Fertility Awareness: Increasing Your Chances of Conceiving
by Ann Douglas and John R. Sussman, M.D.
The sexual positions that enable the sperm to be deposited high up in the vagina right next to the cervix are thought to provide the best opportunity for baby-making. Some doctors suggest that couples who are having difficulty conceiving use the so-called missionary position for intercourse.
Fertility Awareness: Increasing Your Chances of Conceiving
You can use various methods to increase your odds of conceiving in any given cycle.
Basal body temperature
One of the best ways to figure out what’s happening with your menstrual cycle is to take your temperature (with an oral thermometer) at the same time each morning before you get out of bed and record this information on a temperature graph, a reading that is known as your basal body temperature (BBT) chart or resting temperature chart.
If you are ovulating normally, your temperature may dip slightly just prior to ovulation and then shoot upward once you have ovulated. Not everyone experiences this dip and, even if you do experience it, by the time you’ve “dipped” and your temperature has rebounded, baby-making season has come and gone. Your temperature will typically range from 97.0 to 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit prior to ovulation, and from 97.6 to 98.6 after ovulation. If you are pregnant, your temperature will remain elevated for the next nine months. If you’re not, it will start to drop either close to or on the day your period starts as the level of progesterone in your body drops.
Cervical mucus
Over the course of your menstrual cycle, hormonal fluctuations cause both the quantity and the quality of your cervical mucus (the substance secreted by your cervix) to change. As ovulation approaches, your secretions change from a thick, opaque texture to a thin, clear, and slippery texture that many women compare to egg white.
It’s possible to monitor the quality and quantity of cervical mucus by inserting one or two fingers into your vagina daily and noting the characteristics of your cervical mucus on your fingers when you remove them from your vagina. If you notice that you suddenly have an abundance of “egg white,” the type of mucus that is best suited to carrying sperm, you can bet that your fertile time has arrived.
Position of Your Cervix
As your body approaches ovulation, your cervix tends to rise up in your vagina, soften, and open slightly. Although it generally feels firm at the beginning of your cycle, like the tip of your nose, it can feel as soft and fleshy as your lips by the time you’re ready to ovulate. After ovulation, the cervix changes position, dropping lower in your vagina as estrogen levels fall and progesterone levels rise.
Secondary Fertility Signs
Some women also get some additional “clues” that ovulation is fast approaching, including the following:
Spotting around the time of ovulation (sometimes called mid-cycle spotting or peri-ovulatory bleeding)
Ovarian pain or achiness
Abdominal bloating
Water retention (“puffiness”)
An increased interest in sex
Fuller vaginal lips
A swollen vulva
Increased breast sensitivity and/or breast tenderness
Increased skin sensitivity
Heightened sensory awareness (particularly smell, taste, and vision).
Because these symptoms aren’t experienced by all women or by the same woman in every cycle, fertility experts classify them as secondary fertility signs.
Physical Positioning
The sexual positions that enable the sperm to be deposited high up in the vagina right next to the cervix are thought to provide the best opportunity for baby-making. Some doctors suggest that couples who are having difficulty conceiving use the so-called missionary position for intercourse (that is, male partner on top) and that they tuck a pillow under the woman’s hips to ensure that the maximum amount of semen reaches her cervix. This position can be less than orgasm-friendly for the female partner. Although you might be tempted to forgo your own orgasm for the sake of baby-making, don’t. Scientists believe that the evolutionary purpose of the female orgasm is to cause the uterus to contract, thereby causing sperm to be drawn up into the reproductive tract. A single orgasm is thought to be 22 times as relaxing as the average tranquilizer. So if you’re finding the process of trying to get pregnant more than a little stressful, an orgasm could very well be just what the doctor ordered.