Frequently asked fertility questions

HOW CAN I TELL WHEN I'M OVULATING?

There are only a few days each month when you are fertile and can conceive, and these are around the time of ovulation. To increase your chance of getting pregnant, you should make love on the days leading up to ovulation and the day of ovulation. There are various methods you can use to find out when you are ovulating.

Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs): An OPK aims to find the two most fertile days in your cycle by identifying the surge of luteinising hormone (LH) that appears 24 - 48 hours before you ovulate. Each kit contains 5 test sticks. The kit contains details of when in your cycle you should start testing, based on the lengths of your shortest and longest cycles. If you have very irregular periods, you may need to use more than one box of tests in a single month.

Some kits suggest using early morning urine for testing, others suggest using afternoon urine. You can either hold a test in your stream of urine, or collect some urine in a container and test that. You must then look at the 'surge line' and the 'reference line' on the test. If the surge line is as dark, or darker than the reference line, the LH surge has started and ovulation is imminent. If the surge line is lighter than the reference line then you must do another test the following day. Once you have detected an LH surge, you do not need to continue testing each day.

Persona: Although Persona is meant as a natural contraceptive, it can also be used in reverse as an aid to identify ovulation time. Persona consists of a monitor and test sticks, which are used to check hormones found in your early morning urine. You have a 6 hour window each day in which to perform your test.

When your period starts you press a button on the monitor. A green light indicates that you are probably not fertile and a red light indicates that you are in your fertile period. There will be a yellow test light on 8 mornings each month (16 during the first month of use) and you must perform a urine test on these days, so that the Persona can determine whether to give you a green or red light.

The monitor reads the test stick for you and will then show the appropriate light. You must use test sticks from the same batch each cycle. An 'O' symbol appears on the monitor when it believes ovulation is due to happen in the next couple of days. A flashing 'M' symbol appears on the monitor when it detects that your period is due to arrive.

Saliva Testing: A saliva tester is a re-usable mini microscope, which allows you to look at the structures in your saliva. During your fertile period, a dried sample of your saliva will contain many structures that look like ferns. On all other days of your cycle, your dried saliva will only contain shapeless dotted structures.

To test, you must place a sample of saliva on the slide, allow it to dry and look at it under the microscope. After the test is complete, clean and dry the slide in preparation for testing on another day. Avoid eating, drinking alcohol and smoking for 2 hours before testing.

Cervical mucus can also be used instead of saliva for testing.