Conception can be a very confusing topic and increase stress when trying to conceive. Once a couple decides that they want to become pregnant, they generally want to see results immediately. Thus, if they do not see results right away, they may wonder what is wrong. The internet is filled with tips to conceive, some of which can be confusing and incorrect. Once one finds the best tips, they may find that conception is less confusing as well as less stressful, making conception more likely.
Talk to Your Doctor
It’s very important to speak with a doctor once making an important decision like conceiving a child. In order to have a healthy baby, the health of the mother, and then increased health for the baby, are necessary. Your doctor can help to make sure that you are taking the proper steps to conceive.
Awareness of Your Menstrual Cycle
Be aware of your menstrual cycle. Knowing the time when you are ovulating can help to conceive. An average menstrual cycle is 28 days. Charting your fertility can help to decide the best time to try to conceive.
Basal Body Temperature
o This is a women’s body temperature at rest. It is found that this temperature raises when ovulation occurs. If you record your daily temperature you can find the days in which you are most fertile. You can get a thermometer to test your basal body temperature for around $10.
o Certain things can alter your temperature. If you drink or smoke the night before you can alter your basal body temperature. Also, if you get a bad nights sleep you may also affect this temperature. Make sure you take your basal body temperature immediately before you do any other activities.
Calendar Method
o Starting with your period as day one, you begin marking down other days. Subtract 18 from the total number of days in your shortest cycle. If your cycle is 28 days, as an average is, you would be at 18. Count this many days from day one. Mark this day with an X as it is your most fertile day.
o Be aware that cycles are not always the same length so you should use this with other methods.
Cervical Mucus Method
o This method requires that you know about any changes that occur in your cervical mucus throughout the month. During “wet days” is when you are most fertile. This means that mucus is wet and slippery.
Using one method may not result in the best methods for conception. Some find that using multiple methods can help to increase knowledge about fertility.
Common Conception Myths
There are many myths out there about conceiving a child. Drinking itself does not always affect fertility. Binge drinking may cause problems but having a glass or two will not cause infertility. Drinking too much can cause issues with your menstrual cycle, creating a smaller window of time to get pregnant and make it harder to tell when ovulation will be occurring. You can still drink while trying to conceive but working to remove alcohol from your daily routine will make it easier in the future. Another myth is that eating yams while trying to conceive will cause twins. There have been studies on this, but there has been no direct correlation between conceiving twins and yams. One other crazy myth is that drinking an excess of cough syrup will help you conceive. Once believed to thin the cervical mucus lining, there have been no studies that have shown this to be true. Make sure to look into myths. If you believe that something online may not be true, do your research into finding the correct information.
Pre-Pregnancy
Make sure that your body is as healthy as possible. Taking prenatal vitamins that are necessary during pregnancy can help to ready the body for pregnancy. Studies also show that a healthy body can help to create the best body for fertility as well as conception itself. Taking folic acid and other vital vitamins and minerals can help to get the body ready. Make sure that your body is healthy and that you are beginning to remove bad habits from your daily routine before becoming pregnant. Smoking and alcohol should not occur during pregnancy so removing them before pregnancy can help to make the mother healthier. Also make sure that you are getting a full night sleep and keeping a healthy diet to help with conception.
Infertility
Problems with conception can result from issues with infertility. Infertility is not more common in one gender so issues can be seen in either of the couples. Infertility may occur for multiple reasons.
• Health Problems. Certain issues related to health may cause infertility. Women with certain ovarian issues can cause infertility. The most common cause of infertility in women is a failure to ovulate. As a result, polycystic ovary syndrome, (PCOS) in which women rarely or never ovulate, as well as primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), where a woman’s ovaries stop working normally, often cause fertility issues.
• Age. As women get older, fertility does decline. Once a women hits 40, the ability to conceive becomes more difficult. The eggs that she now ovulates are not at the same quality as when she was younger, and do not always fertilize. As a result, as a women gets closer to menopause, her ability to conceive is reduced.
• Lifestyle. There are many different lifestyle factors that cause reduced fertility. Smoking and alcohol can affect fertility. Also, weighing too much or too little, too much exercise and eating disorders can affect ones ability to conceive.
If you believe you do have fertility issues, be it one partner or both, talk to your doctor. They can properly diagnose the problem, or reassure the couple that there aren’t any. Individuals want to get pregnant right away so they sometimes believe they have fertility issues when they do not achieve conception as soon as they start.
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