How soon to start?

[charlotte101]

Me and my fiance are planning to wait at least 3 years, as we want to have more money saved befpre having a child, and also spending some time together first, still cant wait for children though!

[MelloJess83]

Hi Ladies!  FI and I are getting married next month (woohoo!) and have decided to wait a little while.  I found out 7 yrs ago I had high blood pressure, and have been on meds since.  Since I was diagnosed with HBP I immediately starting changing my life.  In the past 7 yrs, I've lost 50 lbs.  Unfortunately, that has not changed my blood pressure, and I'm still on meds.  I DO NOT want to be taking medication from the day we conceive, so I am doing everything I can to get off my meds.  My gyno has reassured me they have blood pressure meds for pregnant women, but there is such a good chance of me developing HBP again during pregnancy, I don't want to be taking meds from Day 1.  I have about another 15 lbs to go, and keep praying this might work!  I am coming off my BCP when we get back from our cruise, hopefully that helps lower my blood pressure too!  I'm almost 29, and he just turned 30, so we don't want to wait too long.  Hopefully within a few years

[LonaJ]

My FI and are going to wait a few months after we're married to have another little one. I already have a two year old  daughter so we figured there is no point for us to wait a year or longer so the kids can be realatively close in age. Plus, I want to be done having babies by the time I'm 30 and I'll be 27 when were married so we figured it's best not to wait too long.

[Realcdngirl]

Hi Ladies,

 

        We are getting married in June and have been TTC for the past 6 mths. We are hoping to be pregnant when we get married. I am 35 and FI is 32. If not, we will start talking to fertility doc when we get back. I have a good diet and exercise 5X/week. Pre-natal vitamins, omega 3, B6, magenesium and calcium. Think that's it...lol.

[deniden]

Hi ladies!

 

Just wanted to say, make sure you pick up a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility! It was super informative. I went off BC a couple of weeks ago and I have been charting my basal body temperature since. It looks like I am not going to ovulate this month, which I never would've known if it wasn't for that book. It is a must read!

 

Good luck and best wishes!

Denielle

[JoanneIreland]

Hi ladies!

I just wanted to thank everyone for contributing to this thread. I learned so much stuff here that I previosuly had no clue about!!

I wanted to share my good news - my husband and I were married this past November and are now expecting our first baby

 

I honestly believe that if I hadn't read through this thread and learned all this stuff I never knew before, well I may not be pregnant now, so I want to share my experience and advice with other TTC'ers ......

 

I'm 36, so age was a pretty big concern for us, so we knew once we were married we wanted to start TTC immediately.

I do not have "normal" cycles, they are longer than the norm, usually around 38 days, sometimes longer.

 

From reading this thread I purchased the following :

Book : Taking Charge Of Your Fertility (TCOYF)

Basal Body Temperature

I also made a charting speadsheet in Excel and printed it out to keep track.

 

Firstly, TCOYF blew me away! I was amazed at how little I knew about my own body. It was shameful really!!

I read the book about 4-5 months before we were married so had a few cycles of tracking before the wedding.

Every morning I would take my temperature at roughly the SAME TIME, BEFORE GETTING OUT OF BED (yes not even to pee, it is supposed to be your waking temperature for accuarate reads).

I could not find a basal temp without the "beeps", so that was the one real pain in the butt, especially if at weekends you were planning on going back to sleep, but a small price to pay none the less!

Around the same time I also started a prenatal vitamin and an iron supplement.

I quit smoking years ago, and planned to give up alcohol totally but with the wedding planning I needed my glass of wine too much!

My diet has always been healthy but I did pay more attention to it.

Also I made sure I was being really healthy, and working out more than normal (the upcoming wedding was a big incentive for that too!).

As well as temperature charting I made a consious effort to make note of CM.

After just 2 cycles I could clearly see my peak day was definitely not day 14 like most people think, should we have been always trying at day 14 we would probably never be pregnant!! For us it was Day 18-19.

 

Two weeks after our wedding I reached CD 18, and we tried the day before, day of, and day after.

I fully anticipated doing this for months, keeping our fingers crossed that because of our homework and research, that we may get lucky in the first 6 months, and if not at least I could go to my doctor with my charts/cycle history.

HOWEVER, low and behold, on our one month wedding anniversay I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive!!!!!

Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be lucky enough to concieve on our first try, and I am truely forever greatful to finding this thread and reading TCOYF.

Now we can't wait to meet our bundle of joy in August!!

 

In a nutshell MY ADVICE :

Read TCOYF as far in advance of when you plan to start TTC

Start prenatal vitamins and perhaps iron at least 3-4 months before TTC

Chart daily using waking basal temperature.

Take note of any CM

If you drink or smoke - quit now.

Eat healthier and excercise .

Within  2 cycles you should see a pattern of when your temperature drops and spikes, and should correspond with any CM, and thus be able to pinpoint your peak days of when to concieve.

