The female body is very complex, and the cyclical functioning of the reproductive system was not created by nature by chance. A woman cannot get pregnant when she wants to, on any day of her female cycle. In order for conception to take place, you need to wait for fertile days.
What it is?
Fertility refers to the ability to reproduce, conceive, carry and give birth to offspring. Fertile days are the days that are most favorable for fertilization. Men can fertilize a female ovum on any day, they do not need to determine any favorable period, but for a woman, knowing the timing of her fertile days is an important component of taking care of her health and the health of her offspring.
In simple words, a woman is fertile, that is, capable of procreation. on the day of ovulation and during the day after it. It is this short time period that the viability of the egg is limited. But fertile days are not only about ovulation, but also the days before and after it. Why is it generally accepted?
The fact is that male sex cells have a greater viability than female ones: spermatozoa, once in the genital tract, where nature has created the most acceptable conditions for long-term survival, can maintain their mobility and functional viability for 2-3 days (and in some men with a high fertility rate even up to 5-6 days, but this is rather rare).
When ovulation occurs and the egg leaves the follicle and enters the fallopian tube, such "long-livers" may well wait for it there, conception will take place, even if sex was not during ovulation, but three days before it. It is also difficult to predict how long the released egg will remain viable - it can live for 18 hours, and 24 hours, and in rare cases - up to 30–36 hours, and therefore another 2–3 days after ovulation are also included in the period of fertile days, when conception is possible.
The collection of fertile days is called the fertile window in the female cycle. A woman's ability to become pregnant is closely related to ovulation. And it is during the period of the fertile window that this ability is higher than ever.
In women with a regular cycle, fertile days usually have a certain constancy, and therefore it is not difficult to calculate them. In women with an irregular cycle, everything is somewhat more complicated, but even they have such favorable days for conception can be determined thanks to the achievements of modern medicine.
Ovulation, as a factor closely related to fertility, is the release of an egg from the follicle. There the oocyte matured in the first phase of the menstrual cycle, and under the influence of luteinizing hormone, the follicle ruptured and released the mature and ready-to-fertilize female sex cell. Fertilization occurs only during ovulation and during the life of a living egg (day on average after leaving the follicle). This period usually falls in the middle of a woman's menstrual cycle, if you count from the first day of the next menstrual bleeding.
In total, there are about 7 fertile days in the cycle, taking into account ovulation itself and 2-3 days before and after it. This means that a woman is fertile only during this period.
Why do you need to know the boundaries of the fertile window?
The question may arise as to why you need to calculate fertile days at all? The answer is simple: to plan your life. If a woman wants a child, then sexual intercourse should be carried out with particular zeal during the fertile window, but if the lady's goal is to avoid unwanted pregnancy, the definition of a "dangerous period" will allow you to be more vigilant and, if necessary, use additional contraception.
Many women, based on knowledge of their own fertility period, protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies. This method is called calendar. It consists of preventing or complementary contraception during the fertile period. On the other days of the cycle, women lead the usual rhythm of sexual activity. This method of protection, let's say right away, is considered unreliable.
There is the so-called Pearl index - a world generally accepted expression of the reliability of a particular method of contraception. So, the calendar method has only 55-60%. This means that six out of ten women will not really get pregnant, but four out of ten will surely face the unplanned detection of two stripes on a pregnancy test.
Knowing your fertile days cannot be considered reliable protection against pregnancy due to the fact that a woman's ovulation is not constant., and it may well be displaced under the influence of exogenous and endogenous factors, for example, with an illness, a cold, after an air flight and a change in climatic and time zone, as well as due to stress. Also, one cannot ignore the phenomenality of the female body - occasionally the so-called repeated ovulation can occur, and then the second egg, released from the follicle later than the first, may well be fertilized, because the lady is sure that she has entered a sterile period, and is not protected.
But for planning the conception of a baby, knowledge of fertile days is a mandatory and necessary method. Only if ovulation occurs, sexual intercourse takes place during fertility, and conception does not occur during the year, can we talk about possible infertility. But practice shows that some ladies quickly begin to worry - they just have sexual intercourse on the wrong days, and therefore conception does not occur.
