Check Your Basal Body Temperature
It’s also a good idea to pay attention to the signs that your body is ready to ovulate. Checking your basal body temperature is one way to do this.
The BBT is your temperature first thing in the morning. Just after you ovulate, it rises slightly — sometimes by less than a degree — and stays higher until your period starts. If you record your temperature every day, you can spot the subtle changes that mean one of your ovaries has released an egg.
To take your BBT, you need to:
Use a basal body thermometer. It’s more sensitive than a standard one and will show temperature changes down to a fraction of a degree. You can get them at many pharmacies for less than $20.
Continued
Take your temperature at the same time each morning. Always do it before you get out of bed. Even getting up to go to the bathroom can affect your body temperature. So can smoking, drinking, or getting a bad night’s sleep.
Remember, your BBT won’t tell you exactly when you’ve ovulated, and it may take a couple of months before you start to see a pattern. You’re most likely to get pregnant 2 or 3 days before your ovary releases an egg, and then another 12 to 24 hours after that. When your temperature has spiked for 3 days, your chances of conceiving drop.
What Do The Results Tell You
Your “fertile window” is up to 6 days long, once a month. It includes:
- The day you ovulate. This is when you have the best chance of becoming pregnant.
- The 5 days before ovulation. This is because sperm can live in a woman’s body for 3 to 5 days after sex. When an egg is released, one of these sperm is ready to fertilize it.
If you want to become pregnant, try to have sex every day or every other day from your first fertile day to your last fertile day.
The Importance Of Ovulation Predictors
The whole idea of determining when your most fertile days rests on the notion that you can accurately predict your ovulation. So the very first step in understanding your fertility is knowing when you ovulate.
Becoming a good ovulation predictor means relying on your own fertility awareness and the ovulation signs your body shows you each month. Fertility iPhone apps are actually really good at helping you to chart your fertility to determine when your most fertile days may be occur.
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What Does This Tool Help You Learn
This interactive tool estimates your peak fertility period, also known as your “fertile window.” This is when you are most likely to get pregnant. Do not use this tool to prevent pregnancy.
In the tool, you will enter the typical length of your menstrual cycle, and you will click on the first day of your last menstrual period.
- To know how long your cycles are, track the number of days on a calendar for 2 or 3 months or cycles. Your menstrual cycle begins with the day your period starts and ends the day before your next period starts.
- If you do not know the number of days in your menstrual cycle, you can use 28 days. This is the average length of a menstrual cycle. But if your cycle is longer or shorter than that, or if it is not always the same length, this tool will not predict your fertile window very well.
Fritz MA, Speroff L . Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility, 8th ed., Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Immediately Before Your Period
By and large, your likelihood of conceiving right before your period is low. During a typical 28- to 30-day cycle, ovulation will most likely occur between Day 11 and Day 14. When this happens, the egg will only be available for conception for 12 to 24 hours.
The days immediately before your period would be the “safest” if you want to have sex without the risk of pregnancy.
It’s important to remember, though, that this window of opportunity can vary. Longer cycles will usually have more “safe” days, while shorter cycles will have fewer. As such, you may risk pregnancy if you ovulate later in the cycle or simply miscalculate your “safe” days.
On the other hand, if you are trying to conceive, now would not be the best time to start. You can still enjoy sex but are more likely to conceive if you do so after your period.
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Can You Still Conceive While On Your Period
You can conceive from having sex while being on period if you happen to ovulate early in your cycle, or if your monthly periods last much longer than the average 5 days. The issue of your chances of getting pregnant while on period does not have a specific answer. However, exceptions are always there.
Your Best Days For Making A Baby
Brandi Jeter Riley and her husband, Terrence, were ready to give their 8-year-old daughter a baby sister or brother.
When Riley didnt get pregnant right away, she worried about infertility. But before seeing a specialist, she tried something she hadnt done before tracking her cycle and timing it right.
It was a success. Less than 2 months later, Riley, who lives in Oakland, CA, was pregnant. Nine months later, I was giving birth to my little baby boy, she says.
When a couple is having issues getting pregnant, the first step is to make sure theyre doing it right, says Kara Manglani, a certified nurse midwife and fertility expert in New York. They need to learn about the womans menstrual cycle and ovulation that time every month when one of their ovaries releases an egg.
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When To See A Doctor
Women who track their fertile window with the aim of getting pregnant should see their doctor for preconception planning.
As well as identifying barriers to conceiving, a doctor can advise on the use of folic acid or prenatal supplements to encourage a healthy pregnancy.
Most couples who engage in frequent, unprotected sex will conceive within 12 months.
Women under 35 years of age should see their doctor if they do not conceive after a year of trying. Those over 35 years of age should seek medical advice after 6 months of trying to conceive.
Anyone who has irregular cycles or does not appear to ovulate should also speak to their doctor. There may be an underlying medical cause that is preventing ovulation and conception.
Ovulation predictor kits and fertility monitors are available for purchase online.
Are You Fertile A Week Before Your Period
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Can You Get Pregnant While On Your Period
The chances of getting pregnant while on your period are low, but pregnancy is still possible.
The answer lies in understanding the fertile window. For people who are trying to get pregnant, menstruation is not the best time to conceive. Getting pregnant depends on ovulation, which happens when an egg is released from the ovary and moves toward the uterus. The day of ovulation varies from one person to another and from cycle to cycle.
