Understanding Your Fertile Window


When we were in high school, our parents and teachers warned us about just how easy it was to get pregnant.

It was as if pregnancy lurked in the corner of every backseat and empty household just waiting to pounce on our unprepared wombs. We were constantly dreading the plus sign like it might sneak up on us. Today, as we intentionally seek to get pregnant we realize, with incredible irritation, that there is no pregnancy monster waiting to strike.

Perhaps she never existed, or perhaps she is simply on maternity leave.

Either way, getting pregnant no longer seems like an accidental happenstance. It’s a science, and decoding the lingo fertility doctors use to explain it, can make us want to jump out the “fertile window.”

Your five day fertile window. Your fertile window is the five days that lead up to ovulation. Dr. Peress our Fertility Specialist Doctor on call recommends that women who want to become pregnant have unprotected intercourse once every 24 hours for the entire 5 day fertile window. This will increase your chances of conception.Your window is the seven days prior to the day of ovulation. If you have intercourse during these seven days then congratulations! You have significantly improved your chances of getting pregnant.

If you have sex on all of these seven days, then go take a nap.

Healthy women in their twenties have, at best, a 33% chance of getting pregnant in any given cycle. That means if there are twelve cycles in a year, and 23-year-old Betsy has no gray hairs, she has a 33% chance of getting her bump on between January-December.

“Don’t wait!” warns Fertility Specialist, Dr. Peress. “A women’s fertility peaks at about age 27 and drops off more rapidly after 35. It’s ok to wait but be forewarned that waiting holds its own consequences.”

That being said, if 34-year-old (Loreal-improved) Maria wants to join Besty in Lamaze class, it may take just a bit longer, as her percentage of getting pregnant is decreased.

“The best days to get pregnant are the 2-3 days before ovulation occurs,” says OvaTel’s resident fertility guru Kimmie Coon. “Sperm can live from 5-7 days maximum with 2-3 days being the most common. The egg only lives for 12-24 hours, so it is the sperm that await the egg’s arrival that have the highest success rate of penetration and fertilization.”

If you know when you ovulate, then this is fantastic information. However, if you’re relying on crystal balls and your mother to tell you when you’re ovulating, then this won’t help you at all.

Just like baking, pregnancy is a matter of correct timing. And for those of us who often come close to burning down the house with every box of Duncan Heines, you can rely on your cycle chart and Ovatel to guide you through ovulation. View our instruction manual and if you haven’t already, start tracking today!