Understanding Ovulation

Fertility and Ovulation

Determining the fertile days

Most couples only think about fertility after they've decided that they want to get pregnant.
Before this, fertility probably played a rather insignificant role in their lives because during that time, their focus was instead on a reliable form of contraception.
This is why few women actually know when their fertile days are. Before trying to get pregnant, many women are usually unaware of the symptoms which are characteristic of the fertile cycle phase.

When can a woman conceive?

A woman can conceive only when she has sex during the few days around ovulation. Therefore, on most other days in her cycle, a woman is infertile. Many women can recall from biology lessons at school that a woman is supposed to ovulate around the 14th day of her cycle. While this may be the case for some women, there is not enough detailed information to say it applies to everyone.
The fertile phase within the cycle can vary from cycle to cycle, especially since cycles and ovulation can be influenced by outside factors such as diet, stress, and illness.
Because there are so many things that can cause variations within each cycle, identifying the fertile days and ovulation is often difficult. Knowing when you are ovulating will maximise your chances of getting pregnant by allowing you to coordinate your love life with your ovulation.

What about online ovulation calculators?

Online calculation tools used to automatically calculate your fertile days and ovulation using the dates of your last menstruation are not as effective as fertility monitors.
The results are based on static calculation formulae which doesn't take into account your personal conditions. Couples who regularly have sex on the dates calculated by such tools are often unsuccessful at getting pregnant because the fertile phase was calculated incorrectly.
On the other hand, there are entirely natural symptoms you can use to indicate your personalfertile days and ovulation periods, which are the most promising days for conceiving. Read on to find out which symptoms characterise fertile days and how you can monitor your cycle effortlessly.

Increasing fertility by natural means

Before you begin any burdensome hormonal child-planning treatments, you should consider taking advantage of all the pregnancy aids provided by nature. In addition to health risks, hormonal child-planning treatments can increase the chances of multiple births (twins, triplets, etc).
Analysing your current lifestyle and making small changes can help you get pregnant quickly. There are also aids available to help you determine your personal fertile days around ovulation as well as teas and vitamins which can increase you and your partner's fertility. Homeopathy has also been proven successful in gynaecology, especially when it comes to child planning.

Click here to read more about conception and ovulation dates.

10 Pre-Pregnancy Diet Rules

Diet and Pregnancy Planning

Eating for fertility

When you're planning on getting pregnant, a healthy, balanced diet is extremely important. As well as improving your own health, changing what you eat and having a varied diet guarantees the best possible development for your child. Do something good for yourself and your future child and start eating healthy today!

10 rules for good nutrition and reproductive health

A healthy diet not only provides you with energy, improves your mood and helps you to think clearly, it can also improve your health, your sex drive and your fertility.
Eating a balanced, nutrient diet is something to look forward to every day. It increases your quality of life and affects all facets of your health. In order to achieve a healthy diet, you should observe the following rules:

• 1. Drink plenty of water.
• 2. Choose wholefoods that are high in fiber.
• 3. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
• 4. Eat highly nutritious proteins with every meal.
• 5. Make sure you have an adequate supply of highly nutritious oils.
• 6. Never skip breakfast and don't consume anything after 8.00 pm.
• 7. Keep your blood sugar levels constant by eating less and more often, ideally every three hours.
• 8. Avoid caffeine and sugar.
• 9. Choose organic foods when possible.
• 10. Reduce your intake of the following foods: red meat, saturated fats, ready meals, industrially produced foods and foods with high additive and preservative contents.

Research shows that if both partners are overweight, there will be a marked decline in fertility. A Danish study interestingly concluded that fertility is also negatively affected if only the male partner is overweight.

Read more at http://www.get-pregnant-cyclotest.co.uk/pregnancy-pregnancy/preparing-for-pregnancy/diet-for-child-planning.html

All About Fertility

How long am I fertile for?

