Baby Maker's Take: Abstinence, Ovulation and Intercourse & Finding Your Fertile Days

Many couple attempting to get pregnant have no idea when to have sex.  Those who don't suffer from infertility offer their advice: "All of the time!" But this neophyte advice can be counter productive to achieving pregnancy for a couple who may have multiple factors inhibiting conception.  Even men with perfect semen analysis, may not fair well, once inside the woman's body. 

The Perfect Storm

• Timing 
• Environment
• Sperm Quality
• Egg Quality
• Lubrication

In this Article our Fertility Expert, Kristen N. Burris, L.Ac., M.S.T.O.M., better known as the Baby Maker, will be reviewing Timing for getting pregnant.

The easiest way to predict your most fertile days is using an at home ovulation predictor kit. But not all tests and monitors are created equal and they affect the timing of intercourse so be informed on what type of monitor or test strips you are using.

 The one we suggest, is the most advanced, and the most expensive.  It's called: the Clear Blue Fertility Monitor and costs around $200.  We found it cheaper on Amazon.com.  Why it's more advanced?  It checks two hormones, Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Estrogen (E3G),  to predict a woman's most fertile days. Most strips are only checking for an LH surge that often happens 24-36 hours BEFORE you ovulate, but those are averages.

This monitor also stores up to 6 cycles, giving you critical information about your cycle.  It's known that up to 40% of women have up to 7 days of varying fertile window days throughout their cycle.  Sadly, many couples are ill-advised that if they check one month of their cycle they can rely on that information for all other months.  This is incorrect and bad medical advice.  Check monthly for optimal results.

 When and How Often to Have Sex

Now that you have mastered which days are your peak fertility days, what does that mean and when do you actually have intercourse?

No two couples are the same, and individualizing this advice can be helpful depending on their personal circumstances including, sperm quality and quantity, impotency, cervical fluid or lack there of and regularity of ovulation including average fertile window days for each individual.

However, general recommendations can be followed improving your fertility.

If your peak days are 14 and 15 this is what you would do:
The week before you expect to ovulate (usually day 6-11) you will have your husband abstain from any ejaculation at all.  Day 12, when you monitor (the expensive and advanced one) most likely is showing a high fertile day, aka smiley face,  you would have intercourse.  Then abstain Day 13, then have intercourse Day 14 and either again on Day 16.  The rest of the month, freely be intimate as often as you want, however, once you hit Day 6 again, it's time for 5 days of abstinence.

Abstaining helps bolster sperm counts yet it becomes the quality of the sperm is stagnant and often clumping together inhibiting it's ability to move freely once released.  By allowing your husband to offer his first ejaculate on a day when you haven't peaked yet, gets rid of his least optimal sample.  Then, a day of rest, helps him re-build and then on your peak day, it's the most optimal day for intercourse for both you and him, that is if your monitor is checking BOTH LH surge and E3G.  More on that to follow.

Day 16 is more like an insurance policy, you will probably not need it, it may not be effective or cover what you actually want, but it's nice to have it there just in case.

When to have intercourse if you are using the suggested monitor Clear Blue Fertility Monitor that checks for both LH surge and E3G:

If your PEAK or SMILEY FACE Days are Day 14 and 15 This is what you would do:
Some couples opt to have intercourse back to back on their most fertile days
Abstain Day 7-11
Intercourse Day 12  (getting rid of stagnant semen)
Rest Day 13 (building back up)
Intercourse Day 14 (peak day for you, best sample for him)
Intercourse Day 15  again (second peak day)


Apply this formula around YOUR TWO most FERTILE DAYS

If your PEAK or SMILEY FACE Days are Day 11 and 12 This is what you would do:
Abstain Day 3-8
Intercourse Day 9
Rest Day 10
Intercourse Day 11
Abstain
Intercourse Day 13
(OR some couples just can't resist a SMILEY face day and have Intercourse on Day 12 too like the example before this one)

Apply this formula around YOUR TWO most FERTILE DAYS

But My Ovulation Sticks Only Check for LH Surge

IF you are using cheaper monitors or sticks that JUST detect LH surge, intercourse days are different so pay attention.

On the first morning you detect an LH surge (usually start testing Day 10 and continue until you get an LH detection (pink line) and then stop checking every morning once you get a morning where there is no detection)

Day 5-10 Abstain
Day 10 Start Checking for LH surge
Day 11 Check again
Day 12 Check again
Day 13 FIRST Detectable surge so  have intercourse to rid stagnant sample
Day 14 Intercourse (optimal sample and optimal day for potential ovulation is today or tomorrow)
Day 15 Abstain then  Continue having intercourse every OTHER day until you no longer see evidence on your sticks that LH hormone is detected ie: Day 13, 14, 16, 18

Repeat this formula around your detectable LH surge days.  Those days vary considerably for some women.  



