In order to get pregnant, it helps to know when you are ovulating. By having sex on your ovulation days, you greatly increase your chances of getting pregnant. You should have sex every other day, to make sure that there is a constant supply of fresh, healthy sperm. As sperm can live inside you for a few days, you can still get pregnant the day after you have sex. If you want to have sex more often, that is also fine. If you want to know different ways to know when you are ovulating, OneHowto can help you.
Monitoring your vaginal discharge
This is one of the most obvious ways to know when you are ovulating. When you are not ovulating you won't have any vaginal discharge or it will be nearly unnoticeable. But during your ovulation days, this flow becomes much more noticeable, and it lets you know that ovulation is about to begin. Vaginal discharge during ovulation becomes abundant and thick with a whitish consistency. It will be a bit gooey, resembling the white of a raw egg.
Other changes in your body
Apart from variations in vaginal discharge, it's possible to perceive certain symptoms that can also help you know if you are in your fertile days. There are many women who swear they feel discomfort in their lower belly or side during these days, as well as pain in the breasts, which will also become more sensitive to the touch.
Menstrual cycle
One of the most reliable methods to detect ovulation is to calculate fertile days according to the duration of your menstrual cycle, though this is a technique which is only 100% reliable for women with a regular cycle. Here's how to calculate:
- Regular menstrual cycle (lasts 28 days): ovulation happens around the 14th day before your period comes.
- Irregular menstrual cycle (longer than 35 days): ovulation happens between days 19 to 25.
- Short menstrual cycle (shorter than 23 days): ovulation happens between days 7 and 13.
Basal body temperature
This trick is one of the oldest in the world and not just to know when you are ovulating. It can also help you find out if you are pregnant. To be effective, it is recommended that you keep track of your basal body temperature (BBT) for several months because it is different for every woman. It is normal for your BBT to range between 36.2 and 36.5°C on the days before ovulation. While you are ovulating your temperature rises to 36.6°C, or even over 37°C. If you get pregnant, your high temperature will persist. If you aren't pregnant however, you will notice a period when your temperature drops sharply again to 36.2 more or less. So you need to get a thermometer and measure your temperature every morning before getting up. It is recommended to keep the thermometer on your bedside table so that the first thing you do first when you wake up is take your temperature.
Ovulation test
However, there are other more certain ways of knowing when your fertile days of the month are and expand the options of getting pregnant such as using an ovulation test which you can find in pharmacies or the Internet. Through a saliva test, it will indicate precisely which are your most fertile days of the month, which is why you'll easily be able to know when you should have intercourse to make a baby. It's advisable to do this test first thing in the morning and to wait for at least 2 hours before doing the test if you have eaten, drunk, smoked or brushed your teeth.
This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.
If you want to read similar articles to How to Know When you Are Ovulating, we recommend you visit our Family health category.