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Fertility Charting
Charting your Fertility is Easy!
Fertility charting is a very important aspect of getting to know your body and your fertility. When trying to get pregnant, the most important thing is to be able know when you are ovulating in order to time intercourse accordingly. Fertility charting helps you learn your specific fertility signs.
My experience both as a woman and as a practitioner has taught me that the two easiest signs of ovulation you should be charting are:
- Your Basal Body Temperature
- You Cervical Mucus
By knowing when you are ovulating, you increase your chances of getting pregnant. This can be a simple process or a bit tricky depending on your body and your fertility signals. You need to spend some time to get to know your body and to listen to its messages. If you have been on birth control for years, you may have lost connection your feminine cycle and wisdom. The good news is that many women have signals that show when they are ovulating, you will too. Just listen! Learning fertility charting will help you very much.
Basal Body Temperature
One aspect of fertility charting involves taking your basal body temperature (BBT), which is the most common way to determine ovulation. You may know when you ovulate by the way you feel, but taking you BBT makes it more certain to you and your partner. If you are not charting you BBT yet, you should!
This is the very first step toward getting to know your body and your fertility.
Many women think that they are infertile because they do not get pregnant within a certain period of time, but when they start timing intercourse based on their fertile days (after learning fertility charting), they realize that before they were just missing an important piece of information and that after all they never had a fertility problem!
Not every woman ovulates on day 14 and you need to know when you ovulate! fertility charting will show you when you actually ovulate.
Basal body temperature (BBT) is the temperature of your body at rest. Take your temperature first thing in the morning before you even get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Record your temperate every day at the same time.
BBT Thermometer
When charting your basal body temperature you should use what is called a basal body temperature thermometer. It records temperatures to the tenth degree and it is the most precise thermometer. By charting your temperatures you can see patterns in your menstrual cycle and be able to determine when you ovulate.
If you can't find a good BBT thermometer at your local pharmacy, you can purchase a basal body thermometer online. The normal thermometer that you use to check if you have a fever is not good for this purpose. You need a thermometer that reads temperatures to the 1/100th degree. Also, you want to look for one that records your reading and has a memory function, so that you don't have to write your temperature down right away.
The two main types are: Digital Basal Thermometer and Non-Mercury Glass Basal Thermometer. I prefer the digital one because it has the digital memory recall and a peak temperature indicator, but the choice is yours.
Once you record your BBT every day for at least one month you will notice that just before ovulation your BBT increases and then stays high throughout the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Once your temperature rises and stays high for at least three days you know you have ovulated. By recording your temperature shift you will learn which day of the month you are more likely to ovulate and so you will know to have intercourse just before that day the next month.
If your temperature stays high you might be pregnant. Wait 40 straight days of high temperature before doing a home pregnancy test to confirm it. Your BBT will stay high throughout your pregnancy because the hormone progesterone is in charge during this time.
When your temperature goes down, you will most likely have your period within the next 24 to 48 hours.
To make your fertility charting easier you can use a software program that will help you greatly with this process or just use a simple free fertility chart.
Cervical Mucus
Fertility charting also involves recording the changes of your cervical mucus throughout your cycle. You need to become very familiar with the quality, consistency, quantity, and color of your cervical mucus. This is where you will find out how your fertility plays out in your case. During your monthly cycle the appearance, color and consistency of the cervical mucus changes. By learning how your cervical mucus changes, you will be able to time intercourse and get pregnant.
1. Collect your cervical mucus.
Make sure your hands are clean. Insert your index finger in your vagina and try to pick up a small amount of cervical mucus. Remember that depending on the timing of your cycle, you may find very little cervical mucus present.
2. Take a look at the mucus.
When you have very little mucus you may not be fertile. If the mucus is white and creamy, you are not fertile yet. What you are looking for is very stretchy mucus that is clear like the white of the egg. If you have fertile mucus you should be able to put some mucus between your thumb and your index finger and stretch it for at least 2-4 cm.
3. Recognize fertile mucus.
Spotting fertile mucus is the key to know your fertility. You want clear, stretchy cervical mucus. This mucus allows optimal sperm motility, keeps the sperm alive for 3-5 days (if you have fertile mucus for that long) and also makes sure the acidic environment present in the vaginal cavity will not destroy the spermatic cells.
4.Keep track of your fertile mucus.
A very important aspect of fertility charting consists of recording the changes of your mucus during your monthly cycle. It will take at least one cycle in order to fully understand how your cervical mucus changes. Remember that dry and sticky mucus, which is white creamy or yellow in color indicates no or low fertility. Instead clear and stretchy cervical mucus is what you want to see for at least three days in a row. The best situation is when the fertile mucus appears as you have a thermal shift. This is your most fertile time. Many women may have fertile mucus but it does not last for long or may not align with their thermal shift. This pattern is what may be preventing them from conceiving. If this is your case, do not despair because there are things you can do in order to increase your fertile mucus.
Improving Fertile Cervical Mucus
Supplementing with natural products can help you increase your fertile mucus. The following are also important nutritional guidelines you can implement to help your cervical mucus production:
The changes you see in your mucus are under the control of your hormones. Estrogen influences the quality and consistency of the cervical fluid. During the first half of your cycle, when the estrogen level in your blood goes up, the cervical mucus is slippery and you can feel moisture coming from your vagina that you can notice on your underwear. As ovulation approaches, this fluid secretion of cervical mucus turns into stretchy and transparent mucus. You can literally take a little bit between your fingers and notice how stretchy it can be.
