How do you temp trying to conceive

For others, it takes time. If you're looking for tips on how to get pregnant, here's what you need to know. Understanding when you're ovulating — and having sex regularly five days before and on the day of ovulation — can improve the odds of conceiving. Ovulation is the process in which a mature egg is released from the ovary. Those six days are important because the egg is able to be fertilized for about 12 to 24 hours after it's released.

In addition, sperm can live inside the female reproductive tract as long as five days after sexual intercourse under the right conditions. Your chance of getting pregnant is highest when live sperm are present in the fallopian tubes during ovulation.

In an average day menstrual cycle, ovulation typically occurs about 14 days before the start of the next menstrual period. But in most women, ovulation occurs in the four days before or after the midpoint of the menstrual cycle.

If, like many women, you don't have a perfect day menstrual cycle, you can determine the length and midpoint of your cycle by keeping a menstrual calendar.

You also might want to try an over-the-counter ovulation kit. These kits test your urine for the surge in hormones that takes place before ovulation, which helps you identify when you're most likely to ovulate.

Also, consider talking to your health care provider about preconception planning. He or she can assess your overall health and help you identify changes that might improve your chances of a healthy pregnancy. Your health care provider will recommend taking folic acid a few months before conception to reduce the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects. Also, talk to your health care provider about any medications you are taking.

Certain medications — even those available without a prescription — can make it difficult to conceive. If you're younger than 35 and you and your partner are in good health, try it on your own for one year before consulting a doctor. After you ovulate, the hormone progesterone begins to rise. Progesterone causes a slight increase in temperature.

You can detect this change by charting your basal body temperature. The upward shift caused by ovulation is at least four-tenths of a degree.

If this upward change stays around for at least three days, you can be pretty sure that ovulation occurred on the day before the temperature rise. To get pregnant, you need to have sex before the shift occurs. Your chart can help you see when you ovulate each month, so you can time sex for conception better.

For the best results, you should also look for other ovulation signs like cervical mucus and mark them on your fertility calendar. If this sounds complicated, don't worry.

Most fertility charting programs do the hard work—like figuring out when you ovulated and when you might ovulate next month—for you. All you have to do is take your temperature correctly and input your information.

You will need a basal thermometer that displays at least one-tenth of a degree. Just about every thermometer you can buy at the pharmacy does this. Once you've got the right kind of thermometer, here's what to do next:. Other factors to keep in mind:. Taking your temperature is only part one. You can't do much with just one basal body temperature reading.

You need a consistent series of them, and you need to record them somewhere. One of the most efficient ways to track your basal body temperature is with a fertility charting app or computer program.

You won't have to worry about whether your temperature is sustained long enough or not or spend time calculating when you might be most fertile the next day. The software will do that for you. You can also do your charting by hand on graph paper. Another great thing about basal body temperature charting is that you can share your charts with your doctor.

If it seems you're not ovulating, or if your luteal phase looks too short, you can share this information easily with your doctor. The problem with only looking at your basal body temperature is that it only tells you if you ovulated after it happened. In most cases, you need to take the tests over consecutive days to accurately detect the surge.

If you test over five days, you have an 80 percent chance of predicting ovulation; over 10 days, that figure rises to around 95 percent. When used with basal body temperature charting, this method of monitoring offers a relatively high level of accuracy. Tracking your basal body temperature and your cervical mucus can help you get pregnant. As such, when attempting to conceive, regular sexual intercourse 5 days before as well as on the day of ovulation, can increase the probability of successfully conceiving.

What happens to basal body temperature throughout the menstrual cycle? What type of thermometer should I use? Are there other options instead of an oral thermometer?

When is the best time to take your basal body temperature? How do you keep track of your temperature results? I recommend: Kindara — they even have their own thermometer called the Wink Clue OvaGraph Fertility Friend this one is very popular in the TTC community These are just a few of the many temperature charting apps out there.

What does a normal temperature cycle look like? What do I do with the information I have charted? You can use the data to: Predict ovulation in future cycles Time intercourse appropriately — prior to when your temperature rise occurs Share with your healthcare provider if there are issues with conceiving.

A naturopathic doctor trained in preconception care may be able to see insights in the charts such as thyroid issues, adrenal issues, or ovulation issues.