When do you menstruate after ovulation

If a woman has sex six or more days before she ovulates, the chance she will get pregnant is virtually zero. If she has sex on the day of ovulation, or the two days before, the chance of getting pregnant is around 30 percent.

Professor Sarah Robertson, Director of Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, highlights the key time before pregnancy that your health is most important to ensure your child has the best start to life. Kerry Hampton, a registered nurse and fertility specialist, discusses the importance of fertility awareness, and how to determine your fertile window to improve your chances of conceiving.

What men and women can do to increase their chance of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby. Find out how a more healthy lifestyle increases your chance of pregnancy and having a healthy baby. Share Back to Top. Apart from being healthy, what else can help you get pregnant? Sex of course - at the right time! Your chance of getting pregnant is dramatically increased if you have sex on the day of ovulation, or two days before that.

When are you more likely to conceive? Ovulation Calculator What day did you your most recent period start? What is an ovulation calculator and how does it help you get pregnant? It can also estimate your due date if you do become pregnant during your next fertile days.

Others ways to help you work out when you're ovulating:. Facts about timing Ovulation is when a mature egg is released from the ovary. A period is when you bleed or menstruate. Example Sarah tracked her last three menstrual cycles by counting the time from the first day of one period, to the day before the next period.

When you know your average menstrual cycle length, you can work out when you ovulate. Ovulation happens about 14 days before your period starts. If your average menstrual cycle is 28 days, you ovulate around day 14, and your most fertile days are days 12, 13 and If your average menstrual cycle is 35 days ovulation happens around day 21 and your most fertile days are days 19,20 and If you have shorter cycles, say 21 days, ovulation happens around day 7 and your most fertile days are days 5, 6 and 7.

FACT A woman can only get pregnant on a few days during her menstrual cycle. Because eggs and sperm only live for a short time: Sperm live for around five days.

Eggs can only be fertilised for around 24 hours one day after being released from the ovary. Getting the timing right If you're trying to get pregnant, timing is everything. What are the chances? Having sex as close as possible to the time of ovulation increases the chance of pregnancy. Timing for conception When planning a baby, a couple needs to make sure that they are having regular intercourse and that it is at the correct time in a woman's menstrual cycle.

How to track your cycle Working out your fertility window can be helped by tracking your menstrual cycle. If your cycle is 28 days, ovulation should occur on day Therefore aim to have regular intercourse from 10 days after your period has started.

If your period is 35 days, then ovulation should occur at 21 days and intercourse should be from 17 days after your period started. Ovulation There are bodily signs that change over the month that can help you to identify if you have ovulated. Signs of ovulation Change in cervical mucus: Just before ovulation your cervical mucus changes to become clear and slippery, this is to allow the sperm to pass through the cervix. Changes in bodily hormones: Measuring a woman's luteinising hormone LH can help indicate ovulation, as the LH increases one to two days prior to ovulation.

LH can be measured in the urine and is the basis of commercial ovulation kits. These are generally used for five to six days prior to your expected ovulation day.

Read more about starting periods. To understand the menstrual cycle, it helps to know about the reproductive organs inside a woman's body. These are:. The menstrual cycle is controlled by hormones. In each cycle, rising levels of the hormone oestrogen cause the ovary to develop and release an egg ovulation.

The womb lining also starts to thicken. In the second half of the cycle, the hormone progesterone helps the womb to prepare for implantation of a developing embryo. The egg travels down the fallopian tubes. If pregnancy doesn't occur, the egg is reabsorbed into the body.

Levels of oestrogen and progesterone fall, and the womb lining comes away and leaves the body as a period the menstrual flow. The time from the release of an egg to the start of a period is around 10 to 16 days. A period is made up of blood and the womb lining. The first day of a woman's period is day 1 of the menstrual cycle.

Some women bleed more heavily than this, but help is available if heavy periods are a problem. Find out about treatments for heavy periods.