Pregnancy Tips: Saving While Pregnant

It is a given that when you are pregnant, there are extra expenses that you have to consider in the monthly budget. The Obstetrician consultation fee, laboratory fees and pre-natal vitamins. Then during your third trimester, you will also have to prepare baby items like clothes, diapers, all those nifty gadgets for infants that you would never thought such a tiny person will need. 

What to Expect on the Fifth Week of Pregnancy

For brand new parents who are only a few weeks into gestation, one of the more exciting things during this time is listening to your child’s heart beat for the first time. It is around the fifth week when the fetal heart has started to form and beat. 

Pregnancy Tip: The Billings Method

Tips on increasing the odds of getting pregnant cannot be discussed without mentioning The Billings Method. Although in practice, the Billings Method or Billings Ovulation Method (BOM) is usually discussed to avoid pregnancy, it can also make way for the woman to recognize his reproductive make up and cycle and learn when her most fertile period is and when it is not. 

Either way, the Billings Method can be used to avoid conception or to increase the chance of getting pregnant. More information about this type of natural family planning will be found in www.billings-centre.ab.ca  and www.billings-ovulation-method.org.au/act/actindex.shtml

The image used above is also from the site mentioned.  I will personally look into this article and read more on this kind of family method.  It is possibly the most celebrated natural way of avoiding conception and now it can also be used to up your chance of getting pregnant.  

Another TTC Tip: No Caffeine Diet

If you are serious about trying to get pregnant, quit ingesting caffeine into your system. Caffeine gets in the way of the growth of a baby in the uterus. Even studies have it that too much coffee can also cause fertility problems.

Tips to Increase Your Chances to Get Pregnant

How does a couple increase their chances at getting pregnant? There are handful of books that writes on the subject. I gathered the common items from all my readings. Folic acid. Every book on trying to conceive encourages hoping to be mothers to take folic acid as soon as you have decided you would like to get pregnant. Doctors themselves would definitely prescribe the same. 

Folic acid reduces by up to 70% your chances to giving birth to a baby with neural tube defect. The ideal is to take folic acid two to three months before you actually conceive. The second thing to keep in mind is to keep the sexual act as if it was a chore. When a couple is consciously into the babymaking mode, it gives this kind of pressure to the both of them and makes the whole process mechanical and it usually causes stress which is a big no-no when you are TTC. 

Medical practitioners often encourage women to wash right after intercourse. This supposedly keeps the ladies from getting UTI. If you would like to up your chances in conceiving, give it five to ten minutes before you run to the washroom to increase the chances that the swimming sperm would get to target fertilized egg. The most important thing is know when your fertile period is and make love every other day. 

These are pretty much what every TTC books have. A word of advice though, make sure that you have seen your doctor and know if there are pre-existing fertility issues. This will help you know where you stand and get help when there is a need for it.

Determine the Gender of Your Child with Lunar Calendar

I have posted the Lunar Calendar in my main blog, MarriageandBeyond.com back in 2007 and I hope to post it again in this blog. This will help you determine the gender of your child even during early gestation.  Even plan for the gender while you are yet trying to conceive.

How does Lunar Calendar work? You determine the gender of the baby by crossing the month a child was conceived with the age of the mother at conception, it is purported that you can determine the birth of your unborn child. For instance, a 30-year-old woman who conceived in January would give birth to a boy, according to this calendar. Remember, this chart is based on the month the baby is conceived and not when the baby was or will be born.

Ready to give it a try? If you’re TTC and want to try for a girl or a boy, check your lunar age (add nine months to your actual age to determine your lunar age) and the month to plan the gender of your child. If you are a mom-to-be, please check the month you conceived and your lunar age at the date of conception in the lunar calendar chart above.