Learn how long it typically takes to get pregnant and when it's time to seek help.

You've decided to take the plunge into the trying-to-conceive pool. Good for you! But as you come up for air, you might start feeling a little worried. What if I can't get pregnant? What if something goes wrong? How long will this take? These nagging fears are completely normal and extremely common, but the good news is that for nine out of ten women, the stork will arrive without any special medical intervention. So take a deep breath (it'll be good practice for that Lamaze breathing down the road) and consider these stats:

• You have a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant with every cycle, provided you don't have any undiagnosed fertility issues.
• Over the course of a year, your chances of conceiving are 75 to 85 percent (again assuming no underlying complications).

So what does all that mean for you (especially since you probably don't want to do the math to figure out probabilities)? It means that you'll very likely become pregnant within several months of enjoyable effort. It may happen faster if you know your cycle and learn to identify when you're ovulating. Eating well and staying healthy can also play a role, as can your age. If you're under 25, you have an 86 percent chance of getting baby on board within a year of trying. From age 25 to 29, your chance of conception drops only slightly, to 78 percent. Overall, infertility rates are a mere 5 percent during this decade. Between ages 30 and 34, your likelihood dips a bit to 63 percent — still a very healthy possibility. At 35, you still have more than a 50 percent chance of getting pregnant naturally within a year's time.
When should you seek help? If you're over 35 and haven't conceived after six months of trying, you should consider seeing a specialist. At least half of couples who are evaluated for suspected infertility will end up, after treatment, with a successful pregnancy. A reproductive endocrinologist or other specialist can help determine whether the problem lies with the prospective mom (35 percent of the time), dad (also 35 percent of cases), or both together (20 percent). The upshot? If you're just starting out on the road to conception, try to keep the pressure off for the next six months to a year and enjoy the ride. You'll sprout enough gray hairs a few years down the road when your child first learns to climb stairs and escape from the crib!