Predicting and Documenting Ovulation

Predicting and Documenting Ovulation: Tips for Charting Your Monthly Cycles - Predicting ovulation is easier than you think. In her book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility," Toni Weschler explains just how to use methods like charting your basal body temperature and cervical mucus and position to predict just when you will ovulate. Reading this book taught me almost everything I know about my fertility and ovulation. I used it to help us when we were trying to get pregnant and now when we are trying not to get pregnant. Here is the way I learned how to accurately predict when I am going to ovulate.

Charting:
Charting your basal body temperature and changes in your cervical position and mucus is the most common way to document when you've ovulated. In "Taking Charge of Your Fertility," you can make physical copies of charts and the most recent copies of the book come with a CD-ROM - but I think it's easier to use a chart online.

Although there are many other online charting resources, my favorite is www.fertilityfriend.com. It's free and has lots of resources and active message boards with loads of women who can help you if you have any questions. Create an account to get started. Then learn how to fill it in by following these tips:

Basal Body Temperature:
Your body's basal temperature is one indicator of ovulation. It won't predict when you will ovulate, but it will help you to know for sure that you did ovulate. First you will need to purchase a BBT thermometer - one that records your temperature to the tenth. These run around $10 and you can purchase them in drugstores or online at sites like www.early-pregnancy-tests.com . Once you have the BBT thermometer, you can begin taking your temperature first thing every morning before you even get out of bed. Try to do it at the same time every day because a difference of more than an hour can actually skew your results. "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" says that you need to sleep at least five hours in a row before taking your temperature, but I am one that wakes up to pee at least once a night and my results still show a clear pattern of ovulation. Enter your results on your chart each day, but don't expect to see a pattern until the end of the month. You can see some examples of completed charts on Fertility Friend (http://www.fertilityfriend.com/ChartGallery/index.php?c=browse&cat=0). Once you've ovulated, your temperature will go up by at least .4 degrees over a 48 hour period. Your temperature should remain above the highest temperatures in the previous six days.

Cervical position:
Many women are embarrassed by this one, but once you are used to it, it's really no big deal and for me, it's the easiest way to know if I'm about to ovulate or if I already have. To check your cervical position you will need to have clean hands and not sharp nails (trust me!). Put one foot up on the toilet or the side of the tub and gently reach one or two fingers into your vagina. Feel for your cervix - it sort of feels like a small donut with a hole in the middle. It will take a full cycle for you to know how it changes throughout your cycle. During the first part of your cycle (after your period has finished), it will likely feel low and firm and closed. The closer you get to ovulation, it moves up, gets soft and opens. Then, within a day or two after ovulation, it will go back to being low, firm and closed. If you mark your cervical position on your chart, it will help to pinpoint when you ovulated.

Cervical mucus:
This is another one of those that embarrasses women. When you are checking for your cervical position, you should also check for cervical mucus. After your period, you will be relatively dry. In the days leading up to ovulation, you will notice that there will be an increase of moisture. It will go from creamy discharge to a sort of egg white consistency right before you are going to ovulate. Generally, it will go back to being dry the day after you ovulate.

Ovulation pain:
Some lucky women actually experience ovulation pains. These pains may have seemed random when you weren't aware of your other fertile signs, but if you are charting these pains and they correlate with the day you ovulated, you will know that it was likely ovulation you were feeling. Ovulation pain can range from a sharp pang at the moment of ovulation to a general abdominal achiness that lasts all day.

Fertility monitor:
You can purchase a fertility monitor such as the Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor. With this you need to pee on the test strips and the monitor will be able to detect the surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) that induces ovulation. It will show you what your peak fertile days are so you know when you should have sex to try for a pregnancy. Fertility Friend even has a place for you to enter the results so that you can verify whether your other signs are lining up with the monitor's results. Cost for a fertility monitor starts at around $150.

Ovulation test strips:
There are also ovulation predictor tests (Clearblue Easy Sells these too) that are much less expensive than buying the actual monitor. Ovulation predictor tests turn positive only on the day when you have an LH surge. A month's supply of tests costs around $10 if you buy an off brand. Results from these tests can be a little tricky to interpret; unlike pregnancy tests where "a line is a line," ovulation prediction tests are positive only when both lines are the same darkness. This can be confusing so some brands, such as Clearblue Easy, also sell digital tests. Again, you can put these results on your chart.

Saliva Ovulation Microscope:
When a woman is about to ovulate, her saliva dries in a fern-like pattern that you can see when you look at it under a handheld microscope. This "ferning" begins to appear around three days prior to ovulation. Test first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink so that there is nothing in your saliva but saliva. You can purchase an ovulation predictor microscope from www.early-pregnancy-test.com.

Increased sex drive:
Most women experience an increase in their sex drive as they approach ovulation. When charted along with other signs of ovulation, it can help accurately predict when you are close to ovulating.

Ultrasound:
If you are seeing a reproductive endocrinologist or an OB/GYN, they can check for impending ovulation via ultrasound. Obviously this is not something that can be done at home, but it is completely accurate at predicting ovulation. They can even tell you approximately how many eggs you will produce.

HCG Trigger shot:
Again, this is something that you can't do yourself, but a doctor can induce ovulation within 48 hours by giving the patient an HCG trigger shot. This will enable the doctor to know exactly what days the couple should have sex or do a procedure like an IUI in order for the woman to get pregnant.

Counting days:
I put this tip last because it is the most inaccurate way of predicting ovulation. If you have a regular cycle, you can assume that your luteal phase (the time between ovulation and the start of your period) is between 12-14 days long (although this actually varies from woman to woman). With this method, if you have a cycle that is 29 days long, you can assume that you will ovulate somewhere between days 15 and 17. If you are comfortable with guessing and don't want to mess with charts and temperatures, this is a good method for you. But if you are trying to get pregnant, you might miss your fertile days and if you are trying to avoid pregnancy, you will likely end up with a surprise!

Special note, if you're nursing:
Another sign of impending ovulation that you might experience is sore nipples while nursing. I didn't experience this with my first child, but this time around, I experience terrible nipple pain for about five days before I ovulate. Since I'm trying to NOT get pregnant, we avoid sex whenever my nipples hurt!

Once you've charted for a few cycles and have gotten familiar with your body's patterns, you may not need to rely as heavily on all the above listed methods. But charting your cycles can help your doctor understand what is going on with your body should you ever have trouble conceiving. If you have any questions about fertility awareness, you can talk with an OB/GYN, but many doctors are somewhat uncomfortable with women checking their own bodies for signs of ovulation. I highly recommend purchasing the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It's available at most bookstores and online from Amazon.com or even eBay. You can also find information about charting and fertility awareness online at www.ovusoft.com and www.fertilityfriend.com.