I have been trying to get pregnant for 15 months now and can't seem to conceive. I have a 4 year old son and had absolutely no trouble at all getting pregnant with him. We haven't tried any infertility procedures, but we have tried acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and supplements. I check my Basal body temperature every morning, and have already seen my OB/Gyn twice in the last 6 months. He wants to try clomid or something more severe soon. Can someone out there give me some suggestions? Did anything work for you that was out of the norm?
I would see your OB/GYN.
My Doctor told me, that if after 6 months of not conceiving, then to consult him. When I got pregnant the first & second times (naturally), I was over 35 years old. So age is or is not a factor. And, my OB/GYN always tells his patients to continue taking pre-natal vitamins prior to wanting to conceive.
It could be anything. The "problem" could even be with your Husband. It is not always the wife.
Even just "stress" alone, can prevent a woman from getting pregnant.
The thing is, just taking herbals or whatever is rumored to help... can also "not" help. And what is good for one person, may not be for the other. So, it's just not GUARANTEED.
You also want to be sure that your periods are regular, and your ovulation symptoms. You can also track your Basal body temperature every morning, and keep track of periods and ovulation symptoms.
The best thing, is to consult your Doctor. Get an exam, make sure there are no other problems. You have waited 5 years already, with no results... so I would now check with Doctor.
All the best,
Susan
I agree with the other poster on all counts...see your OB/GYN, stop the herbal supplements, and relax. Stress can be a huge factor too, including weight and general health. Best wishes for success!
Definitely see your ob/gyn. The toughest part of trying to conceive (when you really want it) is to not let the stress get to you! Susan who wrote you below gives great advice.
There may be many things the Dr can recommend to help you conceive (that may be simple). I ended up having to do invitro for a number of reasons, one of them being my husband had a low sperm count and those swimmers needed a little boost from the Dr's. Trying not to stress out was such a challenge because I was older (42)and felt like I had accidentally blown it by waiting too long.
Good luck!!
Hello Stephanie. I wanted to let you know that a number of moms in my group (March 2009 babies) said that they used Metformin (prescribed by their doctor's) to get pregnant, or assist with conception. I don't know how it works, but like I said, a number of them used it. I was taking Metformin for about a year, a couple of years ago, because my doctor prescribed it to me for Metabolic Syndrome. I don't know if one had anything to do with the other (I don't think it did since I haven't taken it in quite a while) but I was told I would never be able to have kids again, and I am pregnant - my youngest is almost 13! On the flip side, after my first, I was told the same thing, that I would never conceive or carry to term, another child, and I had a second one after that, so I really don't know why I have been able to. Best of luck to you, and ask your doctor about Metformin. It doesn't hurt to gather information :)
I actually believe in an eastern/ western approach.
I used acupuncture and clomid. After two rounds, I got
pregnant with a healthy son. It sounds like you are not ovulating, and that is what clomid is for. Clomid must be taken at certain times of the month (your doctor will explain), so I received acupuncture during those times.
Please e-mail me, if you have any specific questions.
I'd suggest seeing a reproductive endocrinologist (RE) rather than your OB/GYN. Most OB's don't have the expertise that an RE does, and they use clomid like it's candy. They may not monitor you as closely as an RE, and it's very possible to end up with HOM's - high order multiples (think the McCaughey septuplets or 'John and Kate plus 8'). Besides, clomid might not even be what you need. Many RE's, including the last one I went to, will give you a free consultation. Good luck to you.
Joan....6.5 months pg with twins from IVF cycle #9 and mom of a 4yo daughter from cycle #7. This will definitely complete our family!
The same thing happened with my 3rd child. With my first two, I got pregnant rather easily. We wanted to start trying for another one when my daughter turned 2. We tried for 18 months with no luck. I finally got to the point where I was just so tired from trying, I didnt want to try anymore. We sat down and just decided maybe we should look at other options in a couple of months and to not worry about it. 6 weeks later, I found out I was pregnant again. Your body will know when the time is right for you. For me, it was just loosing a few extra pounds and not trying so hard to conceive, as if my life depended on it. Good luck to you!
Have you had your Thyroid checked, it plays a huge roll in fertility and I know that a lot of women trying to get pregnant can't because of the Thyroid. If you can find a holisitic MD that will prescribe Armor, it is a great way to go. Check out the Basal Body temp. chart for possible thyroid problems and see if it can be playing a roll.
Also, you can try Royal Maca, found at health food stores or purchased through a health care Physician, my husband carries it in his office, he is a Chiropractor and has had great success with his patients using it.
