Pregnancy Calendar - Conception Calendar and Due Date Calculators

The Best Laid Plans

Many couples planning a family decide they'd like to have their baby at a specific time - perhaps a special holiday or calendar date. Others think that having a baby in their favorite season (which is probably a bit more realistic) would be good. However, even if you are the greatest organizer or planner on the planet, conception usually happens when it happens and not when you plan for it to occur.

As a matter of fact, if you break it down according to age group, you'll see the amount of time it usually takes for a woman to conceive when she's planned for it. For the youngest group - women in their early 20s - it takes four to five months to conceive. The next group - women in their late 20s - takes longer, averaging five to seven months. Women in their early 30s require seven to ten months to conceive, and the last group of women in their late 30s and over 30 can take as long as ten months to a year to conceive. There is still an element of mystery about the process, even though we know so much about it.

Increasing Your Chances of Conception

There are ways to increase the chances of getting pregnant by using some of the tools available to women today. A fertility calendar helps a woman know when the window of opportunity is open to conceive. By recording the period of her ovulation, using an ovulation calendar, she can know which day is her ovulation day plus five days before it. As ovulation approaches, the chances of conception increase and knowing when ovulation happens enables timing of intercourse to coincide with it.  As  she is in the planning stages, she can be taking prenatal vitamins, especially folic acid (to reduce the chances of neural tube problems).  Preparation to become pregnant is a big part of a healthy and successful pregnancy.

Once conception has taken place, then a pregnancy calculator will help determine when conception happened and from there the pregnancy due date can be calculated. The conception calendar is based upon ovulation and dovetails into the due date calendar. All of these calendars can make you a bit dizzy, but they really aren't difficult to use and actually help you to determine quite accurately when the baby will arrive. Due date calculators help you to know what stage of your pregnancy you are in so you know what to expect.

Pregnancy Calendars - A Valuable Tool

Pregnancy calendars are a wonderful way to follow the progress your baby is making. You can watch, through videos and pictures, the various stages of growth - from conception through birth - and you can also read about it. You will learn at which point your baby's eyes are completed, how long the baby is and how much the baby weighs. You'll be able to chart your own pregnancy symptoms as well. Knowing when the various pregnancy symptoms occur will give you hope and assurance that it doesn't last forever and you can look forward to easier days. Pregnancy calendars, ovulation calendars and conception calendars, are all wonderful tools to help you discover more about your pregnancy, your baby, and yourself.

The Ability to Plan Some Things

While the baby will still come exactly when it wants to come, you'll have a very clear picture of the timing of things. It may not be when you originally planned, but the truth is that is probably isn't going to matter much anyway. You'll be thrilled with the baby whenever the little person arrives. It's just nice to have an idea of when you conceived so you know when you'll give birth. It's also useful when you have family and friends who live far away and want to be around for the birth. By being able to give them a pretty clear idea of when the baby will be born, you help them to know when they should be planning their time away in order to be with you.