10 Tips for maximising your chance of having a baby

You have made the decision to try for a baby, so you will probably want to get pregnant as soon as possible, especially if you need the help of donor sperm. So here are some tips from Pride Angel to maximise your chance.

1. Have sex or if you are using a donor - inseminate regularly around your fertile time.

If you have regular, unprotected sex/or inseminate for a year, about 84% of couples will get pregnant.
It's important to know your fertile cycle  - Going back to basics here, you only get a baby when a sperm meets an egg and that egg only comes usually once a month, around day 14 in your cycle.

The egg only survives for a day or two, so there's only a limited window each month during which you can actually get pregnant. It's probably around six days.

During ovulation some women feel a twinge of pain in one side and cervical mucus may become thin and slippery.

If you have an irregular cycle or feel you need extra help, you can buy ovulation prediction kits to help you find out when you are most fertile.

Knowing your cycle is really important but there is knowing and then there is obsessing, so make sure you keep it in balance and try to develop a 'mindfulness' about your cycle rather than a fixed obsession.

2. Ensure your sperm is healthy

Once you have found your ideal co-parent or donor, it's really important to check his sperm count. Even if your donor has had children previously, lifestyle factors since may reduced their sperm count.
A simple sperm count can be performed at home using a sperm test such as the Fertilcount male fertility test. Alternatively a sperm count can be undertaken at your fertility clinic.
Sperm health can be improved by not smoking and having a healthly diet, In addition there is some evidence that wearing loose boxer short may help along with not using laptops on the lap and avoiding hot baths or jacuzzis.

3. Folic acid and a check up

Women who are thinking about getting pregnant should take a 400mcg folic acid supplement each day. Some women are advised to take a 5mg folic acid supplement each day; for example, those with Celiac disease or diabetes.

If you take folic acid when you are trying for a baby (ideally for at least three months before conceiving) and for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, it reduces the risk of having a baby with conditions such as Spina bifida.

It's recommended to get a check up with your GP, as they can do any blood tests needed and if you are on medication discuss if these will effect your fertility.

4. Give up smoking

We all know by now that smoking is bad for our health generally, but it may reduce fertility as well.

The current advice from NICE is that smoking or even passive smoking may affect a woman's chances of getting pregnant. For men, a link has been found between smoking and poorer quality sperm.

5. Be a healthy weight

If you are in a healthy weight range you have a body mass index (BMI) of between 18.5 - 24.9. NICE says women who have a BMI of more than 29 can take longer to conceive than women whose weight is in the normal range.

Excess weight is associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome, resulting in a hormone imbalance which can affect fertility and may cause miscarriages.

Try and live a healthy lifestyle, Exercise but do not exercise too much, and make sure you have a healthy BMI - not too high or too low.

Being underweight is just as bad for fertility as being overweight.

6. Eat a healthy balanced diet

To give yourself the best possible chance of getting pregnant it's important to eat a healthy and balanced diet consisting of vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, eggs, beans and wholegrains. The emphasis should be on eating real unprocessed food, ideally organic, rather on specific fad diets.
However do be aware of food intolerances such as gluten and diary. In addition try and reduce caffeine intake along with minimising refined sugar consumption.
Research has shown that a Mediterranean diet high in healthy oils, such as olives, avocados and fish can help improve hormone imbalances and improve fertility.

7. Cut alcohol

The UK's chief medical officers say there is no safe amount of alcohol that women can drink during pregnancy, and it makes sense to stop drinking while trying to conceive too.

8. Don't leave it too late

A woman's fertility peaks in her early twenties but these days more women are leaving it later to have a baby.

More women are holding out until their thirties and forties to start a family. According to the Office for National Statistics, since the mid-1970s women aged 30 to 34 are more likely to become mothers for the first time than any other age group.

