Trying To Conceive & Infertility

Exercising and staying healthy can improve your background chances of fertility. Having said that though, if you overdo it to the point that you start missing your menses then this could indicate that you are not ovulating regularly spontaneously and this would then reduce your chances of conceiving. Too much of a good thing is not helpful. Moderation is best. You should check that you are ovulating spontaneously during your fertile days. If you are ovulating regularly then it is fine to continue with your strenuous physical exercises.

Different people have different levels of pain thresholds. Some women are able to go through natural childbirth without asking for any form of pain relief. The majority of women however will ask for something to relieve their discomfort. Entonox (Nitrous oxide) Entonox (laughing gas) is a colourless, odourless gas made up of half oxygen and half nitrous oxide. It is the mildest form of "pain relief". It has a rapid onset and is safe for you and your baby. [1] Pethidine, known as Demerol If entonox doesn't do the trick then there is the option of pethidine injections.

The best advice we can give is for your sister to avoid all forms of alcohol (beer, wine etc) during her entire pregnancy to be absolutely safe. There is no safe time or "safe" amount of alcohol that she can consume during pregnancy because alcohol in the mother’s blood passes to the baby through the umbilical cord. Besides causing fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol during pregnancy can also lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, and a range of lifelong physical, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities.

This is a rather controversial topic as there are some conflicting evidence to suggest that it does while others show no evidence as such. Having said that, looking at the general overall consensus, the general feeling among gynaecologists is that it is not possible to say with any confidence whether endometrial scratching can increase the probability of pregnancy for natural intercourse or IUI (intrauterine insemination).

As a result of hormonal changes during your menstrual cycle, your vaginal discharge can vary in its appearance and nature accordingly. During the pre-ovulatory phase of the cycle, the oestrogen levels are low and the discharge is thick and sticky. This forms a mucus plug which blocks the cervical canal and can potentially make it hostile to sperm. Once your fertile period approaches with the rise in oestrogen levels, the discharge becomes wet and slippery like egg white.

You will be happy to know that there are now Non-Invasive Prenatal Tests (NIPT) available which can screen for not only sex chromosome abnormalities but also for Down syndrome and other genetic disorders caused by extra or missing chromosomes in the baby's DNA. The more well known ones available are Harmony and Panorama Tests. During pregnancy, some fetal DNA crosses into the mother's bloodstream and a simple blood test performed on the mother from 9 weeks onward is able to screen for any evidence of these chromosomal abnormalities. The results will be back in about 10 to 14 days.

According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the only 2 vaccines that are recommended for pregnant women are the whooping cough (Pertussis) vaccine and the flu vaccine as these 2 infections can have serious effects on newborn babies. Whooping cough is an infection that leads to upper respiratory tract like symptoms in an infected adult (cough, low grade fever). In newborn babies however, besides the upper respiratory tract symptoms, it can cause the airways to acutely swell and narrow leading to airway obstruction.

Progesterone is an important hormone that can effect your ability to conceive and also your ability to maintain a healthy pregnancy. The role of progesterone when trying to get pregnant is to thicken the endometrium (uterine lining) to a desired thickness which is essential for implantation of the embryo in the uterus (womb) and therefore to achieve a successful pregnancy. Low progesterone levels can potentially cause irregular menses which can then affect the timing of your intercourse.

It is getting increasingly more popular for women to undergo some sort of pre-pregnancy tests first before they conceive. This is to determine if there are any possible issues that need to be addressed first before getting pregnant (eg. rubella vaccination).

PID is a serious gynaecological condition that can potentially cause permanent damage to the Fallopian tubes and therefore infertility. This is more likely to occur if there are pelvic abscesses around the tubes which have not been surgically drained, and inappropriately treated with effective antibiotics.