When am I Most Fertile During my Cycle?
If you are having a difficult time getting pregnant, then you may be asking "When am I the most fertile?" If you are typical of many women, you may not know that you can only become pregnant during a few days of your cycle. It is possible to figure out when you are the most fertile and thus have the greatest chance of falling pregnant.
The first step to understanding your fertility is to know when you ovulate.
If you have regular periods, it isn't difficult to calculate when ovulation occurs. Ovulation usually occurs fourteen days before your period. If you have a twenty eight day cycle, this means that ovulation will occur exactly in the middle of it. Whereas, if you have a thirty day cycle you are likely to ovulate sixteen days after the last period or fourteen days before the following one. You should also know that the first day of your menstrual cycle is the day that you first have full flow, not the first day that you have a sign of blood. This is important because you will want to use this for calculating when your period will start and finish. In this way you will be better able to calculate when you are the most fertile if you have a regular cycle.
However, women who have irregular periods are unable to so easily estimate when they will ovulate. Under these circumstances, there are two ways to predict ovulation. The first is to use an ovulation predictor kit which detects the hormonal spike before the egg is released. The second is to chart your basal body temperature.
It is not difficult to chart your basal body temperature, however you need to be consistent for this to be an effective method of calculating ovulation. You need to purchase a special, basal body temperature thermometer for this purpose. You should keep it next to your bed so that you can put it into your mouth as soon as you wake up, without moving more than necessary. Stay still until the thermometer beeps. Make sure that you keep a record of this temperature daily. Femilia offers free use of our online ovulation calculator to help you chart your temperature over time.
When you notice a slight decrease in your basal body temperature (about 0.2 to 0.3 of a degree) it is a warning that ovulation is about to occur. When this temperature drop is followed by an increase to a level higher than the recorded basal temperature and stays there for a few days before gradually returning to normal, ovulation has occurred. This is the time at which you are most fertile.
You do not, however, need to time intercourse perfectly with ovulation in order to get pregnant. This is because it is possible for sperm to live inside you for days. Eggs can only survive for twenty four hours, on average, after ovulation. However, if sperm is present from even five days earlier, you can still get pregnant.
It is also important to recognize that in order to fall pregnant your own fertility is not the only issue. Your partner's fertility also needs to be considered. If you know when you are likely to be ovulating it is a good idea to refrain from intercourse for about a week before in order to increase sperm count. Knowing when you are most fertile puts you in the driving seat when it comes to falling pregnant and as you can see, it's easier than you might have thought.