How to increase chances of a successful pregnancy

[SoFullofHope]

.

[Throwaway_panther]

I know there's a lot we think we can control for implantation that ultimately is beyond us, but --

I do know pineapple core is supposedly able to help natural conceptions as well. I know being healthy in the first place is a big factor.

[SoFullofHope]

.

[Throwaway_panther]

Dear Throwaway_panther,

Thank you ever so much!!

I am endlessly sorry for your losses; it must be absolutely killing every time :''-(
I'll keep my fingers crossed that your DD will get a little brother very, very soon xx

Thank you, I really appreciate it! This last loss really gutted me for many reasons, so I'm hoping all my dedication gets me a blue-tinged rainbow

[SoFullofHope]

.

[atomic sagebrush]

Please don't start taking a bunch of stuff. Trust me on this, I see people all. the. time. who are taking these things and inexplicably not getting pregnant. The FIRST thing I do is have them stop taking them.

The human body knows how to implant a baby. The stuff that isn't actively harmful is useless. All they do is thin your blood a little (and that can actualy be a BAD thing because having your blood be too thin as a baby is burrowing into your uterus, is just as bad if not worse.)

Please just follow the PCOS-type diet that I think I posted for you. It's very healthy and beneficial for fertility (follow the variation for swayers who are going HT) OR, if you prefer you could follow something like South Beach Diet, the Zone, Perfect Health diet - a diet with healthy carbs, not too many, good protein and healthy fats in it.

Melatonin - I only recommend this for HT ladies doing a frozen transfer. It has been proven to cause developmental delays in babies whose mothers took it during pregnancy, and since it is needed in early pregnancy, you cannot just stop taking it, you have to wean off, and so this means you WILL be taking it while pregnant and that is too risky to me.

DHEA ONLY for people who have had their DHEA levels tested and found that they are low. If you take it when you don't need it, it can mess up your cycle and harm your eggs.

Coq10 is fine, if you want to take it. I was using it for a while but stopped because it's $$$$ and did not seem to be helping anyone at all. 400-600 mg a day (less is fine too) and then wean off gradually at BFP by spacing doses till down to one per week, then drop.

The ice cream is simply the dairy fat in it. Ice cream is not your best bet, just have some full fat milk or yogurt instead, loading up on sugar is not great for egg quality. It's fine in moderation but there are better options.

Do you even have any evidence there is a problem with your lining? Why would you take RRLT and lady's mantle?? Lining is something tons of people worry over but unless you are anorexic or on high dose fertility medication your lining is almost certainly fine and all these herbs have side effects that we don't fully know about.

You cannot control when your embryo implants and I think you should try to erase that from your brain since a healthy baby will implant perfectly fine with absolutely no help on your part. There are 8 billion humans on earth and 99.99% of their mothers never gave a single thought to when their embryo implanted. This is stress for absolutely no reason.

If you would like to eat a spicy dinner or some pineapple and avocado and nuts that is fine. But please be REASONABLE about this. It is NOT NECESSARY and I have seen too many people take this way, way too far, using supplementary, medicinal doses of these things. Please don't do that.

[SoFullofHope]

.

[SoFullofHope]

.

[atomic sagebrush]

I totally and completely understand the worries (I had a baby at 39 and at 42!) but the stuff they say about our fertility plummeting are NOT TRUE for the vast majority of people. You just had a baby a short time ago and you are very likely equally fertile or only slightly less fertile than you were then. The data is skewed by the number of people who have legitimate fertility issues that increase with age but you do not even know this is you!!! We are having people getting pregnant until about 43/44 and you still have plenty of time for this to happen for you.

But we need to be smart about it. What we want to avoid is what I've seen happen so many times (and it's heartbreaking) where people think they need to fix a problem that doesn't even exist, start off taking gobs of herbs and supplements with side effects that we honestly DO NOT KNOW. They aren't harmless, they affect cycles and may even prohibit conception for people or even cause or contribute to miscarriage. And people lose precious months or even years with their cycle gone crazy or suffering losses that did not need to happen. So all I'm saying is, please let's skip that step and just do the things that are going to help you get and stay pregnant!

Full fat dairy, folate, prenatal or multivitamin (if you want to take that, remember it may sway blue), coq10 if you want to take it - skip the rest!

[atomic sagebrush]

Okay, just to prove me wrong, it is working again now ;-P

We moved to a different server and that created a few wrinkles we needed to iron out.