Tracking Ovulation

Position of Cervix and Cervical Mucus
As your hormones changes throughout the cycle, the texture of cervical fluid produced by your body will differs.


Phase 1: Right after menses are cleared, you will usually experience a dry vaginal sensation and there is little or no cervical fluid. Your estrogen level will be low, the position of your cervix is low, hard, firm and closed and easy to feel with your fingers.

Phase 2: After a couple of days of dry vaginal feel, you may experience some cervical fluid that feels "sticky" or "pasty", but not wet. At this point, it is recommended to start clearing the ‘old sperms’ that your partner has accumulated.

Phase 3: At this phase, you may notice the outlook of your cervical fluid has changed and looks creamy (like lotion or cream). You may also feel your vagina is wet. This is the start of your fertile period. As the level of estrogen increases, your cervix lifts and straightens and becomes softer, higher and more open as you become more fertile.

Phase 4: When your body starts to produce cervical fluid that resembles like raw egg white which is slippery and stretchable for a couple of inches, you have reached your most fertile period. Your vagina feels wet and lubricated. At this stage, your eggwhite cervical fluid is the most friendly and receptive to sperm. For some women, their sex drive will be at the peak. Ovulation will occur during these few days.

Phase 5: After ovulation, cervical fluid dries up very quickly and your vagina remains dry until the next cycle. For some women, they may notice the cervical fluid turn from raw egg white to be creamy before it fully dries up as the corpus luteum produces small amounts of estrogen, but you are not fertile since ovulation has already occurred. After ovulation, your cervix again becomes more closed and firm and lower.


Know Your Body Basal Temperature
If you opt to track ovulation through basal temperature, do note that you must always take your basal temperature at the same time every morning and without getting off your bed. You need to have at least 4 hours of undisrupted sleep for better accuracy.


Stage I: During the first few days of your cycle whereby menses are happening, your temperature will be low. That is due to the low levels of progesterone present.


Stage II: As you approach your fertile period, your BBT will start to rise. When you notices that your BBT dips on one day and starts to rise by 0.2 degrees celcius for 3 days in a row, this means that ovulation has occurred.


Stage III: during your 2 weeks wait, your BBT will remains elevated with the presence of progesterone. When the body detects there is no signs of implanted fertilized egg, the levels of progesterone will decrease significantly. This will result with the shedding of womb lining and you will start your new menstrual cycle.


Understand Ovulation Prediction Kits
Luteinizing hormone (LH) is the hormone responsible for triggering the rupture of the ovarian sac to releases the egg for ovulation. Ovulation prediction kits (OPK) are used to detect the presence of LH in your urine to help you ascertain if you are going to ovulate soon.


When you tested positive on your OPK, it means that you will ovulate within 12-24 hours but this can vary slightly depending on your hormonal profile. LH is not released all at once, but rather it rises and falls for about 24-48 hours. The LH rise usually begins in the early morning and it takes 4-6 hours for it to appear in your urine after that. Hence, it is not recommended to use first morning urine to test for ovulation. It is important to follow the instructions of your OPK for maximum results.

Ideally, it is recommended to track ovulation using all the 3 methods instead of relying on solely one.