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To me, doing it "naturally" means not using anything but well timed sex. Chlomid and stuff like that is medical to me. Basically anything that requires a doctor to fix or regulate. I am all for doing whatever it takes to start a family. I think I wouldn't do IVF or IUI just because we couldn't afford it, but I understand those who can afford it and chose not to

Since I mentioned it in the other thread, I'll respond here.

I think it is easier to say I would only have gone as far as I did, with charting and opks. Had we not conceived in 6 months( we began when we were 34 and 32) I might have gone to see an RE, but my husband would not have wanted to go further.

Eta: I support medical interventions for others, just not for me.

@pui: I don't know what your experience has been but I've found that the "how far would you go" threads tend to be depressing for IFers around here...

Anything more than just sex and charting is "medical intervention" to me.

I can't honestly say how far I would go.

I guess I'd say taking medications is intervention.

We would have done everything we could eventually if I couldn't get pregnant up to and including IVF. I don't think I'd do the donor egg/sperm route. I think if IVF didn't work after attempts we'd do a gestational carrier or adopt.

I agree with @MrsTiz: however in the case of you @runsyellowlites: I'm not sure I would call your thyroid medication and intervention because that is to control a preexisting conditioning...maybe?

@pui: I don't think "medical intervention" is a scary term... more just use of the awesome technology medical science has discovered & honed.

@pui: Honestly though, you'll have the choice to share the information with those you trust since you don't have to say "this is ____, my child who was conceived using Clomid". And once you're at that point you may care less what people think.

I think doing anything to make yourself healthier, with the added plus of better fertility is still in the realm of "natural" conseption. I have a friend who doesn't plan on ever having children, but is constantly monitoring her cycle and working on her hormones to keep herself in the best health possible. The same things someone having trouble getting pregnant might do.
Now, anything beyond getting yourself as healthy as possible, I personally would not consider that natural conception, but I have no problem with those who use these methods. Some of us use artificial methods to prevent pregnancy, some to achieve pregnancy.

Getting thyroid levels back to normal is important even if you're not trying to conceive. It causes significant health problems. I wouldn't consider having your thyroid regulated a non natural conception...

I don't really know... I have PCOS so while we were TTC I took provera a couple times to end 110+ day cycles so we'd even have a chance at ovulating the following cycle. I guess I consider that kind of medical intervention, but I would also say that we conceived naturally in that there were no drugs in the actual cycle I got pregnant and did so through conventional methods.

I don't really know where we would have stopped. I was totally open to trying clomid in future cycles, but we don't think we would have done IUI/IVF.

I think it's very easy to say, "I would never" when you aren't actually faced with that particular situation. If you are ovulating on your own and your partner's fine as well, that's a totally different perspective than someone who may have lost a fallopian tube, or partner has poor morphology so they need intervention to achieve their dream of a family.

In the end, we all do what feels right to make our families and no matter how it happens it's all beautiful.

I wonder the same thing if people consider my taking metformin "intervention." It technically is the only way I was able to get pregnant! But it's just a pill you could take, and that I should have taken to treat my PCOS. I find the blurred lines so interesting!

@Sapphiresun: hard to say for me though, because "naturally" (aka unmedicated) I likely never would have gotten pregnant! I think many things we do/take are "intervening" in our health in general, whether they work for fertility or not.

Oh and I want to add that Ivf may not be "natural" but it creates life! Inductions and ultrasounds and c sections and surrogates and and basal thermometers and all the drugs we take for every ailment and surgeries we have for various conditions, None of these things are "natural" either. In fact most of us who believe in western medicine are not doing everything " naturally". So it kind of annoys me when people get all weird about things like Ivf or clomid as though its playing god or something. Many people have many reasons they will or won't go a certain route but to me none of them are superior or more natural than any others unless they are living like Amish people. I say dowhat you need to do to bring life and don't assume that any kind of intervention is more or less potent than another.

I would say anything that required a doctor would be considered medical intervention.

I would have done anything and everything to have a baby of my own to carry in my womb.

Any time you need a drug to help, you're out of the realm of 'getting pregnant naturally'. I would have gone to hell and back for my first child. Now that we're looking at considerable hormonal intervention for any additional children, I'm not so sure. But then, my uterus isn't working well anyway, so I have to do something to fix it.

For the record, I don't view "medical intervention" as a negative thing. It's wonderful to live in a world where we have options for our care. My son is asthmatic and you better believe I use his nebulizer when he needs it. It's just a matter of some people making the decision not to pursue them.

Decisions in my family are made as a team, so if we were facing the possibility of having to do an IUI, while I might consider it, my husband is against it. It took me awhile to get to the point where I was okay with that and it shouldn't be looked at as being judgey. Everyone has different tolerances and to imply that I can not possibly understand the situation because I conceived my son without intervention is being equally judgey.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter to me how you build your families. I can just say what would or wouldn't have been an option for my family. I am also in the camp where I don't believe it's every woman's right to carry and concieve their own child, it's just not biologically possible.