Sexual intercourse is a delicate topic, knowledge about which is limited to many, and people do choose to remain ignorant, as they say, “ignorance is bliss”.
If you’re planning to have a baby, you may have certain pregnancy-related queries, i.e. when having sex for conception. Here are some of the questions with their respective answers to help you know more about conception sex.
When is the best time for conception sex?
Many of us have an impression since our childhood, whether developed at home or in school, that sex anytime causes pregnancy, without the use of contraceptives. But in reality, it is more likely for you to get pregnant only 2-3 days in an entire month, i.e. before the ovulation period.
While these are the 3 days when your ovaries are most fertile, it is also possible for you to get pregnant if you have sex 4 or 5 days prior to the ovulation period. So basically, it is safe to assume that you have at least a week in hand, prior to the ovulation period, when you can get pregnant after having sex.
Now the question that probably arise in your mind is ‘How am I supposed to know when is my ovulation period? How will I realize if I’m ovulating or not?’
There is a stereotypical saying that 14th day of your menstrual cycle is when you ovulate. This statement is not completely false but there is no rigidity to it. Many women don’t ovulate on the 14th day of their cycle. Some may ovulate just 10 days into the cycle while some may take 20 days to ovulate. Both are completely normal procedures in ovulation, however.
Fortunately, there are many methods available to detect your ovulation. Some of the popular ones include: –
- Ovulation predictor tests – these work similar to pregnancy tests, except telling you when you’re ovulating/going to ovulate.
- Basal body temperature charting – this requires taking your temperature before getting up, every morning. Using ‘free fertility apps’ you can know your ovulation period.
- Tracking the cervical mucus – your vaginal discharge changes every time you approach ovulation, by becoming stretchy and more mucus like. The peak time of fertility is realized by checking if it’s in the form of a raw egg.
How often should you have sex in order to get pregnant?
Some couples try to have sex every day during the cycle. While this may be healthy for some couples, it is not a necessary sex regime.
There are two methods for timing conception sex:-
- Spread the wealth method.
- Ready, aim, fire method.
Spread the wealth method – detecting and tracking the mucus can be stressful for some women, and so can be checking their temperature each morning. Instead of timing sex for ovulation, one should have sex at least once every week. In this way, you are bound to have sex at least once during the ovulation period.
Ready, aim, fire method – if you are into detecting and tracking the mucus, this method is ideal. When your tests to detect ovulation are positive, you know exactly when you are going to ovulate. You should then have sex minimum 2-3 days before you ovulate. However you should still have sex throughout the cycle, just to keep the sperm count in top shape.
Does lying down after sex help?
Some people believe and some wonder, whether lying down still after sexual intercourse helps in pregnancy. The answer is, yes. Researchers found that women who lay on their back for 15 minutes after intercourse, had an almost 9% pregnancy rate after three cycles, than those women who preferred to get up/walk right after it.
How long should one lie down?
It was observed that even in the case of fertility treatment IUI, where sperms are pushed towards the uterus, lying down afterwards still helped in boosting pregnancy.
Hence it is safer, rather better, to lie down for about 15 minutes after sexual intercourse.
That being said, one should not stress over the mentioned number or this fact in general. Also do not get the wrong idea that standing up after intercourse can prevent pregnancy. Ignorance in this matter is NOT bliss.
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I’m using an app I download and I’m using it trying to get pregnant and no luck as yet so my faith in it that it will works are now way down sea bottom. However I never get the full understanding of ovulation/ovulating until I read this article, but using the app that I have downloaded show me that I am fertile 3 days after my period ends so I’m asking ( hope I don’t sound stupid) is being fertile and being in ovulating stage are the same?…..Please I want to know. So it gives me 7 days of ovulation so I’m asking is it the 7 days straight I must be having sex and how many times per day for those 7 days of ovulation? This is how it outlines it , on the first 3 days it’s a medium chance, then the other 3 are very high and on the last day it goes back to medium. As I write this my partner and I are moving to a different method and that was letting me go on fertility treatment but after reading this I will now try doing it as mentioned in your article and we are we looking or searching for the most natural and safe ways to go. So please I am asking for some clarifications…..Thank You