Posts Tagged: conceive

pregnancy — Comments Off
31
May 11

How to Have a Boy Baby – Natural Gender Selection Methods

Determining gender of baby pre-conception has been something people have been trying since the dawn of time. In the past, the techniques to accomplish choosing a boy or girl child involved a lot of guesswork, some old wives tales, and maybe a tiny bit of science. There were foods to conceive a boy, positions to conceive a girl, exercises to do and elixirs to drink. Right or wrong, these methods were hard to prove effective… or even ineffective. Under normal circumstances you have a 50/50 chance of producing the desired sex anyway, so unless you the same methodology is closely followed and that data is gathered over a longer period of time – there’s just no way of knowing which gender selection pregnancy techniques worked best. Until now.

The tips and tricks below will teach you how to have a boy baby. They’ve been gathered and compiled together using carefully plotted research over a period of many years. With just a few modifications to your diet, exercise, and sexual routine, you can determine gender of baby each time, every time. Here are just some of the techniques you should be using in order to have that son you’ve always wanted:

* The Shettles Method – One that that’s been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt: male sperm (y-sperm) travel faster than female sperm (x-sperm). It’s also been noted that the x-chromosomed sperm die out faster than the female ones, which live longer and tend to have more endurance. Taking this into account, the shorter the distance that needs to be traveled to reach the egg – the MUCH greater your chances are of having a male child. As the distance gets further, your chances of conceiving a girl are greatly increased.

Where does this all apply in how to have a boy baby? The answer is simple: the closer you have intercourse to your exact ovulation date, the better your chances of having a male child. Try to plan as much sex as possible on or about the date of ovulation (usually 1 day before or after). The Shettles technique recommends having sex as early as 24 hours before ovulation up to and including no more than 12 hours past the predicted time you ovulated in order to greatly increase your chances of conceiving a boy.

* Foods to Conceive a Boy – Bananas! Salty foods, dairy products, and bananas are all said to help gender selection boy efforts. Eating more calories than normal can do it also, and it’s been shown that women who are getting a full supply of all necessary nutrients tend to create more male babies. Be sure to be taking the best prenatal vitamins.

* Caffeine – Right before intercourse, the male partner should drink 1 to 2 cups of caffeinated coffee or a similar beverage. This gives a supercharged boost to the already fast x-sperm, increasing chances for a male-favored conception.

* Adjust Your pH Level – Making sure you have the proper pH levels in your reproductive tract is one of the most important ways to choose the sex of baby. An acidic pH will tend to destroy sperm, with the x-sperm dying off more quickly (remember – they’re faster but not stronger than y-sperm!). This leaves the unwanted condition of higher levels of y-sperm in a man’s semen. So when trying to conceive a baby boy, make certain you’re promoting an alkaline environment by not eating a lot of spicy or acidic foods.

* Boxers or Briefs? – If you’re looking to create a son instead of a daughter, your best bet is boxer shorts. The further from the body the testicles are allowed to hang, the more regulated the temperature of a man’s semen. Keep them in close to the body, as in the case of briefs, and many sperm will die from the higher temperature levels. And since the male sperm die faster than female sperm, this hurts your chances of having a boy.

* Sexual Positioning – Once again, the speed of the individual x and y sperm plays a factor here. The closer the male can deposit semen to the woman’s cervix, the better the chances of an x-sperm reaching the egg first. Therefore, choose positions to conceive a boy during intercourse that allow for the deepest possible penetration. It’s been suggested that the ‘doggie-style’ position is one of the best ways to accomplish this.

* Orgasms During Sex – It’s been proven that if the female partner accomplishes orgasm during sex, two things happen: one, the contractions help move the sperm upward and into the cervix. Two, the endorphins released into the body during orgasm create a more alkaline environment, which we already know is better for male sperm. When trying for a boy, keep this in mind!

pregnancy — Comments Off
12
Apr 11

Maximize Your Fertility – Even While You Eat A Vegetarian Diet

There is no reason why even strict vegetarians cannot have fertility levels equal to meat-eating women, and there is no reason why their pregnancy and the health of their future baby should not be normal. But vegetarians must be aware of their special needs to ensure they are not compromising their chances to conceive. One of the most important things a vegetarian can do is to identify any nutritional deficiencies they may have.

If these deficiencies are identified and dealt with fertility levels should return to normal.

