If you and your spouse are planning to have a baby, an ovulation calculator is an excellent tool to help you increase your chances of a successful conception.
What is an ovulation calculator?
An ovulation calculator is simply a system to help you calculate the days during which your spouse is most likely to be ready for conception.
How does the ovulation calculator do this?
The ovulation calculator determines the date of your spouse’s ovulation, or the process by which her ovaries release the ovum (egg).
Ovulation determines your spouse’s fertility, or her readiness to conceive. By calculating the day when ovulation takes place, the ovulation calculator predicts the optimum period during which sexual intercourse will lead to a successful conception.
How does the ovulation calculator work?
To understand how the ovulation calculator works, it is important to know about ovulation and how it affects conception.
Ovulation depends on your spouse’s menstrual cycle, or the period between the first days of two consecutive periods. Though this differs for individuals, in most women the menstrual cycle is around 28 days. Typically, ovulation occurs somewhere around the middle of the menstrual cycle. Going by this, if your spouse’s menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, ovulation in her case will occur around 14 days from the first day of her period.
In practice however, this may not be that precise. In many women, menstruation is irregular, or varies from the average 28-day cycle. Even so, most women with a 28- to 32-day cycle will ovulate between days 11 to 21 of their menstrual cycles.
Conception occurs when the ovum, or egg, released by your spouse during ovulation, is fertilized by your sperm. While generally sperms remain alive for about 72 hours after intercourse, the ovum may survive for only about 24 hours. The chances of conception are highest if you have sexual intercourse with your spouse in the period comprising about five days before ovulation, the day of ovulation, and a day after.
The ovulation calculator thus helps you calculate the period when intercourse with your spouse is most likely to make her pregnant.
Are there other ways to track ovulation?
Apart from an ovulation calculator, you can tell when your spouse is ovulating by changes in her:
- Cervical mucus: The amount of mucus increases and becomes more slippery during ovulation.
- Basal body temperature: Just before ovulation, your spouse will experience a sudden drop in her basal body temperature (measured immediately after she awakens). The subsequent rise in temperature will indicate ovulation, and will last until the end of the menstrual cycle.
Tassone, M.D.
FACOG
Board Certified Obstetrics and
Gynecology