God bless you~
Hi Stephanie,
My husband and I have been on this roller coaster of conception for two+ years now. It took quite a few doctor's appointments, etc to discover why we weren't getting pregnant. So hang in there.
So now for some suggestions: If you haven't read it already, I would suggest that you read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler. She brings in other factors that you can use to see if your are ovulating. Some of these factors include: examining your cervical fluid, checking the position of your cervix, and using a fertility monitor to check your hormone levels to see when you are most fertile. However, before your spend the money doing so, you may want to get a second opinion from a different OB/GYN.
Also, have you had any hormone panels done? Having your hormones be in the right place at the right time is crucial to conception. You may also want to have your thyroid checked as they too can affect your hormone levels.
Finally, has your husband been checked? A man's sperm count can change for various reasons such as: tight underwear, jacuzzi use, too much cycling, etc. This too can affect your ability to conceive as well. Good luck to you.
BTW: My husband and I discovered that I have low hormone levels and he had a low sperm count. Needless to say, we are using IVF in March with the hopes of a possible pregnancy.
Hi Stephanie,
I had the same thing. No problem getting pregnant with my daughter, but when we tried again for years, nothing happened. My problem was that I had very high prolactin levels. The levels indicated to my body that I was pregnant even though I wasn't. I was still producing milk even though I never breastfed my daughter. Once I got the prolactin levels under control thanks to my GYN and medication, I became pregnant very quickly with my son. My kids are ten years apart. Its a long shot, but just one more thing that you could check on. Good luck!
Hey Stephanie~
Hang in there, you are not alone. Many women struggle with infertility. It took me 4 years to get pregnant with my first and then when he was 6 months old I got pregnant again...go figure! Come to find out my hormone levels were too low to conceive but we didn't find that out until we went to a specialist (Huntington Reproductive Center in Pasadadea is wonderful).
I took Clomid for a few months prescribed by my regular OBGYN and when that wasn't working we went to the reproductive center where I had to give myself shots for 9 days in a row and I went in every couple days where they did vaginal ultrasounds to closely monitor the size of my follicles...anyway, if you are able to see a specialist (at least for a consultation) please do since they are experts in the area and can spot problems quicker and easier than a regular OBGYN. It's frustrating to hear people tell you to relax etc. because that seems impossible when it's what you're soo focussed on, but for me, charting my temp etc. everyday made me concentrate and stress about it more. After a year I stopped doing all that stuff because it was consuming me! Go to a specialist and let them take some of the stress off your shoulders. They will start with the least evasive and move on from there according to what you are comfortable with.
If you believe in God, then know that He has a perfect plan for you and your family. He knows your innermost thoughts and wants what's best for you. That helped me to relax about it as well.
It will be great to look back on this someday, until then keep a positive attitude and enjoy each day with your son!
I am in the midst of this myself. I just finished my month of hormone testing which involved a blood test around day 3, an x-ray of my tubes (OK, that one was not hormone related, just checked for blockages), and more blood on day 21. My husband also had to give a "sample," the results of which we are still waiting for. Your OB should do the full work up before prescribing anything. What good does it do to give you Clomid if the trouble lies elsewhere?
A friend with a similar problem discovered that her husband's sperm count was low, likely from frequent hot tub use. Not sure if this is a factor for you (or me!), but every little bit helps!
Good luck, and keep trying!
Okay, forgive me for being facetious here, but my 2nd child was conceived one week after giving our oldest son's crib away, and our 3rd was conceived several weeks after giving away literally ALL of our newborn clothes and baby stuff from the second one! I'm not superstitious, I'm a Christian, but I find this incredibly amusing. Especially considering my husband and I BOTH have medical conditions that the doctors said would make it harder for us to conceive (I have polycystic ovaries, he has something I can't remember the name of where his testicular veins can cause the temp to be too low or too high or something to keep healthy sperm).
Not knowing your spiritual convicitions, but myself being a Christian, I will share with you that we prayed about our children and how many God would want us to have. We didn't pray FOR a child specifically, just that God would allow us to have the number He wanted us to have. He knew our hearts and we are now pregnant with #3, the one that was conceived a few months after we gave all the baby stuff away :)
Blessings!
Good luck with conceiving. Just wondering .... any stress? It took us more than 8 months to get pregnant with our second .... my brother-in-law was dying of cancer and although I was not totally aware of it, I was feeling the stress of it. I conceived maybe a week, or two at the most after his funeral. Until then, I had no idea that I had been so stressed about the situation - I just thought it was the hand we had been dealt and I was coping the best I could for our entire family. In hindsight, I realize that is probably why it took us so long to conceive.
Look at aspects of your life and make sure you aren't dealing with too much stress - as that does play a major role.
