Understanding Your Ovulation Calendar

Knowing and understanding the ovulation calendar provides extremely useful information and knowledge for any woman of childbearing age. A woman can use this information to help conceive a child, or to help avoid conceiving a child if she is not ready yet. Basically, an ovulation calendar helps you in determining when you're ovulating; you are fertile each month only during the time of ovulation.

Every month, a woman's ovaries receive hormonal signals for producing an egg. When egg matures, it breaks forth from the ovary and then moves into the fallopian tube. The egg then travels into the uterus. Incase the egg is fertilized - it could be either in the uterus or more commonly in the fallopian tube - then this fertilized egg will implant in the uterine wall and pregnancy will start on. However, if the egg is not fertilized, then the egg, along with the uterine lining, will be passed out of your body during your menstrual period.

You can know your fertile period by knowing when you ovulate. Sperm can live in your fallopian tubes and in your uterus for up to 5 days, under normal conditions. This means that if you wish to avoid pregnancy, you must abstain from unprotected intercourse beginning 6 days before you expect to ovulate.

Certainly, the length of the menstrual cycle differs from woman to woman. In general, though, the average length is about 28 days. Menstrual cycle is counted from the day your period commences and you ovulate around day 14 in an average cycle. If your menstrual cycle is longer than 28 days, you normally ovulate about 14 days before the commencement of your period.

In order to track your menstrual cycles, you'll need, at minimum, just a calendar. It's also very useful to have a basal body thermometer. Don't substitute this with a normal thermometer - go to the pharmacy and ask them for a basal body thermometer in particular. Take your temperature at the same time every day before getting out of bed and before you eat or drink anything at all. Note the exact temperature; don't round up or down. You can track other symptoms too, for instance breast tenderness and/or changes in the cervical mucus.

When you are ovulating, your average basal body temperature tends to increase. You may also notice a little increased breast tenderness around the time of ovulation. In addition, your cervical mucus will change around the time of ovulation and become clear and somewhat stringy, much like egg whites. Your temperature will stay high for a period of about twelve days.

If your temperature then drops, you are not pregnant and you can expect your period to start on time. If your temperature remains up and then increases slightly, there is a good chance for you being pregnant.

By recording and keeping a track of this information every day, you'll ultimately see a pattern start to emerge. It may be that your breasts become tenderer the day before you ovulate. You may also notice that you tend to ovulate more or less than 14 days before your menstrual period. This information will help you in determining the best time to engage in sexual activity so as to maximize your chances of getting pregnant.