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I knew we were thinking of kids soon so I decided to come off the depo injection about 18 months ago as it was my knowledge that it can take over a year for your cycle to come back after stopping the depo. I moved to the pill and hated the normal pill due to estrogen made my breasts hurt. So moved to the mini pill and it seemed fine but I still didn't get any periods so I had no idea about my cycle and how fertile I was. I stopped taking the pill when we were ready to try and seemingly got pregnant instantly (within 10 days). Then I got some breakthrough bleeding a 3 weeks after stopping the mini pill and I thought it was my period, but the midwife explained it was actually breakthrough bleeding. It was confusing and the midwife didn't know what date to put down as the date of my last period to work out due date! So she put down the date that I stopped taking the pill. I'm still learning the consequences of this.

My first baby took around 8-9 months to conceive, and included an ectopic pregnancy which was shocking and sad. We started trying for our second when our first was 1, as we expected it to take some time. I was shocked to find myself pregnant after the first month of trying, and we’d only had sex twice. It was the complete opposite experience to our first, and was such a relief to not have to go through the TTC obsession again

One of my best friends has told me they’re pregnant after only being together for a short time which is very much a wonderful surprise! I am literally and genuinely so so SO happy for her but can’t help but feel so so so sad when we have been together 12 years and are now over 16 months trying properly, now being referred to the fertility clinic. Would appreciate any advice on juggling the pure happiness for your friend over the overwhelming sadness that your story isn’t working out the way you thought it would? 🩷

We started trying to conceive in January 2024. We fell pregnant for the first time in March 2024, so we were very lucky to have conceived quickly. We went for a private 6 week scan, to settle my nerves, and I was told I was measuring 5 weeks (but my timings worked out to 6.5 weeks). This should have been a warning sign, but instead I was dismissed that I probably got my conception dates wrong. At our next private scan 2 weeks later (8.5 weeks) I was told I was 6 weeks and we saw the heartbeat. I was then congratulated on my pregnancy, sent home with a goodie bag containing a bottle and nipple cream etc. I then went back for a scan at 10 weeks, having had 0 typical first trimester symptoms and told our baby had no heartbeat. I then miscarried naturally a week later, which was emotionally traumatic but thankfully less painful than I expected. I was internally scanned a few days later and told the miscarriage was complete. Fast forward a month into June and I had ovulated (tracking BBT, LH tests & CM). I was lucky to be 'returning to normal' at this point. At 8DPO I tested to discover 'positive tests'. I then had 2 blood tests ( 1 week apart) where my HCG was low, and getting lower. We classified this as a chemical pregnancy due to having had negative tests between miscarriage and first cycle, as well as having had my period. Fast forward another month to today (mid July 2024) and I'm again 10DPO with positive early tests and negative 'normal' tests. I am praying this baby sticks. If it doesn't, i'll have had 3 miscarriages in the space of 3 months. I also have a distrust in pregnancy tests now and a complete lack of excitement looking at them, I just feel blindsided by my body constantly and no idea whether I am 'pregnant' or not as I feel my body has let me down too many times in a short space of time. Products I love: Fertility friend (app) & Natural Cycles (app). I dislike Flo as it provides a false sense of positivity and false hope constantly. The forum is also bad for my mental health. LH tests bought from Amazon (green). They've been great to help me understand when I am ovulating.

When we first decided to start trying I was very naive to how hard it was to conceive. All the education I had had in school made it seem like getting pregnant would happen the moment you have unprotected sex. This was not my experience. It took 6 months for me to first fall pregnant and I was elated. When I first took the pregnancy test I was so happy but also unsure of what to do, did I need a doctors appointment who would support me. I called my GP surgery and they told me to refer myself to my local hospital. My local hospital then told me to wait until I was 12 weeks. Around weeks 7.5 I started spotting at work. I called an emergency helpline and was told it was fine and normal. Then at 8 weeks over a weekend the spotting turned to heavy bleeding. My husband took me to the hospital who did a scan and told me I would likely miscarry in the next few days and I could take paracetamol. The miscarriage would come that night and the pain both physically and emotionally was immense. My husband was on the phone to 111 trying to get support but again it was advised I stay at home and take paracetamol. The trauma of the miscarriage caused a huge impact on my mental health and my husbands as well. From then it took another 14 months for us to get a positive test. In this time I paid for private therapy and even private medical care to just have someone tell me I was "normal". I spent a lot on vitamins and stopped drinking. I felt very vulnerable. The support was not there, my GP brushed me off and told me to comeback in 2 years if I was still having problems. With this second pregnancy there was much less celebration. Because of missed scar tissue from the miscarriage I was advised to walk no more than 20 mins at a time and rest as much as possible until after 12 weeks. As someone who loves to exercise and walk this made things very hard. It felt like it could have been avoided with proper after care from my miscarriage. The rest of the pregnancy went well but there was very little to no support for emotional health.

We tried to conceive after we got married back in 2017. Every month that passed felt more and more stressful as friends all around us were getting pregnant. At one point 3 of my closest friends all got pregnant within 2 months of each other and although I was happy for them I was devastated at the same time and hated myself for feeling jealous, so I withdrew more and more from the friendships in the later stages of their pregnancy because I found it so hard and couldn’t stop thinking, but what about us and when is it our turn to be parents - I was so desperate to become a mother. I went to the doctors to get tests and they did the lap and dye test. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, so wasn’t sure what they would find. I’ve always had crippling periods, but just through it was normal. The results came back I had endometriosis, ovarian cysts, my tube had grown in to the lining. They fixed it within the lap and dye operation and said I was good to go. Our doctor said he would give us the go ahead for funded IVF as we had tried for so long as it was effecting our relationship - trying each month and loving two weeks - to - two weeks, waiting for the fertility window, then the inevitable period making its appearance every month, was getting too much. We had to wait around 3 months to get started following the operation. In a he meantime, desperate to still get pregnant naturally, I used the Life and Lemons clinic in Sheffield because I had heard about their success in helping in fertility. I had a course of acupuncture, saw their dietician and had fertility massages. The great news, we were successful and I had a straightforward pregnancy, vaginal birth, no complications and was able to and am still breastfeeding. We have welcomed our now 8 month old, Teddy, to the world! He is a thriving, healthy, happy baby and we feel extremely lucky. We have two embryos on ‘ice’ so we are hoping to give him a sibling in the next few years.