Getting Pregnant Naturally (3 page)

T
iming is everything—at least when it comes to getting pregnant. To conceive a child, you and your partner must have intercourse within a very narrow window of time. An egg is fertile for only six to twenty-four hours after ovulation; after that time it begins to disintegrate. Understanding your reproductive system and how it works can help you time intercourse to maximize your chances of conceiving each month.

While the mechanics of intercourse may seem self-evident, certain practical issues can affect your fertility. Your creativity in the bedroom (or wherever) can increase—or decrease—your odds of conception. In other words, it’s not just what you do, but how you do it. The following tips can help you get the timing down to a science—and help with some of the practical issues, too.

As you know, to become pregnant you must have intercourse near the time of ovulation. The tough part, of course, is determining exactly when you ovulate. If you have been blessed with a consistent, predictable menstrual cycle, you can use the “calendar method.” This method involves keeping track of the length of your menstrual cycle, then calculating when you are most likely to release an egg. If all your hormones are in balance, you probably ovulate approximately fourteen days before the first day of your next menstrual period. That makes it relatively easy to make an educated guess of the approximate date of ovulation.

To estimate your date of ovulation, take the length of your cycle and subtract fourteen days. For example, if you have a twenty-eight-day cycle, you ovulate on day fourteen (twenty-eight minus fourteen). If you have a thirty-five-day cycle, you ovulate on day twenty-one (thirty-five minus fourteen), and if you have a twenty-one-day cycle, you ovulate on day seven (twenty-one minus fourteen).

Chart your menstrual cycle for three months to form a baseline or average length of your cycle. The typical cycle ranges from twenty-four to thirty-six days, so don’t get hung up on the “average” twenty-eight-day cycle.

Once you determine your approximate ovulation date, have intercourse every other day for five days before the target date and three days after. If you have intercourse every other day during this time, you will probably include your fertile time.

Your cervical mucus doesn’t lie: Once you become acquainted with its changes in texture and volume throughout your menstrual cycle, you may become adept at reading this crucial fertility marker.

Your cervical mucus changes in response to fluctuations in the level of estrogen in your body. During the first half of your cycle, the egg matures within the ovarian follicle and the body releases increasing amounts of estrogen. This estrogen helps thicken the lining of the uterus, preparing it for implantation of the fertilized egg. The hormonal changes also create the fertile cervical mucus, which helps the sperm reach the uterus and Fallopian tubes. The fertile mucus provides a protective alkaline medium for the sperm to travel through the vagina. You want to have intercourse during the time the fertile mucus is present.

After the estrogen has peaked (at ovulation), the progesterone levels surge, prompting a change in the cervical
mucus, often in as little as a couple of hours. At this point, your chances of conception have passed.

Fertile mucus is noticeably different from mucus at other phases of your menstrual cycle: It is slick, transparent, gelatinous, and stringy. It is stretchy; in fact, you can rub it between two fingers and stretch it for an inch or more (nonfertile mucus does not stretch). When fertile mucus dries in the crotch of your panties, it may feel stiff and appear white or yellowish. (Some women mistakenly believe that they have a vaginal yeast infection or they have been remiss in their personal hygiene during this phase of their cycle, but this discharge is perfectly normal.)

Please note that you may not be able to use the cervical mucus test if you are taking birth control pills (or for at least two months after you stop taking them). Also be aware that bathing, showering, swimming, and unprotected intercourse can temporarily alter your mucus, so check your mucus before these activities or several hours after you’re finished.

As a woman ages, she produces less fertile mucus. Twenty-something women often have two to four days of fertile mucus, while thirty-something women may have one day or less. The older you get, the more important it is for you to learn to recognize your fertile days so that you can take maximum advantage of them.

You can learn a lot about your body by using a thermometer. By keeping track of your basal body temperature—your temperature in the morning before you get out of bed—you can learn to approximate the time of ovulation and when in your cycle you will be most fertile. (Unfortunately, when monitoring the ever-changing cycle
of fertility, we deal with approximations, not predictions.)

First, get a thermometer, a piece of paper, and a pen or pencil to record your temperature; keep these items by the side of the bed. To get an accurate reading, you’re going to need to take your temperature
first
thing in the morning—meaning before you sit up in bed, before you go to the bathroom, before you say good morning to your spouse, before you talk to anyone on the phone.

Some women take their temperature rectally for a more accurate reading, but an oral thermometer should be sufficient in most cases. You may want to buy a basal body temperature thermometer, designed to make it easier to read the temperature to the tenth of a degree. These thermometers usually come with a preprinted chart and directions for monitoring your temperature. They are available in most drugstores and usually cost less than $10.

Try to take your temperature after at least three hours of consecutive sleep and at the same time each day, plus or minus an hour or so. Keep in mind that every extra half-hour you snooze your body temperature will rise by about one-tenth of a degree.

Most women report a slight drop in their temperature just before ovulation (when the levels of estrogen increase to release the egg during the next few days). A day or two
later, they note a sharp rise of 0.5 to 1 point when the egg is released (when the levels of heat-producing progesterone increase). By the time the temperature spikes—usually to over 98 degrees, though it may go to 99 degrees or higher in some women—ovulation has already occurred.

This temperature shift—and ovulation—usually occur at fourteen days into your menstrual cycle, or about day fourteen of a twenty-eight-day cycle. The morning temperature then should remain elevated for the second half of the menstrual cycle (the luteal phase), dropping slightly just before menstruation when the cycle starts over again.

To maximize your chances of conception, have intercourse every other day for two to four days before you anticipate the shift in temperature (and ovulation), as well as two to four days after your temperature rises. (If you chart your temperature for several months, you will recognize your personal ovulation pattern and become more adept at detecting when ovulation should occur.)

Normal body temperatures vary from person to person, but it is the change in temperature, not the temperature itself, that is important in measuring fertility. You may have a hormonal imbalance and should consult a doctor if your temperature remains the same throughout your cycle (you may not be releasing an egg) or if your temperature tapers off during the second half of your
cycle (you may not have sufficient hormonal support to produce a mature egg). If your temperature remains elevated for more than two weeks after ovulation, you may be pregnant!

You can learn to recognize the approach of ovulation by learning to recognize the changes in your cervix as ovulation approaches. If you want additional information on how to detect ovulation, take time to feel your cervix throughout the month so that you can learn to appreciate the subtle but important changes that occur during your menstrual cycle:

• During your menstrual period, your cervix should be easy to touch with the tip of a finger inserted into the vagina. The area at the opening of the cervix should feel soft and opened wide to allow the uterine lining to escape.
  

• After the bleeding stops, your cervix should feel firm and tightly closed; some say it feels like the tip of a nose. If you have not delivered a child vaginally, the opening of the cervix may feel like a dimple or pointed impression. If you have had a child vaginally, the opening may feel wider.
  

• As the body prepares for ovulation, the cervix will
  rise or move away from the vaginal opening. (You will have to insert your finger deeper into your vagina to feel it.) The cervical opening should feel softer and wider, to allow the sperm to enter the uterus and fertilize the ripened egg.
  

• After ovulation, the cervix lowers and grows firmer, and the opening closes tightly to prevent sperm from entering the uterus since conception can no longer occur.