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One of the most common mistakes women make is waiting too long in your monthly cycle to have sex. While the average woman ovulates on day 14 of a 28 day cycle, it can happen as early as day 10 or as late as day 20.
For some women, ovulation has already passed or is just about to occur when you a positive result on an Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK) or a Fertility Monitor. If you have sex that night, it might already be too late.
When an egg is release from the ovary, it’s only receptive to sperm and able to be fertilized for about 12 hours. But sperm can remain viable in the female reproductive tract for 2-5 days after intercourse. So the best conception plan is to have sperm ready and waiting when the egg is released.
Pregnancy is most likely when couples have sex every day on the 3 days before ovulation and on the day itself. Contrary to what you may have heard, male fertility does not decrease if you have sex every day.
Some women do not realize that they are ovulating much earlier/later than day 14, so they time intercourse wrong and have no idea why they can’t get pregnant.
To succeed, you need to pinpoint when you ovulate. There are 4 methods:
1. Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) detect a rise in LH (luteinizing hormone) that signals ovulation will occur in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
2. Fertility Monitors are more expensive and specific than OPKs. They also detect LH, as well as other hormones to identify the beginning of fertile days leading up to your 2 peak fertility days.
3. Cervical Mucus:
Around day 7, 8, or 9 of your cycle you’ll begin to notice cervical mucus discharge, which will be thick, rubbery, white or yellowish, and opaque.
Around day 10, for an average-length cycle, you’ll see clear to mucus (sometimes slightly blood tinged) that will stretch between your fingers and will look like raw egg whites. This is ovulation, your most fertile time. Your peak fertility is the last day of this egg-white mucus. On the day of ovulation or the day after, it will disappear.
If you don’t have much cervical mucus, make sure you aren’t dehydrated, taking diuretics, antihistamines, decongestants, or high-dose vitamin C, which can dry up cervical mucus. If you have very thick mucus, consider taking Guaifenesin (found in Robitussin or Mucinex) that may help to thin mucus. (Read more below)
4. Charting:
You can more accurately predict your ovulation pattern by tracking your temperature at the same time every day, since your temperature rises after you ovulate. Read more to learn how to track your basal body temperature. For the authority on charting consult Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
There are things you can learn from charting that you might not learn any other way. For example, if you temperature doesn’t shoot right back up at ovulation, but takes a few days, it reveals a hormonal imbalance that if treated can lead to a positive pregnancy result. Finding out you ovulate much earlier or later than the average can also reveal an estrogen or progesterone problem that can be treated.
You need three months of charts to detect your personal pattern. Be sure to share it with you doctor and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, you might have found something they missed!
Note that a few things can throw your temperature off such as fever, alcohol, lack of sleep, electric blankets, congestion, travel, anti-inflammatory drugs or sleeping pills and stress.
Sources: ConceiveOnline, Making Babies
< Back to Sex for Conception
For some women, ovulation has already passed or is just about to occur when you a positive result on an Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK) or a Fertility Monitor. If you have sex that night, it might already be too late.
When an egg is release from the ovary, it’s only receptive to sperm and able to be fertilized for about 12 hours. But sperm can remain viable in the female reproductive tract for 2-5 days after intercourse. So the best conception plan is to have sperm ready and waiting when the egg is released.
Pregnancy is most likely when couples have sex every day on the 3 days before ovulation and on the day itself. Contrary to what you may have heard, male fertility does not decrease if you have sex every day.
Some women do not realize that they are ovulating much earlier/later than day 14, so they time intercourse wrong and have no idea why they can’t get pregnant.
To succeed, you need to pinpoint when you ovulate. There are 4 methods:
1. Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) detect a rise in LH (luteinizing hormone) that signals ovulation will occur in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
2. Fertility Monitors are more expensive and specific than OPKs. They also detect LH, as well as other hormones to identify the beginning of fertile days leading up to your 2 peak fertility days.
3. Cervical Mucus:
Around day 7, 8, or 9 of your cycle you’ll begin to notice cervical mucus discharge, which will be thick, rubbery, white or yellowish, and opaque.
Around day 10, for an average-length cycle, you’ll see clear to mucus (sometimes slightly blood tinged) that will stretch between your fingers and will look like raw egg whites. This is ovulation, your most fertile time. Your peak fertility is the last day of this egg-white mucus. On the day of ovulation or the day after, it will disappear.
If you don’t have much cervical mucus, make sure you aren’t dehydrated, taking diuretics, antihistamines, decongestants, or high-dose vitamin C, which can dry up cervical mucus. If you have very thick mucus, consider taking Guaifenesin (found in Robitussin or Mucinex) that may help to thin mucus. (Read more below)
4. Charting:
You can more accurately predict your ovulation pattern by tracking your temperature at the same time every day, since your temperature rises after you ovulate. Read more to learn how to track your basal body temperature. For the authority on charting consult Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
There are things you can learn from charting that you might not learn any other way. For example, if you temperature doesn’t shoot right back up at ovulation, but takes a few days, it reveals a hormonal imbalance that if treated can lead to a positive pregnancy result. Finding out you ovulate much earlier or later than the average can also reveal an estrogen or progesterone problem that can be treated.
You need three months of charts to detect your personal pattern. Be sure to share it with you doctor and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, you might have found something they missed!
Note that a few things can throw your temperature off such as fever, alcohol, lack of sleep, electric blankets, congestion, travel, anti-inflammatory drugs or sleeping pills and stress.
Sources: ConceiveOnline, Making Babies
< Back to Sex for Conception