Progesterone rises right after ovulation and its presence contributes to making the cervical mucus dry and looking like white cream or yellow and lumpy but not stretchy. You are now in the luteal phase of your cycle. Some women do not detect fertile mucus because they ovulate right after their menses and the fertile mucus is mixed with the menstrual period. Some women do not detect fertile mucus because they do not produce a lot. These are more likely to be infertile. Many fertility drugs like clomid can cause insufficient cervical mucus as well as low estrogen, low body weight, smoking, and unbalanced vaginal pH.
How to Increase Production of Cervical Mucus
1. Drink plenty of purified water.
Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Make sure to drink purified or natural spring water from a mountain source. Do not drink tap water because it contains many chemicals that can disrupt your hormonal balance and cause toxicity.
2. Eat alkaline foods.
Eat almonds, apples, cucumber, Brussels sprouts, beets, lemons, asparagus, broccoli, celery, carrots, kale, onions, potatoes, brown rice, melons, grapes, apricots, limes, pears, berries, plums, sweet potatoes, artichokes, peaches, papayas, mangoes, , kiwi, cabbage peppers, radishes, seaweed, cauliflower, spinach, bananas, parsnips.
3.Decrease acid foods in your diet.
Avoid too much meat, fish, beans, wheat, white rice, milk, corn, tomato, oranges, oats, eggs, mushrooms, etc.
Cervix Position
Many fertility charting spreadsheets or software allow you to record your cervix position during your monthly cycle. The position of your cervix changes when you become fertile. This sign of fertility is very accurate if you know how to check it. Many people though, seem to find it difficult. If you want to chart the position of your own cervix, insert a finger or two inside your vagina and feel the cervix (make sure your hands are clean). When you are not fertile you will notice that your cervix is harder and not open. It feels like the tip of your nose. When you ovulate the cervix is easier to reach, a bit softer and slightly open. At this point your cervix may feel more like your ear lobe. As use learn more and more about your body, your fertility charting becomes easier and easier and you can add how your cervix position changes during your cycle.
Ovulation Prediction Kits
Many women love fertility charting, others become frustrated with all the little details so they use ovulation prediction kits which are becoming a very popular method of detecting ovulation. One of the benefits of using an ovulation prediction kit is that you can predict ovulation before it occurs. These kits detect luteinizing hormone (LH) levels in your urine. Just before ovulation there is a surge in LH. When this LH surge is identified, ovulation should occur within 36 hours. This method allows you to time intercourse.
Ovulation prediction kits can be costly and do not show you any patterns that a practitioner may be able to use to address your problem.
Taking your temperature can tell you if you have any erratic patterns or if you ovulate too late or if your temperature shift during ovulation is not consistent.
When you start charting your temperature, you can see how your body works throughout the entire cycle not just at ovulation time.
Ovulation prediction kits do not tell you anything about your fertile mucus and if you have enough and for enough days.
They are very useful in conjunction with fertility charting like taking your basal body temperature and checking your cervical mucus.
Learn more about using ovulation kits.
Other Signs of Ovulation
Some signs of ovulation other than increased fertile cervical mucus, changes in your cervix position and basal body temperature (BBT) shift can be ovulation pain on one side, spotting, and breast tenderness. Make sure to use your fertility charting skills to record these changes as well. The information you collect will help you greatly when deciding your ovulation date.
During the process of ovulation, follicles begin to grow and mature within the tissue of the ovary. When they mature they produce estrogen. This increase in the hormone estrogen triggers a surge in Luteinizing Hormone (LH). This hormone signals the mature egg to burst from the follicle.
Estrogen spikes sharply just before ovulation occurs. This may cause a light spotting to happen. In general ovulation spotting will last for one or two days and your are likely to ovulate soon after. This is the best time to start having sex and continue for two to four days to make sure ovulation has occurred.
Low Sperm Count and Achieving Conception
Having intercourse every other day is best to make sure the male sperm is released in large amounts. Having too much sex close together may deplete the male sexual energy and the sperm quality may become less. If the male partner has low sperm count, it is advisable to use an ovulation prediction test to pinpoint ovulation accurately. Withe the ovulation pain, you should also notice the presence of cervical mucous that looks like egg-white.
Note: Please note that there are some conditions that could be confused with ovulation pain such as ovarian cysts, appendicitis, or endometriosis. If you are having severe abdominal pain that persists, please seek advice from a medical doctor.
Ectopic pregnancy
I would like to write a short note on this topic because it happened to me and I know that there are more and more cases occurring. This condition is very rare and life threatening and at times difficult to diagnose. If you know you might be pregnant as a result of accurate fertility charting and experience severe abdominal pain, usually caused by internal blood loss or unexpected bleeding through the vagina seek immediate medical care. Other less common symptoms include referred shoulder pain, dizziness and fainting, pregnancy symptoms and desire to pass a stool, high heart beat and fever.
An ectopic pregnancy can present itself in many ways, sometimes the embryo implants itself in the fallopian tube, on the ovary, on the abdominal cavity, or on the cervix. If the embryo implants itself anywhere else but the uterus, you have an ectopic pregnancy. There are not at home natural health remedies for this condition. You need to go to the emergency room at once! You can use homeopathic medicine to aid healing afterward.
Increase Fertile Cervical Mucus
Use Ovacue Fertility Monitor
Ovagraph Software Fertility Charting
OvaCue Fertility Vaginal Sensor
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FertileCM is designed to increase fertility by supporting the production of fertile mucus. If you know you do not produce enough clear and stretchy cervical mucus, this supplement can make a difference while trying to conceive. FertileCM is designed to improve both the quantity and quality of a woman's cervical mucus. In addition to mucus production, FertileCM helps to strengthen the uterine lining for better implantation of the embryo.
Evening Primrose Oil increases fertile mucus production. This is an essential oil that should be taken when your menses stop until ovulation. The recommended amount is 2,000mg per day. For many years, Evening Primrose Oil has recommended by alternative practitioners to help women conceive.
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