Conceive Please

Conceive Please Putting your reproductive health into your hands. All advice and products meet Australian health and safety standards. App coming soon in 2021!

conceiveplease™ Fertility App was created by leading Australian Fertility Specialist, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician, Dr Raewyn Teirney, who has helped countless couples achieve their dreams of having a baby.

Folic acid: the dose, the timing, and who needs 5mg 🌱Very little in preconception medicine carries the weight of evidenc...
20/09/2026

Folic acid: the dose, the timing, and who needs 5mg 🌱

Very little in preconception medicine carries the weight of evidence folic acid does, which makes the details worth getting right.

The standard dose is 400 to 800 micrograms daily, started at least four weeks before you begin trying and continued through the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. Starting before matters because the neural tube closes by around 28 days after conception, often before a positive test. Starting when you find out is starting after the window.

Some people need 5mg, more than ten times the standard dose. That includes anyone taking anticonvulsants, anyone with diabetes, anyone with a previous neural tube defect, a BMI over 30, or a malabsorption disorder.

5mg is prescription strength. It is not a matter of taking more of your supermarket supplement.

If any of those apply to you, ask your GP about the high dose 🩺

Mounjaro can affect your pill. Ozempic does not 💊Most posts on this get it wrong in one of two directions. One says GLP-...
19/09/2026

Mounjaro can affect your pill. Ozempic does not 💊

Most posts on this get it wrong in one of two directions. One says GLP-1s stop your contraception working. The other says they never do.

In February 2026 the TGA updated its advice for tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro. If you take an oral contraceptive, switch to a non-oral method or add a barrier method for four weeks after starting, and for four weeks after every dose increase. Not only the first one. The reason is delayed gastric emptying, which may reduce how much of the pill you absorb.

That advice is specific to tirzepatide. Semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, has no documented interaction with ethinyl estradiol or levonorgestrel.

Separately, the Wegovy label advises stopping at least two months before a planned pregnancy, because of semaglutide's long half-life.

GLP-1s are not fertility treatments. If you are on one and planning a pregnancy, speak with your prescriber 🩺

How long it actually takes 📍You get told to relax, to be patient, that it happens when it happens. What almost nobody of...
18/09/2026

How long it actually takes 📍

You get told to relax, to be patient, that it happens when it happens. What almost nobody offers is the actual number.

Around 56% of couples conceive within six cycles. About 77% within twelve. Roughly 80% within a year. And of the couples who have not conceived after twelve months, about half go on to conceive naturally in the following year.

Those figures do two things. They confirm that month six feeling long is completely normal, because close to half of couples are still trying at that point. And they mark twelve months as a reason to get assessed, rather than a verdict.

The number is the reassuring part. Not because it promises anything, but because it replaces an unknown with a known, and most of what makes this hard is not knowing where you sit.

If you have been trying for 12 months, or 6 months if you are 35 or over, your GP can start the assessment 🧡

An IVF cycle takes about six weeks. Here is where the time goes 📋Most people picture the egg collection and the transfer...
17/09/2026

An IVF cycle takes about six weeks. Here is where the time goes 📋

Most people picture the egg collection and the transfer. Those are two days out of roughly forty.

On a long protocol, down-regulation comes first, quietening your own hormones, with a blood test around 12 days later. Stimulation is FSH injections for usually 8 to 12 days, with monitoring from around day five and repeating, meaning three to five early morning visits.

The trigger injection is given in the evening, and egg collection follows 36 to 38 hours later as day surgery, around four hours at the facility under sedation. Fertilisation happens the same day, and embryos are cultured to day 5 blastocyst, now 94.4% of Australian transfers.

Then transfer, progesterone support, and a pregnancy test two weeks after collection. That last fortnight is the part nobody warns you about.

Protocols vary. Your GP or fertility specialist can walk you through yours 🩺

Male factor is involved in around half of all infertility cases 🧬And in one in three Australian IVF cycles. That comes f...
16/09/2026

Male factor is involved in around half of all infertility cases 🧬

And in one in three Australian IVF cycles. That comes from Australia's first evidence-based guidelines on male infertility, published in 2025.

