How to know when ovulation is likely to occur

Ovulation occurs every month when an egg is released from one of your ovaries into the Fallopian tube to await fertilization by the sperm.  It is difficult to know which of the ovaries will release an egg and exactly when the egg will be released. This is done purely at random. If you are lucky enough to catch the very moment ovulation occurs and intercourse occurs, you are most likely to conceive as this is the most fertile time of every woman's cycle. But, as i said earlier, unfortunately, it is very difficult to catch that particular moment.

However, nature is kind enough to give us some signs around this period so we can act accordingly, whether we want to conceive or avoid conception. First as with everything to do with our reproductive system we have to know how to track our menstrual cycle because ovulation usually occurs about midway through our cycle and if you don't know the length of your cycle you cannot know when you are midway. I know we were all told while in school and a lot of people still believe ovulation occurs on the 14th day of our cycle, well, I can tell you it is not true for every woman. I for one, do not ovulate on the 14th day. 

women ovulate anywhere from day 10 even up to day 20 depending on the length of their cycle. since the length of all our cycles are not the same, it does not make sense to say we all ovulate on the 14th day. even the same woman may not ovulate on the same day every month. 

CALCULATING AND TRACKING OVULATION.

Different women calculate their ovulation period in different ways some count from the first day of their period to around the middle of their period and some count from the first day of their next period backwards. I prefer the backwards calculation because I have combined it with other methods and found it more reliable. To count backwards.....

As always, first know the lenth of your cycle and you should have tracked your cycle for a couple of months to know when your next period is most likely to begin. Then count 14 days backwards from the first day of your next period.

For instance, using the same table for calculating the length of Jane's cycle, let us try and work out when Jane is most likely to ovulate

MAY
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13 Day 1 Period starts. Cycle starts.	14 Day 2	15 Day 3	16 Day 4 Period ends. Cycle continues	17 Day 5	18 Day 6	19 Day 7	20 Day 8
21 Day 9	22 Day 10	23 Day 11	24 Day 12	25 Day 13	26 Day 14	27 Day 15	28 Day 16	29 Day 17	30 Day 18
JUNE
1 Day 19	2 Day 20	3 Day 21	4 Day 22	5 Day 23	6 Day 24	7 Day 25 Cycle ends	8 Day 1 New Period starts. new Cycle starts	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20

From the table above Jane's next period is to start on June 8, so to find out when she is most likely to ovulate we count 14 days backwards from June 8. Count with me.....what day did you come up with? day 12 right? Jane is most likely to ovulate around day 12. But that's not all, don't stop there, remember I said earlier that no one can pin point ovulation so now that we know around when it is most likely to occur, we also have to play safe and cover all grounds to make sure we don't miss it by a day or two since our cycle lengths may not be the same every month. To do this, I usually add 3 days before the date and 2 days after the date to my crucial fertility days. For Jane her crucial fertility days will be day 10, day 11, day 12, day 13 and day 14. To conceive Jane will have to have intercourse every day or every other day on these days.

Note that these are presumed dates and using this method alone may not give you the exact day of ovulation.

 If you are trying to avoid conception remember that intercourse up to 6 days before ovulation can lead to conception so please discuss it with your doctor to figure out your fertile days.

Breastfeeding can also make your cycle irregular so also discuss with your doctor if you are breastfeeding. 

As we move on I will talk about other methods I use