One does not simply... get pregnant

**onthefly** · February 1st, 2013, 12:59 PM

Ok, I'm asking the LT TTCers because I know you've tried it all

My two littlies were conceived through IVF and it's been a while since we tried with sex, really. But I figure, it's cheaper than IVF so maybe we'll give it a go. Only, it's been a while and I"m out of touch with all the new-fangled acts of desperation out there.

I have no idea if I"ve ever ovulated - except that time I blew my eggs before egg pickup. I usually have regular, 29-day cycles, though and I also have endometriosis. My DH has lazy swimmers. The odds aren't great.

I'm on vitex and we've both taking royal jelly - because I read somewhere that people do these things. There's little chance I can get my DH to give up caffeine or alcohol. maybe he'll cut back? Also, we have sex occasionally

I hear that's supposed to help.

Hit me with your regime. (I don't want to do charting/thermometers because that just drove me completely mental when I used to do that, and, also, I never got pregnant anyway).

**Lenny** · February 1st, 2013, 01:04 PM

Good luck. Not sure whether the sex thing works. I don't reckon it does.

I do think OPKs are a good idea. They aren't expensive. I used them along with cycle monitoring many many moons ago, and was surprised that even though my cycles were completely predictable, the ovulation itself seemed to happen later than we thought. That'll save wasting all the sex on nothing!

When you have little children you can't do the thermometer thing. Life and sleep becomes too unpredictable.

I hear having a holiday (with your DH) or buying a dog - they are meant to help too.

**~TT40~** · February 1st, 2013, 01:08 PM

i only paid attention to when AF was. by marking a red dot on my calender. and paid attention to cm. my body made it really clear to me when i was ov tho. and if i was ov from my left i would get a stitch like pain for a day or so.
mind you...we didnt get pg either but since found out it was impossible because of DH (nothing at all indicating i couldnt fall naturally).

umm..i heard water makes it sticky so made sure i drunk bucket loads if it..but did that for other reasons too.

i would just have unprotected sex. if it happens then thats a miracle. if not well thats normal so no need to stress.

**nothing2lose** · February 1st, 2013, 01:09 PM

On the way to school pickup so will be back but in the meantime, forget the sex thing. It's a myth

**Ladylove** · February 1st, 2013, 01:10 PM

My man is taking menevit because when we were TCC he first time he found out he has low motility. But then he later told me he only got his sample to pathology within minutes of the hour deadline or however long it is because he initially went to the wrong lab and a friend said that would have affected the motility of his minnows. Little did I know I was actually pregnant when the dr. broke the news so we never did find out if he did have low motility or not but this time around I figured he may as well use the menevit... Anyway that was a long story but yeah, menevit!

Oh and I'm taking an EPO/fish oil combo for better/more cervical mucous and a prenatal/preggo supplement.

**onthefly** · February 1st, 2013, 01:21 PM

a holiday! now why didn't I think of that?

do OPKs work if you have PCOS?

**briggsy's girl** · February 1st, 2013, 01:27 PM

do OPKs work if you have PCOS?

no. they arent recommended

**Lenny** · February 1st, 2013, 01:29 PM

Sorry.

**jellybean88** · February 1st, 2013, 01:35 PM

.....

**Marley&Me** · February 1st, 2013, 01:53 PM

do OPKs work if you have PCOS?

Yes, they can! I bought the good ones from the chemist and it was always positive. But then I bought cheaper online ones and they seemed to work. I still had quite dark lines, but just a shade lighter than the control. And when my surge came it went really really dark, so I knew that was it.

After more than 3 years, just booking in to Melb IVF did the trick for me. Lucky cos I had no freakin idea where we were going to get the money from!

**Joeve** · February 1st, 2013, 02:19 PM

Hmmm we tried sex it didn't work. Then we tried all kinds if other stuff including ivf.... Still didn't work. Lazy swimmers here too.
We had a another crack at sex supplemented with a weekly dose of acupunture and Chinese herbs, not one ounce of expectation and some full on non planned ttc type sex which had ruled our life for years. One of those lazy bum swimmers actually decided to crack the egg. So not sure if it was the herbs, acupunture, the screwed up remnants of a failed ivf cycle or just a miracle but it worked. No temping no opks.... Goodluck and hey enjoy the sex anyway!

**onthefly** · February 1st, 2013, 02:23 PM

Did you guys both do the acupuncture & herbs?

maybe i'll save money on the opks....

**Joeve** · February 1st, 2013, 02:39 PM

I did acupunture for the month I did ivf. Once per week, no herbs. Ivf didn't work and I got AF. We decided to have one month off before ivf round 2. So I continued acupunture, around cd 14 my acupunture lady asked how my cm was, and I said I had nothing happening she suggested some herbs to help as she had seen that happen after a round of ivf before. I drank them twice per day and by the 3rd day had heaps of cm. It appears from my dating scans etc that I didn't ov til cd 20. I continued acupunture weekly and when I got my bfp she gave me more herbs to assist.
I also used up the left over crinone I had from my ivf cycle from around cycle day 22 just because it was there and I thought it wouldn't hurt!
Hope that helps. The acupunture is more relaxing than opks!! Lol
DH cut out all caffeine and alcohol only he's not one for drinking herbs!

**nothing2lose** · February 1st, 2013, 02:50 PM

Mad B, try coQ10. It's great for egg quality.

Mind you, I've done acu, herbs, supplements....everything. Nada. Just looking at holiday destinations and fitting the backyard out with a kennel to go.

I have PCOS and only the expensive opks (seratec brand) work for me. I know when I am ovulating now though due to weight gain, pimple outbreak, ewcm.

**Andie78** · February 1st, 2013, 03:06 PM

Tried the sex thing too, no luck. Apparently just relaxing works too... ; )

I second coQ10. after 10 Ivf transfers, the 11th one worked & it's the cycle I took this & fish oil. Husband took them too. No fertility issues for either of us. Like n2l I tried everything else, opk's, temping, acu, herbs - even bought one of those maybe baby thingies. Didn't work for me, but I've heard good things about acu & I will say that I felt great taking liquid herbs & cycle was perfect (length, ewcm etc).

If you didn't want to temp to find out if you ovulate, you could get a BT done to check levels. Might give you an idea if ovulation occurred. Goodluck.

**Marley&Me** · February 1st, 2013, 03:08 PM

Did you guys both do the acupuncture & herbs?

maybe i'll save money on the opks....

I was doing acupuncture too and drinking herbs. But I stopped about 4 weeks before i got my BFP so I'm unsure weather it worked or not. Plus I conceived on a 150 day cycle! I knew I was ovulating so we discussed dtd, couldn't be bothered because we had given up on sex actually working. But the next day decided to just have one crack and hey presto. Total fluke.

Good luck!