Important things you need to know about getting pregnant

Getting pregnant can
be a little tricky, particularly if you're uninformed.
Even if motherhood seems light years away,it's never too soon to get informed. Here's
what you need to know now about getting pregnant:
1. This is how you get pregnant: About 14 days
before your next period is scheduled to arrive, your
left or right ovary (which switch off every cycle)
releases an egg in a process known as ovulation,
explains Maria Sophocles, board-certified
gynecologist and medical director of Women's Health
Care, a private practice in Princeton, New Jersey, and
a mother of four who's delivered more than 8,000
babies. The egg travels down the fallopian tube and
waits for sperm to show up. During penetrative
vaginal sex involving ejaculation, millions of sperm
enter the vagina and travel through the cervix into
your uterus. There, they pick a path: The left or right
fallopian tube. The sperm that pick the tube where
that month's egg resides get all up in there,
burrowing into the egg. To become an embryo that
becomes a fetus that becomes a baby, one
dominant sperm needs to get far enough into the egg
to fuse with it — hence the need for strong
swimmers! Then, the egg and alpha sperm plant
itself in the wall of your uterus and begin to grow.
2. There are only three to five days a month when
you can actually get pregnant. Despite all the
unintended pregnancies you see in shows and
movies, you can't get knocked up any old time you
have unprotected sex. Your egg and your partner's
sperm are best able to connect when you're
ovulating. And if your partner's sperm is seriously
persistent, it may survive in the vagina for 24 to 48
hours, giving you about a 48-hour window before
and after ovulation for baby-making to happen. The
bottom line: All the sperm in the world won't
produce a baby if they enter your body at the wrong
time (i.e., when the ovary isn't releasing an egg),
according to Dr. Sophocles.
3. You should really go sober when you're trying.
New recommendations say no amount of alcohol is
safe to drink while you're pregnant, but it can take
weeks to confirm you're pregnant — and god knows
you can throw back a whole case of wine in that
window. Because the most important time to lay off
booze is during the earliest stages of pregnancy
when the baby's heart and spinal cord begin to
develop, you're better off stone-cold sober than sorry
while actively baby-making.
4. You need to take prenatal vitamins before you get
pregnant. Prenatal vitamins contain at least at least
400 micrograms of folic acid, a nutrient humans only
need during the first four weeks of life to prevent
major birth defects while the spinal cord is
developing, Dr. Sophocles says. Because most
home pregnancy tests won't detect a pregnancy until
a baby is five or six weeks in the making, it's super
important for any woman who might possibly get
pregnant to take a daily dose of folic acid. While
there's no rule that you need to dope up months
before conceiving, start as early as you need to
ensure you get vital nutrients on the day you
conceive — and every day throughout your
pregnancy thereafter. (Starting prenatal vitamins too
early can't hurt, since you'll just pee out any
nutrients you don't need.)
5. You can get pregnant as soon as 24 hours after
going off birth control. Unlike oral contraceptives of
yesteryear, which contained high doses of hormones
and caused lots of annoying side effects, most pills
prescribed today have such a low dose of hormones
that missing one or two pills can leave you
completely unprotected. (It's why so many women
get pregnant by eff-ing up their packs.)
That said, hormonal birth control prevents ovulation.
If you take it for years and years and suddenly stop
popping pills, your body might forget to release an
egg during your next cycle, which will prohibit you
from getting pregnant right away, Dr. Sophocles
says. Chances are, you'll ovulate within a month or
two of going off the pill, so if you're trying to plan
your pregnancy around a specific season, go off the
pill at least a month before you officially begin trying
to give your body a head start.
6. There's no evidence that certain sex positions
improve your chances of getting pregnant. But
certain kinds of sex — like anal, oral, or non-
penetrative sex, will certainly reduce your chances:
Only vaginal penetration can get you pregnant, for
the record.
7. There's no scientific evidence that you need to
orgasm to get pregnant. But anecdotally? Dr.
Sophocles thinks it could help: Some experts believe
that the uterine contractions associated with female
orgasms can help mobilize sperm by drawing it up
into the uterus toward the egg, so long as your
orgasm occurs within 45 minutes of your partner's.