 

Thank you everyone for your great advice and good luck to all the TTC'ers!

Joanne

 

 

[AmberDragon]

Hi ladies!  First off congrats to those who are expecting and/or had your child.  To those still TTC, I feel your pain.  I've been with my FI 5 for 51/2 years and we're finally getting married in Oct 2013.  I had an iud then went to the pill and got off everything in Sept.  We weren't trying then as we were waiting for my body to have a few cycles.  Sadly, I miscarried in January and have been ttc actively since.  I also can't recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility enough.  I've known about this book for years and it really does help you get to know your body.  I'm currently 36 and our  wedding is a year and half away.  I really don't want to be pregnant for our wedding, but I also don't want to stop TTC.  I would gladly go with a newborn baby!  I already have a 9 year old daughter, so traveling with a baby is nothing new to me.   I have family on the east coast and I'm on the west coast, so we'd travel frequently to see them. 

 

Another great tidbit is taking Evening Primrose Oil if you don't have the eggwhite cm.  You only take it from menstruation until you ovulate.  Once you ovulate, you stop taking it.  If you still want to take an essential fatty acid, you can substitute with flax seed oil from ovulation to menstruation.  I am trying the OPK for the first time along with my BBT.  I would love nothing more than to get knocked up now and have a new addition to our family for our wedding! 

 

So hello and good luck ladies! 

[deniden]

Originally Posted by JoanneIreland 

 

In a nutshell MY ADVICE :

Read TCOYF as far in advance of when you plan to start TTC

Start prenatal vitamins and perhaps iron at least 3-4 months before TTC

Chart daily using waking basal temperature.

Take note of any CM

If you drink or smoke - quit now.

Eat healthier and excercise .

Within  2 cycles you should see a pattern of when your temperature drops and spikes, and should correspond with any CM, and thus be able to pinpoint your peak days of when to concieve.

 

Thank you everyone for your great advice and good luck to all the TTC'ers!

Joanne

 

 

 

Originally Posted by AmberDragon 

 

Hi ladies!  First off congrats to those who are expecting and/or had your child.  To those still TTC, I feel your pain.  I've been with my FI 5 for 51/2 years and we're finally getting married in Oct 2013.  I had an iud then went to the pill and got off everything in Sept.  We weren't trying then as we were waiting for my body to have a few cycles.  Sadly, I miscarried in January and have been ttc actively since.  I also can't recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility enough.  I've known about this book for years and it really does help you get to know your body.  I'm currently 36 and our  wedding is a year and half away.  I really don't want to be pregnant for our wedding, but I also don't want to stop TTC.  I would gladly go with a newborn baby!  I already have a 9 year old daughter, so traveling with a baby is nothing new to me.   I have family on the east coast and I'm on the west coast, so we'd travel frequently to see them. 

 

Another great tidbit is taking Evening Primrose Oil if you don't have the eggwhite cm.  You only take it from menstruation until you ovulate.  Once you ovulate, you stop taking it.  If you still want to take an essential fatty acid, you can substitute with flax seed oil from ovulation to menstruation.  I am trying the OPK for the first time along with my BBT.  I would love nothing more than to get knocked up now and have a new addition to our family for our wedding! 

 

So hello and good luck ladies! 

 

Joanne - congrats on your pregnancy! I love your little tips. I loved TCOYF & I also frequent the Fertility Friend boards. They have great articles, FAQs, and I use them to track my cycle with BBTs & CM. Super helpful.

 

Amber - thanks for the tip about Evening Primrose Oil, I had never heard about that!

 

Well, I've been charting since February since I went off of BC. We "tried" for a honeymoon baby but that didn't happen. I'm in my 2nd cycle of TTC, so we'll see what happens. I'm also taking B6 100mg, which is supposed to help lengethen your luteal phase, and Vitex, which is supposed to be like nature's Clomid. You take the B6 all cycle, and then the Vitex from Cycle Day 1 until ovulation.

[JoanneIreland]

Best of luck Amber and Denielle. Keep us posted on here. Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone TTC.

[AmberDragon]

Thanks!  I also forgot to mention that since I'm "high risk" now and recently off birth control I realized that my luteal phase wasn't lasting.  My temp would rise for a few days then then plummet down which usually indicates a progesterone deficiency.  I recently started taking Emerta pro-gest cream twice a day and actually have a complete luteal phase!  I take it when I ovulate until day 26.  If you're not pregnant then you stop taking the pro-gest and let your cycle start.  If you are pregnant keep taking it and make a dr appt asap.  You might have to be on progesterone until the 2nd trimester when the placenta takes over.   I feel like every month I'm getting my body more balanced.  Hopefully soon.  Keep charting your cycles as they can tell you a lot of what is going on with you body.  I also use the fertility friend app and website to track my cycles. 

 

I should also say that I'm an acupuncturist and working on specializing in women's health especially fertility issues.  So, I'm no expert but can help if anyone needs it.