Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: How To Get Pregnant

Question:
I'm 34, and never have had a baby before. How do you know for sure when you're ovulating? Do I really have to buy one of those test kits? How long does it normally take?

Answer:
Well, the average is about 6 months, but many couples get pregnant a lot sooner, and many take much longer. If you've been on birth control pills or other hormonal methods, it may take longer, and if there are any fertility issues on either your side or your partner's, that may make it take longer too. The first clue that you're ovulating is whether or not you have regular cycles, occuring about every 4 weeks. For someone with a 28-day (4-week) cycle, ovulation takes place around day 14, right in the middle. Some women experience pain on one side of their body around this time - it's called mittelschmirtz (though I don't know if I got the spelling correct), and it usually feels like a milder form of a menstrual cramp. Usually sex is recommended in the couple of days preceding ovulation, as well as the day of, to maximize the chance of a sperm meeting the egg. In the first part of the woman's cycle, her body produces estrogen, which peaks right before ovulation, which, as I understand my home medical book to say, causes a surge in the LH (luteinizing hormone), which then causes the egg to be released about a day later - the LH is what the test kits detect. Many women find those tests very unreliable and difficult to read - I never have had good luck with them, but your mileage may vary; if you have a 28-day cycle, they usually recommend starting them around day 10 of your cycle (day 1 being the first day of your period). If the LH kit reads positive, you will probably ovulate within 24-48 hours. The increase in estrogen also causes the fluid in the woman's cervix (referred to here as the cervical mucus) to become more abundant, as well as clear and stretchy - like the consistency of raw eggwhites (you'll see women here refer to it as EWCM). Usually after ovulation, the CM changes back to a creamy texture. This fluid helps the sperm travel to the egg; some women note very good EWCM as a clue that ovulation is happening. Finally, another way to detect ovulation is to get a basal thermometer and take your temperature immediately upon waking up (before getting out of bed or anything). Generally, temps are low before ovulation, and they rise afterward by a significant amount (several tenths of a degree). You keep a graph of your temps from day to day, and watch for the rise; in a perfect cycle, the rise is very obvious, and if you get pregnant, there may be another rise, so that you have 3 groups of temps. This doesn't really help you know when your ovulating, except in retrospect, as by the time the temp rises, it's often too late (but not always). It does give you an idea from month to month, though, of what's happening; ie, if you always see a temp rise on cycle day (cd) 15, you probably ovulate on cd 13 or 14. Now, all this being said, lots of women don't have regular cycles, or good EWCM, or classic temps. And even knowing all this stuff won't guarantee pregnancy, but it does help, and it gives you an idea if something isn't right. I've been at this trying-to-figure-out-the-ovulation thing for almost a year, as I have some minor hormonal imbalances, partly from being on birth control pills (BCPs), so I think I've learned a thing or two, though a lot of women here are much more expert than I. Many women here will recommend you get a book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Wechsler (or something like that) - it has lots of pictures and descriptions. It takes an average of 6-12 months to conceive. I would strongly recommend buying a copy of Taking Charge Of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. That should answer most if not all of your questions. Would you believe I'm counting the days? Well, almost - I go in 3 weeks. I don't know if she'll have answers, but it's a start. I've really wanted it to happen by March so we can have a baby for Christmas (this past Christmas was kind-of sad, though it was fun to be in our first house, but we really felt that a baby was missing), but my DH reminded me last night that I would not feel like I did this past year if I was several months pregnant - the anticipation would be a lot of fun and excitement! He was so sweet, and it made me feel a lot more relaxed about it. So now I've got tons of time (though I'll go nuts if you beat me to it, lol!!!)