If you are a healthy couple, you have about a 20 to 25 percent chance of getting pregnant each month. While other factors may affect fertility, you can only get pregnant the natural way if you have ovulated. Ovulation is simply the act of releasing a matured egg from one of your ovaries and it happens every month. A woman can only conceive around her ovulation period because that is when she is most fertile. Most often, ovulation occurs in the middle of the menstrual cycle, notably around the 14^th day of the menstrual cycle for women with an average cycle of 28 days.

A matured egg could be fertilized up to 12 to 24 hours after it has been released. Therefore, to boost your chances of conceiving each month, you need to monitor yourself to determine when exactly you are ovulating. Here are some pointers to watch out for:

1.     Cervical mucus

Most women normally would have stickier cervical mucus. However, during ovulation, the cervical mucus increases and becomes stretchy like raw egg white. Naturally, this makes sex more pleasurable and also makes it possible for the sperms to swim right into the female reproductive system to fertilize a matured egg. If you are looking forward to getting pregnant, you need to observe your cervical mucus and indulge in sex as soon as you notice the egg-white-like type of mucus.

2.     Basal body temperature

Basal body temperature refers to one’s temperature when she is at rest. However, during ovulation, you might experience an increase in basal body temperature even though you are not sick. This happens because, during ovulation, the level of some hormones including progesterone increases, thereby causing body temperatures to rise a little. You, therefore, need to track your body temperature often around your ovulation period.

3.     Breast tenderness

Most women would experience breast tenderness around their ovulation period. Well, the high levels of hormones during ovulation are responsible for this. Hence, if you notice your breasts are tender and somewhat sore in the midway of your menstrual cycle, know it’s a good time for you to indulge in unprotected sex.

4.     Ovulation pain

Some women experience random sharp pains in their lower abdomen during their ovulation period. While this pain may be severe and sharp for some women, others describe it as mild and temporal. Research has however revealed that most mid-cycle pains occur just before ovulation, so you need to watch out for that.

All these signs would not necessarily pinpoint your exact ovulation date but to boost your chances of getting pregnant, you need to have sex regularly during your fertile window.

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