TTC for Beginners!
Just thought I’d make a post for all the TTC newbies that are just starting their journeys with some things I’ve learned over the years! Some of this advice may not “ring true” to your personal beliefs, but consider that it applies to the larger population.
1 - Get on prenatal vitamins right now. It’s strongly recommended you take them for 3 months before conceiving. Gummy vitamins aren’t the cheapest option but a lot of capsule types will make you feel sick. Along with this, start balancing your diet to include fibre and a good variety of nutrients!
2 - Start tracking your cycle. Cycle Day 1 (CD1) is the first day of actual flow, not spotting. My fertility clinic once told me that if you start bleeding after 6pm count the NEXT day as CD1.
3 - Start a healthy exercise routine now. Pregnancy and TTC is hard on your body and your mental health. Going for a jog, walk, dancing, anything to get yourself moving now will help manage these things in the long run.
4 - Start reducing your alcohol consumption. No amount of alcohol is considered safe during pregnancy. If reducing your alcohol consumption is difficult, please consider delaying pregnancy until you’ve got your habits under control. There’s no shame in asking for help.
5 - My fertility doctor strongly recommends not partaking in any recreational drugs while TTC. Some of these can cause birth defects and pregnancy loss. Cannabis only has anecdotal evidence that it is “safe” as it’s not ethical to run a study.
6 - Work on quitting cigarettes/nicotine vapes. The effects of these on a pregnancy are well documented.
7 - Get your vaccination records checked. Most adults are due for a Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) booster. This one is incredibly important as the birth defects are awful. You cannot get this vaccine while pregnant but should be vaccinated before pregnancy.
8 - Consider Temping to get a good grasp on how your body performs in a cycle. This often does not apply to those with PCOS unfortunately. Highly recommend the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
9 - See your doctor/gynaecologist for a preconception check up! Get some blood work and a Pap smear/STI test done. Even if you are in a monogamous relationship, a regular STI is important. Undiscovered STIs can cause pregnancy loss.This way you can be aware of anything you should take care of. Pap smears are recommended once every 3 years at minimum.
10 - Be wary of pregnancy supplements. There are a lot of shifty companies out there looking to make a buck off of desperate women looking to conceive. A healthy couple has a 20% chance of conceiving in the first year. If after a year you’ve not conceived, and are under 30, contact your doctor. If you are over 30, contact your doctor after 6 months.
11- DO NOT PANIC if it doesn’t happen the first cycle. This is hard. Trust me, I know. The emotions are difficult, TTC will get in your head, give yourself grace and try to enjoy the experience.
12 - Consider your approach to childbirth. Would you like a midwife or doctor? Where I am from there is stiff competition to get a midwife especially, you need to apply for one the day you get a positive test and then cross your fingers and hope to be selected.
13 - Unless your sperm providing partner has quality issues, there’s zero reason to lay on your back for an hour after sex. They swim fast. The gush after sex has no sperm that stood a chance at fertilizing, they are mostly dead or ineffective, it’s primarily seminal fluid. Get up, go pee, a UTI will throw off your TTC plans otherwise.
14 - Get your sperm providing partner on a good multivitamin, it’s just as important for their quality. My partner often takes my prenatal gummies haha, if they aren’t big on remembering vitamins, they’ll happily eat a gummy candy usually. If you partner is a fan of hot tubs, hot baths and hot showers, they’ll need to dial these back a bit. Sperm usually replenish within 48 hours, but heat can cause quality issues if it’s too much or too often. Along with this, unless there’s quality issues, your partner does not need to abstain from masturbation. As I said, sperm replenishes, if it’s held for too long, it can actually cause quality issues.
15 - Sperm is pretty amazing stuff, it can actually survive in the seminal pool waiting for egg release for 5+ days! It’s more common for it to last 3-4 days, so do not wait for ovulation day to try! I’ve been pregnant 5 times, some of the cycles we have conceived, we had sex once, days before ovulation. We start trying on CD10 when possible for ovulation on CD15 usually.
16 - Enjoy your pre pregnancy life! If this your first, babies and pregnancy DO change how you live your life in a lot of ways. Be sure that you are ready, financially, emotionally, physically, and that you have a good support system. If you haven’t yet, it’s never too early to discuss parenting styles and your expectations of life as a parent with your partner if you have one. (Pursuing pregnancy as a single person is a valid choice!)
17 - Symptom Spotting. You will drive yourself crazy with watching every little thing in the two week wait (TWW), suddenly everything could mean pregnancy. But often PMS and pregnancy symptoms are the same. Usually morning sickness doesn’t kick in til week 6, but some women do experience it sooner. (My poor SIL had severe sickness and didn’t even need a test to know my nephew was on his way, her second pregnancy.) Again, give yourself some grace on this but try to remain level headed to avoid disappointment! Every time I have been pregnant it has felt different in the early days!
18 - Ovulation predictor kits! OPKs, if you are going to use them, it’s super important to understand how they work. If you have a regular typical 28ish day cycle, I’d recommend starting with OPK strips on CD10. Start with one a day, and as the test line gets darker, I recommend doing one in the morning and one at night. It will make the peak line much more obvious. It is possible to miss the peak on a test if you only test once per day as you near ovulation. OPKs are not there to tell you that you are ovulating right in that moment. They track the LH surge that accompanies the egg maturing for release. Your tests will peak 24-48 hours BEFORE the egg is released, and once the egg is released it will stay alive in the fallopian tube waiting for fertilizer for 12-24 hours. Once you get an idea of your ovulation day if your cycle is consistent, you can honestly stop buying these tests and save the money. However, there’s a catch, you can have an LH surge but not ovulate effectively. And in addition to this, some women do not have a strong enough LH surge to trigger a peak test result but still ovulate! Try to not drive yourself crazy peeing on sticks. Cheap Wondfo OPKs work just as well as the expensive sets.
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Edited to add a few things, might keep doing so!
I could go on, I’ve got a lot of info in my brain after years of TTC! There’s so much misinformation out there, please do your research and make the right choices for yourself. There’s a lot of judgment in the TTC/Parent world, often it’s best to keep your head down and do the best you can for yourself and your pregnancy!