Basal Body Temperature: Let's Get Pregnant!

Although it has been said by a wise person that teenage girls can get pregnant just by standing downwind from teenage boys, most of us, especially those over the age of about 16 and a half, have to play a slightly more active role in the process of getting pregnant.

Healthy Parents, Healthy Baby

As soon as you and your spouse decide that it would be nice to have a baby, it is wise to try and create the healthiest possible environment for the development of the embryo and later the fetus. This might mean cutting back on caffeinated beverages and taking vitamins. Folic acid is suggested, because it is hard to get the recommended amount for pregnant women on food alone. It is recommended to refrain from alcoholic drinks, smoking and other drugs. You should also consult with a physician about whether any medicines you are taking are compatible with pregnancy. This advice applies to not only to the potential mother, but to the father as well, as drugs and poor nutrition can negatively effect both sperm count and quality.

Now Relax and Conceive

Now that we have a nice happy and healthy couple, the next bit of advice is to relax. You should know from the outset that statistically it might take a while get pregnant. Studies show that a woman has only about a 25% chance of becoming pregnant during any given cycle of fertility. This percentage reflects the fact that there are many factors that must align correctly for pregnancy to take place. So don't worry, be happy- and just let nature take its course.

Helping the Pregnancy Process

If a few months do go by and you still haven't achieved the wanted results, there are a few things that can be done to increase the chances of getting pregnant. You can start with a simple procedure of timing marital relations to coincide with ovulation. You can discover exactly when ovulation takes place by tracking what is known as your basal body temperature. With the use of a specially designed thermometer that shows degrees to the hundredths place for extreme accuracy, you take your temperature at the same time everyday upon awakening, before you get out of bed. A sudden rise of about 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 degrees Celsius) over any of the temperatures of the previous six days, for three consecutive days, indicates that ovulation has occurred. Charting ovulation for a few months should reveal a pattern whereby you can more or less predict when ovulation will occur, and try to have marital relations for a few days before the expected time of ovulation. If you wait until after ovulation, you can lose the month. This is due to the fact that the ovum begins to degenerate about 24 hours after ovulation, and can no longer be fertilized.