What is ovulation and how to calculate it? Ovulation Calculator

For women who want to become pregnant, it is very important to know the exact date of ovulation. It is on such days that the probability of fertilization is the highest. What is ovulation and how to calculate it, is described below in the article. We hope that the information contained in it will be useful to you.

What is ovulation

The word "ovulation" resembles the Latin ovum, which translates as "egg". This concept denotes one of the periods of the menstrual cycle, when the mature follicle is ruptured. After this, the egg that has matured for fertilization leaves the ovary in the abdominal cavity. She goes through the uterine tube to the uterus, which takes an average of 24 hours.

It is in this period of time that there is the greatest chance that the sperm will meet the egg and fertilize it. If this happens, then, after getting into the uterus, the egg is attached there, after which the pregnancy begins and the fetus begins to develop. The regulation of ovulation produces the hypothalamus, which controls the release of hormones.

The cycle of ovulation is individual. It begins when you reach the reproductive age, together with the appearance of menstruation. From this moment the body is ready to conceive, bear and give birth to a child. Usually it comes in 12-14 years and lasts until the onset of menopause at the age of 47-55.

The woman undergoes cyclic changes every month in the ovaries and endometrium. They are called the menstrual cycle. It lasts an average of 24-35 days. The count starts from the first day of the month and ends with the beginning of the next. Ovulation is closely related to this cycle. Usually it occurs in its middle. If you want to become pregnant for a woman, the exact date of ovulation is very important. Experts offer several methods for determining it.

Main features

There are several symptoms that a woman has ovulation - the day of the cycle, when an ovum leaves the ovary. All signs are divided into objective and subjective. The first, more reliable, are ultrasound and laboratory tests. The latter do not give a 100% guarantee of definition. They rely on the sensations of the woman herself and her observation of her own organism.

The main symptoms of upcoming ovulation are:

• The amount of cervical mucus is significantly increased. It becomes less viscous and acquires a yellowish hue. There may also be smearing uninvolved discharge.
• Possible discomfort and aching pain in the lower abdomen, in the ovaries.
• The chest swells slightly, becomes more sensitive.
• The stomach may swell.
• Increases libido, increases sexual desire.
• The amount of luteinizing hormone increases.
• A few tenths of a degree raises the basal body temperature.
• Changing the position of the cervix and its elasticity.

All of the above symptoms can occur singly or together, weakly or intensely. If a woman listens to her own body, she will understand how to calculate ovulation from her own sensations.

The reasons for the absence

If for some reason the egg does not leave the follicle, ovulation does not occur, and then the woman can not become pregnant. In this case, monthly can go in normal mode or not at all. In the second variant, or if you can not get pregnant within one or two years, you should check with specialists.

Every healthy young woman has failures in ovulation once or twice a year, and at an older age the reproductive capacity decreases, and the anovulatory cycles alternate more and more often. In a normally functioning organism, ovulation is absent in pregnancy, regular lactation, and oral contraceptive use. The absence of it can be triggered by stress or overwork. Also, this happens with hormonal failures, metabolic disorders, insufficient or excess weight, gynecological diseases. In any of these cases, a doctor's examination and consultation is necessary.

Calculation by cycle

What is ovulation? And how to calculate it? The answer to the first question is already described above. And in order to independently calculate the days that are favorable for pregnancy, you should keep a calendar of the menstrual cycle for at least about six months, since this is all very individual, and for more accurate results you should know your indicators for a couple of months. It is necessary to mark the days of the beginning of each month. According to the recorded data, you can find out the length of the cycle, which ranges from 19 to 40 days. Ovulation occurs two weeks before the onset of menstruation.

With an average periodicity of 28 days, cycle days 13 through 15 are considered fertile for conception. If its duration is more or less, the maturation date of the egg is shifted. How to calculate ovulation in this case? It is necessary to add to the date of the beginning of the last monthly number of days of the menstrual cycle to find out the number when the following should start. We take two weeks off the result. The final date is the time of ovulation. Next days are added to it.

