For those of you who are already mommies!

[Hollynesss]

I have some possibly neurotic questions, but as a first-timer perhaps you can help out some of us!

We all fear the dreaded "i" word...and although most of us will conceive just fine and will never have to hear that horrible word (infertility), there are things we can do to make it a little easier for ourselves and our OHs and perhaps conceive a little faster.

What are some things that you did to either prepare yourselves and your bodies that you think may have made conception easier? Did you just go for it, or did you chart, use OPKs, etc? Did you take any supplements? Did you lay in bed with a pillow under your bum? Did you use any certain method (such as SMEP)? Or were you not even trying and it just happened?

Sorry for the barrage of questions!! Thank you in advance!

 

[CarlyP]

Don't apologize it's normal to have questions, I am a mum of 2 currently WWT, with both my children we just went for it, we were not trying, not preventing, it took 9 months with both to conceive, I didn't take any supplements etc...

Although this time round I am, I have been taking supplements for a while now and I plan to chart and OPK the full works!

Good luck !

 

[Biotechick829]

First thing is to definitely chart! Charting can give you an idea of your fertility - when you ovulate, what ovulation signs to look for, and how good of a luteal phase you have. Also, if you're doing SMEP (which I recommend!), you can stop BD'ing after you see your temp spike so you won't wear yourselves out

Second I'd say are OPKs and buy in bulk (the Dollar Store sells them and you can get cheapies online).

Everything else is a bonus

 

[LilMiss_91]

We were not trying not preventing when I fell pregnant. I think it only took about 2 or 3 cycles. I kept rough track of how long my cycles were etc but more so I would know roughly when to test

 

[katherinegrey]

We were trying for 9 months with my LO, we tried everything, vitamins, herbs, temping, opk's, all sorts, but the month I fell pregnant I only used opk's and temping, so no supplements at all, maybe I'd been confusing my body with all the different things I'd been taking and when I stopped I got pregnant

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

We just decided we were ready to expand our family, so I stopped taking my pills. The first month I charted, temped, etc - no luck, just left me extremely frustrated. I hated that it kind of felt like I was trying to regulate our intimate moments instead of just enjoying being with him like we've always done. Second month I tossed everything out and decided to let nature do it's thing without me trying to control it. We eloped at the beginning of the month and spent the rest of the month on roadtrips and our honeymoon vacation... got back from that trip, took a test, and BAM! Pregnant.

The only thing I plan on doing differently with #2 is taking prenatals before conceiving. I'm continuing to take them even now because they make me feel better. Otherwise I loved the whole "hands off" method, and it worked for us!

I hope you get your BFP quickly when you get ready for that point! Good luck!

 

[Reidfidleir]

Thorrin was a surprise but I had been charting my cycles. It's a very good way to know your fertile times. Even if you only temp and chart a few months before it can help. I was taking epo at the time (evening primrose oil) to hep regulate my luteal phase. Not sure if that helped or not but I was taking it then.

 

[Linny]

With our first we were very actively ttc. OPK's, charting, supplements, CBFM, it was stressful and took about 12mths.

This time we weren't trying at all. In fact I thought we were more in the wtt area as OH wasn't really ready for number 2. Becos I'd learnt so much about my body first time round we had been DTD when I knew I wasn't fertile. We did it once when I knew I was fertile and bam pregnant!

Have u thought about charting before you start trying just to get to know your cycles a little better? Then when u first start have a bit of fun, rather than going head first into the stressful part of ttc. Good luck x

 

[embeth]

Used ovulation sticks with number 1&2, number 3 just dtd on and off throughout fertile period.. Nothing else really! Conceived all 3 in first month trying xxx

 

[Hollynesss]

Thanks for all the advice, ladies! I've been charting for about 6 months now, and I started trying out OPKs last cycle. I just see soooooo much information when I venture over to TTC about girls trying all sorts of things, just curious what worked for you guys Only 5 more weeks until TTC for me!

 

[Abii]

We ttc our dd for alittle over a year using ntnp method but as the months went by I was getting worried so we moved to ttc and that was when I finally found this wonderful site. I got opks and started semi-charting(not temping but charting my cm, cervix position etc) then I heard about this lubericant called pre-seed and the instead softcups, I looked into it and decided to buy 2 tubes of ps and a box of the softcups. That month we used them around my supposed fertile days and I got my bfp on Nov/9th/2011, I found out that I had what they call a "hostile uterus". After I gave birth to dd I got pregnant again by surprise but I had a m/c so that one just happened

 

[canadabear]

We didn't get the chance to do any charting/temps etc. We had just finished talking about being ntnp.. then we must have concieved about 2 weeks later!
Though I do remember DH, after a particularly fantastic DTD session (tmi) 'if that didn't make a baby, nothing will!' And the best I can figure, giving my dates, that was actually the most likely day we concieved.
So, I would say, try to have fun with it for a while... personaly I think all the charting/ temping right off the bat would have just stressed me out and possibly made it harder to concieve. I figured I would enjoy NTNP for a good 6-8 months before looking at things more seriously... not that I had the chance to.
Have fun and good luck.. sending your way when you are ready!

 

[Marlarky]

I used OPKs once but theyre so expensive that I stopped. I took lots of vitamins and cut off all tobacco/alcohol usage and started eating healthier when I was preparing TTC.