 If you are going through IUI (intra-uterine insemination)
After working along side with dozens of OBGYN's and Reproductive Endocrinologists (R.E.'s) I have observed many different styles and recommendations for when to have an IUI.  This is what I would advise.  Follow your doctor's recommendation for an un-medicated (all natural), or medicated IUI, and on the morning of your first PEAK fertility day go in for an IUI.  The next day follow up with a second IUI on your second PEAK day. If your doctor refuses to do back to back IUI days, then be sure to have intercourse on the second peak day.

  Do not wait an entire day after you ovulate, as some doctors suggest to their patients.  I suspect these doctors are going off of what they learn a decade or so ago.  The old ovulation monitors used to only show LH surge exclusively (not checking for E3G), therefore predicting you would most likely ovulate 24-36 hours AFTER the LH surge is detected.  But what happens when the first detectable amount was actually during your sleep, let's say 11pm that night before you check.  Then you waiting an entire day and a half to go in for you IUI, let's say 1pm.  Then it's too late and poor medical advise.
Newer monitors get you closer to your peak days, which means you need sperm to get pregnant to meet you egg.  When you see PEAK or SMILEY face, it's definitely go time, not wait another day and a 1/2.   A talented doctor will use ultrasound to confirm ovulation and monitor you throughout your fertile week to decide on the optimal day do the actual insemination.

Some other sweet suggestions to help those swimmers along and support conception as well as implantation:
After intercourse use a pillow to prop up your hips, allowing gravity to aid in the sperm motility
Try to do this for at least 1/2 an hour to 1 hour.  Some women just go to sleep for the evening and don't rise until morning

Eat pineapple (1 cup a day for a week).  One study showed that eating FRESH pineapple, especially as much of the core as possible, helped aid in implantation.  There are different theories including increased enzymes called bromelain as a nutrient that aids in implantation through slightly thinning the blood, increasing circulation and reducing inflammation.

Resume your normal activities the day after.  They used to be adamant about bed rest, and now new science is going back on that saying to return to your daily routine.  We do however, suggest keeping exercise to a moderate amount, not intensive, exhaustive levels.


Note: Medical Advice is not advisable over the internet.  It is always best to seek advice from experts in person for the variables can be confusing and need personalized attention.  Ask your natural fertility doctor for a personal recommendation.  Consultations are available throughout the US (208) 938-1277  
Baby Maker Infertility Consultations

Better than IVF

 The Misconception

Recently, a dear friend of mine mentioned that if couples really want a baby badly enough, they just need to do IVF. I about died. 

This dear, sweet, friend has known me for over 12 years.  She has heard about my tremendous successful infertility practice but I guess she doesn't really understand, as most don't.  They read their magazines that constantly tout IVF.  They believe it's that easy; if your pockets are deep.  They think, if they are even aware of natural infertility treatments at all: Why bother with natural medicine?  It must take longer?  It must take more time, more money and must not be as effective? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong and wrong, again.

They are thinking: IVF is real medicine.   IVF is simple: take some drugs and mix you and your husband in a tube and you are pregnant.  But boy are they mistaken.  It's not their fault.  It's media.  It's our doctors referrals to Reproductive Endocrinologists, not as a last resort but a first option.  It's our TV shows, our magazines, our big pharma, books, advertisements, movies and on the flip side, we rarely ever see acupuncture and herbal medicine portrayed in a true-to-life fashion.

I was beyond words when she said that IVF was a guarantee. I thought if one of my closest friends believes this, the world related to infertility is doomed.  How can we get the word out?  How can we educate people suffering from infertility? How can we right this devastating wrong?  We can and we will with facts, testimonials, studies, education and best selling books then movies. 

I was astounded at what she had said and started to spout the truth:
Acupuncture is exponentially more effective than IVF. Herbal medicine when prescribed is 1/10th of the cost and 3 times as effective than IVF.

Patients get pregnant usually in a third of the time compared to IVF.  

