Pregnancy Over 40

You Ovulate on Day 14, right? Maybe, maybe not. Here’s a very interesting article which happens to be written for women trying to avoid pregnancy, but the information may be very helpful if you’re TTC:

When Does Pregnancy Occur? Study Shows Few “Safe” Days During Menstrual Cycle

From the article:

“Researchers showed that 2% of women started their fertile window by day four of their menstrual cycle, and 17% by day seven. Day one of the menstrual cycle is the day that menstruation begins. More than 70% of women were in their fertile window before day 10 or after day 17. Women who regarded their menstrual cycles as “regular” had a 1 to 6 percent probability of being fertile even on the day that their next period was expected to begin. This leaves few “safe” days for natural birth control methods such as the “rhythm method.” Women who participated in the study were required to provide daily urine samples that were tested for estrogen and progesterone. A sudden change in these hormones marks the occurrence of ovulation. This test was used to identify ovulation days during 696 menstrual cycles.

Previous reports by Dr. Wilcox and colleagues had shown that the fertile window spans six days and ended on the day of ovulation; however the new report found that even women whose menstrual cycles are normally regular can experience sporadic ovulation. Late ovulation causes 4 to 6 percent of women to potentially be fertile during the fifth week of their cycles–more than 28 days after menstruation last started.”