Observation of the fertile-type mucus is the most user-friendly and culturally acceptable fertility indicator. To start your cervical mucus observation it is recommended to abstain from sex for two to four weeks. This is important because during sex, your vagina produces other kinds of secretions which can be mixed with cervical secretion. That will give you a false reading of your fertility signs.
Sperm in vagina can also confuse you when you just start your observation. When you know what your cervical mucus looks like, you will not confuse it with sperm or other secretion.
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| Signs Of Fertility |
The fertile cervical mucus not only lets us know that an ovum is maturing and is about to be released into the fallopian tube; it also protects and nourishes the sperm, filtering out imperfect sperm and guiding healthy ones into the cervix.
Cervical mucus is observed outside the vagina during your normal daily activity.
- Pay attention to how you feel as you go about your daily activities. Just as you notice a wet feeling during menstruation, you will notice a wet feeling during fertile time.
- When you go to the toilet, observe the cervical mucus on the toilet paper. Wipe the vulva (the vaginal area) front to back before and after each use of the toilet.
- Notice what you see and what you feel. You will soon get to know your normal mucus pattern, indicating ovulation.
OBSERVING AND RECORDING THE MUCUS SIGN
- Menstruation: Record bleeding for all bleeding. (Remember that not all bleeding refer to menstruation.) Menstruation is defined as bleeding that comes 11-16 days after your normal fertile-type mucus pattern. To be sure it is a true menstruation, you must have observed your normal mucus pattern about 11-16 days before this menstruation.
- Infertile Days or Dry Days: Record dry on the days when you feel nothing and see nothing outside the vagina. Dry means that you can't see anything and can't feel anything.
- Secretion Has Changed Days: Record secretion if you feel or see something outside the vagina. You may feel or see something sticky, pasty, creamy, or just a wet feeling. What you observe on secretion has changed days is more than your vaginal secretions or different from your vaginal secretions. It represents a change from what you observe during the rest of your cycle. Record a change in secretion.
- Slippery Feeling Days: Record slippery if you feel a slippery feeling, even if there is no mucus visible.
- Key Day or Peak Day:
The last day of any slippery mucus or slippery feeling in your usual mucus pattern. It is the day of maximum fertility and is probably the day of ovulation which is identified as the day after the Peak Day. Mark the Peak Day.
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| Signs Of Fertility |
At the end of each day, before going to sleep, chart the most fertile mucus sign you have observed throughout the day. This does not mean the sign that you observed most often. It means the most fertile sign. The signs are, in order of fertility to infertility: slippery mucus or slippery feeling (slippery), non-slippery mucus or wetness (mucus), bleeding or spotting (bleeding) and dry (dry). To find out more, you can check out Signs Of Fertility.
