Getting Pregnant – How to Get Pregnant?

According to the work performed by Wilcox in 1995 that getting pregnant is most likely to occur when you have sexual intercourse for up to 6 days before and including ovulation. Therefore choosing the right time to have sex is very important to increase the chance of pregnancy. Ovulation is part of your menstrual cycle when the mature egg is released from ovary and into the fallopian tube.

Several days before ovulation women are most fertile and have increase chance of getting pregnant from unprotected sexual intercourse. Each woman is unique to her own menstrual cycle that may range from 24 to 42 days. Regardless of the length of your cycle, ovulation always occurs 14 days before your next menstrual period. For example if you have 24 days cycle than you would ovulate around day 10 and if you have 42 days cycle than you would ovulate around day 28.

How to know when you will ovulate

Having sexual intercourse several days before ovulation increases your chance of getting pregnant because sperm can survive for 5 to 6 days in your womb and the mature egg can survive for 1 day after release from ovary. Therefore is crucial to know the length of your menstrual cycle which will help you to determine the day you are most likely to ovulate.

However, if you are not aware of the length of your menstrual cycle you can track your basal body temperature (BBT). The normal basal body temperature (BBT) before ovulation range from 97.23F to 97.73F and after ovulation BBT can spike in the range from 97.87F to 98.31F. You can use a basal thermometer to take your temperature each morning as soon as you wake up and you will need to record your temperature taken each day on a chart over the period of few months.

The recorded chart will provide you with pattern as to when your temperature spike. The rise in your BBT indicates ovulation has already taken place. You can use the charted pattern to determine when your BBT will rise and have sexual intercourse 3 to 6 days before your basal temperature rises because you are most fertile several days before ovulation and have increase chance of getting pregnant.

You can also predict ovulation by tracking your cervical mucus which is one of different types of vaginal discharge. You will experience mucus discharges that are dry and cloudy, you are very unlikely to get pregnant during this period. You are most fertile when you experience mucus discharges that are clear and slippery like raw egg white. You can have sexual intercourse 3 to 6 days from the day you experience clear and slippery discharge to increase your chance of getting pregnant.

However, tracking basal body temperature (BBT) and cervical mucus may not work for everyone. If not done correctly and consistently the charted pattern may not be accurate in tracking when you will ovulate. Instead you can try ovulation prediction test that measures your hormone levels and predict when you are most likely to ovulate. During the middle of your menstrual cycle, the level of luteinizing hormone (LH) in your body increases that causes the mature egg to be release from ovary and into the fallopian tube.

Ovulation prediction test is used to detect the surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) in your urine before ovulation has taken place and more accurate at predicting when you will ovulate. Ovulation predictor kits are available at drugstores and many grocery stores without prescription and you will need to follow instructions on the kit as close as possible to achieve accurate test results.

Once you know when you will ovulate you can have sexual intercourse several days before ovulation to increase your chance of getting pregnant. If the timing is correct you are most likely to get pregnant within 3 months after intercourse. However, if the timing is correct and you fail to get pregnant after 6 months of trying you should seek help from the specialist.

If you are a woman age 35 or older it may take longer for you to get pregnant and you should seek help sooner so you don’t waste precious time. Infertility problems may exist if the couples try for a year and fail to get pregnant. You and your partner should get tested to be certain you are ovulating and the sperm remain viable and motile in the cervical mucus. Women may produce antibodies within the cervical mucus that form blockage preventing sperm from passing through to fertilize the egg.

Female Infertility

Some of the factors that caused female infertility may include failure to ovulate at regular intervals, below normal percentage of body fat, smoking, and substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol.

Many women experience failure to ovulate at regular intervals and this may be caused by old age, hormone imbalance, severe vitamin deficiency, poor nutrition, emotional stress, or medical conditions.

Women with below normal body weight from excessive dieting and exercising can prevent ovulation from taking place. Women who smoke frequently are less fertile and can increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy. Toxins from substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol can cause many women to be less fertile.

Other factors that cause female infertility may also include infection of the vagina, uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes or ovaries that can destroy the sperm or create blockage between sperm and egg. Women with defects in the uterine cavity and the overgrowth of tissues that develop in the pelvic cavity can also cause female infertility that prevents women from getting pregnant.

Male Infertility

Some of the factors that cause male infertility may include poor nutrition, infections of the male reproductive tract, smoking, and substance abuse. Poor nutrition can result in low sperm count and reduce sperm motility that causes men to be less fertile and lower the chance of women getting pregnant.

Infection of the male reproductive tract can lower sperm production that limit the sperm ability to fertilize the egg. Infection of the vas deferens can cause blockage between sperm and egg. Smoking frequently or smoking marijuana can reduce sperm motility and substance abuse that involved the use of cocaine can reduce sperm production.

Most male infertility is caused by the damaged or enlarged veins in the testes or vas deferens also known as varicocele. Varicocele is a condition that causes blood to pool in the veins of the scrotum and raises the scrotum temperature. High temperature in the scrotum can affect normal sperm production and cause male infertility.

Male infertility can also be caused by undescended testes in which the testes fail to descend from the abdomen to the scrotum at puberty. When the testes fail to descend, the temperature in the abdomen is too high for normal sperm production. Varicocele and undescended testes can be corrected by surgery or hormone treatment.

Men with low sperm count can avoid frequent ejaculation to increase sperm production and the couples can plan to have intercourse during the time when she is most fertile to increase the chance of getting pregnant. Men with poor quality sperm can seek alternative way such as reproductive technologies that can be use to impregnate women. There are two steps to this process, the first step involve retrieving sperm from the testes or epididymus using surgical needle. The second step involves injecting an egg with a single sperm through the process known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

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