Our Conception Journey: Pregnancy Planning & Cycle Tracking | Lucie Fink

WHAT'S INSIDE THE BULLET JOURNAL?
- monthly spreads and calendars
- pregnancy at a glace calendars
- symptom logs
- to-do lists for each trimester
- baby growth chart
- boy/girl baby name spread
- empty grid paper pages for habit & mood trackers

Chapters:
00:03 - Introduction
1:00 - Disclaimer
1:45 - Vitamins & Supplements I took while TTC
6:15 - Step 1: GYN appointment
10:54 - Period Tracking & Charting (ovulation predictor kits, basal body temperature recording, cervical mucus & cervical fluid)
17:12 - Personal Health Issues
19:41 - My pregnant bullet journal
21:31 - Intercourse Days

Many of you know that I was on the pill for 11 years and decided to come off of it to prepare my body for conception (pregnancy planning). This video is going to focus more on the technical side of things that I did once I came off the pill in order to conceive (the doctors I saw, the tests I had done, and the tracking/charting I did while TTC). I will speak more about the emotional side (like how we knew we were ready for a baby) in a future video!

In Sept 2020, I decided to go off the pill. Coming off the pill at 29, I was ready to begin the process of getting my natural cycle back on track, and my thought at that time was that I wanted to wait until the following September (2021) to begin trying to conceive. As you all know, we got pregnant in April 2021, so this plan obviously took a turn and we started trying much earlier than expected.

Immediately after I came off the pill, I set up an appointment with my doctor. I did some bloodwork to check for antibodies (to see if I was up-to-date on certain vaccines) and Michael and I also did genetic testing. Because it came back that I needed two different vaccine boosters (MMR and Varicella), I was told to NOT try to get pregnant during this time since they are live vaccines.

Fast forward to October (one month later), and I decided that I was officially ready to start trying. I decided that it would be better to start trying then and get pregnant SOONER rather than start trying when we initially said and then have that timeline pushed back if we were to encounter any issues. However, there were some road blocks during this time as I still needed to get my period back! In addition, my health was worsening during this period - I was getting terrible migraines daily and found out that I had celiac disease!

There were a few things that I did immediately after coming off the pill. The first was tracking. I began tracking everything about my ovulation and cycle. I took my basal body temperature every morning, used OTC ovulation predictor kits, used digital OPKs, and checked my daily cervical fluid. My temperatures seemed normal, but I would ovulate about every 40 days (instead of every 28 days). Although it was not normal length-wise, the fact that I WAS ovulating at all was a good sign. These long ovulation windows lasted until December, when I began to experience all these crazy health issues, inducing stress, and causing my period to disappear completely. I went back to my OBGYN and got a progesterone supplement to ‘induce’ my period.

Around January 2021, I cut out gluten completely, my headaches went away and my period came back on its own. During this time I got the greenlight to begin trying!

One of the biggest questions I got was which days I had sex to get pregnant, and honestly, it’s going to be different for everyone because we all ovulate on different days! When I began to hit that ovulation stage, we started having sex every day throughout my fertile window.

Ultimately, all the planning and prepping paid off, and we got pregnant that month! After two weeks, my temperature remained elevated instead of dropping back down, which was a sign of pregnancy! I hope this video was helpful for those who are either trying to conceive or just want to learn more about their cycles.

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[delaneyshank]

Lucie! Thank you for your candor about your conception journey! I am not trying to get pregnant myself, as I just had the Nexoplanon BC implanted in my arm, but I love your thorough research & commitment to your body, as well as your comfort to share your journey with the Fink Fam! I’ve never heard anyone else talk about their cervical mucus & I love your scientific approach! Rock on, mama!

[denisewebb]

Thank you for acknowledging those of us, who are struggling or have struggled with fertility issues.

[funmif]

I'm not in a relationship or anywhere near being ready to be a mother but I love watching all of Lucie's videos on the topic because she has such a calming voice and you can tell she's really studied into what she's talking about

[Jeni]

Lucie, I really love how comfortable and open you are talking about your body and normal female bodily functions. It's really refreshing!

[kelsqi-books]

I love how mature and upfront this video was. Bodily functions and sex are both obviously a huge part of conception but ppl don't talk about it 😅❤ this is the type of honest pregnancy journey the world needs 🥰🥰

[Emivibes]

It’s cool how everyone’s conception journey is so different I got off of nexplanon December 2020 and found out I was expecting January 2021 just trying naturally. Currently 34 weeks pregnant with my second and last daughter I know I’m super blessed by getting pregnant right away with both of my babies and that’s not everyone’s story I try not to take that for granted but I do feel lucky

[cd]

This is important information to know. Way to go Lucie! I am 50 now but I wish I had known this when I was ready. It took me three years to get pregnant and had no clue about any of this until I had my children and was way older.

