Trying To Get Pregnant
Posts tagged Pregnant
Getting Pregnant and Conception
Aug 23rd
pregnant woman
As much time as most women spend trying to keep from getting pregnant throughout their lives, it sometimes seems that for any woman who is sexually active, pregnancy is the default condition.
Pregnancy sneaks up on millions of women every month: pregnancy has been known to occur during one’s period, while still nursing an infant, when a partner has had a vasectomy, and when women are on the Pill.
Hormones, sponges, creams, foams and various latex and non-latex products have been pressed into use by women who are not at a stage in life where they want children.
It’s only when we start wanting to have children that we learn that pregnancy sometimes takes as much planning as childlessness did before.
It may be that the hectic nature of daily life has changed considerably from the time when, eons ago, all you needed was enough to eat and enough shelter to keep alive.
In fact, the nature of nature is to make us as fertile as possible under a wide variety of circumstances. But our bodies are still trying to adapt to the environment we have built, where things like jet lag, hot tubs and plain old fatigue can affect whether we can become pregnant.
The human body, while amazingly adaptable, is only willing to go so far: getting pregnant is often a matter of helping things along by working in a playful way to bring ovulation, active sperm, and a welcoming environment conducive to implantation together at the same time.
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Study Explains Why Pregnant Women Don´t Fall Over – CAMBRIDGE – A hugely pregnant woman teetering along is actually a sublime feat of evolutionary engineering – ages of adaptations have gone into her backbone to make sure she doesn’t fall on her face, scientists say. …
Ask The Doctor These Questions When You’re Preg
Aug 4th
You have a lot to learn the first time you’re pregnant. Prenatal care should be a top priority, here are some basic questions to ask you’re doctor when you’re expecting, print it out and jot down additional questions that you think of.
The American Pregnancy Association offers this list of topics for discussion:
- Is there a phone number or nurse line that I can call when I have questions?
- Who should I call if I start bleeding or cramping?
- What should I consider an emergency?
- Now that I’m pregnant, do I need to make changes to my nutrition, exercise routine and sexual activity?
- How often will I have prenatal visits?
Was I Pregnant And Miscarried Or Never Pregnant At All?
Jul 30th
This is a very common question. Many people who are late, but begin bleeding before taking a pregnancy test, or have a negative test, assume that they were pregnant and miscarried. The “evidence” for this piles up when the cramps are stronger, there is more blood, and maybe even clots are passed.
Most likely, this was not a miscarriage. Remember that light bleeding is common in pregnancy and may not signal the end if it stops shortly after it starts. See symptoms for more information. If you have had a positive pregnancy test, this information is not for you. There is no doubt you were pregnant. Go the the miscarriage diagnosis section instead.
One important note: If your blood type is Rh negative (such as O negative, A negative, B negative, or AB negative), you MUST have a shot to prevent building antibodies after a miscarriage if the father was Rh positive. If you even suspect a miscarriage, find out your blood type and see a doctor right away (within 72 hours) to determine if you need the shot to protect your future pregnancies.
Here’s some information that might help you understand unusual periods that are not miscarriages, especially if you had a negative pregnancy test:
- But my period was so heavy and painful.
Any late period is going to be heavy.
A late period is caused by extra time being added to the first half of the cycle, which is when the lining is being built. If more lining is built, it will cause more blood flow and stronger cramps to get it out. Blood clots are a natural part of any lining that has had to hang around longer than intended. Late periods are often caused by illness, stress, serious physical exertion, or hormone changes.
- But I timed intercourse just right, and my period came early.
An early period is almost never a miscarriage.
An early period is often caused by a lack of ovulation, or the ovulation of an egg that is not able to be fertilized. As a result, progesterone is not produced sufficiently to keep the last part of your cycle going. In this situation, a pregnancy cannot happen. Even a positive ovulation test does not mean your ovulation will surely happen or will produce a quality egg. If you are charting your temperatures, however, and see that you did not have at least 10 days between ovulation and when your periods began, you may have a luteal phase defect. Read more about it.
But I saw some tissue that must have been a pregnancy.
A baby from a pregnancy that made your period less than two weeks late is not usually visible to the naked eye.
Even if the baby had grown, it would be about the size of a grain of rice. This would be impossible to see amongst the blood and clots. What you are seeing may be part of a pregnancy, but is more likely just clots and uterine lining from an off-month cycle.
- But I got this huge golf-ball sized clot I’ve never seen before. It had to be a baby.
Tissue that is like a ball is often what is called a corpus luteum cyst, and not a baby.
An extra long or extra short period can be caused when the shell that once housed the egg (called the corpus luteum) swells in size and throws off the hormone chain. This ball will come out in the period, leaving many women to believe they were pregnant, when actually they had a non-viable egg that month.
Without a positive pregnancy test, it is impossible to know for sure if you were pregnant. If you are actively trying to get pregnant, and have had several suspicious periods, then it is time to get tested for a luteal phase defect. You may indeed be losing babies due to low progesterone.
One way to possibly find out is get to the doctor immediately when you think you are pregnant but start bleeding heavily (do not wait, even a day or two) and have a quantitative hCG blood pregnancy test done. Any hCG in your system would show that you were at one point pregnant. Otherwise, unless your blood type is Rh negative, you should not need to worry about a lost pregnancy.
Get Pregnant Using Charting Methods
Jul 5th
Getting pregnant may sound easy enough, but for most of us, it can take some time and effort to achieve. Some women are lucky enough to get pregnant quickly,while others can take a year or more to achieve their goal. It can be very frustrating and discouraging if you are one of the many women that have a hard time conceiving.
It may seem like everyone else around you is getting pregnant at the drop of a hat, but you. Do not get discouraged if you are unable to conceive immediately. On average, a healthy couple will achieve their goal within six months to a year of trying.
There are many things that you can do to help speed up the process of conceiving. By paying careful attention to your body, you can quickly learn how your individual cycle works and when you are most fertile.
Many women prefer to chart various aspects of their cycles.The most common charting methods involve keeping track of your basal body temperature (commonly referred to as BBT), cervical mucous and cervical position. The use of ovulation predictor tests, purchased at your local drugstore, can also help pinpoint your most fertile days.
What is Basal Body Temperature (BBT)?
Basal Body Temperature (BBT) is the temperature your body reaches early in the morning when at complete rest. Fluctuations in your basal body temperature are connected to the fluctuations of the body’s cyclical changes. By tracking your basal body temperature (BBT), you will be able to tell if you are ovulating regularly and on which day of your cycle you should have intercourse.
