Ovulation, demystified: A supportive guide for tracking your fertility signs and enhancing your chances of conception (PART 1)
You may have heard that getting pregnant is a mystifying process, or have friends who have had difficulty with trying to conceive. If you are thinking of trying to make a baby anytime soon, you might be wondering what you can do to help prepare yourself to get pregnant BEFORE you start trying.
Understanding your menstrual cycle and knowing how to tell when you are ovulating is MOST DEFINITELY extremely important to get a grasp on if you want to get pregnant, and ideally, it’s great to know before you start trying.
There’s so much to talk about with regard to fertility and tracking ovulation, but here’s what we’re going to cover in this post (and I PROMISE more juicy content is coming on this topic):
Your menstrual cycle, ovulation, and your overall health: why it’s important to understand your fertility whether or not you want a baby right now
Reasons to love tracking your fertility signs, and why it pays to start NOW
Your three physical fertility signs and what they tell you about your ovulation
Where to start with tracking your fertility signs and ovulation
Why knowing how to tell if and when you are ovulating is important for your fertility AND your overall health
First, let’s get something very clear: You don’t have to want a baby right now (or ever) to understand and benefit from your menstrual cycle.
Knowing how to track your cycle and how to tell when you are ovulating is something that we should ALL be taught from a YOUNG age… sigh, we are not! Thank you, patriarchy :)
One of the biggest reasons it’s important to know how to tell if you are ovulating is so that we can be in tune with our bodies and know how to tell when something is wrong - in fact, many experts say that your period should really be considered one of your vital signs (you know - like heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure) because of how much it can tell you about your overall health.
If you have a chronic illness or even are just under a lot of stress, the first thing to tell you will probably be your period and the symptoms you experience with it. Things like mood swings, excessive bloating, major cravings, and cramping for days out from your period are culturally deemed “normal” but they are actually not, and they could even indicate an underlying condition like PCOS or endometriosis. But that’s another blog post for another day.
Just know if you have severe period pain or any of the above listed symptoms, there’s likely some things we can work on to help you live with pain free periods and empowering cycles.
Knowing how to tell if you are ovulating and when you ovulate is also really important because it can tell you when to expect your period AND when to try to get pregnant (or conversely, when to avoid intercourse if you are trying to prevent pregnancy) EVEN if you have irregular cycles.
And of course, the obvious reason to learn to understand your menstrual cycle and how to tell when you are ovulating is to help you have the best chance of achieving pregnancy when you are trying to conceive.
Many of the women I work with in my fertility coaching programs have never even learned the basics of identifying the fertile window, and it’s one of my favorite things EVER to empower them with the tools they need to start identifying the best days to try to get pregnant.
In my own journey, I had highly irregular cycles, but I was able to get pregnant EVEN THOUGH I didn’t have a “standard” 28 day cycle. That’s another story for another day too :)
Whether you want a baby right NOW or in 5 years from now,
Tracking your fertility signs can empower you to understand your body, your health, and optimizes your chances of getting pregnant when you are ready!
3 reasons to love tracking your fertility signs BEFORE you want to get pregnant
When women I work with first learn about tracking their fertility signs, it can feel very complicated and overwhelming. It actually doesn’t have to be (we’ll talk about that next!).
But when learning something new, it’s important to know WHY you are doing it.
1. Taking the mystery out of when you are ovulating (or knowing if you are ovulating).
Tracking your fertility signs can help decrease confusion about what’s going on with your body so that you can either prevent pregnancy without having to take hormonal birth control, OR conversely, help you know the best time to have sex to increase your chances of getting pregnant - for YOU, specifically. No more guesswork!
2. Take the guesswork out of when your period is going to come.
Sometimes even the most regular of us will have a wonky cycle, and it’s not always because we are pregnant. If you are able to tell when you actually ovulate, you can know exactly when to expect your period, because even though the time it takes to get to ovulation can change, the amount of time between ovulation and your period will always be around 10-14 days, usually no longer than 2 weeks.
3. Be empowered by each phase of your cycle.
Did you know that your hormone fluctuations throughout your cycle determine not only when you ovulate and when your period shows up but also how you show up at work, the gym, and in your relationships? This is actually a GOOD thing, but many women experience wonky moods and symptoms like bloating, breast tenderness, and painful cramping with their periods that make this not seem like the case. If you know when you ovulate, you can start to identify when you have higher energy levels (often this happens right before you ovulated) and how to nourish your body with foods, movement and exercise, and general self-care to have a symptom-free premenstrual phase. Yep! It’s totally possible to have an EMPOWERING period - this is something I help my clients with all the time.
OK, ready to learn how to track your cycles and understand your fertility signs? Let’s go!
What can I track to know when I am ovulating?
Here are the three physical signs you are ovulating…stay tuned, because I actually teach that there is MUCH more to ovulation than just the physical signs, and it’s very important to get in touch with your intuition so you can be empowered to know when you’re ovulating aside from physical fertility signs.
That being said, these three fertility signs are a wonderful place to start so you can identify the days when you are most fertile so you have the best chance of getting pregnant.
1. Cervical mucus
MMM MUCUS. Sounds YUMMY right? Maybe you’ve noticed some vaginal discharge in your underwear and had no idea that it was actually a good indicator whether or not you’re fertile. Or, maybe you’ve never noticed it at all.
But this powerful and ~juicy~ fluid is one of the best ways to predict when you are about to ovulate - so you can save your money on the ovulation predictor kits! Keep reading to learn how to track your cervical mucus to have the best chances of conceiving when you are most fertile.