[Anoukvdk]

When my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to have a baby, I stopped taking birth control for a month first to see if my period would come back normally. That first cycle was 27 days, so I also thought everything was fine and back to normal straight away. But then my cycles became longer and longer each time, I think the longest one was 48 days. At first I wasn't planning on tracking my ovulation, but when my cycles became so irregular I really wanted to, otherwise I had no clue on when I was ovulating. I was pregnant after 9 months of trying. Unfortunately there was no heartbeat at our 8 week scan that time, but we were very lucky to be pregnant again quite soon after. The positive thing about it taking so long for me to become pregnant is that I really began to know my body and my cycle better. Both times that I got pregnant, we only DTD once because our predictions were so accurate at that point ;) There was no need to try multiple times a day for days on end. For me personally, I will not go back on birth control, or at least not as long as I want more children. I really feel like birth control messed with my body, and I feel much more at ease since it is out of my system. Although currently 27 weeks pregnant :). Really nice to hear your experience, as it has a lot of similarities to mine. This is also my first baby, at 29 years old. All the best for the rest of your pregnancy!

[krystalfeliz]

I am not even close to having a baby but Lucie is so soothing and hearing her talking makes me happy ☺️

[Imprettykrustyyyy]

Thank you so much for educating us as well as normalizing that it’s okay to have to go through this with your partner. I feel as if a lot of people are embarrassed nowadays to share and express how hard or how easy it can be to get pregnant. Congrats and I wish you a healthy/safe/beautiful pregnancy.

[Alissa-Marie]

It's so great to see information like this for women even if they aren't ready to conceive. I wish I had done more research and tests even before we were ready because after going off the pill my period never came back. It's now more than a year later and we are on a fertility journey we never thought we would be on. Knowledge and being proactive with your health is a powerful thing ❤️

[Vee]

Love how thorough and how well you explained your journey. The only thing I will say is I think you mean fertile window when you talk about "ovulation window". Your fertile window is 6 days long ending on the day of ovulation and you will ovulate typically 24-36 hours after your "peak" or LH surge. While on this 6 day window the 5 days before ovulation you can still get pregnant, your highest chance of conceiving is on ovulation day. Congratulations on pregnancy and your continued journey!

[louisagene]

Thank you so much for your openness! It's so fascinating to listen, and so much better coming from someone with such nuance and care. :)

[InfinitelyASMR]

Amazing video- so honest and open! I appreciate your consideration for couples who struggle to conceive. We followed the same steps as you but took 2 years + months of IVF to conceive so anyone who doesn’t manage to get there using these methods still has lots of hope with the magic of science. ♥️

[horvathdorottya]

The SAME THING happened to me!! I got off the pill thinking we have a year before we actually want to start trying - but as soon as I got off it, we were like "yepp we're ready". I think because our hormones were asleep for so long - been on the pill 10 years - that when they wake up they are like "give me my baby!!" 😄

[giovarodr]

This is amazing cause it gives you sooo much information a lot of people dont know and it makes me feel like you and your partner put all the effort to be prepared and to have all under control for your baby cause its a major event and everybody should take it like an actual proyect and not only romanticize their journey.

[suzettlofton]

I’m so glad I saw this! Clearblue says to stop testing after 9 days blinking smiley faces and to see you’ve gone all way up to 28 days just gives me hope I’ll get my peak!

[grandmad]

So interesting how young people plan for such an event these days. Back in my day, we didn't do anything to prepare. We just got pregnant and had a baby like women have been doing since the beginning of time. I wish we had more info like this to help prepare while keeping the baby safe. Excited to follow your journey Lucie!

[greeneyes]

Loved the scientific facts used to explain your journey. Congrats on the pregnancy. I’m also pregnant (6 months) and used ovulation tracking to conceive.

[aaan]

Interesting to watch, especially as a woman who got pregnant at LOT sooner than initially planned 😆. I foolishly believed that it would take my husband and I at least 6 months to a year to convince as we were both in our mid 30s and I had been on hormonal birth control for 14 years. I went off the pill in March and stopped all forms of bc in late April/May. I got pregnant in June without us actively trying. Big Suprise!!! A happy surprise and we're becoming more excited as time goes on 😊 So don't make my mistake, do your research like Lucie and be prepared to fall pregnant straight away as you never know what could