Trying for a baby doesn't guarantee it will happen. While some couples like to announce their efforts toward starting a family, others choose to keep their actions between the sheets until they result in a positive pregnancy test. Grandparents-to-be can get excited and awfully eager about the prospect of having a grandchild. Last night on How I Met Your Mother, Marshall told his dad he and Lily were trying and she felt pressured. What's your opinion?
Photo courtesy of CBS
A positive pregnancy test is enough for a lot of mamas-to-be to spread the news, but do they also feel obligated to share their means of conception? Without ever asking, 37 percent of LilSugar readers admitted to assuming a woman used artificial means when they learn she is expecting multiples. In the July/August cover story of Pregnancy magazine, Catherine Bell said:
We were totally trying. I conceived pretty much naturally. We wanted this to happen quickly. We used Clomid, which helps you with a little boost and the second month we tried, we got pregnant.
Do you feel inclined to disclose how you got pregnant?
The Brits may keep it in the bedroom, but LilSugar readers conceived their children all over the world! From the comfort of their boudoirs to a foreign land, seeds were planted. Check out what our mamas said!
To see what other mothers had to say, read more
Leave it to the randy Brits to take their baby-making skills outside of the bedroom. A study conducted by The Baby Show, a trade show for pregnant and new moms, found that mom and pop's bedroom may not be quite the hotbed of sexual activity that many think it is.
According to the survey, 46 percent of British babies that will be born this year were conceived outside of the bedroom, and mum and dad most likely got busy on a Saturday evening once the sun had set, sometime between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Though many mamas can't pinpoint exactly when they conceived, the 1,000 UK residents who took part in the study seem to have great memories!
The study got me thinking. Do you know exactly when and where you conceived?
Double the pleasure, double the fun, double your chances for double the bums. While multiples still come as a complete shock to some parents, others may have played a role in their double duty pregnancy. There are a lot of instances where a woman has no control over whether or not she has twins, but there are also a few things a woman can do if she's hoping for a dynamic duo in utero. Check out some things that have been found to multiply chances for multiples.
A woman wishing to get pregnant often expects it to happen as soon as she starts trying, but that's not always how it happens. To boost fertility, hopeful parents-to-be may turn to various types of medicine. Alternative and traditional medical practices each have their pros and cons, and it's no doubt that both have worked wonders for many a mama looking to put a bun in her oven. Which method, if any, did you choose to aid in getting pregnant?
When couples plan conception they generally prepare by tracking ovulation and take all the helpful hints they can get.
I recently stumbled on Cooking to Conceive: Fertility-Boosting Foods & Recipes to Help You Get Pregnant ($17) at the bookstore and was intrigued by the concept. It focuses on healthy dishes filled with veggies that add extra calcium, folate, and antioxidants to your diet (no champagne and oysters, but chocolate makes the cut!). It's all logical stuff, but I was impressed by the lineup. Did you change your diet when trying to get pregnant, or did you eat the same until you were eating for two?
Baby makes three, but what if you're ready to turn your threesome into four? Eager mamas looking to quickly grow their brood might be confused about how to do so if they are still breastfeeding. Take the quiz to see how much you know about trying to conceive while nursing.
They say that once you get baby fever you can't help but see chubby little faces and pregnant women everywhere. It's a sweet thing, but can be bittersweet for couples trying hard to conceive. Particularly those who take longer to get pregnant or cannot. I'm rereading Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife and was struck by a heart-wrenching passage that captures that longing.
So I was simply not thinking about a lot of important stuff because I was completely drunk with the notion of a baby: a baby that looked sort of like Henry, black hair and those intense eye and maybe very pale like me and smelled like milk and talcum powder and skin...I suddenly saw babies everywhere...My body wanted a baby. I felt empty and wanted to be full. I wanted someone to love who would stay: stay and be there, always.
Have you experienced that passionate and romantic pull toward the notion of having a child and seen their shiny lil faces everywhere?
Doctor visits during pregnancy are filled with sounds of lil ones' heartbeats, information about the baby and sonograms shots of the active fetus. Checkups also involve a lot of blood work as docs screen for a variety of issues in both the pregnant mother and baby.
lilsugar readers passed our first quiz about prenatal tests with flying colors, let's see how well you do with these follow-up questions.
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