How to Get Pregnant
Are you ready to become a mother? If your answer to this is yes, then you should know when to take full advantage for a proper conception and trying to give your pregnancy a healthy start.
Take Folic Acid
The most important of all is that you must start taking folic acid supplements soon. Folic acid reduces the chances of neural tube defect in your baby by 50% to 70% only if you begin to take no less than 0.4 mg of folic acid every day for at least two to three months before you start making attempts to conceive. The neural tube defect could be like anencephaly or spinal bifida.
Sexual Life
You should try and make your sexual life a little more interesting by trying to make love in other rooms than your bedroom. Also, making love during odd times of the day could be really a thrilling experience.
Behavior after Sex
You must avoid running to the bathroom as soon as you make love. You should lie down for a minimum of five minutes which increases the chances of the sperm to meet your awaiting egg. This will surely help you attain a proper conception.
When is the Most Fertile Period?
Just five days after ovulation is your fertile period. So you should make love quite often in this period. If you have the resistance to make love every 48 hours, there is one guarantee that a fresh sperm will want to meet you egg.
Chances of Conceiving a Baby
Making a baby is the game of numbers. Even if you are trying to do everything right, there are chances of just 25% to 30% of conceiving in a periodic cycle.
Quit Smoking
If you are trying to conceive, and have not quit smoking yet, this is the right time. A scientific study determined that odds of a woman conceiving are reduced by 50% if she is still smoking.
Cut Down on Caffeine before Pregnancy
Caffeine is yet another enemy for your conception process. It is time you should consider the option of decaf. Caffeine hampers the developing baby’s growth by contracting blood vessels and dropping the flow of blood towards the uterus. If a woman drinks more than three cups daily, it is yet another problem that causes infertility amongst many.
Job and Health
If you or your partner is exposed to hazardous substances such as harmful chemicals, then you should think about changing your job before you begin to plan for a baby. Certain chemicals or harmful rays have an effect on the quality of sperm and the progress of the embryo.
Medical Checkup
Before jumping on the bed with your partner for having a baby, you must first visit a doctor for a preconception checkup. Let your doctor know about your medical history and your willingness to conceive and have a baby with your partner.
You need to be certain that you have been thoroughly screened for STDs. Millions of women in North America are affected by pelvic inflammatory disease every passing year. The major reason behind this is untreated sexually transmitted disease.
Taking Medications
If you are taking any sort of pills or over-the-counter drugs for anything, you need to tell you doctor about it. You doctor will certainly tell you to either stop the medication or will tell you to continue if it is safe for the baby.
Diabetics Getting Pregnant
If you are a patient of diabetes, you should make sure that your blood sugar levels are under control before you conceive. A scientific study determined that women who have badly restricted insulin-dependent diabetes are at higher risk to give birth to babies with birth defects four to six times more than a non-diabetic woman.
Healthy Diet for Getting Pregnant
If you are searching for a very good resource of folic acid, you can do it by simply having a glass of orange juice or a fresh orange. Orange is the finest source for folic acid. It is a very vital nutrient for any woman who is willing to conceive.
Learn how to make your Vagina Sperm-Friendly
- Avoid vaginal sprays.
- Get rid of scented tampon (these will cause pH imbalance)
- Don’t use artificial lubricants
- Never use vegetable oils
- Avoid glycerin – it kills the sperm
- No saliva – it’s another sperm killer.
- Don’t douch right after the sexual intercourse. Douching modifies the general acidity of the vagina. Douching can also cause vaginal infections and or pelvic inflammatory disease. It can also sweep away the cervical mucus which helps the sperm to travel.
Physical Activity and Healthy Way of Life before Conception
Exercising is surely good for help, but if you overdo it, it can cause issues of fertility problems like irregular menstruations, anovulatory cycles in which ovulation is absent as well as luteal phase deficiencies. A luteal phase happens when the second half of your cycle is not lengthy enough for the proper implantation of the fertilized egg.
If your man is into too much of cycling, ask him to walk on the treadmill instead. A study conducted by the University Of California School Of Medicine proved that men who are prone to cycling more than 100kms per week are putting their fertility in danger. This happens because the groin keeps hitting the bicycle seat which can harm the essential arteries and nerves.
There is no need for you to go on a diet thinking that you will conceive a baby easily. If you start starving yourself, or are over-eating would surely affect your ovulation and in return your fertility.
If you are not physically active, consult your doctor whether you should opt for anything that would boost your stamina, develop your strength and your cardiovascular health. Don’t do anything active without the consent of your doctor.
Pregnancy and Prenatal Vitamins
If you regularly take vitamin supplements, then at times large doses of some kinds of vitamins possibly will be hazardous for your developing baby. At this point, you must change your course towards prenatal vitamin previous to you conceive.
Measuring Basal Body Temperature
If you are worrying about your basal body temperature (BBT) to keep a record of your most fertile days, you should get a hold of a digital thermometer instead of a traditional mercury one. The digital thermometer is easier to read and it beeps to remind you for recording your reading just in case you are not aware of it.
Eating, drinking and even moving out of the bed can affect your body temperature. Put a hold on these activities before you take your reading.
If you did not have enough sleep any night, you should note it down in your temperature chart. If you are not able to get sleep for at least three continuous hours, then your BBT reading can still be untrustworthy.
Sometimes, you will not be able to notice any difference in your BBT chart. This is normal for a lot of women who are regularly ovulating and there is no sudden temperature rise in their bodies after ovulation. A constant BBT throughout the menstrual cycle is perfectly normal.
Am I Pregnant?
To know you baby-making moment, here it is. The most fertile time for a woman is when the cycle is leading five days up to ovulation. If you are getting any signs of ovulation, you are at the right spot.
If your menstrual cycle is longer or shorter than 28 days, there are possibilities that you will not ovulate on day 14. The process of ovulation begins 14 days before the next menstrual cycle.
After the ovulation, you just have to patiently wait. At times, there is not sufficient human chorionic gonadotropin present in your urine for testing even after 12 days after the ovulation. Sometimes it takes a little longer time.
When Does It Make Sense to Make a Pregnancy Test?
If your period is late as compared to your natural time, you can simply note down whether your number of days since ovulation are longer than normal. If you’re results of elevated temperatures are at least 18 times in numbers, or if your temperature stays elevated for more than 3 days than your longest luteal phase to date, you can come to the conclusion that you are pregnant.
Signs of Pregnancy
Usually hCG begins to produce in the body just a week after conceiving. The combination of hCG with growing progesterone levels make the blood flow increase towards the region of your pelvis. This will make you run towards the bathroom a lot many times as your pregnancy advances.
Spotting during Pregnancy
You should not be afraid if you find some small amount of spotting on your inner wear. A lot of women undergo this implantation bleeding for nearly a week after conceiving. This is the time when the fertilized egg gets attached to the uterine wall. A lot of women commit a mistake in thinking that this is the beginning of their menstrual cycle which can cause them to panic.
Source of the image: Photl.