Best Time To Conceive

This is a question that is asked alot, and really there is a very simple answer. The best time to conceive is during the several days leading up to ovulation and of course, on the day that you ovulate. The reason for this is because when you ovulate, the egg only lives for about 12-24 hours (probably closer to 12 according to some experts). Given that very small window of opportunity, the good news is that the sperm can live for much longer inside a woman's body as long as she has good quality cervical mucus.

Sperm can live for as long as 5 or 6 days so in order to increase your chances of getting pregnant, you need to have as many sperm as possible "waiting" for the egg to be released. You can accomplish this by timing intercourse starting about 6 days before your anticipated ovulation date. In order to determine that, you can use various approaches, such as ovulation test kits, monitoring your cervical fluid and doing BBT charting over a period of months.

The best way to use these methods is to first do the BBT charting for a few months. Using a basal body thermometer, you would chart your temperature each morning upon waking before getting out of bed. At the point of ovulation, your body temperature will make a noticeable jump a few tenths of a degree for the rest of the monthly cycle. Once you've charted for a few months, you should have a general idea of what time of the month you usually ovulate. With this information you can then use ovulation test kits which will allow you to pinpoint your ovulation date with more accuracy. Also, it's a great idea to monitor your cervical fluid as it will show a noticeable change as you get closer to ovulation. When you are most fertile, your cervical fluid will change from a white creamy texture to a clear stretchy texture that is very similar to raw eggwhites.

Using this knowledge to pinpoint your "fertile window of opportunity" you can then time intercourse for about 5-6 days prior to ovulation using the every day or every other day strategy of timed intercourse. Although it may be too late, it's probably a good idea to have intercourse one day beyond the ovulation date as it's impossible to really know what time of day you ovulated, so it is possible the sperm could "catch" the egg before it disintegrates on the day after ovulation.

I hope you find this information useful.