your cervical mucus – you may notice wetter, clearer and more slippery mucus around the time of ovulation. your body temperature – there's a small rise in body temperature after ovulation takes place, which you may be able to detect with a thermometer.
Not quite “heat,” but a real uptick in sex drive and appeal. Ovulating women may flirt more, dress flashy or undergo modest physical changes, such as rosier cheeks and plumper breasts. And some scientists further argue that men can detect these signs on a subconscious level.
You ovulate about 12 to 14 days before the start of a new menstrual cycle. Your fertile window is the five days leading up to ovulation, plus the day of ovulation and the day after ovulation — so about seven days in total.
Estrogen levels increase closer to ovulation. This causes the cervical fluid to become clear and slippery, similar to that of raw egg whites. Cervical fluid discharge increases during the days leading up to ovulation and decreases after ovulation.
So, can you get pregnant when you're not ovulating? The short answer is yes. It's possible to get pregnant outside of your predicted fertile window because timing of ovulation may differ each month and sperm lives in the body for several days.
During ovulation, you may not have a big appetite. But just before your period, it's possible you'll be hungrier than usual or crave certain foods. In each case, hormones may be responsible.
Aiming for the man to ejaculate as deeply as possible into the woman's vagina. This means that the smallest amount of semen escapes and is retained as close to the cervix (the neck of the uterus) as possible. The woman can try lying on her back with her lower back elevated on a small pillow for around 20-30 minutes.
Ejaculated sperm remain viable for several days within the female reproductive tract. Fertilization is possible as long as the sperm remain alive — up to five days. Sperm can also be preserved for decades when semen is frozen.
Once the sperm enters the reproductive system, it can take about 30-45 minutes to reach the egg. For this, it is important to have a healthy sperm which has the right kind of motility to reach the egg and fertilize it. Once inside the body of a woman, a healthy sperm can live up to 2-5 days.
Estrogen levels spike right before ovulation, said Rebecca Booth, MD, an OB-GYN at Women First in Louisville, Kentucky. That estrogen high helps produce a starchy substance called glycogen, which has been shown to improve the pH balance of vaginal tissue, giving it a sweeter smell, explained Dr. Booth.
Slippery, wet discharge like egg whites means you're ovulating, and this is your most fertile window. In fact, doctors have a name for this special discharge: egg white cervical mucus, or EWCM.
Clear and stretchy — This is “fertile” mucous and means you're ovulating. Clear and watery — This occurs at different times of your cycle and can be particularly heavy after exercising. Yellow or green — May indicate an infection, especially if it's thick or clumpy like cottage cheese or has a foul odor.
While ovulation itself only lasts for 12 to 24 hours, you're most likely to get pregnant in the days before and after ovulation, a window of around six days. Read on to learn more about what exactly happens during this phase of the menstrual cycle, as well as reasons why ovulation can be delayed.
As mentioned, sperm can survive for up to five days inside the female reproductive tract. If sperm are still alive when ovulation begins, conception can occur. One option to try to avoid an unplanned pregnancy is to track your cycle with an ovulation test. However, this method isn't completely effective.
How many sperm do you need to get pregnant? It takes just one sperm to fertilize a woman's egg. Keep in mind, though, for each sperm that reaches the egg, there are millions that don't. On average, each time men ejaculate they release nearly 100 million sperm.
Excess sperm remains in the vagina, which flows out or leaks out after a few hours or few minutes. This is very normal. It accompanies a lot of non-sperm material (proteins, vitamins). The fastest sperm makes its way to the cervix and can result in fertilization.
The sperm rapidly swim up and into the cervix, where they can survive in the mucus for up to five days before an egg is released. When the egg is released at ovulation, it is covered in sticky cells, which help the fallopian tube to catch it.
The sperm enters the egg in the fallopian tube. It can happen even 3-5 days after ejaculation. There is no way for either of the partners to know if the sperm entered the egg. The only way to know for sure if the sperm did enter the egg is after a positive pregnancy test.
How much sperm does it take? In theory, a single sperm is all it takes to get pregnant. But even in a large amount of semen — such as the quantity in one ejaculation — only a fraction of the sperm are healthy, moving, and sufficiently well-formed to cause a pregnancy.
Lay down and relax for a few minutes after sex
Standing up or going to the bathroom after sex may pull sperm away from their destination. So, lying on your back for 15 minutes or so after sex may help keep sperm moving in the right direction.
The bottom line is that it's perfectly normal if some amount of semen (and sperm) leaks from the vagina after penis-in-vagina sex. And you don't need to worry about trying to "keep" it inside, either. "You don't need to lie in bed with your legs up after intercourse to get pregnant," says Dr. Hakakha.