Sexual Intercourse for Pregnancy

Pregnancy happens when sperm enters a vagina, travels through the cervix and womb to the fallopian tube and fertilizes an egg. You are more likely to become pregnant around the time you ovulate. This is when an egg matures and you are most fertile. If the sperm does not fertilize the egg, it goes to the uterus and breaks down, ready to exit the body during the next menstrual period.

Females are most fertile within a day or two of ovulation when the ovaries release an egg. However, it is possible to become pregnant in the days preceding ovulation since sperm can live for 3 days inside the female body.

How do you know when you’re ovulating?

Females usually ovulate one egg per month. This is the single egg that makes it through the whole ovulatory process. In an average 28-day menstrual cycle, ovulation occurs about 14 days before the beginning of the next menstrual period. The exact timing varies, and the cycle length may be longer or shorter. Charting your menstrual cycle with a phone app or a calendar may be beneficial.

The cervical mucus method involves recognizing changes in the mucus produced by the cervix and in how the mucus looks and feels. Just before ovulation, the amount of mucus made by the cervix noticeably increases, and the mucus becomes thin and slippery. The amount of mucus reduces shortly after ovulation, and it thickens and becomes less noticeable.

During ovulation, there may also be a slight increase in body temperature, which is caused by the hormone the body produces when an egg is released. The temperature may increase between 0.5 and 1ºF and remain elevated until the end of the fertile period. However, many factors can affect temperature readings, such as illness, alcohol consumption, and a change in contraception.

Ovulation and the fertile window can change from cycle to cycle, but they can also change as we age. Female fertility naturally begins to drop in their 30s. By the age of 40, a person's chances of conceiving are reduced to 10% per cycle. With age, both the number and quality of eggs drop. Ovulation can also become irregular.

How to maximize fertility?

Have regular sexual intercourse: To increase their chances of getting pregnant, a couple should try to have sexual intercourse every day or every alternate day during ovulation or within a fertile window. The "fertile window" is the five days preceding and after the day an egg is released from the ovary (ovulation). Intercourse during this time period gives you the best chance of becoming pregnant.

Smoking should be avoided. Tobacco use reduces fertility and has an impact on the health of a developing fetus.

Limit your alcohol consumption

Maintain a healthy weight. Obese or underweight women are more likely to experience irregular ovulation.

Reduce stress.

Comorbidities should be managed: Any medical causes or hormonal issues of infertility should be ruled out or treated.

Consider the points suggested above if you are having problems conceiving.

 

Rojina Chapagain

Registered Nurse

Danphe Care