• Is your menstrual cycle longer or shorter than 28 days? Chances are, you won't ovulate on Day 14. Ovulation typically occurs 14 days before the start of the next menstrual cycle--not 14 days after the end of the last one.

• Who would you like to have present at your baby's birth? Even though you haven't actually managed to conceive yet, it's never to early to start thinking about your choice of caregiver. Ask friends to pass along the names of doctors and midwives who provided them with excellent care during their own pregnancies.

• Looking for a natural way to relax when you're trying to conceive? An orgasm could be just what the doctor ordered! Studies have shown that an orgasm is 22 times as relaxing as the average tranquilizer. This could be the big night! If you're taking your BBT to try to pinpoint your most fertile days, don't wait until your temperature starts shooting upward before you start trying to conceive. By that time, ovulation will have already occurred and you will have missed your babymaking opportunity.

• Once ovulation has occurred, the waiting game begins. There won't be enough human chorionic gonadotropin in your urine for a pregnancy test to pick up until at least 12 days after ovulation--perhaps even longer.

• Are you tracking your basal body temperatures? If you are, you might be able to save yourself the cost of a home pregnancy test. If your period ends up being late, you will simply need to note whether your luteal phase--the number of days since you ovulated--is longer than normal. If you end up with 18 consecutive elevated temperatures or your temperature remains elevated for at least three days longer than your longest luteal phase to date, you'll be able to conclude that you're pregnant.

• Here's some pregnancy-related trivia. Question: Who said, "Death and taxes and childbirth. There's never any convenient time for any of them?" Answer: Scarlett O'Hara! Tempted to lit up a cigarette or have a glass of wine? You should assume that you're pregnant until you know for sure that you're not. One of the most critical periods in embryonic development happens before a woman even knows that she's pregnant.

• More pregnancy trivia to help pass the time! Back in the 17th century, it was believed that a woman could tell whether or not she was pregnant by looking at her boiled urine. If she could see her reflection, she was pregnant! (Note: Don't try this at home.)

• Your body begins to produce hCG about a week after conception. The production of hCG combined with rising progesterone levels causes blood flow to the pelvic area to increase--something that could have you running to the bathroom at frequent intervals as your pregnancy progresses.

• Don't panic if you experience a small amount of spotting. Some women experience implantation bleeding about a week after conception--the point in pregnancy when the fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine wall. Many women mistake this light amount of bleeding for a menstrual period--something that can wreak havoc on their ability to calculate their due dates.

• It's no wonder that most women use home pregnancy tests to confirm their pregnancies. The tests are 97% accurate--at least as accurate as any urine test that you can take at the doctor's or midwife's office.

• Over $206 million dollars worth of pregnancy tests are sold in the U.S. each year.

• Although pregnancy is the most common explanation for missing a period, you can miss a period for many other reasons: jet lag, severe illness, surgery, shock, bereavement, or other causes of stress. And as if that weren't enough to muddy the waters, some women continue to have menstrual-like bleeding throughout at least part of their pregnancies.

• If you purchase a pregnancy test that requires that you collect a urine sample rather than testing your urine while you urinate, make sure that you have a clean, soap-free container on hand. Soap residue can affect the accuracy of the test.

• Contrary to popular belief, taking contraceptive pills, antibiotics, and analgesics such as acetaminophen should not affect the accuracy of your pregnancy test.

• Planning to use a home pregnancy test tomorrow? Check to make sure that the test hasn't passed its expiration date and read the test instructions so you'll know what you're doing when it's time to do the test.

• Two weeks have passed since you ovulated. If your period hasn't show up yet, you should be able to get a reliable result on a home pregnancy test starting today. (If you test too soon, there won't be enough hCG in your urine to make the test show a positive.) If you get a positive test result, you're probably pregnant. When errors occur during testing, they are most likely to result in false negatives.

Ann Douglas is the author of The Unofficial Guide to Childcare, Baby Science How Babies Really Work, and The Unofficial Guide to Having A Baby. She writes the monthly "Mom's the Word" column for Canadian Parents Online and is a regular contributor to a number of print and online publications. She and her husband Neil have four children. Ann is frequently quoted in the media on a range of parenting-related topics, and has appeared as a guest on a number of television and radio shows. She can be contacted via her management firm, Page One Productions Inc.

Ann and her husband Neil live in Peterborough, Ontario, with their four children Julie, Scott, Erik, and Ian . A fifth child, Laura Ann, was stillborn in 1996 due to a true knot in her umbilical cord.

Copyright © Ann Douglas. Permission to republish granted to Pregnancy.org, LLC.