Most mothers or future mothers know all their fertility terms and jargon, but knowing your body and understanding your cycle can be a bit more complicated. Doctors recommend that couples that are trying to have a baby have intercourse between day 10 and day 20 of a woman's menstrual cycle. However, it is still difficult for most of us to magically know exactly when ovulation is going to occur.

If you aren't certain if and when you are ovulating, you might start with an ovulation predictor kit, which can be bought at most drug stores and check for LH (luteinizing hormone) in your urine. You can also use a simple calendar to map out your cycle. For some other simple suggestions of how to identify your fertile days, read more.

First Steps for Identifying Fertile Days
  • Evaluating Your Cervical Fluid — Cervical fluid plays protects the sperm and helps it move through the cervix toward the uterus and fallopian tubes. Cervical fluid changes in preparation for ovulation. You will notice clear differences in how it looks and feels over the course of the cycle
  • Taking Your Basal Temperature — After you ovulate, your body temperature will rise and stay at an elevated level for the rest of your ovulation cycle. At the end of your cycle, it falls again. You can use a special thermometer to take your temperature in the morning before you get out of bed. Use a glass basal thermometer or a digital thermometer so that you can get accuracy to the tenth of a degree.
  • Chart it! — Create a chart and write down your temperature everyday. If you look at a complete cycle, you will probably notice a point at which the temperatures become higher than they were in the first part of your cycle.

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