Having a baby before the age of 35 improves your chances, but women can have babies into their 40s if they are fit and healthy and in good health

9. Getting pregnant - Inseminations

If you are conceiving at home using a donor - After inseminations, it may help to put a cushion under you to tilt the pelvis for 20 minutes. It is also recommended to climax following inseminations as this causes contractions which help the sperm along their journey.
Try and make the inseminations an enjoyable experience, maybe play some relaxing music or light some candles.

10. De-stress

Its important to be prepared mentally and emotionally for getting pregnant.

Couples lead busy lives, climbing the career ladder, with lots of things going on in their lives. Making a baby can be an added stress.

Sometimes couples go down the IVF route when they could make lifestyle changes instead.

Relaxation CDs and hypnotherapy may help. Exercise is a good way to get rid of stress, especially less vigorous forms like yoga and Pilates. Holistic therapies such as Acupuncture or Reflexology may also help with relaxation and wellbeing.

Its important to take care of your emotions, manage your stress levels and take time out to relax and switch off.
Be careful not to make the mistake of making 'Baby making' a stressful project which must to completed. A belief that you will become pregnant when the time is right, is more beneficial.

When to get help

Fertility problems affect one in seven couples in the UK.
More than eight out of 10 couples who have regular sex/inseminations without contraception will get pregnant within a year. If you've been trying for a year with no luck, have a check-up.
If you are using donor sperm with no success after a year, then it is recommended to try another donor prior to considering fertility treatments such as IVF.
Your GP will do tests to see what's happening and give advice on options.
It you are over 35, it may be worth getting your fertility checked out for peace of mind.

www.prideangel.com
 

Pride Angel Journey - Food

With babies, food is simple: it’s just very messy. We did baby-led-weaning which means avoiding spooning mush into them and pretty much letting them feed themselves with whatever we happened to be making for ourselves that meal. They fed themselves, their bibs, their chairs, the table, the floor and anything within a 2-metre radius. Messy.
With toddlers, food is less messy, but it is complicated. As the messiness subsides, the complicatedness increases – mathematically, it is a case of negative correlation. For us, it probably started with a mild unwillingness to try new foods. But other issues arose. Like the problem of foods mixing on the plate or contaminating each other. Porridge must be served flat. VERY flat. Where relevant, food items should be served whole: chopping constituent parts to cool them or prevent them being a choking hazard can be hazardous in itself. Some foods are always edible. Butter, for example, which is best consumed in isolation and in quantity, ideally straight from the packet in large bites. I would consider placing a bet on Willow’s ability, given fifteen minutes to locate (and consume) a raisin in any room. Chips trump anything and the wily toddler having finished his or her own portion in seconds, will develop a range of tactics designed to separate other, more naïve diners from their own share. I’m sure it wasn’t coincidence that a fairly rare occurrence of the word ‘please’ arose in the sentence “Willow, please may I have your chips?’ Willow meanwhile, fearing their imminent loss, rammed all five chips on his plate into his mouth at once. All of this is further complicated by friends and relatives occasionally coming out with ridiculous old classics like “you can’t have any pudding until you’ve eaten your main course”, as if pudding is some sort of reward for making it through the drudgery of savoury food. And amidst the imperious demands of “I want…!” and the horror-stricken cries of “Don’t cut it up…!”, I wonder…messy, then complicated…then calm and straightforward? Somehow I doubt it. Article: by Lindsey, West Yorkshire 10th April 2016

Co-parenting Journey: Boob and chain what they don’t tell you about breastfeeding

