When do i ovulate after menstruation

Pregnancy is technically only possible if you have sex during the five days before ovulation or on the day of ovulation. But the most fertile days are the three days leading up to and including ovulation. Having sex during this time gives you the best chance of getting pregnant. By hours after ovulation, a woman is no longer able to get pregnant during that menstrual cycle because the egg is no longer in the fallopian tube.

Knowing when you ovulate can help you plan for sex at the right time and improve your chance of getting pregnant. You can keep track of your menstrual cycles on a chart, in a diary, or on a free period-tracker app on your smartphone. To work out the length of your menstrual cycle, record the first day you start bleeding first day of your period. This is day 1. The last day of your cycle is the day before your next period begins.

A menstrual cycle starts on the day when a period starts day 1 and ends the day before the next period. They can vary between women and from one cycle to the next. Periods are not always regular. If you add the number of days in three cycles and divide the total number by three, it gives you your average cycle length. Sarah tracked her last three menstrual cycles by counting the time from the first day of one period, to the day before the next period.

Your most fertile days are the three days leading up to and including the day of ovulation. Some women have very irregular cycles or find it difficult to work out an average cycle length. This can make it hard to work out when ovulation happens. Eggs and sperm need to come together at the right time for fertilisation to happen to create an embryo. If you're trying to get pregnant, timing is everything. Dr Karin Hammarberg explains how to work out when you are ovulating and the right time to have sex to improve your chance of pregnancy.

If a woman has sex six or more days before she ovulates, the chance she will get pregnant is virtually zero. If she has sex on the day of ovulation, or the two days before, the chance of getting pregnant is around 30 percent.

Professor Sarah Robertson, Director of Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, highlights the key time before pregnancy that your health is most important to ensure your child has the best start to life.

Kerry Hampton, a registered nurse and fertility specialist, discusses the importance of fertility awareness, and how to determine your fertile window to improve your chances of conceiving. What men and women can do to increase their chance of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby.

Find out how a more healthy lifestyle increases your chance of pregnancy and having a healthy baby. Share Back to Top.

Apart from being healthy, what else can help you get pregnant? Sex of course - at the right time! Back to Pregnancy. Yes, although it's not very likely. If you have sex without using contraception, you can conceive get pregnant at any time during your menstrual cycle, even during or just after your period. You can also get pregnant if you have never had a period before, during your first period, or after the first time you have sex.

There's no "safe" time of the month when you can have sex without contraception and not risk becoming pregnant. But there are times in your menstrual cycle when you're at your most fertile, and this is when you're most likely to conceive. It typically happens about 13—15 days before the start of each period 1.

But having a grasp on the process can give you insight into more than fertility. Currently in the West, we ovulate roughly times throughout our lifespan 2. This number is influenced by the use of contraceptives many of which block ovulation , time spent pregnant and breastfeeding, and any behaviors or health conditions that affect the reproductive hormones e.

Prehistorically, women would have ovulated less than half as often 3. The development and release of an egg each cycle occurs in response to the intricate ups and downs of your reproductive hormones.

Ovulation and the menstrual cycle as a whole is impacted by energetic, nutritional, emotional, and socioeconomic factors. Short term factors like jet lag , seasonal changes, stress and smoking can have an effect, as well as longer term factors like PCOS and thyroid disorders 4—8.

Tiny eggs develop in sacs called follicles in your ovaries. At any given time, there are follicles at several stages of development in your ovaries Follicles undergo incredible changes leading up to ovulation, developing many parts and layers, each with their own functions. Most follicles, though, will never reach ovulation, dying off at different phases of development or pre-development. By about midway through the follicular phase, one follicle becomes dominant.

Just like a superstar athlete being selected from the pack, all resources then go to preparing that single follicle, and the other potentials die off.

When the follicle is ready, it releases its egg. After its release, the egg has about 12—24 hours to be fertilized by sperm in the fallopian tube. If it is fertilized, it travels to the uterus over the following 6—12 days, to possibly implant for pregnancy 12, All of these events are driven forward by the cyclical changes in your reproductive hormones.

Hormones control the selection and development of your follicles, the release of each egg, and the preparation of your uterus for possible implantation. This first part of the cycle is called the follicular phase now you know where it gets its name.

The brain produces continuous bursts of follicle stimulating hormone , or FSH, throughout your cycle. As follicles grow, they produce estrogen. As a dominant follicle is selected and grows days 6—9 of the cycle , estrogen begins to spike A follicle becomes dominant at about 10mm in diameter, and typically grows to be about two centimeters in diameter and up to about 3.

When the amount of estrogen reaches its upper threshold, the egg is ready for release.