A woman is most fertile during the three days before and the day of ovulation. While the average women ovulates on or about day 14 of her menstrual cycle (counting the first day of her menstrual period as Day 1), it can vary considerably from woman to woman, and even from month to month. By keeping careful track of your fertility signs, you can pinpoint when you will be the most fertile and the most likely to achieve conception in a given cycle.
Step 1
Take your temperature with a basal body thermometer every morning before you get out of bed. Write down the temperatures and plot them on a graph, or use a software program, such as Fertility Friend, to track your temperature each day. Your temperature will rise a half degree to a full degree each month after you ovulate. Look at the patterns on your temperature chart to determine where you are in your cycle, and to help you predict which days in your cycle when you are likely to be most fertile.
Step 2
Notice your cervical fluid during different parts of your menstrual cycle. Before ovulation, when you are at your most fertile, it often resembles the consistency of raw egg-white. After ovulation has taken place, cervical fluid dries up considerably and is sticky or slightly moist.
Step 3
Check your cervix as you approach ovulation by placing a clean finger or two into your vagina and feel for a protrusion several inches up. Right before you ovulate, your cervix will feel soft, will be high in the vagina, will be somewhat open and very wet. After you ovulate and right after menstruation, it will feel firmer, lower, closed and dry.
Step 4
Consider using an ovulation predictor kit when you think you are within a few days of ovulation. These kits, available at pharmacy and discount stores, measure the amount of lutenizing hormone in your urine. A day or so before ovulation, your levels of lutenizing hormone surge and will cause the test to show a positive result.
Tips and Warnings
- If you have been trying to get pregnant for several months while charting your fertility signs, take your temperature and cervical symptom charts to your gynecologist. Your doctor will be able to determine whether you are ovulating regularly and might refer you to a reproductive endocrinologist if necessary.
Things You'll Need
- Basal body thermometer
- Graph paper
- Ovulation predictor kit (optional)
References
- Taking Charge of Your Fertility; Toni Weschler; 2001
- Mayo Clinic: Ovulation Signs and Symptoms
- Americanpregnancy.org: Ovulation FAQs
