When do you most likely to conceive?

A woman is most likely to conceive just after the time she ovulates. An egg lives for about twenty-four hours after it is released from the ovary. If a woman is going to conceive, the egg has to be fertilized within these twentyfour hours.

If you want to conceive, then the best time to have unprotected intercourse is around the time of ovulation. The best time of all is the day before ovulation. This gives the sperm time to travel up into the fallopian tubes and keep waiting until the egg is released.

You can find out when you ovulate and when you are most likely to conceive.

How to find out when you ovulate

There are several ways of finding out when you ovulate. If you use all the methods together, you will get the most accurate result of your time of ovulation.

The calendar method

1. If your monthly cycle is fairly regular, you can work out when your next period is due. You can work out when you ovulate in the same way. First you have to get to know the pattern of your monthly cycle.Normal monthly cycle is 21 days to 35 days. Keep a record of your periods. Each month, record the first day of bleeding, in your diary, or on a calendar. Do this for a number of months.

2. You can now work out the length of your monthly cycle. For each month that you've recorded, count the days from the first day of one period up to (but not including) the first day of the next. If you have a regular cycle, the number of days between your periods will be about the same each month. But if the number varies, you obviously have an irregular cycle and you will need to use the temperature or mucus methods or chemical method or more specifically ultrasound method to find out when you ovulate.

3. The length of womens' cycles varies. But most women ovulate about fourteen days before their next period. That is if your due date of monthly period is 24th of July you ovulate on 10th of July.So using what you know to be the usual length of your period. Now count back fourteen days and you have the time when you were likely to ovulate. If you have intercourse around this time, you have a better chance of conceiving than at any other time in the month.

The temperature method

Just after you ovulate, your temperature goes up. So keeping a record of your temperature is another way of finding out when you ovulate. If you are having difficulty in conceiving, your doctor may well advise you to keep a temperature chart, because it can show not just when you are ovulating but whether or not you are ovulating at all.

1. Starting on the first day of a period (day 1), take your temperature first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed and before you have anything to eat or drink. Keep the thermometer in your mouth for a good three minutes.

2. Keep a daily record of your temperature. You can use a chart like the one below. (fig6)

3. Keep on taking your temperature every morning in the same way and mark it on your chart each day.On the first day of your next period, start a new chart.

4. You will probably find that about fourteen days before your period, your temperature would have gone up and then dropped down at the time your period started.

5. When your temperature rises, you have already ovulated. So the time when you are most likely to conceive has just passed. But since an egg can live in the fallopian tube for about twenty-four hours, you may still conceive if you have intercourse just after ovulation.

The temperature method can be quite difficult to carry out. You have to take and record your temperature very accurately. Your family planning clinic or your doctor will give you more information about the method if you are having difficulty.

If you find that your temperature does not rise during your monthly cycle, and you are sure you are taking and recording it correctly, it may be that you are one of the few women whose temperature doesn't go up when ovulate.Or it is possible that you are not ovulating. If you are worried, see your doctor.Take your temperature charts with you.

The mucus method

Just before you ovulate, the mucus around the cervix becomes thinner so that it is easier for sperm to travel through it.There is also more mucus produced.

Some women notice that around the middle of their monthly cycle, a time when there is much more wetness around the vagina. Others get a clear, jelly-like discharge. These are both signs that ovulation is about to happen.

Each time you go to the toilet, gently wipe around the opening of the vagina with your fingers or a tissue.On the days around ovulation, you should find more mucus and wetness. On other days there will be far less mucus or nothing at all.

At the beginning, these changes can be difficult to recognize. Also, wetness around the vagina may be the result of intercourse, so you can only really be certain that the wetness is due to ovulation if you have not had intercourse in the past twenty-four hours.

Your family planning clinic or doctor can give you more information about how to use the mucus method accurately.

Dipstick LH testing kits

Simple and specific commercial urine dipstick LH testing kits are available and which can be used to measure the presence of the LH surge as an indicator of the time of ovulation. These are much more accurate and convenient than other methods.

LH surge seen in the day 14 of monthly cycle (Fig 7)

Transvaginal (through your vagina) ultrasound scanning.

This method is superior to all the other methods described earlier. Your doctor will measure the size of the egg and will make a prediction of the day of ovulation.

How long does it usually take to conceive?

Even if you have sex at exactly the right time, you still may not conceive. Women who have used contraception for a number of years often think that as soon as they stop using it, they will immediately become pregnant. After all, that's why they have been using contraception in the first place. But it's quite usual for a couple to take several months or even longer to conceive.

But if you very much want to become pregnant, it can be worrying to find that the months go by and nothing is happening. So how long should you wait before asking for advice? The answer really depends on your feeling. Most doctors will wait until you've been trying to conceive for a year before they refer you to a specialist. But if you've become anxious and want to talk with someone, go to your doctor, or your family planning clinic, and explain your problem.

Failing to conceive can be due to many things. It can be due to physical causes such as the man producing a few sperm, the woman failing to ovulate (produce eggs) or the fallopian tubes being blocked. Some of these problems can now be treated. But failure to conceive can also be the result of being over-anxious, tired or tense.Whatever you think may be the cause, if you're worried, then see your doctor and talk about it.

Chromosomes and genes, and the baby's sex (fig7)

Both the female's egg and the male's "egg" (sperm) contain tiny, thread-like structures called chromosomes. It is through the chromosomes that all the characteristics like hair and eye colour, looks and build are passed from parents to child, and it is the chromosomes that determine the baby's sex.

The fertilized egg contains forty-six chromosomes, twenty-three from each parent. Two of these chromosomes, one from the mother and one from the father, are the sex chromosomes. The sex chromosome from the mother's egg is always the same and it called the X chromosome. But the sex chromosome from the father's sperm may be an X or a Y chromosome. If the egg is fertilized by a sperm containing an X chromosome, then the baby will be a girl (XX). If the egg is fertilized by a sperm containing a Y chromosome, then the baby will be a boy (XY). It is only father's sperm going to determine whether you have a son or a daughter.

There are really only few ways of knowing your baby's gender before birth. Amniocentesis is a special test offered to only some women. (See page 61) It is used to detect certain abnormalities, but is also reveals the baby's gender. You can ask not to be told of the gender, if you wish so.An ultrasound scan (see page 60), done in late pregnancy (generally after 24 weeks or so), may also show the baby's gender. Neither an amniocentesis nor an ultrasound is done merely to find out a baby's gender.

The X and Y chromosomes and the other forty-four chromosomes in the fertilized egg determine the baby's entire inherited characteristics. Each chromosome carries about 2,000 genes, and it determine such things as the baby's blood group, height, build, hair and eye colour and also some diseases like Down's syndrome. The genes also influence characteristics, like personality and intelligence, although these are affected by other things too, such as how the child is brought up.
