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7 Tips for Getting Pregnant Faster
You are ready to get pregnant. Now. Of course, you want to attack this task with the same fervor as you did your career and everything else that has ever been on your to-do list. Now that you are ready to start a family, waiting is not an option.
"The overarching message is don't get into the 'it has to happen right now' thing," stresses Paula Hillard, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif. "This is the first time that many women are up against the concept that they can't control everything."
That said, there are some things you can do -- or not do -- to help increase your chances of getting pregnant ASAP. Read on for seven expert-approved tips for getting pregnant.
1. Do get a preconception checkup.
Before you officially start trying, get a preconception checkup. Ask your doctor about prenatal vitamins that contain folic acid, which will decrease your risk of having a baby with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. "Do this the cycle before you start trying," Hillard tells WebMD. "If you have any underlying medical problems, they need to be under control before you can safely become pregnant."
2. Do get to know your cycle.
Sex education is key, says Hillard. "Women need to really understand their cycle and when they are most likely to become pregnant," she says. Ovulation is the best time to get pregnant.
"Being aware of the symptoms of ovulation [which include] changes in cervical mucus such as a thin watery, mucus-like discharge is also helpful," she says. Other signs of ovulation can include a one-sided twinge of pain. "This is the time to focus on having sex."
Ovulation prediction kits can also help predict the best time to get pregnant, says James Goldfarb, MD, director of the infertility service at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. "They assure a patient that they are ovulating, and if you are having infrequent intercourse, this tells you when to have it to increase your chances of getting pregnant "
The first day of your menstrual period is day one. "Start testing on day nine and keep going until you get a positive," advises Joanne Piscitelli, MD, an associate professor of gynecology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Women with a 28-day cycle tend to ovulate on day 14, but many women have longer or shorter cycles, so casting a wide net can help you be sure.
Use of birth control may muddy the playing field. Many women spend half their life trying not to get pregnant by using birth control pills or other contraception methods, but is it OK to start trying to get pregnant the minute you scrap your birth control method?
"Years ago, the conventional wisdom was to wait a certain amount of time after stopping birth control to try to get pregnant but that is no longer true. You can start trying to conceive right after you stop birth control," Goldfarb says. The only downside is that you may not ever get your period, so tracking ovulation may be difficult, and it will be hard to date the pregnancy initially. For this reason, "some people may feel better waiting until they get one period on their own," he says.
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