Help Getting Pregnant

I spent my early part of my twenties trying my best not to get pregnant. I hadn't met the right man and I wasn't ready to give up my career. Then I met the right man but didn't want to share him with anyone else - well it took a long time to find him!

Then my 30th birthday came and my biological clock started ticking so loudly I would have given the crocodile in Peter Pan a run for his money!

So my husband and I decided we wanted a baby. Note we didn't decide to TRY for a baby. After years of trying not to get pregnant, we fully expected it to happen immediately.

Month one came and went, month two, month three and soon we were at month six and still nothing had happened. The doctors told us to RELAX, that six months wasn't that long.

I have forgotten how many pregnancy tests I did despite the obvious signs that I wasn't pregnant. I became obsessed and my hubby says now he dreaded certain times of the month (more than usual :-)) as I would be so teary.

I spent the day of my sister's wedding in tears as I had convinced myself that this time I was pregnant but my symptoms suggested otherwise.

But actually, I was wrong. Despite having my period, I was in fact pregnant and my son was born 7 and a half months later. He is very healthy and happy - wish I could say the same for my sister's marriage!

But she also had a child despite being told categorically that it would never happen. So the Drs do sometimes get it wrong.

What did we do to get pregnant? Well a number of things all outlined in the getting pregnant plan. We changed our diet as covered in my trying to get pregnant lens.

So please don't give up. There is help available and I am not talking about IVF treatment which will cost thousands and may not even work.

Women should be forgiven for thinking that getting pregnant should be easy.

But, actually, it can take several months or sometimes even years to get pregnant. You usually do not get pregnant on the first try, in fact it can take months. Statistics show that less than 25% of women trying to get pregnant conceive fairly shortly after their first cycle.

Up to 60% will conceive within 6 months of deciding that they wish to become pregnant. Almost 75% will become pregnant within 9 months and almost 90% will conceive withing 18 months of deciding they wish to become pregnant.

If you are serious about becoming pregnant , you need to understand your fertility cycle. Ignore the books that say it is a certain number of days. You want to get pregnant so it is your menstruation cycle that is important, not what the books say is the correct one!

If your cycle is regular, your peak chance of getting pregnant is during the ovulation period which occurs between the 11th and 21st day of the cycle. The most fertile period for getting pregnant begins 4 to 5 days before ovulation and lasts 1-2 days after it.

In addition to learning the details of your cycle, you need to make sure that your lifestyle is as healthy as possible. We all know that you need to quit smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs. But what most people don't realise is that your partner needs to follow this regime as well.

High alcohol consumption can also cause infertility among men and women. It reduces the normal hormone production, which inhibits fertility. Recreational drugs like cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and barbiturates can also reduce the chances of getting pregnant and can cause problems if you actually do get pregnant.

In addition to the above, you need to try and maintain an ideal weight. Being 0verweight or underweight will make it more difficult to conceive. Make an appointment with your doctor and make sure you are getting all the help and assistance you need to overcome any diet issues that you may have.

As soon as you decide that you are going to try for a baby, you should start taking folic acid supplements. You need to reduce the amount of tea, coffee and chocolate you consume as caffeine has been shown to hinder conception.

Severe stress and depression can also reduce your chances of getting pregnant. High levels of stress affect the normal functioning of the hypothalamus, which controls your hormone production. Thus, it can delay the ovulation time, which in turn delays the chances of conceiving.

As you can see there are a number of things you can do to increase your chances of conceiving your baby. I wish you every success and believe me you can do it!

Saturated fat i.e those fats found in biscuits, cakes,chips, meat,crisps (in short - all the things we girls love!) is known to stimulate oestrogen production. Over production of oestrogen has been linked to reduced fertility.

Am I a doctor? No but even little ole me can work out that if you are trying to get pregnant, it might be wise to cut down on the stuff that may be affecting your fertility!

Whilst you are at it, swop your margarine for organic butter but use the butter sparingly.

The above diet changes should also affect your weight. Studies prove that our chances of getting pregnant decrease if we are overweight. So if your body mass index is over 25, you might want to speak to your doctor and see can you lose some weight. You never know - this may be the one thing YOU need to change in order to have your baby.

Getting pregnant is not an exact science and even the doctors who specialise in helping women to get pregnant will admit that most infertility is put down to unknown causes.

So if you could do something today which is beneficial to your overall health, and may just result in pregnancy isn't it worth a go?

Get a working plan to help getting pregnant here