getting pregnant in your 30s | Pregnancy After 30

Getting Pregnant After 30 Tips – Part 2

The Almost Geriatric Mama Getting Pregnant in Your 30's November 20, 2019November 14, 2019getting pregnant after 30 tips, getting pregnant in your 30s, Preparing for Pregnancy Checklist

Ok, so in the first part of my getting pregnant after 30 tips I promised some other ideas for getting pregnant in your 30’s and I also said I would sum it all up for you in my Preparing for Pregnancy Checklist. So here we go.

In case you missed the Getting Pregnant After 30 Tips – Part 1 you can read it here. In this first part I talked about ovulation and pregnancy and how this can impact getting pregnant in your 30s. I also covered my best ovulation cycle and pregnancy tips such as using a pregnancy ovulation calendar.

In this second part of my getting pregnant after 30 tips, I’ll let you know some extra ideas besides your ovulation cycle to help you getting pregnant in your 30s and I’ll give you a preparing for pregnancy checklist to make things easy when making sure you are doing everything you can in your journey to having a baby after 30.

Getting pregnant after 30 tip #6 – Using a sperm friendly lubricant

This is one part of my preparing for pregnancy checklist that I had no idea about until a few months into trying for our first baby. One day I was talking to my sister about my ovulation cycle and her pregnancy tips and she asked if we were using a sperm friendly lubricant. A what? Turns out your everyday lubricant has ingredients and a pH level that may hinder your chances of getting pregnant and some of them even contain a spermicide to help prevent pregnancy. Great if that’s what you’re trying to do but not so much when you’re attempting getting pregnant in your 30s.

Fast forward to the next month and we used our new sperm friendly lubricant and voila we were pregnant. Coincidence? Maybe, but either way we are definitely using it second time round to assist us. It basically mimics the natural cervical mucus, helping sperm to make it into the cervix to successfully meet the egg so I highly recommend this getting pregnant after 30 tip.

Getting pregnant after 30 tip #7 – using the two-day method

Ok so you’ve worked out when you ovulate and pinpointed your most fertile week using the pregnancy ovulation calendar from step #2, its time to go at it like rabbits right? Well maybe, but before you go rushing in to the bedroom, consider adding the two-day method to the preparing for pregnancy checklist as one of our getting pregnant after 30 tips.

Crazy as it sounds, having sex every day during your fertile window can actually decrease your mans sperm count, so many professionals recommend having sex every other day during the week before ovulation and the week after. The sperm can actually live in your reproductive tract for a few days so this means that even having sex every two days should ensure there will be sperm waiting for the egg when it is released and with any luck this will increase your chances of getting pregnancy in your 30s.

Preparing for Pregnancy Checklist

To sum it all up, here are my top 7 getting pregnant after 30 tips:

consider going off the pill a little earlier than you hope to fall pregnant (at least 1-3 months) and let your ovulation cycle get back to its normal timings
Use a pregnancy ovulation calendar to help you track ovulation and menstrual periods
Use an ovulation test kit to pinpoint ovulation and accurately track it in your pregnancy ovulation calendar
Record your basal body temperature each morning and input this into the pregnancy ovulation calendar
Assess your cervical mucus at the same time and add this to the pregnancy ovulation calendar as well
Use a sperm friendly lubricant that is water based, pH neutral and specially developed to mimic cervical mucus
Be sure to have sex every two days during your fertile window to ensure there is always sperm waiting for the egg when it is released

Well there you have it, my best getting pregnant after 30 tips. I really hope this has cleared up some misconceptions you may have had about ovulation and pregnancy, maybe you’ve picked up something to try that you weren’t already doing and ultimately that it helps you in your journey to getting pregnant in your 30s. Baby dust to you!

When Aunt Flo Ruins the Party

The Almost Geriatric Mama Getting Pregnant in Your 30's October 15, 2019October 15, 2019am I pregnant Early signs, getting pregnant at 32 years old, getting pregnant in your 30s

So, you’re trying to get pregnant in your 30’s. Funny how things change don’t they? Remember when you were younger, not quite ready for kids and had a pregnancy scare with your teenage boyfriend? I remember this happening when I was about 17, totally not ready for kids, totally not in the right relationship and totally planning to finish high school and go to university before even thinking about having kids. Don’t get me wrong, if it had happened then I would have raised that child as best I could and loved them just as much then as I would now, but when Aunt Flo arrived, I definitely had a big sigh of relief. Usually she is a welcome sign each month that all is well and you haven’t slipped up on a one-night stand.

