So you’ve made the decision – you’re ready to get pregnant. It’s easy, right? As soon as your partner gets home, then get ready, get set – go! But not so fast. Sure, having sex every day might ensure that you’re having intercourse right around that crucial time when your fertility is at its peak. However, if you’re really determined to get pregnant, a little planning can go a long way.
Frequent intercourse, especially more than once a day, can deplete your partner’s sperm levels and can actually make it harder to get pregnant. Many women take more than one month to get pregnant. If you aren’t the types to regularly have sex on a more or less daily basis, then suddenly switching to more frequent sex can leave you both exhausted, stressed – and not pregnant.
So what’s the secret? One of the most important factors is to know and keep track of your cycle. This allows you to know with good accuracy which days of the month you’ll be most fertile, and therefore most likely to conceive. There are literally hundreds of easy-to-use, online ovulation calculators and calendars to help you understand the biological processes behind ovulation. You will start by keeping track of your periods, and following day-to-day changes in basal body temperature, mucous consistency, and your moods and physical sensations. By organizing these pieces of information and following them from month to month, you will quickly be able to know when you’re most likely to be fertile.
Ovulation and fertility
While testing basal body temperature (BBT) and monitoring cervical mucous changes can greatly enhance your ability to pinpoint the day of ovulation, if you want greater accuracy you can purchase over-the-counter kits that measure the urine concentration of luteinizing hormone (LH). LH is released by the pituitary and stimulates ovulation; it spikes in concentration about 24-36 hours before ovulation. Thus measurement of LH levels can predict when ovulation will occur within the next 8-36 hours.
On average, ovulation occurs about fourteen days after the first day of your period. (However, you could be earlier or later than this, so to be more accurate you should begin charting your cycles right away). Your most fertile period is between 24 to 78 hours before the day of ovulation. Some research suggests that female embryos tend to result from intercourse that occurs either immediately before or on the day of ovulation, while male embryos tend to be born when intercourse occurs earlier or later. If you’re hoping for a particular sex for your baby, then, you may want to keep these things in mind! There are also many, many other theories about factors that can influence the sex of the child. The most popular ones include position during sex (missionary for girls, from behind for boys); temperature of the room; relative acidity or alkalinity of the vaginal tract before intercourse; and a plethora of others. While they are fun to read and practice, remember that your first goal is a healthy pregnancy, and adding the stress of trying to achieve a baby of a particular gender can be detrimental to conceiving at all.
Timing of intercourse
Intercourse has to occur within about 5 to 6 days before ovulation, with the greatest likelihood of conception on the day of ovulation. Sex after the day of ovulation is much less likely to result in a pregnancy, although some evidence suggests that you could get pregnant with intercourse occurring as late as two days post-ovulation. Sperm can survive as long as five days inside the female reproductive tract, so having intercourse before and leading up to ovulation is a much better strategy than waiting until the day of. Once a day is also better than multiple times per day, in order to keep sperm concentrations high in the man’s semen.
Afterwards, it can be helpful to keep your pelvis elevated to ensure sperm have a better chance of staying in the vagina and reaching the egg. This is also when you want to avoid high stress, caffeine, alcohol, drugs, high sugar, and junk food, as these can all wreak havoc both on semen and on your ability to get pregnant.
Testing, testing 1-2-3
Most home pregnancy tests are able to detect a successful conception (implantation in the uterine lining, which produces human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in urine) at the time that you would be expecting your next period. Most over-the-counter (home) kits are sensitive to as little as 20-25 mIU/mL HCG. While early implantation could allow a test to detect pregnancy as early as 2-3 days prior to your expected start date, this depends partly on how regular your cycle is. Many recommend waiting until you are at 28 to 29 days after the beginning of your last period, particularly if you tend to be irregular or if you have a long a cycle (more than 28 days).
Conclusion
Remember during this time the old adage: “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. Most couples take more than a month to get pregnant. Try to reduce your stress levels (even though this can be a difficult and anxiety-ridden time as you try to get pregnant). If you’ve been charting carefully and keeping track of your cycles, and trying to get pregnant without success for over a year, it may be a good idea to see a doctor. Otherwise, try to keep your stress levels low, eat a healthy and well-balanced diet, get exercise and lots of sleep, and enjoy the process!
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