Beyond Medicine - A Divine Intervention!
OVULATION & IT'S IMPORTANCE EXPLAINED
SO WHAT IS OVULATION?
In a nutshell ovulation
is when an egg (and, occasionally, more than one egg) is released from
the ovary, and it's the fertile time of your menstrual cycle. Each
month, an egg matures inside your ovary. Once it reaches a certain
size, the egg is released from the ovary and is swept into the
fallopian tube toward the uterus. Which ovary releases the egg is
fairly arbitrary. Ovulation does not necessarily rotate between ovaries
each cycle
HOW DOES OVULATION DETERMINE WHEN I FALL PREGNANT?
To be fruitful and multiply, you must have sexual intercourse during the period spanning one to two days before ovulation
to about 24 hours afterward. The reason: Sperm cells can live for two
or three days, but an egg survives no more than 24 hours after
ovulation — unless, of course, fertilization occurs
If you have sex
near the time of ovulation, you'll increase your chances of getting
pregnant. And you'll be happy to know that the odds are with you: In
normally fertile couples, there is a 20 percent chance of getting
pregnant each cycle. About 85 percent of women who have sex without
using birth control will get pregnant within one year. You can try to
boost your likelihood of getting pregnant by learning to pinpoint exactly when you ovulate
and by familiarizing yourself with the cyclic hormonal and physical
changes that take place in your body each month. You can also use this
knowledge to attempt birth control by avoiding intercourse near the time of ovulation. However, this is not the best form of birth control and it can easily fail
HOW CAN I KNOW WHEN I'M OVULATING & AT MY MOST FERTILE STATE?
Think when your next period is due to begin and count back 12 to
16 days. This will give you a range of days when you will probably be
ovulating. For example as a general guide, let's say you always have your periods on the 15th of each month. So if you count 14 days backwards, that would tell you that you normally ovulate on the 1st of the month. For women with a 28-day cycle, the 14th day is often the day
of ovulation. To find out if you are ovulating, just pop into your nearest chemist and buy an 'over-the-counter Ovulation Test Kit'. Do your test on the 1st day you ovulate and this will tell you if you are indeed ovulating or not. These test kits tend do be fairly cheap and are around 95-99% accurate
The
best way to determine your most fertile time, though, is to pay
attention to your body and learn to spot the signs that ovulation is
imminent
How do ovulation test kits work?
Available at drugstores and grocery stores without a prescription, ovulation predictor kits detect the surge in luteinizing hormone
(LH) in your urine just before ovulation. They're easier to use and
often more accurate than the BBT method, and they can predict ovulation
12 to 36 hours in advance and help you maximize your chance of
conception the very first month you use them. But they're not
foolproof. Rarely, they can measure LH (you get either a positive or a
negative result, not a number), but can't indicate whether you ovulate
after a positive response; LH can surge with or without the release of
an egg. False LH surges can also take place before the real one
For
maximum accuracy, follow the kit's directions to the letter. However,
if the instructions say to test your first urine of the day, you may
want to test your second catch instead. Your urine can become
concentrated overnight and might give you a false-positive result
Your
cycle starts on the first day you have your period. If you have a
28-day cycle, start using the test on day 11 and use it for six days,
or however many days the manufacturer recommends. If your cycle runs
between 27 and 34 days, your ovulation may range between days 13 and
20. Start testing on day 11 and continue until day 20 or so. If you
have an irregular cycle, you may find that this is the least satisfying
way for you to detect your ovulation, because some of the kits — which
range in price from $20 to $50 — provide only five to nine days' worth
of tests. You may need to buy more than one kit a month
Change in cervical mucus
As your cycle progresses, your cervical mucus increases in volume and
changes texture. The changes reflect your body's rising levels of
estrogen. You are considered most fertile when the mucus becomes clear,
slippery, and stretchy. Many women compare mucus at this stage to raw
egg whites. Normally the mucous is a protective barrier, but
during the most fertile time of your cycle, it allows sperm to get
through the cervix, up to the uterus, and then to the fallopian tubes
for a rendezvous with your egg
A rise in body temperature
Following ovulation, your temperature can increase by 0.4 to 1.0
degrees. You won't feel the shift, but you can detect it by using a basal body temperature
(BBT) thermometer. This temperature spike indicates that you've
ovulated, because releasing an egg stimulates the production of the
hormone progesterone, which raises body temperature. You're most
fertile in the two or three days before your temperature hits its high
point. A few experts think you may have an additional 12- to 24-hour
window of fertility after you first notice the temperature creep up,
but most say that at that point, it's too late to make a baby
Lower abdominal discomfort
About one-fifth of women actually feel ovulatory activity, which can range from mild achiness to twinges of pain. The condition, called mittelschmerz, may last a few minutes to a few hours