how we got pregnant

no, not the nitty gritty technical stuff, you perv!

plenty of my friends have been parents for years already but i know plenty of people who are either currently trying or will be trying in the near future to conceive. i thought i'd jot down some Q&A stuff in case anybody was curious about any of the following things...

were we trying to get pregnant? yes. i'm 33 and Ted is 37. i've always kept a sort of timeline in the back of my mind about having a child before i'm 35. after 35 developmental concerns rise and they supposedly make you do more testing. i wanted to avoid that if possible because i'm a lazy af and don't want to go in to see anybody more than i have to.

when did you get off birth control? Ted and i got married in early october of last year. on wedding day i didn't have pockets to put my pills in so i just decided to stop then and there. that was about six months before we conceived. i was mostly continuing birth control at that time to make sure my skin was flawless on wedding day anyway. you should see my skin now (12 weeks in). it's a wreck! waaahhh!! -insert cry face emoji-

how long were you trying? hmm...like actually trying, only about 2-3 months. yes, we realize we are blessed in that aspect and that it's not always that easy for others to conceive. we did the "not not trying" thing for around four months but all that meant was that i wasn't on birth control. i had no idea what time frame ovulation even occurred within a cycle during that time.

what did you do to start trying? first, i downloaded the Flo app to start documenting when my periods started and finished. this let me know that i was on a regular cycle. then i started using ovulation sticks so that i knew exactly when i was ovulating (the app will guess but it wasn't always accurate). the window for ovulation is anywhere from 12-24 hours so it's really beneficial to know exactly when that is so you don't miss the opportunity. real sexy. "hey! sometime today, before we put mouth guards and invisalign retainers in, we've got to make this baby. but remember i'll need to allot time for hanging upside down too."

are you taking prenatal vitamins? yes! when i first started taking them, i was inconsistent. i took them maybe four times a week. my friend very loudly and adamantly scolded me about how taking prenatals is the easiest way to prevent spina bifida and that if i don't take them consistently, i may have a baby that won't ever walk. like, damn girl. dramatic, or what? ooookay! so i changed my daily alarm from "antibaby" (which was my birth control alarm) to "anti spina bifs!" (which is my prenatal vitamin alarm). i'm not picky about which ones i use. i just take whatever one i happen to run into at the store when i run out. edit: i was taking the horse pill kind but i've recently switched to gummies and it has changed my life!

got any tricks? aside from the ol' prop your pelvis up and basically hang upside down for 20 minutes after sex, i've got none. they say it doesn't really matter though. a strong swimmer will make it's way whether gravity helps it or not. iiii say why not give the little dudes even just an inch of decreased swim distance if you can. help 'em out, y'know? just throw a pillow under you or use that wall to help you get into some inversion yoga moves and hang out for a bit. it can't hurt.

when did you find out you were pregnant? about a day or so after the fertilized egg would have implanted (approximately seven days after ovulation), i felt lightheaded for a few hours. i'm pretty aware of my body and i never ever feel lightheaded, even if i'm dehydrated. so i googled whether that was a symptom of implantation. i found that plenty of women on forums said that they felt lightheaded around the same time and a couple weeks later they tested positive on a home pregnancy test. i used a home pregnancy test seven days after i felt lightheaded and tested positive with a verrrrrry faint line. the next couple days i took tests again and all of them tested positive. i technically knew i was pregnant around 3 weeks and 3 days. crazy, huh?

and that's that. boom. life, changed.