The first tip is clear: to get pregnant you must have sex on your fertile days. If your menstrual cycles are regular, i.e. if you have your period every month, you are definitely ovulating. To find out which day you ovulate, all you need to do is look at your usual cycle length. By definition, the day you get your period is day 1 of your cycle.

We know that it takes 14 days from ovulation to the next period. So, if your cycles are 28 days, you will most likely ovulate on day 14 of your cycle. If they are 27 days, on day 13. It is advisable to have sex between 3 days before and the day you ovulate.

My second piece of advice is to maintain the same sexual habits and not to neglect your relationship. Abstinence does not improve semen quality. So it is best to maintain the same frequency as usual. The desire to get pregnant at all costs often causes many couples to orient all their relationships towards this goal. In these cases, sex becomes a duty. This is counterproductive since, from a medical point of view, it is advisable to maintain an active, healthy and satisfying sex life in order to increase the chances of pregnancy.

Thirdly, I advise taking folic acid. The development of the embryo’s neural tube starts very early, before many women know they are pregnant. Folic acid helps to prevent serious disorders of the spinal cord (such as spina bifida) and brain (anencephaly) as well as other defects such as cleft lip. During pregnancy, the need for folic acid increases. For this reason, it is advisable to start taking it one month before and to continue taking it during pregnancy. This reduces the risk of these disorders by 70%. The most effective way is to take it in supplement form, as it is better absorbed pharmacologically than in food.

Tip number four is to have a gynaecological check-up where you should ask about your ovarian reserve. You can find out with a simple blood test. The indicator is the anti-mullerian hormone. A good indicator is also the basal antral follicle count by means of an ultrasound scan. This will tell you how fertile you are.

Finally, it is important to know if your partner has normal sperm. It is only necessary to analyse it by means of a semen assessment. The degree of fertility is a characteristic of each person, so the chances of pregnancy depend on the fertility of both partners. When a couple cannot get pregnant after a year of unprotected intercourse, either the man or the woman may have fertility problems. I recommend seeing a specialist in Assisted Reproduction and not letting time go by. Delaying the age at which medical treatment is accessed can have consequences. It is estimated that only half of women who do not become pregnant seek help and only 22% actually receive medical treatment, either for financial, moral or religious reasons, but also because of lack of or inadequate information.