When a couple is trying to get pregnant, it's very easy for the act of sex to become mechanical, particularly for those couples that have been struggling for some time. After all, how erotic is making love to a calendar? Foreplay is often forgotten, the sex loses its spark, and the only things on your mind are menstrual cycles, ovulation, and sperm counts.

That's no frame of mind for great lovemaking!

And while you may think that your sex life losing its spark is a small and temporary price to pay in order to get pregnant, this problem may actually be preventing your pregnancy.

Mundane, mechanical sex often results in the loss of the female orgasm, and the female orgasm is more important than you might realize if you want to conceive as fast as possible.

It goes without saying that the male orgasm is essential to conception; in order to ejaculate his semen into the vagina he must achieve orgasm. The female orgasm, however, may be just as vital. Here's why.

When a woman achieves orgasm, her cervix contracts, causing it to dip in and out of the vagina. If the male has already ejaculated at this point then his semen will lie dormant in this area. The dipping movement of the cervix will therefore draw in the semen, assisting it on its journey towards the egg.

For couples that routinely engage in foreplay to the point of female orgasm, there's no reason to discontinue this. In fact, a female orgasm prior to intercourse has many benefits, the most important of which is the natural lubrication of the vagina (a well-lubricated vagina during sex will make intercourse far more pleasurable for the woman, and also increase the likelihood of conception taking place thanks to the entire vaginal region being more hospitable towards sperm).

What's vital, though, is that female orgasm is achieved after the male orgasm, in order to benefit from the cervical dips into the semen-rich vagina. Couples that wish to maximize their chances of conception should therefore ensure that the female partner orgasms sometime soon after the male ejaculates. This orgasm can be through masturbation or partner-lead stimulation, as long as the female partner remains on her back or on all fours to ensure maximum sperm retention in the vagina.