What You Need to Know Before You Conceive

The road to conception can be very smooth for some couples, while others find that it can take years before they are able to become pregnant. While there are many factors that can affect successful conception, understanding some basic things can make your journey easier. If you are trying to conceive, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Know Your Monthly Cycle. One of the best ways to increase your chances of becoming pregnant is to understand how your monthly cycle works. Every woman is different and in some cases, every cycle is different. Before you conceive, take a few months to chart your cycle from beginning to end. Keep track of the first day of your period and when you ovulate.

This information will help you determine when you are most fertile and when you should be scheduling intercourse. It may not be very romantic to schedule it in, but if you do want to conceive, you have to be able to take advantage of that window of opportunity when it arrives.

2.Predict Your Monthly Ovulation. In order to find that window of opportunity, you have to know when you ovulate. There is a period of five days within each cycle that you are at your most fertile. The three days preceeding ovulation and the day following ovulation. Once you know when this occurs, you can greatly increase the likelihood of fertilization.

Remember that once an egg is released from an ovary, it only has a period of 24 hours when it remains viable. It is vital to make sure that you are having intercourse as close to the date that you ovulate as possible. While you can become pregnant at any time during those five days, it is best to try to time your ovulation and intercourse as closely as possible.

3.Get Healthy Ahead of Time. In order to be at your most fertile, you need to take care of yourself. Start taking prenatal vitamins ahead of time and have yourself looked over by a doctor. If you have noticed any irregularities with your monthly cycles, talk to them about it now. If you have questions about ovulation or learning more about your body, it is important to have these questions answered ahead of time.

Get plenty of rest and practice a healthy lifestyle. Try to remove stress from your life and take good care of your body. You'll be asking it to undergo a great task over the next nine months and you owe it to yourself and your future child to be as healthy as possible.

Successful conception doesn't have to be difficult. Although it can take a healthy couple a year to conceive naturally, by paying attention to this advice, you can increase your chances of becoming pregnant in less time. Remember, if you don't conceive right away, don't get disheartened. Just keep trying and barring any fertility issues you should be able to conceive a happy and healthy baby.

Plan My Baby - Baby Gender Selection - Prince or Princess

Can You Really Choose Your Baby's Gender?

     Gender selection of children is a controversial topic, particularly in terms of genetic therapy and the ethics of picking the sex of your child. While there certainly have been advances in the field of genetics, there are actually some natural and completely ethical things that you can do that will increase the likelihood of selecting a gender for your child.

     While no method is 100% accurate, if you are determined to have a boy or a girl, there are a few things that can be done to significantly increase your chances of conceiving the gender of your choice. Remember, the most important thing is to have a healthy baby, regardless of their gender. But if you do want to try to pick the gender of your child, it is possible. Here's what you need to know.
Differences in Sperm

     The sperm that carry the Y chromosome are the "boy" sperms, while the ones that carry the X chromosome are the "girl" sperms. The Y sperm are faster, smaller, more agile but they do not last as long as the "girl" sperm. The X sperm are bigger and move quite slowly. In addition to their overall speed, they have different preferences in terms of the acidity of the vagina and cervix. An X sperm does better in an acidic environment while the Y sperm prefer an alkaline environment.
How These Differences Affect Conception

     Now that we have established the differences between the sperm that carry different chromosomes, it is important to understand how these differences can be used for natural gender selection. Once you have this information, you can begin trying to conceive a child that will be a specific gender.

     If you want to have a boy, the timing is crucial. Since these sperm do not live long, it is vital to time your intercourse as closely to ovulation as possible. This gives the Y sperm time to reach the egg before the X sperm do, increasing the chances that you will have a boy.

     If you want to have a girl, you need to give the X sperm plenty of time to reach the egg. Since they live longer, this means that you want to time intercourse a few days before expected ovulation. By the time you ovulate, the Y sperm will have already died off, leaving only the X sperm behind. They will have the time needed to travel up through the cervix to reach the egg and fertilize it.

Plan My Baby - Baby Gender Selection - Prince or Princess