The breakdown among couples experiencing infertility: male factor alone 20 to 30%, female factor alone around 50%, both partners around 30%. Infertility affects 8 to 9% of Australian males.

And yet in most couples the woman is investigated first, and investigated more. Bloods, scans, cycle tracking, sometimes surgery, often before anyone has looked at the other half of the equation. A semen analysis is cheap, non-invasive and orderable by a GP. It should be one of the first tests, not one of the last.

Worth knowing going in: 77% of male infertility cases have no identified cause even after investigation.

Testing both people at the same time is not about apportioning anything. It is about not spending a year answering half the question.

If you are being assessed as a couple, ask your GP to arrange a semen analysis early 🩺

Before implantation, there is nothing to detect 🔬The two week wait has a reputation, and it earns it. Two weeks of notic...
15/09/2026

Before implantation, there is nothing to detect 🔬

The two week wait has a reputation, and it earns it. Two weeks of noticing everything and waiting on a body that gives very little away.

Here is the part that helps. Implantation happens between six and twelve days after ovulation, most commonly days eight to ten. hCG, the hormone a pregnancy test looks for, is not produced until after implantation has occurred. That is the mechanical reason no test can be accurate before roughly 8 to 10 days past ovulation.

Research also found that later implantation was strongly associated with early pregnancy loss, which is part of why some very early positives do not continue.

The two week wait is something is hard for almost everyone, but it’s about being positive minded and pushing forward. As It is a biological sequence that runs at its own pace, however closely you watch it.

If you have questions about when to test, your GP can talk you through the timing 🧡

Only 8.6% of cycles ovulate on day 14 📍The 28-day cycle with ovulation at the halfway mark is one of the most repeated i...
14/09/2026

Only 8.6% of cycles ovulate on day 14 📍

The 28-day cycle with ovulation at the halfway mark is one of the most repeated ideas in fertility. It is also an average of other people's bodies.

When researchers looked at 612,613 real cycles, only 13% were exactly 28 days long. The average was 29.3. And in a pooled analysis of 2,488 ovulatory cycles, ovulation landed on day 14 fewer than one time in ten.

So if you have been building your month around day 14 because an app told you to, you have been timing around a curve rather than around yourself. Timing is one of the few parts of this you can actually influence, which is exactly why it is worth spending on your own cycle.

Sitting outside the textbook is not a fault. The textbook was always a rough sketch.

If your cycles are consistently shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 days, your GP can help investigate what is going on 🩺

13/09/2026

So, how is PMOS actually diagnosed? 🧬

There isn’t just one test. Diagnosis looks at a combination of signs, including irregular periods, acne or raised male hormones, ovarian follicles on ultrasound, and AMH levels.

It’s about putting the pieces together, not relying on one symptom alone.

If you think you may have PMOS, speak with your GP about the right testing for you 💗

Supporting someone through infertility isn’t about having the perfect words 🤍Sometimes the most meaningful things are si...
12/09/2026

Supporting someone through infertility isn’t about having the perfect words 🤍

Sometimes the most meaningful things are simple: listen without trying to fix it, respect their boundaries, avoid unsolicited advice, and keep showing up.

Your presence can mean more than you realise.

And if they’re struggling emotionally, gently encouraging them to speak with their GP or a counsellor can help them access the support they deserve 💜

Trying to conceive can sometimes make intimacy feel more like a schedule than a connection 🤍When s*x starts revolving ar...
11/09/2026

Trying to conceive can sometimes make intimacy feel more like a schedule than a connection 🤍

When s*x starts revolving around fertile windows and ovulation, it’s normal for some of the spontaneity to disappear. Taking the pressure off, changing things up, and talking openly with your partner can help bring the intimacy back.

Remember, TTC is something you’re navigating together. 🩵

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