Trying to Get Pregnant? Things Every Woman Trying to Conceive Should Know

For those who are trying to get pregnant, nothing seems simpler than knowing the absolute basics—having sexual intercourse, right? But for some women, it’s not that simple. Conceiving requires luck, technique, and strategy—did you know that? While for some women, all it takes is stopping the pill, injectable birth control or ditching the condom or even just a little slip-up and voilà! Pregnancy happens easily in the first cycle of trying or even without trying. But why is this phase so complicated for some women who are trying to get pregnant?

For some women, pregnancy can take months or even years, often because they don’t know when to have intercourse. To get pregnant, having sex during the fertile window is absolutely essential! While male fertility is constant—throughout the month and year—a woman has her seed (the egg) available only for a few short hours each month. Men produce sperm as they use it; each ejaculation empties the sperm reserve, starting a new production, and around 24 hours later, the “stock” is replenished.

For women trying to get pregnant, it’s much more complicated, especially for those with irregular menstrual cycles. A woman’s fertile window lasts, on average, one week, with the ovulation peak between the 5th and 6th day of the fertile week. Having intercourse during this phase requires knowing your cycle, whether you have regular or irregular cycles. Of course, having clockwork-like cycles helps a lot, but it’s not impossible for a woman with a “shifting” cycle to get pregnant on the first try.

Recognizing the Fertile Window for Those Trying to Conceive

For those trying to get pregnant, it might not be so simple to immediately recognize your fertile period¹. Experience counts for a lot at this stage, which is why I recommend women who are thinking about having children to start exploring their bodies so that, when the time to try comes, everything happens more naturally. Learning to recognize the fertile period is fairly simple; just pay attention to your body’s signals during this time.

The body has a rise in estrogen that triggers ovulatory mucus. That egg white mucus—do you know it? Another fertile mucus is watery mucus, when a woman feels very moist, which differs from the usual vaginal lubrication. Fertility phase lubrication is runnier and can last several days, unlike sexual arousal lubrication, which only lasts a few moments².

Speaking of arousal, a woman may have a higher libido during these fertile days! It’s nature’s way of making pregnancy easier. On fertile days, the urge for intimacy and sexuality increases significantly for some lucky couples.

We females give off a more attractive scent to “males”—the famous pheromone³ that makes your partner desire you even more. So, I can say that the more desire you feel for sex, the closer you are to your fertile window—and that’s a great tip for those trying to conceive.

The truth is, to get pregnant quickly the couple needs to be in sync and, of course, have a lot of sex during the fertile period. Make intimacy fun! Creating a special mood for the big day—even if it’s a weekday or busy day—is a great tip. Make love often during your fertile week with lots of love and pleasure!

You’ll find more tips on recognizing your fertile window and other advice in two posts on this site—one about the fertile period and the other about positions to conceive.