IVF Costs $12,000.00-$25,000.00 for One Attempt

IVF rarely works the first time.  Patients have to spend $12,000.00- $25,000.00 a month, a month, just to try for a baby with no guarantee.  They often become over stimulated, risking hospitalization or death.  Fertility drugs have proven to cause long term, very risky health problems for the woman.  Egg donor is pushed hard to increase the fertility centers weak odds.  They virtually ignore male factor saying they choose the best so not to worry, when in reality how are we to choose the best when God (if you believe) and nature pick the best, not doctors.  If they are the best, why do so many embryos die?  Why do so many pregnancies fail?  Are you prepared to create 10 or 20 of your own children only to know that within a week half of them will all die?  Are prepared for the emotional turmoil?  Are you aware that so many of your children will be created only to die?  Are you aware that often you will have your own children, frozen in time to never have an opportunity to be born?  Only to be flushed away or used for science.  Those are hard, unspoken truths about IVF no on is talking about. 

She was like, wow, I had NO idea.  You never hear about that in regards to IVF.

I was numb and sad but now, I'm inspired.  We are all so misinformed.  We don't know.  It's time that changed.

But Acupuncture is Weird

 
We either see an ancient Chinese man, who doesn't speak English, doing strange, mysterious things in an unclean environment with dim lights and smokes abound.  

Acupuncture Must Hurt 

Or we see the hyper-exaggeration or using 1,000 needles, the grotesque exaggeration of how it feels, always over emphasizing pain, rather than the actual peaceful even blissful feeling most get with each treatment.  

But in reality, what my friend so erroneously assumed is what the majority of people think.  It so very sad.  A travesty in fact.

So many suffer from infertility and they think IVF is their only option and that it actually works, the first time and if not, eventually is must. But they couldn't be more wrong.


This baby girl, born December 2015,  proves Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is better than IVF.

Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine  Vs. IVF 

 (David Vs. Goliath)

 
* Studies prove our medicine is exponentially more effective
* Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine carries no life threatening side-effects
* Patients are twice as likely in 1/3 of the time to conceive and give birth compared to IVF
* Our fertility program costs a fraction of IVF
*Once pregnant our patients are far less likely to miscarry
*Ectopic pregnancy is almost completely avoided with our treatments
*Our live birth rates are higher
*Our babies overall are healthier and have fewer birth defects (so far, no serious birth defects in our practice of 15 years)

December was a month to remember. Here are some more precious newborn pictures of the latest miracle "infertility" baby born from our fertility treatments to inspire you during your struggles with infertility. .....I think it's time I hunker down and write a book for once and for all.  


For more inspiring testimonials and studies visit our website.  We offer consultations throughout the US for the most difficult infertility cases.  (208) 938-1277

5 years waiting

This is always worth the wait! Another miracle, all natural, infertility success. Welcome to the world baby girl!!!! We've been waiting for you and your parents waited nearly 5 YEARS to birth you.
It was a long hard road to find us so you could then become fertile in a couple of months. Even up until the month you conceived you had yet another doctor tell you that you would need IUI (or possibly IVF) due to a new factor found. We corrected that concern in a few days with two simple steps.

It was also a long, hard, road of labor but she is here! She was born yesterday December 10th at 4:20pm. She weighed 8 pounds, 21 ounces and 21 inches long. Mom, baby and Dad are home already, snuggling in bed.


Their story is not unlike many of our patients' painfully, long, stories. Above all, going through infertility feels like a monthly death. It feels like it will never happen. It feels as though you can't possibly take another piece of bad news, or yet another negative pregnancy test or a negative ovulation prediction. Male factor often gets ignored or the options are immediately IUI or IVF. Many of our patients can't afford IVF so they feel they are out of options, hope and try to go on, not being parents. But this is not the end and they are not out of hope.


But then, by some miracle, they find us. Someone mentions our fertility work. A friend encourages and sometimes begs them to see us. The TV does a segment on our miracle work. A doctor, a midwife or a nurse refers them to us. Then, things change. We are magnets for miracles. We are not doing this alone. Our medicine is so old, it never changes. We are rooted so deep in tradition that our medicine is safe, reliable, and predictable. These are gifts, they are our calling. This is not work.

Tony and Kristen Burris, L.Ac. at their natural fertility center, work together to treat both the woman and the man, cultivating a healthy, fertile environment. We help patients all throughout the United States get pregnant, and have a baby, all without drugs or surgery and at a fraction of the cost.

 

All Natural Fertility After Only Several Months of Treatment and An All Natural Birth

A second dream came true for this couple yesterday: they were able to birth naturally with a midwife, with no drugs and no surgery. Your final chapter of your infertility story is now over. You are fertile and your are a Mom and a Dad, finally, and we are so very happy for you. God Bless.