What Are the Most Fertile Days of a Woman's Cycle?

Trying to become pregnant can be a stressful and frustrating experience. You are only fertile for a few days each cycle and if you miss those critical days, you have to wait a whole month -- sometimes even longer if you have long, irregular cycles -- to try again. Knowing how to identify the most fertile days of your cycle can help you time intercourse more effectively in order to increase your odds of successfully conceiving.

  1. Fertile Window

    • Sperm can survive for up to five days and your egg can live for as long as 24 hours. This creates a window of up to six days when you could potentially become pregnant. However, while sperm can live for five days, it usually does not. Your days of optimum fertility are the day of ovulation and the two days prior to it. A study of pregnancy charts on the FertilityFriend.com found that in 94 percent of all charts that resulted in pregnancy, women had intercourse on one of these three most fertile days.

    Cervical Mucus

    • Throughout your cycle, your cervix produces a mucus that protects the uterus and keeps out bacteria from the vagina. Most of the time, the cervix produces just a small amount of thick, sticky mucus. As ovulation approaches, however, the mucus becomes much more plentiful, clear and stretchy. This protects sperm and helps them travel to the uterus. Any day you notice your cervical mucus has a consistency like egg-whites is a potentially fertile day, since the mucus indicates ovulation is near. The last day you notice egg-white cervical fluid is usually your most fertile day: the day of ovulation.

    LH Surge

    • One of the hormones generated by the pituitary gland, luteinizing hormone (LH), plays a critical role in ovulation by stimulating a follicle in your ovary to produce and release estrogen. Once the amount of estrogen in your system reaches the correct level, the pituitary gland produces a surge of LH, prompting the release of your egg, or ovulation. You can purchase several kinds of tests, such as ovulation predictor kits or fertility monitors, that track the amount of LH in your body. When one of these tests turns positive, indicating the LH surge has happened, you know it is a highly fertile day because ovulation will occur within 24 to 36 hours.

    High Cervix

    • Normally, your cervix is low, firm like the tip of your nose and closed or just slightly open. But as ovulation nears, the cervix moves higher -- sometimes so high up you can't reach it with your finger. The cervix also softens to the texture of your lips and opens to allow sperm into the uterus. When you notice that your cervix "SHOWs" -- that is, it becomes soft, high, open and wet -- ovulation is very close, making it a highly fertile day.

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