(That said, plenty of women get pregnant without
having an orgasm — so seriously, no pressure if it
doesn't happen.)
8. You're more likely to get pregnant when you have
thin, clear discharge as opposed to thicker mucus.
Typically, your cervix makes a thick, mucus-y plug to
prevent sperm from reaching your eggs. When you
ovulate mid-cycle, this mucus thins out significantly
— so much that clear discharge is a reliable sign that
you're ovulating, Dr. Sophocles explains.
9. It takes a typical healthy couple about six months
of trying to get pregnant. Why so long? Dr.
Sophocles says timing sex to coincide with ovulation
can be tricky — particularly among women with
irregular periods who might not be able to nail down
the precise dates.
10. Sweaty balls can lower your partner's sperm
count. Regular hot tub or sauna use, or any other
super sweaty situation, can overheat your partner's
testicles, which lowers his sperm count, according to
Dr. Sophocles. Luckily, the dip is only temporary and
completely reversible — he makes new sperm all the
time.
11. Getting high can lower your partner's sperm
count. Guys who smoke pot all the time can have
completely normal semen. But if you're having
trouble getting pregnant, and your partner smokes
marijuana on the regular, cutting back can improve
your chances of conceiving, suggests Dr. Sophocles.
12. A symptom-less STD can prevent you from
getting pregnant. Chlamydia closes off your fallopian
tubes — and the only symptom could be trouble
getting pregnant. Luckily, as few as four antibiotic
pills can clear things up — if you catch it early.
Otherwise, your doctor can open your tubes
surgically or with a vaginal injection.
13. Stress can prevent you from getting pregnant.
Experts don't know why or how. But Dr. Sophocles
says she's seen tons of couples stress over
conceiving, then take a break from trying, take a
relaxing vacation, or remove the pressure by
deciding to adopt — and then get pregnant.
14. You're probably horniest when you're most
fertile. Sex drive follows fertility, Dr. Sophocles says.
"It's a millennia-old phenomenon that makes us
propagate as a species."
15. Excess weight can mess with your fertility. A
particularly high body mass index can mess with
your body's levels of insulin, a hormone that
regulates blood sugar but also mediates fertility. Like
most health conditions aggravated by excess weight,
weight loss can help.
16. Being underweight can prevent you from getting
pregnant. If you have a particularly low BMI, you
could have low estrogen levels, which can prohibit
ovulation — and if you don't ovulate, you can't
conceive. Even if you do ovulate, low estrogen might
inhibit tissue growth in the uterus, which can make
it difficult to support an embryo, Dr. Sophocles says.
17. Excess body hair growth could predict difficulty
getting pregnant. In some cases, this could be a
symptom of polycystic ovarian syndrome, a
hormonal disorder that messes up your period,
which makes getting pregnant extra difficult.
18. You might shed more hair than usual when you
first get pregnant. Any time estrogen levels shift
abruptly or drastically (like when you get pregnant,
deliver a baby, or at the onset of menopause), your
hair follicles are affected and hair loss can occur,
according to Dr. Sophocles.
19. You can get pregnant while you're breastfeeding.
When you breastfeed, your body spews out loads of
prolactin, a milk-inducing hormone that temporarily
shuts off your period. But while you're saving cash
on tampons (and busy feeding another human), your
ovaries can still release an egg on the DL. Which
means having unprotected sex while you're
breastfeeding is like playing Russian roulette, Dr.
Sophocles says. (And the stakes are high: Another
child.)
20. You can get pregnant well into your 40s. Most
fertility specialists advise thirty somethings who want
kids to get on it ASAP. But Dr. Sophocles says she
sees tons of women in their 40s come to her with
surprise pregnancies because they think their age or
increasingly irregular periods are as good as birth
control. (Lies!) The truth is that you can get
pregnant well in your 40s — and without any special
fertility treatments. Technically, you're fertile (i.e.,
susceptible to pregnancy) until your period goes missing
for at least a full calendar year. So chances are,
you've got plenty of time!