Imagine being able to tell exactly when is the right time to conceive a child. In a twenty eight day menstrual cycle, there are only about four to six fertile days, in which you can conceive.
Knowing those days make it much easier to conceive. One of the best days to do this is to have a fertility calendar, which can be done in several ways in order to know exactly when is the right time for conception.
A basic calendar is one in which you document your periods and nothing else. Day 1 is the first day of your menstrual period and, in the calendar, you write down the number corresponding to each day of the cycle until you reach the end of the cycle.
When you get your period again, you begin at Day 1 all over again. Do this for three or so months to determine when your period is likely to happen. If you have twenty eight day cycles, the time of ovulation, when you are most likely to get pregnant, is about day 14. You can get pregnant from about day 10 to day 15.
If your cycles are longer than twenty eight days but are still regular, you need only to back down from the first day of your expected next menstrual period by 14 days and you have the day of ovulation. This is because the time of ovulation until the time of your menstrual period is relatively stable and is about 14 days. Longer cycles just take longer to ovulate.
If your periods are irregular, you need to combine a fertility calendar with basal body temperature measurements. With basal body temperature measurements, you take your temperature before arising every morning and document when your temperature rises. When your temperature rises, it means you have ovulated and your best day to have gotten pregnant was the day before the temperature rise.
Often the temperature drops a bit on the day of ovulation, which can be a clue as to when you are most fertile. This method lets you know that you are, in fact, ovulating and can get pregnant even with irregular cycles. Finally, an ovulation test kit can help you, along with a fertility calendar, to determine the days you are most likely to get pregnant.
You use the test kit, which can be a 9-day kit or can come in individual sticks in which you use as many as you want, in order to find the days you are most likely to conceive. The test is a urine test for luteinizing hormone, which is released at the time of ovulation.
You begin to take the test at around days 10-12 depending on how long your cycles are and try to get pregnant when the test kit turns color or otherwise indicates that you have an LH surge, just before ovulation. When the test goes back to negative, you can no longer get pregnant and your temperature will be up as well.
If you are serious about a fertility calendar, you will do all the things necessary to determine when you can get pregnant. If that doesn’t work and you don’t get pregnant, see your doctor about what else could be the problem.
