Truth: Caffeine Does Not Prevent Conception
Its debatable whether you need to completely quit caffeine when youre trying to get pregnant. The research hasnt been clear. For example, a study in Denmark found that tea drinkers were slightly more likely to get pregnant, soda drinkers were slightly less likely to conceive, and coffee seemed to have no impact on fertility.
What does all that mean? We dont know. For now, though, most agree that less than 300 mg of caffeine a day should be fine. One cup of coffee is less than 300 mg.
Truth: The Signs Of Ovulation Aren’t Always Obvious
There are many ways you can track or attempt to detect ovulation, from basal body temperature charting to cervical mucus observations, to ovulation predictor tests, and more. For some people, one or a few of these methods are great, and they have no difficulty using them. Thats not always the case.
For some, basal body temperature charting wont work, either because their sleep schedule is too complicated, or they cant remember to take and record their temperature consistently every morning. For some, cervical mucus tracking is easy, and for others, they question whether they even have “fertile-quality” cervical mucus.
Even ovulation test kits, which youd think should be fool-proof, can be complicated. Determining whether the test line is darker than the control line is not always simple.
With all that said, if youre concerned about a lack of ovulation signs, talk to your doctor. Its possible youre having difficulty detecting ovulation because youre not ovulating. Ovulation problems are a possible cause of female infertility.
How Does The Menstrual Cycle Work
- Your cycle starts on the first day of your period and continues up to the first day of your next period.
- At the same time, eggs begin to mature in the ovary.
- The lining of the womb thickens ready for fertilisation.
- During ovulation your cervical mucus becomes thinner and clearer to help the sperm reach the released egg.
- About 10 to 16 days before the start of your next period, an egg is released from one of the ovaries .
- If sperm is present at the moment of ovulation, or some time during the next 24 hours, the egg may be fertilised.
- If the egg has not been fertilised, the egg is re-absorbed by the body, the hormone levels drop, and the womb lining is shed. This is the beginning of your next period.
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Can I Get Pregnant Just After My Period Has Finished
Yes, although it’s not very likely. If you have sex without using contraception, you can conceive at any time during your menstrual cycle, even during or just after your period.
You can also get pregnant if you have never had a period before, during your first period, or after the first time you have sex.
There’s no “safe” time of the month when you can have sex without contraception and not risk becoming pregnant.
But there are times in your menstrual cycle when you’re at your most fertile, and this is when you’re most likely to conceive.
Paternity Test While Pregnant
While it is possible to determine paternity during pregnancy, the tests aren’t recommended for basic cases. Why? Prenatal paternity tests can be invasive tests, meaning that a needle needs to be placed into the mother’s abdomen and into the space where the baby is growing.
Paternity can be determined using amniocentesis where amniotic fluid is drawn through a needle, or chorionic villi sampling where tiny pieces of the chorionic villi found on the lining of the uterus are removed using a thin tube or a needle. Both carry slight possibilities of miscarriage, which is why they are not recommended for paternity testing alone.
There is a method to try to find the DNA of the baby in the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy, but this method is not 100% reliable.
For more information, visit the American Pregnancy Association website.
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Can The Pregnancy Conception Calculator Be Wrong
Yes, of course. So, when does conception happen? There is no possibility being 100 % sure about it. You may be a little bit more certain if you track your cycle and have it perfectly regular. But even ultrasounds and blood tests aren’t faultless. Remember, that your fertile window begins up to 5 days before ovulation and ends one day after it. So, although your conception date is, e.g., 11 July 2019, the intercourse that caused the pregnancy may have occurred as early as 6 July. However, with our conception calendar calculator, you can make an estimated guess!
Get A General Health Check
Planning a pregnancy is a good chance for both parents to get a full health check. If your doctor plans to prescribe you new medications or antibiotics, remind them that you are planning a pregnancy.
If there is a family history of medical conditions on either side, such as cystic fibrosis or diabetes, let your doctor know. You may need genetic counselling with a trained specialist or referral for diabetic specialist preparation to pregnancy.
Some sexually transmitted infections can be passed on to your baby during pregnancy, so make sure you have both been treated for any infections before planning to conceive.
If the mother has a medical condition such as diabetes or epilepsy, or is being treated for depression or other mental illness, medications for these will need to be checked before conceiving to make sure they will not affect the baby.
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The Best Time To Conceive: When To Have Sex To Get Pregnant
Lets unpack what you need to know to maximize your chance of getting pregnant. Well explore when youre most fertile, how frequently to have sex, and which factors may impact conception.
Do you want to know the best time to try for a baby? You have come to the right place. Did you know you could get pregnant even during your period?
