Ovulation Information What is ovulation? Ovulation is when one or more eggs are released from the ovary and is the fertile time of your menstrual cycle". Each month, many eggs mature inside the ovary. The largest is expelled into the pelvic cavity and swept into the fallopian tube. Which ovary releases the egg is fairly arbitrary. Ovulation does not necessarily rotate between ovaries each cycle. How does ovulation determine when I can get pregnant? You must have sexual intercourse during the period spanning one to two days before ovulation to about 24 hours afterward. The reason: Sperm cells can live for two or three days, but an egg survives no more than 24 hours after ovulation. Unless, of course, fertilisation occurs. If you have sex near the time of ovulation you will increase your chances of getting pregnant and you'll be happy to know that the odds are with you: In normally fertile couples there is a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant each cycle, meaning around 75 to 85 percent of women who have sex without using birth control will get pregnant within one year. You can try to increase your likelihood of getting pregnant by learning to identify exactly when you ovulate by using a home ovulation test and by familiarising yourself with the cyclic hormonal and physical changes that take place in your body each month. How can I tell when I'm ovulating and therefore most fertile? The best way to determine your most fertile time is to pay attention to your body and learn to spot the signs that ovulation is imminent and to confirm this with a home ovulation test. Change in cervical mucus. As your cycle progresses, your cervical mucus increases in volume and changes texture. The greater volume and changes in texture reflect your body's rising levels of oestrogen. You are considered most fertile when the mucus becomes clear, slippery, and stretchy. Many women compare mucus at this stage to raw egg whites. The role of mucus is to nourish, protect, and speed the sperm on its way up through the uterus and into the fallopian tubes for the rendezvous with your egg. A rise in body temperature. Following ovulation, your temperature can increase by 0.5 to 1.6 degrees. You won't feel the shift, but you can detect it by using an ovulation test thermometer. This temperature spike indicates that you have ovulated (releasing an egg stimulates the production of the hormone progesterone which raises body temperature). You are most fertile in the two or three days before your temperature hits its high point. It is recommend that you chart your temperature (taken each morning) for a few months to detect a pattern and pinpoint your likely ovulation date. Then you can plan to have sex during the two to three days preceeding the day your temperature normally rises. Lower abdominal discomfort. About one-fifth of women actually feel a mild ache or even twinges of pain. The condition, called mittelschmerz, may last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. How do home ovulation test kits work? Ovulation is the monthly release of a mature egg from an ovary. The process begins in the middle of your menstrual cycle when the level of oestrogen begins to rise, this is followed by a surge in the luteinising hormone (LH) level in a woman’s body surges which rises to a much higher level than usual. This "LH surge" triggers ovulation, the release of an egg from your ovary within the next 24 to 36 hours. The home ovulation test can detect an LH surge in the urine which is an indication that ovulation is likely to take place within the next 36 hours. The egg then travels down one of your fallopian tubes. The egg must be fertilised by sperm within twenty-four hours of its release into a fallopian tube. However, since sperm usually lives up to 72 hours (3 days, and in some cases up to 5 days), you can increase your chances of becoming pregnant by having intercourse 1 or 2 days before ovulation occurs. Intercourse during your LH surge is the best time to conceive since that’s when you are most fertile. Conception occurs when the sperm fertilises the egg as it is in the fallopian tube. |
