PREGNANCY
"GETTING PREGNANT"
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Tips For Getting Pregnant

Are you planning to get Pregnant? 

Have you discussed with your husband and both of you think that it is time to prepare yourself for parenthood. Well then you need to prepare your body for motherhood. Need help for getting pregnant? Following are the tips that will help maximize your chances for conceiving and delivering a healthy baby.

• You need to do a through check up of your body which includes blood pressure, weight, chronic conditions such as diabetes, and many other factors which can affect your ability to carry and deliver a healthy baby.
  
  
• Your diet should be balanced and full of nutrients. That means a balanced diet complete with protein, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and a minimum of sweets and fats.
  
  
• Stop using all methods of birth control. If you are using contraceptive pills then stop them immediately in order to allow your body to conceive. Seems obvious, but some forms of birth control have more lasting effects than others. It is recommended that you continue taking the pills to the end of your current cycle before stopping the pills, and then start trying the next month. If you use condoms, a cervical cap, or a diaphragm, all you need to do is put them away.
  
  
• Know when you ovulate coz that's the time when you are most fertile and you can conceive. When ovulation occurs, your body produces a slippery, thin substance called cervical mucus to help facilitate the passage of sperm. Hence you need to examine yourself daily for a vaginal discharge that's transparent and stretchy between your fingers, like egg white, on your most fertile days. Know your cycle. If your cycle is 28 days long, that makes day 12-14 (counting from the first day of your last period) your most fertile day. But if you have a 30-day cycle, day 15-17 is the most fertile, and 32-dayers should go for it on day 18.
  
  
• For sex use missionary position a lot. Because his semen needs to go directly into your uterus and so positions like--man on top, doggy style, side-by-side--is okay, but please avoid woman on top, standing, or leaning positions, which discourage the flow of semen to the uterus.
  
  
• Take folic acid. Your body needs it to produce red blood cells, as well as norepinephrine and seratonin (chemical components of the nervous system). Folic acid is also one of the few nutrients known to prevent neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida. These defects can occur in the foetus even before the mother knows she is pregnant.
  
  
• Your man needs to take care too. It is advisable that he wears loose pants and underwear because according to studies sperm count drops--sometimes drastically--when the testicles are constricted or overheated. Tell your partner to avoid hot tubs, saunas, and hundred-mile runs (hot showers and moderate exercise are okay).
  
  
• Quit smoking, drinking, and drugs.

Getting Pregnant: Giving up birth control

You might have tried various methods of contraception in order to prevent conception but if you are planning to start a family, this is the first thing that you have to give up. Giving up a few kinds of contraception is easy but a few kinds take time. So find out all about the various kinds of contraceptives and their reversible effects.


Barrier methods
Barrier methods, such as male condoms, female condoms, the diaphragm, the cervical cap, vaginal ring, spermicides don't affect your fertility at all. Thus if you are trying to conceive just go off them.

Natural Birth Control
Natural birth control such as withdrawal or family planning method are the easiest contraceptives to stop using and you can start planning a family right away. Just keep a check on your basal body temperature and know when you are ovulating. But if you've been using the Lactational Amenorrhea Method - that is, counting on breastfeeding to keep you from ovulating - it may take a while after you stop nursing for ovulation to return.

Birth Control Pills
If you have been taking the pill as a mode of contraceptive method then all you have to do is stop taking them immediately. While some women are fertile immediately after stopping the pill, for others its takes a couple of months to start ovulating again. You'll know ovulation is back to normal if you're getting your period regularly.

Sterilization
Of all forms of contraception, sterilization is the hardest to reverse. Tubal ligation which is normally done by a woman makes the chances of conceiving near to impossible. You have to undergo major surgery for the reversal procedure but you will be at a great risk and the results might not always be good. If the Fallopian tubes are found to be damaged then reversal might not be possible at all. However the male method of sterilization i.e., Vasectomy is not that risky and nearly 30 and 75 percent of men who reverse a vasectomy go on to be successful at getting a woman pregnant. However that will also depend on how long back you have done the surgery and the longer it's been since the surgery, the lower your chances. However the reversal surgery is of a serious kind and you will be barred from lifting anything heavy for a month or so.

When is your Fertility Time?

You successfully conceive when fertilization of the egg by the sperm takes place in the ovary and its implantation in the uterine wall. Not all couples conceive as soon as they stop oral contraception and decide to become parents, as some couples are more fertile than others. It may take many cycles for conception to occur, even if both partners are normally fertile, healthy, fit and sexually active. What is important to conceive is knowing when is the best time to conceive and what is your fertility time.

Did you know that women remain fertile for only 24 hours a month? During ovulation the ovum or egg is released by the ovary into the fallopian tube. Whereas ovum remain ripe for 24 hours, male sperm have a longer life span, surviving for four to five days in a woman's body. This means that there are about five or six days during which time conception could possibly occur each month. To maximize the chances of conception, sexual intercourse ideally should occur in the six days leading up to and on the day of ovulation as the quality of sperm deteriorates the longer it is inside the woman's body.

Most women ovulate in the middle of their menstrual cycle. In a 28-day cycle, ovulation will occur around day 14. Thus during this time you should have more sex in order to be able to conceive. But it is also difficult to know when you are infact ovulating. The best bet is to have sex each alternate day from day 10 after your menstrual cycle.

You can also recognize the following signs, which will inform you that you are ovulating.

• A distinct rise in temperature
• The cervix becomes softer and slightly more open
• The mucus plug, or discharge, comes away from the cervix to allow the entry of sperm
• The discharge has a similar consistency to egg white and is elastic in texture
• An increased libido
• A tugging sensation in her lower abdomen

During ovulation the discharge is clean, thin and elastic and has a similar consistency to egg white. The nature of this fertile mucus helps the sperm of your partner to swim up through the vagina and cervix, through the uterus and into the fallopian tubes thereby helping you conceive.