How and when do I get pregnant?

It may seem very obvious to some but for those who aren’t sure this may pose an embarrassing question.

Let’s start at the beginning – making a baby is a bit like making a recipe – we need the vital ingredients and they need to be able to mix. In the case of making a baby we need an egg (or ovum) from the female and sperm from the male. We then need to bring them together and that’s when sexual intercourse (sex or making love) is needed.

Wonderful eggs – One mature egg is expelled from the ovary about once a month. This is usually mid cycle (this just means half way between two periods). The egg is caught in the fallopian tube and guided along where hopefully it will meet sperm.

Millions of sperm - Each time a man ejaculates (that’s releasing the sperm) millions of sperm are released. If this release is inside the female (during sex) then the sperm will travel up the vagina, cervix and uterus (womb) to meet the mature egg.

The meeting – The swimming sperm surrounds the fluffy egg and start nudging it. One lucky sperm will be able to enter the egg. This meeting of the single sperm with the egg is fertilisation and the start of a baby’s development.

Implantation – The fertilised egg is now called an embryo. The embryo travels down the fallopian tube until it comes to the womb. It’s journey continues until it finds a suitable area, within the womb where it imbeds. This is implantation.

Ok sounds great – now lets make a baby!

If you want to get pregnant the best time to have sex is around mid cycle. Look at the dates of your last few cycles and estimate when this is. For example a 28 day cycle would mean that the egg is released on day 14. I would recommend having sex around day 12, 14 and 16. This is just a guide. The making of any baby should be special so please don’t feel you must strictly follow this advice as it is intended as a guide only and should be used as such.

Good luck and happy baby making!

This article is written by Sonya Murray