Hi all!

I am 28 years old, and just today my fiance (he is 39, and his last fertility check was excellent for sperm content and health) and I decided to start trying to conceive.

I'm very excited, but I know it can take a long time to successfully conceive. I stopped birth control about a year ago, but my cycles have been irregular since around 11/30/2011. It was odd, I had regular cycles after stopping birth control for 6 months, then out of the blue, I started being very irregular.

Also the one time I tested for my luteal phase, about 2 months after stopping birth control, it was incredibly early on in my cycle - as in on day 7 after my period. Is this just because of messed up hormones?

I started taking Vitex in January 2012, and am hoping that will help regulate my cycle better so I can get a better idea of how long my cycles are and when my luteal phase hits.

I spent roughly 10 years on hormonal birth control (took about 1-2 years off during that period of time). So I'm nervous about how that will affect my chances. Does anyone have any advice about whether the hormonal contraceptives will impact my fertility?

I took a "First Response" Fertility test that is supposed to show how healthy your eggs are and your potential fertility and it showed up as normal, healthy. But my irregular periods after so many months after quitting the pill are stressing me out.

I'm also an avid exerciser - I've been know to exercise for 3-4 hours a day on my recumbent bike. I've read that excessive exercise can harm your ability to conceive - does that just mean people who are hardcore runners, or any type of exercise? For the record, I'm not really cycling hardcore when I exercise, I just do it for long stretches because the amount of calories burned is so low with just one hour.

I am at a healthy weight for my height, and otherwise am healthy. I'm just worried that after my previous period (Mar 14, 2012) it's going to skip two months again. Can you ovulate and not menstruate?

Sorry for all the questions and if they're not in the right forum. I'm new to all of this and am quite excited.

Welcome and good luck in your ttc journey!

Hi and welcome to BnB. Sorry I don't have the answers to your questions but I'd suggest posting your questions in the TTC section as there'll be ppl experiencing the same who can advise you better there xxx

Welcome to BnB x x

Hello and welcome

I took angus castus (think its the same thing as vitex) and it worked wonders for regulating my cycles, I went from about 3 a year to every 38 days but my problem was mostly weight and PCOS rather then birth control.

You'll get alot of help from others going through the same thing over in TTC section

and welcome!

Welcome! I am new as well Best of luck in your journey! Hope it happens for you quickly, because otherwise it will drive you mad! lol. I should know...

Welcome to BnB!

Thank you everyone for your replies! I will check out the TTC forum for answers. Good luck to all of you!