Tracking Your Fertility Signs
Tracking your fertility signs is extremely important. It gives you an incredible jumping off point for understanding your body, it can help you understand when to time intercourse or insemination for conception, and it can help you and your care providers understand where there may be issues when you’re unsuccessfully trying to conceive or are having cycle irregularity issues.
We’re going to take a deep dive into tracking your fertility signs today so settle in.
First of all, I recommend giving yourself a few months to get used to cycle tracking. You may want to abstain from intercourse at this time because it can be easy to confuse seminal fluid with cervical fluid. Secondly, I encourage you to pick an app where you can track of your data. I did a full blog post on fertility apps for Conceive Health here. Pick the option that works best for you - p.s. I love Kindara.
BBT
Let’s start with basal body temperature. This is your body temperature at rest. During your cycle your temperature will be lower during your follicular phase (the first half of your cycle) It is normal for it to be between 35.2-36.5 degrees C. It will then rise higher during your luteal phase (the second half of your cycle after ovulation). In fact, your basal body temperature will jump up by 0.5 degrees C after ovulation. It should stay elevated for at least 12 days and longer if you are pregnant.
Tips:
Use a thermometer with 2 decimal points.
Keep your thermometer by your bed and take your temperature before you get out of bed each morning. Otherwise that can cause a variability in your temperature that can be confused with ovulation
Try to take your temperature at the same time every day (so hopefully you are waking at the same time every day).
Ensure 4 consecutive hours of sleep before taking your temperature for it to be accurate.
If night shifts, children, pets, or other factors impact the regularity of your sleep then you might want to consider a wearable device like TempDrop or Ava that will track the temperature data for you outside of sleep.
Cervical Mucus
Cervical mucus or “white flow” is the mucus produced by the cervix in response to rising estrogen levels as you approach ovulation. You can start keeping an eye out for cervical mucus changes as your period moves into light days of flow. Cervical mucus should be non-existent or pasty or sticky for a few days after your period. As estrogen starts to rise that tells the cervical crypts near the entrance of the uterus to make more fertile discharge, which will eventually become the classic egg white discharge we associate with ovulation. This fertile mucus helps the transmission of sperm into the uterus and helps keep the sperm alive as it waits for the egg to arrive.
Fertile cervical mucus = has the following characteristics:
stretchy
clear
lubricative (feels wet)
shows up for at least 3 days of this before ovulation
Tips:
You will want to check daily after a bowel movement (BM). In some cases you will see cervical mucus present clearly after a BM. In other cases, you may need to wipe from front to back with toilet paper.
You can also keep an eye on cervical mucus excretions present on the underwear throughout the day.
Observe how the mucus is all day and chart at the end of the day. You could have 2 different types of mucus within 1 day so you’ll want to record the most fertile mucus you see that day.
What do look for:
Keep your eyes closed on wiping to get a sensation for how dry or lubricated it feels as you wipe.
Look for the amount of:
Discharge - How much? Does it try wet or dry?
Colour - Is it clear or cloudy or shiny?
Degree of Stretch - when you move the cervical mucus between your fingers how much stretch does it have?
It can take time to get used to the different levels of stretch in the mucus, so focus on how sticky, tacky or liquid-y the mucus feels. We’re looking for an egg-white-like, stretchy mucus, but even mucus that looks like vaseline is still fertile. The sugars in the mucus give it the shiny look, and its these sugars that keep the sperm alive. Remember, to give yourself 1 month without intercourse so you don't get seminal fluid confused with your cervical fluid.
Cervical Position
Your cervix actually changes position during your cycle. As you approach ovulation your cervix will start to S.H.OW. - this is an acronym that breaks down the changes:
S = Soft - your cervix becomes softer
H = High - your cervix becomes higher
O = Open - your cervix opens slightly
W = Wet - your cervix becomes wet with cervical mucus
All of these fertility signs lead up to the ultimate event, which is ovulation.
Ovulation: How to Know It’s Coming Soon
Temperature: There will be a slight temperature drop followed by a 0.1-0.3 degrees temperature jump that tells you ovulation is about to occur. This shift can happen over a few days.
Cervical Mucus: You should also notice 3 consecutive days of thinner, clear or stretchy discharge that you can spread easily between your fingers. This tells you that estrogen is rising, a follicle is maturing and you are about to ovulate. This will then be followed by a number of drier days or days of clumpy, sticky, or tacky cervical mucus. That 1st dry day is the day you ovulated (so you can only tell when ovulation happened in retrospect).
Cervical Position: Your cervix will SHOW - see above for the details. This tends to be one of the more difficult signs to notice. Keep an eye on cervical mucus above all else.
How to Pair This Up with LH Strips/OPK Test
LH is luteinizing hormone. It is the hormone that triggers ovulation. OPKs are ovulation predictor kits. They detect a rise in LH that suggests ovulation is imminent. Estrogen levels rise in relation to the maturation of the follicle. When the follicle is mature enough to be ovulated the estrogen rises really high and then drops. This rise and subsequent fall triggers an LH surge that then triggers ovulation. The LH surge happens 12 to 24 hours before ovulation. You should be getting a positive on your OPK test during the days of clear, wet, stretchy discharge (that egg white presentation).
Most people will begin to use OPKs a few days after their period so they don’t miss the event. OPK tests are helpful but they don't always align with the fertile days of cervical mucus. The clearest sign of ovulation is when you have 3 to 4 days of slippery, wet, stretchy cervical mucus followed by a dry day. You'll know you ovulated the day before that 1st dry day.
Keep in mind that OPKs often do not work when patients have PCOS and other conditions that impact LH levels.
Post-Ovulation & The 2nd 1/2 of your cycle
The temperature should stay elevated after you ovulate. It will likely be around 35.6-37 degrees (some women have a jump up to 37.5).
It is typical that it will remain elevated for 10-14d after you ovulate.
You should notice less discharge or the sticky/tacky discharge may come back until your next period.
Pulling It All Together
It can take 3 months of tracking to understand exactly when you might be ovulating. Take your time to figure this out.
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