You probably have stumbled across this post because you have decided you want a baby. With all the information out there, it can be a little overwhelming as to where you should start. Let’s start by figuring out how to get pregnant faster! If you weren’t aware, a healthy fertile couple has about a 15 to 20 percent chance of becoming pregnant during each cycle.
Even though this statistic has to do with age, keep in mind that everyone woman is different. Also, the percentage rate is based on 100 couples trying to become pregnant. Only 15 to 20 of them will become pregnant. So rather than getting caught up in the statistics lets focus more on what you can do to get pregnant faster.
1. Know When And If You Are Ovulating
Understanding your fertile time frame is very important because ovulation occurs during this time and it happens only once per cycle. Trying To Conceive In Your Thirties gives a detailed explanation on ovulation, but you can track ovulation by using an ovulation predictor kit (OPK).
You begin testing on a certain day after your period depending on the length of your cycle. The first day of your flow is considered day one of your cycle. For example, I use Clearblue Advanced Digital and have a 30 day cycle. So according to their instructions, I begin testing on day 10 of my cycle.
With Clearblue Advanced I am notified of my high fertility days as well as peak fertility. Once you receive peak fertility, or a positive OPK on another brand, you are supposed to ovulate anywhere from 12 to 48 hours depending on the manufacturers instructions. With Clearblue once you receive a peak fertility, you should ovulate within 24 to 36 hours.
The OPK can only notify you that you are supposed to ovulate. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you will ovulate or ovulate within the expected time frame. Charting your basal body temperature (bbt)or using a certain type of fertility monitor is the only way to confirm ovulation. The problem with charting your bbt is that you can only see that you ovulated afterwards.
If you do not have a fertility monitor, it is best that you use OPK’s along with charting to notify you of your fertile period. Knowing when you are ovulating will help you time sex accordingly.
2. Time Sex Accordingly
Unless you have an outstanding libido and your man has an excellent sperm count (and libido), having sex every day can become exhausting and not good for your man’s sperm count. So knowing when you are fertile is very important. Even if you are doing IUI, you will need to know when you ovulate to time the insemination.
The best times to conceive are the couple days leading up ovulation and the day of ovulation. The idea is to have the sperm waiting for the egg to be released. Keep in mind that sperm can live up to five days in the optimal environment. This means the right pH and cervical mucus (cm) environment. If you do not produce enough egg white cm on your own, there are fertility friendly lubricants on the market. My personal favorite is Preseed!
If you have the time and the energy, I prefer the Sperm Meets Egg Plan (SMEP) when trying to cover all of your fertile days. Find out more about SMEP here. When trying to figure out how often you should be doing the deed, it is important to know your partners sperm count and overall health.
3. Improve Or Maintain Sperm Health/Maintain Healthy Sperm
Male infertility contributes up to 30 percent of all reported infertility cases. So understanding what his or your (depending on who is reading this) is doing is very important. If you are very serious, you may consider getting a sperm/semen analysis to have a complete workup of what is going on down below.
If you are unable to consult your physician, you can purchase OTC sperm check tests. Please note that these tests can only tell you your sperm count. They do not let you know about motility, morphology, shape, etc. However, there are things you do at home to be proactive.
You can start by getting in the vitamins and minerals that are needed to boost sperm health. Getting enough zinc is very important to sperm health. Studies have shown that zinc can improve sperm morphology, motility, and increase sperm volume. My husband got FertilAid for men which is packed vitamins and nutrients for optimal sperm health. You can find more about that here!
What To Do Next
Hopefully these three tips informed you on how to get pregnant faster! If you have followed these steps and have been trying to conceive for more than six months (and over the age of 35), you may want to make an appointment with your OB or get a referral to an RE.
While these three steps can help you get pregnant faster, it can still take healthy couples up to a year to get pregnant. So do what you can to increase your chances and try to stress less! Getting pregnant can become a full time job, so do your best to try to have fun with it. Take control of your fertility by seeking answers from your physician and doing your research.
If any of these things has helped you to conceive, we would love to hear about. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave the in the comments sections. We love to hear from you! As always, good luck and baby dust!
Wow ! That’s really involved. It becomes more of a laborious task then an act of love, it seems. Does it matter how many times a day one makes love ? You said that the sperm has a 5 day “survival” rate inside of a woman. Do smoking or alcohol or drugs affect one’s ability to get pregnant, generally speaking ? Very thorough instructions. Thank you for the insightful post !
Yes, it can become a chore and then it is no longer fun 🙁 When trying to get pregnant, it is best to only necessary to have sex once a day. Even just two to three times a week will work. A lot will depend on sperm health. If you haven’t had a semen analysis to know your count, you might want to do it every other day during the fertile period.
Smoking, alcohol, and drugs affects fertility for both men and women. So it is best to cut those things out when trying. Unfortunately, it could take up to 3 months to improve your fertility if you do drink, smoke, or do drugs. If you do, you may consider supplements and vitamins that will help improve reproductive health.
My husband and I both started taking supplements and I changed my diet. You definitely need energy when trying to conceive! Thank you so much for stopping by and good luck to you!
Hello, I have learned a lot here today, much needed info. Thank you. The more I read on the subject the more I realise how complicated getting pregnant is and I become more anxious.
Agnes,
Thank you for reading and I am glad you learned something! People don’t realize how hard it is to become pregnant until they actually have a problem conceiving. Then it can create anxiety. Always, just breath and make sure to do things that relax you so you can optimize your chances of conceiving. I really believe stress can affect your ability. That is why there are so many natural paths to take to help calm your body.