How can I tell when I'm ovulating?
Boost your chances of getting pregnant, find out what the signs of ovulation are and when you're most fertile. Here are the most common signs and symptoms of ovulation.
At a glance
- Find out when you're fertile and get busy in the bedroom to boost your chances of getting pregnant
- Ovulation kits can pinpoint your fertility window
- Abdominal pain, sore boobs and spotting are all signs that you are ovulating
Abdominal pain
You’ll probably feel mild pain when you ovulate. It might be on one side of your lower back or abdomen, and ranges from a dull ache to a stabbing pain.
Changes in your cervix
You might not have noticed, but the feel and position of your cervix changes when you ovulate. Instead of feeling hard, closed and dry, it feels open, wet and soft. And it feels higher inside your vagina too. Who’d have known it!
Sore or tender boobs
High levels of oestrogen just before ovulation may make your breasts feel tender or tingly.
Spotting
You might see spotting or light bleeding when you ovulate. This is because dropping oestrogen levels can affect the lining of your womb.
Thin mucus or discharge
As ovulation approaches, rising levels of oestrogen increase the amount of cervical mucus you produce, making it thinner and stretchier. Just before ovulation it will change from white or creamy coloured to become thin, watery and transparent. Frankly, it looks like egg white. Sperm can happily live in this fertile mucus for 72 hours or more.
Higher temperature
Your temperature rises by roughly 0.5°C just after you ovulate. So charting your temperature over several cycles can help you pinpoint your fertile days.
You’ll need a special thermometer though to measure your ‘basal body temperature’ – your resting body temperature first thing in the morning, or after at least three hours of unbroken sleep. And we really mean first thing! Before you get out of bed, speak or have anything to eat or drink. You can buy these special thermometers from most chemists and online.
Get an Ovulation kit
Even easier is an ovulation kit, which pinpoints your fertility window by detecting a surge in luteinising hormone (LH) which kicks off just before you ovulate.
Use the Ovulation Calculator
If you want an even greater chance of knowing exactly when you're ovulating, use our Ovulation Calculator to help determine when you're most likely to be fertile based off of the first day of your last menstrual period.