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All About Ovulation

The Inside Story to Help You Conceive

By Kelly Burgess

Before she tried to get pregnant with her first child, Lynne Ticknor, a parent educator from Clarksville, Md., read Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Collins, 2006) by Toni Weschler. She was fascinated by this in-depth look at ovulation and started tracking her cycles.

"After charting three cycles on paper for practice, I definitely started to notice a trend," she says. "During the fourth cycle, I charted and followed Weschler's advice for getting pregnant with a girl and – boom – I got pregnant with my daughter. I followed the same path for my additional children and, although it took longer than one month to get pregnant the subsequent times, we now have four children."

All women should be as well-informed as Ticknor. Although ovulation is the clock that regulates our reproductive systems, most women are completely unaware of how it works and how it can be manipulated, tracked and predicated.

The following are a few of the most frequently asked questions about ovulation, answered by Dr. Jill Powell, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at Saint Louis University.

A. Most women do ovulate every month but some things can prevent it, such as stress or significant weight loss or gain or certain conditions.

A. No. However, if you don't get a period as planned you can still sometimes have breakthrough bleeding. In fact, breakthrough bleeding is not uncommon for someone who is not ovulating regularly. When you do ovulate, about 14 days later your body gets a signal to have a period. If you don't get that signal, you can get very thick and unstable uterine lining, and that may result in a discharge that may be mistaken for a period, but isn't one.

Want to see more?

• Understanding the Uterus: A Main Player During Pregnancyand Beyond
• Should You Use an Ovulation Predictor Kit?: Pros and Cons of the OPK
• Fertile Signs: Scientific and Subtle Ways to Know You're Ready to Conceive
• Fertility Awareness: What You Should Know and Why You Probably Don't
• Join the discussion on our Family.com community!

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