Quick question

How Soon Is Now

Ok me and my girlfriend have been trying for a baby since around April/May.
Where both in our twentys and average every day healthy people. Neither of us leads an unhealthy lifestyle both eat healthy enough and dont over do it on the drink actually both of us have pretty much been off it the last month or so apart from the odd occasion when theres something to attend. We both have no medical conditions where aware of.

Its still early in the whole process so where not gonna get to stressed over things at this stage and just keep trying really.

She worked out her cycle as she had a few issues with being late by a week or two with her period for a good while. But its mainly sorted now and apart from this month *This week actually she was 6 days early* everything has been running fairly smooth and on time.

She also has been the last few months taking pregnacare conception tablets.

Now my question is how long do u keep trying and planning around all the important dates in the month before you start to think maybe be no harm in getting checked out??? How do u even go about it? Is it as simple as just going to your local GP??

Neyite

The usual time frame to start looking into things is a year if she is under 35, and six months if she is over 35. A lot of GP's will take your money happily and send you away to come back in May 2013.

The tests involve blood tests for her - drawn pre-ovulation (usually best on days 3-7) and again post-ovulation (usually at day 21 or so) This gives the doctor a lot of information with regard to her hormone levels etc. The next stage, assuming all is normal in her blood tests is a referral to a fertility clinic and you will get a semen analysis and blood tests. She would usually get a repeat of the bloods above.

But, you have been trying 4-5 months, and if she came off hormonal contraceptive, it can take a little while for her cycle to come back to normal. You can maximise your chances by using a sperm friendly lube, ovulation predictor kits (order the dippy sticks online, the chemist ones are work out at about €1.50 - €2 apiece, whereas online they are about 5 cents or so. I got mine at accessdiagnostics, but you can get them on ebay even cheaper I think.

The chat thread is long, but if you have time, its well worth a read, because there is a wealth of handy information from people, myself included that we learned on our journey to parenthood.

How Soon Is Now

Neyite wrote: »

The usual time frame to start looking into things is a year if she is under 35, and six months if she is over 35. A lot of GP's will take your money happily and send you away to come back in May 2013.

The tests involve blood tests for her - drawn pre-ovulation (usually best on days 3-7) and again post-ovulation (usually at day 21 or so) This gives the doctor a lot of information with regard to her hormone levels etc. The next stage, assuming all is normal in her blood tests is a referral to a fertility clinic and you will get a semen analysis and blood tests. She would usually get a repeat of the bloods above.

But, you have been trying 4-5 months, and if she came off hormonal contraceptive, it can take a little while for her cycle to come back to normal. You can maximise your chances by using a sperm friendly lube, ovulation predictor kits (order the dippy sticks online, the chemist ones are work out at about €1.50 - €2 apiece, whereas online they are about 5 cents or so. I got mine at accessdiagnostics, but you can get them on ebay even cheaper I think.

The chat thread is long, but if you have time, its well worth a read, because there is a wealth of handy information from people, myself included that we learned on our journey to parenthood.

Thanks for the quick reply. Ill look into what u have said anyway. I have been given some advice and tips on ways to do things by a few mates with kids or who are pregnant the whole thing can just confuse me at times though.

To be totally honest its not the first time ive been in this section of boards i read up on stuff and see what people have to say and it can be very daunting and off putting coming in here for men anyway :pac:. I do also feel because i dont have alot of people to talk to about this stuff apart from my girlfriend or few mates that its just hard sometimes to know where to even start!!

All i know is hopefully it wont get to the stage where any of us have any issues or problems as ive seen on here for example and from what has happened with one my friends just how hard it can be for some people and its not a nice thing for anyone to go threw. I personally feel **** enough seeing so many people my own age and upwards around me with young kids or that are pregnant because this is something i really want and we all know when u want something it seems like the rest of the world around you has it :P.

Neyite

angerfist2009 wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply. Ill look into what u have said anyway. I have been given some advice and tips on ways to do things by a few mates with kids or who are pregnant the whole thing can just confuse me at times though.

To be totally honest its not the first time ive been in this section of boards i read up on stuff and see what people have to say and it can be very daunting and off putting coming in here for men anyway :pac:. I do also feel because i dont have alot of people to talk to about this stuff apart from my girlfriend or few mates that its just hard sometimes to know where to even start!!

All i know is hopefully it wont get to the stage where any of us have any issues or problems as ive seen on here for example and from what has happened with one my friends just how hard it can be for some people and its not a nice thing for anyone to go threw. I personally feel **** enough seeing so many people my own age and upwards around me with young kids or that are pregnant because this is something i really want and we all know when u want something it seems like the rest of the world around you has it :P.

Thats probably the hardest part of trying - seeing all the preggers ones around you. Add into that the auld wans telling you to get a move on. :rolleyes:
You may find that the people who give you unasked for advice are the ones who got knocked up at the drop of a hat - I got the "relax and it'll happen" from one of those fertile people - at the time we were going for fertility treatment so no amount of "relaxing" would have helped.

I agree that its a bit isolating for the man sometimes, my partner never really talked much about how he was feeling because he was being optimistic and upbeat for my sake, and I think most men are the same.

Hopefully it wont be long for you both before you get some good news

How Soon Is Now

Neyite wrote: »

Thats probably the hardest part of trying - seeing all the preggers ones around you. Add into that the auld wans telling you to get a move on. :rolleyes:
You may find that the people who give you unasked for advice are the ones who got knocked up at the drop of a hat - I got the "relax and it'll happen" from one of those fertile people - at the time we were going for fertility treatment so no amount of "relaxing" would have helped.

I agree that its a bit isolating for the man sometimes, my partner never really talked much about how he was feeling because he was being optimistic and upbeat for my sake, and I think most men are the same.

Hopefully it wont be long for you both before you get some good news

See i just dont wanna start worrying and hassling myself at this early stage thats why the way im feeling is really confusing.

I guess for men its different because i know personally i feel like at times i shouldnt even be feeling weird about any of this seeing as most men dont really get mentioned in the whole process ya know?

But it is really getting to me as each month passes by even though it is only early days it is making me feel like **** inside when i find out nothing yet.

rockonollie

Too soon to worry....and worrying doesn't help.....my wife and I are both in our mid-20s and live active lifestyles.....we were trying for 14 months and were really worried about it, we had decided to wait until after christmas to visit the doctor and then it happened. typical, 14 months of carefully planning around a schedule and we finally conceived when we had given up and weren't paying attention at all.

How Soon Is Now

rockonollie wrote: »

Too soon to worry....and worrying doesn't help.....my wife and I are both in our mid-20s and live active lifestyles.....we were trying for 14 months and were really worried about it, we had decided to wait until after christmas to visit the doctor and then it happened. typical, 14 months of carefully planning around a schedule and we finally conceived when we had given up and weren't paying attention at all.

Forgot i posted this few months ago lol

rockonollie

angerfist2009 wrote: »

Forgot i posted this few months ago lol

Whoops....my bad.....i gotta start looking at timestamps before replying

How Soon Is Now

rockonollie wrote: »

Whoops....my bad.....i gotta start looking at timestamps before replying

ha no worries i actually posted an updated thread here just other day forgot bout this one. Thanks for the reply though :-)