Planning Pregnancy: Experts advice & tips for pregnancy planning

In this video SimpliHealth expert gynecologist Dr. Heena Chawla is talking about planning pregnancy and its  tips or प्रेग्नन्सी प्लॅनिंग करना क्यों जरुरी है?. Also, she is answering some important questions that people ask in OPD like:

• Why is there the importance of the fertile period? 
• What can be done to know the time of ovulation? 

This video is specially dedicated to couples planning pregnancy and other natural methods one can do for natural conception. First of all, I would like to tell you that for all the couples planning pregnancy, especially if the female partner is less than 30 years of age. 

The couple should at least try for one year.. If it doesn’t happen in that span, you visit your doctor for help. Or if your age is more than 30 years, then we will say that you should try at least for 6 months.And if you are trying for pregnancy. But still it is a pregnancy failure, you should go to the doctor and seek help. 

The most important thing one should know: what is their fertile period, or what is the fertile window

What is the fertile period?. What is a fertile window? 

Before this, one should know about their cycle. Now suppose you got your period on the 1st and the next period was on the 30th. Then the length of the cycle becomes 30 days. If the length of your cycle is 30 days then the fertile period is almost near the 16th day. If we calculate the cycle length, suppose it is of 28 days, then your fertile period will be around 14th day. Fertile period is when an egg or egg follicle is ruptured from the ovary and released. 

Why is there the importance of the fertile period? 

Because the ova lifespan is only 12-24 hours. So if sperm did not fuse with the ova at that  time interval, then there are fewer chances of pregnancy.  Often, couples come and say that they are trying for a longer duration for pregnancy. But if we are not trying in a proper fertile period, this won’t lead to pregnancy. Many times couples say they were trying but it didn’t happen, so we visited the doctor. We conceived in the first cycle. Because the doctor manages things according to the fertile period for a positive pregnancy.That is, it is essential to consider the fertile life of an ova is only for 12-24 hours, whereas the lifespan of sperm is five days. So if you make a relationship during the fertile period only, the chances of pregnancy are maximum. 

What can be done to know the time of ovulation? 

Our body gives us different signs that we should notice. Like, some females have lower abdominal pain on one side, some may have very thin vaginal discharge, some may feel tenderness in the breast, some may feel a rise in basal body temperature. We could understand that it’s the time of ovulation through all this. Apart from this, many ovulation kits are available in the market. LH, i.e, Luteinising hormone surge/ increase before ovulation so these kits can detect it. So that we get the idea that it’s about the time of ovulation. Apart from this, we do some follicular study. We do the serial number of ultrasounds to understand how the follicular size increases during a cycle.  And accordingly, the estimated time of ovulation is determined. So accordingly, we timed the relationship. 

The second most important thing that many patients ask in OPD is: 

What should we eat during this period?

We should eat green vegetables and salad. They are essential to our diet because they have antioxidants and omega-3-fatty acids, especially in nuts. It improves the quality of the sperm and ova both. The doctor asks to avoid only two things: papaya and pineapple. Any couple who is planning a pregnancy should avoid these two things. 

Apart from this, one more important thing is maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Must do exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. One may do brisk walking, but 30 minutes daily is essential. It gives us two benefits: first, the women who are overweight and are planning for pregnancy will help them lose weight, and secondly, release stress-relieving hormones. Another vital thing doctors observe is the pattern that patients when they come to OPD, is that they don’t have time. 

Their work schedule is like some have a night shift or someone is on night calls, and they don’t get time. But see if you want to plan pregnancy; we need to reduce our stress levels and modify the lifestyle a little bit. This is not like an exam. Sometimes couples say they will be pregnant in the coming September. This is not the kind of exam. So as much as we reduce the stress levels, our hormonal imbalance will automatically get corrected. 

Apart from this, there are some prenatal supplements for couples planning pregnancy; out of them, folic acid is essential. We start early so that the baby doesn’t have any congenital malfunction. In addition, we perform blood tests to check for any vitamin B12,or vitamin D deficiency, because this also relates to infertility. Some simple blood tests are performed, like thyroid. Sometimes due to thyroid also there is a miscarriage or unable to plan pregnancy. 

So by very simple medicines and with hormone replacement, pregnancy is possible at an early stage. One should avoid consuming alcohol and smoking. Because it affects the quality of both sperm and egg. If we keep all these small things in mind, we can plan the time conception early and timely. Thank you.