Conceive
Tips on how to get pregnant
The time is right – you and your partner have decided you are ready to start a family. You’ve probably spent years avoiding pregnancy, so conceiving a baby now should be easy. Kids more the better.
But with changing lifestyles, longer working hours, more stress and the rising age of first-time mothers (and fathers) – getting pregnant may not be as easy or fast as you thought it would be.
Methods
1) Start taking folic acid now. You reduce your chances of giving birth to a baby with a neural tube defect (for example, anencephaly or spina bifida) by 50% to 70% if you start taking at least 0.4 mg of folic acid each day two to three months before you start trying to conceive.
2) Try to keep sex fun when you’re trying to conceive. Use rooms other than the bedroom or schedule your babymaking rendezvous for an odd time of day. You won’t be able to keep up the babymaking pace for very long if sex starts feeling like a chore.
3) Don’t hop up and run to the bathroom right after you make love. Lying down for at least a few minutes (some fertility experts say five minutes) after intercourse increases the odds that the sperm will be able to keep their date with the awaiting egg and that you’ll win at baby roulette.
4) Make love often during your fertile period (the five days leading up to ovulation). If you’ve got the stamina to make love at least every 48 hours, you will ensure that there’s a fresh shipment of sperm waiting in the fallopian tube at any given time. Of course, you can get too much of a good thing if your partner has a low sperm count, so if you’re aware of a pre-existing fertility problem, you’ll want to talk this issue over with your fertility specialist.
5) Keep in mind that babymaking is a numbers game. Even if you do everything “right,” you still have only a 25% to 30% chance of conceiving in any given cycle. Recent studies by researchers in the USA and Italy have shown that “a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant if she has sex two days before ovulation is around 50% in any one menstrual cycle if both partners are aged between 19 and 25 years”.
The rates fall rapidly to “40% for couples between 27 and 34″ and “for a woman aged between 35 and 39, the chances of her conceiving are less than 30% if her partner is of the same age, falling to 20% if the man is five years older.”
6) Are you a coffee drinker? Time to give it up or switch to decaf! Caffeine is thought to restrict the growth of a developing baby by constricting blood vessels and reducing blood flow to the uterus. What’s more, a few studies have indicated that excessive consumption of caffeine (that is, more than three cups of drip coffee per day) may contribute to fertility problems. The jury is still out on this last point, however.
7) Are you or your partner regularly exposed to hazardous substances in the workplace? You may need to consider a job change or job modification before you start your family. Certain substances can affect both the quality of sperm and the development of the embryo.
8) Have you had your preconception checkup yet? Set up an appointment with your doctor to review your medical history and to talk about your plans to start trying to conceive.
9) Are you currently taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs? Be sure to ask your doctor if it’s safe for you to continue taking them once you start trying to conceive.
10) If you aren’t already doing so, start keeping a menstrual calendar. Note the date when your period starts, the number of days it lasts, and anything else your doctor might want to know about. This information could prove helpful if you experience problems in conceiving. It can also prove invaluable in pinpointing the date of conception — and consequently your due date.
11) Try to book the last appointment of the day for your preconception checkup. That’s when your doctor or midwife is most likely to be able to take the time to answer your questions and address your concerns without feeling rushed to go on to the next patient.
12) Make your vaginal environment as sperm-friendly as possible. Avoid vaginal sprays and scented tampons (which can cause a pH imbalance in your vagina); artificial lubricants, vegetable oils, and glycerin (because they can kill off sperm); saliva (because saliva can also kill sperm); and douching (because it alters the normal acidity of the vagina; can cause vaginal infections and/or pelvic inflammatory disease; and may wash away the cervical mucus that is needed to transport the sperm).
If you’re monitoring your cervical mucus in an attempt to predict your most fertile days, do your checks before you shower, bathe, or swim. These activities can all affect the quantity and quality of your cervical mucus.