If you’re trying to get pregnant, one of the most effective things you can do is figure out exactly when you’re ovulating. When you’re ovulating, you’re most likely to conceive a child. In fact, you can’t get pregnant when you’re not ovulating. You don’t have to try to conceive on the actual day of ovulation, of course, but you do need to time things so that the sperm have a chance to reach the egg when it’s moving through your reproductive tract.

You can chart your ovulation by charting your monthly cycle. Unfortunately, some women don’t always have a regular monthly cycle that lasts the same amount of time from one month to the next. If your cycle tends to vary in length, it’s hard to chart your cycle because you don’t really know when it’s going to end.

Fortunately, there are some physical signs of ovulation that you may be able to watch for. Here are some things to watch:

• Abdominal pain. Around 1 in 5 women will experience abdominal pain during ovulation. The pain usually is located in the lower abdomen, and it can range from a mild ache to a sharp, intense pain. This may happen for just a few hours while you ovulate, or it may happen for just a few minutes. This pain even has a name – Mittleschmerz – and usually will be on your right side.
• Another common symptom of ovulation is a change in body temperature.  By charting your Basal Body Temperature (BBT) you can track the changes in temperature that take place in your body after you ovulate.  While Basal Body Temperature doesn’t predict that ovulation is about to occur, by charting your Basal Body Temperature over time you can certainly make a good guess about when you are ovulating.
• Perhaps the most common symptom of ovulation is a change in your cervical mucus. Your cervical mucus changed during your cycle. Just before ovulation, your cervical mucus will increase greatly, and will become slightly transparent, and resemble the uncooked white of an egg in terms of its appearance and consistency.  These changes take place in order to help the sperm to move in a freer manner through the cervix, into the fallopian tubes where it can then fertilize an egg.  While not every woman will experience much “egg white” cervical mucus, most will.