Signs of Ovulation: 5 Symptoms, Letting You Know That Ovulation Has Occurred

Signs of ovulation are important to track if you have been trying to conceive lately with no luck. Yes, it may seem unfair that some women can get pregnant after the first attempts, while others have to detect ovulation, visit gynecologist oftener than normally and… pray. Well, if you are not among the luckiest in this relation, you need to know more about the symptoms, accompanying ovulation. They help a lot in determining those most favorable days for conception you have every month.

Signs of Ovulation: How Can You Tell When You Are Most Fertile?

You need to know ovulation date because the ovum is alive only approximately during the next 24 hours after it’s released from an ovary. Since spermatozoa are able to survive longer, waiting for the ovum in the uterus or Fallopian tubes (up to 7 days), you have 8 fertile days in every ovulatory cycle: 7 days before ovulation and 1 after it.

There are objective and subjective signs, letting you know that ovulation has occurred. Besides paying attention to the way you are feeling in the middle of the cycle, you can resort to medical methods of ovulation diagnostics. The simplest you can try is doing ovulation tests in the days when you expect ovulation.

The most reliable results, however, are obtained from foliculometria – ultrasound of the pelvic area, done in order to determine the day of ovulation. The procedure is performed 2-3 times. The 1^st time you should come 2-3 days before ovulation to check whether there’s a dominating follicle, to measure its size and the thickness of the uterine endometrium. The given results allow to predict ovulation date and make an appointment for the 2^nd procedure, when a doctor will be able to confirm whether ovulation has occurred or not.

Signs of Ovulation: What To Check When Tracking the Most Fertile Days?

1. Changes in basal body temperature. The 1^st phase of menstrual cycle is under the predominance of estrogen, while the 2^nd phase after ovulation is characterized by high progesterone. It increases basal body temperature and prepares the uterus for implantation and possible pregnancy. On a basal body temperature chart it looks like this: temperature reaches its lowest point during ovulation and then rises at once and sharply or gradually but steadily, as soon as ovulation occurs. Keep in mind, however, that your first basal body temperature chart won’t let you predict the day of ovulation in the current month. It will only provide you with an evidence that it has occurred. Going on with your charts in the following months you will be able to see the pattern of your cycles which will allow you to predict when ovulation is supposed to start in the next few months.
2. Change in the character of cervical mucus. After period vaginal discharge is practically absent. Then, as you are moving closer to the middle of your cycle, your vaginal secretions are changing from moderate whitish and cloudy to abundant transparent and stretchy cervical mucus, resembling raw egg whites. You can easily stretch it between your fingers for an inch or more. This texture of vaginal discharge accelerates movement of sperm cells upwards to the ovum.
3. Lower abdominal or back pains. About 20% of women can literally feel what’s going on in their ovaries during ovulation. It can be slight pain or more pronounced shooting pains in the left or right side. Some women feel ovulation as one-side pains in the lower back. The condition may last just a few minutes, a few hours and even a couple of days. If you notice similar sensations approximately at the same time every month, these are your symptoms of ovulation.
4. Emotional background. On the one hand, a woman is feeling more sexy, horny and sociable, but, on the other hand, she is getting more emotional, sensible and often touchy. This is rather individual, you may spot the changes in the way you feel emotionally during ovulation or no difference at all.
5. The cervix. Ovulation is a hidden process, however, you can palpate cervix and detect the occurring changes. Cervix also prepares for the coming ovulation in order to provide more chances for the coming impregnation. In the beginning of the cycle your cervix is closed, hard and low. Before ovulation it lifts up, is getting softer and slightly opens to let sperm cells penetrate inside. Some women can feel these changes, checking cervix daily. You can also try to palpate your cervix with a finger or two, having previously washed your hands thoroughly.

Signs of ovulation help women to detect the most fertile days rather effortlessly. Yet sometimes when you are not perplexed with tracking “the necessary days”, but simply enjoy your sex life with your special man, this one turns out to be the most efficient method of getting pregnant. May it be so for you when you are ready.