After a busy Co-Co-Co-parenting Christmas our then 6 month old is a very busy very opinionated nearly mobile nearly 9 months. As I type there’s a heavy breathing/ panting and clanging noise coming from the dangerous corner of the living room. Yup, where the tv and electricals are. Sigh. She hasn’t napped. Nor has she stilled. She cried at lunch until I made her favourite fruit and yogurt. How did I know that’s what she wanted? Something about a little finger with a frazzled mummy wrapped around it…
Most significantly she WILL NOT take bottle. This is the crisis of the hour. And yet another small but important possibility that no one warns you about. We’d assumed that because she took bottle as a baby we could re-introduce it at any time. Well she’s not having a bar of it and I fear we’ve left it too late now, not least because she likes to have things her way - so be warned prospective Pride Angel parents! Turns out Munchkin was teething. But how do you ever know. A friend pointed out the bulges in her gums, “We had that, her teeth will be through soon.” And sure enough there they were, two widely spaced little top teeth poking through not two days later. She’s recently been referred to as a toddler. Perhaps a little prematurely but that’s how it’s beginning to feel. Her newly conquered milestones seem a lot this month; mobility - a form of crawling but she’s more interested in standing/walking, showing excitement, dancing (a vigorous head shake), first actual tantrum not wanting to go to sleep, pointing to her sippy cup when she wants a drink, longer spells of concentration and engagement at baby classes, more talking, lots of nose-picking, the list goes on. Probably there were long lists at each previous month and perhaps I’ve said it before but we’ve really got a little person on our hands. With this comes the inevitable planning for regaining mummy’s former life. Do I want it back? Or do I want to be with my girl? I keep telling myself it will be good for her to start nursery and learn to look after herself. Best of all there’s no doubt she appears to have the independent self-sufficient spirit that will see her thrive. But… it’s just another transition in the parenting journey. Like every other parent we’re tormenting ourselves with the notion of upsizing. “Let’s move to the country, it’ll be better for the baby!” Really? Isn’t commuting going to be tough enough for the next few years, sprinting, literally, from nursery to work and back. Every minute without her is going to feel like it counts. So for now it’s little steps and a lot of ‘let’s see’. As for co-parenting, we’re wangling a day off work a week per parenting set; our girl will get a daddy day and a mummy day each week. This is a very much hoped for arrangement coming to fruition. Her day with her dad will hopefully provide the benefits of regular one-on-one access - what a treat a whole day just the two of them!

Funded fertility treatment for lesbian couples near impossible in Northern Ireland

A lesbian couple who cannot get free fertility treatment claim they are being indirectly discriminated against because of their sexuality.
The women were initially told by health professionals they could be treated by the National Health Service (NHS). But they were "devastated" when that changed. The Department of Health said same-sex couples had "the same eligibility to publicly funded specialist infertility treatment as other couples". According to criteria set out by the department, a couple has to be trying to conceive for three years unsuccessfully or have a medical condition before they are entitled to one free cycle of fertility treatment from the health service. The same criteria applies to heterosexual couples. But the women argue that it is impossible for them to meet the criteria used by the regional fertility centre in Northern Ireland. They said the criteria were drawn up with only a man and woman in mind. The rules need to change as has happened in Scotland, the women said, to accommodate same-sex couples. The couple told the BBC that they cannot afford private treatment. They had approached their GPs and Belfast's regional fertility clinic. "Initially we were jumping around the room, we were so excited that we were going to be put on the waiting list," one of the women, who did not want to be named, said. Conflicting "When we did go to the hospital [we were] told it was only available for heterosexuals and they couldn't fund us. "We felt they were saying: 'No, you are lesbians, there was no equality, we won't help you.'" The women said they approached the BBC because of the conflicting information they received from GPs and other health professionals. They are also accusing the Department of Health of indirect discrimination. 'Committed' "We shouldn't be treated any differently," one of the women said. "It is offered on the NHS to people who are infertile - in a way, we are infertile as we can't have a baby in the way nature intended. "That is through no fault of our own." The woman's partner said they are committed to each other and are in a stable relationship. "We love each other, we want to build a life together and should not be discriminated against," she said. Changing The number of same-sex couples attempting to get pregnant in Northern Ireland is growing. In 2013, about 60 couples sought fertility treatment privately. In the past 18 months that figure has jumped to more than 200. Agenda Tracey McDowell of Here NI, an independent support group for gay and bisexual women, said achieving reproductive rights for same-sex couples is the next stage in their fight for equality. "It is yet another barrier that we have to face and try and overcome," Ms McDowell said. Read more...

