I know that casually on the Internet it has been suggested here that you start trying again when you are ready, or as soon as your first post-partum AF has came and went, but lately I've been thinking differently. I'm not even going to go into emotional healing before TTC, but strictly about how strong you are post m/c.

With this second loss I found myself completely knocked to the ground with anemia. I lost a lot of blood, probably more than 2 pints over several hours, it is so hard to quantify as it spills out of you into the toilet. I was having horrible head rushes where everything would go black if I got up ever so barely quickly, I had no energy, I've been cold, out of breath, my skin looks a bit dry, my gums are pale, etc. All symptoms of anemia. My RE had my blood levels checked and I'm anemic, not dangerously low but need to get it up there you're not healthy low.

When healthy people donate blood, they usually only give one unit of blood (close to a pint I think, maybe someone can correct me). They tell people to wait 8 weeks before donating blood again and I've heard that it takes a month to rebuild a pint of lost blood.

It's common for women to get anemic in pregnancy due to the greater demands on her blood supply, which increases to help support the pregnancy. I was just talking to a friend of mine and she's 21 weeks pg and anemic. I imagine that she wasn't very anemic, if at all when she went into her pregnancy. Its probably doubly challenging to build your iron stores when you are already pregnant.

How unwise would it be then to get pregnant if you are definately anemic? I've just started AF, the first one since my loss, and I just don't feel like my body is up to it yet. I'm due to go in to see my RE this week and I'm going to get my ferritin checked, that's where they look not just at how many red blood cells you have but they are able to determine what your body's iron stores are like. From my uterine fibroid friends I've learned that even with just low ferritin and not low red blood cells you will have symptoms.

Based on all that I've been feeling and then learning more about this I think it would be most wise for me to wait until September until I TTC again. I did have the two losses and surgery this year so I might be a bit unique. I just wanted to share in case it helped you in your journey as well.

I've compiled some info about treating anemia and iron-rich foods previously.