Cervical Mucus
Changes in your cervical mucus are the most reliable indicators of whether or not you are fertile. The start of the fertile time is signaled by secretions, so it is vitally important that you are able to recognize how these secretions change throughout your cycle.
The cervix is lined with a mucus-secreting membrane. The mucus released changes in texture, color, and quantity throughout your menstrual cycle. The changes occur because of fluctuations in estrogen levels. You may notice the following:
- the entrance to the vagina may feel moist, sticky, wet or slippery (leading up to ovulation)
- there may be a residue left on your underwear or on toilet paper
- the mucus may become very stretchy when tested between your thumb and forefinger.
Most women need three cycles of observation before they are confident about recognizing the changes.
Hormones and Mucus
Fluctuating hormone levels cause the changes in your mucus.
After your period ends, you may have several "dry days" with no detectable mucus. This is the infertile phase: the vagina is a hostile environment for sperm at this time, when acidity rapidly immobilizes and destroys them.
As estrogen levels rise as your cycle progresses, you will start to feel moist and sticky and the mucus will be white or creamy-colored. If you check the stretchiness between your thumb and forefinger, it will hold its shape but break easily.
As estrogen levels continue to rise, the quantity of mucus wil increase and it will become thinner, cloudier, and stretchier.
As ovulation approaches, you will have a sensation of wetness and the vagina will feel slippery and wet, with copious amounts of thin, watery, transparent mucus, resembling raw egg white. On finger testing, the mucus will stretch for an inch or tho before breaking. This is fertile mucus in which sperm can live - usually for up to 72 hours., but sometimes for much longer. The can now move freely through the cervix. Under a microscope, you would see the long channels along which the sperm swim. Only normal sperm can fit into these channels. Women often worry about sperm leaking out after intercouse, but if fertile mucus is present, sperm will swim through it.
The pick day for fertile mucus (directly prior to ovulation) is the last day, when mucus exhibits its most fertile characteristics. After this, you will quickly feel dry or sticky again. Thicker mucus, caused by a rise in progesterone, forms a plug at the cervix that serves as an impenetrable barriers.