After ovulation, the egg cell is capable of being fertilised for only 12-18 hours per cycle. For this reason, the timing must be exactly right for pregnancy to occur. Because a woman only ovulates once per cycle, she is therefore only fertile for fourteen days per year if she has relatively short 26 day cycles!
If the egg cell is not fertilised within the few hours that it is capable of being fertilised, it dissolves slowly and allows menstruation to begin two weeks later.

Male fertility

This does not mean, however, that a couple has to sleep together within this very short period of 12 - 18 hours per cycle in order to get pregnant. The lifespan of sperm cells can stretch up to 5 days. Male sperm cells can survive in a viable fertilising state and wait for ovulation (under optimum conditions) for up to 5 days inside a woman's body.

The journey of the sperm

When a man ejaculates, several million sperm enter the vagina and immediately make their way inside the woman. If they find suitable conditions, it is only a matter of a few minutes before the first sperm cells pass the mouth of the uterus and enter the uterus itself.
After sexual intercourse the sperm cells swim, surrounded by cervical mucus, into the uterus and then into the outer ends of the Fallopian tubes, where fertilisation can occur. This is where they wait for the egg cell.

The patient sperm cells

Assisted by the rhythmic contractions of the uterus, some of the sperm cells enter into the Fallopian tube. The remaining sperm make themselves comfortable in the folds of the uterine lining and after some time has passed, begin their own journey into the Fallopian tubes. Therefore, a large number of sperm cells arrive little by little in the Fallopian tubes.
If the women has not begun ovulating, the sperm cells wait for the egg cell for up to five days.

Fusion of sperm cell and egg cell

Usually, several dozen sperm cells simultaneously succeed in penetrating the protective wall of the egg cell, but only one single sperm is capable of penetrating the center of the egg cell and fertilizing it. This sperm cell's membrane then fuses with the egg cell's membrane. Directly after this occurs, the egg cell's membrane hardens in order to block the entry of any other sperm.

Will it be a boy or a girl?

The sperm that has penetrated the egg cell is crucial in determining the sex of the baby. If the sperm is carrying an X-chromosome, it will be a girl. If it is carrying a Y-chromosome, it will be a boy.

Sex for Conception

Very few couples analyse their fertility and reproductive cycles before they begin pregnancy planning. Often, their previous forms of hormonal contraception cause them to forget about the natural cycle that occurs on a monthly basis. For this reason, knowledge of cycle phases, fertile days or ovulation tends to be minimal.
One of the most important facts to take away from this page is that having sex a few days before ovulation can bring about a pregnancy.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.get-pregnant-cyclotest.co.uk

The (Surprisingly) Complicated World Of Conception

What does it take for successful conception?

Becoming pregnant requires the perfect interaction of many factors. Successful conception is such a complex procedure that without assistance and a bit of knowledge, you may find it difficult to achieve your goal of getting pregnant.

How a new life is created

The essential requirements for bringing about a pregnancy are sexual intercourse, a sperm cell that is capable of fertilising and an egg cell that is capable of being fertilised.
Timing is everything when it comes to combining these three factors. Two periods of time that must coincide in order for pregnancy to occur: the life span of the egg cell and the life of the sperm en route to the egg cell.

• The egg in the ovary must mature normally and the egg must have left the ovary


• The Fallopian tube must be able to pick up and receive the egg from the surface of the ovary using its fimbriae (finger-like projections).


• The woman's vaginal passages must be open to allow the sperm to enter the Fallopian tubes and to enable the fertilised egg to be transported into the uterus


• Sperm cells must be created in sufficient numbers, quality, and motility.


• Sperm cells must be present at the right time in the fallopian tubes


• The uterine lining must be prepared to receive the egg

To learn how to pinpoint the days when the chances of getting pregnant are at their highest, visit the fertile days section.

The Chlamydia Risk

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease and because it rarely presents symptoms, often goes undetected. Symptoms frequently appear years after the original infection, which prolongs the diagnosis and treatment.Chlamydia can cause infertility and if you're infecting during pregnancy or birth, you also run the risk of infecting your child.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.get-pregnant-cyclotest.co.uk