Understanding Your Ovulation Calendar

Understanding your ovulation calendar is extremely useful knowledge for women of childbearing age. You can use this information to help you conceive a child, or to help you avoid conceiving a child if you aren’t ready yet. Basically, an ovulation calendar helps you determine when you’re ovulating; you’re fertile each month only during the time of ovulation.

Each month, a woman's ovaries receive hormonal signals to produce an egg. When that egg is mature, it breaks forth from the ovary and moves into the fallopian tube. From there it will travel into the uterus. If the egg is fertilized – either in the uterus or more commonly in the fallopian tube – then the fertilized egg will implant in the uterine wall and a pregnancy will begin. If the egg isn’t fertilized, it will be passed out of your body along with the uterine lining during your menstrual period.

Knowing when you ovulate is the key to knowing your fertile period. Sperm can live in your fallopian tubes and uterus for up to five days, assuming normal conditions. This means that if you want to avoid pregnancy, you must abstain from unprotected intercourse beginning six days before you expect to ovulate.

Of course, the length of the menstrual cycle varies from woman to woman. In general, though, the average length is 28 days. The menstrual cycle is counted from the day your period begins and you ovulate around day 14 in an average cycle. If your menstrual cycle is longer than 28 days, you typically ovulate about 14 days before the beginning of your period.

To track your menstrual cycles, you’ll need, at minimum, a calendar. It’s also very helpful to have a basal body thermometer. Don’t substitute a normal thermometer – go to the pharmacy and ask for a basal body thermometer in particular. Take your temperature at the same time every day before getting out of bed and before having anything to eat or drink. Note your exact temperature; don’t round up or down. It’s also a good idea to track other symptoms as well, such as breast tenderness and/or changes in cervical mucus.

When you ovulate, your average basal body temperature will increase. You may also notice some increased breast tenderness around the time of ovulation. Your cervical mucus changes around the time of ovulation and becomes clear and somewhat stringy, much like egg whites. Your temperature will stay elevated for a period of about 12 days. If your temperature then drops, you aren’t pregnant and you can expect your period to begin on time. If your temperature stays up and then increases slightly, there is a good chance you’re pregnant.

By recording this information every day, you’ll eventually see a pattern start to emerge. It may be that your breasts become tenderer the day before you ovulate or that you tend to ovulate more or less than 14 days before your period. You can then use this information to determine the best time to engage in sexual activity to maximize your chances of getting pregnant.