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Want to have a baby? Right now? Well, as contrary to all the information you got in high school health class as this may seem, it's not that easy. In fact, there is a tiny window of opportunity each cycle when it is even possible to get pregnant. A woman's egg only lives 12-24 hours. That may seem impossible, but researchers have determined that a woman's egg is short-lived, unless it is fertilized. Luckily for those who want to get pregnant, the man's sperm lives a little longer. The average lifespan of a sperm is three days, but some can live up to five days in the appropriate environment. This means that there is a small four to six day window when a woman can become pregnant each cycle.
So what's a couple to do? First, the basics: you must have intercourse during the woman's fertile time. There are several things a couple can do to try to improve their odds of conception. All of the techniques involve helping couples determine when the woman will ovulate. This is when she is most fertile. Timing is critical for pregnancy to occur. Terri Weschler, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, advocates using a variety of methods, called fertility awareness, to increase your odds of getting pregnant. Among these techniques are using a calendar, charting the woman's temperature, and analyzing the woman's cervical mucus. All of these techniques are easy and inexpensive for a couple to perform.
The Calendar Method:
In order to use the calendar method, couples must have been tracking the woman's cycle for a few months to get an idea of how long her cycles generally are. In order to track a woman's cycle, you count how many days there are between periods. The first day of a menstrual period is day one. Researchers have determined that women generally ovulate 14 days before they get their menstrual period. The average cycle length for women is 28 days, so some people try to time intercourse for the 14th day of their cycle. This will only work if you are average. Since the goal is to have intercourse as close to ovulation as possible, you must figure out what day that occurs. How do you do that?
First, you look at your last few cycles. Take the shortest cycle that you have recorded and subtract 14 from it. Then do the same for your longest cycle. This will give you a window of when you will most likely ovulate. For example, if your shortest cycle was 25 days and your longest was 33 days, then your window for ovulation is from day 11 to day 19 (25 - 14 = 11; 33 - 14 = 19). Then, since you know that a man's sperm can live up to five days, you could add five days to the beginning of the window, so your most fertile period would be day 6 to day 19. Make sure you have fun trying!
Use a Thermometer:
Charting your basal body temperature (BBT), is an effective method for determining when and if a woman is ovulating. The first thing you must do is purchase a basal body thermometer. These thermometers show temperatures in increments of 0.1 degrees. A woman's temperature is lower before she ovulates than it is after ovulation has occurred. You will notice a jump of around 0.5 degrees fahrenheit the day after you ovulate. This method will not allow you to predict when you will ovulate, but it will give you valueable information about your cycle. Your temperature will remain elevated untill menstruation occurs, beginning a new cycle. The temperature will fluctuate at this higher level but should stay at least 0.1 degrees higher than the six days before ovulation. If your temperatures remain elevated for 16-18 days, you should take a home pregnancy test. The average woman's temperature will remain elevated for 14 days after ovulation and then menstruation will begin. This method is also frequently used in natural family planning for pregnancy avoidance.
The Billings Method:
The Billings method was developed by Australian doctors John and Evelyn Billings.Their method involves observing changes in a woman's cervical mucus to determine when she is most fertile. A woman checks her cervical mucus by inserting two fingers into her vagina and locating her cervix. The fluid here is what she must analyze. A woman's cycle begins with menstruation, which can last anywhere from 2-6 days. Following menstruation, a woman's cervical mucus is dry for a few days. These days are infertile. Following the dry days, will be a few days when the woman's cervical mucus is sticky, creamy, and opaque. These days are slightly more fertile. Finally a woman's cerical mucus will begin to thin and become watery. Eventually this watery cervical mucus will become similar to the consistency of egg whites. These are a woman's most fertile days. After these days, the mucus will abruptly dry up, signalling a return to infertile days.
By using any combination of these three methods, a woman greatly increases her odds of pregnancy. Even with these increased odds, a healthy couple will still probably take 3-6 months to become pregnant. If you have been following all three of these methods for 6 months and have not become pregnant, bring your information to your doctor. Six months' worth of charts, calendars, and mucus information will be invaluable to your physician in helping you become pregnant.
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