While some lucky people may get pregnant almost as soon as they start trying, it takes longer for many couples. One good way of increasing your odds is to chart your fertility cycle -- that way, you'll better understand when you have the best chance of becoming pregnant. As you go through your cycle, your body gives you all sorts of clues to indicate when it is going into ovulation. You just need to know how to look for them.

Fertility Testing

Q. What goes into a fertility evaluation?
A. A standard fertility evaluation includes physical exams and medical and sexual histories of both partners. Men undergo a semen analysis that evaluates sperm count and sperm movement. "We look at the percent that are moving and how they are moving--are the sperm sluggish? Are they wandering?" says Robert G. Brzyski, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. "Often, it's not possible to identify a specific reason for a sperm disorder," he says. "But there is new recognition that very low sperm or no sperm may be related to genetics--an abnormality of the Y chromosome."

For women, doctors first check to see whether ovulation is occurring. This can be determined and monitored through blood tests that detect hormones, ultrasound examinations of the ovaries, or an ovulation home test kit. "An irregular menstrual pattern would make us suspicious of an ovulation problem, but it's also possible for a woman with regular periods to have an ovulation disorder," Brzyski says.

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Why Bother Charting?

Charting may seem like a hassle. Obviously, people have managed to get pregnant without the assistance of charts and graphs for most of human history. But by keeping track of a few different things every day, you can improve the odds of becoming pregnant. Charting involves:

Taking your basal body temperature.
Examining your cervical mucus.
Noting when your menstrual period began.
Noting when you had sexual intercourse.

Knowing this information can make a difference. Though the average couple conceives after about five or six months of trying, people who know how to determine when the woman ovulates and who have sex regularly during that time can conceive in less than three or four months. Charting can make you more in touch with your body. It's also helpful if you have questions for your doctor, since he or she can see what you've been doing.

Taking Your Temperature

Monitoring a woman's basal body temperature -- or BBT -- has been a time-honored way of charting and predicting ovulation, and it's helped many women get pregnant. However, recent research has shown that it may not be as effective as experts previously thought.

Before ovulation, a woman's basal body temperature is usually about 97.0 to 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit, although those numbers can vary from person to person. During ovulation, your body releases the hormone progesterone, which results in a slightly raised temperature a day or two after ovulation -- usually by .1 or .2 degrees. Your temperature will probably stay elevated until your next cycle begins. If you become pregnant during that cycle, your temperature will stay elevated beyond that.

A 1/10 degree difference may not sound like much, and it isn't. Also, keep in mind that the temperature change happens after ovulation, which means that once your temperature goes up, you've probably already missed your chance to become pregnant in that cycle. But by charting your temperature every day over several cycles, you may start to see a pattern and be able to predict when you are most fertile.

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