TTC.... Let's Do This!

[CollinsMom]

After months of talking about a baby - and not "trying" but also not "preventing" (and being disappointed when we test negative - DH and I are officially TTC!

I purchased TCOYF (on Kate's recommendation) awhile back and while I have not read it cover-to-cover, I have read most of the stuff about charting and TTC. I have started temping and checking cervical position. I feel like I have always been in tune to changes in my CM.

So now I am turning to the educated crowd - what have I missed? How long did it take you to get pregnant? What's your take on the everyday/everyotherday/morning/evening debate? And how on earth do you stay interested thru all that sex??

TIA for any advice!

 

[PennStater]

I used that book too! My cousins and I joked about the copy we passed around being magic LOL

I started to chart my cycle in July 2006, and got pregnant that month.

Baby 2 was an unexpected surprise, so there was no trying involved

Good luck

 

[Tess81]

I'm new here and have been lurking for a long time but since I am also TTC I thought I would jump in here. I love that book but found that the temps were all over the place for me. My CM also seemed unpredictable and unreliable. I have an 8 month old son and when TTC I tried the TCOYF methods for two months with lots of confusion. Being a little impatient I splurged for the Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor and got pregnant the first month. I'm using it again this time around and am in the middle of my first month. Using the monitor let me know I was ovulating much later than I thought. As far as the sex, the monitor let me know when I had high fertility and the day or two when I was ovulating or had peak fertility so we went every other day on high fertility and multiple times per day on the two peak days. My sister in law also tried a couple of months with charting and ended up getting pregnant the first month using the monitor. This could be a coincidence and I certainly don't expect first try every time with the monitor but it really took a lot of the guess work out for me with gave me a lot of piece of mind. HTH.

 

[Sweetpea1]

The first time I got pregnant, I charted/temped for two months and and then became pregnant. Unfortunately that pregnancy was ectopic. I started charting again after my first full cycle and became pregnant that same month.

The thing with temping and charting is that you have to be consistent. You have to take your temp same time every morning or that can throw your temp off and sometimes cause the temps to be all over the place. I didn't look at each temp seperately but moreso the whole pattern. Also, I recommend temping vaginally because I found it to be more accurate. I also used CM as an indicator in fertility however I rarely checked CP. I didn't go by the book as much. I found another forum that had a whole support system of knowledgeable women who were charting/temping and TTC. (PM if you are interested in the website)

It's funny because after all that, the second time I became pregnant with my DS, I told my DH that we missed "the window" and that we would have to try again next month. We had a lot of family stuff going on that month so we weren't too disappointed. Lo and behold....it happened. I still believe that it is out of our control and will happen when its supposed to but it doesn't hurt to learn about your body in the process.

Hope this helps and I hope other women have more detailed information for you. It's been awhile since I did all this stuff so I didn't want to give you any inaccurate info. Good luck! Oh and it was hard to stay interested in sex so sometimes we would have a couple drinks.

 

[bmccartney]

I think that TCOYF is most helpful if you ovulate each cycle, have a clear build-up of cervical fluid, consistent luteal phase lengths, ect. I personally found it frustrating that my cycles looked nothing like the examples in the book, so it was a little difficult to apply the book to myself. That being said, it took 6 cycles of charting for us to get pregnant (I say cycles and not months since my cycles are ridiculously long). I use digital ovulation tests too to confirm when I'm ovulating, but I wouldn't spend the money if my cycles were more regular.

As far as how often to have sex: if your husband's sperm count is fine, every day and then twice/day on your peak days should be fine. It is hard for us to keep the interest in sex, especially when DH feels like he's being used for his sperm in a way. I've found that not telling him when I'm most fertile actually relieves some of his performance anxiety.

 

[Sweetpea1]

I agree with Bethany because my cycles never looked like the ones in the book but the other forum I was on had examples of charts ranging from 28 day cycles to 80 day cycles and everything in between. If I remember correctly I think it was Fertility Friend and it taught me SOOO much more than that book did.

 

[melanalyus]

Awesome book (TCOYF).

So many factors contribute to the TTC scene.

Maybe the most obvious (but sometimes missed) part is to have intercourse as much as physically possible and to relax (and have fun).

Infertility really isn't an issue unless you've tried 12 mos unsuccesfully.

Have fun & good luck!!