Preconception Planning
All About Preconception Planning
Preconception planning can be a lot of help if you are trying to conceive a child. There are really many benefits of planning, such as ensuring that you are as healthy as possible, which will go a long way in helping you to have a happy healthy pregnancy and a bouncing baby boy or girl.
All through high school people are taught how easy it is to get pregnant so all precautions should be taken, but in reality it’s really not all that easy to get pregnant, especially without preconception planning. Through each monthly cycle, there is a small time period when it is possible to become pregnant; this is about 24 hours. A woman’s egg will live anywhere from 12 to 24 hours, but if you are looking to get pregnant, it will be a relief to know that a man’s sperm can last from 3 to 5 days, depending on if there are favorable conditions in the woman’s body. This basically equates to a window of about 6 days each month that a woman can become pregnant.
Preconception planning should take this window of opportunity into consideration so that you can plan the best time to try and conceive a baby. There are really a number of ways that you can improve your chances of becoming pregnant, and one of those ways is to calculate when you are going to be most fertile.
Some of the techniques for determining a woman’s most fertile time include using a calendar to determine when the most likely time of ovulation is, keeping track of a woman’s temperature is also a good method. For the calendar method to work as part of your preconception planning, you will have to track the cycles over a three or four month period so that you can learn the pattern of the cycles.
The average cycle for women is about every 28 days from the first day of their last period; a woman is likely to ovulate about two weeks prior to her next expected menstruation. To increase your chances of conception you will want to have intercourse as close to ovulation as possible, so you will need to know when you will ovulate. This is not too difficult, if you are average and have your periods every 28 days, but not every woman will have her periods the same, so you must track the cycles.
Increasing your chances of becoming pregnant with preconception planning using temperature is another alternative. If you want to use this method you will need a basal body thermometer; this type of thermometer will measure small increases in temperature. A woman will have a higher temperature after ovulation than before. In addition to helping you determine the best time to conceive a baby, this method is also used to help avoid pregnancy as a natural form of birth control.
In addition to learning how to increase your odds of becoming pregnant, your preconception planning should include steps that can help you be as healthy as possible during pregnancy. As soon as you know you want to get pregnant, start eating healthy and getting a lot of exercise; it is also a good idea to start taking a folic acid supplement. Folic acid is important in helping your fetus to develop properly and avoiding birth defects.
Most of all, don’t let preconception planning become too stressful; stress can also prevent pregnancy by preventing ovulation. Relax and enjoy the time you are planning for pregnancy, and look forward to how great it will be when you finally have your baby in your arms.