6 most common ovulation misconceptions
When trying to conceive one of the most important things is to recognize your fertile window. These are your most fertile days and they happen around the ovulation and timing is everything.
I remember when I was trying to get pregnant with my first child, it was all new to me and I basically knew nothing. All I knew was - if you have sex you have babies. But months passed and it didn’t seem as simples as that. That was the first time when I discovered that it wasn’t just about having sex. It was about having sex at the right timing.
Knowing when your ovulation is can be quite a complicated task and there’re a lot of misconceptions around this topic.
Let’s learn more about them.
Ovulation occurs on day 14 of your cycle - although it’s possible, but this only occurs for women with the ‘perfect’ cycle pattern. What is true though, that each cycle you will have the same length of luteal phase - the same amount of days from your ovulation till your menstruation day 1. The amount of days before ovulation can vary from cycle to cycle and depends on many factors such as your diet, lifestyle, environment, stress levels and medications.
If you have period bleeding it means you ovulated - not always. You can have anovulatory cycles. This again depends on many factors. The bleeding can happen due to very thick uterine lining, or insufficient levels of progesterone that lead to heavy bleeding.
Ovulation tests detect ovulation the same day - not exactly. Most of the ovulation kits detect LH surge which happens 12-36 hours BEFORE ovulation. There are few tests on the market that are based on progesterone levels, however those only confirm that ovulation indeed occurred. But they do not show the exact moment of egg release.
You can conceive only if you have intercourse on the ovulation day - not exactly. Sperm can live inside a woman's body for up to 5 says (7 days in rare cases), so your fertility window begins 5 days before the actual ovulation day.
There can be only one ovulation surge each cycle - not always. You know, when you chart or do ovulation tests and notice the ovulation is kinda near but kinda not happening? Your body can begin preparing for ovulation but due to high levels of stress it might stop the process and start it again a few days later. You can have multiple surges like this throughout the cycle.
Ovulation is the only factor for getting pregnant - although ovulation is necessary for getting pregnant naturally, there’re other factors that ensure successful conception. Egg and sperm quality, your overall health, your lifestyle, your nutritional habits and even your mindset have huge impact on the pregnancy process.
How many of these misconception were true to you?
Don’t feel bad if you thought some of them were true. I think we’re simply not educated enough on this subject and don’t learn about it until we actually try to get pregnant or when we meet some challenges doing that.
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