When my husband and I first decided to have a baby I was determined to get pregnant immediately. Now I knew that on average it takes around 6 months to get pregnant, but I did not have the patience to wait that long. I tried almost every suggestion, piece of advice, and wives tale I knew. And you know what? It worked both times I got pregnant, and I am convinced that in a few days a positive pregnancy test will tell me it worked a third time.
First of all, you can not get pregnant unless you have sex. I am consistently surprised when I read trying to conceive message boards how many women only have sex around 3 times during their peak fertility week. During my estimated time of ovulation my husband and I had sex for at least a week and half. We always had sex every other day, but sometimes every day as well. However, it is suggested to only have sex every other day because a man’s sperm count can be lowered if he ejaculates several days in a row.
Next, you have to know when you ovulate. When I was younger it was easy to know when I would ovulate. I would feel a pinch in my pelvic area and I would see cervical mucus. But after going off the birth control pill I no longer had any signs. So I had to predict my ovulation based on my 28 day cycle and I used an ovulation prediction kit to help pin point the exact days that I would ovulate.
Now, when you ovulate you are supposed to secrete an egg white looking cervical mucus. This mucus supposedly needs to come out because it prevents the sperm from getting to the egg. So to make sure this happened I drank cough medicine. I had heard that the cough medicine has an expectorant which helps loosen mucus. No matter where it is located in body. Even though it appeared to work, the second time I tried to conceive I did not take cough medicine or secrete any cervical mucus and I still got pregnant.
Another tactic that women can do to help increase their chances of getting pregnant is to lie in bed after sex with a pillow under their butt. Of course this prevents semen from leaving the vagina, which in turn gives the sperm all the time they need to reach the egg. However, many experts do not really think this make a difference because by the time a man ejaculates the sperm are well on there way to finding the egg anyway. But I was not taking any chances, so I faithfully would lie in bed with my pillow for at least 10 minutes.
That is it. That is all I did to get pregnant on the first try. Now I know that some women do more, like take their temperature because it changes around the time women ovulate. Also, some women and men watch their diet and alcohol consumption. Even I put a limit on how much my husband could drink around the time I was supposed to ovulate because alcohol effects sperm production. But all these efforts will not help all women. If they have a medical problem with their thyroid or weight for example, then they usually just do not regularly ovulate. And without an egg there can not be a baby.
So now I wait to see if my methods have worked yet again. I have some of those familiar signs, slight cramping and an aversion to sex or being touched. I especially do not want my breast touched. Now I just have to wait a couple days to take a home pregnancy test. Where undoubtedly I will see that very faint pink line that shows I am pregnant.
