Improve your chances of getting pregnant

Topic: Improve your chances of getting pregnant

Improving your chances of getting pregnant starts with when you decide to try to have a child. You’re excited and ready to begin this part of your life.

Planning for your health and that of a baby begins right away.

“Assure yourself that if it’s meant to be, it will happen,” said Crista L. Hays, M.D., an obstetrician and gynecologist with Norton Women’s Health in Shelbyville and St. Matthews. “There are steps you can take to maximize your fertility and even improve it: Stop smoking, limit alcohol, reduce caffeine, don’t over-do the exercise routine, work toward a healthy weight which may require weight loss, optimize any chronic medical conditions like diabetes and avoid exposure to toxins like pesticides, lead and dry-cleaning solvents.”

Being overweight or underweight can affect ovulation, as can sleep disruptions from working at night. Maintain a healthy weight and make it a point to get enough sleep.

Start with a visit to your OB/GYN

Talk to your women’s health provider about your pregnancy plans. Your provider will check for conditions such as diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, obesity and other conditions that could complicate a pregnancy.

Your provider may suggest prenatal vitamins that include folic acid, which can help prevent some birth defects.

Discuss the family health history of both parents. Your provider may suggest genetic counseling to provide more information as you plan. Norton Children’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine offers preconception counseling at several locations across Kentucky.

Keep track of your menstrual cycles

Start this as soon as you can to collect as much data as possible. By logging your cycle, you’ll get a clearer picture of your unique patterns such as cycle length. Many women’s cycles vary, and 28 days is simply what’s typical.

Many apps are available to log menstrual cycles. The NortonBaby app offers a full range of pregnancy planning tools while keeping your health information private. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Find your fertile days
Knowing your cycle helps plan for ovulation, but there are some clearer signs that your body is ready to release eggs for fertilization.

Vaginal discharge is a good indicator of ovulation. If your discharge resembles raw egg whites — slippery and stretchy — your body is ready to get pregnant. Dry or sticky discharge is a sign you aren’t ovulating, creamy discharge suggests ovulation may be coming, then wet and watery discharge is a sign that ovulation is very close.

Your basal body temperature — taken while at complete rest at about the same time every day — can signal ovulation. Progesterone, a hormone tied to ovulation, will cause your temperature to rise.

Ovulation test strips or ovulation predictor kits can detect ovulation my measuring luteinizing hormone in your urine. An increase in the hormone signals that ovulation could occur in the next 12 to 36 hours.

You use an ovulation predictor kit at home by holding the strip under your urine stream or dipping it in a urine sample. Results are visible on the strip within minutes.

None of these methods will be able to pinpoint ovulation with certainty.

Now it’s about timing

Sperm can last in the uterus and fallopian tubes for a few days. Once an egg is released, it lasts 12 to 24 hours and perhaps up to 48 hours. The typical “fertile window” is about five days.

Use this timing to your advantage by having sex one or two days before ovulation.

Conception chances start rising seven days after your last menstrual period and reach the highest probability 15 days after your period, according to a study.

There are many myths around ways to improve chances of conception: moon phases, hormones out of balance and one of the most common — that a woman needs to lie flat after sex or even elevate her hips to prevent sperm from succumbing to gravity. Any sperm that are going to fertilize an egg are in position almost immediately.

Topic Discussed: Improve your chances of getting pregnant

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