If you are trying to get pregnant, you may sometimes find that there is a lot more to it than you first thought. For one, there is the need for your stress levels to go down. There is also the need to eat the right foods and stay healthy. Plus, there are the biological factors like age, and any problems you may have with your ovary, uterus, and many other things to consider.
To help with this problem, you might want to try creating your own ovulation calendar. Simply put, it is just a calendar where you mark off your menstruation days, your fertile days, and any prominent fertility symptoms you might have. Granted, it requires some effort on your part. However, there are very good reasons for you to pursue it. Some of them are
One, an ovulation calendar will help you zero in on your fertile days. This is especially helpful when you have irregular cycles. Because when you mark your actual cycles and symptoms like this, you get an idea of your range of potentially fertile days. Armed with that knowledge, you can proceed to time your intercourse to fall within those days.
Two, an ovulation calendar will help you know your body better. That is because many women do not pay particular attention to their fertility symptoms, and not all women experience those symptoms as strongly as other women. For instance, some women find mild abdominal cramps to be their sole symptom, while others would feel an increased sex drive, breast tenderness or bloating more prominently. Once you notice that you are experiencing something like that consistently, you can then confirm it with over-the-counter kits, and watch out for them on your next cycle.
Third, an ovulation calendar may help you spot potential anomalies. These are many, including absence of menstruation for several months, or the presence of a symptom that you thought was ovulation-related (but did not match with ovulation kits). It can also be indirect, like you notice that your ovulation patterns are generally normal (which could point to a hostile cervix, or even your partner as the potential source of the problem).
With all this information, however, it should be noted that short of regular laboratory confirmation, any sort of calculator or calendar would simply give you an educated guess, at best. Therefore, you should not be deterred, and prepare yourself mentally to make a committed effort in finding out what is really going on with your body. Only then can you take definitive steps to achieve pregnancy. Making a detailed ovulation calendar is certainly a good first step in that direction.
James Copper is a writer for Infertility Solutions where you can find advice on fertility treatments