Calculator Definition

Today, many publications offer various tables, with which you can keep a calendar of menstruation and ovulation. On them it is very easy to calculate the time of egg maturation, favorable for conception and safe for unprotected intercourse days.

To use the ovulation calculator to calculate the necessary dates, you must enter the following data into it: the date of the beginning of the last monthly period and the length of the cycle. After that, count the result. A reliable date can be obtained only with a stable regular cycle, so you should not rely on such tables for 100%. They can be an additional option for testing, but not an independent contraceptive method.

Measurement of basal temperature

Most women who want to get pregnant or, conversely, to determine safe days, carefully study what ovulation is and how to calculate it by measuring the basal temperature of your own body. This method is one of the most reliable. However, it requires care and daily execution of the procedure for three menstrual cycles.

The measurements are taken in the morning. Performing them should be lying in bed, immediately after awakening. The temperature is measured in the rectum by a conventional thermometer. A woman needs to keep a table, in which every day it is necessary to enter the received data. You can make it in the form of a graph to make it easier to follow the dynamics. The obtained indicators are compared with the control ones:

• In the first half of the cycle the basal temperature is less than 37 ° C;
• A day before the release of the egg, the degree decreases slightly;
• During ovulation, an increase to 37-37.4 ° C occurs.

This method shows inaccurate information after sexual intercourse, during illness, when taking certain medications or alcohol.

Ovulation test

If, using a calendar, a thermometer or an ovulation calculator, you can not calculate the exact date, you can try another method - a special test. You can buy it at the pharmacy. The principle of work is a reaction to increasing the level of luteinizing hormone in the urine. This indicates the maturation of the egg.

If you want to determine the days that are favorable for conception, you need to go ahead and twice a day (morning urine is not good enough) to start making this test for ovulation. Reviews about him are different, someone gets a reliable result, and some of the women are disappointed in this method. After all, a hormonal jump can occur in the anovulatory cycle, and the reagents will still react to it and show a positive result - two strips. But in most cases the result is correct.

In addition to determining the concentration of hormones in the urine, there is another test for ovulation, women's reviews about which are very good. It acts on the basis of saliva, which also responds to changes in the female body by increasing the amount of salts in the composition.

Diagnostics of ultrasound

The most correct result about the presence of ovulation can be obtained with the help of a modern method - monitoring of folliculogenesis by ultrasound machine. If the result is positive, then it is possible to trace and control its course, and if it is negative - to detect violations.

The exact time of the study is prescribed by the doctor. Usually, with a regular 28-day cycle, the first monitoring is conducted on the 8th-10th day after its onset. Then the procedure is repeated every 1-2 days until the fact of ovulation is fixed. If it is absent, further examination is conducted to correctly diagnose the cause of the failure.

Medical methods

In addition to the above described methods of determining ovulation, there are several others available only when you visit a doctor. One of them is a study of blood for increased concentration of hormones. It is rarely used because of the high cost and the need to repeatedly give blood for analysis.

Another medical method is "a symptom of a fern". The patient is taken a smear, which is applied to laboratory glass. With the onset of ovulation, cervical mucus crystallizes - and then under the microscope you can see a characteristic pattern in the form of fern leaves. This is due to an increased concentration of sodium chloride. This method is laborious. A woman needs to visit a doctor several days in a row. Because of this, it is rarely used.

Ovulation in an irregular cycle

Unfortunately, not every woman can boast a stable periodicity of menstruation. How is ovulation determined for an irregular cycle? The calendar method will then be ineffective.

If the cycle is broken, the exact date of ovulation will help to determine the doctors on ultrasound monitoring. You can also use the method to measure basal temperature or purchase special tests to detect increased concentrations of hormones.

So, we told you what ovulation is and how to calculate it. We hope that this information will help in determining the days that are favorable for the conception of the baby. Find in the article a lot of useful for yourself and those who want to learn about the safe time for unprotected sexual acts.