People often say “timing is everything” and for ovulation and getting pregnant that is very true. Women usually ovulate only one time per month and if ovulation is miscalculated or not happening at all, your chances of getting pregnant are slim to none.
Ovulation can be tricky to calculate, but for many women it happens right around day 14 (Day 1 being the first day of your period). At the end of my blog you will find an ovulation calculator so you can try to get an estimate of when your most fertile days are.
Even though ovulation happens only once per month, most women often have a few days before ovulation and about 24 hours after ovulation when they are able to become pregnant since sperm can live inside the female body for anywhere between 3 to 5 days. This means that if you have unprotected sex three days before you ovulate you may still become pregnant if sperm has traveled to the fallopian tubes. In addition to just calculating ovulation, it is important to make sure that ovulation is actually happening. Without ovulation you cannot get pregnant.
Ovulation kits in the stores can get really expensive and these strips are very inexpensive, easy to use and were very accurate for me. During my estimated ovulation time from about day 10 of my cycle to day 20, I would do an ovulation test to check for ovulation. I used anywhere from 6 to 10 tests per month but it was worth it. Once the test reads for positive ovulation, there is no need to test anymore because you have then ovulated for the month.
I credit the use of ovulation tests as being a major help towards getting pregnant. Some months I would ovulate as early as day 11 and other months I would ovulate as late as day 19 and I never would have known that without the tests. I never really had a very regular cycle anyway but these tests really helped me to figure it out.
