Reading Your Fertility Signs

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Your body is a wonderful creation. If you are just now beginning to plan pregnancy, then you probably do not realize how many steps it takes for your body to conceive a child. If you have been at this a while, then you probably never thought you'd know so much about your body.

Fortunately, our bodies exhibit signs which can be monitored to pinpoint our most fertile times. Knowing how to read and monitor these signs allows us to better our chance of conception. These signs take many forms - temperature, changes in our cervical fluid and position, hormonal changes which may be monitored by home kits, and even in chemical changes in our saliva. Use the charts in this section to track your fertility signs. A sample chart has been filled out for you as an example. Let's review these fertility signs a bit in detail:

Temperature

Your basal body temperature (BBT) is your body's lowest resting temperature of the day. The minute changes of your BBT can show you when you ovulate and can be used as a first indicator of ovulatory problems. Here are some tips on recording your BBT temperature:

Use a special BBT thermometer which measures the small changes in your temperature in tenths of degrees. Don't try to rely on a regular thermometer.
Take your temperature at approximately the same time each day, just upon waking, without getting out of bed or having anything to eat or drink.
Should you need to get out of bed sometime in the night, make sure that you have slept at least 3 hours from that time before recording your BBT temperature.

Cervical Fluid

Changes in cervical fluid can also be an indicator of fertility. Typically the cervical fluid is dry and/or sticky at infertile times of the month. As you approach ovulation, the fluid becomes stretchy and opaque, much like the consistency of egg whites. Here are some tips on recording your cervical fluid:

Check your fluid sometime mid-day, since the cervical fluid tends to be dryer when you are tired or upon waking.
Do not check your fluid right after a shower or bath, when the fluid may be affected by water.

Cervical Position

Your cervix also changes in softness, opening, and location in the course of your cycle. As ovulation approaches, the cervix will rise (making it harder to reach), become more soft, and open. Here are some tips on recording your cervical position:

While in a crouched position, use 1 or 2 clean fingers to check the cervix.
Like the cervical fluid, check the position mid-day, since the cervical position tends to be lower when you are tired or upon waking.
Make sure you are in the same position when you are checking your cervix daily.

LH Indicator Kits

Home ovulation kits have become a godsend to so many women. The kits monitor the lutenizing hormone (LH) surge in the body which brings on ovulation. Here are some tips to make sure you are using and reading your LH surge property:

Unlike the old pregnancy tests, test sometime mid-day, when you have not urinated for several hours. Do not fill yourself with liquids which may dilute the result. This method has been claimed to give the most accurate first result.
As soon as you see any second line or change of color, you have tested positive and should ovulate within 24-36 hours. Do not retest the next day (although more than likely you will still get a positive or more positive result) because only one positive is necessary, and you will only confuse yourself.
Be aware that, if you are taking clomiphene citrate (Clomid, Serophene), it can skew the results of an LH kit by showing a false positive before your actual LH surge. Because of this, it is wise to couple LH kits with other fertility detection methods if you are taking clomiphene, to ensure proper timing.
If you are noticing that your LH kit is always showing a positive all or most of the time when you first test, you may want to see your doctor and inquire about Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCO) which often can be known to affect the results of LH kits.

Saliva Monitoring

Saliva is one of the latest scientific breakthroughs for detecting fertility. As you progress toward ovulation, changes in your saliva (and cervical fluid) seem to exhibit a "ferning" pattern when viewed under a microscope. This phenomena apparently is caused by the increase in estradiol several days prior to ovulation. Hand-held mini-microscopes are now available which can be used to detect this ferning pattern. Although this is not yet a universally accepted method and even though the devices used to monitor are more expensive than ovulation kits, these devices seem to be easy to use and you can use them any time of day to monitor your saliva or cervical fluid.

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