Early Ovulation
Dear clients & friends,
Welcome to my fourteenth issue of "The Good Fruit" newsletter by Natural Fruit FertilityCare Services.
One of the biggest challenges of all time in the area of natural family planning, whether a couple is trying to achieve or avoid pregnancy, has been to know exactly when the woman is fertile or, more specifically, when her ovulation is! Simply estimating that ovulation will be "mid-cycle" or on or around Cycle Day 14 with an average 28-day cycle length is not good enough! As we saw in a previous newsletter, any woman can have a delayed ovulation in any cycle due to stress. On the other hand, women and couples should also look out for a possible early ovulation each cycle, which is what we'll talk about this week.
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Early ovulation occurs in short cycles. In this case, the pre-ovulatory phase of the cycle is a shorter number of days, while the post-ovulatory phase should be stable or consistent in length (normally 9-17 days or on average 13 days long). In the above photo, we see that the Peak Day is on Cycle Day 9 (earlier in the cycle than a regular length cycle's Peak Day would be), while the post-Peak phase length is still 14 days long, which makes a shorter cycle length altogether of only 23 days long. By definition, short cycles are 24 days or less in length.
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How would you know you are having an early ovulation? Mucus can be present during the menstrual flow and ovulation may occur early in the cycle. In the above photo, mucus was observed at the end of the menstrual period on the Light day on Cycle Day 4. This was the beginning of the mucus cycle, which continued until Peak Day on Cycle Day 9. In this cycle, there were no infertile, dry days (plain green stamps) pre-Peak after the period like in a regular length or longer cycle and actually all of the days from Cycle Day 2 through Cycle Day 12 are considered fertile! By Cycle Day 14, fertility and ovulation have passed.
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How would you manage an early ovulation? Observe for mucus/dryness on L, VL, or B days of the flow. In other words, a woman can anticipate a possible early ovulation coming up if she sees the cervical mucus fertility sign earlier in her cycle, such as starting at the end of the menstrual period. Since charting is done day-by-day, according to the basic method instructions, any mucus seen pre-Peak should be considered fertile since it could be part of the mucus cycle.
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While any woman can have an early ovulation, this is more common for women who are 40 years old and older in the pre-menopause reproductive category. In any case, it is important for all users to watch for the signs of early ovulation and to use the method according to their intentions. There is no guessing here!
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Have a fruitful day!
Patricia Deshane, FCP
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