Is Your Body Baby-ready?

Take our exclusive fertility quiz, then learn how to maximize your pregnancy potential when you're yearning for a new addition.

Women spend so much of their lives trying to avoid pregnancy that you'd think baby making requires little more than ditching your contraceptive. While that's true for many women, your shot at conceiving easily and having a healthy pregnancy can go up dramatically if you prepare your body and mind before you abandon your birth control. This exclusive quiz, developed by some of the nation's top experts, can help you gauge your fertility and target any habits or symptoms that might need your attention. (It can't, of course, pinpoint internal problems such as blocked tubes.) So take this test and see what changes you may need to make. Then put down this magazine and, well, you know.

Find out how fertile you are Use the pink boxes to keep score.

Which describes your menstrual cycle?

1. Like clockwork (when you're not on the Pill) (3 points)
2. Not the same each month but always between 24 and 35 days long (1 point)
3. About as predictable as the stock market (-2 points)

How old are you?

1. 35 or younger (3 points)
2. Between 36 and 39 (1 point)
3. 40 or older (-1 point)

Have you ever been pregnant?

1. Yes, I'm already a mom. (2 points)
2. Yes, but the pregnancy didn't go to term. (1 point)
3. No (0 points)

Do you smoke?

1. Yes, every day (-3 points)
2. I smoke occasionally or I've quit. (-1 point)
3. No, and I never have. (2 points)

How much alcohol do you drink?

1. I have 21 or more drinks per week. (-2 points)
2. I have between 5 and 20 drinks per week. (-1 point)
3. I have four or fewer drinks per week. (1 point)

How much caffeine do you consume?

1. Five or more cups of coffee (or the equivalent in soda or tea, each of which has roughly a third as much caffeine) per day (-2 points)
2. I refill my mug three or four times per day. (-1 point)
3. No more than two cups of coffee a day (1 point)

How often do you take a multivitamin with folic acid?

1. Every day (1 point)
2. Occasionally—when I remember (0 points)
3. Never (-1 point)

What's your body-mass index? (Go to Self.com to calculate yours.)

1. 27 or higher (-2 points)
2. 20 to 26 (2 points)
3. Lower than 20 (-2 points)

How much vigorous aerobic exercise do you do?

1. Seven or more hours per week (-1 point)
2. Four to six hours per week (1 point)
3. Three or fewer hours per week (0 points)

Rate your stress level

1. I often feel overwhelmed trying to juggle the millions of things I have to do. (-2 points)
2. I get stressed, but I turn to exercise and relaxation techniques to keep it in check. (1 point)
3. I hardly feel stressed at all. (0 points)

How have you been feeling lately?

1. I'm usually pretty blue or anxious. (-2 points)
2. I've had more lows than usual but I'm OK. (0 points)
3. Perfectly fine (1 point)

Do you think you may have an eating disorder?

1. Yes (-3 points)
2. Maybe in the past, but not now (0 points)
3. No (1 point)

How often do you use artificial lubricants during sex, or vaginal douches anytime?

1. Frequently (-2 points)
2. Once in a while (-1 point)
3. Rarely or never (1 point)

Have you ever had a sexually transmitted disease such as human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia or gonorrhea?

1. Yes, but it was treated early. (0 points)
2. Yes, and it wasn't treated until it was at a late stage. (-2 points)
3. Maybe—I'm not sure. (-1 point)
4. No. I'm screened regularly. (1 point)