How To Know When Youre Ovulating
Knowing when you ovulate can help you plan for sex at the right time and improve your chance of getting pregnant. You can keep track of your menstrual cycles on a chart, in a diary, or on a free period-tracker app on your smartphone.
To work out the length of your menstrual cycle, record the first day you start bleeding . This is day 1. The last day of your cycle is the day before your next period begins.
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Some people think the menstrual cycle and a period are the same thing.
A period is when you bleed .
A menstrual cycle starts on the day when a period starts and ends the day before the next period. A cycles length is considered normal if its between 21 and 35 days. They can vary between women and from one cycle to the next.
- Working out your average menstrual cycle length
If your menstrual cycles are different lengths you can work out your average cycle length.
The number of days in a womans menstrual cycle can vary month to month. Periods are not always regular. It can be useful to work out an average cycle length, based on the length of three menstrual cycles, to estimate when youre most likely to be ovulating.
If you add the number of days in three cycles and divide the total number by three, it gives you your average cycle length.
Example
Sarah tracked her last three menstrual cycles by counting the time from the first day of one period, to the day before the next period.
Cycle 1 was 28 days Cycle 2 was 32 days Cycle 3 was 27 days
28 + 32 + 27 = 87
Difficulty Pinpointing Your Fertile Days
Timing your ovulation can become tricky since it may not happen on the same day or same time every month. The length of your cycle may change from month to month as well.
To start with, you will need to do some careful record keeping over a period of at least 3 to 6 months to have a more accurate idea of when you ovulate.
Even if you have charted your cycles for a few months and are fairly confident in the job of being your ovulation predictor, your ovulation may come earlier or later than predicted. This is because ovulation can be thrown off if you:
- Are sick.
- Have an imbalance in your hormones or irregular cycles.
- Are taking certain medications .
- Are having a disruption in your normal routines.
- Are drinking alcohol or smoking.
- Are have experienced a 10-15% increase or decrease from a normal level of body fat.
Can You Get Pregnant On Your Period
A person can get pregnant during their period, but it is unlikely.
A person is most likely to become pregnant in the middle of their menstrual cycle, which is when the ovary releases an egg in a process called ovulation.
The egg then travels to the uterus, where a sperm cell can fertilize it.
According to the Office on Womens Health, the average menstrual cycle is 28 days. The menstrual cycle is the time between the first day of one period and the first day of the next period. Ovulation usually occurs 719 days after a persons period ends.
The egg can only survive for 1224 hours after ovulation. For this reason, it must meet a sperm cell in this time for pregnancy to occur.
A person is most likely to get pregnant if they have sexual intercourse in the 3 days before and up to the day of ovulation.
Since a person with 28-day cycles typically does not ovulate until around a week after they stop bleeding, they cannot usually get pregnant during their period.
However, it is not quite as simple as this due to three main factors:
- a persons menstrual cycle length
- monthly differences in the timing of ovulation
- how long sperm stays alive inside the female body
Menstrual cycles are still normal if the period comes every 2438 days, so cycle length varies significantly between people. People with shorter menstrual cycles may ovulate closer to their period than people with longer cycles.
So, although it is possible to become pregnant during the period, it is unlikely.
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When Is The Best Time To Get Pregnant
“Most pregnancies result from sex that happened less than 2 days before ovulation,” Manglani says. But you can get pregnant earlier or later. “Sperm can live in fertile cervical mucus for up to 5 days,” she says. An egg can live up to 24 hours after ovulation.
Generally, your best chance of getting pregnant is 12-16 days before your period, says Edward Marut, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist with Fertility Centers of Illinois.
“The tricky part is identifying when ovulation occurs,” Manglani says. Every woman’s menstrual cycle is different. Many women think they ovulate on the 14th day of their cycle. But that’s a myth. Most don’t.
Try one or more of these methods to figure out when you ovulate.
Can I Use My Menstrual Cycle To Predict My Due Date
Yes. You can work out how far along your pregnancy is by counting from the first day of your last period.
This can be confusing because you probably didnt get pregnant until around 2 weeks later, after you ovulated. Even if do you know the date you got pregnant, this is counted as day 14 of your pregnancy , not day 1.
Your pregnancy is calculated from your last menstrual period because every time you have a period this is the bodys way of getting ready for pregnancy. It also gives healthcare professionals a standard to follow because its very difficult to know exactly when the sperm fertilised the egg.
