While the answers are not always straightforward, there are periods when pregnancy is more likely and others when the odds are minimal. In general, your chances of conceiving soon before your period are slim. Ovulation will most likely occur between Days 11 and 21 of a typical 28-to-30-day cycle. If you miss your egg-release day by just 1 or 2 days, then you may still conceive because sperm can live for up to 48 hours in case of condom failure or ovulation-synchronization method error. Any other way of trying to get pregnant would be considered "fertility treatments." About 10% of women who use these methods successfully get pregnant within their first 12 months. The best time to get pregnant depends on how far along you are with your pregnancy. If you're less than 50% pregnant, you should try to get pregnant as soon as possible because developing babies need to grow as fast as possible once they enter the womb. They build mass rapidly in the first trimester and then slow down after that. If you wait until after you've given birth to have your baby, he or she won't be able to feed from the breast yet and won't be able to move around very much. This could cause problems later in life if the child was born premature or sick. Women who are over 50 years old tend to produce fewer eggs every month and also have shorter reproductive cycles.