Tracking your ovulation.

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The number one thing for us ladies to do when you don't have sperm readily accessible is to get your ovulation and timing down to a tee.

If you are one of our followers who are in a straight relationship and have a male partner (yes there are a couple of you!) then tracking your ovulation still applies!

Firstly, don't take the information provided from app's and other sources as gospel. They give the information as per a "normal" period cycle "should be" and will evaluate based on the results you input.

This is not always the correct times and days as to when you may actually ovulate.

If you are one of the lucky ladies who have that "normal" period cycle, i.e. the 28 day, knows when she's due, knows when she's finishing, can tell when she ovulates, feel very privileged!

For many of us out there who have irregular cycles and ovulate at different times, (don't worry you definitely aren't alone!) this information is going to hopefully help you find the right time for you.

Ovulation is when a mature egg that is produced in your ovaries, is released through your fallopian tubes, ready to be fertilised by sperm. There is a "fertile window" to which this is your best chances of getting pregnant, which we will go through further down. Ovulation typically happens around two weeks before your period is due. This will alter if you have irregular periods, hence why we will show you how to track your ovulation so it suits your body.

If you have a "normal" cycle of 28 days, they say that ovulation happens on day 14, with the first day after you finish your period being day 1. Your most fertile days will be CD12, 13 & 14. (CD= Cycle Day)

If you happen to have longer cycles like myself, say 35 day cycles, from day 1 to the last day of your period, expected ovulation day is CD21, with the fertile days being CD19, 20 & 21.

For shorter or longer days, you can use a fertile window calculator here, but don't use this as that's your day. We still need to test to be sure you're not going to waste those baby goods!!

With your 30 test strips, collect your urine each morning or night, the same time every day, and note down your results. You should test every day of your cycle when you are starting out to know exactly what your body is doing. For those that have already done this, your best time to be tracking your ovulation is to count 17 days backwards from your estimated cycle length (CD1 being the day after your finished period) i.e. if your cycle length is 28 days, you would start from CD11 and go from that day forward each month.

Your Fertile Window relates to the six days that you technically have to conceive. See below chart

These days relate to the lifespan of sperm, said to be five days.

The last day of your fertile window is ovulation day. After your ovulation day, your hormones decrease within 12-24 hours after your LH Surge. (LH= Luteinizing hormone, that we detect when we track ovulation using the urine strips included in your package)

There are some other ways to check your ovulation along with the 30 LH urine strips included in our kits, is to look for things like your cervical mucus changing. Around the time of ovulation, you may notice that your mucus or discharge from your vagina is clear and slippery, being able to spread it between two fingers like egg whites. This is the perfect time to be inseminating with the other tools in your kit, or noting down on a calendar or diary as your ovulation day.

You can also track ovulation with a Basal Body Thermometer (BBT). These can be purchased from us separately, just let us know before your order that you would like to add one to your kit.

Each morning before you get out of bed, before you even move, record your Basal Body Temperature by noting it down on a graph, which you can email us for a copy of a blank chart, or make your own.

Track and note down from CD1 for beginners or your cycle length less 17 days for experienced ladies.

What ever your BBT is from CD1, you are looking for slight changes in your temperature rising by 0.2 degrees celsius, from the previous six days, and will stay elevated until your period ends. If you can see a pattern, this will help you to predict your most fertile days. If you notice your temp climbing for at least three days straight, this will be your ovulation. If you become pregnant, your body temp will stay increased.

You want to be inseminating as many times as you can during your six fertile days.

If it is only possible to get your donations two times per cycle, you would want to try and inseminate the day before ovulation and day of ovulation. Obviously, the more sperm going inside you will be better for your chances. If you can only get one donation per cycle, ovulation day is your new favourite day of the month to inseminate.

We wish you all the best on your journey to parenthood.

If you would like to purchase a kit from us, please get in contact at twomumsandbub@gmail.com , www.facebook.com/twomumsandbub , or through our eBay store here.

We are located in Melbourne, Australia, currently only shipping within AUS and NZ.

Thanks for getting through all of that information, we hope that it has been an informative one for you!

TwoMums&Bub

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