If your period is irregular or if youve recently been on the pill it will be harder to try and work out your due date.
The most accurate way to work out your due date is to have an ultrasound scan when youre around 11 to 14 weeks pregnant. This is used to see how for along you are and check your babys development.
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Can A Girl Get Pregnant Right After Her Period Ends
Can a girl get pregnant when she’s just gotten over her period? Katherine*
Yes! Having unprotected sex at any time is risky and can result in pregnancy. Sometimes the time when a girl is most likely to become pregnant can happen within a few days of when your period ends. Also, sperm can fertilize an egg for 72 hours after ejaculation.
Having unprotected sex at any time is very risky a girl can even get pregnant if she has sex during her period. Along with the chance of becoming pregnant, there is also the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease , such as chlamydia, genital warts, or HIV.
The only surefire way to prevent pregnancy and STDs is abstinence . If you do have sex, use a condom every time to protect against unplanned pregnancy and STDs. And talk to your doctor about additional forms of contraception.
*Names have been changed to protect user privacy.
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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Examples Of Most Fertile Days
The fertile period is the six days leading up to and including ovulation, and the one day after you ovulate. You are most fertile the three days leading up to and including ovulation.
Here are some examples to help you calculate your most fertile days. Remember, these results will be most accurate if you can reliably predict when you ovulate . So, you have figured out that:
- You have a shorter cyclethere are 21 days between periods. This means that you will most likely ovulate on Day 7. So, your most fertile days are Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, and Day 8.
- You have a regular cyclethere are 27 days between periods. This means that you will most likely ovulate on Day 13. So, your most fertile days are Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, and Day 14.
- You have longer cyclethere are 33 days between periods. This means that you will most likely ovulate on Day 19. So, your most fertile days are Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, and Day 20.
How Long Does It Take For Birth Control To Begin Working
- Some kinds of birth control start to work with the first use, such as barrier methods.
- Hormonal methods of birth control such as pills, implants, or the patch may not begin working immediately.
- Their effectiveness depends upon the time in your monthly cycle when you begin using the contraception.
- Sometimes it is recommended that women use an alternate method of contraception for the first week after beginning the pill or hormonal contraception.
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Natural Birth Control Methods
Natural methods involve tracking a woman’s menstrual cycle to try to determine when ovulation is most likely to occur and avoiding sexual intercourse during that time. There are different ways to detect ovulation, including the basal body temperature method and the use of home ovulation test kits. Checking and recording the consistency of cervical mucus is another way to help determine when ovulation occurs.
These methods tend to be the least successful methods as they require discipline in recording and tracking and understanding the results.
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.
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Menstrual Cycles Are Always 28 Days Long And Every Woman Ovulates On Day 14
The average menstrual cycle is 28 days long, but every woman is unique and nearly 50% of womens cycles vary in length by 7 days or more1. In a recent study of over 800 women, only 14% of women with a 28 day cycle actually ovulated on day 14. The day of ovulation ranged from day 11 to day 20.2 As menstrual cycles vary in length, so does the timing of ovulation, so it can be difficult to know when your fertile days are.
Im Pregnant But Have Some Bleeding Is This My Period
Implantation bleeding sometimes happens pregnant women around the time theto period would have been due. Implantation is when the developing embryo plants itself in the wall of your womb. An implantation bleed is very light bleeding that is usually pinkish and sometimes brown. Not everyone will have an implantation bleed.
Its common to have light bleeding or spotting without pain before 12 weeks. This isnt often serious, but you should contact your doctor, midwife or Early Pregnancy Unit immediately to be checked, just in case.
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Can You Get Pregnant On Birth Control
There is no form of birth control that is 100% effective, so it is possible to get pregnant while using most types of birth control. However, many types of birth control, when used correctly, are highly effective in preventing pregnancy. For example, the birth control pill is over 99% effective in preventing pregnancy when taken correctly. For all forms of birth control it is important to have a basic understanding how they work and how to use them correctly.
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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Can You Get Pregnant Right After Your Period
You are moving into your fertility window, so yes, you can get pregnant right after your period. On a typical cycle that occurs every 28 to 30 days, the fertility window is usually between Day 11 and Day 21. Remember, sperm can live up to 5 days. If your period lasts for 5 to 7 days, and you have sex right after that, you are approaching your fertility window.