Cake

Chart Your Signs

The basics are pretty simple — women are "fertile" approximately 6-10 days of their entire menstrual cycle. This means that if you are in a monogamous relationship in which both of you have been tested negative for HIV and screened for other STDs, you can reliably monitor this "unsafe" period and make adjustments to your sexual activities accordingly. This does not however, give you and your partner license to act foolishly. On the contrary it gives you the option to either abstain from vaginal intercourse with internal ejaculation, use another method of contraception while having vaginal intercourse during that period or experiment with other kinds of sexual activity during that period including lots of oral sex, mutual masturbation and anal intercourse. Of course, these techniques can and should be employed throughout your monthly cycle, but are especially useful as pleasurable substitutes during the "fertile" time.

There are two primary fertility signs virtually all ovulating women produce - cervical fluid and waking temperature. (Cervical position is another fertility sign but since it is internal not all women feel comfortable checking it.)

Cervical fluid:

Women are only fertile the few days around ovulation. In order for conception to occur, there must be three factors present: the egg, the sperm and the medium in which the sperm can travel to reach the fallopian tubes. The medium is the fertile-quality cervical, which acts as a conduit to direct sperm through the cervix. Virtually all ovulating women experience an observable pattern of changes in their cervical fluid throughout their cycles. Once you learn to recognize these subtle differences, interpreting the pattern is simple. When a woman is very fertile, her cervical fluid becomes wet and humid. As you approach ovulation, the eggwhite-quality cervical fluid most women experience can feel slippery.

Waking Temperature:

You can chart your waking temperature by using a basal body thermometer (the electronic ones with the decimal point) every morning of your cycle. Once you have ovulated your temperature increases due to the added progesterone that dominates the luteal phase of your cycle. If you track your waking temperature over the course of your cycle you will notice a pattern - slightly decreased temperatures leading up to ovulation with subtle jump in temperature right after ovulation up until menstruation. Menstruation is marked with a return to slightly decreased temperatures. It is worth noting that once your temperature has gone up, ovulation has occurred and the chances of getting pregnant rapidly decrease from that moment on. In fact, after the egg has been released and has not been fertilized by sperm, a woman is no longer fertile until the next cycle has begun leading up to ovulation.

What is ovulation?

Ovulation is the release of a single, mature egg from a follicle that developed in your ovary each menstrual cycle. The process of ovulation is triggered by the release of Luteinizing Hormone (LH). The levels of this hormone increase significantly about 1-2 days before ovulation, causing the egg to be released from your ovary. The egg travels down the fallopian tube towards the uterus. If fertilization does not occur within 24 to 48 hours after ovulation, the egg disintegrates and is expelled with the uterus lining at the start of your next period, usually 12-16 days later. If fertilization occurs, the egg implants itself in the lining of the uterus and begins its growth, resulting in a pregnancy!

When does ovulation occur?

The time of ovulation within the menstrual cycle is determined by the Luteal phase, which is the second half of your cycle and is usually 12 to 16 days long - the average being 14 days. This period seldom varies within an individual woman so if you normally have a luteal phase that lasts 13 days, you can be pretty sure cycle to cycle it won’t vary. If the egg is not fertilized, your period will come at the end of your luteal phase.

To find out when you ovulated in your last cycle, subtract 14 days from the first day of your period. This will be the day that your egg dropped. If the last day of your period began on October 14th, you ovulated on October 1st. To account for the range of your Luteal phase, add 2 days on either side. So you can be pretty sure that you ovulated somewhere between September 29th – October 3rd.

Now you will want to figure out when you will ovulate next. First count the length of your typical cycle - 28, 30, 35 days, whatever. Considering an October 14th period and a 30 day cycle, you should get your next period on November 12th. That means you will ovulate next between October 28th-November 1st.

*The exact time of ovulation may vary within your cycle, because it can be delayed by a number of factors such as stress, illness, diet, or increased physical activity, but once you have ovulated the luteal phase will always be consistently between 12-16 days.

What happens to your body during ovulation?

A week or so prior to ovulation, your cervical fluid, which you can check out with your fingers, is cloudy, thick and sticky. Right before ovulation it becomes clear, slippery, and stretchy like raw egg whites. Immediately following ovulation, your body temperature can increase by 0.4 to 1.0 degrees. Some women feel discomfort or pain in their lower abdomen as the egg leaves the ovary. This condition is known as 'mittelschmerz', or “middle pain” and it usually lasts from a few minutes to several hours.

How long does the egg live after ovulation?

Once released, the egg is capable of being fertilized for 6 to 24 hours before it begins to disintegrate. It is for this reason that the vast majority of conceptions are assumed to result from pre-ovulatory intercourse. Unlike the egg, sperm can survive several days, but only if fertile-quality cervical fluid is present to serve as a medium. This is the most fertile period of your cycle. Knowing your fertile days can help you increase your chances of getting pregnant, or avoid an unwanted pregnancy.

* If you are on the pill or other hormonal contraception - surprise, surprise, you do NOT ovulate as the hormones prevent your body from making an egg altogether!

How long do sperm live in the body?

Estimates vary on this but the consensus is that sperm can live for 4 days in the female body after internal ejaculation.

How long are you fertile during your menstrual cycle?

Your fertile period starts about 4-5 days before ovulation - due to the potential life of sperm - and ends about 24-48 hours after it - due to the life of the egg. Doing the math, there are roughly seven days when every woman is fertile over her cycle.

Are you horny, baby? - Your arousal cycle

While we may not all have cycles that are constant month to month, our arousal cycle can follow right along with our ovulation and menstruation cycle. On average (but certainly all women differ) women are most often “hornballs” leading up to and around ovulation The high levels of estrogen around ovulation act to heighten sexual feelings in women. Regardless of the peaks, a rule of thumb with the female libido: when given the opportunity to be sexual creatures 24/7, we can give in to the pursuit of pleasure whenever and whereever humanly possible.