Afterplay, not foreplay. Foreplay causes the front wall of the uterus to “crawl inside” the abdomen, giving the sperm a longer path to travel to reach the egg. When having sexual intercourse to conceive a child, afterplay is preferable to foreplay.

Simply eating less. Women who have polycystic ovarian disease (PCOS), a hormonal imbalance which may or may not actually cost ovarian cysts, sometimes are able to conceive after just losing 2 to 5 pounds. The process of losing weight by calorie restriction, not by exercise, lowers blood sugar levels. The ovaries don’t receive as much sugar from the bloodstream, they don’t make as much testosterone, and about 50 per cent of women who have PCOS resume having normal periods and are able to conceive.

Herbal medicine, but the right herbs for the right partner at the right time. Herbal remedies really can affect fertility, but it’s essential to use the right herb at the right time.

Dong quai, for instance, sequesters estrogen. In some women, excess estrogen makes the lining of the uterus too “rough” to receive the fertilized egg. Lowering estrogen levels makes the uterus more hospitable for the implantation of the fertilized egg–but it’s not desirable to keep lowering estrogen levels once pregnancy has been accomplished. That’s why women taking dong quai and formulas featuring dong quai only use them during the first half of their menstrual cycles.

Vitex, also known as chasteberry, can help women with PCOS conceive by lowering testosterone levels. Actually, some men can benefit from lower testosterone levels, too, but most don’t. Men should almost never take vitex. On the other hand, passionflower extracts can help preserve testosterone in men who tend to testosterone-deficient, increasing both sexual potency and sperm counts.

The following natural methods are very suitable for you if you have a slight gender preference. Whether it is your first baby and you are hoping for either a boy or a girl, or you already have children and you want to give them a sibling of a specific gender, the three gender selection techniques I will now discuss might just make it happen for you. If your gender preference is so strong that you strictly want a baby of one gender, then these methods, which are not fool-proof, are not the right ones for you. There are no gender selection techniques that always make your dreams come true.

• The Shettles Method is without a doubt the most well-known, most universally recognized, and most popular natural gender selection method. Devised by Dr Shettles, this method advises parents to who would like to try for a girl to time intercourse around three days before ovulation, to give sperm that contribute to conceiving a girl a headstart. According to the Shettles method, sperm with Y chromosomes, that will make a boy, take less time to get to the fallopian tubes. Therefore, those hoping to conceive a boy should do the deed during their ovulation, and no earlier.

• Another doctor-invented gender selection technique is the one Dr Elizabeth Whelan came up with. Dr Whelan dismissed the Shettles method as incorrect, and claims that couples how have intercourse earlier during their cycle have higher chances of conceiving boys. By the same token, those timing sex closer to ovulation have better odds og getting pregnant with girls.

• The so-called “O+12″ method was created not by a doctor, but by a mother who had all boys, and wanted a girl. The above methods failed to give her the girl she wanted so desperately wanted, so after observing what circumstances led her to conceive boys over and over again, she realized that having intercourse around 12 hours after ovulation.

Midwives are often experts on nutrition, and they know how much a good diet impacts fertility. During your first appointment with a midwife, she will probably tell you more about what foods promote the healthy growth of the fetus in the early stages of pregnancy, and which foods can increase fertility. It is also important to know what foods not to consume while you are trying to get pregnant.

Through my midwife, for instance, I learned that folic acid, a supplement used by lots of women in the preconception stage, is a synthetic replacement of the real thing – follate – which can be found in foods. Follate is more effective than its artificial counterpart. She also told me about herbs and other supplements that promote health while trying for a baby.

Another thing your midwife can do is to identify pre-existing medical conditions, and perhaps get them under control before pregnancy. This can also be done by a family doctor or an OB, but if you are planning to use midwifery care during pregnancy and birth, it is important to know if you have any health issues that might risk you out of a midwife’s care. Since this will impact the care you receive during pregnancy, and the kind of birth you can have, knowing what you can expect is very welcome.