Although the chances of getting pregnant while on your period are low, there are exceptions. For example, it is possible to conceive during a period if ovulation occurs early in your cycle or if your periods last longer than five days.
The chances of becoming pregnant during menstruation are higher for people with shorter monthly cycles. Shorter cycles mean ovulation occurs early in the cycle. Because sperm can live for up to five days inside your body, having sex near the end of a period could lead to pregnancy if ovulation occurs early .
Generally, most people ovulate sometime between days 10 and 17 of their menstrual cycle. The earlier ovulation occurs, the earlier the fertile window will start. The fertile window begins five days before ovulation. If ovulation occurs on day 14 of a cycle, then the fertile window starts on day nine. But if ovulation occurs on day eight of a cycle, the fertile window begins on day three possibly in the middle of a period.
What Is The Best Way To Determine When Youre Most Fertile
Being aware of your menstrual cycle and the changes in your body that happen during this time can help you know when you are most likely to get pregnant.
The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days. But normal cycles can vary from 21 to 35 days. The amount of time before ovulation occurs is different in every woman and even can be different from month to month in the same woman, varying from 13 to 20 days long. Learning about this part of the cycle is important because it is when ovulation and pregnancy can occur. After ovulation, every woman will have a period within 14 to 16 days.
Knowing when you’re most fertile will help you plan or prevent pregnancy. There are three ways you can keep track of your fertile times:
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When Is Your Fertile Window
what days can you get pregnant?
The truth is, your fertile window each month is actually pretty smallabout five to seven days total. To conceive, a mans sperm must fertilise a womans egg within 48 hours of ovulation .
The Menstrual Cycle Phases, hormones and their functions Click here to learn more
The follicular phase is the first phase of the cycle. It lasts about 10 to 14 days. The uterus lining rebuilds in preparation for ovulation and hormones stimulate follicle development during this phase.
The drop of estrogen levels triggers an increase of follicle-stimulating hormone that promotes the growth of a group of follicles within the ovaries. One follicle will continue to develop into a mature egg. Hormones cause the mature follicle to burst and release the egg into the fallopian tube. This is the beginning of ovulation, which marks the end of the follicular phase.
The menstrual cycle enters the luteal phase with the ovulation of an egg from one of the ovaries. A surge of luteinizing hormone initiates ovulation. Estrogen and progesterone levels also rise during the luteal phase causing the endometrium to thicken in preparation for an embryo .
Use An Ovulation Predictor Test Kit
There is a hormone that increases in the urine before ovulation. Monitoring this hormone surge has been shown to help pinpoint ovulation and the fertile window.
You can buy ovulation predictor test kits that can detect this hormone in your urine. The tests are available from chemists or supermarkets or online and are simple to use.
Ovulation predictor kits may not be suitable if you have a known fertility issue that affects your menstrual cycle, such as polycystic ovary syndrome . This is because this condition affects your hormones, so you may not get an accurate reading. Talk to your GP if you have PCOS and want to get pregnant.
It is best to become familiar with your usual menstrual cycle to help figure out when you should start testing. If you have an irregular cycle then an ovulation predictor kit can still help you identify the time of ovulation, but you may use more of the test sticks. Follow the instructions on the packet to find out more.
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Track Your Basal Body Temperature
Your basal body temperature, or BBT, that is. Taken with a special, basal body thermometer, basal body temperature is the baseline reading you get first thing in the morning, after at least three to five hours of sleep and before you get out of bed, talk or even sit up. Your BBT changes throughout your cycle as fluctuations in hormone levels occur. During the first half of your cycle before ovulation, estrogen dominates.
During the second half after ovulation, there’s a surge in progesterone, which increases your body temperature as it gets your uterus ready for a fertilized, implantable egg. That means your temperature will be lower in the first half of the month than it is in the second half.
Confused? Here’s the bottom line: Your basal body temperature will reach its lowest point at ovulation and then rise immediately about a half a degree as soon as ovulation occurs. Keep in mind that charting your BBT for just one month will not enable you to predict the day you ovulate but rather give you evidence of ovulation after it’s happened. Tracking it over a few months, however, will help you see a pattern in your cycles, enabling you to predict when your fertile days are and when to hop into bed accordingly.
Many women do find this approach a bit frustrating and it is important to know that studies have shown that the timing of ovulation does vary among women after the dip in temperature. Ovulation predictor kits are more precise.
How Knowing Your Fertile Days Helps
Since you can only become pregnant after you have ovulated , the goal is to abstain from unprotected sexual intercourse during this time.
Once you know when your most fertile days are, you should not have any unprotected sex during the five days leading up to and including the day that you ovulate, and during the one day after ovulation.
Why five days + one? Sperm can live inside the female body for up to 5 days, so… let’s say “Jennifer” ovulates on Day 12. If Jennifer has sex on Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day, 10, or Day 11, there can still be sperm living inside of her. So when her egg is released on Day 12, there can be plenty of sperm waiting to fertilize it.
Same goes with Jennifer having sex on Day 13 . After she ovulates, her egg is “open for business” for about 24 hours . If Jennifer happens to ovulate in the afternoon or evening in Day 12, her egg can still be joined by a sperm during that 24 hour period.
So if she has sex the next afternoon or evening, her egg may still be still “accepting visitors.” Abstaining from unprotected sex the entire day after ovulation is also a wise idea.
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