Fertility. Myths and realities about what facilitates a pregnancy

No one doubts that to get pregnant it is essential to have sex on fertile days. However, the chances of achieving this depend on three factors: the age of the woman, the quality of the semen and the degree of fertility of the man and women. There are many false beliefs around this topic.

Therefore, at HC Fertility Center we believe it is necessary to dismantle myths and resolve the main pre-existing doubts that couples have while seeking a pregnancy.

• Trying on day 14 after menstruation is enough: FALSE

The most practical thing is to have relationships between three days before and the day of ovulation. To know what that day is, you must look at the usual duration of menstrual cycles. If the cycle is 28 days, ovulation is likely to occur on the 14th day of the cycle, but if it is 27, the 13th. Although it is not always accurate, so it is better not to restrict the attempt to a single day. We know that sperm can wait three days for the oocyte with vitality in the tubes and fertilize it for the next 24 hours. The most practical, then, is to guide sexual relations to those four days.

• It is good to take folic acid before pregnancy: TRUE

Folic acid should be taken before pregnancy since its intake helps to prevent serious alterations of the spinal cord and brain and other defects such as cleft lip. The development of the neural tube of the embryo starts very early, before even knowing that you are pregnant, so it is good to start a month before taking it.

The main food sources of folates are vegetables. However, they are sensitive to all culinary processes and their content is lost in cooking water, steam or oil, and if taken raw there are also differences in the degree of absorption of folic acid in the diet. Therefore, it is recommended to take pharmacological folic acid, which is better absorbed than that of food.

• Ovarian age has direct equivalence with age: FALSE

The chances of getting pregnant in each cycle are related to ovarian age, which may be a few years or more than the age of the woman. However, the best indicator is the blood level of the anti-mullerian hormone. The count of basal antral follicles on ultrasound is also a good indicator. Women are born with a predetermined number of oocytes that they lose each month since puberty. Some are born with a smaller endowment, others lose more than the usual each cycle. That is why it is important to ask about the ovarian reserve in the gynecological review.