What We Did to Get Pregnant on the First Try

Knowing that fertility challenges are common in our generation, I wanted to do as much work as possible up-front to boost my fertility.

This is what I did to conceive our daughter on the first try. The results are my own and I am sharing this to encourage hopeful parents that organic, non-invasive fertility methods do work.

I can’t guarantee your specific results. However, if you’d like more recommendations for what I would’ve tried beyond this list based on my research, send me a message and I’ll be happy to share them with you.

I learned my baseline fertility.

After a general wellness check with my OB/GYN, I started keeping a record of my menstrual cycles, sexual activity, diet, exercise + mindset.

I stopped taking hormonal birth control pills for more than one year prior.

I truly believe this is a big one. I gave my body ample time to reset itself after chemically controlling my fertility.

I actually had stopped taking birth control after our wedding, then used that baseline fertility to avoid sex on my peak windows. When you follow the natural family planning method, it can be 99% effective (same as a condom).

I feel like this is where a health teacher in high school would say something like “but 100% guarantee is abstinence!”

My husband and I were in agreement that if we happened to get pregnant during the time of practicing NFP and not necessarily “trying”, that we would be great with that.

I was on an organic prenatal multivitamin as soon as I was off birth control.

I researched best possible prenatal multivitamin options that I could find, and only one met all of my criteria: MyKind Organics Women’s Prenatal Multivitamin.

I cut out caffeine entirely.

There’s no big research on caffeine and fertility, but I felt like anything that altered my body’s natural state in such a way was likely too overpowering for conception.

I quit my daily iced coffee cold turkey one day + I don’t recommend being so mean to yourself if you decide to quit or reduce caffeine, too!

Next time, I’ll space out the cups over a few days and reduce the quantity without the headaches.

I bought a new water bottle that I loved to use.

Something as simple as finding a water bottle you love can boost your hydration exponentially because you’re actually drinking more water from it.

I got myself to actually like green smoothies.

This Apple Pie Smoothie recipe from Simple Green Smoothies was my gateway smoothie. It tastes like dessert. Follow the recipe exactly and you’ll be on your way, too. (Assuming you like apple pie?)

I committed to organic living.

Not just in the buying pesticide-free sense. I committed to doing work I love, surrounding myself with positive people or choosing to skip being around negative ones, following my gut and not overthinking what my body was telling me it needed.

I took a hard look at our finances, relationships, home + beauty supplies, and my expectations for having a baby.

You can follow along my exact steps here.

I booked a vacation.

I asked my OB/GYN how to get pregnant + she said, “go on vacation + get drunk!”

She was joking with the bluntness, of course, but her point was to not overthink the babymaking. Relax, let some genuine passion stir up + don’t make the attempt mechanical if it doesn’t have to be.

So, we went on a 3-week European vacation with the mindset that this would be our last big adventure trip for a few years. We ended the trip with a spontaneous week camping the Ring Road around Iceland.

We had a lot of great sex.

Just to make sure I’m being very clear here: if you do all of those things, but not this one, you’re going to be out of luck.

We had sex almost every day, if not multiple times per day, because we genuinely wanted to.

Just for good measure, I tilted my pelvis up afterwards by propping up pillow under my tailbone for a few minutes to make sure all of the semen had gravity’s help.

Some professionals say this has no bearing on fertility, but I figured it couldn’t hurt!

I didn’t test obsessively.

I brought pregnancy tests with us on the trip + actually peed on the stick at the Godafoss waterfall in Iceland where we learned we were in-fact pregnant! But I made us wait until the number of days post-peak window that the test inserts said so that I wasn’t getting my emotions all over the place reading false results from too-soon-testing.