Considering not bothering charting, timing, opk's etc

[Pangea]

Do you think this would be a risky strategy?

Both my boys were planned and I was very obsessive when TTC. I did the whole lot, charting, checking cm and cp, opks, supplements to improve fertility, preseed, dtd lots and lots in the run up and around ovulation, even changed my diet with DS1. I got really stressed out both times, and didn't believe I would get pregnant unless I had done everything perfectly. Then once I would get to about 7dpo I tested obsessively until I got AF or BFP.

Now, I know alot of the individual things I did swayed boy, like using preseed, taking supplements etc, but I'm wondering if the whole obsessiveness swayed boy. As soon as I would get a positive opk I would definitely feel a sense of achievement and then knowing I did as much as I could to get pregnant helped me to feel in control of the situation.

I've been trying to decide what I'm gonna do about timing for my sway, I was trying to decide between frequent release and abstinence and I was getting stressed out thinking about it!
I was wondering, would it be a good idea to forget about it all, just concentrate on diet and dtd about 2-3 times a week, using rephresh and sylk, and possibly take some antihistamine at the first sign of any ewcm. No charting, or testing with opks or attempts at timing or anything.

It would mean I wouldn't know when I was ovulating, therefore wouldn't know when my period was due as my cycles are irregular. It would be hard for me to get used to.

Would the benefits of it be cancelled out by the possibility of my bd pattern being boy friendly?

Or maybe because it's completely the opposite to what I did conceiving my boys, it's what I should do?

[rainbowflower]

how regular are you? would you find it MORE stressful not knowing where in your cycle you are?

[nini]

If I could change one thing in my previous sway its the obsession of timing, testing ph etc. I really think it got me so worked up that it actually swayed boy for me. If I ever have another baby I hope I will have the courage to simply try and enjoy ttcing and pray for a pink bean, possibly doing diet and skipping breakfast, nothing else. xxx

[Pangea]

I don't know how regular I am at the moment, I've only had one af since having ds2, that was 22 days ago. It would probably stress me out a bit not knowing where I am in my cycle but it would probably be a different type of stress, I would imagine a less testosterone boosting kind of stress?

[Butterfly Spirit]

I have never charted or taken my temp. I would have gone crazy, and scared the hell out of DH!
If I were you If you have to do anything..wait until about the day you know you ovulate and then take a few opks.. once you get the positive STOP! I wish I would have since for the past 2 months I have multiple + opks.

The less stress the BETTER! And if your period comes, you know you ovulated! I learned that this month and was relieved!!!

[NeedAGirl!]

Did you say DS2 was born 22 days ago? IF so, congrats!

[Pangea]

lol no sorry, first af since having him was 22 days ago! He's 19 months old. I'm still breastfeeding him, that's why it took so long!

[lightofmylifexxxy]

Hello Pangea, hope you dont mind me jumping into this discussion!
I conceived my dd without even trying. Had no idea when i ovulated, no idea when af due. Just dtd one time that month!! on day 9 of my cycle. looking back at dates it appears that i conceived her 4 days later! So was all a big wonderful surprise. And stress free.
When i conceived my ds (my first born), i had been trying for a few months, had no idea really about fertile period etc, so read on the internet that you are fertile day 14! Tried on day 15 and got bfp! Of course i was stressing about getting pregnant..... so i think there could be something in it with regards to stress levels etc. I am ttc another dd, and have got myself all stressed out again with opk's etc! Im nearly 38, so am thinking of throwing away all the opks etc too! and just praying for a healthly pink bundle! Good luck with ttc pink xox

[atomic sagebrush]

I really, really, really agree with you on this. I have seen SO MANY people who get literally obsessed with charting, checking CM, obsessing over the tiniest fluctuation in the color of their OPK and then had these beautiful sways that really "should" have worked, but didn't. I was checking my pH 3 and 4 times a day with DS 4 and it never went above 4.5 (altho I too did some inadvertently blue stuff, others were doing similar stuff and still conceiving girls.)

I got my girl by completely forgetting about all that stuff and just doing diet and vitex, we BD when the situation arose. The week we conceived we were BD every 4 days which is really considered ideal for a boy, but I think I was just so much more laid back about it (I really didn't think I'd even GET pg at all) that my T was lower than normal.

I really like that plan Pangea!! Good luck!!!