How to Recognize the Signs and Symptoms of Ovulation

When you’re trying to conceive, you may find yourself thinking more about ovulation than you ever even thought possible. That’s okay. It’s completely normal. Since you can only get pregnant while you are ovulating, it is an important thing to know about.

There are signs and symptoms that everyone can detect with a little effort, and then there are some that only affect some women.

Understanding and identifying these signs of when you are ovulating will allow you to get pregnant sooner. There are also tools available like Ovulation Calculator which will accurately predict when you are most fertile.

Evaluate Your Cervical Mucus

After a while you will become intimately familiar with your cycle… cervical mucus and all. When you are in your most fertile time frame, your cervical mucus will be very similar to the consistency of raw egg white. You will also notice more cervical mucus (CM) than at any other time in the cycle.

Chart Your Basal Body Temperature

Just after you ovulate, your basal body temperature will rise by up to 1 degree Fahrenheit. Your basal body temperature is your body’s baseline temperature at rest. This is why you should keep a notepad and a thermometer next to your bed, so you can take your temperature every morning without getting up. Any movement can cause fluctuations. You may notice a temperature dip right before the rise, and this is normal.

Check Your Cervical Position

When you are most fertile, your cervix will be in a position that is ready to welcome your partner’s sperm. It will be soft, high in the vagina, open and wet. When you are not fertile, it will sit lower and be hard, closed and dry. To feel the contrast, you will need to check position throughout your cycle.

Use an Ovulation Predictor Kit

These over-the-counter kits work by testing your urine for Luteinizing Hormone (LH), a hormone spikes just before ovulation. A positive result means that you are entering your most fertile period.

Look for Saliva Ferning

For this sign of ovulation, you will need a microscope. They sell kits made for this specific purpose, but you do not necessarily need one. If you have a microscope already, try that before you go out and buy something new. When you look at your saliva under the microscope when you are ovulating, you will see a snowflake-like pattern. This pattern will not be present when you are not ovulating.

Be Aware of Any Cramping

You may experience cramping throughout your cycle for a variety of reasons, many of which could be gastrointestinal. But some women tend to experience cramping whenever they ovulate. This phenomenon is called Mittleshmerz, and experts are still not quite sure why some women feel it and others do not. The cramping may range from slight to severe and may last hours to days.

Expect to Feel a Little Frisky

When you are ovulating, you are much more likely to want sex than at any other time in your cycle. If you start paying attention, you may notice this to be true for yourself.

It does make biological sense that we would feel frisky at the only time of the month when we can conceive.

Nausea or Headaches

Some women’s bodies are more sensitive to hormonal changes than others, and this causes them to experience nausea or headaches when they are ovulating.

Lookout for Heightened Senses

If you notice you can see a little more clearly or can hear things you normally would not hear, you may be ovulating. The hormones at work in your body may be helping you to be more alert.

Check for Breast Tenderness

Just like your breasts may be tender when you are having your menstrual period, you may notice tender breasts when you ovulate. Not every woman will experience this sign, and some only experience it sometimes, but if you have sore breasts in the middle of your cycle, you are probably ovulating.

Look for Spotting

Some women notice light spotting on the toilet tissue or on their underwear during ovulation. This is not a sign that something is wrong. In fact, it is completely normal.

It is also normal not to experience spotting during ovulation, so do not worry either way.

Beware of Bloating

This is another sign that may remind you of your menstrual period, but if you experience bloating mid-cycle it is more likely to be ovulation.

Understanding and identifying these signs of when you are ovulating will allow you to get pregnant sooner. There are also tools available like Ovulation Calculator which will accurately predict when you are most fertile.

Author Bio – Phil Druce launched Ovulation Calculator after a personal family battle to get pregnant, Ovulation Calculator aims to provide the necessary tools and educational resources for those couples hoping to achieve a safe and healthy pregnancy.