2. Basal body temperature
Basal body temperature is a fancy way of saying your temperature when your body is in it’s slowest metabolic state - so, basically, while you are sleeping or RIGHT when you wake up in the morning. Hear me say this, because there is a lot of confusion around basal body temperature and the fertile window.
Basal body temperature will tell you IF you ovulated, but it WILL NOT predict ovulation.
Here’s why:
When you ovulate, the ovarian follicle that releases the egg into the fallopian tubes turns into a small organ called the Corpus Luteum. This small but mighty temporary organ releases progesterone to help get the uterine lining ready for a pregnancy. (Yep, every time you ovulate your body literally MAKES a whole organ to help you sustain a pregnancy - how amazing is that!)
When progesterone is released by the corpus luteum after you ovulate, it raises your body temperature (again, how cool is that!)
So, by tracking basal body temperature, you can CONFIRM (remember- NOT predict) that ovulation has indeed occurred.
In my opinion, tracking basal body temperature (BBT) can be very helpful if you are trying to conceive and aren’t sure if or when you are ovulating. In addition, it helps to track BBT if you are using your fertility signs to prevent a pregnancy.
3. Cervical position
The position and softness of your cervix can help to confirm the other fertility signs to tell you if you are approaching ovulation. Quite literally, the position of your cervix gets higher (or you could also say deeper) in the body as you approach ovulation, and becomes softer and more open if you are about to ovulate. This allows semen to come through more easily.
As you approach your period, your cervix becomes lower or less deep in the body and will start to become more firm and closed.
Checking your cervix on its own aside from the other fertility signs can certainly tell you a lot, but it can take some practice getting to know your own body and knowing what high or low is for you.
How do I track my cervical mucus to know when I am ovulating?
Where to start with tracking your cervical mucus?
There I go saying the word MUCUS again. But listen, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’d recommend starting with tracking only one fertility sign, and the BEST fertility sign to start tracking is cervical mucus.
Why should you start by tracking cervical mucus to know when you are ovulating?
Because, as mentioned previously, cervical mucus can help you PREDICT when you are going to ovulate, tell you what days you are most fertile, and possibly even help you get pregnant sooner!
And we all love a good bang for our buck, right?
First, you are going to need either a paper chart or an app, I personally like Kindara and Ovagraph because they give you a visual chart of the information you are inputting about your cervical mucus, basal body temperature, cervical position, and other symptoms.
And guess what? I also have an AMAZING free workbook COMING SOON that you can get on the list for NOW. This will be an amazing free resource to help you get a handle on your fertility, whether you are years away from trying to conceive or currently trying to get pregnant.
In the meantime, if you are wanting to hack your cycles and get pregnant as soon as possible, you can schedule a call with me to get a clear, individualized strategy to optimize your fertility while feeling full freedom to live your life joyfully in the present.
Ok, I got a little too excited there! Back to tracking cervical mucus…
Second, start by simply observing the patterns your body shows you and putting them in your app, chart, or even just a note on your phone (you can get more technical later - phase one is ALL about getting to know your body).
After your period ends, your cervical mucus pattern will go on a continuum from dryer to wetter to watery and slick before you ovulate, then it will become dry again and even a little sticky. There is a good bit of variety from person to person, but the more clear, thick, stretchy cervical mucus, the more likely you are approaching ovulation.
Most people describe it as egg-white cervical mucus because the most fertile mucus literally resembles the thick, clear, viscous white of a raw egg.
Am I grossing you out yet?
Hope not- because this stuff is literally MAGIC! It even has little tubules for sperm to swim through, which is why it is not only important for telling you if you are about to ovulate, but it’s also crucial for the mechanics of getting pregnant. If sperm can’t get to the egg, well, it’s just a good time 😉
Make sure you are both charting the quality of the cervical mucus (dry, sticky, creamy, or watery/egg white) and describing it in a few words so you can start to figure out what your own fertile pattern is.
Now before you dive in to tracking your fertility signs, I just want you to know that you can drive yourself absolutely nuts when you are learning this for the first time -
What am I seeing? Am I seeing ANYTHING? Is it slippery? Is it dry? Is it “Egg white” quality?
Tracking cervical mucus and other fertility signs can be difficult to learn - but that’s not your fault - no one has ever walked alongside you and taught you these things!
Now before you dive in to tracking your fertility signs, I just want you to know that you can drive yourself absolutely nuts when you are learning this for the first time - what am I seeing? Am I seeing ANYTHING? Is it slippery? Is it dry? Is it “Egg white” quality? It can be difficult to learn - but that’s not your fault - no one has ever walked alongside you and taught you these things.
That’s why it can be really helpful to work with a fertility coach to help you interpret your findings AND customize a plan specifically for you, particularly if you are currently trying to conceive or have been for a while without a pregnancy. Trying to conceive can be really, really difficult emotionally, TRUST ME - I have been there. Having support every step of the way can be so nourishing in addition to ensuring you are optimizing your chances of getting pregnant.
And in the name of decreasing overwhelm and making fertility easy, breezy, and intuitive, I am going to include more information about tracking Basal Body temperature and Cervix position in another blog post coming next week!
In the meantime, feel free to DM me on instagram or schedule a call if you need an individualized plan to prep your body for conception and get that baby in your arms as soon as possible!
Want to learn more about how to get to know your body, optimize your fertility, and live joyfully all the way from preconception to postpartum? Join my Juicy News email list where we get juicy about all things fertility, pelvic floor health, and new motherhood.
