How long did it take you to fall pregnant?

The time it can take to get pregnant can differ so much from person to person, and pregnancy to pregnancy. Here’s my story. What’s yours?

By Andrea Zanetich

This article is sponsored by MSD {a pharmaceutical company}

Like most things in my life I plan them out. When I was 33 I decided I was ready to have a family, so I changed jobs to work for a more family-friendly employer, I started to save money to fund maternity leave (the employer was not that family friendly to offer paid leave!), and I even planned when we would start trying for a baby to coincide with my eligibility for leave. Sneaky huh? Amazingly I fell pregnant almost immediately.

Magic Baby Wand worked.

Second time around, the military planning on my side was similar, only my body didn’t seem to be donning the khakis and falling into line as planned. After 8 months of trying, those double lines on the plastic pee-stick were failing to appear, and I was worried.

My 35^th birthday was looming, sex had become a baby-making chore, and it was putting pressure on our marriage.

Adding to that pressure was the questioning from family and friends “When are you going to have another baby?”

One friend even said to me around July that year, after I’d been already trying unsuccessfully for months, that it’d be “…a bad time to get pregnant anyway because then the baby would be born early in the calendar year and it’d be hard to work out what year to send them to school.” Let’s just add that one to the list of What Not To Say To Someone Who’s Trying To Have A Baby.

And at the rate I had been going I was starting to think another baby may not happen for me.”

Magic Baby Wand had lost it’s glittery goodness.

My husband and I decided to take a weekend off to visit friends in New Zealand, and for the first time that year let our hair down – in the largest of late-night cocktail fuelled ways. And wouldn’t you know it, as we were packing our bags and nursing our sore heads to head back to Sydney, I was also packing a used pregnancy test stick wrapped in a zip-lock bag that showed those much longed for double blue lines, along with the giddiness of joy and a swirl of relief.

The time it can take to get pregnant can differ so much from person to person, and pregnancy to pregnancy.”

It took three years for my friend Susan, 27, to fall pregnant and she endured reams of tests, procedures and ultimately IVF till her Magic Baby Wand cranked into action. Her story is here.

My friend Rachel, 43, tried for 5 years to have her second child after conceiving her first after just three months of trying. Her story, and what she wishes she knew before trying second time around is here.

At the other end of the spectrum, some women are simply shocked by the Magic Baby Wand working instantaneously. I remember a colleague telling me over a sandwich in the work café that she’d expected it’d take at least 6 months to fall pregnant, but was shocked to find she was pregnant first try. Totally unprepared.

And my dear friend Jo, 36, who has been trying for the last 2 years confided “I honestly thought that we would fall pregnant the very first time we had unprotected sex. We are so passionate about one another; I had no doubt that we would hit a home run. But a year went by and nothing.”

Since then she’s tried every old wives tale under the sun – including having sex while doing a handstand – undergone a number of treatments, tried what she refers to as “The Turkey Basting Technique”, and has since discovered that her husband has serious issues with his sperm that’ll make it almost impossible for them to conceive without medical intervention, which they’re gearing up for now. Fingers and toes crossed!

{Photo Credit: Lilac Saloon}

So, how long does it usually take women to fall pregnant, on average?

According to The Fertility Society of Australia* 85% of couples will conceive within the first year of trying.

Fertility begins to decline significantly for women in their mid-thirties, but issues are not only limited to that older demographic.

As a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to visit a GP for a referral to a fertility specialist if you are:

Over 35 and have been trying to fall pregnant for over 6 months
Under 35 and have been trying to fall pregnant for over 12 months

The website The Start of Something Small is full of helpful information, forums, a review on the latest fertility apps on the market that can help with conception and monitor fertility, and empathetic videos.

What’s your story? How long did it take for you to get pregnant?

Did your Magic Baby Wand work straight away like my colleague? Has it been a heartbreaking process like it’s been for my friends Susan, Rachel and Jo? Or were you a little bit of both, like me?

* Fertility Society of Australia Accessed 07/12

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