When to Get Pregnant
For some women, knowing when to get pregnant is a confusing and complicated thing. There are many different ideas about when pregnancy can happen, and many different gurus giving advice on what to do to get pregnant. When you are planning a pregnancy, it is easier to start with the facts.
Ovulation
A woman should begin by understanding when you are the most fertile each month. Around 10-14 days after your period, ovulation occurs. This is the time when your ovaries release an egg to be fertilized. Despite this being an entirely internal process, there are many external signs that you can watch for to help understand when to get pregnant.Women's bodies increase the amount and type of cervical mucus during the time of ovulation. The mucus will change to a clear color, and change from a thick consistency to a wetter, less viscous one. This is done to create an environment that is easier for sperm to swim in, making fertilization easier. Your body temperature also changes as a result of ovulation. Many women take their temperature every morning, before eating or drinking, to track when ovulation happens. There is a slight increase in temperature when ovulation happens, with daily tracking it can be easy to see when ovulation has happened and determining when to get pregnant.
Getting Pregnant
When the egg is released, it is only fertile for 12-24 hours. A woman tracking when to get pregnant would have this short period of time in which to do so. Sperm can live for 3-5 days, giving them time to reach an egg at the moment it is ready. However, this can still be difficult for some women.Not all women ovulate on the typical schedule. For some women, ovulation may come sooner or later than what is the average. This makes tracking external signs of ovulation important. A woman cannot always be certain that she is ovulating at the same time each month.
Tracking Fertility
There are many different tools that women can use to track their monthly fertility. Home ovulation kits can test for the hormones that your body produces just before ovulation. The luteinising hormone (LH) spikes just before your body releases an egg, and is detectable in urine with simple home tests.The hormone oestrogen also increases in the days before ovulation, causing changes in your saliva. There are home tests that involve looking at samples of saliva for these changes. Though it may sound unusual, a test such as this can make predicting when ovulation is happening a lot easier.
Age and When to Get Pregnant
A woman's age can have some effect on her ability to get pregnant. Women are typically most fertile between the ages of 20 and 24 years-old. During this time it is often the easiest to become pregnant. At 25 years-old, fertility begins to decrease slowly. At 35 years-old, fertility rates can decline more rapidly.When a woman is in her 40s, her fertility decreases greatly while the risk of having complications increases. Though many women have safe, healthy pregnancies during this time, the chances of having problems is slightly higher than a woman in her 20s.Of course, there is more than just age to deciding when to get pregnant. A woman should be physically, mentally, and emotionally ready for the task of motherhood. For some women, this may mean waiting until the 30s or 40s before having children. In the end, the decision is a personal one that each woman should make for herself.