Your Fertility Window of Opportunity: Tracking Your BBT and Cervical Mucus

While it's true that you can get pregnant any day of your menstrual cycle, there are certain days that are much more likely than others. If you are trying to conceive, it's important that you pay close attention to your menstrual cycle so you can make love at the optimal time.

You're most likely to conceive anywhere from about five days before ovulation until the day that you ovulate. Again, ovulation can happen anytime, but for most women, this occurs on the fourteenth day of a normal 28-day cycle, that is 14 days after the first day of your period. That means that your most fertile period are days 9-14 of your cycle.

So how do you know when you're ovulating? The best thing to do is to chart your basal body temperature (BBT) when you first wake up, at the same time every day, before you do anything else. You use a special basal thermometer, which shows very, very slight temperature changes. Chart your levels to learn the best time to try for a baby.

Before ovulation, your BBT is about 97.2-97.7 degrees. For a few days after you ovulate until you get your next period, that number will rise about 0.5 and 1.6 degrees. If you do this for a few months, you'll start to see a pattern and you'll find when you BBT drops and then the exact day that your BBT jumps back up. During that time, you are most fertile.

Another good way to chart your fertility is to check out your cervical mucus. Using a finger, check the discharge that comes out of your cervix. You're looking for fertile-quality cervical fluid or discharge. On your fertile days, the discharge will be clear and slippery, not like during the rest of the month when it's more sticky. When you notice the switch between slippery and sticky, that is probably the day after you've ovulated. If you pay attention to your cervical fluid for a few months, you'll get to know your body's signals better and you'll have a better idea of when you're likely to conceive.

Other symptoms that some women experience with ovulation include menstrual-like cramps and light spotting.