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The Basics of Getting Pregnant | |||||||||||||||
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There are three main methods to determine when you are fertile: Calendar Method - Timing intercourse based on past cycle lengths. Ovulation Predictor Kits - Home tests that measure the amount of lutenizing hormone (ovulation inducer). Basal Body Temperature and Cervical Mucus Method - Charting Basal Body Temperature (waking temperature) to determine that you are indeed ovulating, and obseving cervical mucus to know when you are fertile. Think about your last few periods. Are they usually the same number of days apart? If so, then this method may work for you. Look at the days between two consecutive periods, and count those days, including the first day of the earlier period, but not the first day of the second one. Take that number, and subtract 14 from it. This new number is the day of each cycle that you probably ovulate. Your goal is to have sex at least every other day for 4 days leading up to this day, and two days after. Examples:
You count the first day of red blood flow as Day 1. Any brown or pink spotting is counted in the last cycle. You can purchase them for anywhere between 15 - 35 USD. This method also works best if your cycles are approximately the same length every "month." Every box has different instructions on when to take the tests, and how long to let them set. The general idea is to take one test every day until the test line is the same darkness as, or darker than, the control line. This means you are having and LH surge, the hormone responsible for making ovulation happen. When you get this surge, it means that you are likely to ovulate within the next 12-42 hours. You should have sex the day you get this surge, it is the optimal time for conception. Note that even if you get an LH surge, it does not mean that you will DEFINITELY ovulate in the next 24 hours. Read the box of the OPK you buy for more specific instructions. I have always been told that the *best* OPK is Clear Plan Easy, and it even includes a pregnancy test. Basal Body Temperature and Cervical Mucus Method This method is good for anyone regardless of how regular (or not) you are. Two hormones in the menstrual cycle, Estrogen, and Progesterone, affect your basal body temperature (waking temperature). Estrogen makes it lower, and Progesterone makes it higher. During the first part of your cycle (follicular phase), estrogen is dominant and will cause your BBT to be between 96.5 and 97.8. (actual temperatures can vary person to person, the point is to find out what is normal for you) During the second part (luteal phase - approx 12-16 days), progesterone will cause your temperature to rise into the 98s. You need to have a special thermometer, called a basal thermometer, in order to record your temperature accurately. Fever thermometers measure in 2/10 of a degree, while most basal thermometers measure to 1/10 or even 1/100. Either basal thermometer is OK to use. A rise in estrogen during the follicular phase also causes your discharge (here on called cervical mucus) to become more abundant and wet. At ovulation, when the corpus luteum (follicle the egg was in) secretes progesterone, the cervical mucus dries up in response to the progesterone. When progesterone plummets during the latter part of the luteal phase, estrogen then becomes more dominant and causes some watery mucus. This fall in progesterone also causes the menstrual period to begin. You begin by buying a glass or digital basal thermometer (8-10 USD) and either download a chart, or you can use regular old graphing paper. You can start charting the day your period arrives, or just as it is leaving. I start just as it is leaving, because often temperatures can be a little high during menstruation because of residual progesterone. It is extremely important to take your temperature at exactly the same time each morning after at least 3 hours of sleep, even on the weekends. You can set your alarm for say 5:30 and when it goes off in the morning, put the thermometer in your mouth, hit snooze, and when it goes off again, the thermometer should be ready to be read. You then record that temperature on the day of your cycle you are on, on your chart. After your period is gone, you can begin to check your cervical mucus. There are two ways to do this: either wipe before you urinate and observe it, or you can do it internally. To check internally, while standing, prop one foot on the toilet seat and leave one foot on the floor. With clean hands, insert one or two fingers inside your vagina. (long fingernails are an OUCHY!) Reach as far as you can until you hit a round firm (if you're not fertile, soft if you are) mound with a dimple in the center. This is your cervix. With your fingers, go around the outside edges of your cervix, then pull your finger(s) out. Questions to ask yourself:
