This type of discharge is healthy and a sign of regular ovulation. One method of fertility monitoring uses changes in cervical mucus to predict ovulation. When a person is fertile, the cervical fluid is watery, thin, and slippery, and it may appear similar to an egg white. Cervical mucus is fluid that the cervix releases into the vagina. It has several functions, including keeping the vagina lubricated and preventing infection.
Throughout the menstrual cycle, hormonal shifts influence the amount, texture, and appearance of cervical mucus. There may be enough mucus for a person to notice it in their underwear. Although the cervix always produces some mucus, it makes more right before and after ovulation. So, if a person notices an increase in vaginal discharge, they may be seeing fertile cervical mucus.
Fertile discharge is thin, clear or white, and slippery, much the same as an egg white. This type of discharge signals that ovulation is approaching. Fertile cervical fluid helps sperm move up the cervix to fertilize an egg. It also keeps the sperm healthy during the journey. People usually notice fertile discharge a few days before ovulation. The discharge may become wetter and more slippery over several days.
After ovulation, the amount of discharge usually decreases. A ripening egg grows inside an enclosure, called a follicle, in the uterus. The follicle grows and produces estrogen. When the follicle ruptures, the body ovulates, releasing an egg. The estrogen that the follicle produces softens the cervix and opens it slightly. Estrogen also changes the texture of cervical fluid, making it more able to support fertility.
So, to detect fertile discharge, a person should monitor their cycle for several months. The days that discharge changes vary from person to person. Those who ovulate later in their cycle, for example, should expect fertile discharge after day In general, the cycle of discharge follows this pattern :.
Ovulation plays a significant role in determining the consistency of cervical fluid. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Cervical mucus is secreted by glands found in and around the cervix. Hormonal changes throughout a woman's reproductive cycle change the amount and consistency of this mucus.
Cervical mucus may also be called cervical fluids. The job of cervical mucus is to either:. Fertile cervical mucus is a clue that ovulation is coming.
Your vaginal discharge is fertile when it resembles raw egg whites. You can predict this by checking and tracking cervical mucus changes. Yes, this will mean looking and usually touching your vaginal discharge. You may feel squeamish about it, but it's your body. Knowing how your body works can be empowering. You learn to become aware of where you are in your cycle and when you're about to ovulate. It truly becomes second nature. If you already track your basal body temperature BBT , adding cervical mucus tracking is a good idea.
Your basal body temperature which is your temperature at complete rest increases when you ovulate. Your BBT will tell you if and when you ovulated after it happened. But if you want to get pregnant, you need to have sex before ovulation. Cervical mucus changes can tell you before you ovulate. This information can actually help you time sex for pregnancy.
Just before ovulation occurs, the hormone estrogen leads to increased cervical mucus and changes it into a stretchy, viscous-like substance. This helps sperm survive and swim. After ovulation, the hormone progesterone causes cervical mucus to become sticky and thick. This stops sperm and any other foreign substance from getting through to the uterus. As ovulation approaches , your cervical mucus changes from a consistency that's not sperm-friendly to a more fertile variety.
When your cervical mucus is in the wet or raw egg white consistency stage, ovulation is approaching. This is the best time to have sex if you want to get pregnant. Don't check your cervical mucus during or right after sex. Also, avoid checking when you're feeling sexually aroused. Checking after sex is also a bad idea because it's too easy to confuse semen with cervical secretions.
You can check your cervical mucus by looking at the toilet paper or your underwear. Not everyone is comfortable with putting their finger inside to check themselves.
Second, especially if you're new at this game, you want to start tracking immediately after your period, during the follicular phase , so that you can see how the consistency changes over time.
Here are some steps you can take:. Immediately after ovulation, your estrogen levels drop, and you may have less discharge or even some dry days. A few days into the luteal phase though, your estrogen rises again and progesterone joins the show. The mucus is no longer clear and stretchy like a few days ago when your body was gearing up for releasing an egg and preparing a protective environment for sperm.
What you may see now is a cloudy and rather thick discharge. If you do conceive, both estrogen and progesterone levels continue to rise, feeding your uterine lining so that it can nourish an implanted embryo. Along with this hormonal rise, an increase in blood volume that starts in the early stages of pregnancy may also boost the amount of discharge your cervix produces.
While cervical mucus alone is not a reliable indicator of pregnancy, we can safely say that it is pretty rare to have dry cervical mucus if you conceived since both estrogen and progesterone stay elevated during the luteal phase. However, the changes may be very subtle and can easily be overlooked. The vaginal discharge encountered in early pregnancy is quite abundant and may have either a milky or a pale yellow look.
Once fertilization has occurred, the volume of discharge increases as your vagina tries to get rid of bacteria that might damage the newly implanted embryo. Later on, this discharge is going to form the mucus plug, meant to act as a barrier between the vagina and the uterus , and protect the growing fetus from infections during pregnancy.
A lack of cervical mucus can indicate a hormonal imbalance. But if your hormones were checked and are fine, you may want to make sure you are staying hydrated, as dehydration also has an impact on the quantity of fluids our bodies produce. Also, you may want to keep in mind that for the cervical mucus method to offer you correct information on your cycle, you should avoid douching at any time.
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