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.
Your Chances Of Getting Pregnant Every Day Of The Month
When sex coincides with your most fertile ovulation days, you’ll increase your chances of getting pregnant. Get to know each phase of your cycle to make conception faster and easier.
To hit the baby-making bullseye, you’ve got to aim for certain sweet spots of fertility in your cycle. Here’s your guide to the best chances of getting pregnant throughout the month so you can plan accordingly.
Your Menstrual Cycle And Conception
“There are two phases to the menstrual cycle: the follicular phase occurs before ovulation, and the luteal phase occurs after ovulation,” says Lauren Sundheimer, M.D., MS, FACOG, an OB-GYN practicing in Orange County, California. “Typically, in a 28-day cycle, a woman will ovulate approximately 14 days after the first day of her period.”
The egg that’s released during ovulation survives for only 24 hours. Sperm can survive three to five days in the uterus and fallopian tubes, says Barbara Stegmann, M.D., a triple board-certified OB-GYN and women’s health clinical lead at Organon. Having PIV sex during ovulation or the days beforehand can result in pregnancy, since the egg can meet with existing sperm in the reproductive tract.
But “if the egg is not fertilized by a sperm during this time, it does not survive,” says Michele Hakakha, M.D., a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist based in Los Angeles and co-author of Expecting 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for Your Pregnancy. About 12 to 16 days later, your uterine lining sheds, resulting in your period.
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Fertility Awareness As A Method Of Birth Control
All birth control methods can fail, even those with the highest effectiveness rate like intrauterine devices or tubal ligation. People should understand how well each option works prior to deciding upon a method of contraception.
When using fertility awareness as a method of birth control, fewer than five out of 100 women will become pregnant during the first year of perfect use. That being said, this method of birth control is very difficult to do without error.
When tracking your cycle, the first day should be when you begin bleeding. For most women, ovulationthe release of the egg from the ovariesoccurs around day 14. Some women may bleed for up to 10 days. Therefore, they may become fertile only four days after their period ends, Harper said. Some women even have earlier ovulations and some have later ovulations.
Are People More Fertile After A Miscarriage
Scientists are not able to say with certainty exactly how miscarriages affect a persons fertility.
Every woman experiences a different level of fertility after a miscarriage, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions.
For example, a
Although it is possible to have more than one pregnancy loss, multiple miscarriages are rare. According to the ACOG, around 1% of women experience repeated miscarriages.
Around 60% of miscarriages occur randomly, and there is no medical reason for why. Less commonly, certain genetic problems and medical conditions can increase the risk of repeated miscarriages.
Women who have experienced a miscarriage should discuss the possible reasons with a doctor, who can test for any underlying causes.
Having more than one miscarriage does not mean that having a baby is unachievable. In fact, around 65% of women who experience multiple unexplained miscarriages go on to have healthy babies.
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Can I Get Pregnant Just After My Period Has Finished
Yes, although it’s not very likely. If you have sex without using contraception, you can conceive at any time during your menstrual cycle, even during or just after your period.
You can also get pregnant if you have never had a period before, during your first period, or after the first time you have sex.
There’s no “safe” time of the month when you can have sex without contraception and not risk becoming pregnant.
But there are times in your menstrual cycle when you’re at your most fertile, and this is when you’re most likely to conceive.
Getting Pregnant After Depo
As long as you want to prevent pregnancy, you need to receive an injection every 90 days. This is because, after 90 days, the levels of Depo-Provera are not high enough for most women to reliably prevent pregnancy.
Lets say you want to get pregnant and you discontinue injections. You might assume your fertility will return on day 91, but this isnt how the medication works. While the levels of Depo-Provera after 90 days may not be high enough to be considered effective for pregnancy prevention, they may still be too high to get pregnant.
Some women will get pregnant the very first month after the 90 days, but this isnt common. Most women will see their fertility return within 5 to 7 months of their last injection. In other words, about two months after that 90-day period ends.
Within 10 months of the last injection, 50% of women who discontinue Depo-Provera will get pregnant.
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Use A Cycle Charting App
Phone apps can help you chart your cycle. You record details like the first day of your period, OPK results, and basal temperature. You’ll get alerts when you’re likely to be more fertile.
The drawback is most use a standard 28-day cycle, with ovulation on day 14, which isn’t accurate for many women.
If You Want To Get Pregnant Timing Is Everything
Many people have only a vague understanding of a womans menstrual cycle and when she is most likely to get pregnant.
For people trying for a baby, it helps to know when a woman is most fertile and when to have sex to increase their chances of having a baby.
