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Article Series: Fertility
Fertility & Conceiving A Baby Explained
When Exactly Does Ovulation Happen?
When does ovulation occur? This is a very important question if you are trying to get pregnant.
Ovulation is the moment when an egg is released from a woman's ovary to make its way down the fallopian tubes to the uterus or womb, where it may be fertilized by sperm from a man.
Usually, only one egg is released in each monthly cycle. Some women may release more than one egg at the same time. This is known as hyperovulation and it can lead to a pregnancy with fraternal (non-identical) twins. This is more likely to happen if there is a history of fraternal twins in the woman's family.
Identical twins come from the same fertilized egg, which splits in half to create two fetuses instead of one. This is a random event that could happen to anybody. It doesn't run in families.
So when does ovulation occur in the woman's cycle? Many people believe that it is 14 days after the first day of the last period but please note, this is only true if the woman has a regular 28 day cycle.
The truth is that ovulation is the first stage in the monthly cycle. The previous period has nothing to do with it, because that was the last cycle.
The cycle starts with ovulation. Then if the egg is not fertilized, it will leave the body. A woman may or may not notice this happen: some women can feel their ovulation as a slight pain or ache in the womb. Others see a small spot of blood a couple of days after ovulation, which contains the egg that has passed out of the body. (Do not rely on this for contraception, however: blood spotting can happen for many other reasons too.)
Then around 14 days after ovulation (or more accurately, between 12 and 16 days) the lining of the womb, which thickens around the time of ovulation to prepare for a possible pregnancy, will detach and pass out of the body along with excess blood. This is the next menstrual period.
So in a cycle of 28 days, in the average case, ovulation will happen in the middle of the cycle, 14 days before the start of the next period and also 14 days after the start of the previous period.
However, if you have a long cycle, the gap between the start of one period and the next ovulation will be longer than 14 days. For example if your cycle is 32 days, ovulation will still happen around 14 days before the start of the next period, but in this case that will be 18 days after the start of the previous period.
And for women who have a short cycle, the gap between the previous period and ovulation will be shorter. So if your cycle is 24 days, ovulation will still happen around 14 days before the start of the next period, and only 10 days after the start of the previous period. So a woman with a short menstrual cycle may ovulate very soon after her period ends.
As long as your cycle is regular, you will be able to figure out approximately when does ovulation occur in your case. You can figure out when your next period is due to begin and count back from there. But if you do not have a regular cycle at all, so that you never know when your next period is due, you cannot predict ovulation this way.
The information in this article is intended for entertainment only and should not be used as a method of contraception. Knowing when does ovulation occur may help some women to get pregnant, but it is not accurate enough to be used for avoiding pregnancy.
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by KissMeGoodnight.com
: 2011
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