Hellobee Boards

I'm curious about this as well. We had primary IF tried for over 2 years but ended up getting pregnant without intervention right before our IVF cycle. We tried for 3 months on our own but haven't had any luck. We met with our RE just to see what the plan would be and he suggested clomid and TI or IUI, we are debating each right now. So we don't necessarily have secondary IF, but we may end up doing treatment based on what the doctor said.

I had primary infertility but got pregnant naturally and easily the second time. I spent five years trying to get pregnant with my first child - 8 IUIs, 2 hysteroscopic surgeries, and 2 rounds of IVF with the second one successful. 17 months after B was born I was surprised to find myself naturally pregnant. After five years of infertility having to have a discussion about birth control after baby #2 was deeply weird.

The definition of secondary infertility is having your first child on your own with no medical interventions but needing interventions trying to have subsequent children.

http://www.resolve.org/about-infertility/medical-conditions/secondary-infertility.html

So if you have primary infertility it is still called primary infertility with subsequent children. But some couples are lucky in that getting pregnant can "reset" their body and they can get pregnant without interventions going forward.

@KT326: Thanks for clarifying! I've edited my response.

I was strictly dealing with male factor infertility and conceived DD via donor embryo after 4 years of TTC. I'm 17 weeks pregnant with an oops baby now. Talk about a shock. So it's possible. Personally I wouldn't TTC on my own for too long before heading back to the RE. We were planning on bypassing TTC and going straight to treatments again.

It took me longer to have #2 than #1 in terms of # of cycles. And I sometimes think it's because I jumped the gun on treatment the second time and clomid did me no favors. But who really knows! I definitely had some change after pregnancy because I had regular cycles after #1 and not before. Now I'm pregnant with #3 on the first try, which is funny because we just figured we'd try and let it go I nothing happened. I think it's just a crapshoot really!

We dealt with infertility before having both my first and second, but then unexpectedly got pregnant with our third it of nowhere. You just never know!

So I guess I didn't technically have primary IF but my gyn at the time diagnosed PCOS and said we could start interventions but DH and I were not interested and after a year I did get pregnant with LO1. I know that is nothing compared to so many women who really struggle to get and stay pregnant. Since it did take a while, we never prevented and LO2 was conceived just before LO1 turned 1 and I never got my period back and was still breastfeeding. LO3 was conceived first cycle trying. So it is definitely possible that pregnancy can reset things in either direction. I have a few friends that experienced the opposite - pregnant with their first easily but trouble conceiving their second. Good luck!

I'm mostly lurking! I didn't vote because we only have a LO #1 thanks to IVF which we did because of MFI. We would want a #2 but I really don't think I can do IVF again. (Let alone the cost, it is so physically and emotionally difficult. And I'm AMA so the odds are now extremely depressing.) So here's to natural conception if LO#2 is ever meant to be!!

@Mrs. Pickle: Yours is the first story I've heard of a "MFI reset," for lack of a better thing to call it. Any insight into what changed for your DH? It makes sense that pregnancy hormones could cause a reproductive shift in a woman, but now I'm wondering if something happens to men, too. Whenever people talk about the "IF reset" after pregnancy, I didn't think it applied to our situation. Thanks for letting me know!

Primary IF, but not secondary. Its like my PCOS completely vanished after I gave birth to baby 1.

It took us 17 cycles to conceive #1, unmedicated but charting and with great timing. #2 first cycle, #3 took about 4 cycles.

I didn't have infertility but it took a full twelve months of charting to conceive our first baby, two cycles to conceive our second (while breastfeeding) and our third pregnancy was a one shot wonder (also while bf'ing!) but I unfortunately miscarried.

Bodies are weird...

@LindsayInNY: Getting pregnant with J, it tooks me roughly a year, I had PCOS, and ended up needing to go on Clomid to conceive.

As soon as I weaned from breastfeeding, I got pregnant again right away to much disbelief!! I miscarried at 8 weeks, but then 4 weeks after that miscarriage, I got pregnant again and now I'm 18 weeks. Anything can happen!

My best friend had primary IF and conceived her son through IVF. Second baby was a complete surprise, right when they were thinking of trying IVF again.

@LindsayInNY: Good luck!

I love reading about all of these surprise baby #2s!!