When Aunt Flo is not welcome is when you’re attempting getting pregnant at 32 years old and she loves to come in and ruin the pregnancy party big time. This is what happened this month.

Getting pregnant at 32 years old

We’ve been trying for a little while now but hubs has been away for some of my opportune windows or I haven’t been able to pinpoint my ovulation day (the joys of trying to get pregnant at 32 years old) using the lovely little tester sticks that show a smiley face when you get a spike in hormone levels known as LH or Luteinizing Hormone. So, this month has really been the first one that I actually thought I could get pregnant.

So this month we pretty much nailed our days for doing the deed. Hubby was finally around rather than away for work and we did it every second day leading into Christmas including Christmas Day. Yes, we are that dedicated. I think we know time is not necessarily on our side so we’re doing everything we can to maximize our chances of getting pregnant in our 30’s. I got the wonderful smiley face on Boxing Day evening and we did it again the next morning as well just to cover ourselves. I’ll talk more about the two day method for getting pregnant in your 30’s in another article.

I didn’t get a second smiley face this time round, but on doing some reading, this could be because I tested right in the middle of my LH spike so it may have been smiley on Boxing Day morning and the morning of the 28th if I had tested. However, I only test in the evening.

Anyway, it’s been a slow two weeks waiting for any early signs of pregnancy, wondering if I should stop drinking and eating the wrong foods which I did a couple of days ago and reading as much as possible on signs and symptoms of pregnancy.

Am I pregnant Early Signs

Yesterday I started getting some stomach pains and wondered if it was one of the early signs of pregnancy or just my usual random pains I get? So, this morning when I woke up to find a small amount of blood when I wiped, I got very excited. Was this an implantation bleed? Am I pregnant? Are these early signs? Or had Aunt Flo come 2 days early? If anything, I usually get my period a day or two late but I don’t want to get excited. I go back to the bedroom grinning and my husband asks me what’s up so I tell him I’m bleeding a little bit. He can’t understand why I’m excited and asks “doesn’t that mean you’re not pregnant?”. I explain that it could be an implantation bleed which is one of the early signs of pregnancy and he goes back to sleep while I go to google “Am I pregnant early signs” and “How to know if you’re pregnant”.

It should be light pink or brown (not red) and contain no clots apparently. I feel like mine is the normal red when I first get my period so that’s disheartening for someone getting pregnant in your 30’s but I keep hope. I have the usual period like cramps now, except not as painful as usual so this is a good sign. I usually need a heat pack and Naprogesic to settle my period cramps and I don’t need anything this time as it’s just a dull ache.

How to know if you’re pregnant

Apparently, I still need to wait 3-4 days til I can take a test, although this is meant to be 4-5 days before my missed period which is due in only 2 days, so I hope this isn’t a bad sign as well. There is so much info on the net about how to know if you’re pregnant which is great, but it’s not so reassuring when you’re attempting getting pregnant at 32 years old and don’t fit the mould of normal. I try to reassure myself that everyone is different so it could still be happening.

I check whether it’s ok to use a tampon if you think you are pregnant and it seems to be fine but it shouldn’t fill up if it’s implantation bleeding so this will be my next check. Then I keep reading and read a tampon should never be used if you are pregnant as it could cause infection so I go and take it out and put in a liner. There is quite a bit in the tampon but it’s mostly brown. When I wipe, I get nothing so these are all good signs of early pregnancy.

Within an hour the cramping has gotten really bad, just like I usually get. I really hope that I’m pregnant because if I’m going through this without painkillers and heat packs and it’s just my period then it’s not fun at all.

After 3 hours of awful pain, I have a hot shower and this seems to ease it somewhat. I give in and send hubby out for some paracetamol and a heat pack. From the mixed info I’ve read, it seems a small dose of paracetamol won’t hurt and heat packs are ok as long as my core temperature doesn’t go over 39c.

I can see why expectant mums freak out with all the info that is out there and how every site you read has a different answer.

For the next few hours my paracetamol and heat pack make it heaps better and I sit back and relax with a few movies to take my mind off it. Sadly, after going through all that pain and wasting a whole day on the couch after refusing to take Naprogesic just in case I am pregnant, my least favourite auntie shows up and ruins the party. My full period has arrived and I change the theme to the pity party instead. We’re not pregnant this month and will have to wait another month to try again. It’s still early days in our journey to getting pregnant at 32 years old but I’m disappointed. Maybe getting pregnant in your 30’s is harder than I anticipated.