Get off now. Took me 6 months timed/temped with my first at 34. Took 4.5 years invluding IUI + IVF with my second. I waited 2 years to get my IUD out and then didn'tchas it too hard. We took the "pull the goalie" approach but in hindsight if I could do it again I'd rather have kids 6 months closer together than I considered ideal than a 6 year gap (with the necessary disclaimer that the two children I have are obviously the 2 best children in the world/for my family).

It took me 6 months the first time trying at age 33. I got pregnant the first month going off the pill at age 35. So you never know.

Are you heavier now too? You may not get pregnant at all thus time. Just speaking from experience. I'd be ready to pursue IVF

Six months to a year

Anonymous wrote:I had my beautiful DD in Aug '24 and we're starting to think about having another.

In my mind it took a while to conceive - I had my IUD removed in June '22 and actively prevented until Dec, then it took us until Oct '23 to conceive our daughter, although we missed a few months due to solo travel, so probably 4 cycles trying based on best guess from my Apple watch, 2 cycles missed entirely, and 4-5 of seriously trying with ovulation strips. My OB ran a bunch of tests on both of us right before we conceived naturally and everything was normal, both for DH and myself. I'm newly 34.

Now I'm on the pill and we'd ideally like to get pregnant some time between July and October. How soon would you go off the pill? 2-3 months before? Immediately? I really am hesitant to get pregnant before the summer due to some major work events.

Immediately, because it takes a while for your system to return to normal and clear everything. Just use another method until then.

You could even use something like rhythm or “pull out,” and if it happens then it’s not far off from your target date anyway.

6 months. Use a different form of bc if you’re not ready. Conceiving my first, it seemed to take me about 6 months for my cervical mucus to get back to normal and to see that ewcm — this shocked me, and I thought I must be developing fertility issues. I was 31. When I look back I really regret the frustration, just not knowing that was a thing. By contrast my second and third kids were conceived first try, but I wasn’t coming off birth control those times.

PP to add - 7-9 timed cycles to get pregnant in your early thirties IS a lot.

So there are two factors here:

1) I believe that your cycles can take up to about 3 months to regulate post-pill. So I would definitely come off the pill at least 3 months before I wanted to start trying, then just use condoms until you're ready to dive in.

2) As far as the timing to start trying - you need to think about what's more of a problem: not being able to get pregnant and/or ending up with a much larger age gap than you want vs. messing with your work plans.

#2 is a really personal decision. I've made the "wrong" call (if you can call it that) twice. It took me 7 months of very active trying (charting, temping, ovulation strips) to get pregnant with my first at 34. Worried about it taking even longer, or not being able to get pregnant at all, I started trying when he was just seven months old. Well, it happened pretty fast the second time and my oldest two are only a year and a half apart. Then I took a longer break to make sure I was ready for number 3 if it happened immediately, and ended up with a miscarriage and not being able to get pregnant again. Had to do IVF to have my third and she's 4 years younger than my middle child.

I would have preferred about a 2-2.5 year gap both times, but here we are, and I have no regrets. I did what made sense each time based on my tolerance for a variety of outcomes. So - think about the risks in both directions, and see what makes sense for your family.

I had my beautiful DD in Aug '24 and we're starting to think about having another.

In my mind it took a while to conceive - I had my IUD removed in June '22 and actively prevented until Dec, then it took us until Oct '23 to conceive our daughter, although we missed a few months due to solo travel, so probably 4 cycles trying based on best guess from my Apple watch, 2 cycles missed entirely, and 4-5 of seriously trying with ovulation strips. My OB ran a bunch of tests on both of us right before we conceived naturally and everything was normal, both for DH and myself. I'm newly 34.

Now I'm on the pill and we'd ideally like to get pregnant some time between July and October. How soon would you go off the pill? 2-3 months before? Immediately? I really am hesitant to get pregnant before the summer due to some major work events.