It was a conversation I will always remember.  My husband and I were trying to have a baby.  As a matter of fact we had been trying for over nine months.  So like most women I turned to my friends first for advice.  My female cohorts and I were sitting around the staff table at our workplace shooting the breeze before a meeting. 

"Did you hear that Susan is pregnant?" one friend offered.

"What?  I didn't even know she was trying.  Why is it that everyone is pregnant but me?" I lamented. 

"Well how long have you been trying?"  Another friend chimed in.

"For over nine months now.  I am beginning to think something is wrong," I responded glumly.

It was at this point that the suggestions began to come forth with bursting speed.

"I heard that one lady got pregnant by using a turkey baster.  You just put the sperm in there and inject yourself."

"Oh you know what you gotta do?  You have to steal his underwear.  I heard that tightie whities are the reason for a lot of infertility.  He could wear boxers but why wear anything at all that might make things too hot down there?"

"Oh yeah you need him to keep things cool down there.  Have him put an icepack down there before you have sex."

"I heard that position is really important.  You want to keep that sperm in there so you should really consider having upside down sex.  Stand on your head or be upside down during sex, and then remember to stay like that for at least a half an hour after." 

I didn't say anything at this point and simply stared at these people who I had always thought possessed both logic and reason. 

And then they all agreed that I was probably too stressed out and if I just relaxed I could probably have a baby more quickly.

When I told these ideas to my husband he told me that if I ever came at him with a turkey baster or icepack he was running for the hills. Yet, no surprise here, he was very intrigued by the notion of upside down sex.  I hate to admit this but I did stand on my head as best as I was able several times following intercourse.  Needless to say, it didn't work.

Yes it is true.  Sometimes the desire to have a baby can make you stand on your head.

So what is true and what is false about some of these suggestions you might hear about conception?

Can your husband's underwear play any part in your fertility?   This is one of those fertility suggestions which has experts in disagreement.  I have read some research articles which say that it does matter.  The suggestion for a man to switch to boxers is based upon findings that sperm count rises in cooler temperatures.  Thus boxers provide more ventilation than tightie whities which trap hot air down there.  Yet in a Parent Time article entitled, "Fertility and Pregnancy Myths" the author says:  "There are also studies that have shown no statistical difference in the fertility of men due to their underwear. The scientific opinion seems at this point to be that it doesn't much matter what a man does with his underwear as long as he takes them off every once in awhile."