When it comes to making babies, timing is everything. While it might
seem like there's nothing more natural than conceiving a child, the
reality often ends up being quite a bit more complicated. There's a lot
more to consider than just when and where to dim the lights and let
the games begin. And there are lots of ways to achieve success, too.
Instructions
Staying healthy
1. Get a physical to determine your baseline health. Make a list of questions and issues for your doctor. Discuss any prescription or over-the-counter medication, including vitamins and supplements either of you is taking, to determine if the medication is safe.
2. Review all medical options with your OB-GYN if you need to take the high-tech route. Investigate sperm banks (see 252 Plan for Artificial Insemination). Make an appointment with a fertility or in vitro specialist (see 253 Prepare for an In Vitro Fertilization).
3. Start taking prenatal vitamins well before you conceive and during early pregnancy. Folic acid helps prevent birth defects such as spina bifida, but it works only if taken before and during the first few weeks of pregnancy.
4. Stop smoking--both of you! In addition to being the most preventable cause of babies with low birth weight, smoking is also suspected of contributing to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Smoking can decrease sperm count in men and increase the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth in women.
5. Start exercising regularly if you don't already--but have your doctor sign off on your workout plan first (see 25 Design Your Workout Schedule). You'll build flexibility, reduce stress, increase muscle tone, strength and stamina (a real asset during labor), and protect against back pain in pregnancy.
6. Eat like a mom-to-be. Lay off the junk, especially anything with saturated fats. Eat lots of leafy greens and foods high in calcium, potassium and iron, and low in salt and sugar. See 23 Plan to Avoid Junk Food.
7. Be very clear on this: If you're drinking alcohol or taking recreational drugs, your baby will be, too. Don't. These drugs are passed to the baby through the placenta and adversely affect the baby's development.
8. Cut back on caffeine. Some studies have associated it with increased chance of miscarriage. That daily latte is not your only source of caffeine. Check the labels on tea, soft drinks and chocolate as well.
9. Get lots of sleep and investigate ways to reduce stress in general. Burning the midnight oil is not a fertility-enhancing scenario-- finalize big projects at work, plan a romantic vacation, book a massage at a bed and breakfast. A rested, relaxed body is more likely to conceive than one that is fatigued and stressed out.
10. Investigate all the ways of tracking your cycle, from taking your temperature to checking your mucus. Your body is a gold mine of information; the more you know, the better. Make a chart and start graphing your basal body temperature six months ahead of the ideal conception date to predict when ovulation occurs. Progesterone levels rise as soon as the egg is released, typically resulting in a .5 degree temperature increase.
11. Fine-tune your timing with an ovulation predictor kit. These athome tests indicate imminent ovulation by showing hormone surges present in the urine.
12. Consider the weather when you're penciling in prime conception dates. Do you really want to be nine months pregnant in August with 100 percent humidity?
13. Count backward to avoid a Christmas birth, for example, or to plan a baby for Thanksgiving when all the relatives are in town anyway. If you have a seasonal job, time your baby's birth for the beginning of the off-season to maximize your maternity leave.
14. Avoid the school-age cutoff date. Children with early fall birthdays end up being either the oldest or youngest in their class because of the September birthday cutoff at many schools.
15. Look at upcoming workloads for both parents. Plan around any major projects, deadlines or trips.
Choosing the gender
16. Increase your chances of getting the gender you want by carefully timing the deed itself. Bear in mind that fresh sperm are viable up to 72 hours inside a woman's body, but frozen sperm peter out after only 24 hours. Optimize your chances of having a boy by having sex or inseminating just a few hours before ovulation. Faster (but shorter-lived) will be in place when the egg releases. Go for a girl by having sex or inseminating well ahead of ovulation so that the slower female sperm, having outlived their male counterparts, are in prime fertilizing position.
17.Use the latest technology to aid your chances of selecting a specific gender. When semen is centrifugally spun, it causes a greater number of the X-chromosome (female) sperm to sink to the bottom and the Y-chromosome (male) sperm to float to the top. The preferred sperm is then injected into the uterus.
18. Research an in vitro fertilization technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Embryos are created outside the womb, then tested for gender. This method was originally designed to aid couples at risk of having children with inherited gender-specific genetic diseases.
Tags: your chances, female sperm, having inseminating, male sperm, reduce stress, your baby