Pregnancy Week Two: Ovation For Ovulation

Pregnancy – Week Two: Ovation For Ovulation

“Week two” does not mean you are two weeks pregnant! No, this week is when you ovulate and, hopefully, get that egg fertilized. So, if you are trying to conceive, this is the time to do it. Literally. Do it. If you have been keeping track of your mucus’s consistency, you’ll notice that as you near the right time to conceive, it turns from being thick and creamy, to an egg white consistency which comes out more abundantly. Your mucus is now more accommodating to sperm and will keep them protected from any acids in your vagina that can kill them. Your chances of getting pregnant are high.

Inside your body:

An egg has been released by your ovary and is making its way down your fallopian tube. Some women know when they ovulate, or are about to, because they can feel a twinge or pain in their side. This pain is called mittelschmerz, and comes from German meaning “middle pain”. When you have intercourse, millions of sperm will swim up to meet your egg, but only one will be the victor (unless, of course, you released more than one egg and end up with twins or more). When your egg is fertilized and the egg and sperm combine, you are pregnant!

Things to think about:

Keep in mind that the egg can only wait for fertilization from 12 to 24 hours once it is released. Ovulation kits are now available to help you increase your chances of conception. If you do conceive this week, your egg and sperm combo will quickly divide again and again into a ball of cells and make its way slowly down your fallopian tube into your uterus. It may seem extremely early yet, but by this time, the genes that determine the baby’s sex and hair color are already in place! This ball of cells will one day have your brown hair and his blue eyes. If you are impatient, there was a recent study that showed gender-prediction blood tests to be 95% accurate and predicted the baby’s sex sooner than the conventional ultrasound or amniocentesis. But you have to wait until you are seven weeks pregnant. Hang in there!

Want to read more about the study? Read about it on this NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/health/10birth.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general

Tips:

If you have been keeping track of you mucus consistency, you should also keep track of your body temperature. Any slight increase in temperature often means that you are ovulating or very close to it.

Also, lubricants can impede and even kill sperm, so have intercourse without the lube.