If you’re looking for symptoms of ovulation, you’ve arrived at the right place. Optimizing natural fertility is definitely my thing. Not only professionally but as a mother of 3 wonderful young daughters, the last one being conceived when I was well into my forties, just days after we decided it was time to call her into our lives.

If you’re starting your journey into motherhood, welcome and congratulations. It’s the most exciting and loving experience a woman can have and it is way beyond any realm words are able to describe.

Let’s dive into the amazing world of human reproduction!

A bit of anatomy first

The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are both tiny and extremely important hormonal regulators in the brain. With their permission, we’re going to focus on the reproductive organs in the lower abdomen.

The uterus is the size of a pear. The cervix rests at the high end of the vagina and a fallopian tube connects each of the upper sides of the uterus with an ovary. At the ovary end of the fallopian tubes, there are the fimbriae, which open up and embrace the ovaries during ovulation to make sure they play catch when the mature egg is released.

There are also lots of ligaments, muscles and tendons that hold everything in the right place.

Understanding your menstrual cycle

The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days. Day one is the day your period begins.

As you can see in the following graph, all hormone levels are quite low during the first half of the cycle (follicular phase). Estrogen levels start to rise as soon as your menstrual period finishes. High estrogen levels are necessary for the release of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). These two hormones are key, if ovulation is to happen. FHS, as its name suggests, helps the eggs mature. The one that matures first will send a message to the brain, telling it to stop producing FHS and LH as ovulation has happened; the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle then commences.

Once ovulation occurs, the production of the hormone progesterone rises, as the body is getting ready to receive the sperm so the egg can be fertilized. If conception occurs, the progesterone levels will remain high. If there is no fertilized egg, a few days after ovulation, progesterone levels will also drop and wait until the next cycle.

Read more in BellyBelly’s article Menstrual Cycle – Stages, Phases, And What To Expect.

Symptoms of ovulation

As we’ve just seen, there are many changes that happen around the time of ovulation. Let’s see how these changes manifest into different symptoms of ovulation.

Symptoms of Ovulation #1. Changes in basal body temperature

During ovulation, the metabolism is greatly increased. Ovulation occurs with a body temperature rise of around half a degree Celsius just as the egg is released. This temperature rise follows a 2-day temperature drop. Measuring your basal body temperature (BBT) is a great way to understand your own body and a very effective and natural birth control method.

Once you are familiar enough with the changes in your BBT and you can track ovulation, you can predict ovulation quite accurately, without the need for ovulation predictor kits.

Symptoms of Ovulation #2. Increased sex drive

Well, that’s the whole point of it, isn’t it? From a biological perspective, women ovulate so that the egg can be fertilized and they can get pregnant. An increased sex drive is one of the clearest signs of ovulation.

Whether or not it is your desire to fall pregnant, your body is going to try its best every single time. Even if you have irregular ovulation or if you’re taking birth control pills your body is going to try to fulfil its biological purpose: to reproduce.

Symptoms of Ovulation #3. Breast tenderness

Some women are so sensitive and receptive during ovulation they feel a special breast tenderness. It’s a different tenderness from the one you feel when you’re about to get your period. Your breasts might become more sensitive to touch during your fertile days.

Research shows that axillary breast tenderness is highly specific to ovulatory cycles. If your breasts feel tender and you’re not in the premenstrual phase of your cycle, this tenderness can be considered a sign of ovulation.

Symptoms of Ovulation #4. Signs of ovulation discharge

During your fertile days, your cervical mucus changes and becomes thin and similar to egg white. This type of cervical mucus makes it much easier for the sperm to travel towards the egg.

Egg-white vaginal discharge is one of the most obvious signs of ovulation. During your fertile window, while your cervix opens up to allow access to the sperm, your cervical mucus changes its consistency, to facilitate the meeting of the egg with the sperm.

Read more about this in Egg White As A Sperm Friendly Lubricant.

Symptoms of Ovulation #5. Mood changes

Our menstrual cycles are full of changes. I’m sure it’s no news that our moods change during the different stages of our menstrual cycles.

During ovulation, there’s a heightened sense of power and accomplishment. These days women tend to feel happier and more positive and they value themselves more. During ovulation, women often have their best ideas or find the push to accomplish certain projects.

Read more about ovulation symptoms in Ovulation Symptoms | 10 Symptoms Of Ovulation.

You are beautiful!

You are beautiful when you ovulate (and also when you don’t, of course). However, during ovulation, your beauty is perceived by others and especially by you.

The right amount of the ‘feel good’ hormone, oxytocin, is present in your blood flow and that just helps you love yourself.

Your body can’t be open to being fertilized while you are feeling ugly and miserable.

This is one of many effects of oxytocin, the love hormone. It helps you feel good about yourself. There’s nothing sexier than a person who feels comfortable in her own skin. Although the patriarchy has done a heck of lot of damage in this area, it is our own bodies that bring us to love ourselves more than usual, even if it’s just for a few days each month.

What is an ovulation calculator?

Tracking signs and symptoms of ovulation might be a bit time-consuming at the beginning. It’s the best way, however, to understand how your body works and understand when your fertility is optimal. Ovulation tracking is key to all fertility awareness-based methods.

Once you start to plot your ovulation date each month, you will be able to see your own ovulation patterns after just a few months.

You could also use an ovulation predictor kit, especially for the first few months, until you sort out your basal body temperature and other ovulation symptoms.

Ovulation test kits can also be useful if you haven’t been ovulating regularly – either because you have irregular periods or because you’ve just stopped using birth control.

Here is our ovulation calculator to help make your fertile life easier: Ovulation Calendar – Free Ovulation Calculator.

When ovulation doesn’t happen?

As you can see, we’ve listed the most common ovulation symptoms. For these symptoms to be present, it’s necessary for ovulation to occur.

Sometimes, the problem is that ovulation doesn’t occur. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common conditions that stop ovulation from happening. Women with PCOS develop empty cysts in the ovaries during the follicular phase and ovulation doesn’t occur in many cycles.

You can still get pregnant if you have PCOS, absolutely! However, you might find it a bit more challenging.

If you want to optimize your chances of getting pregnant in a natural way, I recommend Natural Fertility, a pre-recorded, self-paced course which will help you get pregnant in no time, provided there’s there’s no physical impediment in you or your partner.

Believe me when I tell you that the vast majority of people who turn to reproductive medicine have no physical impediment to becoming parents.

Let’s tune your bodies back into harmony and they will take over from there. Enjoy!