Intercourse should be discontinued and your doctor consulted if your water breaks, you have vaginal bleeding, itching, discharge, experience vaginal or abdominal pain, or you have a diagnosis of preterm labor.

middot; Some couples worry about having intercourse during pregnancy. They may be afraid that it will cause a miscarriage. For a healthy woman with a normal pregnancy, intercourse is safe into the last weeks of pregnancy. You and your partner may want to experiment with different positions that may be more comfortable for you. If you are having problems in your pregnancy, your health care provider may advise you to limit or avoid intercourse as necessary.

There is no evidence that intercourse causes miscarriage or premature labor. You may be sexually active until your water breaks unless your physician instructs you otherwise. Lubricants such as Astroglide or KY Jelly are not harmful.

Yes, you can. And sex doesn't have to be full intercourse to get pregnant. Close genital contact without penetration could put you at risk of an unplanned pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection. Remember, some STIs may not have symptoms. Your health is important. If you are having any kind of sexual contact including oral sex, you owe it to yourself to have an STI check-up. For women, it is also very important to have a routine Pap test.

Yes. You can continue having sexual intercourse without fear of hurting the baby through the ninth month as long as you are not experiencing pre-term labor. Check with your doctor if your pregnancy is considered high-risk or if you have other concerns.

The frequency of intercourse generally should be that which the couple considers most enjoyable. However, during the time of the moth when ovulation takes place, the most advantageous frequency of intercourse is every other day (i.e., every 48 hours). The reason for this interval is that sperm should survive for 48 hours within the woman's reproductive tract and the egg should be subject to impregnate for 12 to 24 hours.

To increase the chance of conception, it is best to have intercourse the day of the LH surge as well as following three days after. A faint line (or a faint positive test band) does not indicate a positive result for an LH surge. While the presence of a faint line on a pregnancy test may indicate a positive result, a faint line on an OPK is always negative. Please refer to the images on our instruction pages to interpret results.

Pregnancy can only occur in the few days following ovulation (the release of an egg). This usually takes place at some point in the middle of a woman's menstrual cycle, between her periods. Unfortunately, women have no definite way of knowing exactly when they are ovulating, so there is no guaranteed "safe" time to have unprotected sex.

There is no evidence that sex causes miscarriage or premature labor. You may be sexually active until labor starts unless your physician instructs you otherwise. Lubricants such as Astroglide or KY jelly are not harmful.

There is no ideal frequency of intercourse and any frequency is safe. Frequency varies remarkably from couple to couple and from month to month with the same couple. Some women are disinterested during the first three months of pregnancy, partly due to fatigue. But they tend to regain their energy in the fourth month and will often experience a new surge of sexual feeling.

In general, with the proper precautions, sex during pregnancy is safe for you and the baby. Some women with high-risk pregnancies are advised to avoid intercourse during pregnancy. Of course, just because sex is safe during pregnancy doesn't mean you'll necessarily want to have it. Many expectant mothers find that their desire for sex fluctuates during certain stages in the pregnancy. Also, many women find that sex becomes uncomfortable as their bodies get larger.

It is impossible to predict with accuracy the risk of pregnancy. Even when a woman usually has a predictable cycle, factors such as stress, illness, changes in exercise levels and travel can upset the ovulation pattern. In general, it is not likely for pregnancy to occur if intercourse takes place during the menstrual period. Sperm can live inside the uterus for 2-7 days. Fertilization of an egg is more likely to happen if intercourse occurs before or during ovulation.

Yes, until about four weeks before the beginning of labor pains, if the sex union is performed very carefully in the recommended position and with clean sex organs. During the first four months of pregnancy every intercourse should be avoided during the weeks in which the wife would have had her menstrual period had she not become pregnant. Miscarriages usually occur during this period.

Yes. Emergency contraception (EC) can be taken after contraceptive failure, sexual assault or unprotected sex and help prevent an unintended pregnancy. EC, formerly known as the 'morning-after pill', is a high dose of regular birth control pills that can help prevent pregnancy if taken within 120 hours (5 days) of unprotected sex. However, the sooner it is taken after unprotected sex, the more effective it is.

There is no normal standard time for an intercourse. It depends upon the partners. The act needs to be mutually satisfying. The notion that a prolonged intercourse gives more pleasure is a myth. What is important is not how long, but how satisfying and how blissful!

Intercourse closest to the time before ovulation and within 6 hours after ovulation gives you your best chances for conception.

To increase your chances of getting pregnant, it is recommended that you have intercourse as soon as you start to see the ferning pattern begin.

There is no guarantee that you will achieve the desired pregnancy. Even with perfectly timed intercourse and the best of circumstances, you only have about a 25% chance of getting pregnant each cycle. If you feel there is a problem, consult your doctor.

Yes, always. The safe protection of Patentex oval is only fully developed once the active ingredient is optimally distributed throughout the vagina. This takes 10 minutes.

Answer: Your insurance usually covers only one basic ultrasound, which is usually performed at 18 weeks. If additional ultrasounds are deemed medically necessary, authorization from your insurance company must be obtained at that time.

Sperm remain alive and active in woman's cervical mucus for 48-72 hours following sexual intercourse; therefore, it isn't necessary to plan your lovemaking on a rigid schedule.

It is preferred that the urine test for pregnancy be done sixteen days after the embryo transfer. Doing it earlier may produce a negative result even if you are actually pregnant because the level of HCG from the very early pregnancy is not sufficient to show up in the urine test. On the other hand, if you are given implantation (Luteal) phase support in the form of injections of HCG (Profasi), you may get a positive result even if you are actually not pregnant.

Yes. Pregnancy disability leave or maternity leave for the birth of a child would be considered qualifying FMLA leave for a serious health condition and may be counted in the 12 weeks of leave so long as the employer properly notifies the employee in writing of the designation. In most situations, the employer cannot count leave as FMLA leave retroactively. Remember, the employee must be notified in writing that an absence is being designated as FMLA leave.

Yes. Each time you are pregnant, we will do a culture from the birth canal for Group B strep. This is done around 35 weeks of pregnancy.

Surrogates, in good faith, agree to three consecutive transfers. In an extremely rare case, there might be a situation where the Intended Parents or a Surrogate chooses to move on before the second or third attempt. If that should occur, The Gift of Surrogacy would arrange for another surrogate at no additional cost to the Intended Parents.