Midwives are known for their personal commitment to their patients, and if you have a good midwife, she will use the opportunity to get to know you and your needs, and advise you about pregnancy, birth options, working out issues in your relationship before conceiving, and spiritual and emotional preparations for pregnancy. Perhaps your midwife will tell you about cervical mucus, and how to recognize signs that you are fertile. She’ll take the time to answer any questions you might have about fertility and pregnancy.

Another midwife tells me that, once a woman is already pregnant, she is often too busy with the pregnancy and too overwhelmed by hormonal changes to rationally work out many practical issues. If you are able to find out what you truly want in regard to your birth and beyond before, you have a better chance to make it happen. A good midwife can turn out to be a key companion in the process of exploring everything that you need to know about conception, pregnancy, and birth.

I have known that many areas across the United States have had a c-section rate of round and about 32 percent for a while now, compared to 4.5 percent in 1965. I am also aware that the World Health Organization says optimal caesarian section rates are between five and ten percent. But I was stunned to see that hospitals in which midwife-assisted births are the norm, and states that have higher numbers of such hospitals, have as much as six percent fewer c-sections than those in which OBs are the most common choice.

It is not a surprise, when you think about it, that trained surgeons are knife-happy. After all, their education focused on every possible complication that can occur, and they watch for what can go wrong, rather than for what is normal. At the end of the day, surgery is their job – one that they are normally very good at, and one that can save lives, when real complications do happen.

But does a medicalized approach to birth in general promote the best outcomes for mothers and babies? Evidence suggests otherwise, and c-sections carried out in non-medical emergencies are such an everyday occurrence that those who underwent them even gave them a name: “unneceasarians”.

One scenario that is all too common is a labor induced with the drug pitocin. The induction leads to horrific pains, because pitocin contractions are much stronger and closer together than the real thing. In turn, this leads to an epidural, “failure to progress” (when a laboring woman dilates more slowly than the doctor wants her to), fetal distress, and then a c-section. Refusal of most hospitals to allow vaginal births after c-sections (VBACs) means such women are likely stuck with surgical births for life. Similar scenarios are coming soon, in a hospital near you!

Not at St Joseph’s in Minnesota, where births are mainly handled by experienced midwives, though. There, most births take place without a problem, without intervention, and the c-section rate is a relatively modest 10 percent. I know this because I saw it in a news report. I don’t know when normal, healthy births became news but what is clear here is that midwifery care gives you a significant advantage if you are hoping to avoid the slippery slope of interventions during labor that often ultimately ends in surgery.

I’ll be writing more about what midwives can do for you while trying to conceive, during pregnancy and at your birth next week. If you have any questions or comments in the meantime, please feel free to share them.

In the first six month’s of a baby’s life, getting pregnant again is well, almost inconceivable. Excuse the pun. Especially if you are nursing your baby on demand, around the clock, and your baby has not yet started solids, the stork is probably not going to come knocking on your door. Breastfeeding on demand, when used as a contraceptive method, has actually been shown to be more effective than any other birth control technique, including the pill, condoms, and mirena coils!

Does that mean that you have to wean before trying to conceive again? The answer is no, but it does mean that it is extremely rare for exclusively nursing moms to get pregnant again. Once the baby starts solids, and relies less on breast milk, there are better chances that the mom’s cycle will start again. The reason exclusive breastfeeding is such an effective contraceptive method is that it often stops ovulation from returning. Once the baby nurses less, and less often, you are on the road back to ovulating.

Many women get anovulatory periods for a while before starting their ovulation. So, even if you are menstruating it does not mean you are fertile. If you get a period, that is a good sign that things are happening, and this is a great time to start buying ovulation tests to see if you are reading to conceive.

Some lucky mothers happen to catch that first post-partum ovulation without ever having had a period. That sounds really wonderful, doesn’t it? I don’t know anyone who likes having periods, and the thought of being menstruation-free for a few years is definitely an appealing one. Conceiving during the first cycle after giving birth does not happen very often though.