It is with the specification of the fertile period of a particular lady that a medical examination begins in those planning a pregnancy. And that is why your “want a baby” should start with the ability to correctly define the boundaries of your own fertile window.
How to determine the days of fertility?
There are several methods for determining the period of fertility in the female cycle. They are distinguished by their availability, simplicity and reliability. Let's take a look at each.
Calendar
The advantage of the method is accessibility - any woman can easily count her fertile days. The downside is that the method does not take into account the individual characteristics of the body in women and girls, possible shifts in the timing of ovulation due to stress, illness, travel, etc. Ovulation is regulated by hormones, and their ratio can change due to various reasons. The calendar method is more suitable for women with a regular cycle.
The first day of menstruation is considered the first day of a new female cycle. After the menstrual bleeding ends, a follicle-stimulating hormone is produced in the woman's body, under the influence of which several follicles on the ovaries begin to mature, but one (in rare cases, two) will do it faster than others, and the development of the rest will be inhibited, only the dominant follicle will remain. A couple of days before ovulation, the level of the hormone LH (luteinizing) rises and it is he who provokes follicle rupture and ovulation itself.
This process takes a total of 14 days. Ovulation in most cases occurs in the middle of the female cycle. But we remember the plus / minus 3 days rule, and therefore the fertile period is calculated using the formula:
О = D-14 + - 3 days, where O is the boundaries of the fertility period, D is the duration of the cycle in a particular woman.
Knowing this, individual boundaries can be calculated. If your cycle lasts 28 days every month, then ovulation should be expected on the 14th day of the menstrual cycle, counting from the first day of your period, and the first day of the fertile period will fall on the 11th day. The fertile window will end on the 17th day of the menstrual cycle. If the duration of your cycle is 30 days, then ovulation should be expected on the 16th day, and the beginning of the fertile window will fall on the 13th day, and the woman's fertile period will end on the 19th day of the menstrual cycle.
If the cycle time cannot be determined because it is unstable, it is customary in obstetrics to deduce average duration over the last 4–6 months. The women's calendar will help with this. Add up the duration of the last 4-6 cycles and divide by the number of cycles. So you will find out your average duration and will be able to make further calculations using the above formula.
Naturally, with an irregular cycle, the accuracy of the method is significantly reduced.
Symptothermal fertility recognition method
The author of this technique is the Austrian doctor Rötzer. The essence of the method is that a woman must keep a calendar in which she will enter daily data on basal temperature, cervical secretion and position of the cervix relative to the exit from the vagina. The method is quite accessible for home diagnostics, its accuracy is higher than the calendar one, but errors are not excluded. More than a calendar, it is suitable for women with irregular cycles and lactating women.
The essence of the method is that the entire cycle is divided into several stages - before ovulation, there is a period of infertility, during ovulation - a period of fertility, after it - again an infertile period. Each must be confirmed by double signs.
The onset of a period of fertility speaks increased basal temperature (you need to measure it every day at the same time, without getting out of bed, with the same thermometer), an increase in the amount of cervical mucus (the discharge becomes more abundant, they resemble a transparent viscous raw chicken protein), softening and lifting of the cervix (determined on self-palpation).
Additionally, it is worth noting individual symptoms - for some, the breasts are enlarged, sexual desire increases. But, of course, it is impossible to understand by these signs alone that the fertile window has come.
Ovulation tests
These are special pharmacy tests that can be easily used at home. Subject to the requirements of the instructions, their accuracy is quite high. There are strip tests that are immersed in urine for a few seconds, there are electronic reusable tests and even modern microscopic tests that determine the approach of the fetal period by saliva.
The principle of the tests is the reaction of the reagent to the hormone LH (its peak precedes ovulation), and mini-microscopes that determine the pattern of saliva crystallization are based on changes in fluids under the influence of estrogens.
If two strips of ovulation are detected, you should usually expect within a day or two. Positive results persist until the end of the fetal period, and then the tests become negative again.
