Every couples have their own story on getting pregnant. Some had it easy, some was not even trying, some waited for years only to conceive and some even had their family planning to not get pregnant as soon as they get married. It is all depends on the needs and wants of the couples. As for me and my husband, we are that kind of couple who would like to conceive as soon as we can hehe. Like, one of the main goals of this marriage is to get our own baby.
So, me and my husband are not living together since i am working at Putrajaya and my husband is working at Melaka. So our chance to meeting each other is only during the weekends. But that doesn't include when my husband has to work on the weekends, plus when our first months of marriage, the CMCO was still on (thanks to the coronavirus). So technically we just meet only like one to two times in a month.
We got married on the 3rd October 2020. And our first TTC (trying to conceive) was around November since that was the first time my husband was home and (we thought that) i was on my ovulation period according to the Period Calendar app. Before my husband was home, i already consulted with some of my married girlfriends on this and that for, you know, to make things work. Haha. One of my friends' suggestions was to use the Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) test. She said that even though the Period Calendar app telling us that today is our ovulation day, the OPKs test usually just telling the otherwise.
And somehow on my case it's true because the app told me that it was my ovulation day but when we tested using the OPKs test (like 3 times on that day), my results were all negative. But we were still all positive at that moment and just hoping and praying that i'm not going to get my period at the end of the month haha. But as the saying goes, "good things happen when you least expect them to". And we were expecting too much during our first try, so yeah, my period came like a thief in the night literally 3 days earlier from my expected period date, crashing our hopes into dust on the ground. Haha.
At that time we were like, okay this is it. Allah definitely doesn't want us to get it easy. He also knew that we were not ready yet. He wants us to strive for it and pray hard to Him so that we earned it. And so, our second and foremost TCC journey begins (bismillah). So, me and my husband read some blogs and articles here and there on how to conceive successfully, what foods and what supplements should we consume, what to do and what not to do and everything. We also asked some of our married friends for the pro-tips that we can try as well. So here are what we did:
Body Basal Temperature (BBT)
So literally BBT is we take our temperature first thing first when we wake up in the morning (during the same time like ± 30 minutes and at the same position). We are not required to move or do anything yet before we take our temperature, we need to have at least 4 hours of sleep before the temperature is taken and use the same digital thermometer (preferably 2 decimals thermometer) throughout the cycle. Ideally, we should start charting on the first day of period and continue to take the BBT everyday for the month. The purpose of taking our daily BBT is to observe when it rises. Ovulation usually happens a day or two before our BBT rises. As for myself, i recorded my BBT together with daily OPKs test.
I swear i'm not good at explaining this one because it kinda confusing to me especially during the first cycle and till the end tbh haha. Because i don't see much different on the reading and the chart and maybe because i don't do it as consistently as it should be. So, for better understanding, i suggest you, to do your own reading and research on this as well.
OPKs Test, Period Calendar App & Premom App
I've been using the period calendar app since as long as i can remember. Back then, i only use it to track my period. And only after i got married, i knew that the app can also track our ovulation period. Lol lame, i know. My best suggestion is, never rely on only 1 app. Please download at least 2 period calendar apps to record your period regularly to increase the accuracy to forecast when is your next period and next ovulation day. As in my case, i used Period Calendar App and Premom App. And these two apps never show the same prediction. Ever. It will always be like one to three days differ. Which means, you can't trust exactly when one app said that your ovulation day is on the 1st day of the month and the other app told you that it is on the third or fourth day of the month. But still, you can take note on what particular day after your period ends to predict for the upcoming months.
So to double confirmed if the day is actually my ovulation day, i will use the OPKs test. I bought like 50 strips of the OPKs test at Shopee and it only cost me around RM20. Seriously, but at Shopee guys. Because we will use this strips everyday for every month after the last day of our period. Only to confirm when is exactly the ovulation day. I mean, you don't want to spend like RM4 per strip to use daily while you can get way cheaper online. Haha.
The OPKs test is very simple to use. It's almost exactly like the pregnancy test. The pregnancy test is to test whether you are pregnant or not. But the function of OPKs test is to determine whether you are ovulating on that day or not. If the strip is double line (clearest double line), that means, it is your ovulation day. Go make babies and increase the number of human population. Hahaha.
As for myself, to record the daily OPKs tests, i used the Premom App. I took photo every time and uploaded the strips on the app to evaluate my progress. It's actually easier when you uploaded them on the app because you can compare clearly the T/C ratio and the contrast level of the double line to define when is your ovulation day. In my pov, this was the most accurate procedure so far compared to others.
Supplements & Sunnah Foods
Me and my husband also consumed pure honey throughout the process. I also consumed olive oil, black seeds and almonds. I bought these all from Mahnaz Food. And for supplements, i consumed Appeton Folic Acid while my husband consumed Himalaya Kapikachhu and Himalaya Speman. Tbh, i don't really consumed these everyday because i was not that disciplined enough. But i did try to never skip them for too long in a week if i ever forgotten.
Make duas (drink warm water with a pinch of salt - recite Al Fatihah 7x & Al Ikhlas 7x)
It was my husband who shared with me this one. I also did read this online when i googled things on TTC. I did try it (warm water with pinch of salt) but only like two or three times because i was forgetful as always. Hehe. And yes, we have to make duas to Allah all the time. Specifically.
Extra: Buah Zuriat (doum)
My husband and i never tried this buah zuriat. But i did read about it and saw it online on the benefits of this fruit which is believe to boost female fertility and sperms quality (can read more online). We can get the fruit from Shopee and there's also like tea bags made from buah zuriat that i saw from Shopee as well.
Still after all, we just need to put our trust to Allah because we can try so hard or perhaps, not trying at all, but in the end, only Allah determines the grant. Tawakkaltu ala Allah. I'm sharing these on my blog not to pretend to be the next Miss Know It All (cause i am definitely no expert on this) or to be Miss TMI (too much information) exposing 'everything' about our marriage. But tbh, i was one of those who just knew about these only after i got married and TTC. And i believe that there are actually a lot of women and couples out there who have no closed friends to consult on this matter or even don't know which and what to read regarding on this. So yeah, here some from our very own little experience.
Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah, we are currently 10 weeks pregnant. Definitely still very new in this and have a long way to go from here. I pray that i will have a smooth, safe and healthy pregnancy. And i also pray that my baby will grow and develop healthily, normally and beautifully. InsyaAllah. May Allah ease everything. Amin YRA.