If you are getting impatient, but still don’t want to wean, here are a few things you could try:

Because research has shown that women who are pumping are more likely to get pregnant than their directly breastfeeding counterparts, you could replace a few feedings with pumped breast milk.

The longer the period between feedings, the more likely you are to get pregnant. For some families, night weaning their child is a great solution, that drastically improves the odds of conceiving again.

Sudden changes in breastfeeding patterns have a greater effect than gradual ones. Cutting out one feeding could work wonders, but simply experimenting with the timing of your nursing sessions could do the trick too.

Of course, both you and your child have to be ready for changes like this. Patience is always important when trying to conceive, but even more so while breastfeeding. The good news is that the majority of nursing mothers trying to get pregnant do succeed, especially if they are charting and understand their fertility status.

What do you think? Did you manage to conceive a baby while breastfeeding? Are you still trying? Do you have any tips? We’d love to hear from you!

Let’s take a closer look at irregular periods, their causes, and how to solve the problem and get a step closer to pregnancy.

If you have been watching your cycles, and know that you have irregular periods, the first thing to take comfort in is that you are not alone. Just under a third of all women has irregular periods at some point during her life. Most of the time, this is caused by stress. If you are under stress, you have likely found the culprit – think not only financial troubles, a turbulent time at work, family responsibilities or any of the other common stressors, trying to get pregnant can also be a huge source of stress on you and your relationship!

Sometimes irregular periods are caused by something as simple as not eating well enough, a vitamin deficiency of some kind, or too much exercise. Women who were on the birth control pill before trying to conceive can also experience irregular periods for a while. Not everyone with somewhat unpredictable cycles has problems conceiving, but if you have been trying to conceive with no success, or if you are just worried, there are steps you can undertake.

Because menstrual cycles are regulated by hormones (mainly estrogen and progesterone), and these hormones are essential during the process of fertilization and implantation, a hormonal imbalance is the next thing to check out. Hormones are needed to make you ovulate, and irregular periods can be a sign that this is not happening. Buying ovulation tests and using them regularly is probably the easiest and cheapest way of seeing whether you ovulate. Not ovulating and irregular periods don’t always go together, but it is a pretty frequent combination, unfortunately.

If, after using ovulation tests for a while, you have concluded you are not ovulating, that would be a good time to check in with your doctor. Irregular periods with no ovulation could be caused by a number of conditions that need medical treatment, including Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis or other problems. If you do have one of these conditions, you will want to find out about that sooner rather than later, because treatment is available but takes time.

Ovulation can be induced artificially with fertility drugs such as Clomid, but often simpler and less invasive methods, like vitamins, herbs that improve fertility, or progesterone creams solve the problem.

Have you experienced irregular cycles, or cycles with no ovulation? We’d love to hear your story. If you have tips and suggestions for others on how to regulate their cycles, you are welcome to comment too!

2. The second most important thing any couple can do to ensure a healthy pregnancy is to avoid anything that interferes with implanting the egg once it has been fertilized. Men, that means no popping the champagne corks after lovemaking to celebrate a possible conception. Alcohol interferes with implantation of the fertilized egg.  Women must not drink alcohol after ovulation, until their next period or until the end of pregnancy.

Also, women should avoid evening primrose oil, also known as EPO, taken to reduce inflammation and improve cervical mucus during the first half of the period, because EPO can induce uterine contractions which could, at least in theory, interfere with the implantation of the egg.

3. Dieting sometimes improves fertility. In women who fail to ovulate due to excessive testosterone levels, simply keeping blood sugar levels normal–no sweets, no large meals–lowers testosterone levels to enable conception, usually after 3 or 4 months of dieting. In men, cardiovascular health results in stronger erections and larger ejaculations. This can be accomplished by getting high blood pressure under control, by losing weight, or sometimes just by keeping blood sugar levels down by eating less. Both partners may help each other eat sensible portions of healthy food.

4. Inflammation is the enemy of conception. In women, one manifestation of inflammation is thick, dry, or brown cervical mucus. When women eat an anti-inflammation diet, the cervical mucus becomes thinner and “stretchy,” propelling the sperm down the cervix. In men, inflammation may interfere with the “plumbing” that delivers sperm into the ejaculate.

