Yes, you read right…

As a mum reading this, thinking about the child or children you have, you may think you know how to get pregnant (you have proof, right?), but do you really know how that child was conceived? This isn’t a simple issue of the birds and the bees.
According to research conducted by Clearblue, the home pregnancy and fertility testing brand, two-thirds of UK women don?t know there is only a small window of opportunity (two ?peak? fertile days) in which they can conceive each month. Instead, many women wrongly believe that they can fall pregnant at any point in the month.
The results have identified a shocking knowledge deficit among those who are most likely to consider trying for a baby (aged between 25?40 years), which could be costing some women months or, in worst cases, years of unnecessary frustration, because they could be trying to conceive at the wrong time.
Social trends confirm that women are increasingly putting off having children until later on in life because of the ?knowledge-deficit?, or a lack of understanding about their bodies and it may also be jeopardising the chance of conceiving naturally in the future.
Television presenter Anna Richardson faced this harsh wake-up call when filming a fertility segment for the Channel 4 ?Sex Education? show she presented last year. ?It came as a complete shock to be told that at 38 years of age, my fertility had been rated at 0.75 where 0 is deemed infertile,” she recalls. “After much discussion and further testing, my age was coined as the single contributing factor.
“I?m an educated, intelligent woman, but this was complete news to me ? had I been better informed about fertility in general I would have never left it this long. I now live with the reality I may never have children?
Amplifying the misconception is the commonly believed myth, upheld to this day by many GP?s and biology teachers, that all women have a 28-day cycle when in actual fact every woman is unique and cycles not only differ from woman to woman but also from cycle to cycle, making it complicated to calculate your most fertile period.
So when can women fall pregnant?
When oestrogen reaches a critical level in the menstrual cycle it causes a rapid rise in the level of Luteinising Hormone (LH) which is known as the LH surge. This in turn triggers the release of an egg from an ovary (ovulation) approximately 24-36 hours after the LH surge. It is from intercourse during this one to two-day period that a woman has the highest chance of conceiving.
Time is of the essence
Trends within society are steering toward women deciding to have fewer children later on in life, choosing to put their careers above starting a family.
With fertility in women declining from about 27 years, and with many career women opting to have children in their mid to late thirties, time is really of the essence. Optimising your chances of conceiving by identifying your ?peak? window of opportunity each month could considerably increase your chances of falling pregnant sooner.
Fertility expert Zita West is confronted daily with the harsh reality of this ?knowledge-deficit?. ?Many of my patients have spent years trying to conceive naturally without success to the detriment of their fertility long-term.
“Through discussion, it is frequently revealed that what may have been nothing more than a problem conceiving, as a result of lacking the knowledge to know how to optimise their chances, years have been wasted and what [women] are now faced with is infertility due to the woman?s age.
?Knowledge is power, as a woman having the knowledge to optimise the chances of conceiving is the most empowering thing you can do in planning your pregnancy. Identifying your best window of opportunity (one to two days) each month is essential if you want to conceive naturally. Once you have the knowledge, it is important to bear in mind that sperm can live for up to five days so having sex for up to five days
before or after your ?peak? window can result in a pregnancy?.
One stop shop for testing when you are most fertile at home
You can arm yourself with the knowledge you need to help you identify when the LH surge occurs, specific to your cycle each month by testing your fertility on a regular basis. Clearblue sells a range of advanced tests, which record information about the high and peak fertility days in the user?s cycle helping to identify the ?peak? fertile days when they have intercourse, to help maximise the chance of conception.
Product review
The Clearblue Digital Ovulation Test is very easy to use and Clearblue says it has more than 99% accuracy in identifying your LH surge. It is very easy to use, and the cheaper option to the fertility montitor described below.
[rating: 4:5]
The Clearblue Fertility Monitor can identify both ?high? and ?peak? fertility days each month. It’s very easy to use, all you have to do is kick things off by following some simple instructions, then the monitro iteself tells you when to take an ovulation test. At different points during your cycle, the monitor will tell you when to take a test, and will gradually work with your tests to show you your peak fertility period.
There is no guessing or trying to calculate dates etc involved – everything works according to your personal readings and information. We just wish it could guide us all the way to pregnancy by telling us if there is a pregnancy!
[Rating: 5:5]