Pregnancy spacing/timing planner tool?

[pilgrim8926]

Y’all, I’m getting into the numbers of what age I’d be at which pregnancy by when I first conceive and when I’m ready for pregnancy 2 (or 3) and it’s getting complicated also, I am bad at math. I am bumbling around with a poorly made excel spreadsheet.

Does anyone know of a calculator or tool I can use to help? I want to make sure that if we adjust our timeline for Baby 1, we’ll still be good to go if we decide to have a third child.

 

[sisi]

@pilgrim8926 I don't think you're going to find a calculator for this. Why don't you explain your variables and timeline?

In general, it takes on average about 3 months of trying to conceive and plus 9 months of pregnancy makes a year. The medical recommendation is at least 18 months between pregnancies (not births) for maximal outcomes. So if you started trying in Jan 2024, you'd ideally have #1 around Jan 2025, start trying for #2 around July 2026 and have them around July 2027, and start trying for #3 in Jan 2029 and have them around Jan 2030. So basically 6 years between starting to try for #1 and having #3. Of course, that assumes ideal conditions and you might want to build in wiggle room for fertility issues, miscarriage, or wider spacing if you want, or slightly smaller spacing especially if age is a concern (12 months between pregnancies can be an okay recommendation if you're >35, which would shorten the time from trying for #1 to having #3 to 4.5 years, but would also mean possibly 3 under 5 which sounds very hard).

 

[jgeral0172]

@sisi This is misinformation - it takes 90% of couples the average length of a year to conceive.

 

[sisi]

@jgeral0172 Whoa, absolutely not - that is very much a misunderstanding and I think you confused "normal" with "average." 90% of couples conceive WITHIN a year. You qualify for an infertility diagnosis if you do not get pregnant within a year, which is why conceiving within a year is considered within the "normal" range, but the average is much lower. The chance of conception is about 30% each cycle assuming no fertility issues.

Here is a very comprehensive study of couples TTC that found with confirmed ovulation and sex in the fertile window, the median number of cycles to conception was 2. 68% conceived by 3 months, 81% by 6 months, and 92% by 12 months. Here is another study of women TTC specifically in their 30s and 40s. The median number of cycles to conception was 3 for all women in all the 30s cohorts. For women age 30-31, 77% had conceived by 6 months (and 62% of women age 38-39 had also conceived in 6 months).

 

[katrina2017]

@pilgrim8926 Modern Fertility has a timeline tool that may be useful for this - https://modernfertility.com/timeline/

 

[edo]

@katrina2017 Highly recommend this one

 

[jesus_is_our_lord]

@katrina2017 Has anyone tried their hormone test? Im interested in getting it before having a second

 

[eadillard123]

@jesus_is_our_lord My wife and I both did it! It helped us realize that while we’re both technically within normal range, her numbers are more ideal than mine and we decided she’d carry based on that.

 

[akodua]

@pilgrim8926 Just google perinatology there’s a website where you can time a pregnancy by different things https://perinatology.com