TTC Journey!!

Welcome to our long awaited trying to conceive journey! I planned for this for years but fortunately for us, we conceived (basically before) the first try so all of these methods helped at least for us or we are just really fertile. So I thought I would share them for anyone who was interested because this isn't really talked about. One of the keys to our journey is getting my progesterone up and keeping it up before and during conception time and into early pregnancy. This has helped us avoid early miscarriage as my levels have always been low and my luteal phase (time after ovulation and before your period) is pretty short. The standard is 14 days and mine is about 11-12 days always which also indicates low progesterone. I also spot 1-3 days before my periods start every month, another sign. Miscarriage is prevalent with low progesterone levels and I bled 8-12dpo in my last pregnancy and also unfortunately lost that baby. I bled the same time frame for this pregnancy but got on progesterone right when it started.

Apps: Premom, Ava, Proov (explained in the tools section below).

The premom app helped me track my cycle but mainly helped me track my LH test strips. During the 6 fertile days indicated by the Ava app and bracelet, I took an LH test strip every night until I received a positive and then I took it every 12 hours until the positive turned negative. The Premom app allowed me to take a picture of the test strip in the app and it measured the line amount to if I had hit my peak fertility or not and when to have sex. 

The Ava bracelet/app is an amazing amazing purchase. In real time, it measures 7 parameters in your body by just wearing the bracelet for at least 4 hours in your sleep and downloads that data every morning into your app to determine your 6 most fertile days. It also allows you to log sex, mood, LH test strip results, your mood, and your period. The parameters include, resting pulse rate, skin temperature, breathing rate, sleep amount (light and REM), HRV ratio, and your own daily log which included the sex, cervical mucus, mood, or LH test strip results like mentioned above. It takes all of these parameters into account to predict your most fertile window, ovulation day, next period and such, and will change on the fly if your body's parameters change indicating a shift in cycle. This bracelet took only 3 months to learn my body and has been EXACTLY spot on with my LH peak, ovulation day, and period start and length every time. Even with my extremely irregular cycles. This bracelet also works in reverse if trying to prevent pregnancy by obtaining the most fertile days or partaking in other activities (we did this for a year before we conceived (I got off the pill in late October 2020)). I couldn't be more proud of this bracelet and software. Highly recommend so you don't accidentally miss your most fertile window. Without this bracelet and relying on LH strips alone, you could miss the most fertile time to try, the LH positive day and the day before. Picture is in the section below.

Tools: Quantitative LH strips, Proov pdg test strips, Proov progesterone oil,  Ava bracelet, Prenatal vitamins taken for 1 year, Preseed, What to Expect Before Expecting book.

These are the strips I used for the monthly LH tests. This brand indicates how strongly you ovulate. I correlate the results in the premom app by snapping the picture of the test strip. I usually start testing on day 10-16 of my cycle (starting about 5 days after the last day of my period (my periods are 5 days long)) every evening until I receive a positive then I test every 12 hours until the positive turns negative.

These are the test strips I used during the 7-10 days post ovulation. They test for pdg levels (correlating to progesterone) present in the first morning urine and I use the Proov app to read my results after 5 minutes. The app works the same as the Premom by taking a picture of the test strips and providing the result. The goal is to have 3-4 positives out of the 4 days tested. If you have 2 or less positive, you have low progesterone levels and possibly didn't ovulate or ovulate well. This happens for me about every other month. To offset this I supplement with the progesterone drops shown below.

The Proov balancing oil is dropped on the inside of your wrist 2-3 times a day, 5-10 drops each time for the last 12 days of your cycle. This is an over the counter solution to slightly low progesterone levels like me. I did this for the 4 cycles leading up to getting pregnant.  

The Ava bracelet. This is explained in the apps section above.

These are the prenatal vitamins I took a year in advance from ttc. By doing so a year in advance, this reduces the risk of miscarriage significantly. Be sure the vitamins of course have the appropriate folate and folic acid but also DHA which supports healthy brain function in the baby. If you choose gummy prenatal, be sure to take a iron supplement as well due to the gummies not having this.

These are the vitamins Cody and I took 3 months before we got pregnant. We actually only got to take these for a few days because we decided to try to conceive on a whim a month earlier than expected but we were certain we had already missed my fertile window so we were "trying" just for fun expecting nothing this month (September). So these vitamins are a his and her pack with a normal prenatal with iron for me and a vitamin with zinc to help his sperm health and sperm production. 

We used this preseed lubricant as not necessarily a lubricant but after reading the reviews, almost everyone who used it reported that they got pregnant immediately on the first try. So this may not be what happened to us or it did, all I know is we conceived on the first try as well and also used preseed. Possibly a coincidence? It worked for us even after we thought we had waited too long after ovulation to try (I was on a trip). It is recommended by doctors because it does not hurt sperm but helps them move faster into the cervix as well. 

I read this book which is part of the What to Expect When Expecting series and loved it! It is extremely helpful and this is where I got most of my information from (and my OB/GYN of course).

Diet: Severely limit processed foods, severely limit red meat, eat whole foods, salmon, nuts/seeds, zinc rich foods for him, water, almond milk, anti-inflammatory foods. We don't drink but if you drink, cut out alcohol 3 months before ttc.

-Seed cycling. For the first 14 days of your cycle, you eat 1-2 Tablespoons of ground flax seeds AND pumpkin seeds each day, and for the last 14 days of your cycle you eat1-2 Tablespoons of sesame seeds AND sunflower seeds every day. Experts swear by this method as this natural hormone balancing method evens out the correct hormones (such as estrogen and such) during the certain parts of your cycle to ensure perfect balance. It takes about 3 months to notice a difference so do this for at least 3 months before you try to conceive. I have been seed cycling since July 3rd. See picture below:

Preparation: Weight loss (7% of body weight lost) for us both before ttc, we also both avoided hot environments such as hot showers or baths as that is detrimental for conception and sperm production. We both also got physicals and got up to date on our vaccinations*. Another thing to do is both get a teeth cleaning before ttc. For the year in advance of ttc, shoot for 8 hours of sleep a night for ultimate heath and limit as much stress as possible. Also start an exercise program and continue at least 30 minutes of exercise 5-6 days a week. For the girl, this is beneficial so she can continue this throughout her pregnancy. 

Also up to a year in advance switch insurances to benefit OB/GYN care and hospital costs for delivery. For the female, schedule a preconception visit at your OB/GYN office for your yearly papsmear and any questions you have about ttc. Also as a married couple, start a savings plan at least a year in advance to prepare for any additional costs a baby requires, set up investments for future college funds and create a Will for who your money will go to when baby is born if something were to happen to you and your spouse and also who the child/children (and dogs) will go to if you and your spouse were to pass. If you are going above and beyond, make sure your dog is ideally at least 2 years old before you are ttc so he or she can be fully calm when you need them to most. 

*I also got fully covid vaccinated for 3 cycles before ttc.

Intercourse: Recent studies have shown to have sex every day and multiple times a day if possible (we did the 2-3 days after ovulation. Older studies showed this diminishes sperm count and is counter productive especially closer to ovulation but the opposite has been proven to be true. Also have sex especially two days and one day before ovulation every month using the preseed. After sex, don't use the restroom and lay flat with feet ever so slightly raised for 20-30 minutes. That last sentence isn't necessary but is just extra steps to take, and why not try it if you are in a hurry to conceive.

I hope that helps! I'm not an expert by any means, this is just what we did to prepare and it worked for us. You may do none of this and get pregnant right away, or you may do all of this and unfortunately not conceive right away, this is just what worked for us!

Love,

Kayla Raborn

11/24/2021