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I also found this an interesting read , it's about how you should time sex during ovulation....

Everyone knows that it takes a sperm and an egg joining to get pregnant. Most people know that women release just one egg a month and that men release millions of sperm with each ejaculation. What people canâ??t seem to agree on is the best time for that one egg to be fertilized by a manâ??s sperm.

Hereâ??s what we know. During each menstrual cycle, women have about 6 days in which they can get pregnant. This is known as the fertile window. A womanâ??s fertile window includes the five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation. These six days are the only days in a womanâ??s cycle when she can conceivably get pregnant.

When is the best day to get pregnant?
The fertile window explained: A manâ??s sperm can live for up to five days inside a womanâ??s reproductive tract. A womanâ??s egg only lives for about 12 hours after it is released. This means that a womanâ??s egg needs to be fertilized within this 12-hour time frame. Furthermore, freshly ejaculated sperm are not able to fertilize a womanâ??s egg. It takes time for a process known as capacitation to occur. Capacitation is series of changes that sperm go through once they are inside a womanâ??s reproductive tract that make sperm more mobile and allow them to penetrate the egg. It can take up to 10 hours for a manâ??s sperm to complete the capacitation process and be able to fertilize a womanâ??s egg. This is why the five days before ovulation are so important. Once ovulation takes place, sperm have a very brief window of time to fertilize the egg. Having mature sperm (sperm that have gone through the capacitation process already) ready for the waiting egg is the key to successful conception.

The day of ovulation: You might have heard or might believe that the best day to get pregnant is the day that a woman ovulates. It is important to know when you ovulate and to try to time intercourse close to ovulation, but the day of ovulation is not the best day to get pregnant. Researchers have studied the timing of sexual intercourse in relationship to ovulation in order to determine which days are the most likely to result in pregnancy. Surprisingly, according to research published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, what they found was that the day of ovulation was not the best day of a womanâ??s cycle to conceive

The day before ovulation: Interestingly, the day before ovulation is actually a better day to conceive on than the day of. This may be because sperm that are ejaculated the day before ovulation have had time to mature and reach the egg.

Two days before ovulation: Even more interesting, researchers have found that a womanâ??s chance of conceiving two days before ovulation is just as likely, if not more likely, as the day before ovulation. What this means for couples trying to conceive is that timing intercourse to occur a couple days before ovulation and the day before ovulation will give them the greatest chance of conceiving.

Three to four days before ovulation: You may have thought that timing intercourse 3 to 4 days before ovulation would cut your chances of getting pregnant, but actually having sex on either of these two days will give you a better chance of conceiving than having intercourse on the day of ovulation.

Five days before ovulation: The first day of a womanâ??s fertile window may also result in conception but realistically the chances of conception are best starting at 4 days before ovulation through the day just before ovulation.

Sorry about the long posts!

Thank you for them!!! I NEVER knew that about the "day" of ovulation. Who would've thought that it wasn't actually the best day to get pregnant!

Katie - thanks for the info! Good stuff!

Beatles - For me, I get EWCM about 2-3 days before my O date. This time, I got it about 3 days before my O date and 2 days before my positive OPK and I had it for about 4 days I think, the longest its ever happened. And there was A LOT OF IT! I also tend not to have any CM leading up to it, I go from almost dry to BAM, ewcm. Also yes, ovulation only occurs on 1 day. It's hard to predict when your O will occur once you get EWCM, well at least for me b/c it changes. Also, as soon as I O, I am back to dry, for about a week. That's how I know I've ovulated (or assume since I dont take my temp).

For me, trying to pinpoint the exact day of ovulation is difficult, especially with multiple days of positive OPKs, although the general wisdom is go by the first positive and assume you'll ovulate 12-48 hours later. I usually get 2 days of positives, the longest was 5 days of positives! The shortest was about 12 hours.

Regarding BDing, I try to do it as close to my suspected O date as possible, so 2 days before, 1 day before, day of, day after, just in case I get the day wrong. My DH has motility issues and I assume that doing it too many days before O won't be as successful if his friends are having problems traveling to the egg, they won't benefit from the chance they may be able to chill for a couple days before the egg is released. I try to BD day before I know I am going to get a positive, day of O and day after (just in case I miscalculated). I have been doing OPKs long enough to know how the test will progress. Only once has the test gone from super negative to super positive in one day, normally the line progressively gets darker.

Also, there is no way DH and I can BD every other day during my fertile period. We have tried, it just doesn't work. So I also like to narrow down a couple days, put it in his mind to get frisky and go for it.