We had the same thing happen, got pregnant easy the 1st time, had difficulty conceiving the 2nd time. My Dr. started putting me on clomid and nothing happened. Then, we had my husband's sperm count checked and it was low. This was from a varicocele, a varicose vein in his testicle. He had surgery to correct this. I then got pregnant and miscarried, but have had 2 healthy children since (my 3rd one at 39). You can e-mail me if you want a referral to a urologist for your husband (I am in San Diego), we liked him a lot. I know how hard it is not being able to get pregnant, especially when people say well, at least you already have a child. It can be hard on your marriage too. Make sure to talk to your husband about how you are feeling. Even if they want a baby just as bad, they don't seem to always be thinking about it. I think because it's our bodies that go through the monthly cycle, it ends up being a waiting game on our part. Always wondering if this month you got pregnant or not. You can e-mail me if you want more info. I wish you the best of luck.
Hi,Stephanie,
I would also ask your OB/Gyn why he wants you to try clomid. The more informed you are about your body's physiology the more control you have over reproduction and thus the greater your chances of conceiving another baby. Some doctors won't tell you details of what they are doing or what they have found because they don't have a lot of time and they don't think that patients care to know details. It pays to be proactive. If I hadn't, I would most likely not have had my two children.
I recommend consulting a reproductive endocrinologist (RE). (A lot of health insurance companies will help pay for a visit or two to an RE.) I struggled with primary infertility for a couple of years. I highly recommend the REs (Drs. Meldrum, Rosen, Wisot, Yee, Cassidenti, etc.) of Reproductive Partners and Pacific Fertility Center (Dr. Sahakian). Both centers helped me carry my offspring (created from my husband's sperm and my egg) to term when I was 40 and almost 42! I went through one round of In-vitro fertilization (IVF), two rounds of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), and one attempted but canceled round of ICSI. I spent approx. $30,000 and gave myself over 1,000 shots in a period of three years. If I had not gone through fertility treatment, I would not have none that I had an immune disorder that prevented me from successfully carrying a baby to term. If your Fallopian tubes are clear, you don't have PCOS or endometriosis, and your husband produces a substantial quantity of sperm that show good morphology (shape) and motility (swimming ability), then intrauterine injection (IUI) might be a reasonable next step for you. IUI is not nearly as expensive as IVF or ICSI and not painful.
Regarding exotic treatments and other treatments not in the mainstream, I went through a rarely used fertility treatment, blood infusion, to treat my problem with anticardiolipid antibodies. It was expensive, $10,000, and sometimes painful. I recommend this route only if you are sure that is the reason you are not conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term and only as a last resort.
I also had approx. 25 sessions of acupuncture while I was going through infertility treatment. It felt great, but I don't think that it helped me conceive or maintain my pregnancies. (Two of my pregnancies resulted in miscarriage, and my fourth pregnancy lasted to successful delivery without any acupuncture.) I think that the acupuncture was worthwhile for reasons other than aiding fertility. (My back felt better.)
Beware of many unfounded/incorrect claims from well-meaning relatives and friends who do not work in the field of reproductive medicine and not so well-meaning claims from vendors of useless fertility products or treatments. You can be taken for all your worth and still not have a baby to show for your money and effort.
If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me.
Good luck,
Lynne
I used clomid the second time around and it worked for me. I charted and could pinpoint my problem down to late ovulation. Is that your problem? Do you know that you are ovulating each month? Just wondering if that is why your OB wants to try clomid.
Try putting your legs up in the air after sex. It worked for me when I tried having my first baby.
Good luck!
Cynthia
We were trying to get pregnant for about 5 months after one easy pregnancy and then a miscarriage. I tried herbs and accupuncture, but finally figured out that I had low levels of Progesterone. Dr. prescribed clomid, but my progesterone levels were still low. I got him to give me progesterone supplements as soon as we tried to conceive, and a week later I was pregnant! I stayed on the progesterone for 14 weeks, and so far so good at 19 weeks and counting... Here are some other things we did...
1}Relaxed and had fun. "Procreation sex" had become routine and stressful. When we let go and had fun, that was the month it worked.
2}Had relations on day 12, 14, and 16 of my cycle. We had previously waited until the ovulation predictor went postive. This time we had one early session before the predictor. Don't know if it helped, but it was another thing we did differently from all the months before.
3}Used "Pre-Seed" lubricant. I found the Clomid really dried up cervical mucus. The Pre-seed replaces it with sperm friendly moisture. Check out their website, it's got lots of great info.
Hope any of this helps. It's all anectdotal, your mileage may vary, but you just never know what might do the trick!
Good Luck!