Charting Ovulation

Pros: Charting your BBT over a period of a few months will enable you to learn about your cycle. It’s also inexpensive.

Cons: “The Basal Body Temperature tells you when you have finished ovulating, so if you’re trying to find out when you’ll ovulate in order to conceive, it isn’t terribly helpful,” says Kristen. It also can’t precisely predict the next month’s ovulation date as the days vary each month.

Checking Cervical Mucus (CM) As the estrogen level rises in the first half of your cycle, your mucus changes from sticky to creamy to a thin, watery, stretchy consistency. Ovulation occurs when this thin, stretchy discharge is present. To do this, simply check your mucus in the morning or throughout the day to determine the thickness and texture. Once you detect this watery CM, you should have sex every day, or every other day, until the slippery CM disappears.

Pros: It’s free, and if done accurately, can tell you when you’re about to ovulate.

Cons: Not all women can tell the difference in the thickness of their mucus.

Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) OPKs use special chemicals to recognize a surge of LH in your urine, indicating that ovulation will occur in about twenty-four to thirty-six hours. The kits, found in most drugstores, cost between $25 and $30. You simply follow the directions on the package and have intercourse on the day of the surge and the day after.

Pros: They’re easy to use and accurate. In fact, Kristen recommends that her patients use them. “If you want to be scientific about it and know for sure, I’d suggest using these every morning.”

Cons: They don’t work for everyone. According to some physicians, a small percentage of women will actually have false positive results.

Clearblue Fertility Monitor At $200 to $250 per monitor, plus $50 for test sticks—it’s the Ferrari of ovulation kits. The Clearblue Fertility monitor checks for the presence of two hormones: LH and estrogen metabolite. To use, urinate on a stick every morning starting at day six or nine of your cycle, then place the stick in the monitor for a reading of high, low, or peak fertility.