Amy's Abode

Now, it goes without saying that what I did might not work for you, and it very well might not work for me the next time around. That's because there is never a 100% chance that you will get pregnant, even while trying every possible day during a cycle since there are many factors completely out of our control that even something like IVF can't make happen with a guarantee. However, there are things you can do to increase your chances of conceiving and I'd like to share everything I did in hopes that it will help someone like me who didn't know anything about trying to conceive (TTC) before starting my journey.

Disclaimer: I am a healthy woman in my twenties who does not have any conditions that would decrease my fertility (for example, PCOS, Endometriosis, etc.) with a very consistent cycle whose husband is the same age and also has no fertility issues of his own (for example, low sperm count). This makes our changes MUCH higher right off the bat so please keep that in mind. With this little disclaimer out of the way, let's get started!

The first two points don't need much of an explanation. I stopped all birth control well in advance, mainly because the IUD did not react well with my body. We did this knowing there was a chance I'd end up pregnant earlier than planned and we were prepared for this to happen. As for prenatal vitamins, my gynecologist recommended starting well in advance, also because of the higher chances of becoming pregnant without a "real" form of birth control.

As for BBT, I purchased a BBT thermometer (it must be a BBT thermometer, not a standard one) and started using it every day as instructed to the best of my ability, meaning I'd take my temperature first thing after waking up before sitting up, speaking, drinking water, etc. This ensured the most accurate result. I also used the Pre-Mom app (available on the App Store and Google Play Store) to track the results of my thermometer along with tracking all of my periods, sex, headaches, cramps, etc.

It wasn't exactly six months because I'm not a big drinker, but I did have my last glass of alcohol while celebrating New Year's Eve (a few too many if I'm being honest) and had no desire to drink again regardless, but it fit in well with our timing so I decided I wouldn't bother drinking again since we'd be trying for a baby soon.

I also researched the ideal amount of each vitamin that I should be consuming per day and started taking more of those, paired with the MyFitnessPal app (iOS & Android) where I manually added each vitamin I was taking and started tracking my meals very carefully to ensure I was eating as close to a good balance as possible to have a sufficient vitamin intake. This included decreasing the amount of sugar I was having daily (which for me was A LOT for breakfast alone), increasing my eggs, meat and vegetable intake, and slightly decreasing carbs, but when I say slightly I mean barely anything. I like carbs way too much.

I was on a medication called Spironolactone that was being used specifically for my acne. Still, it is not safe for pregnancy (and often stops ovulation entirely so most people can't get pregnant while taking it) and it was recommended to stop it one month before trying to conceive. To be extra safe I stopped taking it four months prior and I'm glad I did because I turned out to not ovulate at all while on this medication.

I started using LH strips four cycles before the one where we conceived to accurately determine when I ovulated. At this point, I had just stopped taking my acne medication and was struggling to find my ovulation day. I also realized that my BBT never indicated ovulation for me because of the medication. I didn't ovulate the first month at all, but the LH strips and BBT confirmed ovulation the following three months. I was VERY lucky to have an incredibly consistent cycle: 27 days in length, a period ending after five days, ovulation on day 14. Every single time. I continued tracking with the pre-mom app.

That's pretty much all I did. No more desserts for the month prior to conceiving. I still had a normal amount of sugar, but for me this felt like zero sugar at all because I normally eat so much of it. It was pretty horrible. I was having exactly one tablespoon of Nutella every night as dessert to try and survive as it gave me something to look forward to. I'm pretty sure I had a large Dairy Queen blizzard as a final snack before cutting out extra sugar for the month as a final snack.

The PreMom app is very helpful and will tell you when to do your LH testing and when to have sex. The PreMom community has cute names for different things and they refer to sex as "Baby Dancing" and instead of saying "good luck" they say "baby dust." Starting day eight of my cycle, my husband and I "Baby Danced" once a day for 8 days straight. I was a little bit intense about this and specifically set timers 26 hours apart to ensure he had at least one full day to recover in between (because it can take that long to regenerate enough sperm to have an ideal amount). I had alarms on my watch. It was kind of nuts and it was the least romantic and most clinical thing ever, but we did it with a baby as our end goal and we survived it. Poor Steven.

A few days after ovulation, I was painting trim when I felt a weird twinging pain in my uterus. It was a weird sensation I'd never felt before and I immediately suspected it was implantation. Most people cannot feel when implantation occur, but some people are so sensitive and hyperaware of what is happening in their bodies that they can. I happened to be one of those. Knowing implantation was likely occurring, I paid close attention every time I went to the bathroom after that.

The next day (after feeling implantation) I noticed my dog Sophie was being extra clingy. She's normally a daddy's girl, but she wouldn't leave my side and kept following me everywhere I went and even cuddled me. This was a dead giveaway for me that something was happening. Lo and behold, I went to the bathroom that evening and there was a bit of dark blood. Implantation bleeding. It was much too early for my period to be starting (remember I have an extremely regular cycle) and the colour was consistent with implantation bleeding. This made me very hopeful, but I wasn't going to consider myself pregnant without a positive test.

Seven days post ovulation (DPO) my husband was out mountain biking with his friend and I decided to take a pregnancy test. I couldn't 100% tell if it was positive, but I saw something for sure. I told myself it might just be an indentation line, but deep inside I knew it was positive. Because of this, I set up a mini pregnancy reveal and hid it where my husband wouldn't see, having it ready for the next morning. 

Eight DPO in the morning, I woke up a bit before my husband and ran to pee. HCG levels are highest in the morning after sleeping because your urine is more concentrated so I knew if the test was positive the night before it would show up much more clearly in the morning. I was correct and there was a clear (faint) line so I quickly put out the pregnancy reveal and my husband came downstairs half asleep and that was that!