Getting pregnant happens when a male sperm fertilizes a female’s egg. For some people, this can happen quickly for others, it may take longer.
Out of every hundred couples actively trying to become pregnant, about 80 percent will do so within the year. The remaining 20 percent will take longer or may need medical help to conceive.
Is Conception Calculator A Myth
Yes, it is.
If you read the fine or large print of any online pregnancy calculator page, you cant help but notice the word Estimate used often.
Conception calculators basically work by:
Using the first day of your previous menstrual cycle to Estimate the date of conception.
There is absolutely no way to determine the exact date of conception unless of course you have unprotected sex only once per cycle.
This means that the any conception calculator could possibly be incorrect and can be used for providing approximate information.
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Are Online Conception Calculators Different From The Wheel One That My Doctor Uses
When you visit your doctor to discuss your pregnancy, they may use a gestational calculator called a pregnancy wheel. Like many conception calculators, the pregnancy wheel uses the date of your LMP. By shifting one layer of the wheel to the appropriate LMP date, other notable dates are revealed.
The information provided by the pregnancy wheel and conception calendars is the same. However, while a pregnancy wheel helps to determine your EDD, it also provides additional information about the various stages of pregnancy, such as the estimated weight of the fetus and the optimal windows for various types of prenatal screening.
A few years ago, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reinvented the pregnancy wheel as an app, and now encourages the use of this app in place of the older physical, plastic wheel.
Where Does Conception Occur
Sperm usually fertilizes the egg in the fallopian tube. This is a pathway from the ovary to a womans uterus.
An egg takes about 30 hours to travel from the ovary down the fallopian tube, according to the University of California San Francisco.
As the egg travels down the fallopian tube, it lodges in a specific portion called the ampullar-isthmic junction. Its here that sperm usually fertilize the egg.
If the egg is fertilized, it will usually rapidly travel into the uterus and implant. Doctors call the fertilized egg an embryo.
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After Having Sex How Long Does It Take To Get Pregnant
Depending on the time of ovulation, the egg and sperm join and create a fertilized egg within five days of sex. Then, the fertilized egg can take 610 days to implant in your uterus. Pregnancy can be detected after implantation.
The best way to determine whether youre pregnant is by taking a pregnancy test after your period is delayed. Home pregnancy tests are available at drugstores and pharmacies, or you can visit a health center and take a pregnancy test there.
How To Spot The Signs Of Ovulation
Ovulation usually happens about 10 to 16 days before the start of your next period, so it helps to know your cycle length before you start trying to conceive.
You may never have considered when you might ovulate within your cycle, and if you have been using a hormone contraceptive such as the Pill, you wont have had a natural menstrual cycle for a while.
As a first step, mark on your ovulation calendar the dates that you bleed during a period. You can then count how many days from the first day of your period to your next period to work out the length of your cycle.
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Calculating Based On Your Estimated Due Date
Typically, your estimated due date is about 40 weeks from the first of your last menstrual period, but this is just an estimate.
While we consider pregnancy to be 280 days , its really only about 38 because the two weeks before/during ovulation you arent pregnant. You likely did not conceive till two weeks after the start of your cycle. .
Figuring out your conception date based on your EDD is also an estimation. And while you are given an EDD, a lot of babies are not actually born on that day.
If you are trying to calculate the approximate conception date based on your due date you would take your due date and subtract 266 days. This would bring you back to your rough conception date.
Why Is The Date Of Conception Important
Most due dates are calculated off of a womans last menstrual period . Thats how our due date calculator works. The problem is that this method of establishing an estimated due date isnt always accurate, especially for women who dont have a standard 28-day cycle. Still, its become the standard, since most women are more likely to know the exact date of their LMP than the exact date they ovulated.
The whole concept is a bit confusing though. According to this pregnancy dating method, your firstand sometimes even secondweek of pregnancy occurs before you even did the deed! Huh?!
Therefore, pinpointing conceptionwhen sperm and egg actually meet to create new lifeis a much more accurate representation of when your pregnancy began. And it can help you answer the question How many weeks pregnant am I?
If youre currently pregnant, having a clear idea of when your pregnancy actually began is important at the end of your pregnancy when the conversation may turn to induction. There are risks for both mama and baby if induction occurs before the body is ready to go into labor, so if your healthcare provider thinks youre further along than you really are, you could be encouraged to try induction sooner than necessary.
And thats where the reverse due date calculator comes in.
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Chances Of Getting Pregnant After Ovulation
Also known as the luteal phase, this final portion of your cycle lasts a minimum of 12 days and a maximum of 16 days. Progesterone starts to rise, signaling that the ovaries don’t need to release any more eggs this month. Your cervical mucus will dry up and create a plug to prevent any additional sperm from entering the uterus.