Vegetarians can be divided into three groups – those who eat eggs, dairy products, and plants; those who eat dairy products and plants; and those who eat only plants. This final group, vegans, obviously has the highest risk factor for having nutritional deficiencies, due to their lack of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products from their diet.

One of the main problems encountered by all vegetarians is a lack of protein in their diet. Proteins are made up of 21 different amino acids, and of those 21, 9 cannot be made in the body. They must come from your diet, or a protein deficiency will result. These 9 amino acids – known collectively as “essential amino acids” – are found in many plants. However, only a few of these essential amino acids can be found in each type of plant, so vegetarians must effectively combine foods in their diet to ensure all essential amino acids are covered. Examples of foods eaten together that compliment each other and contain good quality amino acids: beans and rice, macaroni and cheese, and corn and black-eyed peas.

The more strict a vegetarian is, the more difficult it will be to meet the recommended daily amount of amino acids. But if care is taken to consume the right combinations of foods, it can be accomplished.

Another concern for vegetarians is the level of zinc in their diets. Most people obtain the zinc in their diets in animals products. Vegetarians who wish to obtain the required zinc from vegetable sources should try to eat macaroni, potatoes and their skin, black-eyed peas, and green peas – all are good vegetarian sources of zinc. This effort should be supplemented with a daily multivitamin, since consuming the recommended daily amount of zinc through these foods alone would be almost impossible.

Something else that vegetarians need to be aware of are deficiencies in iron and vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is a problem, in particular, since it is not found in any plant food. Good sources of vitamin B12 include milk, eggs, and fortified breakfast cereal.

A good, daily multivitamin (preferably the prenatal variety) is essential for vegetarians. Consuming the required vitamins and minerals through food alone is unrealistic for vegetarians. Having said that, a diet that is balanced and varied, that contains as many of the fertility enhancing vitamins and minerals as possible, will still be of great benefit to non-meat eaters.

Parenting — Comments Off
26
Nov 10

Parenting an Only Child

I can remember my mother’s words when I first brought my newborn daughter home from the hospital. “So…do you think you will have another?” My immediate response was, “No!” It was ten years of infertility and thirty hours of labor which prompted this obstinate reaction.

Trying to achieve another pregnancy would again put us on that infertility roller coaster we knew all too well. It was only due to the marvelous advancements in the areas of infertility, an excellent team of doctors and specialists who worked with us, and our very highest hopes that we were able to achieve this miracle in our life.

Today, wanting a baby and being able to have a baby are two different things, especially for the older woman. So ingrained in our thinking is the assumption that to parent is natural that we believe becoming pregnant is simply a matter of choosing when. In fact, most fertile couples do not understand the anguish of those who cannot conceive children. One of the most common and insensitive comments made to couples with only one child is, “You should feel lucky that you have at least one child.” Indeed we do! However, to these couples deciding how many children they would like to have is a personal choice governed by birth control. Infertile couples are not lucky enough to have this choice.

Now, three years later, I suddenly find myself wondering if we have made the right decision, to raise an only child. Although we could try the ARTs (Assisted Reproductive Technology) a second time, we have opted to remain a single-child family. Were we depriving her of a richer, more fulfilled family life?

To help us better understand our situation we created a list of pros and cons pertaining to raising one child.

PROS

* no competition or jealousy among siblings
* financially easier to raise one child
* child receives one-on-one attention in family
* there’s no guarantee that a sibling would make life better for her
* inheritance/savings is directed to only one child and therefore she will benefit financially in later life
* parents can spend more quality time with an only child
* no worries about a high risk pregnancy due to mother’s age

CONS

* more difficult to teach sharing and socializing with other children
* parents may feel guilty for not giving the child a brother of sister
* tendency to get too much attention and may become spoiled
* child may feel different because other families have more children
* no sibling to reach out to in later life when parents are gone
* parents may develop unrealistic expectations of an only child

Studies have shown that an only child tends to excel in areas of achievement motivation and self-esteem and aspire to higher levels of education, perhaps because of a more intense child/parent relationship. Researchers believe these children are motivated to high levels of achievement by high expectations from the parents.

