Many women work with their physicians to determine the best time to get pregnant. Monitoring the menstrual cycle and body temperature are often the first step when dealing with infertility. Body temperature is not always an accurate indicator, but monitoring the menstrual cycle and observing vaginal mucus secretions can be a successful method. For some women it can prevent the need for fertility drugs that often come with side effects and put women at a higher risk for ovarian cancer later in life.

The menstrual cycle begins with the first day of the menstrual period, which usually lasts two to seven days. After menstruation, a follicle on one of the ovaries begins growing until it finally matures by mid-cycle, usually week two, at which point it bursts and releases an egg that is ready for fertilization – a process called ovulation.

A woman’s menstrual cycle may be as short as 21 days or as long as 40 days. Some women have cycles that vary in length from month to month. Keeping track of one’s menstrual cycle and learning the signs and symptoms of the different phases can help determine when it is time to try to get pregnant.

Preparing for Pregnancy

Preparing for pregnancy is of great importance. Poor health can lead to dangerous complications during pregnancy. Obesity and hypertension contribute to fetal demise and threaten the mother’s life, as well. Stress may contribute to difficulties getting pregnant, and may also contribute to high blood pressure and other complications. When planning to get pregnant, it is important to do the following:

• Make healthy changes to diet.
• If overweight or obese, use diet and exercise to lose weight.
• Take prenatal vitamins, or other multivitamins that are approved by a physician.
• Stop smoking.
• Practice stress reduction techniques such as yoga or deep-breathing exercises.

Menstrual Cycle

Record the date of the first day of every menstrual period. This is the first day of the “last menstrual period,” that the physician always requests when taking a medical history. This is also the date used to determine the age of a pregnancy and for comparison with ultrasound examinations to determine if fetal growth is normal.

Take note of any signs or symptoms of ovulation. Women may find that they have more confidence, clearer skin, and good energy around the time of ovulation. They may also experience any of the following:

• increased vaginal mucus discharge;
• somewhat-noticeable, one-sided pelvic pain – this pain is called Mittelschmerz and occurs when a woman can feel ovulation, or the bursting of a cyst to release an egg, or ovum;
• very light spotting – some women may periodically have very light spotting with ovulation.

Record the date that these symptoms occur. Women with variable-length menstrual cycles may find that ovulation occurs the same number of days into a cycle regardless of the total length of the cycle. For example, a woman may have a cycle that sometimes lasts only three weeks, but sometimes lasts as long as five weeks. Even though her cycle varies in length, she may find that her signs of ovulation are consistently during week two.

When to Conceive

The fertile window during which intercourse should take place is six days long. In the Fertility Friend article, “Intercourse Timing and Frequency,” the fertile window is “comprised of the five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation. You only have a chance to conceive when you have intercourse on these days. The likelihood of actually becoming pregnant is dramatically increased [with] intercourse in the three days immediately leading up to and including ovulation.” For women who have a difficult time getting pregnant, using the fertile window is an important method, and often successful.

Jamie L. Bigelow, et. al., of the Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published the study, “Mucus observations in the fertile window: a better predictor of conception than timing of intercourse,” in the April 19, 2004 issue of Human Reproduction. They observed that the type of mucus was a better determinant of fertility than relying solely on menstrual dating.

Mucus quality is important because it determines the how well sperm will survive and move. According to Bigelow, et. al., women were more likely to become pregnant when the mucus from their vaginal discharge was “transparent, like raw egg white, stretchy and elastic, liquid, watery, or reddish.” The rate of pregnancy was slightly less when the mucus was “thick, creamy, whitish, yellowish, or sticky.” Although pregnancy was possible for women with no mucus, their chance of pregnancy was much more decreased.

Tracking the menstrual cycle and observing the signs of ovulation are important steps in finding the fertile window for conception. Combining the calendar method with the presence of vaginal mucus could greatly increase one’s chances of becoming pregnant.

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