Day one of your fertility cycle starts with menstruation, an unmistakable period of bloody discharge that is from bright red to dark brown in color, as your uterus discards the lining it built up to nourish a baby last month when pregnancy did not occur. Menstruation is generally a time of infertility, but occasionally (especially for those with short cycles), some women may be fertile during their menstrual cycles. For this reason, you must learn to observe other changes as well.
After approximately five days of menstrual discharge, you will probably notice a period of a few days when you have no vaginal discharge (called “dry days”). Then, as fertility approaches, discharge begins to appear. It may start out sticky, pasty, or creamy as fertility draws nearer. When it reaches egg white quality, your body is telling you that your fertility is peaking.
The number of days of egg white quality mucus varies from woman to woman. Women with five days of egg white cervical mucus may be more fertile than women who have only one. This is because they naturally have a larger window each month for intercourse that can produce pregnancy. Though they still have only one to two days each month for pregnancy to occur, having more days of fertile quality mucus may allow sperm to survive in their reproductive tracts for a longer period of time while awaiting the egg. These women may have intercourse one day, then five days later when the egg arrives, a surviving sperm cell will be waiting to meet it!
Having only one day of egg white mucus a month does not mean you can’t get pregnant, it just means you may have to plan a little more carefully. Some women do not ever notice egg white mucus. They may have to be more careful in monitoring a lubricative vaginal sensation, which may be their only indication that fertility is present. Women with no egg white mucus can also rely on one of the other fertility prediction methods described next.
Generally, the final day of egg white cervical mucus is the day you are most fertile, and the ultimate target day for intercourse. Of course, you will not know except in retrospect which day is the final day! To get pregnant, you could simply have sex on every day of egg white mucus. For most couples, simply recognizing this fertile mucus is enough to make pregnancy happen! For others, however, another variable to consider is the fertility of the male partner. If his sperm count is low, some specialists would recommend having sex only every other day, so that sperm is available for conception to occur with each ejaculation.