Why need this
Conceiving Only @Ovulation
Dreaming of a tiny little baby in your life? Or ready to extend your family with another sibling? Falling pregnant can be easy and it can happen in an instance when you are not even thinking about it, but that is not always the case. Even if you have been pregnant before and carried a baby to term, it is no guarantee that you will fall pregnant again (easily). When growing up we also do not seem to learn a lot about how our own bodies function. Who knows about things like fertility discharge, changes to the position of their cervix, the follicular and luteal phase and the impact of cold on implantation? All those things are not really important until you experience issues in falling pregnant. Luckily not all of us will experience these issues. Some of us are lucky enough to fall pregnant without even trying. Others fall on their first try. If you want to give it the best shot, you want to have intercourse at the exact moment of ovulation. An ovulation predictor test will help you pinpoint this exact moment.
Use it for
Predict Ovulation Easily
There is only a small window each month to fall pregnant. When an egg is released it will only stay alive for about 48 hrs in which time it needs to be fertilised or otherwise will disintegrate. That means that when you are trying to get pregnant it is important to pinpoint the exact moment of ovulation. Luckily sperm can survive in a woman’s body for up to 5 days, so by having intercourse in the days leading up to ovulation you will give yourself a good chance. It appears that when people have issues falling pregnant that it often has to do with not timing the intercourse correctly and therefore missing the window of opportunity. Some women experience cramping during ovulation and if you are well attuned to your body, you might notice the other signs of ovulation (fertility discharge, temperature changes, changes to the position of the cervix, changes to the softness of the cervix), but if you are like most women, you might not have any idea. An ovulation prediction kit will then help you to identify your fertility window and the best time to try to have a baby. Happy baby dancing!
Our Mum’s Tips
Identify Your Fertility Window
Our mums shared their issues and experiences when trying to conceive additional babies. It is surprising how often it does not seem to be easy to conceive a 2nd or consecutive child. Fertility is definitely not a given and as it deteriorates as we age, it is not uncommon to cause issues later in life. When our mums found they had issues with falling pregnant again, they asked for tips and advice. These are what was shared amongst them:
- Ovulation mid cycle – in a ‘normal’ 28 day cycle a woman would ovulation around day 14 (mid cycle). In almost all cases a woman ovulates 14 days before her next period. If you have very regular periods it therefore might be easy for you to identify your fertility window.
- Ovulation apps – for women with regular cycles an ovulation app might be a solution to help pinpoint your fertility window. It calculates your fertility window based upon your ‘normal’ cycle and then notifies you when you are in your fertility window. Note that this method only works for women with regular cycles. If your cycle tends to be different each month, this method might not work for you.
- Ovulation prediction – during the various phases of your cycle, hormones are present at different levels and can help you identify ovulation. An ovulation predictor kit monitors the presence of luteinizing hormone to identify if ovulation is likely to occur in the next 48 hours. Some kits also monitor the level of estrogen and if this reaches a certain level it will identify the start of your fertile window. These kits use the hormone level changes during your menstrual cycle. In the follicular phase estrogen is the dominant hormone and will rise up to ovulation. When estrogen rises up to a certain level, your body will produce luteinizing hormone, which will signal your body to release the egg. After ovulation progesterone becomes the more dominant hormone. About a week after ovulation progesterone levels are the highest in your cycle. Depending on whether you conceived or not, your progesterone levels will then start to drop until your period starts and your cycle starts again.
- Fertility discharge – in the days leading up to ovulation women often experience increased and egg white like, slippery discharge. This is known as fertility discharge and helps sperm to swim to the cervix. If you monitor your discharge closely, you will be able to identify your fertility window. Presence of fertility discharge is a good indicator that ovulation is near.
- Cramping – if you are one of the women that experience cramping during ovulation, you are very lucky to be able to easily identify ovulation. However, it is unknown if the cramping is caused by changes before, during or after ovulation and most likely this is different for different women. If your cramping starts after ovulation, you might be past your fertility window and there is only a slim chance for pregnancy.
- Temperature changes – your basal body temperature (BBT) changes during your menstrual cycle. In first half of your cycle your temperature is likely lower. Shortly before ovulation most women experience a dip in their temperature before it peaks due to release of progesterone after ovulation. The second half of your cycle your body temperature should be significant higher.
- Position cervix – the cervix ruses to a higher level in the vagina during ovulation. If you are well attuned to your body, you might be able to identify your fertility window by checking the position of your cervix. This might be for the more advanced mums.
- Softness cervix – during ovulation your cervix is much softer than during other changes of your cycle. You can identify your fertility window by checking the softness of your cervix. For this purpose you need to check your cervix daily to be able to identify changes throughout your cycle. Some women master the art of performing this test, but for others it is more difficult.
Recommended Products
The Ovulation Prediction Tests Our Mums Like
- Clearblue Advanced Digital Ovulation Test – a more expensive test, but worth it according to our mums, if you want to identify your fertility window earlier so you will have a few more days to try. And like the digital test no comparison of lines, just a clear yes or no.
- Clearblue Digital Ovulation Test – a great test that does not require you to compare test lines, but gives you a clear yes or no result. Our mums liked this if they struggled to compare test strips lines.
- Cheap LH test strips – these do not cost an arm and a leg but will still help you identify your LH surge (ovulation). A great option according to our mums if you are trying for some months.
