You are finally ready! Ready to have a baby, ready to start a family. Ready for the sleepless nights and diaper changes mixed with sweet snuggles that make it all worth it! If you have been having unprotected s*x for a while, in the hope of conceiving a baby, but have had no luck so far, then you need to find out when is the best time to get pregnant.
When you’re trying to get pregnant, s*x becomes way more than having fun. Timing is everything. Your body does send signals when it’s ready to ovulate, but some modern tools and tests can also help you track ovulation. The best way to leverage this information is to find out how long you are fertile after a positive ovulation test so that you can plan to conceive during that short window.
Tracking Your Cycle: When is the best time to get pregnant?
To get pregnant, the female egg needs to join with the male sperm in a process called fertilizationfertilisation, which is when you conceive. The fertilizedfertilised egg then attaches itself to the inner lining of the uterus, marking the beginning of pregnancy.
But the tricky part is that even though the male sperm can live in the female body for up to 5 days after s*x, the female egg can only survive for up to 12-24 hours after being released. An egg is released from the ovaries 12-14 days before your next period, in a process called ovulation.
During the days before ovulation, your body releases follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH), which help the egg in the ovary mature. Once it’s ready, there is a surge of luteinizing hormone (LH), which triggers the egg’s release within the next 24 -36 hours, when ovulation takes place. This gives a small window of opportunity for the sperm to fertilize the exposed egg.
According to various studies, it is usually the most fertile day after your period. The five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation are called the “fertile window” and are the best time to get pregnant after your period. However, does that mean that the fertile period is the only time you can get pregnant? Yes, that is the only time when you can get pregnant. However, there are some women who have a shorter menstrual cycle. These women may ovulate early and thus their fertile window maybe earlier. So, if they have sex just after their period, they can get pregnant.
Summary: Ovulation occurs 12-14 days before your next period. The five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation are called the “fertile window” and are the best time to get pregnant.
Cracking the Ovulation Code: How do we know when we are ovulating?
Since your chances of getting pregnant on ovulation day are relatively high, it makes sense to try and pin that down on the calendar by counting the number of days between 2 periods. Once you have your cycle length, your ovulation day is typically 12-14 days before your next period. While this method may work for women with regular cycles, there are at least 5-35.6% of women who have irregular cycles.
So, counting down the days may be difficult for these women since you don’t have the exact cycle length. However, ovulation planners or apps like ovulation calculators may help make the process easier.
What conditions can delay or prepone ovulation?
Some women may have more prolonged or irregular cycles and tend to ovulate later. Others may not ovulate every cycle, which may lead to problems in getting pregnant down the line. These women may also suffer from heavy and painful periods. Polycystic ovary syndrome, hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), extreme stress, or some medications are known to delay ovulation.
That leads to the question- What do you do if you don’t have a regular period? How can you track your ovulation? Here are a few ways you can figure out your body’s schedule, mark out your exact ovulation day and plan intercourse around your fertile window.
1. Dissecting the Discharge
Usually, your cervical fluid changes as your hormonal levels increase and decrease during the menstrual cycle. When you ovulate, the discharge becomes a clear, wet, slippery, and stretchy mucus, similar to the consistency of a raw egg white. This occurs because of the burst of estrogen as the ovary releases the egg. It is the body’s way of making it easy for the sperm to reach the egg. After ovulation, the cervical mucus becomes thicker and drier in response to the drop in estrogen and the increase in progesterone hormones.
2. The Temperature Test
A woman’s body temperature dips a little bit before the ovary releases the egg. Twenty-four hours after ovulation, the temperature rises and stays elevated for several days. You can track changes in your temperature by monitoring it at the same time every day, usually in the mornings, before getting out of bed. You can document your readings in a chart or a smartphone application to make it easier. By measuring this every day, you will estimate the basal body temperature and recognize changes that may indicate ovulation.
This method may be unreliable if you are emotionally stressed or have a fever. In addition, the changes in basal body temperature are often mild (approximately 0.5 to 1 degrees F shortly after ovulation) and may be challenging to track.
3. Listen to Your Body
Does your body tell you when it is ovulating? For some women, the changes in hormone levels may cause other symptoms that could be used to track ovulation timings. For example, some experience tender breasts, bloating, cramps, swelling in the vagina and cervix and an increased sex drive. Around 40% of women also have ovulation pain, which occurs in the lower abdomen, usually on one side, coinciding with ovulation.
Summary: Noticing changes in the body temperature and cervical mucus and paying attention to other symptoms like cramps, abdominal pain, and increased libido could be useful indicators of ovulation.
You are stepping Up your Game! What are ovulation tests?
We have seen that charting your menstrual cycle may be time-consuming and tricky. How can we keep an eye on the exact time of ovulation to accurately predict and make use of the fertility window and increase our chances of getting pregnant?
Here’s where ovulation tests come in!
Ovulation tests are often based on the measurement of luteinizing hormone (LH), which is responsible for releasing the egg from the ovary. After its action on the ovary, it circulates in the blood, is filtered in the kidneys, and is removed through the urine. Most tests aim to detect the LH levels in the urine, which indicates that ovulation is about to happen. In this way, it is similar to a pregnancy test, and most are in the form of test strips and digital devices to take the readings.
Some ovulation tests can also detect trim estrogen levels in the urine, which gives you a heads up that ovulation will occur soon. This is useful because LH is released in small bursts, and it is possible to miss it if you’re only testing the urine once a day. However, these tests cannot tell you if you have actually ovulated. For confirming ovulation, you need a test that measures estrogen, LH, and progesterone together. If urine does have progesterone, it’s confirmed that ovulation has already occurred. Ovulation predictor kits can give more accurate estimates for most women.
The test is positive for LH! But how long are you fertile after a positive ovulation test? You may have to act fast because you only have a small window of about 24-36 hours between a positive ovulation test and actual ovulation.
Summary: Ovulation tests can accurately measure the presence of hormones like LH, estrogen, and progesterone in urine, which can help you determine your ovulation date, making it easy to plan conception during your fertility period.
As you move forward on your fertility journey, it will make things easier if you start keeping track of your ovulation schedule. An ovulation predictor kit can be just the tool you need to find out the best time to get pregnant.
Also read: How Early Are the Signs of Pregnancy? What Happens First
