Finding out when the best time to try for a baby is the first step in getting pregnant, so you must be asking yourself;

When am I fertile?

This is obviously important in order to have the best chances for conceiving and knowing when intercourse will be most effective.

The fertile period is the one time during a month when ovulation occurs. Ovulation is the process in which the ovarian follicle releases a single, mature egg. This egg (also known as an ovum) will usually sit for between 12 and 24 hours waiting to be fertilized before it disintegrates. From here it must meet two requirements before conception is complete; first the egg must be penetrated by the sperm (fertilized) and secondly it must successfully implant itself into the uterus wall.

Now you’re probably wondering, so when am I fertile? or when does this actually take place?

Well, finding out when ovulation occurs is different for every woman and it starts with working out your personal menstrual cycle (period). This is easier for women who have regular periods because they are able to calculate this time almost exactly. Ovulation occurs 14 days before you expect your next period. For a woman with a 28 day cycle, ovulation would be right in the middle, which is day 14 after the last period. For a woman with a 30 day cycle, ovulation would be on day 16 after the last period. Although, if you have been using birth control, it can take a bit longer as you may have to wait for your period to return to  its normal cycle.

For women who have irregular cycles, working out ‘when am I fertile’ is a lot harder and usually requires the help of an ovulation predictor kit. The irregular cycle will leave too much room for error if you are serious about conceiving and 14 days before your next period means nothing if you can’t judge it exactly. Therefore the use of a predictor kit will definitely be advantageous as they can detect the rise in hormones just before the egg is released. This will ensure you know the precise time, ‘when am I fertile’.

Note:
You don’t need to have intercourse during ovulation to actually get pregnant. Sperm can live inside a woman for up to seven days waiting for the egg to be released. Although an egg only lasts between 12 and 24 hours after ovulation, there are several days in total where having intercourse will result in a successful conception.

As a case in point (when am I fertile?); if the day after your period finishes is day 1 and you ovulate on day 14, you can get pregnant by having intercourse between days 9 and 15.