If you're trying to get pregnant, follow the tips below for your best chances of success.
Start Healthy
Improving your health is the most important thing that you can do to increase your chances of getting pregnant and for having a healthy pregnancy.
- Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.
- Begin an exercise routine, if you don't already have one. This will help you to gain weight appropriately during pregnancy and to lose the weight more quickly after you've had your baby.
- Eat healthy, and limit your intake of sugars and fats.
- Have a healthy weight.
Talk with Your OB/GYN or Midwife
Make an appointment with your OB/GYN or midwife. If you do not have an OB/GYN or midwife, click here to find providers who practice at Catholic Health.
Your OB/GYN can identify any health issues or risks of pregnancy for you and your future baby. This evaluation is based on your pre-existing medical conditions, gynecologic and obstetric history, current immunizations, medications, family history, lifestyle and a physical exam.
Your doctor will talk to you about these risks and begin appropriate interventions, if possible, before conception.
Know Your Ovulation Cycles
Regular menstrual cycles between 28-32 days are reassuring that you are ovulating every month.
Ovulation occurs approximately 2 weeks before the next expected menstrual period. Ovulation test kits are a helpful tool, as they predict when ovulation is about to occur.
You want to have daily intercourse before ovulation occurs. The egg only has 24 hours to be fertilized after it is released, so the sperm must be present and ready to fertilize the egg.
The odds of conceiving in any one menstrual cycle is only 20%, so don’t get disappointed if you don’t conceive right away; just try again next month.
Enroll in Natural Family Planning
Natural Family Planning is a natural method for achieving pregnancy. It teaches women to observe and chart changes in their body to learn about their fertility patterns.
Through Natural Family Planning, you’ll know when you are most fertile and can time your intercourse during those periods of fertility.
At Catholic Health, we teach the Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System (CrMS) of Natural Family Planning – not to be confused with the rhythm or temperature method.
Using the Creighton Model, you will chart your changes in your cervical mucus and patterns in your menstrual cycle to determine when you are fertile or infertile.
Click here to learn more about Natural Family Planning.
Are You Infertile?
Couples who have been trying to conceive for 12 months, with frequent and unprotected intercourse, should make an appointment for an infertility evaluation.
Earlier evaluation can be undertaken based on medical history, physical findings, and in women over 35 years of age.