Natural Birth & Parenting
What tips/ tricks do you have for TTC naturally?
(I'm going to be TTC this January so, it's a good time to get started)
Replies
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For our first we charted my cycles. I would also chart my cervix position as well as the type of cervical mucus I was having as to pinpoint when ovulation was occuring. I did end up also using EPO the first half of my cycle to increase fertile cervical mucus.
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This is seriously THE best forum for TTC in my opinion:
http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/178
They're a more natural minded forum (some women are more crunchy than others, of course)...the best part is that they know all the good natural stuff, but are also very knowledgeable about medical options when necessary. I hung around in there a lot when learning how to AVOID pregnancy lol Seriously, learning how to conceive is the best way to learn how to NOT conceive, IMO.
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For Briar we used opks and diet for him more than me, if you want to do teas an such talk to Cindy she has all kinds of things for TTC that way. Also I have heard EPO helps TTC to be easier. I am excited for you how fun, our babies can be friends.
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I forgot to mention that exercise is a huge key to boosting fertility because it promotes good balance or hormones, and better blood flow.
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I liked this: Welcome to Taking Charge of Your Fertility
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charted online, then made sure I layed with my hips elevated for 1/2 hour after sex. After months of "just trying" I was ready to do anything. I also elminated as much caffeine from my diet as possible & took prenatal vitamins.
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I don't really like the TTC group itself, I feel like it's a frenzy over there every day. :(
We've been keeping track of my cycles, which is.. easy, since i'm on birth control. We're going to be stopping pills next month, and won't be trying until Feb. However, I got pregnant the first time my husband and I had sex, so i'm not sure what to expect when we're actually trying.
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I wish I had some good tips. We have never had a problem getting pregnant. On the opposite, we say baby and I'm pregnant. I wish you the best of luck with TTC =-)
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I LOVE her book and her charting program (it's the one I use). The day we conceived ds (May 7th 2009) I told DH that I was possibly fertile (but that cycle was crazy so I wasn't sure how close to ovulation I was). He said "let's risk it," the next day I looked at my chart and my temp spiked on May 8th! On May 20th there was a + test and 41 weeks later he was born!
Quoting doulala:
I liked this: Welcome to Taking Charge of Your Fertility
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In addition to Taking Charge of Your Fertility, for women with excess androgens, spearmint tea works!
For excess androgens which are inhibiting ovulation (many but not all PCOS sufferers have excess androgens, and some women without PCOS also have) you can drink spearmint tea to correct the hormone imbalance. 2 cups a day, every day, reduces excess testosterone without harming your other hormone levels.
If you aren't sure whether you have excess androgens, here are some clues: got a stiff chin whisker or mustache hair, or eyebrows that are getting wild, or is your hair getting thinner up top like male pattern baldness in early stages? Other things can cause hair thinning, but the facial hair problem is a dead giveaway of excess androgens.
Also check your ring finger. Longer than your index, or shorter? Normal females have a shorter ring finger than index. Normal males have a longer ring finger, than index. Index and ring being equal in length, is harder to call. But if your ring finger is definitely longer than your index, especially on both hands, that's an indication that your mother had elevated androgens while pregnant with you (which can be because of too much stress for her in pregnancy, or other factors), and as a result, your development was permanently affected, and women with the masculine digit ratio are more likely to have elevated androgens.
Women can also have too much androgen because of too much stress, either physical or other, overtraining physically (packing on more muscle than is normal for a woman, and the muscle itself raises testosterone levels), and things like pituitary tumors or other problems.
Insulin resistance seems to go hand in hand with elevated androgens, though I keep forgetting which is chicken and which egg (if either)... but many who are insulin resistant also have elevated androgens. Sometimes reducing free circulating insulin (lowcarb, low glycemic diet) and increasing insulin sensitivity (taking cinnamon/chromium picolinate, exercising more) also addresses the excess testosterone and normalizes ovulation.
For me it didn't, and I still needed the spearmint tea... but I have the masculine digit ratio, and for me, elevated androgens are kind of a lifelong default state of being, independent of other factors, so the spearmint really helped.