So, you and your partner are ready- you’re young and reasonably healthy, but both of you have started to hear the tick tock of the biological clock. You want a baby. Should be a easy, right? Not always! Cuddledry asked CLAIRE CURRAN, mum of two toddlers whose antics provide the inspiration for her Twenty Something Mum blog, about her experiences of trying to get pregnant…

My partner  and I had been trying for a baby for 5 years. We had been trying for so long that I think both of us thought it would never happen for us. Even friends had made us God Parents to lots of their offspring, which was nice of them but did feel like a bit of a consolation prize.

I think for a number of years I personally kept the pregnancy test industry in business, as in a cruel twist every few months over the five years my period would be late (sometimes by two weeks), and of course we would get excited, only to have the knock back of a negative test.

In the end, a very good friend of mine bought me a bumper pack, as a gift-may seem mean, but she was my closest girlfriend and wanted us to get our wish more than we did.

I tried lots of old wives tales to aid pregnancy-eating certain foods, not eating certain foods, not drinking alcohol, banning smoking in the house/garden and anywhere I may breathe it in, and taking Folic Acid capsules (euuuurrrghhh).

One daft one I look back on and think “what was I thinking?”, but took incredibly seriously at the time, was when I would do a kind of head stand against the bedroom wall whilst lying on the bed-I had read somewhere that holding your lower body like this after sex would help the little swimmers reach their goal. But after 5 minutes, and not being the most athletic of people, the blood would rush to my head and I’d want to keel over!

In the end, we gave up, and had made an appointment for the docs to find out what was wrong. It was awful, as at this point we were blaming each other and having the odd serious row about the whole thing.I would blame Ed’s age and his raving lifestyle back in the early nineties, and he would blame me for my stressed nature- his view was that if I stopped agonising over it, it would happen.At times we nearly destroyed our whole relationship over something that had started out as a sign of how goodour relationship was.

So, one day, we had a barbecue, with lots of friends, and one of my girlfriends announced she was 3 months gone-and would we like to be God Parents. I would always be so pleased for people, but sometimes it was hard.

I had told my friends I had basically given up trying, and for the first time in ages, had a few glasses of wine. I really had a great time that day, for the first time in ages, and the lack of baby, despite my friends news, was right at the back of my mind. Both of us had a good laugh at the predictability of us being asked to be Godparents.

At the end of the evening, when everyone went home, I was slightly tipsy. We had been joking about everyone sneezing and having babies 9 months after, and in the end were laughing. As I needed the loo, I remarked to my other half to sneeze on me. I then thought I’d get a test out and pretend as a joke it had worked.

So imagine the shock I had when it turned positive!

I couldn’t find a pen so had decided that when 1 line for negative came out I’d joke that with this test it was positive. But two lines appeared. I screamed, running out the bathroom and jumping in Ed’s lap. After doing 3 more(!) all either of us could do was laugh and say “Oh, a baby” alot like morons.

And now we have Chrissy who is nearly 3 and also (within 11 months of Chrissy I was pregnant again) Edward who is a year- no sneeze required!

Never give up, don’t let it destroy you as a couple, and don’t expect it to happen over night- and if you do have concerns, get checked out!

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