One of the most common ways for a woman to discover if they are pregnant is the pregnancy tests known as HPTs. These are a test that may be taken at home. Time was when women had to go to a doctor’s office and have a blood test to find out if they were pregnant or not. A blood test is still used but not as often as the HPT. A woman who is being cared for by a fertility specialist will often be warned not to take an HPT. She will be told to wait for a blood test result that will be performed at the appropriate time. How many of these women actually wait until that day? Most of them will probably tell you that they could not wait and cheated. That they took an HPT just because they couldn’t wait. Or so that they would be emotionally prepared for the blood test results.

A home pregnancy test (HPT) is relatively inexpensive, and can be done in the privacy of your own home. No one else has to know the result until you are ready to share, not even your doctor’s office.

There are many HPTs on the market today. There are many popular brands such as the Early-Pregnancy-Tests, the Aim Stick Dipstick, the Clearblue Easy, One Step Be Sure, E.P.T., Early Pregnancy Test, and then there are those that are brands marketed by drugstores like the Rite-Aid brand, and the CVS brand.

Normally the earliest you are able to test with these brands of HPTs will depend on how sensitive the specific test is. The test needs to be before hCG is produced and detectible in the urine. This commonly happens someplace between 6 and 12 days after the day that the egg was discharged from the ovary. So that you do not to waste your money purchasing tests that are too early to show results, it is suggested that you try to wait until they are at least 12 days past ovulation. If you can wait until the first day of your expected period, there is a 90% chance of receiving an accurate HPT test result. If one can wait until a week past that first anticipated day of her period, the accuracy rate shoots up to 97%.

It’s better to screen with urine collected first thing in the morning. This is because this urine contains the highest concentration of the hCG hormone. The greater the concentration the more distinct the test line and easier it is to see the result. This will make it easier to know your answer. If you do not test that first morning urine, it will work if you wait approximately 4 to 5 hours (holding your urine). You can use this urine to test. This should have a high enough concentration of hCG to have an accurate result.

It is rare to get a negative HPT result when you are indeed pregnant but it does happen if you test too early.

The accuracy of the test depends on whether or not you followed the instructions, the day of your period that you take the test, the time of day that you take the test, and also the brand of test you use because some home pregnancy tests are more sensitive than others.

Getting a tubal ligation reversal is one way to overcome getting your tubes tied and having another baby. What? You didn’t know it was possible to reverse a tubal ligation? Well, it is and this article discusses this tubal reversal possibility a bit more.

Once a woman has gone through whatever type of tubal surgery she has, she may end up feeling like she made a bad decision. For some, this happens very quickly. For others, it comes later as her life circumstances change. For yet others, it is because they cannot handle the symptoms of Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome.

Regardless of what the reason may be, the procedure needs to be undone. And many women are gratified to learn that tubal ligation is not irreversible, no matter what they have been told. You just have to have a tubal ligation reversal surgery.

Just to prove it to the skeptical, you might be interested to know that The Learning Channel even did a video report on tubal reversal. In this report, you learn about Debra and her decision to have the surgery.

Like some women, Debra had her tubal done near the end of a failing marriage. She really doubted that with three children and things falling apart, she would want more. But the fairytale happened and she met a wonderful new man and got married. The two of them wanted to have children of their own to add to their family.

The Learning Channel report follows Debra as she gets her tubal ligation reversal. She felt good after the surgery and was even putting up a fence doing some digging a week later. The best news was that she was pregnant within a short period of time, even at her age, if you are wondering about that.

Now, there are several different ways to have your tubes tied and different surgeons remove different amounts of tube. I have learned of one poor woman who even had her tubes burned in three places each. The success of a reversal surgery can depend upon what type of tubal ligation was done and how much tube is left. Age plays a factor as well. But as you can see in Debra’s case, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a child.

So take a look at a clip from The Learning Channel’s tubal ligation reversal report. It’s available for free if you just click that link. Watch it and learn about Debra’s story yourself.

Looking for tubal reversal doctors is usually your first task after deciding the surgery is right for you. So how can you find surgeons who will do the operation? Below are a few tips to help you with your search.

1. The old way to find the surgeon to help you with reversing your tied tubes is to simply ask your primary care physician for a referral. He should know about some of the doctors in your town that do this procedure. The question becomes, however, is the doctor you are referred to the best one for you and can you afford it.

2. Now, let’s move online with our search. Pick the browser of your choice and do a simple search on what you are looking for. In this case, your search would be “tubal reversal doctors”. You might want to add your town and state to that search.

3. Do the same search at Google Maps, but add your town or state to the search. This will add a map showing the locations of different clinics and doctors.

