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If you're ready to have a baby, you might think you have the idea of how to do it down pat. We know how babies are made, but it's sometimes easier said than done. Getting pregnant sometimes requires effort to improve your chances.
- Most women can track their most fertile times by using a calendar and staying aware of their monthly cycle. To find out how long your cycle is, mark on a calendar the first day that you start your period and then mark the day next month that it starts again. This is the length of your cycle, usually around 28 days. Ovulation usually occurs around day 14, so you know that days 14 too 16 are your most fertile and the days that you are most likely to get pregnant from sex.
- You can track your fertility by taking your basal body temperature daily. Track your body temperature at rest at the same time daily. You'll notice that it is more or less the same. Ovulation creates a one degree rise in your temperature, telling you when you're fertile and when it's a good time to try and conceive.
- If you have trouble tracking your own fertility and ovulation, you might want to invest in a few ovulation predictor kits from your drugstore. These kits, much like pregnancy tests, test your urine for fertility hormones to let you know the ideal times for conception. Make sure you follow the instructions on the box exactly so you don't get a false reading.
- If you've been trying for a year to get pregnant without results, it's time to see a doctor to talk about alternative ways to get pregnant. She can put you on fertility drugs, the most popular of which is Clomid. Clomid can help correct irregular ovulation. Clomid can be used for up to six months to try and regulate ovulation so that women can get pregnant.
- In Vitro fertilization, or IVF, is effective for couples who cannot get pregnant on their own or with the help of fertility drugs. IVF bypasses the actual conception and instead plants a fertilized egg in the woman's uterus. Eggs are harvested from the female, while sperm is taken from the male. They are fertilized in a lab and then implanted. This route is successful for couples who can't get pregnant because of reproductive health problems or a low sperm count.
