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after AF leaves. start BD'ing every other day. use OPKs to find out when your LH surge begins. chart your temps every morning at the same time before you do anything. that also helps me to find out what is going on.

hope this helps!

We are TTC for 8 months. Prior to this year I had an IUD for 12 years. We took it out on Jan 30th and conceived in Feb. Because I only had a 4 day menstrual cycle (instead of a normal 10 day one) I thought something was up. We unfortunately obtained a tubal pregnancy and had to take two rounds of chemo to flush the egg so it didn't result in removal of the entire ovary and tube. We were banned from trying again for 3 months. We waited 2. So currently we are going on 8 months of TTC.

What helps? I do not know but I follow all of the trends and do a lot of research from various websites. I can tell you what we do and then maybe you can look into adding just one or all of them. People tell us we are trying too hard (well if trying too hard is unsuccessful, then trying a lot less seems counterproductive).

*** The following information is just that, for information only, be advised that you attempt the use of any of these methods or items at your OWN RISK, these are just the ways and methods we have used in our own home. I take no credit or liability for misuse or incorrect dosage of such. All product trades and locations are respective property of their owners I take no ownership nor endorsement of such. ***

We use prenatal vitamins, vitamins for him, pre-seed, temping, charting, opks, instead soft cups, soy isoflavones, baby aspirin, primrose oil, mucinex, abstinence from caffeine and alcohol and tilting methods.

- prenatal - daily obviously for the folic acid and other vitamins that are necessary for a growing fetus if we do happen to conceive.
- Vitamins for him - zinc and multivitamin for healthy swimmers
- Pre-seed - sperm friendly lubricant (purchased at walgreens or online. Acts like extra amounts of cervical mucus gives swimmers better chance to enter cervix. Does not kill them like most jellies or oil based lubricants can. Don't use actual egg whites you can get salmonella.
- Temping - this is MIRACULOUS in pinpointing ovulation to the day. It is amazing to see how perfect your body is when temping and comparing months. Using an $8 Basal Thermometer from a drug store you take your waking temp before doing ANYTHING each morning at the same time ( I set an alarm on my phone. The thermometer will remember the temp when you get up later you can record it) which leads to ...
- Charting - this chart keeps your cycles, stats and more this chart is needed for 6 to 12 months sometimes before doctors will help with any meds. My charts are found here. http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/33fb00 and on this site.
- OPKs you can get these REALLY cheap on amazon about $12 for 50 sticks. Use these sticks (look up on google) to determine 1 to 2 days BEFORE ovulation to make sure you BD at the right time :) Mine was positive today!
- Instead soft cups - also found at walmart or walgreens. used after BD to keep swimmers where they belong (close to the cervix opening) you can google any of these items/methods but these are a $10 alternative to the "Conception Cap" at $300!
- Soy Isoflavones - natural clomid used by women without insurance or doctor's assistance to provide ovulation stimulating medications. I usually ovulate on cycle day 21, but with the soy iso I ovulate about cd 15, that's a huge difference! Used only 5 days during the menstrual cycle only.
- Baby Aspirin - google it, there is significant research to show that thinning the blood with an 81mg aspirin per day can help with those people who are having an implantation problem (which we don't know if that is the case or not really) but it def has not been proven to harm the process some women continue through the entire pregnancy if they have thick blood but others safely stop at about 2 weeks past first pregnancy positive test. Sometimes the egg implants but the tiny little veins that feed it get clogged up and die, aspirin thins the blood to feed those veins, etc. (this is our first cycle using baby aspirin)
- Primrose oil taken from menstrual cycle day 1 up to ovulation (not after because it causes uterine contractions) taken about 1500mg daily provides the body with the right kinds of fatty acids and oils to help develop good fertile eggs. Also increases cervical mucus and makes it more sperm friendly. I have noticed that this really.. really does! I have more snot in my nose, and much more cm than ever, it's crazy. (We just added this this cycle)
- Mucinex (soy isoflavones dry you up, as does clomid) you get so dry that sometimes you can't even make tears. The mucus you make can be really thick (thus hostile and not let sperm through) use of mucinex thins it out to allow good passage.
- abstinence from caffeine and alcohol. A man's sperm is produced 70-90 days before release. To create healthy sperm you should avoid alcohol and caffeine up to 3 months before conception. Caffeine has also been linked to constricting blood vessels in women (remember we need them nice and open to feed the eggie).
- Tilting (lastly) we prop our rear up on a pillow to allow gravity to down-flow the swimmers. Why not help them move towards the cervical opening, rather than standing up and changing the flow? About 15 min after BD is usually sufficient.

PRAYER! That's our other one, PRAYER..
Hope this helps? HAPPY baby making!