Cervical mucus and ferns

Another tool that you can use in conjunction with the BBT and OPK’s is checking you cervical mucus. A woman’s cervical mucus can be great indicator as to how fertile your body is. Right after you have finished your period and you move towards the second week of your cycle, you will probably notice that when you wipe after using the bathroom, that there is a change in how wet you are down there.

“Cervical mucus changes are monitored for determining when ovulation occurs through the cervical mucus monitoring test. As your cycle progresses, your cervical mucus increases in volume and changes texture. The changes in the mucus that is secreted from the cervix reflect where you are in your cycle. The consistency of your cervical mucus changes during the cycle due to hormonal fluctuations. You are considered most fertile when the mucus becomes clear, slippery, and stretchy. Many women compare mucus at this stage to raw egg whites.” (http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/cervical-mucus.html).

I believe a picture is a much better way to understand what fertile cervical mucus looks like:

Picture taken from (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cervical_mucus1.jpg)

The last tool that can be used at home to predict ovulation is by doing a Fern Saliva test. This test is described as, “When a woman is about to ovulate, her saliva begins to form a distinct fern-like pattern (when viewed under a microscope) due to an increase in the level of estrogen present, which in turn causes and increase in salinity. Salinity, produces ferns. This ferning pattern begins to appear around 3 days prior to ovulation.” (http://www.ovulation-calculator.com/ovulation-tests/saliva-ovulation-predictor.htm).

This can simply be done by either purchasing a personal ovulation microscope, and placing a drop of saliva on the glass, wait five minutes and see if your saliva creates a fern pattern.

Here is a picture that shows what is fertile and what is not:

(http://www.ovulation-calculator.com/ovulation-tests/saliva-ovulation-predictor.htm)