How to Know When You’re Ovulating
Ovulation is the time in your menstrual cycle when one of your egg cells are released from your ovaries down to one of your fallopian tubes. Ovulation is the period where you are most fertile. This means that you have a higher chance of getting pregnant in this time if you choose to have unprotected sex. For this reason, knowing when you’re ovulating increases your chances of getting pregnant or helps you avoid having sex for a while to avoid becoming pregnant. Here are the different ways to tell when you are ovulating.
Discharge
The quickest way to tell if you are ovulating is by observing your vaginal discharge. Right after your menstruation, you may observe that your discharge is white, thick and almost rubbery, like snot. When you near your ovulation period, you will notice that the discharge becomes clearer and slippery like raw egg whites.
Temperature Change
Take your temperature every morning as soon as you wake up, before even getting out of bed or going to the bathroom. Your temperature will drop very slightly in the period right before your ovulation and then rise. In the next two days, it will rise higher. The temperature will rise to 0.4 to 0.6 degrees higher than your normal observed temperature. This is a sign that you are ovulating.
Monitor Your Cycle
For women with a regular menstrual cycle spanning 28 days, they can expect ovulation to take place in the middle of the cycle, particularly the 14th day since their first day of menstruation.
For women with an irregular menstrual cycle, it can be more tricky. You can have a rough estimate of when the ovulation period is near by marking which days they are likely to fall under. The website Monthly Info (
http://mon.thly.info) will help you calculate your cycles and give you an idea not just when your next period is, but also when you will be ovulating.
Cervix Color
The color of your cervix also helps inform you of your ovulation. Its normal color is pink and ovulation makes it paler or even bluish. Observing your own cervix can be tricky, so you can instead ask your OB-GYNE to help you check the color.
Ovulation Kits
Ovulation kits are now readily available in many drugstores to help you monitor and determine whether you are ovulating or not. Simply follow instructions and buy another kit to make sure you the kit yields the correct results.
If you are determined not to get pregnant, pairing the knowledge of when you will be ovulating with a birth control method will greatly increase your chances of preventing pregnancy.