Ovulation
Ovulation is the release of egg(s) from the ovaries each month during your menstrual cycle. Every month large number of eggs get mature inside your ovaries, and the most ripe egg gets released into your uterus through fallopian tubes.
Ovaries release eggs randomly not necessarily in specific turns.
Most women with regular menstrual cycle ovulate 2 weeks before the first day of periods. For women with irregular periods, it’s difficult to determine the exact ovulation day but generally, it occurs between 12 to 16 days before the first day of the next period.
Signs of ovulation
To know when you are ovulating, it’s important to look for the signs. These signs can be observed 5 days before you start ovulating. Some of these signs include:
- Cervical mucus:
It is the white sticky discharge (like an egg white). The amount and thickness of the cervical mucus changes during the menstrual cycle, and it becomes slippery, stretchy and clear during ovulation day and you are at your most fertile days during this time.
This mucus helps and protects the sperm to move up to the fallopian tubes to merge with the egg. After ovulation, this cervical mucus slowly becomes thick and sticky and these are non-fertile days which don’t help nourishes the sperm during those days. Tracking the changes in cervical mucus during the cycle helps predict your most fertile days.
A study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility found that women who regularly observed changes in the consistency of cervical mucus has 2.3 times more probability of getting pregnant over six months.
- An ache in your belly:
Very few women sense something happening in their ovaries. This can cause mild achiness to pangs of pain. Some feel back pain on one side or tender area. It can last from a few minutes to a few days. Tracking your cervical mucus at this time would be a good idea as these symptoms occur roughly the same time. This discomfort or pain can be a guide for predicting the most fertile days.
- Feeling sensual or high:
During your cycle, if you feel good about yourself, and want to make over and be sociable may be the signs of your fertile days. You might also feel sexual desire around this time. During this time you might also look more attractive and also might smell good not only to yourself but to others too.
- Basal Body temperature:
Basal body temperature is another way of predicting when you ovulate. It requires you to record your temperature first thing in the morning after you wake up, it is the temperature when your body is at complete rest. Ovulation may cause the basal body temperature to rise slightly. Take an empty chart with number of days and temperature mentioned on it to record the temperature each month.
It is important to note that every women’s body is different and show signs differently, the chart may not seem to be the same each month. It also varies for women with regular and irregular periods. You should start with the first day of your period and chart the change in temperature each day for the whole month. You will observe the rise in temperature with change in cervical mucus and this will help you determine the most fertile days during your cycle. Mostly the days before the temperature rises are the most fertile ones.
Ovulation and pregnancy
By monitoring ovulation, you can determine the most fertile days of the month. Egg remains in the fallopian tubes for 24 hours before moving to your uterus and after ovulation. A woman gets pregnant when the male sperms meet the egg during this time. Though a male sperm can remain in a female’s body for up to 7 days.
This helps to understand that a female has 6 days of fertility. 5 days before and the day of ovulation, making 6 days in total. If you have intercourse every 2 to 3 days during fertile window, the chances are that your egg might meet a healthy sperm to fertilize.
Read more on Getting pregnant
Read Pregnancy-Signs and Symptoms
Ovulation kit
Ovulation-prediction kits can help guessing the most fertile days. These kits test for the luteinizing hormone (LH), which causes the egg to release. Most of these kits are accurate and help predict your fertile window. They are inexpensive and available on most known pharmacies in Pakistan.
This article is for informational purposes only, and is not meant to offer medical advice.
