Fertility chart basics

Charting your menstrual cycle, also known as a fertility chart, is one of the best ways to learn more about your body and your fertility. A fertility chart provides important information about your reproductive health by helping you determine if and when you are ovulating, as well as on which days of your cycle you are fertile. This information can help you achieve and even avoid pregnancy naturally.

Charting your two primary fertility signs

In its simplest form, fertility charting is simply collecting and recording information related to your two main fertility signs: basal body temperature and cervical mucus. Your basal body temperature is your body temperature when you are resting. Before ovulation, your basal body temperature will be relatively low. But just after ovulation, your body starts producing the hormone progesterone, which has a warming effect on your body and causes your basal body temperature to rise. To track your basal body temperature, you will need a digital or glass basal thermometer and a place to record your temperature. A sheet of graph paper works great, but many women prefer fertility chart websites or mobile apps instead. For best results, be sure to take your temperature at the same time each day, right after you wake up and before you get up. Cervical mucus is another important fertility sign that can help you identify fertile days in your cycle. Simply put, cervical mucus (also called cervical fluid) is a substance secreted by the cervix. Cervical mucus production is regulated by the hormone estrogen, so the consistency and amount of cervical mucus changes throughout the menstrual cycle in response to the ups and downs of estrogen production. Immediately after menstruation, cervical mucus production is low and many women feel dry. As your cycle progresses and estrogen builds up, you will likely see more cervical mucus, and it may look "creamy". Then, when ovulation is imminent, estrogen levels rise, making cervical mucus slippery and rubbery, like egg whites. This egg white cervical mucus is called fertile grade mucus and plays an important role in fertility as a predictor of ovulation as well as a substance that protects sperm as they pass through the reproductive tract. If you lack fertile-quality cervical mucus, you may find it difficult to conceive because your partner's sperm depend on this mucus to facilitate rapid transfer from your vagina to the fallopian tube to fertilize an egg. As with basal body temperature, tracking changes in cervical fluid is very simple, requiring only a daily check and recording of the type of mucus present.