6 Signs of Fertility To Pay Attention To

You Know When Your Period Is Coming

Menstruating people who get their periods every 21 to 35 days are probably ovulating normally. "A regular cycle is one of the clearest signs that your hormones are working properly and releasing an egg each month," says Lynn Westphal, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist and an associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.

You Have Ovulation Signs

Aside from cycle length and predictability, being able to detect ovulation is a promising sign of fertility. (Plus, knowing the exact window of ovulation helps you time baby-making sex to boost pregnancy odds.)

Most menstruating people ovulate about 14 days before their next period. In a 28-day cycle, that means sometime around day 14. In a 32-day cycle, that means around day 18. Some signs of ovulation include:

• Ovulation pain. Some people experience pain, cramps, or twinges when an egg is released. This can be dull or sharp and sudden. 
• Basal body temperature. Since your basal body temperature spikes very slightly after ovulation, charting your basal body temperature first thing in the morning is another (though less precise) way to pinpoint when you've ovulated.
• Ovulation discharge and cervical mucus. As ovulation nears, you may notice wet, stretchy, and slippery discharge. Fertile cervical mucus is often described as raw egg whites.
• Breast tenderness. Hormonal changes may cause tender breasts before or after ovulation. 
• Libido changes. Many experience an increased sex drive before or during ovulation. 

But unless your cycle is totally regular from month to month, it can be hard to know for sure when you're ovulating. An ovulation predictor kit (OPK) can better determine when you're about to ovulate each cycle. OPKs work by detecting levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), a hormone that surges one to two days before you ovulate, in your urine. You can also use an online ovulation calculator.

You Don't Have Fibroids or Endometriosis

Symptoms like pelvic pain and extremely painful, heavy, or long periods are often the main signs of fibroids or endometriosis, although many people who have them don't discover these conditions until they run into difficulty getting pregnant. While fibroids or endometriosis may increase your risk of fertility problems, having them is no guarantee you won't be able to conceive eventually.

Fibroids are benign tumors in the uterus, and their size and location have the biggest impact on fertility. For example, fibroids that jut out into the uterine cavity may disrupt the embryo from implanting and developing properly; other growths may not have any impact at all. If fibroids are uncomfortable or affecting your fertility, they can be removed with outpatient surgery.

Endometriosis is a condition in which the uterine lining grows on organs outside of the uterus, such as the fallopian tubes or ovaries. This can lead to scar tissue that prevents your egg from getting fertilized. Tubal scarring is to blame. Taking birth control pills or having outpatient surgery may reduce endometriosis.

You Don’t Have an Unchecked STI

Certain bacterial infections, like chlamydia and gonorrhea, can spread to organs throughout the reproductive tract, causing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This condition can seriously damage your ovaries, fallopian tubes, and other organs, which significantly increases your risk of infertility.

While PID may have symptoms like fever, vaginal discharge, pain during sex and urination, and irregular menstrual bleeding, the infection often goes unnoticed by both those who have it and even their health care providers. If you've never been tested for these sexually transmitted infections (STIs), consider getting screened. Antibiotics can treat the infection and prevent further damage.

You Avoid Unhealthy Habits

Certain unhealthy habits can make it difficult to conceive. A big one is cigarette smoking, which can damage your eggs and derail ovulation, prolonging the time it takes you to get pregnant and increasing the risk of miscarriage. Those odds go up even more if your partner smokes, too, and you are having sex to conceive.

Alcohol consumption may also impact one's ability to conceive. Research found that one to six drinks per week may cause infertility.

Maintaining a Healthy Weight

Weight may impact fertility, whether one is over or underweight.

Being significantly underweight—for example, having a body mass index (BMI) of less than 19—might interfere with ovulation and thus have a negative impact on fertility.

On the other hand, obesity can disrupt the delicate balance of reproductive hormones and lead to irregular or infrequent ovulation, as well as issues with uterine lining thickness and embryo development. 

In many cases, however, a normal cycle signals optimal reproductive health and fertility. But optimizing and maintaining a healthy weight preconception is ideal. A healthy weight will also help with a smooth pregnancy, labor, and postpartum recovery. 

Of course, every body is different so there is no exact number on scale that can be advised. But if you need help with your weight maintenance, working with a nutritionist can be beneficial and they are often covered by insurance.