At-Home Fertility Monitoring

Deciding to have a child is a huge change in life. It can be a bit of a let down to finally make the decision, then have to wait months for your body to decide when the time is right. When you’ve weighed all the options and want to speed the process up a bit, you can give at-home fertility monitoring a shot, to best predict your fertile days.

Monitoring Cervical Fluid

Warning: getting pregnant isn’t for the faint of heart, as you’ll often come across such wonderful phrases as “cervical mucous.” While it doesn’t have a particularly appealing name, cervical fluid plays an important role in your ability to get pregnant.

The cervix (the area at the top of your vagina between your vagina and your uterus) releases a thick, sticky fluid into your vagina as ovulation approaches. The fluid protects the sperm in your vagina as they make their way to the egg. The state of your cervical mucous will change throughout your cycle; there’s likely to be little during the beginning of the cycle, but as it gets closer to O-time, the thick liquid will become present.

You can easily check your cervical mucous using your finger. You’re most likely to be fertile when there’s a wet, creamy, white fluid at the top of your vagina; when the fluid gets as thick as egg whites, you’re likely to be ovulating. These are the best times to try for a baby.

Monitoring Basal Body Temperature

Keeping daily track of your basal body temperature is another fairly simple way to determine when you’re most fertile. “Basal” simply means your waking body temperature, before you’ve gotten out of bed or done significant activity. To keep track of your basal body temperature, you’ll need an accurate digital thermometer and an ovulation chart. These kits can be bought for $10-100 online or at your local drugstore.

After ovulation, a woman’s body temperature naturally raises between 0.8-1.0 degrees Fahrenheit, and will stay that way until her next period. Thus, keeping track of your temperature can be a good way to see if you’re still fertile. To use your temperature to predict ovulation, you’ll need to keep track of your waking temperature every day, at the same time. The “rule of three over six” is a shorthand for tracking your temperature and seeing which days you’re likely to be infertile.

Monitoring Hormones

The woman’s body also releases specific hormones during ovulation. One you can monitor at home is called Luteinizing Hormone, or LH for short. A surge of LH triggers ovulation in your body, and keeping track of your LH levels can be a very accurate way of determining if you’re fertile or not.

Companies have manufactured test kits that allow you to test your LH levels at home, through an analysis of your urine. These kits come with a battery-powered hand-held device and urine sticks. The woman uses her first urination of the morning for the test kit.

The urine stick is then placed in to the device, which can give a highly accurate report on her fertility (usually low, high, and peak fertility levels). These monitoring devices cost between $100-400 dollars, depending on the model, and can be purchased online and at major retailers.

Sources:

Monitoring Basal Body Temperature. (2007) Marquette University.

Identifying Your Fertile Days. (2008) University of Maryland Medical Center.

Monitoring Your Hormones. (2007) Marquette University.