OVULATION: FIVE WAYS TO TELL YOU’RE OVULATING

Ovulation is when one or more eggs are released from one of your ovaries. It is essential for the production of eggs and for the preparation of the uterus for pregnancy.

During each monthly cycle, healthy couples who aren’t using birth control have a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant. And that’s a surprisingly high percentage considering that you can conceive only around the time of ovulation — a small window of opportunity each month (usually about 12 to 24 hours) during which the egg is viable, or open for the business of fertilization.

Doesn’t sound like much of an opening? Consider, then, that sperm are able to live to fertilize for a lot longer than an egg is willing to hang out, anywhere from three to six days. Which means that even if you have sex a few days before ovulation, there may be plenty of sperm still around to greet the egg when it emerges. (And remember: It only takes one sperm to make a baby.) Of course, having sex the day you ovulate would be ideal. After ovulation, that window tends to slam shut till the next cycle. Clearly, knowing when the Big O occurs is key when doing the Baby Dance and here are five ways to help you pin down the big day;

1. Check the calendar: Ovulation most often occurs halfway through your menstrual cycle — the average cycle lasts 28 days, counting from the first day of one period (day one) to the first day of the next period. But as with everything pregnancy-related, there’s a wide range of normal here (anywhere from 23 to 35 days), and your own cycle may vary slightly from month to month. By keeping a menstrual calendar for a few months, you can get an idea of what’s normal for you. If your periods are irregular, you’ll need to be even more alert for other signs of ovulation, so read on.

2. Listen to your body: If you’re like 20 percent of women, your body will send you a memo when it’s ovulating, in the form of a twinge of pain or a series of cramps in your lower abdominal area (usually localized to one side — the side you’re ovulating from). Called mittelschmerz — German for “middle pain” — this monthly reminder of fertility is thought to be the result of the maturation or release of an egg from an ovary. Pay close attention, and you may be more likely to get the message.

3. Chart your temperature: That is, your basal body temperature, or BBT. Taken with a special thermometer (yes, you guessed it, a basal body thermometer), your BBT is the baseline reading you get first thing in the morning, after at least three to five hours of sleep and before you get out of bed, talk, or even sit up. Your BBT changes throughout your cycle as fluctuations in hormone levels occur. During the first half of your cycle, estrogen dominates. During the second half of your cycle (once ovulation has occurred), there is a surge in progesterone. Progesterone increases your body temperature as it gets your uterus ready for a fertilized, implantable egg. Which means that in the first half of the month, your temperature will be lower than it is in the second half of the month, after ovulation. Confused? Here’s the bottom line: Your BBT will reach its lowest point at ovulation and then rise immediately and dramatically (about a half a degree) as soon as - See more at: http://planbwellness.com/ovulation-five-ways-tell-youre-ovulating/#sthash.QhWwiL9a.dpuf