1. Figure Out When You're Most Fertile
Trying to get pregnant? Get familiar with your fertile times by tracking your ovulation (that's when a mature egg is released from the ovary into the fallopian tube, and is available to be fertilized).
To do this, take notes of when you get your period each month as well as when it ends. You're most likely to conceive 12 to 24 hours after ovulation, which usually occurs 12 to 16 days before your next expected period.
2. Pay Attention to the Signs of Fertility
If you are still a bit wary about when you're most fertile, watch out for the physical signs of ovulation. These include an increase in cervical mucus (it will also be white as opposed to the clear or yellowish discharge you experience during other times of the month) and an increase in your basal body temperature (charting your temps first thing each morning and monitoring spikes can help you isolate your ovulation date). You can also check the position and feel of your cervix: During your most fertile days, it is soft and fleshy and located higher in the vagina. Or, simply let modern technology do the work for you and invest in a fertility monitor, sold at most pharmacies.
3. Eat a Healthy Diet
Forget fast food. If you're trying to get pregnant, go for the healthier fare instead. Stocking up on vitamin- and calcium-rich foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products will prepare your body for baby-making. And consuming about 400 daily micrograms of folic acid, found in leafy green vegetables (try spinach or kale), citrus fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and fortified breads and cereals, will also boost your chances of conceiving.
4. Check Your Vices at the Bedroom Door
You're undoubtedly well aware of the risks related to smoking, caffeine, and alcohol during pregnancy. But these habits may play a detrimental role in the act of conceiving, too. In fact, it's said that consuming copious amounts of alcohol or caffeine or smoking cigarettes on a regular basis can greatly reduce fertility, not to mention decreasing sperm counts among men. So if you're seriously concentrating on conceiving, avoid these vices all together.
5. Get Plenty of Practice
When it comes to baby-making, practice makes perfect. So get out there and go at it. Just be sure that you are relaxed and have a good time between the sheets. After all, studies say that the female orgasm creates a suction effect that allows the cervix to draw more sperm into the vagina. And when you're finished, enjoy the moment--and fight gravity--by staying in a horizontal position for at least five minutes. Jumping out of bed too soon will just lessen the chance for sperm to make it to that oh-so-important final destination.
