Most women who have been trying to conceive for more than a year have spent time (and money) learning more about their menstrual cycle and ovulation in order to increase their chances of conceiving. From temperature monitoring and ovulation tests to fertility apps, some solutions promise to track ovulation and identify your most fertile days. Fertility apps, ovulation calculator services, and ovulation kits can help you in a variety of ways. It is critical to understand what these tests are assessing, when they may be beneficial, and their possible limits. Let’s dig deeper.
#1 — Tracking Your Basal Body Temperature
Your basal body temperature increases shortly after ovulation. Charting your temperature will only tell you what occurred last month. If your menstrual cycles are regular, tracking your temperature across many cycles may help you decide when to have intercourse the next month. However, this is no more reliable at predicting when you will ovulate than just subtracting 14 days from the start of your next period. There are several free online ovulation calculator programs available to assist you in determining the duration of your period. If your cycles are irregular, projecting your fertile days for the future month will be ineffective.
#2 — Cervical Mucus Changes
Your cervical mucus is one of the most reliable indicators of fertility before ovulation. It grows in volume and becomes watery, comparable to raw egg white. This signals that the sperm escalator has been activated, which will allow the sperm to swim readily into the cervix. Unfortunately, many women will not notice this shift, making it ineffective as a predictor for everyone.
#3 — Saliva Ovulation Kits
Examining a sample of your saliva under a microscope is a complicated and sometimes erroneous method of estimating your reproductive window and ovulation. These assays search for a rise in salt in saliva, which is caused by higher estrogen levels before ovulation. The findings may be difficult to understand. So, considering the high cost of the kits, we would avoid using them.
#4 — Urine Ovulation Kits
Urine ovulation tests that detect a spike in Luteinizing Hormone (LH) are very reliable in predicting ovulation. Your LH levels increase sharply one to two days before ovulation, triggering your ovary to release the egg (ovation). If you have irregular periods, this may help you time your intercourse, but you’ll have to use it regularly, which can be expensive.
#5 — Fertility Applications
There is currently a wide range of fertility apps. Most of them urge you to employ a mix of all of the approaches listed above, followed by recording and charting your outcomes using the app. Fertility applications provide the added advantage of offering reminders and fertility suggestions. However, although apps may give you some peace of mind that you are timing intercourse properly or that you ovulated that month, they will be of little benefit if you can only have intercourse every few days during your cycle.
Know Your Ovulation and Fertile Days
If you are trying to conceive for the first time, it might be quite tricky to learn more about your body and menstrual cycle. The good news is that there are many digital solutions that will make your fertility journey as smooth and effective as possible. If you have a regular cycle, have intercourse every few days for at least 10 to 14 days before your next period. In case of irregular cycles, it will be more difficult to determine your fertile period. Thus, you should have regular intercourse throughout your cycle. We would consider seeing your doctor since this might be an indicator of an underlying medical problem that is interfering with your fertility.
It is common for a couple to take many months to conceive, so don’t worry if you don’t become pregnant right away. If you have been trying to conceive for 12 months, the next step is to schedule an appointment with your GP, who may recommend you to a fertility specialist for additional study. Seeing a fertility expert does not always lead to IVF; depending on your specific condition, there are various basic procedures that we may try to help you conceive.