I hope this long ramble has helped!

@Katie- Thank you so much for posting this information! Thsi is great information. It has definately helped change my BD schedule this month

Ok, Katie, I am joining you in the info posts! :)

I don't know how many of you get ovulation spotting, but I get it about every 6 or so cycles it seems, also had this ever since I started menstruating I just never knew what it was. Here is some useful information about it:

If you are trying to get pregnant you may want to look for some physical signs of ovulation. Some signs of ovulation include increased cervical mucous, cramping on one side, or breast tenderness. Some women will notice light spotting around the time of ovulation. This light spotting is known as ovulation spotting and is considered a great sign of fertility.

What causes ovulation spotting?
There are a couple of thoughts on what causes ovulation spotting. Some people believe that the light spotting is a result of the egg rupturing through the follicle during ovulation. It is thought that as the egg bursts from the follicle that a little bleeding may occur. This is why some women may notice brown spotting, which is generally an indicator of older blood, around the time they ovulate. The blood may turn brown as it exits the body.

The other possible explanation for ovulation spotting is that the spotting is a result of a womanâ??s changing hormones during ovulation. As a womanâ??s body prepares to ovulate, follicles will start to grow and mature. As they mature they produce more estrogen. This increase in estrogen triggers a surge in LH, another hormone involved in ovulation. When LH surges it signals the mature egg to burst from the follicle. Estrogen rises sharply right before a woman ovulates and it is thought that the increase in estrogen levels may cause light spotting to occur.

When does ovulation spotting occur?
Ovulation spotting normally occurs right before ovulation or during ovulation. It may appear as light bleeding or brown or pinkish spotting. Sometimes it will be mixed with egg-white looking cervical mucous. There are other causes of mid-cycle spotting but if the spotting occurs around the time ovulation is expected, there is a good chance that the spotting is a result of ovulation.

Timing Intercourse with Ovulation Spotting
Normally ovulation spotting will last for one or two days and most women will ovulate shortly after. If you notice ovulation spotting, this is a good time to start having intercourse. It is helpful to use an ovulation prediction test to help further pinpoint ovulation. You may notice egg-white looking cervical mucous or ovulation pain around this time. Cervical mucous gets thinner and stretchier as ovulation approaches. After ovulation cervical mucous dries up and ovulation spotting usually disappears. The closer you time intercourse with ovulation the better. It is a good idea to continue having intercourse for a few days following ovulation spotting to be sure that ovulation has occurred. You may also want to keep a bbt chart to help confirm when you ovulated.

pbc - My doctor told me it was ok to schedule an appointment with an OB/GYN once we had been trying for a year. We will be there in May so I went ahead and scheduled an appointment in May. I have a friend who is a nurse over at mother & baby at our local hospital so I made my appointment with the OB/GYN she recommended. She also had a 95% positive rating on healthgrades so I'm pretty excited to see what she has to say in a couple of months! I'm changing my appointment with my family doctor to a more general health appointment than a gynecologist appointment just to make sure there isn't anything else affecting my ability to get pregnant.

beatles, cristi, beautiful - thank-you for the warm welcome! I'm sad to be on the next board yet again, but it is wonderful to be around such positive and helpful people! Hopefully my cycle will get under control so I can figure out what is going on with my body!

Again, good luck to all you wonderful ladies!

I have NEVER had ovulation spotting! Is that normal?

I don't think ovulation spotting it or isn't normal. I don't know what the percentages are on it. I think its like implantation bleeding, some women have it, some don't. My ovulation spotting is literally one little dot of blood and a little pinkish tinge to my EWCM and that's it.

Scooby - love that you use healthgrades too! I was excited about seeing my ob/gyn and if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have ever known my thyroid was messed up.

Hello ladies so in my process of researching I came across some stories of women eating the core of a pine 1-5 DPO and actually ended up with successfull pregnancies. This is worth a try.Jjust wanted to put some other ideas in the air for us that are in process of making our bundles of joy.

@katie_ cranberry juice/ pills have been found in some studies to help prevent urinary tract infections but not neccessarily to treat them and there is also not a lot of sgnificant data and research done to prove either way.with that said, it can't hurt you and is worth a shot. you should go to your regular doctor for a UTI and he/ she will prescribe an anti-infective and will do a culture and sensitivity of your urine. signs of a UTI are painful urination (kinda of burning sensation), and cloudy urine possibly with particulates present. good luck!