4. Now use that search engine that is your favorite to locate different message boards that might discuss tubal reversals. This will allow you to talk to other women who are trying to find doctors or who have already had the surgery. Depending upon the quality of the forum, you will get a lot of good information this way.

5. One other way you can look for tubal reversal doctors is to check with some of the doctor rating websites online. One of these is RateMDs.com. You will also be able to see what patients felt about the doctor.

Take these tips and go find several tubal reversal doctors to put on your list. Then you should compare each to the other criteria in hopes of making the best decision for you and your family in getting a successful tubal reversal surgery.

If only we could all be blessed with perfect metabolisms, the diet and fitness industries would be small fish in the big sea of commerce. But life is not that way and Moms have to see to it that they burn the baby fat because it is the first important step towards a healthy lifestyle for them and their family. Moms can get their pre-pregnancy bodies back by focusing on increasing their metabolism with a few “natural” tricks to the trade.

In our haste to lose pregnancy weight fast, we often forget that short-term gain doesn’t necessarily lead to long-term gain. And this is especially true with regards to the quick fix diet or diet pill method because the weight lost is always short lived. Your goal should be about achieving wellness and from that being able to manage your weight from month to month, year to year. In order to do this, you need to focus on fine tuning your metabolism.

Eat to Live

We all know that we have to eat right and the “spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. You try to instill healthy eating habits in your family but alas, you are a busy Mom and it’s so easy to cave into the conveniences of frozen dinners, fast food take-outs and deliveries. But this time it’s about you and you need to lose your tummy and recover your pre-pregnancy body.

Foods high in protein such as lean meats, fish, poultry; low-fat dairy products, beans and legumes should be a stable part of your diet. Foods high in fiber constitute generally most fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods such as bran, bulgur, and oats. They are to be purchased and prepared in the most natural way possible so that you will receive the most nutritional and fat burning benefits.

Interval Training at maximum Effort

Wouldn’t it be great to have a workout session that could burn the baby fat at minimum cost to your precious time? Well, you can burn the fat effectively with a 15-minute workout done in intervals. Interval training is basically repetitively doing an exercise at high intensity with short periods of rest or low intensity after each set. Studies show that this method of training is more effective at burning body fat compared to just training at a low to moderated level of intensity for the same time period. Varying the intensity of your workout makes your body burn more calories because it has to work harder.

Strength Training builds lean muscles

Most women tend to shy away from the very thing that can give them that lean, toned look that they want, and that is strength training. We forget that the toned bodies we see passing us by on beach are lean muscles. Thus, losing pregnancy weight requires adding some resistance interval training to your workout, which will strengthen your muscles to become lean.

The strength training that can accommodate your needs is called resistance training. Resistance training is a form of training that strengthens your muscle groups by applying an external force of resistance to work against them such as dumbbells, water in a pool, an elastic exercise band, or your own body weight. You can workout at home and lose the pregnancy weight with a 15 minute interval training workout.

Keep on Moving

An active Mom, who is determined to lose the pregnancy weight for the long-term, will have to keep the momentum going by staying physically active. When the weight has come off, your new goal will be weight management. This can be done if you recruit your family into participating in physical activities such as a hiking, biking, swimming, skiing, rollerblading, etc. Not only will you be living a healthier lifestyle and keeping the weight off but you will have quality time with your loved ones.

A healthy lifestyle will keep the weight off but it will take time to break the unhealthy habits to make the transition to healthy ones. Helping your metabolism in its efficiency to burn calories by eating and exercising right will help you to lose the pregnancy weight and gain the accompanying health benefits for your body. You will evolve into a natural beauty instead of a talk show makeover.

If you had your tubes tied but have decided you want another child, your doctor will probably suggest doing the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. But there is an. That alternative is a tubal reversal. Should you have one? Let’s check out IVF vs. tubal reversal to see what might be best for you.

When you have a tubal reversal you are having surgery. It can be an outpatient procedure if you choose the right surgeon. It’s best to check around and be sure to get the right tubal reversal doctor. During the surgery, your surgeon will repair your fallopian tubes where the original obstruction, in whatever form, was made. Some are cut and some are clipped. Some are burned and some are ringed, so to speak. But the preparation is minimal before surgery and mainly consists of a review by your surgeon of your operation’s records and being sure you are of the proper body mass to safely undergo a surgery.

With an IVF, however, there is a course of drugs given to you. You will receive both intramuscular and subcutaneous shots. Some stimulate and some prevent premature ovulation. Most of them will be taken over the course of a few days which means it’s not just a one time shot and you’re done. Ouch! And that’s just the beginning preparation.

Next will be the removal of your eggs. Of course, the doctor will need to be sure of the right time to do so and will do this by monitoring to be sure to catch the eggs at the right time. Your system has been stimulated to produce many more eggs than normal. You will get another shot before ovulation is due. Then, when all is ready, the doctor will use a needle to remove the egg. Ouch again!

