When you are trying for a baby, your sexual and reproductive wellness is of utmost importance. Even those who have never give a thought to their reproductive wellbeing find that as soon as they make the momentous decision to have a baby, the worry about whether or not they will be able to conceive surfaces.
The good news is that the only thing that most people need in order to conceive a child is a healthy and happy sex life. Fertility experts stress that having a relaxed sex life and having plenty of sex are the best ingredients for allowing conception to occur. Some couples, for example, simply do not have enough sex to ensure that they are introducing the sperm into the reproductive tract at the right time of the month.
Women are actually only fertile for a few days each month, so it can be useful to get to know about your or your partner’s fertility cycle. Be careful not to get too bogged down in the details, however, as there is nothing less sexy than feeling that you have to have sex on certain days because you are fertile – if you simply keep sex regular throughout the month you are likely to be copulating at the right time!
During the woman’s fertile time, hormonal changes make an egg release itself from her ovaries. This travels down the fallopian tubes, living for 12 – 24 hours, and for you to become pregnant, the egg must meet some sperm during this time. Sperm live up to five days, however, so you can become pregnant from sperm that is still ‘hanging around’ inside the female reproductive tract from previous sex, which then fertilises the egg as soon as it appears.
Try to steer clear of ovulation kits, temperature charts and so on, as this kind of obsessing only leads to stress, which is not good for conception.