When trying to get pregnant we are often told to just give it time, wait at least 6-12 months, or just relax and trust the process. I however, am a big believer in taking action when it comes to health and getting pregnant as I know that there are so many things that we can do to get pregnant faster and increase our chances of a smooth, complication- free pregnancy.
When I first meet with couples who are struggling to conceive, one of the first things I do is explain the process and steps it takes for pregnancy to occur. It's a process that relies on many moving parts, the good news being that we can control alot of these!
Regardless of if you are yet to begin trying for a baby, have been trying for a few months already, or are years into trying, then know that you can take control and improve your fertility naturally through correct nutrition and supplementation. Firstly, let's work through this checklist to make sure that your body is ticking all of the essential boxes for pregnancy to occur:
Healthy ovulation
Healthy embryo (egg and sperm)
Healthy uterus & progesterone levels for implantation
We need to pinpoint where this process might be going wrong for you. The first step is to get some baseline blood testing done. At a minimum, these should include: iron, thyroid hormones, folate, B12, cholesterol, and HbA1c. Other incredibly helpful tests include day 3 & 21 hormones, vitamin d (often a charge with this one), and CRP. If any of these fall outside the normal range then it can give you a starting point on where to focus. It's important that you work with someone who can explain the association of these tests to your fertility and provide you with support to improve them and get your body as health as possible in preparation for pregnancy.
It's also important to gather as much data as you can to confirm that firstly, ovulation is definitely occurring. This could include:
Tracking your cycle and symptoms in an app like flo, clue, or ovia to give us a picture of your cycle length and a place for you to easily record all the indicators of ovulation.
Monitoring cervical mucus changes; egg white consistency indicates that you are in the fertile window and estrogen is likely rising in preparation for ovulation to occur.
Monitoring basal body temperature; a rise around mid-cycle indicates that ovulation may have occured as progesterone bumps your temperature up ~0.5 degrees celcius.
Using ovulation predictor tests; these are helpful when you do them consistently for a week or so in the lead up to ovulation. It will show you whether your LH (luteinizing hormone) is rising which is necessary for ovulation to occur. Accuracy can vary for some people as the depend on the time of day taken and concentration of LH in the urine. I recommend using test strips as they are generally more affordable and accessible than the plastic kits.
Day 21 hormone testing to confirm if progesterone has risen is one of the most accurate ways to determine ovulation. This could be worthwhile doing if you are recording all of the above and still aren't sure whether or not you are ovulating. Trans-vaginal ultrasounds are another option but generally the last step in this process and one you can discuss doing with your specialist as necessary.
Once you have worked through these steps and if everything still looks good, it's important to look at the next phases of fertility. These include:
Ensuring that sperm is healthy and strong enough to make it all the way through the uterus and to the fallopian tubes.
Ensuring that there is enough sperm available for fertilisation to occur (timing and frequency of sex around ovulation)
Implantation into a healthy uterus
Maintenance of pregnancy with a healthy embryo and a healthy rise in progesterone
Each phase of this process includes factors that we can control through diet and lifestyle. The important thing is determining what we need to focus on specifically for you, and prioritising the diet, supplement, and lifestyle changes needed to significantly improve your chances of pregnancy asap. There is far more to this than just eating healthy. It might be that we need to alter your current supplement regimen, include different supplements, add in key nutrients that are missing through dietary changes, or prioritise a key lifestyle factor that could be playing a big part in your fertility health.
If you are feeling worried about your fertility or wondering if there is anything that you can do to maximise your chances of conceiving as soon as possible then I encourage you to start working through this process and to get in touch for support. Getting pregnant can be a lonely journey and I absolutely don't want you to do it on your own, and I also don't want it to take longer than it has to! Nutrition has been proven to help couples conceive faster, reduce their risk of miscarriage, and improve their odds of a healthy/ complication-free pregnancy and birth.
You can make a start today by booking in your free call with me to talk through your personal journey so far, and I can help you to map out a pathway to pregnancy that you can work on right away. Book your free call here and let's get you started!