Now, comes the part you have been taking all those shots for. You will have the fertilized eggs implanted into your body. This will happen after some time in the lab where the fertilization and the beginning development of the embryo takes place. You will most likely get more than one fertilized egg, which actually has begun developing into an embryo, placed back into your uterus. One possibility with the remaining embryos is to have them frozen for when this cycle does not give you the hoped for result of a pregnancy. You will get more injections at this point as well.

Will all this be successful? That depends on several things which can include something as “simple” as how careful your doctor is and whether or not he rushed the implant procedure and if he put the embryo in a good place. At any rate, you will need more injections now to help sustain things and make your chances better. With all these shots, you should be aware that there are some dangers not only to you but to your child as well, if you should be lucky enough to carry to term. Look around the web to see what the potential dangers are from IVF.

So what are your chances of a success on any one cycle of IVF? The figures vary depending upon such things as how many eggs were implanted, but the most common figures seem to be a 10% to 30% chance of pregnancy.

Let’s look at how the success rates of IVF compare to the success rates for tubal reversal. You can look around the Internet to find out what is generally quoted or you can ask the surgeon you are looking at what his specific success rates are. If he doesn’t know, check out Dr. Berger who publishes his success rates right on his website at www.tubal-reversal.net/. Using those, you can see that the overall success percentage is 69%. If you look at all the charts given, though, you can see it varies from a high of 82%. You will have to see where you fit in. And the good news is that once the surgery is done, if no other problems crop up, then you can keep on trying to have a baby however many times you need all for the cost of the one surgery. No undergoing cycle after cycle of IVF treatments.

Finally is the cost comparison. A cycle of IVF is averaging $10,000 to $12,000 in the U.S. It can be as high as $20,000 though that goes for tubal reversals as well. However, chances are you will undergo more than one cycle of IVF. Doctors say to expect an average of three cycles. Add it up yourself. Now a tubal reversal will average $8,000 to $9,000 with some doctors charging much more. But you don’t have to undergo an average of three tubal reversals to get the job done. Taking this into account along with all the above and you can truly see the best answer in IVF vs. tubal reversal.

Some women may have questions about their cycles after tubal reversal surgery not be sure what will happen and how fast they can get pregnant. They have been told by their tubal ligation reversal surgeon that they may have to stick around one or two days after surgery to be sure there are no immediate post op complications and that the incision looks good. They are also told that they must restrict their activity to only light exercise for several weeks while allowing their bodies to heal internally. But knowing just what to expect from their cycles after tubal reversal and how soon they can get pregnant is something that many forget to find out about.

While being in a rush to get pregnant right away, women having gone through the tubal ligation reversal surgery really should wait till they have had at least two complete cycles to try. It may seem like everything is back to normal quickly but still it is best to wait. It takes about 4 to six weeks for all the incisions both inside as well as outside to heal completely.

Some women are lucky, however. They find themselves pregnant almost immediately at the first cycle. Others, better than six cycles after tubal reversal surgery, still find they can’t get pregnant.

Taking six months or longer to get pregnant after a tubal ligation reversal is a good reason to check in with your doctor. There could just be some other reasons why this is happening and you should have it checked out. One reason, though, could simply be how long it has been since you first had your tubal. A woman who had the operation more than ten years before her tubal reversal, is more likely to have problems getting pregnant than one who has had fewer years between the two operations.

What a doctor will do, if after 6 months and the woman is still having difficulty actually getting pregnant, is inspect her fallopian tubes again to see if they are fully open and nothing untoward has happened since the procedure took place. If they discover that these are okay, then there may be some other underlying cause which is preventing the woman from getting pregnant. Women who are worried or become anxious because they are not getting pregnant as soon as they would like will often find it much more difficult to conceive than those that don’t.

Yet although a woman may be having a period every month, it does not necessarily mean that she is in fact ovulating. So they should be wary and not rush head long into thinking that they are pregnant just because their period has not started on the day it was meant to. Sometimes even the slightest alteration in a person’s life can cause their ovulation cycle to go off the rails.

What your doctor will also need to pay attention to after your cycles after tubal reversal reappear, is the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy. As this only happens in 3 - 5 percent of women after this type of surgery, it is not something that they should worry about overmuch.

The best way for a woman to keep track of her cycles after tubal reversal surgery is to use an ovulation prediction kit. This will help her to see exactly when she is actually ovulating and will further help to identify those times when she may well be pregnant. However, if you find that your period is late by at least two days shortly following your operation, it is important that you contact your doctor immediately. They will then be able to carry out a test to see whether you are pregnant or not.