How to tell when you are Ovulating?
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How to tell when you are Ovulating?
| Wed, 11-10-2004 - 3:33pm |
I was reading a few posts about ovulating; How do you know when you are ovulating? What time of the month does this occur?

An optional cross-check to identifying ovulation is checking your cervical position. It gets soft and open around ovulation.
I have to give the caveat that this is just a very cursory summary of how to identify ovulation so that you could, say, predict your period. If someone wanted to use it to avoid pregnancy there are other rules you have to understand.
There are rules on when it is safe to have sex during your period, since your period would obscure your cervical fluid if you had any. How many days it is safe to have sex on your period will depend on your cycle history and whether you are in pre-menopause (you should have anywhere from 3 to 5 days). This is the only part of fertility awareness that uses the past to predict the future, but the rules are still very conservative.
Also there are rules on when it is safe to resume sex after ovulation. You're safe the evening of the 3rd consecutive day your temperature has risen, and the evening of the 4th consecutive day after your last day of wet cervical fluid. These are extremely conservative rules to make absolutely sure the egg is dead and gone. So the amount of time you will need to abstain or use another method will depend on how many days you have cervical fluid before ovulation. For me, it adds up to about 8-10 days.
There are some charting software programs. I love the one I'm using. I can post my charts on the web and have other women check it out if I have questions.
So this is more info, but still really cursory so don't depend on my explanation :) I use Taking Charge of Your Fertility, but I'm definitely buying the Art of Natural Family Planning soon. I've heard the rules are a bit more conservative in that book, and I'm curious to read the differences since I very much want to avoid getting pregnant :)