Thinking about Becoming Pregnant?

10 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Trying to Conceive

1. It's tough! Getting pregnant sometimes is not as easy as they make it seem in health class. In fact, even when everything is perfect, there still is something like only a 20-25% chance of conceiving every month. It can even take several months for a couple with perfect fertility to conceive, and can take much longer than that if there are any problems. Conceiving can be hard (very hard) and can (and probably will) put you on an emotional roller coaster. When this happens, it is absolutely essential to make sure you have an outlet to vent your disappointment and frustration. To know that there are others out there that are going through the same thing you are really can make a world of difference!

2. Take charge! If getting pregnant is more difficult than you expected, try to take more control of it! Sitting back and just waiting for it to happen just builds up the frustration, disappointment, and stress. It may seem silly to start doing things like charting or using ovulation predictor kits right off the bat, but I think if it saves months of disappointments and heartache, it's not silly at all. In fact, it is one of the smartest things you should do!

3. Educate yourself! I was amazed to discover that there was so much more to the "birds and the bees" than what I was taught! Things like charting your basal body temperature, checking cervical mucous, determining if the luteal phase is sufficient, and the important role progesterone plays were basically foreign concepts to me before I started trying to get pregnant. I basically thought conception = sperm + egg and was shocked to discover how much more to it there was than that!