How to get Pregnant - Fertility Signs

I am sure that most of you already know most fertility signs, but thought I would provide this information that goes a bit more indepth for those that might not realize or know some of these signs.

Your body sends you fertility signals every day. Learn to read them, and you can get pregnant quickly, and maybe even choose the sex of your baby! There are three methods of fertility prediction: evaluating cervical mucus, charting basal body temperatures, and checking your cervix. With a little know-how, you can plan your next pregnancy and achieve your fertility goals.

Method #1: Evaluating Your Cervical Mucus
For most women, evaluating cervical mucus is the easiest and most accurate method of detecting fertility. It requires no pencils, paper, or invasive techniques, but merely an increased awareness of monthly changes you usually ignore.

You may have noticed this fertile-quality cervical mucus at some point. It is slippery, stretchy, and clear, kind of like egg whites. It may appear in your underwear, in the toilet, or on toilet paper when you go to the bathroom. You may have mistaken it for the lubrication that appears during sexual arousal. This is easy to do, because both are clear and wet. However, fertile cervical mucus can be distinguished because it is thicker, occurs monthly and independently of sexual arousal, and does not easily dissolve in water. In water, arousal fluid will dissolve, but cervical mucus will ball up in a small mass and sink.

After approximately five days of menstrual discharge, you will probably notice a period of a few days when you have no vaginal discharge (called “dry days”). Then, as fertility approaches, discharge begins to appear. It may start out sticky, pasty, or creamy as fertility draws nearer. When it reaches egg white quality, your body is telling you that your fertility is peaking.

The number of days of egg white quality mucus varies from woman to woman.
Generally, the final day of egg white cervical mucus is the day you are most fertile, and the ultimate target day for intercourse. Of course, you will not know except in retrospect which day is the final day!

To get pregnant, you could simply have sex on every day of egg white mucus. For most couples, simply recognizing this fertile mucus is enough to make pregnancy happen! For others, however, another variable to consider is the fertility of the male partner. If his sperm count is low, some specialists would recommend having sex only every other day, so that sperm is available for conception to occur with each ejaculation.

Method #2: Taking Your Basal Body Temperature
Perhaps the best known of fertility prediction methods, and certainly the easiest to discuss in polite company, is the daily measurement of basal body temperature. Though doctors say it may be less reliable than observation of cervical mucus, it is recommended that the two methods be used together for maximum effectiveness.

Prior to ovulation, a woman’s basal body temperature is generally lower. Day to day temperatures vary, but remain in the comparatively low range. After ovulation occurs, a woman’s temperature rises suddenly, or “spikes.” Thereafter, temperatures remain high until the start of the next cycle. To get pregnant, sex should occur immediately before the temperature spike is observed, at the most fertile time. (Unlike the cervical mucus method, the basal body temperature method cannot predict impending fertility. The spike in temperature is seen after ovulation has already occurred, so if you wait to have intercourse until you see your temperature rise, you may be too late. However, if you use this method to chart several cycles, you may discover that they are regular, and that you can predict how many days into your cycle you usually ovulate.)

The basal body temperature method requires a bit more effort and quite a few more rules, but once you understand it, it should take less than five minutes of your time per day. In addition, you will need to obtain or create a chart for recording your daily temperatures. These charts can be found free by doing an online search, or they can be photocopied from a book. Temperatures on the graph generally run from about 97 degrees to 99 degrees, with a mark for every tenth of a degree in between. When taking and recording your temperature, there are a set of guidelines you should follow:

Take your temperature first thing each morning, before getting out of bed or doing anything else. If you are using a mercury thermometer, shake it down the night before and place it on your nightstand. (Shaking down the thermometer in the morning can elevate your body temperature.)

Use a special thermometer for basal body temperature. These can be found at any drugstore. A thermometer made to detect fever may not be sensitive enough.

Take your temperature either orally or vaginally, but make sure to use the same route each time. Do not use ear thermometers, as they are thought to be less accurate.

Try to take your temperature at the same time each day. If you sleep in, your temperature will tend to rise about a tenth of a degree for each half hour you sleep past your normal waking time.
Take your temperature after at least three hours of sleep. If you get out of bed an hour before your alarm goes off in the morning to use the bathroom, your temperature will be falsely elevated. It is better to record your temperature a bit early, if need be, than to check it after getting up.

Make a dot or a circle for your temperature each day, and connect the dots with a line, so you can see patterns.

If you think one day’s temperature might be falsely high or low because of difference in waking time or illness, you should chart it, but do not connect it to the rest of your line. Make a note to yourself about the possible reason for the discrepancy.

If your temperature falls between two numbers, record the lower of the two.
Observe your chart for the classic pattern: a series of lower temperatures, followed by a temperature spike (ovulation), and then a series of high temperatures. If your graph matches this pattern, you can be fairly certain that your most fertile day was on or slightly before the day of the temperature spike.

Method #3: Examining Your Cervix
Your cervix is the entrance to your uterus, located at the upper end of your vagina. Obviously, you cannot examine it with your eyes. Instead, you must do so using your tactile senses (with the tip of your finger). For this reason many women shy away from this method. If your desire to get pregnant overpowers any squeamishness you may have, you can gain good information from this procedure. But, unlike the other methods, it may take more than one cycle to master.

To check your cervix, you should follow these guidelines:

Since you will be using the middle finger of your dominant hand, make sure that this fingernail is trimmed and not sharp. Wash your hands with soap and water. Begin checking your cervix daily after your menstrual cycle has ended. Try to check it at the same time each day.
The best position for checking your cervix is squatting, but you can also put one leg up (or use whatever position you might use to insert a tampon). Check your cervix in the same position each day.

Insert the middle finger of your dominant hand into the back of your vagina, slowly and gently while remembering to breathe and relax. You should soon feel your cervix.

When you are not fertile, your cervix will feel hard, like the tip of your nose. It will be in a low position, closed, and free of fertile quality mucus. (However, if you have ever vaginally delivered a child, your cervix may always be slightly open. It is important to monitor how it changes as the month progresses.)

As the fertile phase approaches, your cervix begins to feel soft, like your lips. It rises to a higher position and opens, in preparation for the entrance of sperm. Checking your cervix may allow you to find fertile quality cervical mucus, even if you have never observed it before externally. Again, it is important to compare how your cervix feels at this time relative to earlier in the month. After a couple of cycles, you should begin to be able to judge your level of fertility based on the“ripeness” of your cervix.

As a side note, if you notice small bumps on your cervix, do not worry. These are nabothian cysts, and they are perfectly normal.