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The OVULITE® ovulation microscope

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Understanding Your Fertility Cycle Ovulite allows you to calculate when you are ovulating, and be able to predict, on a daily basis, when you are most likely to conceive. To accurately detect ovulation you must understand the fertility cycle and read the simple results. Used correctly, Ovulite can help you get pregnant. The monthly fertility pattern which occurs regularly in most women beginning at puberty and ending at menopause is called the menstrual cycle. Each cycle is divided into two parts --- before ovulation and after ovulation. Over a 28-day period the cycle typically follows this pattern: Part 1. Day 1 is the day menstrual bleeding begins. The flow usually lasts from 3-5 days. The first part of the menstrual cycle, from menstruation to ovulation, may vary from 13 to 20 days in length. The actual length may not only differ from one woman to another but also differs in some women from month to month. It is during this first part of the cycle that fertilization can occur. The regularity of this pattern may be upset by such common occurrences as sickness, stress, physical exertion or even climate changes. Fertilization of the egg can take place during a woman's fertile period which can cover 6 to 7 days. A man's sperm can live inside a woman's womb for about 5 days. Her egg lives for about a day. Fertilization is more likely to happen from intercourse before or during ovulation, rather than several days following ovulation. Part 2. The second part of the cycle, from ovulation to menstruation, is about the same length in all women. It is during this part that the egg travels down the fallopian tube toward the uterus --- an event which consistently occurs 14 to 16 days before the onset of menstruation regardless of the length of a woman's menstrual cycle. If a single male sperm unites with the egg while it is in the tube the fertilized egg may attach to the spongy lining of the uterus. Pregnancy begins if this "implantation" takes place. If fertilization does not take place the egg will break apart in a day or two. At about Day 25, hormone levels begin to drop. This causes the lining of the uterus to break down and in a few days it is shed in a menstrual period. Another cycle has begun.
Terminology Day 1 -- The first day of a woman's cycle with menses in full flow (not just spotting). Flow should begin before mid-afternoon or the next day would be considered Day 1. Estrogens -- The female sex hormones. First recognized around 1915, estrogen is responsible for the development of the secondary feminine sex characteristics, which include breasts, rounded hips, and pubic hair. Together with progesterone, another female hormone made by the ovaries, estrogen regulates the changes that occur with each monthly period and prepares the uterus for pregnancy. Egg (Oocyte) -- The female reproductive cell. Embryo The term for a fertilized egg from the time of initial cell division through the first six to eight weeks of gestation. Thereafter, the embryo begins to differentiate and take on a human organic form; at this point it is traditionally referred to as a fetus. Ferning -- A pattern characteristic of dried cervical mucus viewed on a slide. When the fern leaf pattern appears, the mucus has been thinned and prepared by estrogen for the passage of sperm. If it does not fern, the mucus will be hostile to the passage of the sperm. Fertilization -- The combining of the genetic material carried by sperm and egg to create an embryo. Fallopian Tubes -- Ducts through which eggs travel to the uterus once released from the follicle. Sperm normally meet the egg in the fallopian tube, the site at which fertilization usually occurs. Hormone -- A substance produced by an endocrine gland that trabelss through the bloodstream to a specific organ. Implantation (Embryo) -- The embedding of the embryo into tissue so it can establish contact with the mother's blood supply for nourishment. Implantation usually occurs in the lining of the uterus 5-10 days after ovulation. Infertility -- The inability to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse in women under 35, or after six months in women over 35, or the inability to carry a pregnancy to term. Menopause -- The period of a woman's life that begins with the total cessation of menstruation, usually between the ages of 40 and 55. Menstruation -- The monthly flow of blood when pregnancy does not occur; the flow comprises about two-thirds of the endometrium and blood, often including the unfertilized egg or unimplanted embryo. Menstrual cycle -- The time that elapses between menstrual periods. The average cycle is 28 days, with ovulation usually occurring at the midpoint (around the 14th day). Ovulation -- The release of the egg (ovum) from the ovarian follicle. Ovum -- The egg; the reproductive cell from the ovary; the female gamete; the sex cell that contains the woman's genetic information. Pre-menstrual Syndrome (PMS) -- Emotional and physical disturbances that occur after ovulation and usually end with menstruation. Progesterone (P4) -- The hormone produced by the corpus luteum during the second half of a woman's cycle. It thickens the lining of the uterus to prepare it to accept implantation of a fertilized egg. Sperm -- The microscopic cell that carries the male's genetic information to the female's egg; the male reproductive cell; the male gamete. Uterus -- The hollow, muscular female reproductive organ that houses and nourishes the fetus during pregnancy. The womb.


Credit: Image modified from Human Biology, 2nd Ed. by Cecile Starr & Beverly McMillan (1997, Wadsworth)

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