Keys to Fertility: Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle

• Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle [1]
• The Dynamics of Conception and Fertility: What Happens During Ovulation? [2]
• The Luteal Phase [3]
• Conception and Pregnancy [4]
• Creating an Ovulation Calendar [5]
• Fertility Charting [6]
• Ovulation FAQ [7]
• Mittelschmerz
  [8]
• Implantation Bleeding [9]
• Summary of Natural Fertility Signs [10]
• Spinnbarkeit [11]
• Cord Blood Banking and Cord Blood Stem Cells [12]
• Ovarian Reserve [13]
• Reproductive Hormones and Fertility [14]
• Cervical Mucous and Fertility [15]
• Pre' Review [16]
• FertileCM Review [17]
• Stages and Phases of Ovulation [18]
• Common Questions (and Key Tips) for O-Testing [19]
• Ovulation Spotting [20]
• Complete Guide to Signs of Ovulation: Primary and Secondary [21]
• Secondary Fertility Signs: Buffing Out Your BBT Chart [22]
• Fertility Philosophy [23]
• Biological Clock Ticking [24]?
• Conceiving After Age 35 [25]
• Timing & Frequency of Intercourse
  [26]
• What Can My BBT Chart Tell Me? [27]
• What is Ovulation? [28] with Fertility Factoids...
• Short Menstrual Cycles [29]

New! Interview with Fertility Doctor about fertility supplements!
A Natural Alternative: [30] Conceiving with Fertility Supplements [30]
...on that topic...
FertilAid for Men Clinical Study Shows Motility Improvements [31]

Progesterone and Fertility

• Progesterone and Fertility [32]
  

Learn about the role of the hormone progesterone in preventing miscarriage and creating a healthy environment for implantation and the developing embryo. Also, understand how fertility supplements, like FertilAid [33], help normalize progesterone levels to assist in achieving pregnancy. 

Fertility Charting & Ovulation Prediction

Learn to predict your most fertile days. Methods of ovulation prediction include Basal Body Temperature Charting, Cervical Mucus Examination, Cervical Position Examination, Ovulation Testing with Home Kits, and Calendrical Fertility Charting.

Basal Body Temperature [34]: The BBT method requires you to monitor your temperature every morning. Thermal changes are due to the increase of progesterone in your system. At the onset of ovulation, your body temperature will rise between 0.4°F and 0.8°F. The purpose of the temperature increase is to create a warmer, more fertile environment for the fertilized egg. This temperature increase will last from ovulation until your next period.

Observing Cervical Position [35] : During a woman's menstrual cycle, the position and feel of the cervix undergoes several changes. By observing these changes, you can predict when you will be most fertile.

The Cervical Mucus Method [36]: By examining changes in your cervical mucus - as well as the increase and decrease of mucus present - you can predict your fertility patterns and the general onset of ovulation. During menstruation, the presence of cervical fluid will be decreased. Prior to ovulation, cervical mucus will increase and become clear and slippery - indicating fertility.

The Calendar Method [37]: The calendar method allows you to chart your fertility and recognize general patterns in fertile and infertile phases. The calendar method involves keeping a written record and helps you predict ovulation by understanding the history of your menstrual cycles.

Ovulation Tests [38] - or Ovulation Predictor Kits [38] - allow you to predict, with great accuracy, your most fertile time of the month by detecting your LH Surge - the hormone that facilitates ovulation. To learn about capturing the surge, click here for advance tips: Capturing the Lh Surge [39]

Ovulation Prediction and Timing Intercourse [40]: Increasing your chances of conception means timing intercourse accurately.

TTC Terminology [41]: Definitions and keywords for conception, including explanations of common TTC (Trying to Conceive) acronyms and abbreviations.

Timing Intercourse and Gender Prediction [42]: Lean how the gender of a baby is determined - and see how to influence the gender of your baby.

Taking Charge of Your Fertility [43]: The guidebook for couples who are trying to conceive. Get a brief review of what's inside this single-source, all in one support handbook. From fertility charting to pregnancy health and everything in between. By Toni Weschler.

Creating a Fertility Chart

• Create a Fertility Chart [44]

Once you understand the methods of predicting ovulation, creating a comprehensive fertility chart will help you maximize your chances for pinpointing ovulation and conceiving a baby.

TTC Checklist: Trying to Conceive Tips

• TTC Checklist [45]
  [45]

The TTC-Checklist is designed to improved fertility and increase your chances of becoming pregnant - with a healthy baby, a healthy body, a healthy mind and a healthy spirit. The TTC-checklist is based on two principles: understanding your own body - its cycles and fertility rhythms - and maximizing your fertility health.

• Ovulation Calculator [46]: Free online ovulation calendar. Just enter the dates and see when might be fertile.

Fertility Monitors

Fertility monitors, devices that help you to pinpoint your optimal time for conceiving, have become an increasingly common purchase for couples, though they are more expensive than ovulation predictor kits. Although there are a variety of brands of monitors on the market, the majority can be grouped into two categories: Saliva-Based and Urine-Based Fertility Monitors.

Ovulation Monitors: Urine Fertility Monitors
Urine-based fertility monitors work by detecting the levels of key hormones present in urine which can indicate ovulation. Click here [47] to read about Fertility Monitors [47]. Click here to read a review of the ClearBlue Fertility Monitor [48].

Ovulation Monitors: Saliva Testing
When a woman is on the verge of ovulating, her saliva begins to form a distinct patterns that can be observed through a handheld microscope. Click here [49] to read about Ovulation Saliva Tests [49].

Complete Testing Guide for Ovulation and Fertility
Learn about all the different fertility tests [50] - for women and men!

OPKs, Urine (LH) Ovulation Tests

Ovulation tests - or ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) - are excellent tools for predicting ovulation, a woman's most fertile time during her menstrual cycle. Ovulation tests anticipate ovulation - not just confirm that ovulation has taken place - making them invaluable for predicting fertility.

Ovulation tests work by detecting luteinizing hormone (LH) in a woman's urine. Just preceding ovulation, women experience an "LH surge" - a sudden, dramatic, and brief rise in the level of luteinizing hormone. Ovulation tests detect the LH surge, allowing you to accurately predict when you will ovulate. A positive result on an ovulation test means that the woman will most likely become fertile over the next three days - with peak fertility at 36 hours following the LH surge...

To read more about Ovulation Predictor Kits [51] or OPKs, click here [51].