Sometimes it is easy to get pregnant and a couple gets pregnant without the aid of any calendar or other method of conception within a few months.  Other times, it is harder, and a couple must resort to using a device or technique that can aid them in determining when is the best time to get pregnant.

The first thing a woman asks herself when she’s having fertility difficulties is, “Am I ovulating?” and “When am I most likely to become pregnant?”  These things can be determined using a pregnancy ovulation calendar.  The simplest of these calendars basically documents when the periods are occurring and determines when ovulation is most likely to occur.

Basically, you buy a regular calendar and mark as day one the day you first get your period.  Put a number “2” on day two and so forth until you reach your next period, at which time you start over with day one again.  Do this for about three months or so and see how long the periods are lasting.

If you are one of the women whose menstrual cycles are 28 days long, you will get to day 28 or so on each of the months.  The time you are most likely to become pregnant would then be day 14.  You can actually get pregnant from days 10 through 15, however, so you can try to become pregnant on those days.

If you have longer than average cycles but they are still regular, the day you are most likely to become pregnant is fourteen days before you expect to get your period the next time.  This can be more complicated to calculate but with three months of data, you should be able to figure out which day in the cycle it is.

If you have irregular cycles, especially if they are longer than 28 days, the day of ovulation becomes more complicated to figure out.  Most women have to then turn to determining their basal body temperatures in order to make sure they are ovulating and to see which day it is happening.  With basal body temperature measurements, you take your temperature with a special BBT thermometer just before arising every morning and mark it on your pregnancy ovulation calendar.

The temperature will initially be somewhat low but will rise about a half a degree or so at the time of ovulation.  The day before the temperature rise, there is sometimes a slight temperature drop, which is the time of ovulation.  Once the temperature rises, ovulation has already occurred.

Another, slightly more accurate way to determine when you are ovulating if the ovulation calendar is showing irregular cycles is to use an ovulation test kit.  Such a kit determines the luteinizing hormone surge that occurs 24-36 hours before the temperature rise (ovulation) and can tell you the exact time that one can get pregnant.

Some test kits also determine the rise in estrogen that precedes the LH surge, giving an extra few days in which a pregnancy can occur.  All of this, including the basal body temperature can be placed on the ovulation calendar to determine exactly when you are most likely to become pregnant.  If this doesn’t result in a pregnancy, seek the advice of a fertility specialist.