Are you trying to conceive?
Do you know when/if you are ovulating?
Dr. Kendra Flock explains:
There are multiple ways to monitor your ovulation and fertile window which include basal body temperature, cervical mucous, ovulation prediction kits, and progesterone bloodwork.
Let’s breakdown each one:
Basal Body Temperature (aka BBT) is an oral temperature reading taken first thing in the morning while you are still laying in bed. You can track your readings in a chart or in an app and once you see a spike in your temperature (0.5-1 degree) you can confirm ovulation. This temperature spike is sustained for the rest of the month.
Cervical mucous changes throughout your cycle, and if monitored, can give you information about when your fertile window is. After your period your cervical mucous will be dry. Then, as your cervical mucous begins to increase, this is your signal of possible ovulation. Fertile cervical mucous is abundant, clear, stretchy, wet, slippery, and similar to raw egg white. Once your cervical mucous turns tacky and sticky, you will know you are past your fertile window.
Ovulation prediction kits (aka OPK’s) can be purchased at grocery stores, drug stores or on Amazon. They detect your LH (luteinizing hormone) surge that happens before an egg is released. Once the LH surge has been seen, you can assume you have peak fertility for that day and the following day. This test predicts ovulation, but it cannot tell us forsure if an egg was in fact released.
How do we know for sure if we ovulated?
We can measure Progesterone!
This is a blood test that is best done 7 days post ovulation.
A serum progesterone greater than 15.9 nmol/L confirms ovulation, but levels of 32 ng/ml or higher are associated with best clinical pregnancy rates.
