When the couple makes a decision about planning a pregnancy, it's time to learn a lot about ovulation, the menstrual cycle and conception. The main question, perhaps, is how many days the egg lives. On this depends the period of the greatest probability of conceiving a child.
According to medical statistics, a healthy woman under the age of 30 has a good chance of getting pregnant within six months if she regularly engages in unprotected sex with her partner. Particular attention should be given to those periods when conception is more likely, that is, in those days of the cycle when ovulation occurs. To determine the timing of ovulation, there are several methods: calendar, basal temperature measurement method, ovulation test and ultrasound monitoring.
Methods for determining the timing of ovulation
The essence of the calendar method is to count the cycle days for a minimum of 4-6 months. This is necessary to determine the day of ovulation, which falls on the 12-14 day of the menstrual cycle. However, this method is not particularly reliable, because in the body of a woman there may be shifts in the menstrual cycle for various reasons, and then the ovulation day shifts.
The basal temperature measurement method is more accurate. It is also time-consuming and rather troublesome: every morning, without getting out of bed, to measure basal temperature, record the results of measurements in a table, plot a graph, analyze all the graphs for the last 4-6 months, and then draw conclusions about the day of ovulation based on sharp decrease and the subsequent increase in temperature.
Tests for ovulation - another method of determining the cherished day. The principle of the test is very similar to the test for pregnancy and is based on the detection of a hormone, the level of which is significantly increased 3 days before the onset of ovulation.
The most accurate method is ultrasonic monitoring. It is conducted by a doctor with the help of a vaginal ultrasound probe. He monitors the growth and development of follicles and predicts an approximate time for ovulation.
However, it is not enough to just define this cherished day. It is important to know how much the egg lives after ovulation, because the day of ovulation can "swim" in different months, shifting along with the shift of the menstrual cycle.
Ovulation after ovulation
The life span of an egg is usually not more than 24 hours. Therefore, if the couple plans a pregnancy, the sexual intercourse should take place not earlier than three days before ovulation and not later than one day after it. After this, the egg recedes - the next stage of her life.
But, despite such a short life expectancy of the egg, there is always a 37% probability of getting pregnant if you know about the day of ovulation. The fact that the spermatozoa XX, creating girls, although not as fast as the "boyish" HU, but more tenacious. They, getting into the uterus and into the fallopian tubes, are fixed on the walls and are able to "wait" for the exit of the egg within 3-4 days. Thus, the term of fertilization of an egg does not always coincide with the day of sexual intercourse.
The ovule after ovulation moves through the tubes, gets into the uterus and is attached to one of its walls, where it will stay the rest of the 9 months of pregnancy.
If conception does not occur, the unfertilized egg dies, because unlike fertilized does not have villi and can not attach to the wall of the uterus. It is removed from the uterus along with the detached epithelium of the inner wall of the uterus and with a small amount of blood. This process is called menstruation. After the epithelium is renewed, another egg is ripening in the ovaries again. All this forms a menstrual cycle.