What is My Body Trying to Tell Me? Learn to Recognize the 3 Tell-Tale Fertility Signs
Fertility Signs
There are many of fertility symptoms that you can learn to recognize and watch for during your monthly fertility cycle. Knowing your own fertility cycle, and being able fertility rituals to diagnose the tell tale signals which are your body’s way of informing you when you are at your most fertile, are excellent ways to be sure that you are taking all of the correct steps on your journey to conception and pregnancy. Recording a daily fertility chart or diary is a excellent way of becoming familiar with your fertility cues
Fertility Sign # 1 – Basal Body Temperature
One of the most commonly witnessed fertility signs is the increase of (waking) Basal Body Temperature (BBT) which happens when you are ovulating. In the first half of a woman’s cycle, pre-ovulation, her typical waking temperature ranges between 36.1°C/97.0 °F and 36.4°/97.4 °F. After ovulation her waking BBT temperature rises to about 36.5 °C/97.5°F to 37.0°C/98.6°F. The temperature increase continues until the woman gets her period. The best way to use BBT as a fertility signal is to make a daily record or graph of your waking temperature. When you have at least one month’s worth of data, you will be able to begin looking for patterns of low and high temperatures – you average temperature will be lower prior to ovulation and higher after ovulation.
It is important that you are aware that there will be other factors in your day to day activities that can affect your waking BBT, these include:
* Having a fever
* Drinking alcohol the night before
* Getting less than three hours of sleep before you take your temperature reading
* Allowing large variances in the times of day that you are taking your temperature
* Sleeping on an electric blanket (if you don’t normally use one)
Fertility Sign # 2 – Cervical Fluid (Cervical Mucus)
Cervical fluid or cervical mucus is another excellent fertility sign that you can use to chart your fertility. You may or may not have observed that your cervical fluid alters in consistency and quantity throughout your monthly cycle. Basically, these changes happen because during ovulation your body is trying to provide a hospitable environment to transport the sperm to the egg. Outside of the time that you have an egg ready for fertilization, your body does not need to produce sperm-friendly cervical fluid. To use the observation of cervical fluid as a fertility sign, keep a record of the changes (to your cervical fluid) that you become aware of during your cycle. When you are at your most fertile you will notice that your cervical fluid resembles raw egg white – the consistency is extremely slippery and stretchy. After your estrogen levels have peaked during the most fertile part of your cycle, you will observe your cervical fluid quickly changes and dries up.
Fertility Sign # 3 – Cervical Position