SheKnows Message Boards - View Single Post - 3 mths away from first try

Care75 · #2 (**permalink**) 02-06-2008, 06:37 AM

Alex- I would start by making sure that DP is on prenatals. A prescription kind I've heard is best, but there are many OTC kinds that are good too. Make sure whatever you choose has folic acid. I've been on a generic prescription brand for about 3 years now- they're great for nails and hair! My copay is only $5 for 30 of them so this is actually much cheaper than buying them OTC.

Also if you are going to use OPKs for home insemination, I would start trying to pinpoint when DP ovulates in the months before you try--if you haven't already started this. You'll know her cycle better before the time gets there.

When we did home insems, our RE suggested doing 2 per month if we could afford it. We would do one on the day of the surge (evening) and one the day after (evening again). This may have been successful, if my eggs weren't so bad!!

I also made sure that I stopped drinking any sort of caffeine before we started TTC. I didn't eliminate chocolate (this would KILL me)- but no soda, coffee, tea. I also tried to get off any artificial types of food/drink. I eliminated aspartame (NutraSweet) and Splenda from my diet, and actually I started drinking only organic milk and eating much more organic foods avoiding white flour and corn syrup. Again, I don't know that this helped but at least it made me feel like I was doing everything possible on my end.

When we moved on to IVF after 1 1/2 years, I did start acupuncture which I still enjoy. I don't know if it would have helped earlier on- but maybe.

Good luck!