The downside is the probability of an error, which is insignificant, but still there. Therefore, it is recommended to use this method in combination with calendar, temperature or symptothermal.
Medical Fertility Tests (Fertility Predictions)
This is a combination of two stages of the survey. On the first, an ultrasound of the ovaries is done. This happens immediately after the end of the next menstruation (usually on the 5-6th day of the menstrual cycle). The doctor notes the activity of the ovaries, the number of maturing follicles, their size. For a positive prognosis, at least 5 follicles are needed. An ultrasound scan can be repeated a couple of days before the expected ovulation.
They also do blood tests for hormones: if FSH is high and LH is low, then the likelihood of conception in this cycle is minimal. A peak in the concentration of luteinizing hormone indicates that ovulation will occur within 16-24 hours.
The likelihood of pregnancy
The chances of getting pregnant on your fertile days are highest. But even the correct definition of the boundaries of the fertile window does not at all guarantee a woman that pregnancy will definitely come. Much will depend on the health status of the partners, on the man's fertility, on the age of the partners, etc.
The highest probability of conception on fertile days is in healthy women between the ages of 20 and 30. It ranges from 28 to 33%. Considering that the average fertility index of men who are healthy and capable of fertilizing an egg is within 30%, the chances of conception at this age in women are maximally high.
After 30 years, the number of anovulatory cycles per year in a woman begins to gradually increase. If a young healthy girl in years has 1–2 cycles without ovulation at all, then after 35 years, up to 5–6 such cycles per year can occur, and therefore the probability of conception is significantly reduced.
Over the years, a woman gains extra pounds, chronic diseases, hormonal disorders, which can also cause the absence of pregnancy even during the fertile period.
Hormonal disorders can be indicated by brown discharge on fertile days, false negative or positive results of ovulation tests.
Myths and truths about fertility days
There are many myths about fruitful days among women, many of which do not have any scientific and medical confirmation. Here are some of them.
On the days before ovulation, you can conceive a girl, on the day of ovulation - a boy
This myth was born on the characteristics of sperm. Since the sex of the child depends solely on the dad, or, more precisely, on what type of sperm the oocyte will fertilize (with the genetic set XX or XY), for some reason it is believed that the sex cells with the set XX are more tenacious, and the XY sperm are faster.
And therefore, for the conception of a girl, it is recommended to have sexual intercourse before ovulation, so that only the most tenacious (XX) wait for the egg in the genital tract, and it is advised to conceive a boy during ovulation and the day after it. In fact, scientists have not found any difference between these two types of sperm - neither in the speed of movement, nor in the period of viability. Therefore, the method of planning the sex of a child by ovulation on fertile days is it is nothing more than a myth.
You can get pregnant right after your period, because sperm can survive for more than a week.
In practice, sperm do not last that long. If this happens, it is a very rare case of phenomenal increased male fertility.
But in any case, after menstruation, the female body must go through the stage of follicle maturation, and therefore it is not possible to become pregnant in the first 4 days after the end of menstruation, unless, of course, some hormonal disruption occurs, which will significantly accelerate the release of the egg. And even in this case, conception is unlikely - an immature oocyte is not capable of normal division.
Nevertheless, those who protect themselves should remember about the scanty probability of such an outcome of events.
Tips & Tricks
Having determined the period of your fertility, strictly follow the recommendations of specialists. If you want to conceive a child, then from the very first fertile day, have unprotected intercourse every two days. After coitus, lie still with your legs raised above your head. This will facilitate the difficult task of passing sperm to the fallopian tubes.
Avoid using intimate gels and lubricants, as well as douching before and after sex. Avoid coffee, strong tea, and dark chocolate as caffeine reduces a woman's fertility. Give up bad habits.
In order to exclude unwanted pregnancy, special attention on fertile days pay attention to the use of barrier contraception (condom).Give up such a method of protection as coitus interruptus.
Sperm can even be contained in the lubricant on the glans penis, and therefore during the fertile period this number of germ cells may be quite enough to conceive a child.
For the symptoms of ovulation and its 8 main signs, see the next video.
