When shall the stork bring my baby?

The eagerness to have a child is nowadays on the minds of more couples than we may think. The fact that the sperm of your partner is healthy and you have frequent sexual contacts does not necessarily mean that you’ll get pregnant.

Written by
Karolina Koliopoulou
Obstetrician – Gynaecologist, Scientific Associate of Mitera Hospital

To justify the complexity of conception we just need to think that every woman at reproductive age is ovulating only once in every cycle. In case that ovulation coincides with sexual contact, then the couple has only 25% chances of conception.

In one year, stork visits only approximately 80% of the couples that have free sexual contacts without facing fertility problems. During the second year of efforts, percentage rises even to 95%. Therefore, whether you get pregnant or not in the first or the second effort is a matter of luck and many other factors.

That’s why you shouldn’t get disappointed and anxious, if your efforts don’t bear fruits immediately. Besides, stress can “block” conception causing this way a vicious circle without any reason at all.

A couple is characterized as subfertile, when it systematically tries for more than a year to conceive while woman is at reproductive age.

Though, nowadays, thanks to the scientific advances, the dream of thousands of couples to have their own children and to experience the miracle of parenthood can become true, circumventing important difficulties in conception.

But what is the best period for getting pregnant? Or, else, what is the best season to give birth to a child? The answer to this question was given by the studies and it is the following; even though comforts are available today and we can create artificial climatologic conditions so that temperature is always sufferable to all, the best period for labour is the spring, so the best season for a woman get pregnant is the summer.

Besides, statistics confirm that that’s what most of the women prefer.

Spring

Most children are born during spring and in the beginning of summer; especially during May and June. This happens due to the fact that the conception period is placed in time during the last summer vacations, as most of us traditionally leave for vacations in July and August.

In addition to those aforementioned, there are many couples that choose this season consciously, because it is for the best of their baby to be a little older before next winter but also to give the mother the chance to use her summer vacations immediately after her labour.

Anyway, for our country with the extreme rising of temperatures during summer months, it would be good – if it’s possible, of course – for the woman to avoid being in advanced pregnancy during them.

Physiology

Pregnancy period is generally followed by a series of changes in woman’s physiology. Great increase in the body weight or liquid retention and swelling, changes in blood pressure, lordosis, and the abdominal inflation from the gravid uterus lead to problems of dysphoria and during advanced pregnancy to difficulties in servicing themselves and in their mobility.
Pregnant women should be considered to belong in high risk groups regarding the appearance of orthostatic hypotension, dehydration, sunstrokes or thermoplegia and care must be taken both by her and her environment to protect her.

Tips

Are you waiting for the stork to come and thermometer rises while at the same time the feeling of dysphoria is getting more intense? Here are some tips… to get through and remain cool and comfortable.

The main precautions that a pregnant women should have in mind is to consume sufficient amounts of liquids, to not expose herself to the sun during the very hot hours of the day in particular and to limit her activities when necessary. Pregnant women clothes should be light, comfortable and light-coloured, made by cotton or linen preferably. Pregnant women should remember to raise her legs frequently a little higher than the height of her body and to consume less salt to avoid swellings. Sunscreens are considered necessary and they must be applied at least 20 minutes before skin’s exposure to the sun. Pregnant women have a more sensitive skin to burns and discolorations caused by solar radiation. The meals of the women waiting for the stork to come should be light and in smaller amounts to avoid indigestion.

It is a general principle for pregnant women in the third semester of their pregnancy to avoid being in isolated places from where immediate access to Health services could be difficult. Towards the end of the pregnancy, it is preferable for her to limit her transportations only to those that are absolutely necessary, because labour may begin suddenly and follow a very rapid course.

It is not forbidden for pregnant women to swim in the sea in cases of normal pregnancies. It’s quite the opposite, because swimming is a very good exercise that does not affect articulations and the spine.

Nevertheless, pregnant women should avoid staying in beaches that are not known to be clean, that are crowded or that are polluted by wastes, because they are more vulnerable to infections in the urinary and the reproductive system that can be especially dangerous for her and the foetus.

So, if you are waiting for the stork to come in this season of the year, the spring, enjoy those beautiful mornings and sweet nights going for walks and enjoy your pregnancy with no stress and much of optimism. Besides, spring time always gives us positive energy and good mood. Welcome spring, welcome stork!!!

Exploit summer to create your family. It is the most appropriate season to start trying to make a child, as spring is the best season for your child to be born.