By the time the child is three or four years old she becomes aware that many of their friends have new babies in their families. She may ask, “When can I have a baby brother or sister, Mommy?” putting even more pressure and guilt on the parents. At age five and six the child may enjoy going to school to be with other children and when not in school there may be increased pressure on parents to keep the child occupied with suitable playmates. At this age, school becomes more important and offers the child a chance to choose her own friends. Parents should allow plenty of opportunity to ask them home to play or organize friends to stay the night or weekend.

Each stage of parenting a child (with or without siblings) brings new joys as well as new challenges. Parenting two or more children usually means dealing with sibling rivalry at some stage. Parenting a single child can at times create a stressful relationship triangle between mother, father and child. He never has to share his parents with brothers and sisters and may be more dependent on them than a child from a larger family. “Sibling rivalry” is acted out between child and parent rather than child and sibling. If the parents decide to create a united front the child may feel like he is fighting a losing battle and give in too easily. On the other hand, if the parents give in too much to the child, he may always expect to win and get his own way. This could have negative effects as he grows up and learns to interact with peers and other adults outside of the family circle.

Marilyn Turner has been a social worker for over twenty-two years. She has worked with many different kinds of families, including single-child families. “A lot of only children struggle with perfectionism,” she says. “Their natural incline is toward perfectionism because they are always trying to be as good as their parents, rather than comparing themselves to siblings who have not yet perfected anything and are closer to their own learning and growing level. As teenagers, they may give up and become discouraged, developing low self-esteem.” Her expert advice to parents of only children is to help them become better decision makers and try not to compare themselves to their parents. “Onlies are very ’should’ laden, meaning their parents often tell them what they should do or say.”

Gaye Gemmell is an elementary school teacher and is currently teaching grade four. During her many years of teaching she has noticed that only children tend to be more dependent on the teacher in their learning. “They’re generally not used to waiting for their turn and have a need for instant attention. However, they tend to do better in some subjects because they have more help from their parents.” When asked if they work better in groups or on their own Gaye explains, “They seem to work well in groups as long as they get along with the others in the group. Often they lack the conflict resolution skills when they’re in groups.” She concluded by saying that they relate well to adults and express themselves well through a high level of vocabulary.

For those of us who are doing parenting for the first and only time, our choices have overwhelming importance. Having only one child means there is not the chance to make up for our mistakes down the line. There aren’t other children with whom to iron the kinks out. Professionals interviewed on their definition of a good parent warned that what they see over and over are parents who are not setting limits for their children. A parent needs to set boundaries as to what’s okay and not okay to do and to set those limits in a firm but respectful way. Parents of only children should be particularly careful on “over” issues, such as overprotection, overpraising, overtolerance and overindulging.

Thirty to forty years ago the average family consisted of 3 children. In recent years this average has dramatically decreased to only 1.2 children per family as a result of postponed births as women establish their careers, more effective birth control, increasing costs of raising children, and a rise in infertility among men and women. The percentage of one-child families has risen to levels comparable to those of the Depression years, which saw a sharp increase in small families due to economic constraints. The U.S. Census in 2000 revealed one-child families now account for 30 per cent of family units, or 16 million only-children. Census reports also show that 1 in 6 women will be the mother of an only child by the end of her child-bearing years.

Information and advice from other parents can be a great source of inspiration. I spoke to several mothers of only children and here’s what they had to say:

Laurie, a working mother of one five-year-old, has no interest in having more children. “I can’t see myself starting all over again,” she says. “I am more interested in helping an older child as a foster parent. I would also like to focus on my career which would be difficult to do with another baby to raise. Right now I’m very happy focusing all my attention on only one child.”

Amanda, another working mother, had her first baby when she was 38 with the help of assisted reproductive technology. Her child is now three, and Amanda would like to have another. But she accepts the limitations. “If I do not conceive soon,” she says simply, “we will be just as happy raising our only daughter.”

Grace is a stay-at-home mom who is raising an active five-year-old. “I find it difficult to keep up with the social demands of an only child. Before my daughter was in school I took in a child during the day as a playmate for her. Now she’s in school half days and the social interaction still isn’t enough for her. She still wants a playmate for the other half of the day. I also enroll her in extracurricular activities to keep her interactive with other children. Sometimes I think I’m busier with one child than others are with two or three.”

Nicole is a working mother of one two-year-old. She thinks it’s harder to be a stay-at-home mom than it is to be a working mom. “I choose to be a working mother,” she says, “and I find it hard to juggle my time raising one child. We have now employed a full-time nanny to care for our daughter. We’re happy with only one child, it has definite advantages. I have decided to have a tubal ligation to prevent any more pregnancies.”

