Post-irishmomusa

Harry announcing our pregnancy with excitement!

We are about to become parents of two and I am absolutely overjoyed but terrified at the same time!! I mean it’s not really unplanned or anything as we have been trying for over a year now already but it certainly was a surprise! I feel like the slowdown during Covid-19 lockdown really helped with conceiving! I didn’t realize how much I was running around before and glorified the busy life as a working Montessori teacher and mum to Harry. Trying to manage the home and childcare while my husband ran two companies and traveled a lot pre Covid-19 was not really conducive to conceiving, we realized!

I’m not sure how to approach this blog but I really want to convey how difficult it is to actually conceive! I know I most certainly can’t complain as we have conceived naturally and a year or so is not so long in the broader scheme of things but at the same time, it is not as easy as some think!

Growing up in Ireland and attending all-girls’ catholic schools, we were made believe that if a boy’s penis so much as waved passed us we could get pregnant! Given this fear, I always presumed it was so easy to get knocked up. The reality is very different. Even after downloading the ovulation app onto my phone which tracked my ovulation window, peeing on several ovulation sticks, taking my pre-natal supplements, doing our ‘homework’ on the correct nights after the flashing smiley face appeared on the ovulation sticks, we still did not succeed. It took months of doing the right thing on the exact right days to finally get it right!

Long story short, conceiving is not for the fainthearted! You have to really put the effort in while also trying to make it as romantic as possible at the same time! I remember while teaching adults English in Beijing in 2010, several chinese women with their degrees and MBA’s that were in my class said they had given up their full time careers recently. When I asked why, they replied non-chalantly with ‘‘Oh because we are trying for a baby!’’ I had never heard of this before in any other culture! I was actually shocked but now I completely understand why! They have the right idea. Once I had stopped working, slowed down to a snails pace and had a non-existant social life in lockdown, conceiving just happened just by following my protocols mentioned above! Oh I also had stopped drinking alcohol in December 2019. Not sure if this helped or not but I definitely felt healthier because of it!

I also believe it had everything to do with my husband Jonny slowing down too as it is not all on the woman to conceive a baby. It certainly takes two to Tango! Pre Covid-19, Jonny would be on an airplane at least once or sometimes twice a month. He would take a trip to China every 8-10 weeks for a few days so no doubt when the lockdown happened, he was rested too (not exactly stress free but a start!)

Now I’m not suggesting that you MUST to do this to conceive by any means, I’m just expressing what worked for us in the hope that it might help somebody to consider slowing down too. Some women are lucky enough to conceive while drunk or while they are busy in their careers running here and flying there. That woman is not me, I have discovered. Maybe you are lucky enough to have it all at the same time; high flying career, a Paris Hilton-like social life, a child already at home that you are raising and an easy conception and second pregnancy. For others, like me, I can only hope to have it all over the course of my lifetime but not all at the same time.

So in Summary, If you are trying for a baby, slow down, sleep lots, eat nice foods and relax all while putting in the extra effort in the bedroom! Good luck!!