How to Get Pregnant Guide

Timing is always important when couples are trying to get pregnant. This is because the conditions have to be right for the sperm and egg to meet up for fertilization. In this pregnancy guide, we will look at how the menstrual cycle could give clues about the most fertile period, as well as how to calculate it using various methods and products.

Knowing Your Most Fertile Period

1. Charting Your Menstrual Cycle

When you make the decision to have a baby, you should learn the days or period when you are most fertile. For example, if you have a twenty-eight day menstrual cycle, you will have around six days monthly during which you can get pregnant. The six days would encompass the day when an egg is released from one of your ovaries, called ovulation, and the five days before.

To figure this out, you can start to chart your menstrual cycle and record how long it lasts each month. Day 1 will be the first day of your monthly period. It is a good idea to monitor this for a few months because your cycle length could slightly vary each month.

Once you have this information, you can take away eighteen days from the length of the shortest menstrual cycle to get the first day when you are likely to be fertile. After that, take eleven days from the length of the longest cycle to get the last day when you are likely to be fertile.

Your best chance of getting pregnant is to have sexual intercourse between these two dates.

2. Basal Body Temperature (BBT)

This is the temperature that you have first thing in the morning.

It will increase slightly right after ovulation, by less than one degree at times, and remain higher until the start of your period. If you are recording your temperature daily, then you could identify the subtle changes to know when an egg is released from one of your ovaries.

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To take your BBT, you would use a basal body thermometer. These are more sensitive than regular ones, and they can show the changes in temperature really well.

You should take your BBT each morning at the same time and always before getting out of bed. A good idea would be to keep the thermometer on the nightstand. Bear in mind that your body temperature could be affected if you get up to go to the bathroom or if you are drinking, smoking, or sleeping badly at night.

Another thing to know is that you cannot tell the exact time when you are ovulating from your BBT, and it might take a few months before a pattern can be seen.

You are more likely to conceive two or three days before an egg is released from your ovaries, and then another twelve to twenty-four hours after. You don’t have a chance of conceiving if your temperature spikes for three days.

3. Ovulation Kits

It is recommended to pay attention to signs which show when your body is set for ovulation. There are ovulation kits available that can help to identify when you have your fertile window.

Experts recommend that these will not increase your chances of getting pregnant, so it is best to have regular sex during your ovulation cycle to maximize your chances.

There are different ways that you can calculate your fertile window, such as recording your menstrual cycle, charting the monthly cycles of your BBT or basal body temperature, or studying the cervical mucus for changes.

However, it could be a bit difficult for you to use those methods to pinpoint ovulation, especially if you have irregular menstrual cycles. This is where the ovulation predictor kits will come in handy.

An OPK will offer an easy and quick way for you to predict ovulation cycles in advance. This will ensure that you are having sex during your fertile window from the first month.

You can buy these kits without a prescription at most pharmacies and supermarkets, generally in the same section where you will find pregnancy tests and various other family planning products. You could buy them online as well.

There are many reasons why you might try to predict your fertile period. It could be that:

You, or you and your partner, work frequently away from home and it would make a big difference if sex was scheduled during your fertile period.

Hectic schedules and taking caring of other children means less priority is placed on sex.

An irregular cycle makes it more difficult for you to conceive. It could be ideal for you to engage in sexual intercourse every few days during your cycle, but the situation can become very stressful if you don’t conceive after a few months.

Diet, Vitamins, and Fertility Supplements

When you are pregnant, a healthy and varied diet will help you to satisfy most of your vitamin and mineral requirements. Even though there are certain vitamins and minerals which are extremely important, it is always best to get them from the food you consume.

If you are trying to conceive, you have probably heard a lot about fertility and nutrition. To optimize your fertility through nutrition, you can:

Eat plenty of vegetables, especially the green leafy varieties such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli, collard, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, chard, Brussels sprouts, and so on.

Add more healthy fats to your diet, especially the ones from sources such as olive oil and olives, coconuts and coconut oil, butter, eggs, grass-fed meats, nuts, and avocado.

Remove processed foods, grains, starches, and sugars from your diet. The necessary carbohydrates can come from certain fruits, vegetables, and starchy items like squash and sweet potatoes.

Get sufficient protein from nuts, eggs, and grass-fed meats.

Avoid the processed dairy items from your diet. If you have to consume dairy, it could come from organic sources such as heavy cream, ghee, and butter.

Drink plenty of water. Four quarts is recommended daily for most women.

When dietary factors are optimized with the methods above, your body can become more sensitive to insulin. This will help with the production of various other hormones and the proper functioning of the body.

If you want to take supplements for fertility, you should know that some nutrients are important and others might or might not be helpful. The fertility supplements on the market are focused mainly on helping women in two distinct groups: the ones who want to know how to boost fertility and the ones who want to know how to improve their chances of conceiving.

These are some of the suggested fertility supplements:

FERTILIFY

This is an all-natural supplement that is supported scientifically and designed by doctors to help women boost their fertility. Its fertility blend has antioxidants which will help to cleanse and remove dangerous free radicals as well as supply essential vitamins to balance hormones.

These come in the form of chewable tablets without artificial colors. The claims are that FERTILIFY can be helpful to women who want to conceive now or in the future as it is made to maintain and support reproductive health.

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Prenatal Vitamins with Folic Acid

It is recommended that women should take prenatal vitamins, especially the ones with 400 micrograms of folic acid. You should take them prior to and during your pregnancy to help prevent your baby’s spinal cord and brain from developing birth defects.

Folic acid is called folate as well, and it’s a B vitamin that plays a very important part in red blood cell production, as well as in helping the baby’s neural tube to develop in the spinal cord and brain. Fortified cereals are the best food sources for folic acid. Read this post if you need some suggestions.

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Fallodox Natural Fertility Blend

This will not only help with fertility, but also endometriosis issues. It is formulated to help hormonal imbalances, lower stress, address nutritional deficiencies, and manage endometriosis efficiently without any risk.

In addition, it will build up the immune system and regulate menstrual cycles to lower inflammation and pain. It might also provide various other benefits such as increased energy levels and balancing estrogen levels. This supplement is a great choice for fertility and endometriosis.

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Additional Resources – Best Books for Fertility and Conception

You can find some good resources out there if you are trying to conceive or you are just looking to understand your menstrual cycle and fertility better. These include:

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

This book has answers for women who are not happy with their existing birth control method, experience monthly cycle symptoms which are confusing, or feel demoralized on their journey to have a baby. It will also give insights into the woman’s body.

Using empowering methods for fertility awareness, the author allows a woman to improve her chances of getting pregnant; benefit from a birth control that is scientifically proven and highly effective without devices or chemicals; control her gynaecological and sexual health, and improve the probability of choosing her baby’s gender.

Order it on Amazon.com.

Fertility Wisdom

This book is written by Dr. Wu specifically for females who are finding it difficult to conceive. It’s introducing a clinically proven program with deep healing traditions from Ancient China. The book has a proven six part self-care program that will help with internal balance and harmony.

The techniques used will increase the results and lower the side effects of the in vitro treatment and other solutions used in the Western world for fertility. It also has more things that may prove beneficial for women and their babies.

You can order it on Amazon.com.

Other Highly Rated Fertility Books

• Get Ready to Get Pregnant: A complete guide for pre-pregnancy to help women conceive a healthy and smart baby
• Making Babies: Proven 3-month program to maximize fertility
• It Starts with the Egg: This shows how quality egg science can help women to conceive naturally, improve their IVF odds, and prevent miscarriage
• Fertility and Conception: Complete guide to help women get pregnant