Parenting is a definite eye-opener. The hardest lessons I’ve learned have been of patience, responsibility, selflessness and being able to see the world through my child’s eyes. I’m thankful for the birth of my daughter. The whole experience has moved me in a way that has greatly enriched my life. I’m confident that our decision to raise an only child is the best one for us and our daughter and I look forward to giving her my unconditional love and devotion for the rest of my life.

Copyright ?2009 by Lisa Azimi

pregnancy — Comments Off
28
Oct 10

Problems That Can Occur With Ovulation

When all of the measuring and calculating aren’t adding up to a pregnancy, you might have something bigger on your hands than an irregular cycle. Some women aren’t able to ovulate correctly, leading to a condition known as anovulation. Up to forty percent of women with fertility problems are not able to ovulate correctly.

This might be seen in signs like abnormal bleeding, irregular periods and absence of periods. But the only way to determine if these signs are indicating anovulation is to talk with your doctor and have him run tests to make sure that nothing else is wrong. There are many physical conditions that might lead to problems with ovulating like hormone imbalance, diabetes, liver disease, age, ovary issues, miscarriages and problems with glands.

Emotionally stressful times can also contribute to fertility problems, so try to keep your stress levels in check by using relaxation methods designed to calm your body, mind, and spirit.

When you and your doctor have determined that you’re not ovulating as you should be, there are many steps that you can take to correct the issue. Once any other conditions are ruled out, your doctor may want to prescribe fertility drugs that can help your body release the eggs that you want it to release.

Two specific drugs include Clomid and Serophene. They’re both highly effective and have a tested safety record for women over the last few decades. These drugs can be taken orally (great for those that don’t want to inject themselves) and help to block the effects of estrogen in a woman’s body.

What happens when you take these kinds of drugs is that the body begins to increase the production of the LH hormone as well as the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). This allows for natural ovulation.

The results are good for using these fertility drugs, with about eighty percent of women beginning ovulation after taking the drugs and half of them becoming pregnant within six months.

There is an increased incidence of twins and multiple births with these fertility drugs – up to ten percent of women who take the drugs will have multiple births (as opposed to the normal rate of one percent).

What you might want to keep in mind is that it can take time for these kinds of drugs to take effect in some women. Sometimes the dosage needs to be changed or the woman needs to be artificially inseminated in order to conceive.

While there are various choices for stimulating ovulation, they all have their own approach. Your doctor will evaluate your own individual symptoms and then choose the best drug to help you with your ovulation.

Some of the side effects are minimal – things like hot flashes or headaches. Others can be stronger, including vomiting, visual problems, dizziness, and mood swings. You may or may not experience any of these but it’s important to ask your doctor and be prepared for how it could affect you before you start taking any drug.

pregnancy — Comments Off
29
Sep 10

Get Pregnant & Conceive – An Essential Ingredient For Creating a Baby, Fertility & Getting Pregnant

Getting Pregnant- Essential Ingredient for Pregnancy

Getting pregnant has some core ingredients that are so obvious they are often overlooked. Let us focus first on the wisdom of the male body.

The male contribution to conception and pregnancy is very often undervalued. While a woman’s body is much more involved in the development of the baby, a man’s input is essential to allow this to happen.

But sperm alone is not what a man brings to the equation. He also brings a beautiful message from creation. In order for a man to contribute his sperm to create a baby, he must experience a high level of excitement.

Ejaculation will not occur unless excitement and pleasure are present in the experience. In other words, excitement and enjoyment of the physical are fundamental to creating new life.

They are not side effects, they are part of the energy of creation from which we all came.

Getting Pregnant- How You Can Enhance Your Fertility

You can use this insight to support your fertility now. In your quest to become pregnant and have a baby you can make room for excitement in your fertility plan.

How about choosing to allow more excitement into your life and relationship so that this life giving ingredient becomes part of your fertility story. This might include allowing more fun and spontaneity into your love making but it would also include opening up to a little more adventure in life outside the bedroom. How can you begin to add more of that special ingredient for getting pregnant into your life now?

pregnancy — Comments Off
7
Feb 10

How to Conceive a Boy

If you’re trying to influence the gender of your baby, there’s a lot of confusing advice out there on how to conceive a boy. A number of factors can influence the sex of your baby, and the more of these factors you take into account, the more chance you have of conceiving a baby boy. First, we need to consider how a baby’s sex is determined. The sex of a baby is determined by the type of sperm that fertilises the egg. If you want to know how to conceive a boy, you must first understand how gender selection works.

