While fertility problems concern more and more couples, the range of care for women wishing to get pregnant quickly is widening in spa treatments. Sometimes considered as the “last chance cure”, the special infertility spa treatment can accompany, physically and psychologically, the patient on her difficult journey to become a mother.

Today there are spa treatments with a gynecological orientation (called GYN) specializing in the treatment of female infertility. These cures can constitute a therapeutic solution in the event of unexplained infertility, treatment failure or in support of AMP care (medically assisted procreation). Certain specialists prescribe it in particular before in vitro fertilization (IVF), in order to help the body to prepare. The thermal baths of Salies-les-Bains (Béarn) are particularly renowned for their fertility orientation.

These gynecologically oriented cures last 21 days, including 18 days of treatment. Prescribed by a doctor, they are covered 100% by the Health Insurance. Their supposed benefits are based on thermal water, the composition of which varies depending on the location. This therapeutic water would have stimulating, anti-inflammatory, decongestant and remineralizing virtues, with a beneficial action on the genital mucous membranes and the secretion of female hormones. In the event of moderately blocked tubes, thermal water, thanks to its decongestant action, could thus restore a certain permeability to the tubes. In the gynecological context, thermal water is used via vaginal irrigations, mother water compresses applied locally, jet showers.

There is currently no scientific consensus attesting to the benefits of thermal waters on fertility, but there are many testimonies from women who have become mothers after these cures often considered to be “the last chance” … The benefits of these cures are also based on the psycho-emotional aspect. During an AMP course which often resembles an “obstacle course”, the spa treatment constitutes a beneficial parenthesis, a bubble in which to refocus and take care of yourself. These cures generally offer psychological care with individual consultations and talking circles between patients.

Some hydrotherapy or thalassotherapy centers offer cures dedicated to expectant mothers. Less known than the mother-baby post-natal cures, it is generally a half-day, a day or a short stay.

These prenatal cures, carried out during the second trimester of pregnancy, are intended for mothers-to-be without obstetric complications (early contractions, modified cervix, gestational diabetes, hypertension, etc.). It is also recommended to take advice from your gynecologist before organizing your stay. Once there, a medical consultation is scheduled to check the mother’s good health, the good progress of the pregnancy and rule out any contraindication.

The treatments offered during these prenatal cures vary according to the establishments, the stays and the needs of the mother-to-be:

• hydromassage treatments with sea water or thermal water;
• seaweed, sea mud or thermal mud massages and wraps;
• gym sessions supervised by a physiotherapist;
• manual lymphatic drainage;
• relaxation sessions (especially sophrology) in the swimming pool;
• pressure therapy sessions;
• prenatal massage sessions;
• osteopathy sessions in the swimming pool;
• preparation sessions for childbirth in the swimming pool, with a midwife;
• future mother Pilates sessions;
• beauty treatments;
• dietetic workshops;
• consultations with a psychologist or support groups;
• etc.

Saunas and hammams, on the other hand, are not recommended during pregnancy.

These different treatments can help prevent and relieve pregnancy ailments: muscle tension, lower back pain, heavy legs, etc. The exercises in the swimming pool allow you to move in almost weightlessness, benefiting from the beneficial effect of thermal water or sea water. This joint and muscle relaxation work will help the mother-to-be to adapt better. to changes in his body. But these prenatal cures are above all a moment of well-being and relaxation, a break during which the expectant mother will be able to focus on her pregnancy and the upcoming arrival of her baby in a daily life that sometimes leaves little room for this introspection. benefactress.

Unlike thermal cures prescribed by a doctor and paid for by Health Insurance, these prenatal cures cannot be covered.

The “window of fertility” is quite short: only 3 to 5 days per month. It depends both on the lifespan of the ovulated oocyte, and on that of the spermatozoa.

• once in the tube, the oocyte is only fertilizable within 12 to 24 hours. Once this period has passed, it spontaneously degenerates;
• sperm can remain fertilizing for 3 to 5 days.

Fertilization can only take place when the oocyte can be fertilized, so up to 12 to 24 hours after ovulation. But it can be fertilized by sperm that have remained fertilizing after intercourse that took place before ovulation. The fertility window, that is to say the period during which intercourse can potentially lead to fertilization, is therefore between 3 to 5 days before ovulation (depending on the length of the sperm’s life) and 12 to 24 hours after ovulation (depending on the lifespan of the oocyte).

To put the odds on your side, it therefore seems a good idea to have at least one intercourse 1 or 2 days before ovulation, then another on the day of ovulation.