If there is nothing but a bit of dampness , you can consider it dry, or try again. You are not fertile this day. If #3 fits the description of what you found, you can call it sticky, it will most likely be white in color. Your fertility is increasing, but you are still not very fertile. If #4 fits the description better, than it is probably creamy. It may be slightly stretchy, slippery, and may have a few clear streaks in it mixed with white. You're getting more fertile, and should probably consider having intercourse. If #5 fits it better, than it is called egg-white. Not all women get this type of mucus, and if you don't, it's ok you can still get pregnant. Or you could try to increase your cervical mucus. If you do have egg-white you should definitely begin to have intercourse before it goes away. Sometimes it may only last 1-2 days. This type most resembles raw eggs whites, which is why it is called egg-white. Ok, so you've been charting your temperature every morning and you started having intercourse at least every other day since you started getting fertile mucus. On the day of or the day after your fertile mucus is most abundant, you may or may not (most likely not) observe that your temperature is at an all time low. This is ovulation day! It is most important to have intercourse 1-3 days before you ovulate because afterwards probably won't do any good. After your mucus begins to dry up, your temperature will probably rise if you have ovulated. To determine if it is indeed ovulation, it should go up 3/10 more than the previous morning, but also be 2/10 above the previous 6 temperatures. You still need two more temperatures to conclude that you ovulated. Take the 6 previous temperatures, (not the new one!) and draw a line 1/10 above the highest of these temperatures. Draw this line through the temperature all the way across the chart. This line is called a cover line. It's like a built-in pregnancy test for charting, but I'll get to that later. You should still continue to have intercourse regularly until ovulation is confirmed. If the next two mornings' temperatures are above this cover line, you can say that you are three days past ovulation. The first high temperature is 1 day past ovulation, that is you ovulated the day before your temperature went up. Waiting until your temperature goes up to have intercourse is not a good idea, It is most likely too late for conception. Also using the temperature dip rule may not work, because not all women experience it, and those that do don't get it every cycle. Congratulations! You are three days past ovulation. For the first 3-4 cycles that you chart, it is better to keep charting your temperature until you period arrives, so that you can see your post-ovulatory pattern. Normally, the second part of your cycle will be 12-16 days, with anything less than 10 probably being too short to achieve pregnancy. If you're not pregnant: The end of this part of the cycle is the day before you have red blood flow, not just when your temperature nosedives. You count from the first high temperature up to and including the day before red blood flow. Spotting days are counted. If this number is 10 or greater then your luteal phase is long enough to achieve pregnancy. If not, there are a few things you can try that may increase it. Also, if your spotting starts before 10 days past ovulation and continues until Day 1, then you may want to try to increase it. On to another cycle, you don't have to chart your temperatures during your period. If you're pregnant: You may experience a third level of temperatures above the normal ovulation temperatures. This is called triphasic. Not all women experience it during pregnancy, and some women have triphasic temperatures every month and are not pregnant. Your temperature could just gradually get higher. Also, it may not look any different than your other cycles, except that it stays high for at least 3 days past your normal luteal phase length. Or a generic figure, 18, (some say 21 days past ovulation). This may be your first clue that you are pregnant, and you could consider taking a test. Spotting, and/or cramping may occur between 5-10 days past ovulation. If you are pregnant, this is when the egg implants in the uterus. Temperatures below coverline after ovulation: 1, 2, high temperatures. The next morning you wake up and look at the thermometer is disbelief. 97.4???? It's nothing to worry about, it is probably a fallback temperature, caused by a second surge of estrogen. This fallback temperature can happen anywhere between 2-8 days past ovulation. A lot of times, you may also have some wet cervical mucus. However if your temperature dives any later in the cycle, it is probably an indicator of your period. Keep in mind that this is only a beginning course in charting, to learn more about it, please read Toni Weschler's Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It can take many cycles before you may achieve pregnancy, even if you and your partner have normal fertility. Any questions? Send an email. |
