I thought it'd take ages so we started trying only to fall on the first go, when DC1 was seven months old.

Third one, about four months.

Exactly the same. And the one and only time we didn’t use contraception either.

Second took six months officially, but we didn’t have sex at the right time for the first four months of that.

7 years and 5 rounds of IVF.

Unplanned dd1, slapdash number 2 , as soon as quit breastfeeding dd1 but was open to it

Dc1 - first month
Dc2 - second month
Dc3 - wasn't trying at all, in fact I had a mirena but got pg anyway. Hadn't had a period since I got pg with dc2

Never, ten years on, Clomid, two rounds of ivf, second ended in mmc.

Have largely come to terms with it, no medical reason ever pin pointed, such is life.

Basically straight off the pill both times. First time I got 1 period, second time I didn't even get a period.

Pregnancy #1 - 4 cycles - ended in MMC

Pregnancy #2 - 3 cycles - ended in MC twin 1 and TMFR twin 2

Pregnancy #3 - 13 cycles - resulted in a baby

Pregnancy #4 - 16 cycles - currently 31 weeks.

How long have you been trying OP, and how old are you both?

Really it's not that relevant what other people post on here, as everyone's situation, body, age is different, and there's also a fair dose of chance involved.

You can't draw any conclusions about your own situation from a thread like this, other than 'different people conceive at different rates' which you probably already knew!

If you post your age/ how long you've been trying, that's something to go on and people can advise.

7 months, which was bang on average for our age category (my partner found an online calculator🤣) and somehow I still felt like that was REALLY LONG compared to my people around me.

I've noticed people who got pregnant very quickly will announce it very comfortably, whereas those for whom it took a bit longer just don't mention it. I'm part of that trend, I told my friend who then shouted "7 MONTHS?!?" in horror (she was a first try-er)... so after that I didn't really mention it unless asked directly.

And mine is an average length of time!! So don't panic, just try for a year and if still nothing go to the doctor for some tests. I wasted a lot of energy convincing myself I was infertile and am now almost 17 weeks! Xx

First cycle of trying with our first, then 3rd cycle of trying for the second (unfortunately ended in miscarriage so will be TTC again soon!)

First time at 31, 11 cycles, second time at 32, one random contraceptive fuck up (termination), third time at 33, 3 cycles