Pride Angel Journey - Digger working mummy!

A burst of excitement inside me. A transporter carrying a tractor! And then I remember that I’m driving to work, alone. A wasted sighting and, quite frankly, a wasted transporter and tractor out on these commuter roads at 7.30am. The proper place for such vehicles is of course en route to toddler group or the park at around 9.30am. Along with the dustbin lorries, diggers and fire engines. Woe betides the heavy goods vehicle which has purposes other than the diversion of my small children.
Ideally, we want them to love nature: to watch entranced as the blue tits make their nest in the bird box; to leave no stone unturned in their quest to differentiate a millipede from a centipede; to roam and trudge and stamp and splodge in mud and puddles and miry earth day after rainy day. But whilst they are undeniably happy out there pottering through woodland, climbing on tree stumps and dragging large sticks around, it is only when the thunderous clumsy rumble of a tractor saws through the tranquillity of the countryside that they respond with the delirious excitement of well…a child in a sweet shop? Perhaps it’s time we changed that old idiom to the child in the digger shop… So, we brush away the ideals, because there are many things where there are small children, like joy and chaos and mess and fun – but ideals? No, never. It’s time to embrace the digger love: on hearing the familiar grumble in street, we dash to the bedroom window every Tuesday at 7am to watch the emptying of the wheelie bins. We tell stories of broken cars and transporters driving around mouths in an effort to get teeth brushed. And we take pleasure in the mile after mile of 50mph roadworks on the M62, knowing that there’s a good chance we might catch sight of “digger working, Mummy!” Article: by Lindsey, West Yorkshire 10th March 2016

Buying fertility on the internet: fair play or risky business?

Your voice is needed!
On Tuesday 8 March, UCL is hosting a panel debate entitled ‘Buying fertility on the internet: fair play or risky business?’ The evening will be dedicated to the topic of accessing fertility outside of the regulated UK IVF clinics, and will feature Laura Witjens, CEO of the National Gamete Donation Trust and Lucy Van de Wiel, a Cambridge sociologist specialising in issues in fertility. Chaired by Dan Reisel, research associate at UCL’s Institute for Women’s Health, the debate will cover the pros and cons of buying fertility on the internet. However, there is a voice missing in this debate, and that is the experience of people who have actually done this themselves. As the chair of the debate, I feel strongly that the evening would do the topic a disservice unless someone whose life had been affected by ex-clinic donations was part of the conversation. In particular, it would be important to ensure that we had represented on the panel LGBT people and their experience of accessing fertility services. There are structural inequalities and discriminatory processes that mean that same-gender couples have to pay considerably more at present, and this is one of the main drivers for excellent internet sites such as prideangel.com. In healthcare there is a motto, ‘no decision about me without me’ and this applies to the policy debates concerning assisted fertility as well. The debate is free and open to the public, and will be followed by drinks at UCL’s venerable North Cloisters. Please come along to attend and, if you feel able to, please contact Dan Reisel (d.reisel@ucl.ac.uk) if you want to join us as a panellist. Your personal story is vital and would enrich the panel immeasurably.

Award winning independent production company Ponda Films are working with a leading UK broadcaster to produce a documentary series about co-parenting.

We are currently looking to speak to individuals who are currently looking into or going through the beginnings of the selection process, who are at the start of their journey to finding a co-parent.

Our aim is to make a frank and intelligent documentary that allows those going through the co-parenting process to speak openly about their experiences, treating them with honesty and sensitivity.

If you are currently looking to co-parent and would like to find out more about the documentary please get in touch with Fozia at fozia@ponda.tv. Our conversation would be an opportunity for us to explain more about the project, and learn more from you.  All correspondence is entirely confidential, with no obligation to take part.

We have extensive experience in making sensitive and intelligent programmes on a variety of topics – for more information please visit www.ponda.tv