It takes about six days for any fertilized eggs to travel to your uterus. If one implants in your endometrium, you’ll start to see the rise in human chorionic gonadotropin , the hormone measured by home pregnancy tests, within a week.
Your chances of conceiving: Low. Once the egg has been released, there’s not much that can be done until next month. But there’s certainly no harm in having sex if you’re in the mood!
Don’t sweat it if it’s time for your cycle to start over again and you’re still not pregnant. You may not have tracked your most fertile days accurately, in which case your guy’s swimmers never had the chance to work their magic. The vast majority of couples who are trying to conceive do so within a year, with only about half achieving their goal by 6 months. Talk to your doctor or a fertility specialist about any concerns regarding your chances of getting pregnant.
In A Typical Pregnancy
For a woman with a regular period, conception typically occurs about 11-21 days after the first day of the last period. Most women do not know the exact date of conception because it can be challenging to know exactly when ovulation occurs. Thus, their conception date is merely an estimate based on the first day of their last period.
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When Did I Get Pregnant
Are you wondering, When did I get pregnant?? For some women, figuring out when they got pregnant is a must. They either want to know just for the sake of knowing, they want a different way to estimate a due date, or they want to determine who the father of their baby might be.
No matter what the reason, figuring out the possible date you may have gotten pregnant isnt too difficult, but it is very important to note that it is just an estimation based on dates on a calendar.Unless you had a very tiny camera inside of you that could capture the exact moment the egg and sperm met, or you had medical help conceiving, theres no real way to know your exact conception date.
Please note: I am not a medical professional. I am just a mom who has had four kids and has done research. Please seek the advice of a medical professional if you are pregnant and have questions. This is just to help you figure out an estimation.
Why am I writing this? I am asked online multiple times a day either at HubPages where I am a writer or on YouTube where I have created videos to help women figure out when they may have conceived. Hopefully this helps!
Also note that this post contains affiliate links. Thank you!
For a very in-depth reading on finding out when you became pregnant, read this very informative article . If you just want the step-by-step instructions, continue below.
What Is A Reverse Due Date Calculator
A reverse due date calculator is the exact opposite of a due date calculator. A due date calculator works when you know the date of your last menstrual period and it helps you predict babys due date from there. But a reverse due date calculator works when you know your due date, but youre not exactly sure when you had sex or conceived the baby.
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How Long Should I Try For Before Seeking Specialist Advice
Conception is a complicated sequence of events because all of the following need to be in place for it to occur:
- Regular egg production by the ovaries
- Healthy sperm, with the ability to move and the correct shape
- Unblocked and healthy fallopian tubes and uterus
The number one factor affecting a couples chances of conceiving is the womans age. The number of healthy eggs a womans ovaries contain will dramatically decline with age and especially for women over 35. Most people start to consider seeking professional advice after six months of trying to conceive naturally without success. This is even more important if youre over 35.
When Is My Due Date
Once youve confirmed that youre pregnant, of course, youll want to know when you can expect your babys arrival. Knowing your conception date helps with pregnancy tracking. More importantly, this study showed that having an accurate due date positively effects pregnancy outcomes, as it allows doctors to make better decisions, such as whether or not to induce labor.
Traditionally, your estimated due date is determined by adding 280 days to the first day of your last menstrual period . However, this practice assumes your menstrual cycle is 28 days long, and that ovulation occurs on the 14th day after your period begins. Many women, however, do not operate on this cycle. Using the 28/14 model doesnt account for irregularities in your cycle length, not knowing the exact date of your LMP, or variability in ovulation timing.
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Calculating Based On Your Lmp
With regards to the Last Menstrual Period or the LMP, it is pretty straightforward to calculate. But this can be confusing for women who have irregular periods.
Basically, the first day of your menstrual cycle is also the first day of your LMP. This works well if you have a regular cycle and those who are using natural family planning will be very astute to when their periods will come, when their body is ovulating, and when to expect PMS, etc.
However, most of the time, the first day of the LMP is usually whats needed and nothing more with regards to that period.
Girls are in their fertile window to conceive a baby when they are ovulating. During the ovulation, girls release an egg from one of their ovaries. The newly released egg can travel down to the fallopian tube, male sperm can also swim up into the fallopian tubes, and it results in the fertilization.
Ovulation happens typically about two weeks following your menstrual period and continues for a couple of days. However, not all girls have exactly the same duration of cycles.
Many womens menstrual cycles are very irregular. Others have ovulation intervals closer to or farther away from their menstrual period. Thats why calculating conception by focusing only on your body cycles can be hard.