There are 2 types of sperm, X-sperm and Y-sperm. The X-sperm contain the X or female chromosome, and the Y-sperm contain the Y or male chromosome. So if you want to conceive a boy, a Y-sperm must reach and fertilise the egg first.

Most methods regarding how to conceive a boy are based around giving the Y-sperm an advantage over the X-sperm, increasing the odds the Y-sperm fertilises the egg.

The next factor is controlling your acidity levels. Scientific research has shown that the level of acidity in the woman’s reproductive tract will have a direct effect on determining the gender of a conceived baby.

Why is this the case? Well, as we’ve already seen, there are two types of sperm – Y-sperm, which carry the Y chromosome, leading to conception of a boy, and X-sperm, which carry the X chromosome, leading to conception of a girl.

Now, this is the important part – while the Y-sperm are smaller and faster than the X-sperm, they are also less resilient, and cannot easily survive if the environment is too acidic. X-sperm on the other hand, are slower but stronger, and are much more likely to survive in an acidic environment.

So – if the woman’s reproductive tract is too acidic, the Y-sperm will die quickly, leaving only the stronger X-sperm remaining. This will lead to conception of a girl. So in order to give the Y-sperm a helping hand, the reproductive tract needs to be more alkaline – in other words, a less harsh environment. This means that the Y-sperm are much more likely to survive, and because of their greater speed, are much more likely to fertilise the woman’s egg than the slower X-sperm.

So, if you’d like to conceive a boy, you’re much more likely to do so by controlling acidity levels in the reproductive tract.

Smoking is a thought to be an important factor in conceiving a boy. A very interesting study published in 2002 by Professor Anne Grete Byskov of the University Hospital of Copenhagen, suggests that non-smokers are more likely to conceive a boy.

A team of scientists investigated the smoking habits of the parents of just under 12,000 newborn babies for the last 3 months before the pregnancy was confirmed. They found that the proportion of boys to girls was highest when the parents were non smokers, and that the proportion of girls to boys was highest in the heaviest smoking group of the study.

They also found a clear increase in the probability of conceiving a girl as the level of cigarette consumption increased. What’s the reason for this? Well, the scientists hypothesised that Y-sperm, which contain the male chromosome, are more susceptible to the toxins in cigarette smoke. This is supported by the trend of fewer baby boys being born in many developed countries – where more of the population are smokers. So – if you want to know how to conceive a boy – giving up smoking seems like a very good start.

Research shows that sexual position is another influencing factor to consider when trying to conceive a boy. Again, this comes back to the differences between male (Y) and female (X) sperm. Because the male sperm are quicker than the female sperm, you can give them a helping hand by decreasing the distance they have to travel to fertilise the egg. This distance seems very small to you and I, but to a single sperm, getting to the egg is the equivalent of a human swimming from England, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to New York. So you can appreciate that if the sperm are deposited a few extra inches inside the woman’s body, that will make a huge difference to the distance they have to travel.

So how do you get them closer to the egg? Well, this can be achieved by using the right sexual position. Positions that achieve deeper penetration will deposit the sperm closer to the egg, giving the male sperm a greater chance of getting there first. Basically, the shorter the distance they need to travel, the greater the chance they have of surviving the swim. Think back to that swim across the Atlantic Ocean again, and you’ll appreciate why this is important.

The final factor we can look at it heat – do you know that you’re more likely to conceive a boy when the weather is hot? Sounds daft? A study of birth rates combined with weather data between 1946 and 1995 showed that the sex ratio correlates to the temperature just before the time of conception.

The study found that more boys were conceived during periods of hot weather, compared to more girls during periods of cold weather. The study concluded that, as sperm in the testicles are affected by temperature variations, that female (X) sperm could be damaged more easily by higher temperatures than male (Y) sperm – so more boys are conceived during periods of hot weather.

So if you’re looking for how to conceive a boy, you should take into account all the above factors.

Vince Castle runs How To Conceive A Boy, a blog and information resource on methods to improve your chances of conceiving a baby boy.