Knowing whens the right time
When a woman ovulates, an egg is released from the ovary and if there is sperm waiting around at that time there is a good chance that it will be fertilised and grow into a baby over the next nine months.
Ovulation happens about 14 days before a period starts, but womens menstrual cycles are not all the same length. To work out the day of ovulation, it helps to know how to count the days in a menstrual cycle. A cycle is counted from the first day of one period to the day before the next period. So, the day a womans ovulation occurs depends on the length of her cycle.
Conception is possible during the fertile window the five days leading up to, plus the day of ovulation. There is even more chance of a woman becoming pregnant if she has sex during the two days leading up to or on the day of ovulation.
Women who have a period every 28 days will ovulate around day 14 and their best chance of conceiving is between days 11 and 14. For a woman whose cycle is 24 days, ovulation happens around day 10 and her most fertile days are between days 7 and 10, while someone who has a 35 day cycle will be most fertile between days 18 and 21.
Noticing when its the right time
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Being Stressed Will Stop Me Getting Pregnant And Using An Ovulation Test Will Make It Worse
While stress is never healthy, unless its interrupting your periods or sex life it wont stop you conceiving. It has been suggested that using to time intercourse on the most fertile days can be stressful, but a study by Prof. William Ledger and Clearblue found that using these tests is no more stressful than trying to conceive without them. In fact, in this study 77% more women got pregnant in the group that were using the tests3. Also remember its normal for sex to start to feel mechanical if youve been trying for a baby for a while. This is something a lot of couples experience and it doesnt mean theres anything wrong with your relationship. Most couples accept that baby-making sex can be different.
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.
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I Never Used A Hormonal Birth Control Method So We Should Get Pregnant As Soon As We Start Trying
Just because your hormones havent been affected by hormonal contraceptives doesn’t necessarily put you at an advantage. Your body may be better able to regulate itself but this doesn’t mean you can get pregnant any more easily. Your fertility can be influenced by many factors other than contraceptives.
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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How Long Does It Take To Get Pregnant After Having Sex
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Getting pregnant may seem like a rather mystical process. Once you learn the science and timing, it makes a bit more sense. Still, you may wonder how long it takes to actually conceive after having sex.
The short answer is that the egg and sperm can meet within minutes to up to 12 hours after ejaculation. But to see that second line on the pregnancy test, you still have some hurdles to cross.
Heres more about how reproduction works , as well as how to time things and possibly up your odds of getting pregnant.
Menopause: Could I Still Get Pregnant
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How long after the cessation of a women’s menstrual cycle is it possible to have unprotected sex without the fear of pregnancy?
Dr Fred Kavalier answers your health question:
Menopause is defined as the time when menstrual periods cease. But the end of periods does not always coincide with the end of hormonal activity within the ovaries. Studies have shown that some women have hormonal levels in the six months after menopause that are indistinguishable from the levels before their last period. This means that the ovaries may still be capable of releasing an egg, which could result in pregnancy. Most women experience the menopause between 47 and 53. But for some women the age of menopause can be much earlier or a few years later. The usual advice is that a woman should wait one year after her last menstrual period before she stops using contraception. If the last period is under the age of 50, she should use contraception for a further two years. Fertility falls off from the late thirties, but there are plenty of stories of women in their late forties who go to see their doctor about hormone replacement therapy because their periods have stopped, only to find that they are pregnant.
Please mail your questions for Dr Fred to . He regrets that he is unable to respond personally to questions.
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Test Positive On An Ovulation Predictor Test
These are ovulation test kits you can buy in any pharmacy or online. They work a lot like a pregnancy test, in that you use your urine to test your hormones. While pregnancy tests look for hCG, an ovulation predictor test looks for the hormone luteinizing hormone . LH spikes just before you ovulate.
Conceiving From Sex After Ovulation
Ideally, if you want to get pregnant, you need to have sex before you ovulate. If you were confused about this beforeand thought sex needs to come after ovulationyoure not alone. Many people dont realize that the best time to have sex to get pregnant is before, not after, ovulation.
However, lets say you think youve already ovulated is there any point in having sex, just in case? Yes.
There have been several research studies on the odds of conception at various stages of the menstrual cycle. Everyone agrees that your best odds of conception are the day before and the day of ovulation. But not everyone agrees on how likely you are to conceive once ovulation has passed.
Based on a number of studies, your odds of getting pregnant from having intercourse once may be anywhere in these ranges:
- 21%35% one day before ovulation
- 10%33% on ovulation day
- 0%11% one day past ovulation
- 0%9% two days past ovulation
These numbers assume that you have sex just once during your fertile window. If you have sex before you ovulate and the day after, your odds will be significantly different than if you have sex only after you ovulated.
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