The key to an anti-inflammatory diet is to eat less sugar and fewer highly processed carbohydrates (instant cereals, instant mashed potatoes, instant rice, breakfast cereals, commercially baked bread, donuts, cake, cookies, and so on) and fewer foods that contain arachidonic acid (beef, eggs, luncheon meat, ham, bacon, and margarine).

It also helps to eat small amounts of healthy fat. Whole almonds are helpful, as are stanol margarines, olive oil, cold-water fish, grapeseed oil, and most organic nuts and seeds. Couples who enjoy these foods together help each other achieve conception.

During the first part of the menstrual cycle, estrogen is the more important hormone; because it helps the ovaries produce the egg needed to make a baby.  During the second half of the cycle, progesterone takes over and will dominate until levels drop in anticipation of the menstrual period.  Estrogen is a cool hormone and progesterone is a warm one, the body temperature is lower during the first half of the menstrual cycle and warmer during the second half to indicate ovulation.

Charting luteal phase temperature or the basal body temperature can be a very effective way of a woman knowing when her body is going through a fertile phase.  Charting the body temperature is not difficult and little monetary investment is required, though it is time consuming it can be the easiest way for a woman to know when it is an ideal time to conceive.  The only thing a woman needs to get going is a thermometer.

Another material needed for basal body temperature charting is a graph to keep track of temperatures, times of the day and month.  With a few simple steps, you can be on your way to conceiving the baby of your dreams.  The type of chart a woman uses will depend on personal preference, all that matters is watching for the all important temperature spike that lets you know you are ovulating.

Luteal phase temperature is one of the easiest and most accurate ways of self-determining the best time of the month to try to get pregnant.  Through careful tracking and being mindful of body changes, a woman can take an active role in her fertility and soon conceive and welcome a baby of her own at some point in the future.

Personally, I am using it for about 7 years now, and I whenever I visit my doctor I show him my calendar. This way he can check very quickly the dates and frequency of my periods.

I think menstrual or fertility calendars are really important because of tracking menstrual cycles, and this way ovulation and period of time cycle forecasts are based totally on the very last acknowledged period date as well as the woman’s cycle period. If a woman tracks her cycles and ovulation in this manner, she must understand that this type of tracking is still approximate, because the changes in basal body temperature, cervix position and mucus is still an important part of ovulation calendar and ovulation tracking – much more important than calculating the approximate ovulation date.

One of the reasons to use fertility (menstrual) calendar is to help you achieve pregnancy, and on the other hand, to help you avoid pregnancy: all you have to do is to record the days of menstrual bleeding. It is also advisable to measure your basal temperature after ovulation date (when the temperature rises) in order to know the length of your luteal phase. The length of luteal phase will help you to calculate the more exact ovulation date.

There are body signs which a woman should pay attention to which will provide her with a good indication of when she is fertile.  Fertile cervical mucus resembles raw egg whites and is a very strong sign that her body is preparing to ovulate.  A rise in basal body temperature is another way in which to determine if ovulation is impending.

Estrogen is a cold hormone and progesterone is a warm hormone, which means that during the first half of menstruation estrogen is active, while in the second half progesterone takes over and causes a spike in body temperature.  For a woman these are also good indications that ovulation is on the very near horizon.

If these things are all present and a woman is still confused about knowing how to calculate luteal phase length, charting ovulation patterns and using an ovulation predictor kit can also help.  The normal luteal phase length is about 10-12 days in length, anything shorter and there would be problems for a woman trying to conceive.  A luteal phase longer than 16 days is also a problem and something that could make it hard for a woman to become pregnant.

When trying to conceive there are many things that could be preventing it from happening and luteal phase defects are just a few.  Knowing how to calculate luteal phase length allows a woman to take control over the situation and increases her chances of knowing when she will be the most fertile and be able to become pregnant.

If diagnosed with a luteal phase defect, a woman should consult with her medical doctor if she has any other questions about the condition.